Philippians 3:12-13 Inductive Bible Study: Sacrifice 3/20

Philippians 3:7-11 says, "But what things were gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God through faith: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Philippians 3:12-14 says, "Not that I have already attained or am already perfected; but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Paul admits that he isn't there. He isn't perfect. These are still things he is working on. But it doesn't matter that he isn't perfect. He still presses on. You don't have to be perfect for God to use you. You just have to be surrendered. So to me this shows me that what he has been telling us in these past few verses is a process. Doing these things is not a one time thing and then you're perfect. No, this is still something that Paul had to work at. But that didn't hold him back because he wanted to grab hold of God and all that he has for Him and what He has for him to do just like God laid hold of Paul. Again, he makes it clear that he isn't there yet. He isn't perfect. But what he is doing is forgetting his past: sin, reputation, whatever could hold him back and tie him down. He is reaching forward to what is ahead: all that God has for him to do here on Earth and then eventually heaven.

It's comforting when I realize that I don't have to be perfect to go to God. I've made dumb decisions and I've felt like, "Well okay you really blew it this time, you definitely can't go to God with that because He doesn't want to hear it." But I'm never going to be perfect. But realizing that brings peace because that means I don't have to strive so hard. When I mess up, I can bring it to God. This life is a process. It's a continual falling down and getting back up. But the key is actually getting back up. Nothing will ever get better if I stay down. I just have to ask God to pick me back up.

So 3:13 is one of the verses that God has been showing to me over and over throughout the past two and a half months. It has really helped me realize that holding onto the past will only weigh me down. When you're running a race, you cannot look back over your shoulder at anything. You just have to focus on what's ahead because if you look behind you,  you could fall or start running in the wrong direction. That's the picture here. I have to forget what's behind me so that I can focus on what is ahead: what God has for me to do here on earth and then eventually the prize of heaven. Pastor Mike Rozell was here this past week and he talked about labels. Everyone has labels. Things that they think define them. Being bullied especially left me with a lot of labels. But because of Christ, none of those labels that I have acquired throughout my life define me. I wear the label of forgiven, free and a child of God. This verse reminds me to forget those labels. All of those things that I have let tell me who I am for so long, I have to forget about them and reach forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Application:
This weekend I am going to make a collage of all the labels that I have been given throughout my life on a piece of paper in black marker but on top of them, I am going to write forgiven in red marker as a remind that those things don't define me anymore and that I have to let go of them and take hold of what Christ has for me.

Philippians 3:11 Inductive Bible Study: Sacrifice 3/19

Philippians 3:7-10 says, "But what things were gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God through faith: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,"

Philippians 3:11 says, "If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

MaKayla-ese: "If there's any way at all that I may be able to work towards the goal of  the resurrection until I achieve it."

So keeping the previous verses in mind, after forsaking everything that the world has to offer me, gaining Christ's righteousness through faith and not my own, I am able to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, suffer like Him to be in fellowship with Him, and even die to myself and not stay dead but in Christ, I might achieve life after death. Truth life. Eternal life.

Something I have been struggling with lately is figuring out who I am. All throughout my life, I have had a really hard time making friends. I have felt unliked. I was bullied when I was younger and so I still struggle with believing the lies  that I was told about myself back then. I have never been confident. I have always had low self esteem. And throughout the last four years, I've been on a depression rollercoaster. Something that I've realized while I've been here is that I try really hard to be like other people, and because that isn't who I am, people don't like being around me when I'm like that because I'm being fake(which totally makes sense).

Ok so this might all seem random but I feel like what God has been showing me this week  through these verses is that if I do all these things that I've been mentioning over and over, and I die to myself, and then attain the resurrection, it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. That takes all the pressure off of me. I don't have to try. Christ is living through me. There's no more striving, it's just dying to me and letting Him live. Giving it to Him. Giving Him the struggles, the pain, the successes, the glory, everything. It doesn't really matter who I am. It's about who He is, because if I do these things, it's going to be Him living through me that people see anyways. MaKayla doesn't have to try to be anything anymore. That takes so much anxiety off of me. I just have to lay down my life and let Him live. There is so much peace that comes with that decision. Now this doesn't mean that it's easy. I have to die every day. But it is so worth it. And it is so much richer of a life than I have been living.

Application:
Today I am going to make a bookmark out of Philippians 3:7-11 and put it in my Bible and highlight verse 11 so that I remember to die and let Jesus live through me.

Philippians 3:10 Inductive Bible Study: Sacrifice 3/18

Philippians 3:7-9 says, "But what things were gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God through faith:"

Philippians 3:10 says, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

Paul didn't just want to know the power "in" the resurrection; the one-time event of Jesus resurrecting. He wanted to know the power "of" His resurrection. The power that the resurrection gives him every day. The power that is in the access to God that Jesus' resurrection gave him. He also wanted to know the fellowship of His sufferings and to be conformed to His death. Whatever Jesus went through, Paul was willing to go through the same thing to know the fellowship of Christ. But he realized to have this fellowship and to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, He had to first lose any worldly thing he was holding onto. He couldn't hold onto his own righteousness and know Christ's power. He had to count everything that he had before as rubbish in order to be found in Christ, gain His righteousness, His power and His fellowship.

Something that I think is awesome is that Paul wanted to suffer the way Christ did. He wanted to be conformed to His death. Losing everything he had, reputation, wealth, status, it meant nothing compared to Christ. Even if it meant suffering like Jesus. Paul understood sacrifice because he understood the mind of Christ.

I want to fall so in love with Jesus that not only am I willing to suffer like Jesus but I want to. I want to long to be like him in every way, even to conform to His death. It's one thing to say that I would die for my faith but than would I actually do it? If I knew that I would be brutally tortured and/or killed just for saying that I believe in Jesus, would I stand strong in Him and proclaim His name or would I deny Him for my safety and comfort? That's a convicting thought because with everything in me, I want to say that I would give my life for Jesus' name but then I realize how hard of a time I have with just standing firm when it comes down to if I mention Jesus, I might not be cool. That's pathetic. I don't want to be afraid of sharing His name anymore, no matter what it means. Especially because, if I truly have counted the things of the world as loss, I am found in Christ, through faith I have His righteousness, and I know the power of His resurrection. That is a lot of power. I have Christ. Nothing else matters. That's how I want to live. To live is Christ, to die is gain.

Application:
For the rest of this week, I will write "That I may know Him and the Power of His Resurrection" on my left arm to remind me what comes when I abandon the things of this world and cling to Christ.

Philippi

Philippians 3:9 Inductive Bible Study: Sacrifice 3/17

Philippians 3:7-8 says, "But what things were gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ."

Philippians 3:9 says, "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God through faith."

This is a concept that I have struggling with lately. I have a hard time with believing and abiding in the righteousness that I know God has given me. I know that I have been forgiven. I know that I have been made righteous. But this is not a worldly righteousness but righteousness given to me through Christ's sacrifice. It is one thing to know this in my head and then to believe it in my heart and walk in it. To live it out.

That is totally different than just knowing it. But something that I have been learning since being here is that if I don't accept the forgiveness and the righteousness that I have been given through Christ, I am rejecting Christ and saying that His sacrifice wasn't enough for me. That's not what I'm meaning to do. By rejecting righteousness, in my head, I think that I'm doing right because I'm showing remorse for what I did but what I'm really doing is dwelling in the past. I'm still mourning the death of my old life. Instead I need to be rejoicing in the victory of Christ over my old life. I need to accept Christ's righteousness through faith.

Now I need to remember who wrote this. Paul. Formerly Saul. One of the chief persecutors of Christians. This guy has a nasty past. But through faith He was able to find himself in God and accept Christ's righteousness. He had to die and let God live through Him. If Paul could get over the guilt of his past, I think I can too. But I can't do it on my own. If I do, it will then be my own righteousness. My own righteousness will only keep me in chains. I need to accept Christ's righteousness and forgiveness by faith and by completing letting go of my past.

Application:
Today, I'm going to memorize this verse.

Philippians 3:8 Inductive Bible Study: Sacrifice 3/16

Philippians 3:7-8 says, "But what things were gain to me, that I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ."

So to put this in context, Paul is basically talking about how he was a poster child Jew. He's got all the credentials you need for being the best of the best. He's saying that out of anyone, he has the most reason to be confident in the flesh and in the worldly standards of success. But then in these verses(7-8), he makes it clear that all of those credentials of success mean nothing to him. He counts them as loss for Jesus. And he not only thinks of those things as nothing but he has given up everything that he had. Reputation, wealth, job, everything that means anything in the secular mind. He has sacrificed it all for Christ. He counts it as trash so that he can gain Christ. Knowing and living for Jesus and spreading His name meant more to Paul than everything that he had and the potential of what he could have had. And now I remember everything that Paul went through. He was imprisoned, tortured within inches of death several times and so many other horrible situations and still, he'd rather endure these things and lose his worldly reputation so that he could have Christ.

I am not someone who is very attached to material things. I would be okay with having little to nothing. But I don't even have a reputation like Paul's among people and yet that is something that I am worried about. I get nervous about talking to people about Jesus whether it's a stranger in an airport or a friend that knows I'm a Christian. I've had a hard time through my teenage years with trying to act cool. I have never been "cool" and I will never be "cool" and that's fine. I know now that it isn't important but as a kid who got bullied, it was a big deal. And even in Christian circles, being sold out for Jesus wasn't cool. I would try to talk and look like the "cooler kids" at youth group or school. And even now as an adult it's hard because I'm afraid of offending people but I'm also afraid of saying the wrong thing or not knowing what to say or not having the right answer. I know that I know a lot about the Bible, but I worry about getting nervous and forgetting the right words and looking stupid or misrepresenting Jesus. I worry too much about how people view me. I need to instead focus on Jesus and remember how He sees me and focus on the need of the people that don't know Jesus.

Since being in IGNITE a lot of things have changed. I'm learning to live with a lot less but still so much more than many people around the world.  And I'm learning how to die to myself. I'm learning to stop valuing other people's view of me so highly above God's view for me. The spark that I had in my heart for the lost has turned into a wildfire. But I know that the challenge for me is going to be remembering all of this when I go back to the States, even just for my 10 day break in April. It's going to be tempting to fall back into old habits, old rhythms, old ways of conversations. But I need to not lose my boldness, not lose the fire that God has placed in me since I have discovered the purpose that He has for me. I need to remember that what the world has for me is garbage compared to Christ. Gaining the world means losing Christ. I can't have both. I choose Christ.

Application:
Today I am going to write "Don't Lose the Fire" on my left arm. Also, I am going to do everything I can to share Jesus with at least one person in the airport/plane on the way back to California and then at least one more person on the way back to Guatemala.

Psalm 133:1-3 Inductive Bible Study: Unity 3/13

Psalm 133:1-3 says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing - life forevermore."

John 17:20-23 says, "I do not pray for these(the disciples) alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them, and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent Me, and have loved them as you have loved me."

Ok I understand the first verse. It's speaking my language; I'm golden. But the rest of them. What in the world are we talking about here? Well, priests in the old testament, like Aaron, Moses' brother, would get anointed. "How good and how pleasant" is expressing the abundance of the goodness of unity. So "the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments" is talking about how unity among God's people is so amazing that it is that abundant, it's just overflowing. I just picture someone pouring a bucket of precious oil over Aaron's head and he's just covered in it; all over his face, in his hair, his beard, his clothes are soaked in it. That’s how good and how pleasant this unity we're talking about is. It's not just that though.  We're given another example. Ok, what or who is Hermon? This high mountain got so much water that it was actually a source of water to the lands below.

Ok so what I'm getting from this is that if God's people dwell together in unity, it's so good and so pleasant that the blessings of it overflow onto everyone around them. Okay, that matches up with my verses yesterday. "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." They had favor with everyone around them and most likely as a result of their intense unity and fellowship and closeness with God, the Lord added to the church daily. Everyone around them could see what they had and wanted a part of it. How good and how pleasant this is!!!

So many times, churches are trying so hard to reach out and bring people in but the church that they actually have is falling apart. There isn't any unity among the believers. It seems to me that if you're following the example of the church in Acts 2:42-47 and you're continually spending time in the Word and you're fellowshipping with believers and living in such amazing unity and investing in the people that are around you, just from your example, God will bring more. Not saying that you shouldn't try to invite people into your church but that shouldn't be your only focus. Especially when the church that you have is in shambles already because the people in it have no unity. If the unity of believers is so good and so pleasant, I have seen how intensely negative the opposite can be when there is no unity.

Application:
This weekend, I will purpose to get to know my country team better to form even better unity than we already have and see if maybe we can sit together for a meal.

Acts 2:46-47 Inductive Bible Study: Unity 3/12

Acts 2:42 says, "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."

Acts 2:43 says, "Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles."

Acts 2:44-45 says, "Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all as anyone had need."

Acts 2:46-47 says, "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

Again we see that intense unity. They were in the word daily in the temple together. We see that eating together is a big part of unity. That sounds silly but if you think about it, you don't have dinner with people until you are close to them. And then the dinner table is most often where fellowship happens. We spend so much of our lives eating so they did it together.

I love that they had simplicity of heart. I think of what Pastor Steve said when we were first learning the IBS process: Keep It Simple Silly. Don't overcomplicate things. Know what is important. Love God. Love each other. Everything else flows from that. They were joyful, praising God and had favor with everyone. I think these people were such an amazing example for the church. They knew what was important: God and then, fellowship. They were continually in the Word and praying and fellowshipping. And out of that came unity and harmony. They shared everything they had and no one cared about material things. They cared about the needs of others. And with this unity came joy and simplicity. Praise poured out of their hearts and from the wording, it seems that they had favor with all of the people, even non believers. That in particular doesn't seem to be common today. The term "Christian" doesn't have a good connotation among nonbelievers today which is so sad. So how do we go about having favor with everyone? By doing all the things mentioned in the previous verses. It will just happen when we are walking that closely with God, experiencing that intensely what He is doing and fellowshipping that much with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Having favor with everyone isn't something that we should try to do. It should just be something that flows from applying the example of these other verses.

I love the last part of this verse. "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." The Lord added. It doesn't even say that it was something that the people had to do or the apostles had to work at but the Lord Himself added to the church daily. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a result of the example that this church was setting. And it's so cool because all of this was just because they were obedient. They loved God, and wanted to know Him more and because of that desire, they were in the Word and praying continually and out of that grew so much good stuff. I want to live after this example. Not ritualistically. I just want to love God and do something about it. Not just talk about it but live it out in everything I do and say. I really believe if we all lived like that, churches would look like this church in these verses.

Application:
Today, I will write Keep It Simple on my hand to remember what is important.