Philippians 1:12-18

"What has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel" Paul is greatly encouraged by the continued opportunity God has given him to spread the gospel, despite the poor circumstances.

And so it has been in lockdown! We have seen God providing more and more opportunities to share Christ with those around us and in our community.

People around us buy into good news sources or "gospels" - things that seem to give truth into their lives. But we have seen many of those things crumble and so we have the opportunity to bring people the real gospel that can give them what they're looking for.

Choose Joy
Part 2

Paul rejoiced in this new opportunity to share the gospel. He saw God's provision and rejoices in the fact that He has did so.

He also saw a new boldness among the Christians who he wrote to. He rejoiced that God had used them to go out and preach to many people.

Even more surprisingly, Paul was rejoicing to hear about groups gossiping about him. Why? Because they were talking about his message. Even if it made things worse for him, he saw that the gospel was being talked about, and that was so much better.

We should pray to be like Paul. That we see the negative situations around us through the lens of Christ and the gospel being shared; and that those things would bring us joy.