Knowing Christ, Not Just About Him

In one paragraph

Florin preached on Philippians 3:1-11, using Paul's words from prison to ask whether we truly know Christ or only know about him. He drew on his own story, from a small Romanian village through years of wandering and three jobs in America, to show what it looks like to drift away and then come back. The central question he kept returning to was simple: is Christ actually the center of your life,...

Read together

1. Philippians 3:1-11 the main text of the sermon, read aloud in full
2. Proverbs (unspecified verse) paraphrased loosely as 'teach your kids the laws of the Lord and when they grow up they will not depart from my words'
3. Revelation (unspecified verse) briefly cited as saying God will wipe our tears when we enter His kingdom

Talk about it

1. Florin described moving from one 'ditch' to the other, from rigid rule-following to letting sin take over, before finding his way back to Christ. Have you ever drifted gradually in one of those directions without noticing it at first? What did that look like for you?
2. Florin said that at Smith's he prays before every shift, 'Lord, use me today,' and that his coworkers notice something different about him without him having to push the gospel on them. What does that kind of everyday witness look like in your own workplace or neighborhood?
3. Paul wrote 'rejoice in the Lord' from prison, and Florin drew a distinction between happiness that comes from material things and joy that comes from Christ. Where do you find that distinction hardest to hold onto in your own life?
4. Florin asked whether we are 'Sunday Christians,' fully engaged in worship for an hour and then disconnected from God the rest of the week. What habits or rhythms, if any, help you stay connected to Christ beyond Sunday?
5. Florin said that when he was in the hospital with pneumonia, none of his plans and ambitions mattered anymore, and that his illness became a time of deep prayer and growth. Has a difficult season ever worked that way in your life, and what did it teach you about what actually matters?