Rejoice! A Worship Series on Philippians
Rejoice! A Worship Series on Philippians (Pentecost Year A)
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” - Philippians 4:4. Really? Always rejoice? Always have joy? Don’t you know what I’m going through? Sometimes it’s hard to imagine being able to rejoice when the stresses, pains, and anxieties of life start to pile up. Yet Paul writes this beautiful, joy filled letter to the Philippians, and he writes it from a jail cell! He writes it to a church that is suffering, poor, and persecuted. God gives this letter to us too. Rejoice!
We’ll see that regardless of our current situation, Christ has blessed us. He gives us partners for encouragement as we work together. No matter what is going on, life, death, and everything in between, Christ gives us a positive perspective. It’s all good. When we take a close look at how Jesus was willing to go the cross for us, it gives us a new “others focused” attitude. We’re encouraged by the example of other Christians, and we’ll join them as we shine like stars in a dark world, holding out the word of life. We can have joy because our value isn’t based on our achievement, it’s based on Christ’s righteousness. We can press on and finish strong because Christ has won the race and carried us to victory. Feeling anxiety or emptiness? God’s word will give peace and contentment. When we realize we have everything we need, we want to share.
Toward the end of the Season of Pentecost in Year A (P18-P21), our lectionary follows a series of 4 readings from the book of Philippians. We thought this would be a good opportunity to expand this series to preach through the entire book of Philippians from the beginning of September (Pentecost 14) through the end of the Season of Pentecost. We pray this 8 week worship series is a blessing for congregations as they fully immerse themselves into one book of the Bible. God will give us the strength to rejoice in every situation!
You can find the coordinating art for the Philippians Rejoice Series here. Note: You could also use this pack and simply preach a 4 week series on Philippians. The lectionary readings are in bold. The art is very flexible with lots of great symbols.
Rejoice! A Worship Series on Philippians
9/6/20 Philippians 1:1-18 Work Together
9/13/20 Philippians 1:18b-27 It’s All Good
9/20/20 Philippians 2:1 -11 New Attitude
9/27/20 Philippians 2:12-30 Shine Like Stars
10/4/20 Philippians 3:1-11 Confidence
10/11/20 Philippians 3:12-21 Press On
10/18/20 Philippians 4:1-13 At Peace and Content
10/25/20 Philippians 4:14-23 Thanks for Sharing
Pastor Marques Nelson
For a coordinating devotional booklet for use with small groups or family devotions, read more here.
