On Monday, 6 October 2014, the US Supreme Court let stand appeals court rulings permitting same-sex marriage in five states?Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Such decisions by the Court are done without explanation, as was this decision. But the silence of the Court here is deafening, for it sends a decisive signal that the accommodation to same-sex marriage is virtually complete within American culture and law. This action by the Court increased the number of states permitting same-sex marriage to 24. This will expand quickly to others.

In this study, we discuss this verse that characterizes the God’s values of love & compassion, and how we are to model this in our own lives.

In today’s study, we see how despite his imprisonment, Paul is determined & focused with an eternal view, and he encourages us to conduct ourselves in ways that are honorable to the Gospel.

Anyone who is involved in education or in pastoral ministry has observed that over the last several decades the family has been undergoing enormous stress and change. And the children who attend school or get involved in the church or Sunday school manifest the consequences of these changes. I recently came across a briefing paper for the Council on Contemporary Families written by Philip Cohen of the University of Maryland. It is a masterful summary of the new normal for families in the United States.

Paul tells the church at Philippi that his imprisonment is not hindering the gospel in any way. He also speaks of those who preach with impure intentions: God blesses the message, but not the motives.

When the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the early 20th century was brewing, one of Christianity?s greatest minds, J. Gresham Machen, wrote a book entitled Christianity and Liberalism which was published in 1921. In my judgment, it remains one of the most important books of the 20th century. It is relevant today for it reminds all of us who name the name of Christ, that the Christian faith is not only a faith commitment to Jesus Christ, but is also a set of doctrinal beliefs.

Discussion of Paul’s powerful prayer for the Philippians, and how it reflects God’s desire for each of us today: that as we love God, we gain knowledge & discernment, so that we may be pure & blameless, and righteous.

Dr. Eckman leads in-depth discussion of Philippians 1:6 – “?He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”, and discusses Paul’s teachings of how God ultimately wants us to see people as He sees them.

Because this summer is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, I have read several books this summer on the beginnings of this horrific war, a war that dismantled four great empires, remade the Middle East and laid the groundwork for World War II, an even more catastrophic war.

Join us as we begin a new study of the book of Philippians. We begin with a historical overview of Paul’s writings, and break down the significance of how Paul greets the people of Philippi in this letter.