In our last visit I encouraged you to read the book of Philippians in the New Testament and note every reference to the word joy or rejoice. They are mentioned 14 times. This is the first step in doing a “3 C” study approach: collect, correlate and crystallize.
I also encouraged you to write an explanation of what each reference says about joy or rejoicing. After you’ve done this correlate what you found into an outline. When I did this I came up with the following outline:
Title - Cultivating a Joyful Spirit. The three main points I came up with in the outline were: Joy through fellowship, joy through service, and joy through worship. Then I amplified each of these main points with sub points.
Under joy through fellowship I noted that in chapter 1:4 Paul indicated that when he prayed for the Philippians he experienced joy. The answers he’d already experienced in seeing them grow and partner with him caused joy to well up in his heart.
Then based on chapter 2:2, he said he always rejoiced when Christians lived in harmony. That’s what Jesus prayed for and that’s what Paul encouraged them to pursue. In fact, he said, “make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.”
This is not something that comes automatically. It takes work. It takes humility in not pushing your own agenda. It takes mutual love. It takes patience in listening to each other as you try to craft a purpose. But the end result brings joy!
