{"id":1590,"date":"2020-09-21T12:14:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T11:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/?p=1590"},"modified":"2020-09-21T12:14:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T11:14:14","slug":"message-from-the-minister-letter-17-sunday-27-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/?p=1590","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Minister Letter 17 – Sunday 27 September"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear\nall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nhope and pray that this letter finds you well. \nThis week we continue with Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians.  Having low self-esteem or confidence can be a\nproblem for many people today.  As a\nsociety we are bombarded with images of what we should look like, how we should\ndress and what accessories we should own. \nSociety also informs us that we should be confident, put ourselves first\nand strive for what we want.  The section\nof scripture today, Philippians 2: 1-13, tells us of a different approach.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\nbegins by telling us that by following Christ or acknowledging Christ\u2019s\nauthority we may be one as believers together and united with Him.  We are to be people who act in love and in\nfellowship with the Holy Spirit, showing compassion when necessary.  By the Philippians doing this it would help\nmake Paul\u2019s joy complete knowing that they are working together, showing love,\nagreeing as a church to the same course of action and having a similar mindset.   In\norder to achieve this they will need to make changes.  This too is a challenge for us a church, how\ndo we ensure, we are all \u2018pulling in the same direction\u2019 and all our dreams and\naspirations are focused on Christ?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\ncontinues by urging not to do anything from selfish ambition or conceit but in\nall humility regard others better than you. \nThat is a massive challenge and certainly counter cultural, because it\nis so easy to slip into ways of ensuring you put yourself first.  We must all be humble and look for the best\nin others all the time.  If this wasn\u2019t a\nchallenge enough, Paul takes it even further by suggesting you put the\ninterests of others before your own, essentially ensuring others are catered\nfor and satisfied before you are.  He\nconcludes the opening section of the chapter by stating we are to have the mind\nof Christ.  This is a challenge, not only\nfor the Philippians but also for us today. \nIt is a way of bringing people together in unity and purpose.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\nthen begins to unpack what this means in reality.  He explains how Christ was humbled, taking\nthe form of a servant, being born into human likeness and was obedient to God,\neven to the point of death on the cross. \nDue to this, God exalted Jesus and has given him the honour of the name\nwhich is above all other names and one day every knee should bend to him and\nconfess that He is Lord over all.  I find\nthose verses explain about what Jesus has done and how He fulfilled the mission\nHe was given so powerful and uplifting that they really are incredible.  How can we in our daily lives be humble, more\nChristlike and in so doing be united with Him and thus flowing with joy and\nlove?  Let us seek Jesus more and more to\nbecome more like Him, and then we can say with Paul our joy is complete.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May\nour Lord Jesus Christ, the Name above all other names, bless us now and always,\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear all, I hope and pray that this letter finds you well.  This week we continue with Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians.  Having low self-esteem or confidence can be a problem for many people today.  As a society we are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1591,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions\/1591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}