Msg #2217 Your Cross-Eyed-Bear

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

You can choose to live in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain … ”, or in Philippians 2:21, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s … ”, but you cannot live in both. Choose wisely, grasshopper. The imprisoned Apostle Paul was teaching the Philippians how to rejoice in adversity when the subject came up. He was rejoicing because the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was being preached on every hand because of his trial (1:18), and now he revels in the real meaning and purpose of his life, … and death.

I have sketched a little cartoon of a cross-eyed-bear in the margin of my Bible at chapter 2 verse 8, “And being found in fashion as a man, (Christ) humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” The little bear cross references me to two more bears in Matthew, two in Mark, and two in Luke, all being scriptures speaking things like, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27, the other five Gospel reference are easily found by a ready Bible student, but the sketch of a cross-eyed-bear should be done in pencil until one gets the cartoon perfected). I've sketched three cross-eyed-bears in Paul's letter to the Galatians, and the whole tenor¹ of his references there, and here in Philippians, is captured in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” So, where are you living, … and where are you dying?

An Essay for week #17 - Apr 24, 2022

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs220424.mp3

Study Theology, 12 Free Volumes at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/theology

1A “tenor” is not just an adult male that sings pretty high, it is “a settled, prevailing habitual course of a person's life, and the general meaning or substance of an utterance.” (via Antony Lewis's WordWeb 8, Princeton University, 2015).

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