By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 4:10-20

A pastor friend told me he had preached a very long series of sermons from the book of Hebrews. One Sunday he announced “the final message” in that series, and the congregation stood and applauded! But he told them he was now beginning a new series called “Things I Missed the First Time through Hebrews.” We might chuckle over that, yet as we come to the final lesson in a six-part series in the book of Philippians, I’d gladly do another six weeks, calling them things I missed the first time through Philippians. However, next week we start diving into Colossians, so today is our last look at Philippians.

And oh, what ‘a look’ it is! Our study text, Philippians 4:10-20 could be divided into two parts, each part containing one of the highest and happiest verses ever written — Philippians 4:13 and 4:19. 

Part 1, verses 10-18, gives us a unique portrait of Paul as the man who has everything. This letter to the Philippian church originated from Paul’s heart as a “thank you note.” He wanted to express gratitude to the congregation for sending Epaphroditus, a very committed believer, with a special gift. We’re not told what it was, but we know it brought encouragement to Paul in an hour of discouragement.  [Read more…]

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 4:1-9   

Joy in prayer. Joy of adversity. Joy through humility. Joy in knowing Jesus. Those are our first four lessons from the Bible’s “Joy Book,” Philippians. When the Apostle Paul wrote this joy-filled letter to his friends in Philippi, he was imprisoned in Rome for preaching the Gospel. 

Even though he was under house-arrest, he saw himself a free man in Christ, and he wrote out of a free and joyful mind and spirit. An evidence of God working in that Roman jail: any letter showing such a positive outlook, being sent from a government-run place of confinement — in that day or this — would probably have been censored or heavily redacted! Yet this letter was apparently sent out just as Paul dictated it.

So now we come to the fifth lesson: Joy through PEACE, from Philippians 4:1-9. 

Frankly, trying to shed light on such glorious verses is like trying to make some of God’s most colorful flowers more beautiful by spray-painting them; we really just need to step aside and point out their beauty! [Read more…]

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 3:8-21 

Yogi Berra, famed baseball player, was known for his unique quips and quotes. One was “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” We chuckle over such lines, but in today’s text (Philippians 3:8-21), the writer/prisoner/apostle Paul speaks of several forks (or ‘crossroads’) along the way, telling which should be taken:

• A personal crossroads. “Where do I go from here?” (verses 8-14). Paul first glances backward. In the previous verses he had listed things in his life for which any Jewish man in that day would be proud (see verses 4-6). But suddenly he states that all those things he now considers ‘loss,’ not ‘gain.’ (verse 7) In fact, now (in verse 8) he sees those proud things — in comparison to gaining and being found in Christ — having no more value than ‘donkey dung.’ (Not very refined language, but that is what Paul was describing.)  [Read more…]

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 2:1-15 

We’re studying Philippians, a wonderful ‘joy-book’ of the Bible. Written by the Apostle Paul while imprisoned for preaching the Gospel, this letter expresses how Paul found joy in the midst of adversity.

A summary of chapter one might be ‘the difference between happiness and joy: Happiness depends on happenings. Joy depends on JESUS.’ That theme continues in chapter two to even greater depths.

Years ago, I coined a word for chapter two: “Othering.” But recently I Googled it and discovered it is a word, but with bad connotations.  [Read more…]

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 1:12-26 

Nashville publisher Bob Benson was a great story teller. I remember him telling about a friend who was recovering from heart surgery. Bob asked him, “Brother, how’d you enjoy your heart attack?” His friend replied, “Enjoy it? What do you mean, man? It was awful!” Bob continued with questions, “Do you appreciate your wife more than you did? Do you love your children more? Do you cherish your friends more than ever?” Each time, the brother answered, “Yes! More than ever in my life!” Bob continued, “So I ask you again, how’d you enjoy your heart attack?” 

The Apostle Paul found ‘joy’ in adversity, and he tells us why in today’s text, Philippians 1:12-26. This passage could be labeled “Glorying in the Gospel,” because that’s just what prisoner Paul is doing: 

1. Glorying in Gospel Problems (verses 12-14). A ‘jailbird’ can’t expect to do much flying, and the Roman government thought they had clipped Paul’s witnessing wings by locking him up. Yet Paul gloried in the situation. He turned his miseries into ministries (verse 12). Prison workers saw Christ in Paul’s adversity (verse 13), and some of his fellow believers were emboldened by his situation to speak the word without fear (verse 14). May others see Jesus in how we deal with mistreatment.  [Read more…]

By Mike Dawson
Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church, Columbia

Focal Passage: Philippians 1:1-11 

I grew up singing hymns and ‘choruses’ like “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy — down in my heart.” We kids belted out those words with exuberance. I think the Apostle Paul would have joined us in singing exuberantly as he wrote one of the best “JOY-books” of all time, Philippians. Every lesson topic from this book over the next six weeks begins with the word JOY. This week’s topic is “Joy in PRAYER” from Philippians 1:1-11.

The best things often come out of the worst times. A powerful example of that statement: Paul wrote four inspired letters — Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon — while in prison.

Our studies this quarter will be in three of these “prison epistles.” Notably Paul wrote Philippians, this joy-filled “love letter,” to the church he had planted in Philippi. This was the pagan city where he had personally been beaten and tossed into jail for preaching the Gospel. [Read more…]