Hills and Valleys: Walking Out the Faith

In one paragraph

This was Father's Day, and Pastor Van closed out the book of Ephesians with its final four verses before opening Philippians and walking through the first few verses together. The thread running through both was the same pair of words Paul uses to begin and end nearly every letter: grace and peace. With Philippians just beginning, Pastor Van introduced the major themes the congregation will be...

Read together

1. Psalm 103:1 opening call to worship before congregational singing
2. Psalm 104 responsorial psalm led by the preacher with congregation responding
3. Matthew 7 quoted briefly during offering: rain, streams, winds, house built on solid rock
4. Ephesians 6:21-24 closing verses of Ephesians, the main text for the sermon
5. Romans 8:28 referenced as basis for God working everything for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose
6. Philippians 4:11-12 Paul saying he knows how to get by on little and on much, that he is amply supplied
7. Philippians 2:25 Epaphroditus described as brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and messenger
8. Romans 16:1-2 Phoebe described as servant of the church at Cenchreae, to be received in a manner worthy of the saints
9. Philippians 1:1-2 opening of Philippians, Paul and Timothy as bond servants writing to saints in Philippi including overseers and deacons, grace and peace
10. Philippians 4:4 rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, cited as theme of joy in Philippians
11. 1 John 4:19 we love because He first loved us, closing reflection on Ephesians 6:24
12. Galatians 1:3-5 benediction: grace and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age

Talk about it

1. Pastor Van described sanctification as hills and valleys rather than a straight line upward. What has your own experience of that looked like, and how has God used the low points?
2. Pastor Van said that if you think of people outside the kingdom as 'them' rather than 'not yet in the kingdom,' you stop caring about them. How does that shift in language change the way you actually relate to people you are praying for?
3. Paul treated his imprisonment as something the Lord had brought about, and Pastor Van pointed out that it produced letters the whole church still reads today. Can you think of a time when being stuck somewhere or slowed down turned out to be for someone else's benefit?
4. Pastor Van described the deacon, Diaconos, as someone who kicks up dust by moving quickly to meet a need, and he told the story of the man in Costa Rica who simply laid out a mat so a tired traveler could sleep. What does that kind of servant attention look like in your own neighborhood or workplace?
5. The sermon closed by noting that Philippians was written in a jail cell and yet its major themes are joy and unity. What makes it possible to have genuine joy and unity in the middle of genuinely difficult circumstances, and where do you find that hardest to believe right now?