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St. Paul School of Leadership & Discipleship Lesson 173 - DEVELOPING WARRIORS—NOT WIMPS (PART 2) By Frank Eiklor and the Shalom Team Chapter 2 The Servanthood of God's Warriors Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to the Phillipian church. He knew that Jesus Christ was the Lord of his life and that anything that God allowed was for Paul's good and God's glory. Now this faithful soldier was sharing truths that he knew would transform believers into disciples and disciples into warriors who would fight and win the war against the devil, the flesh and the world.
Now it is our turn to learn these lessons and apply to them to our lives. We covered chapter one in a previous lesson on having a shepherd's heart. Here is chapter two. It teaches us the greatest quality of true leadership—having a servant's heart. 1) THE CALL TO SERVANTHOOD—Philippians 2:1-4 Jesus is our example of unconditional love and serving others. We are to esteem others better than ourselves and see how we can meet their needs, and not just our own.
2) THE EXAMPLE OF SERVANTHOOD—Philippians 2:5-8 What a Savior we have! Though He was God, study the four steps of obedience Christ took in order to save us (taking the form of a servant, making Himself of no reputation, humbling Himself and being obedient unto the death of the cross). We must do the same in taking up our cross to follow Him and putting self to death.
3) THE REWARD OF SERVANTHOOD—Philippians 2:9-11 Now look what the Father did to His obedient Son—four steps of reward (exalted, given a name above all names, every knee will bow and every tongue confess Christ's Lordship). Now study John 12:24-26 on how God also honors those who serve with all our hearts the Lord Jesus.
4) THE SOURCE OF TRUE SERVANTHOOD—Philippians 2:12-13 I love these verses. It is the mighty Holy Spirit who works God's miracle in us—making us willing to obey Him and giving us the power to do His will. So we "work," but he is the one at work within us. Incredible!
TO BE CONTINUED— Chapter two is too important—too delicious—to hurry through. Watch for the next lesson. "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1) Related Articles · More Articles Jesus said many would come in His name and deceive the hearts of the simple, sinful and proud. Eastern mysticism and meditation is a big thing in the gullible West. And one day a “world leader” will appear on the scene with the persuasion of a god and the heart of a devil. Jesus warns His children to know the Scriptures, live in obedience to the Father’s will, and stay alert to the signs of the times. They laugh no more. Now God’s description of how He will destroy the old earth and create a
new one makes perfect sense. The splitting of the atom turned many skeptics into believers.
After all, look what man himself is capable of doing with the atom and hydrogen bombs. Now
the fear is that nuclear weapons are being placed in the hands of madmen who wish to annihilate
their enemies. God has blessed man with incredible genius. We stand in awe as we watch men and women in a room full of computers and high-tech instruments guiding and landing spacecraft on distant planets. At that moment, we appear invincible. But then a mammoth tornado comes—or a terrifying hurricane—or rains that flood whole regions and never listen to our shouts to “Stop!”—or the shake that removes from under our feet any confidence or pride we carry, and leaves us numb with hardly enough breath to even utter the paralyzing word “EARTHQUAKE!”. And man is helpless in the face of it all! |
