More Difficult
October 24, 2021 | Jess Rainer
Passage: Philippians 2:12-18
Don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be.
1) Keep going. (vs. 12-13) As Christians, we have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us that is designed to keep us moving forward in our faith. When we don’t walk in our relationship with Jesus, we are creating spiritual friction in our lives. We are putting the brakes on a vehicle that is designed to move forward. We make it more difficult when we stop living out our faith. When we stop living out our faith, we miss the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us.
2) Live clean. (vs. 14-15) Proclaiming and complaining can’t coexist. We make it more difficult when we let sin run free. Sin is when we think we know better than God. Sin is when we make ourselves our own god and do what we think is best. We abandon the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. And that’s when sin causes its destruction.
3) Hold on. (vs. 16-18) If you neglect God’s Word, you are guaranteed to lose spiritual fruitfulness. We make it more difficult when we let go of God’s Word. When we let go of God’s Word, we let go of our source of life.
“Without [reading the Bible], you starve every grace that God means for you to thrive in his world. There is a spiritual diet without which no Christian can be strong and healthy and fruitful. And that is a diet of the word of God.” – John Piper
Prioritize Jesus. When we put Jesus last in our lives, we make it harder on ourselves. But when we put Jesus first, the hard things of life get put in their proper place and we can face them with the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s be a people that put Jesus first and let Him carry the hard in our lives for us.
Series Information
This ten week series provides a survey of the book of Philippians. One of the key messages of Paul’s letter to the church of Philippi focuses on discovering a true joy in the Lord, because Jesus’s kingdom surpasses the circumstances of life.
