There we go. All right. So good evening. Glad you all are here. And glad it's just not Laura and myself in here, or she would get up and walk out on, of course. But a few things that I want to make sure we're aware of right up front is the schedule. And so I put that in your handout so that in the coming weeks, you can go ahead and read ahead. And good evening, brother. You can grab a handout right there on the back table. So you'll see the Wednesday nights that we have and what we'll be studying so that way you become prepared for that and Just a note on July 16th. So the Each class has an elder that's going to be in here. It's supposed to be Nate Gantt He's gone on some business right now and on the 16th, he and I both are going to be gone so Mike Germany is going to be teaching the class that Wednesday, so Let's talk about some expected outcomes. I think that's always important. So the reason that, the reason I think we're here is one, for us all, to include myself to gain a better understanding of the Book of Philippians. And so why is that important? Why is it important for us to learn the Book of Philippians better? So we'll know how to live in joy, okay? All right. Yeah, Keith. Okay, great. I think it's also so we can teach others, right? So we can share it with, if you have kids, with your kids, if you have grandkids, with your grandkids, your co-workers. Tim and I were just talking a little bit about his work. He gets to be a gopher, so I'm sure he gets to see and meet lots of different folks throughout, and he gets to take folks for drives around town and things like that. So it's an opportunity just to share a little bit about what you learn. And so there's quite a bit here in the book, and I'm excited for us to get through it and to see what we can dig out of the Book of Philippians. And I think the third is just to be encouraged to study deeper outside of the class. So this isn't an end-all be-all. We may have to do a sprint at the end if I'm not managing my time well. And so if that becomes the case, then hopefully you'll see something as we read through the passage that we're studying each week, and it'll make you want to dig a little bit deeper. Maybe there'll be a question that doesn't get answered. So to me, that's the three things that I kind of wrote down as some expected outcomes for this class. So we're gonna follow the COMA form for the study to kind of work through. And tonight we're doing an intro and we're gonna go chapter one, verses one through 11. And so that's what we're gonna be looking at this evening. And so I'm gonna ask some questions. I think I have some of them written down there. I've got the answers on my sheet. You don't have them on yours. Some are softball questions and others are maybe something a little deeper. So let's start with who wrote the epistle to the church at Philippi? Paul. Okay, so Apostle Paul. He wrote the epistle. What's that word mean? What's that word, that fancy word, epistle mean? We don't use that word a lot, right? A letter, right? So it was a letter. He wrote a letter to the church of Philippi. This particular epistle is part of a group of epistles called what? Something a little more specific. Because there are other Pauline epistles. The prison epistles. Yes, that's correct. So the prison epistles. So he wrote four books while he was in prison that we know of for sure. And we're actually going to take a look at each of those here in just a couple of minutes. And so keep in mind that he is in prison at the time. Does anybody happen to know when the Church of Philippi was established? I'm asking this question because it's very important for us to really comprehend a timeline. So Act 16 is where it's mentioned, okay? So it was during his second, during Paul's second missionary journey. And there's a question, follow one, that I'll ask now. How many missionary journeys did Paul make? He made four, okay? Four journeys. Okay, the second one is when he was there and they say that that occurred between 49 and 52 AD. So I'm going to tie all this together here in a minute, so kind of just stick with me. So the church at Philippi is established at that time. And does anybody happen to know when this epistle was written? So what time period was Paul in prison? Somebody said 62? OK, 60 to 62 is when they think Paul was in prison there in Rome and wrote this epistle. So now, let's think about this timeline here. So, Christ was crucified when? What year? 33 AD, okay. And then we have Paul's first missionary, excuse me, second missionary journey, 49 to 52. So we're looking at about a 16-ish year gap from Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and then the ascension. And then we look at 60 to 62. So we're talking another eight to 10 years after he started this church in Philippi. that he writes this letter. So something that I found interesting as I was looking through all this and giving this some thought is how, let me ask this question. Jordan, you're military, right? Anybody else, Matt, you're military? Okay, Keith, all right. Have you moved more than once? So have you had more than one duty station? He's smiling. Yeah, right. Have you made friends at those other duty stations? How close would you say you stayed with those friends? Not very? Okay. A few close. But in the grand scheme of how many friends you probably made at a duty station, very few, right? And we have what at our disposal nowadays to stay close? We have the internet, right? We have social media. We can stay connected to a lot of people very easily. Not so in this day, right? So there's no social media, there's no, I mean obviously I'm stating the obvious there, but I think sometimes we get so normalized to our society that it's really difficult for us to put ourselves in their society, right? So here it is almost 10 years after he started this church and he's writing them this letter. We'll see just how intimate he is as he writes this letter. I just found that very fascinating. We talked about how many missionary journeys. Does anybody happen to know the importance of the city of Philippi? This was very interesting as I was doing some research on this. Depending on how good your introduction in your Bible is, it may tell you some good information about it. I'll go ahead and just for sake of time, we're told about it, somebody said it earlier, Act 16, right? So, Act 16, actually, if you turn over to Acts 16, 9 through 14, we're gonna take a look at that, Acts 16, 9 through 14. And I am there. All right, so reading in verse 9, it says, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace and the following day to Neapolis and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we'll stop there. So just so you know, The makeup of this area, one, it's a big commerce area because it's along a major route from Rome into Asia Minor. And so it was well-traveled, and there were probably lots of different commercial goods being handled there. One thing that we know was handled there is who was in Philippi that got baptized, a few verses later. Lydia, right? And Lydia was, what was her occupation? A seller of purple, which was a very expensive color of textile to own at that time. So we take a look here. One of the things that that Roman colony granted them was that there were certain privileges that they had in that city, especially for the Roman army. If you retired, you could live there, and basically you lived there tax-free. So there was a mix of retired military Roman soldiers, commerce. So anyway, it was kind of a hodgepodge, almost kind of sounds like Fayetteville maybe, right? A little bit of everything. And so that was the importance of the city. So now we're gonna do a little bit of just speculation here. What are some of the challenges that Paul would have faced while starting the church there? I'll refer you to Acts 16. You remember what happened to Paul? Okay, but there was a, so they're preaching Jesus and was that very welcome in the city of Philippi at that time? He's shaking, he said no. Why? Divination was practiced in, of course, the slave girl. Divination, idol worship. And we have to remember, we're not in the nation of Israel at this time. We are in Macedonia, in case you're wondering exactly where that is. So it's southern Greece, basically, today, is where this is taking place. Exactly right so And so that goes into our next question of what would what sacrifices would the believers have had to make? In order to be followers of Christ there, so what kind of? Things do you think maybe they would have encountered? issues they would have run into Mmm, changing jobs. That's one I didn't have listed. That's good. I mean, I had monetary, but I didn't get that specific. So yeah, they may have been in a, in a job where they were making money off of those trinkets and things. And now all of a sudden they were believers and they weren't believing in this divination and they weren't buying into basically making a dishonest living. They were looking at, you know, being followers of Christ. All right. Something else? Anything else? I'd say safety. I mean, because it's saying how they were told that they advocated customs not lawful for the Romans to accept or practice, and then the crowd joined in beating them. So, I mean, if you're going to start affiliating yourself with what they're teaching and following that teaching, you're going to be potentially subject to those same punishments. Great. Yeah. So safety. I also had personal relationships because I'm sure that they had built, you know, their little network just like we do today. If you haven't, if you're not in a workplace where networking is something that's important, you should be in the military because it's very important in the military. It's very important in the government. You need, if you want to be able to get work done quickly, it behooves you to make good connections with people and not burn bridges, right? So they would have had probably built friendships over the years and now all of a sudden this man named Paul comes into town and preaches something that is just I would have to say they probably had heard of it, right? Because I think that even talks about that a little bit in Act 16. But the thing is, is that it would have been almost just outlandish, right? To them, even though divination and all that would have seemed outlandish to me, to them it seemed perfectly normal. But here comes this man named Paul and the Holy Spirit does the work. And there are people who believe and are baptized and start this church in this little city, well, this larger city, actually, of Philippi. We don't have the exact number, but they estimate somewhere between 10 and 20,000, which would have been a pretty good-sized city back in those days for that area. And so what I think I left this on your paper as well, but so consider Paul's heart. He's in prison in Rome. Okay, so bear in mind, second missionary journey out of four, right? And at this point, I believe he's probably made his third one. And some say that his ministry while in prison and a trip he makes after his release, after writing Philippians, makes up his fourth missionary journey. But he's in prison in Rome, and he has a current mission. I mean, Paul's not sitting there sulking. He's not partaking of the lavish lifestyle in the Roman palace. He is preaching Christ to the people in the royal household. So, amongst that, he takes the time to write this letter to the church in Philippi. And we're going to find out why later on. Some of you probably already know if you know the book of Philippians. But what spurred his writing this letter is the fact that he received a gift from this church, right? So we'll get into more of that later on. But we know that that is the reason that he wrote this letter. And so what questions, let's move on to observation. Now that we've got a little bit of context, we understand some of the background of when this was written. What observations, as you look there, let me turn back over, if you're already there, Philippians chapter one, what are you, what's jumping out at you as far as questions in verses one through 11? And it doesn't have to be straight from a verse or anything like that. Just any particular questions you might have regarding this setting. Well, there's been a lot of mention of Paul, but this mentions Timothy specifically in verse 1 as well, along with Paul. If you look at, let's read this passage here real quick, and then we'll have time for some more questions, but there in verse one, Paul and Timothy, and I'm reading from the ESV, servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy. Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. So, as we read those verses, any other questions that maybe come up? So, Daniel, I was kind of on the same track as you. I found it interesting. If everybody will look there in verse one, notice how he says, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. And then he addresses three groups, right? The saints, the overseers, and the deacons. So my question is, why does he call himself and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus because aren't all those three groups also servants of Christ Jesus? Right? So that was the question I had. So that's where I started looking and I started doing a little digging. And the reason that that servants of Christ Jesus is they were actually called as apostles to go out, or Paul was called as an apostle to go out, and he and Timothy are now doing a work together. And these other folks, it's not talking down to them. So it's not saying, well, we're the servants of Christ Jesus, but you guys are just the bishops and the overseers. That's not how it's to be read. So that was one thing. The other thing that I had was how large was this church? I mean, we don't know, right? But if you have saints, overseers, and deacons, right? So overseers are elders, right? So they have elders and deacons in the church. So, I mean, obviously, I don't think the congregation is 10 people, right? Because if it's 10 people, you have, you know, more chiefs than Indians, right? So as we think about that, I have to believe that, you know, like I said, it's been about 8 to 10 years since Paul was there. And this church, if we read later on, they sent a pretty substantial financial gift. And so The church was probably a fairly good size. We don't have a number, but that was one of the things that came to my mind as I was reading minis. This church is a pretty established church if it's got those offices filled and they still have a pretty good size number. And then we talked about why now. So why would he write the letter now? And it's because it's in response to the receipt of this gift. So those were some things that came out that I thought about. Anyone else? Anything jumping out? Yeah, Keith. He identifies the character of the church overall. So that span of time and then in verse Five, he says, the partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. So that was kind of the character of that church, regardless of how big it actually was. It may have been sizable, it may not have been, but that was the spirit and character that he found from the first day when he established that church. He was teaching them, fast forward now, a decade-ish later, and that's still what they are known for in poetry. He was hearing reports of the church as he's traveling and doing different things and talking to other people over there. So even though he hasn't been there, it's strong enough that he knows that's what they're known for. Not just because of the gift now. Because you know messages are coming back and forth. Because like I said, it's a city that's on the main street route. So things are going back to Rome as well. And so as it's going back to Rome, Not necessarily Saints from the church are making trips to Rome but word is is spreading. Hey, there's this going on in Philippi's and so forth So I would have no doubt that Paul has probably been able to keep Get updates on how the church is doing there So let me ask this question How would this letter have been received? How do you go, yes, Clyde? It's kind of interesting to me in verse one, instead of him saying to the bishops and deacons and the saints, he refers to the saints first. Uh-huh, yeah. In his conversation. Now, in my opinion, the bishops and deacons are saints, too. They're all saints. Right. But it's just interesting that he chose to speak to the congregation, so to speak. Yeah. No, that's a good point. Yeah. Yeah, and what jumps to mind when you point that out is that because we know that the church is the people, is the body, rather than obviously the building. Obviously, it's not referenced in the building. But that's the first thing that jumped into my mind as to why he might be referring to the saints first is because he's referring to who the church actually is, the body. Sure, and then address the leadership as having additional responsibility, perhaps. I was just thinking that the financial aspect of the gift probably came from the congregation. More than the pastor saying, alright, I'm giving 50%, let's do it. So, now let me go back to the question of how do you think this letter would have been received? And the reason I ask this question is because there are other letters that Paul wrote to other churches that... Exactly, not, you know, like, oh no. We know we haven't been doing right, and now Paul's written us a letter, right? But that's not the case here. And so, you know, all of a sudden, this letter comes back to the church. And so I think there would have been great excitement, personally, not even knowing what was written in the letter. I mean, sure, maybe there's some correction coming our way, right? But at the same time, they love Paul. Like I said, he started the church. feel like they know him pretty well. They've sent this financial gift and now this letter's come back and they want to know how's Paul doing? And what does Paul have to say to us? So I think there would have been a pretty large amount of excitement around it. Now, later on, we'll read more about Epaphroditus, who was the one who delivered the gift, and then he gets to Rome, and then he gets really sick, to the point near death, and then gets better, and he returns with this letter. And so, you know, to them, Paul is their champion, right? I mean, he's their champion, he's their prominent preacher of the scriptures. And so, for that reason, I think it probably would have been So as hopefully these kinds of questions are kind of sparking in you and when I read when I read through things I need to try to broaden your thought on the whole just you know what would it have been like to be in that church you know what would it have been like to have actually met Paul, right? And as far as we know, the way the church really got started was this gal Lydia gets met. And then from there, others hear the gospel and the gospel spreads. And then, you know, they saw the testimony of Paul during the beatings and all of that. And Silas are in prison. And so, That's one thing that I started pulling out of a lot of these different segments that were on our passages or preface, whichever words you want to use there too. As you look at it, what I see in it is what is the testimony, right? And that's kind of what I want us to take from this series is what is our testimony? I think we downplay our testimony sometimes. And so this, as we read this next section here, verses 3 through 11, it's going to, I think, kind of open our eyes a little bit to how this is, how this letter really kind of spurred them on. So let's look at verses one and two. There's a very interesting thing that I noticed and found out this week. I don't know why I never saw it before. But the four epistles that he wrote on prison were to Colossians, to Ephesians, to Philippians, and to Philemon. Okay, or the book of Philemon, which is actually written to Onesimus. No, it's written to Philemon about Onesimus. Sorry. So let's look real quick. I know we don't have a ton of time tonight, but let's look over at Ephesians. So just a couple pages over. Now, keeping in mind what we read there in verses one and two of Philippians, listen to Ephesians. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, so similar, right? Instead of a servant, doesn't mention Timothy here. By the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is word for word what it is in Philippians. Now look over at Colossians. And we have Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. And then over to Philemon. I'm getting there. Maybe. Well, since it's taking me a minute, somebody else read that. What do you got? Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, a brother. So we have four epistles written during the imprisonment that have the same if not word-for-word, very similar grace and peace to you. If you take a college class on any of these books, one of the things they're going to tell you is this is a standard greeting. But, I was like, well, maybe, but is it kind of like just our, like, hey, how you doing? or is it something more, right? So I really, I looked up, I believe I left it in your papers there, but grace and peace, did I leave that in there? All right, so this is going to kind of tie in with later on what he expounds on, but so when we talk about grace and peace, So grace is favor, and I got this from Blue Letter Bible. So I did not make this up myself. I went in there and I looked up in the inner linear and found this. Favor of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ. keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues. All right, that fits, especially as we read our verses here again in a little bit. And then peace speaks of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot of whatsoever sort it is. So we talked earlier about safety, right? So I have no doubt they were They were facing persecution. We read throughout church history of persecution of the saints. So Paul is saying not just, oh, grace and peace, or hope everything's well with you. It means something. He's saying, look, I get it. I'm in prison. I, you know, if we don't rest in Christ and the power of God, then we will just, you know, fall apart, right? So he's saying have that peace, be grounded in that peace, and also, Have the grace, have the favor to continue to be grown by God so that you not only know the word of God, but that you are actually living out the word of God, okay? And I say that word of God, you must remember that, did I have that in here? I think I cut that out of mine. But stop and think about when I say the word of God, to them, what did that mean? How many books do you think they had? So they probably had the Old Testament, right? I mean, we had 400 years of intertestamental period. You know, the manuscripts, although they weren't, you know, proliferated, there had been copies made and it was being spread abroad. Even if they didn't have it in writing, they had it by the word of an apostle, someone who was coming along and preaching that word. So, when we talk about, oh, I'm sorry, I do have it here in my notes. was written by this time, Galatians, James, 1st-2nd Thessalonians, 1st-2nd Corinthians, Romans, and possibly, we don't know necessarily which order, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon were written in, but they were written so close together that probably hadn't been distributed most likely, right? Did I leave that in y'all's notes there? Did I cut that out? I'm sorry. So Matthew, if you want to write it down, Matthew, Galatians, James, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, which kinda is why I alluded to the fact that Paul, if you got a letter from Paul, it maybe was really gonna be good, or maybe it was not gonna be so good, right? So I'm sure word had spread about the Corinthian church by this time, because it's in that same region. And then you have Romans, and like I said, possibly Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. So several books of the New Testament, not even written, And so when we say, well, how did they not know? Because they didn't have it, OK? So we want to make sure that we, that's another part of making sure we keep our mindset of in that time period. Because we get, oh, I'll go pick up my Bible, and it's right there. And man, these people, they just were thick in the head. They weren't thick in the head. They just didn't have the scriptures. They didn't have the complete scriptures at the time. And so, those are the books that were written. And so, we have, so that brought me to a different question. Who do you write this letter to? The saints? The saints of Philippi, right? So, the saints at Philippi. So, that means it doesn't apply to us, right? We're not saints of Philippi. He wrote it to them, right? I'm just asking what your thoughts are. What are your thoughts? Right. So does that mean that we don't need to worry about the book of Philippians because he wrote it to them? No. Actually, it was very interesting that Pastor Sean even mentioned this during his message on Sunday evening. I was listening. I know some of you heard him say, Darren may or may not be listening. I was listening. Second Timothy 3, 16 and 17, right? Is Philippians part of scripture? Yes. Okay. So what does second Timothy 3, 16 and 17 say? All scripture is given in it for reproof for instruction and righteousness. Okay. So, Yes, he did write it to the Philippians. Is there still items and things in here to encourage us, to instruct us? Absolutely. Okay. So, but I think it's a question that could definitely come up, right? Earlier I said, why are we studying this? Well, so you can teach your grandkids or your kids or whoever. It might be a very valid question for them. your coworker may be like, well, why do you, why do you adhere to whatever's in Philippians? It wasn't written to you. It was written to the church in Philippi. You say, well, yes, but it's part of scripture and all scripture has meaning to us and things that we can apply to our lives. All right. So we talked about grace and peace. Did anybody have anything that they want to bring up there about that? Something different? My main point there was, I just don't feel it was just a, just a panned greeting, you know, or canned greeting. It wasn't just something, well, you always say that, you know, and so it was, I think there was more to it than just the greeting. So let's look in verses three through 11. I gotta make sure I'm on time here. I'm doing pretty well. I think we can make it. We, so, Let's see, is this where I have your blanks? Okay, great. All right, so here's some things that I thought of, and we'll take a look at it, and we can discuss, and you guys give me some thoughts there, but Paul expresses gratefulness. If we look in verses three through five, gratefulness, and this wasn't always the case with Paul's writings. And I might say rightly so, right? I mean, you shouldn't commend people if they're living lives that aren't commendable. So, you know, I'm not, this isn't me downing Paul for, well, he should have written nicer things. No, that's not what I'm saying. Then we have Paul commends in verse five, he commends their partnership. I put in there, in parentheses, fellowship. I think that's another word that could fit in there very well. My Bible says participation. Your what now? My Bible says participation. Participation. What? NASB. NASB. OK. So their participation, their fellowship, their partnership. So a bond, right? They had a bond. in the gospel, and then I wrote there, thinking, being, doing, and proclaiming. Right? So, if they have this bond, if they're partnered together in the ministry of Christ, then what that should be driving each of us to, so this goes back to, it wasn't just to the Philippians, it applies to us today, is we need to be progressing in that that grace, right? Once again, if you look back at that definition, that's pretty powerful. So, Christ keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian faith to exercise the Christian virtues. So, he commends them for that. The third one there, Paul emphasizes his confidence in the genuineness authenticity of their faith and in God's desire and ability to complete that work. We call that today what? What do we call that? Does anybody know? When we talk about an ongoing... Do you say it? Okay. but a particular type, because there's three types of sanctification that we normally talk about, right? So you have positional sanctification, which is when you get saved, okay? And then during this life, we have progressive sanctification, okay? We're a work in progress. We should be a work in progress, and we should be progressing, not regressing. Right? So that is exactly right though, Sarah. So sanctification, progressive sanctification there in verse six. The next one is Paul speaks of their willingness to continue in their faith to God and their support to Paul, regardless of Paul's circumstances or location. That we see there in verse seven. If we look down there in verse seven, it is right for me to feel this way about you because I hold you in my heart for you all are partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Could have been pretty easy for them to just kind of write Paul off, right? I mean, he's in prison, but if they were going to do that, they would have done that when he was in Philippi, right? I mean, what would be the difference? As a matter of fact, they should be rejoicing even more because he's now got the ear of Caesar. So anyway, they stayed with it and they were continuing in their faith to God there. In verses nine to 11, so when we say, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, Paul prays for their growth or increase in love, knowledge of God, and discernment, so they may produce fruit. Why those three things? Let's talk about that for a minute. And I'm gonna stop talking. I want you to talk. Tell me when you read those three things. Why love? Well, I think it's kind of connected to what she said about in the NASB where it says participation. Like, a lot of times we think the gospel It can be except let's think about our society today it's a If everybody is there, they get a participation award. Drives me crazy, right? Okay, it's not that type of participation. It's not just that you showed up. It's that you're living it out. It's that you're living it out. And so you need to have the love that Jesus had for the unlovable, the outcasts of society. You need to have the knowledge and discernment, especially living in Philippi with all of the everything going on. Well, even the greatest command was love God and love your neighbors yourselves. I mean, if it gets boiled down to those two things, then that should be an emphasis for sure. Okay. How good are we at loving the brethren? Oh yeah, I'm going to meddle. I'm going to meddle here for a few minutes. How good? Because, I mean, let's look at, so we're told to love the brethren in the word of God, correct? We're told to love God. We think that's pretty easy. It's not. And I think we stink at it, quite honestly, a lot of times, right? We're told to love our neighbor. That's not the brethren, necessarily, right? You might have a next-door neighbor who's a believer. You might not. And it's not just your next-door neighbor. We know that, right? So it's those you come in contact in your daily life, right? So we're told to love those folks. And then we're also told to love our enemies. Okay, let's not forget that one. We like to forget that one. Because we don't want to love our enemies, right? That's why they're called our enemies. So, I go back to my first question. How good are we at loving the brethren? Because I will submit to you, if we can't love God well, and we can't love the brethren well, we're not gonna get to the enemies, right? And are any of those, does God list them in a priority? Other than love God, right? That's the priority and love your neighbor as yourself. But as far as neighbor as yourself, enemy and brethren, I mean, we aren't given a specific order. And so that's, That's why he's praying that their love will increase. Because guess what? These people in Philippi, they were just like us. Human beings, with our preferences, right? Well, I don't like the way so-and-so dresses, so I just can't love them. Nope, I don't see that in the scriptures. What I see is the commandment to love. Right? And it's not easy. But if we don't have love, then the knowledge, what good does the knowledge do us? It doesn't do anything for us, right? Because really the reason that you need to have the love is because when you gain the knowledge and you go to share the knowledge, you're sharing it in love. Because we're really good at sharing it in judgment, right? Oh, you sinners over there. You need Christ. You know, all you need is a whooping and Jesus. Well, you know, that's, that's not, yeah. What you got Keith? It just reminds me of first Corinthians. And so looking at this, it's kind of like, hey, there's that look in the mirror check. It's easy to think you've attained it. So they obviously added a measure of it. But it's going to be an ongoing thing. And I think that's, as I read through it, it's like an encouragement. Hey, you're there, but don't think that you've gotten there. It's a step, a continuation moving forward. And notice they didn't say that your love may abound more. He said, more and more. So even when you think you're good and you're loving well enough, you need to keep working at it, because we just aren't. Jordan, what do you got? In the verse right after the one that Keith had mentioned, it says, you know, if I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and even if I have faith as to remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. And it's kind of, I won't say ironic, it's providential that he mentions knowledge and discernment. What do you mean by that? Well, because there's, I think, a connection between the two verses. What's the other word that we normally kind of associate with discernment? Wisdom, right? And we say that wisdom is It's basically putting into practice the knowledge. If I go to Daniel, and I talk to Daniel like he's an idiot because I've been studying, take your pick, Caitlin Clark's stats or something like that, and it's like just rattling everything off, is he gonna listen to me? No, because I'm not being discerned. If I'm not, You know, if I study the word of God and I have all this knowledge, but then all I ever do is talk down to people when I try to share it, that's not discerning. Also, you know, discernment I think also has to do with timing, right? Would you agree? Disagree? What do I mean by timing? Sometimes people just aren't ready, but as time goes on, If you treat them with respect and love instead of looking down on them, you just start building that relationship and they're more susceptible to listen or maybe something happens in their life and they're like, of it. You have the answer that I need to hear. My daughter's fiance, he is an unbeliever. And he's extremely smart. I'm talking into quantum physics smart. And this is like way above anything I can even think about. And we've had quite a few conversations about God. I don't know, yesterday we ended up spending a couple hours together and all we did was talk about God and it was completely different because I've spent a little more time getting to know him and know about his life and the things that's made him who he is today. And the whole thing, I mean, he was just receptive It wasn't like we were button heads. Up to this point, it was like I just felt this tension. And I mean, I'll be honest, I even got angry a couple of times. You're not hearing what I'm saying. But this time, it was the best conversation I've had with an unbeliever, I think, ever. when you pull up to the drive-through window at your choice of restaurant is not the time to try to share the gospel, all right? That's what I mean by timing, okay? It's called discernment, all right? When you're sitting next to somebody on an airplane, especially if you're flying to Jordan for 13 hours like I did a couple months ago, that's a great time. You have a captive audience at that point. Now, I'm not saying be obnoxious, But at the same time, that's when you just have to use that discernment. Clyde, what you got?