Philippians 3:7-9

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith

What is the most important thing in your life?

Rating points?

 
 
 
 
Philippians 2:5-11
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This year, God has taught me much about contentment.  What should we pursue?  Verse 11 below tells us…  pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
 
 
 
1 Timothy 6:6-12

Faithfulness
 
 
God has called us to a life a faithfulness no matter what the situation. This morning, I was reading the story of Joseph as we see in Genesis 37-46. Joseph had many challenges – in his father’s house, in the pit, in slavery, in prison, leading Egypt. We know the end of the story, but he didn’t. He didn’t know the twists and turns ahead of him, but he was faithful to God in all the situations, and God used him in mighty ways to save a nation and bring glory to God.
 
 

Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.
 
In the Bible passage, Jesus clearly tells us that we can only have 1 God in our lives.  God doesn’t want a rival with our time, our emotions, our desires, our energy, and our focus. 
We cannot serve God and table tennis
We cannot serve God and our job
We cannot serve God and our stuff
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 1 Timothy 4:8
 

Some people ask me how it is possible to forgive others.  The answer is that in light of the vast number of sins that God has forgiven me, I forgive others.  One of my favorite Bible passages to help explain this is from Matthew 18.
 
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Matthew 18:21-35
 
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

Mark 8:34-36
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"
-Jesus

 
 
800 Fishing Trips
 
 
I'm very thankful that my dad invested so much time into me and still does to this day.  Growing up, we did many activities together including going on 800 fishing trips during the first 20 years of my life.  Some highlights included catching carp when I was 4 years old, catching walleye when I was 7, catching salmon when I was 9, catching steelhead when I was 12, catching massive sharks and other ocean fish when I was 14, and later going spearfishing as well.