Treasures from Philippi: GEMS for You from the Epistle to the Philippians
By John Zehring
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About this ebook
Treasures from Philippi takes one of the shortest books of the bible, Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, and mines from it fourteen gems that apply to your daily life today as they did to the Philippians. It is not quite the same as a bible study, nor is it a sketch about Paul or the church he founded. Rather, it is a devotional springboard for you to enrich your faith, deepen your relationships with others, discover new heights to your faith, and to leap further into your closer walk with God. Paul will lead you there, but even more, he will share one of the greatest secrets known to humankind: how to be content. Perhaps the aim of all our longings in life is to find contentment. We hope that someday we will achieve it. Paul tells how you can do that now. Your life will be enriched by these gems.
John Zehring
John Zehring has served United Church of Christ congregations as Senior Pastor in Massachusetts (Andover), Rhode Island (Kingston), and Maine (Augusta) and as an Interim Pastor in Massachusetts (Arlington, Harvard). Prior to parish ministry, he served in higher education, primarily in development and institutional advancement. He worked as a dean of students, director of career planning and placement, adjunct professor of public speaking and as a vice president at a seminary and at a college. He is the author of more than sixty books and is a regular writer for The Christian Citizen, an American Baptist social justice publication. He has taught Public Speaking, Creative Writing, Educational Psychology and Church Administration. John was the founding editor of the publication Seminary Development News, a publication for seminary presidents, vice presidents and trustees (published by the Association of Theological Schools, funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment). He graduated from Eastern University and holds graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, Rider University, and the Earlham School of Religion. He is listed in Marquis' WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA and is a recipient of their Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. John and his wife Donna live in two places, in central Massachusetts and by the sea in Maine.
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Treasures from Philippi - John Zehring
Treasures from Philippi:
GEMS for You from the Epistle to the Philippians
John Zehring
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2014 John Zehring
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.
Introduction
Treasures from Philippi takes one of the shortest books of the bible and mines from it gems that apply to your daily life today as they did to the Philippians. It is not a bible study nor a biographical sketch of the author Paul. As a letter to specific people for a particular purpose, it was not written as a book of the bible to endure forever nor as a work of literature. I am not so much interested in the specific two thousand year old context or culture, but in lifting up what you can use to inspire you, strengthen your faith, and lead you to some of the highest goals to which a human can aspire.
Style manuals encourage writers to place themselves in the background. That is excellent counsel, usually, but I find I must interact with Paul’s gems because they move me, challenge me and make me think. I find myself unable to examine these gems as though they were in a sterile, clinical laboratory. And so, I will use the first person singular more than I do in other works. Paul’s treasures confront, move, inspire, challenge, and will not allow the writer or the reader to place himself or herself in the background. Read Paul’s whole Epistle to the Philippians and you will discover he did the exact same thing. He did not place himself in the background but told his story, shared his feelings, and lifted up his goal to be faithful to One God gave, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Scriptures used in the work come from the New Revised Standard Version, unless otherwise noted.
Now, as you encounter the gems from Paul’s epistle, may these treasures enrich your faith and your life.
Philippians One
TEXT: Philippians 1:1, 2, 21-24, 27
MEDITATION: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21, RSV)
When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he was sitting in a prison cell. Paul was in jail. Interesting, his epistle to the Philippians is sometimes referred to as the Epistle of Joy, because he used the word joy or rejoice frequently. That tells you something about the man’s attitude: the letter of joy, from prison. As you read his Epistle, you will see that joy