JOY! A BIBLE STUDY ON PHILIPPIANS FOR WOMEN

 

When a church received one of Paul’s letters, it was read out loud to the entire congregation.  There were no printing presses back then in the 1^st Century.  Scribes would painstakingly copy EVERY SINGLE WORD by hand so that these letters could be sent to other churches to be read out loud to their congregations.   This was the ONLY way to get the message out.

 

Today, it is so easy to share a message, whether it’s our own or someone else’s:

·     You can post on FaceBook in a status or in a note.  Anyone can click “share”, or even copy/paste it into their own status or note.  You can even tag people in it so that more people can see it. People can like it or comment on it.

·       You can text it to someone, even in a group message or mass text.  To share it, it’s as easy as hitting “forward” or copying and pasting it in a new text to send out.

·       You can type a note or create an ad and post it on Instagram.  People can “like” it or even share it by saving the pic and reposting.

·       You can tweet it on Twitter and people can keep retweeting it or making it a “favorite”

·       You can take a picture of a message and text it, email it, Instagram it, tweet it, share it on FaceBook, or even on Pinterest.

·      You can send your message in an email or mass emails, and those people can keep forwarding it on.

·      You can blog about it and anyone can forward it or share a link to the blog. 

·      You can create a YouTube video or a podcast and post it.

·      You can send your story to the newspaper or go on TV and announce it on the news, in commercials, or infomercials.

·     You can call and leave someone a voicemail about it, or even send voice memos through text or email.

·     You can type out your message and fax it anywhere in the world, even by computer.

·     You can type out your message, make thousands of copies on a copy machine and mail them all out. 

·      You can create a website or FaceBook page to get your message out.

·      You can use any of the above to cross-promote any of the above.
 

 

If you have something to say and want to share it with the world, the possibilities are endless with technology today!!

 

When was the last time you gave someone a handwritten letter or card?  Not typed… HANDWRITTEN!  How would you feel if they just tossed it aside or threw it away, or didn’t even bother reading it at all?

I know as ladies, we are usually more sentimental than men, so we tend to save and cherish special cards, letters, or notes from special people.  For the past 12 years I have carried inside my bible a copy of a poem that Chris hand wrote me.  The original poem is inside a picture frame at home.  No doubt most of you have done the same thing, because you know just how much time, love, and care it took to write them.  How ironic is it that I cherish this poem and keep it inside a bible that I SHOULD cherish even more, but continually fail to!

These letters that Paul wrote were so important because of the time and care it took for Paul to write them in the first place, knowing just how much work it would take for the scribes to copy them, have them delivered, and read aloud to other churches afterward.  THAT is how we know that EVERY SINGLE WORD in these letters were and are very important today.  There is NOTHING in any of those letters that could have been left out, otherwise Paul would have left them out just so the scribes wouldn’t have to hand write anything more than necessary.  Every word in these letters were deliberately written for all of us.  That’s why we should cherish them the way we cherish silly little notes that someone gives to us. 
 

The danger about us and our society today is we can easily take someone’s words for granted nowadays.  It’s so easy to just scroll past someone’s status or tweet, or to delete someone’s email or text.  WHY?  Because it was so easy to share these thoughts. It doesn’t take “that much work” to speak out anymore, so it’s no big deal!  Sadly, to a lot of people, bibles are now just mass produced “stories”…so we don’t even pay attention to it or RESPECT it like it deserves.  If we do take the time to read it, we skim over it, we don’t dig deep, and we don’t take it apart to figure out what it actually means to us…what God is saying to us.  We just read it and move on.  

 

The bible consists of letters and teachings that people took the time and care to write to us and for us.  God is speaking to us through these people.  These are HIS love letters to US.  We should cherish His word more than we cherish a simple letter or card or poem that we keep tucked away inside the bible that we hardly open! 

 

Let this year be the year that we truly read and study the bible the way we should.  Our prayer to God should be Psalm 119:18:

“OPEN MY EYES, THAT I MAY BEHOLD THE WONDROUS THINGS OUT OF YOUR LAW”

 

Our HOMEWORK for this week is to read Philippians.  Yes, the entire book…which is only 4 short chapters J Then, over the next several months we will pick it apart so we can truly understand what God wants to tell us. 

As you read it, do the following:

1. Write down any repeated words, phrases, or ideas you notice.
2. Write down any questions that come to mind so we can discuss later.

Then answer the following:

1. What are the circumstances in Paul’s life when he writes this letter?
2. What is going on in the lives of the people of Philippi (the church) when Paul writes this letter?
3. What is the overall tone of this letter?
4. Why did Paul write this letter to the church at Philippi?

 

Do you want a real challenge??  Try HAND WRITING the entire letter (Philippians Chapters 1-4) to see just how much work it took for Paul and the scribes to get this letter to the churches.  Then imagine doing that for the entire bible.  Now that is a real love letter!