Believer’s Independence Day Thanks to http://www.familyministries.com/independence.htm for several of the original references and headings. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 We recently celebrated Independence Day which is a fine thing to celebrate. I am deeply grateful to God for living in a country where I have religious and political freedom. But we are only secondarily citizens of the United State of America. We are first citizens of the Kingdom of God. What freedom and independence can we celebrate every day? Freedom from the bondage of sin that leads to death and eternal separation from God.  18 “’The…

Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:12b-13) I never understood these verses, never liked these verses, and ignored these verses. So of course God told me to teach them at my Bible study! Having been  forced to study them, I figured it out and feel much better now. ;> At first glance these statements seem contradictory! In v. 12, “work out your salvation” sure sounds like it’s up to us. Even worse, we’re supposed to do it with fear and trembling! Yet in v. 13,…

“Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:9-13) Look at the contrast here. Demas is in love with the present world and so he has left the ministry. However, in the next breath Paul requests physical possessions —…