Looking toward Philippians 3 Sunday:

A couple of months ago, while preparing to teach on Philippians, I dug out a book written by a family friend. Knox Chamblin’s book “Paul & the Self: Apostolic Teaching for Personal Wholeness”

My sweet daughter (who certifiably rocked it as the Kindergarten leader at VBS this week) is not quite named after Dr. Chamblin’s mother Olivia, but almost.

Anyway, in his chapter entitled “The Conquest of Pride” Chamblin has these great quotes:
“Whatever confidence Paul may have felt on account of his past is demolished in an awful moment of disillusionment.”
&
“Paul’s recognition of his guilt doesn’t leave him engulfed in self-pity, nor does his renunciation of the past leave him frozen in inactivity. On the contrary, the grace that crushes his pride renews and redirects his zeal.”

Then, in celebrating the way that Christ has conquered our pride, Dr. Chamblin quotes Isaac Watts and Miss Flannery.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died;
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

“Mr. Head stood appalled, judging himself with the thoroughness of God, while the action of mercy covered his pride like a flame and consumed it. He had never thought himself a great sinner before but he saw now that his true depravity had been hidden from him lest it cause him despair. He realized that he was forgiven for sins from the beginning of time, when he had conceived in his own heart the sin of Adam.”
–Flannery O’Connor

“The Old Testament is a book of hope, of unfulfilled expectation. From beginning to end it looks forward to Christ. Its many promises through Abraham, Moses and the prophets find their fulfilment in Christ. Its law, with its unbending demands, was man’s ‘custodian until Christ came’, keeping him confined and under restraint, even in bondage, until Christ should set him free (Gal. 3:23 – 4:7). Its sacrificial system, teaching day after day that without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness, prefigured the unique bloodshedding of the Lamb of God. Its kings, for all their imperfections, foreshadowed the Messiah’s perfect reign of righteousness and peace. And its prophecies are all focused upon him. Thus Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head, the posterity of Abraham through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed, the star that would come forth out of Jacob and the sceptre that would rise out of Israel. Jesus Christ is also the priest after the order of Melchizedek, the king of David’s line, the servant of the Lord God who would suffer and die for the sins of the people, the Son of God who would inherit the nations, and the Son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven, to whom would be given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him for ever. Directly or indirectly Jesus Christ is the grand theme of the Old Testament. Consequently he was able to interpret to his disciples ‘in all the scriptures the things concerning himself’ (Lk. 24:27).”

–John Stott

Yesterday subscribers* to our prayer network received an urgent request from one of our global partners. Josh Dickinson sent this from Uganda:

” The past weekend has been hectic as 60,000+ refugees have flooded into Bundibugyo due to conflict in the neighboring DRC. ”

Josh is integral in Uganda’s plan to provide for these people in need.

Josh blog www.africawaterdoc.com

*You can sign up for the prayer network today by emailing
prayer AT christcommunitychurch DOT com
and saying “Send me updates please”

Great things happening this week!