Lost & Found! (Phil 3:7-11)

Lost & Found

*Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom 10.17)

(In scripture, faith=faithfulness)

Written: Around 60AD from a prison cell in Rome

Philippians: Were affluent

• Affluence
• Influence
• Confluence
• Refluence
• Effluence

Philippians 3:8-9 (NIV)

8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

Desire affluence. Simply allow the Holy Spirit to change your gold standard.

➢Found1 (Furnished/Completed/Perfected)

Equipped, outfitted, or furnished:

He bought a new boat, fully found.

James 1:4

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Hebrews 10:14

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

➢Found2 (Originated/Inaugurated)

1. organize, inaugurate, institute, originate.

1. Set up or establish on a firm basis or for enduring existence:

to found a new publishing company.

2. To lay the lowest part of (a structure) on a firm base or ground i.e. a house founded on solid rock.

3. To base or ground (usually followed by on or upon):

a story founded on fact.

2 Corinthians 5:17 [Full Chapter]

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

*New identity is inaugurated in Christ

➢Found3 (Fashioned/Wired/Reflective)

1. To melt and pour (metal, glass, etc.) into a mold.

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

“Before I formed you in the womb(A) I knew[a](B) you,

    before you were born(C) I set you apart;(D)

    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.(E)”

Romans 8:29

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

The Value of Love (Serving A New Meal)

The Value of Love (Luke 15/Psalm114)

The Lord’s Table (Serving Up A New Meal!) 

Retelling of the story…

• Not for the sake of memory or ritual
• Making it our story. Why?
• Our prevalent sense of individualism, segregation, loss of identity and hopelessness is proof that we have not entered the story.
• Community, if you will, is a bit of a “portal” through which we enter the story.
• Just a people have identified their “song”…we need to identity our story. [ Alex Haley’s Roots 1976]; [Story of White female students at Woolworth’s Lunch counters]

The Value of Love…rests in…

• Author of Love (God Almighty)
• Purpose of Love (Unity)
• Revelation of Love (The Author of Love loves us…this frees us!!) 
• Receipt of Love (Accepting this as truth)
• Sharing of Love (Offering it to others who are equally undeserving)

“Love responded to us so that we could respond to love!”

2 Corinthians 4:4New International Version (NIV)

4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Beauty of Passover:

• Not exactly like the exodus…Pharaoh’s heart needed changing. Our enemies heart never changed…our’s did!!
• Our table causes us to examine God’s faithfulness…Past/Present/Future (Steve)
• Sacraments offer: Reminder/Presence/Power from God; Identify/Worship/Promise
• Luke 24 When Jesus broke bread, the eyes of the disciples were opened.

➣Our focus is not merely on what Christ did, but on the resultant state.

Moral of Luke 15 story:

Son vs. Servant Son: got a ring and sandals (authority and sonship). He serves out of appreciation of the gift. Servants: Tries to earn it because they won’t receive the fact that God loves them and offers them a real meal.