The believers should agree together, be happy and think good thoughts
Bible reference: Philippians 4:2-9
A word list at the end of each Bible *study explains words that have a star (*) by them. These are more difficult words.
Introduction
Paul is near the end of his letter. He has some last messages. Life can be difficult for the Christians at Philippi. And life is hard for him as he is in prison. Paul writes about how they all must live.
He has a message for *believers at Philippi who argue. He writes about some actions and thoughts that are important for *believers. He uses his own life as an example, as he did in the last chapter.
Questions to ask
4:2 ~ What had caused trouble among the *believers at Philippi?
4:2-3 ~ To remove this trouble, what two things does Paul want?
4:3 ~ What do we learn about the *people who had caused this trouble among the *believers?
4:4-5 ~ Why should the *believers always be happy? What else does Paul say that they should do?
4:6 ~ Some ideas in our minds are not good. Paul writes about two of these. What are they?
4:6-7 ~ Paul does not want the *believers to have these bad ideas. What should they do instead?
4:7 ~ They should do what Paul asks. What will be the good result? Why can God make this happen?
4:8 ~ Instead of these bad ideas, what good things should the *believers think about? Make a list
4:9 ~ Whose example should they copy? What will be the result?
Something to do
What are some ideas on which all *believers must agree? There are some in these *verses. Try to think of others.
Paul writes about two women who do not agree. What causes trouble among *believers today? What can we do when *believers do not agree? (Here are some *verses that might help you: Romans 14:1-8; 1 Corinthians1:10; 2 Timothy 2:23, James 4;1.)
Paul writes about ‘the God who causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves’. What should I do when I have trouble inside myself? Write a short *prayer for when this happens.
Words to explain
believer ~ a person who knows and accepts Christ
people ~ men or women
prayer ~ what we say to God
study ~ words that help us to learn more about something
verse ~ (here) a small separate part of a chapter
See the other studies in this series: Explore Paul’s letter to the Philippians