Pastor Bob Fox
Philippians 3:1-3

Emptiness―What God really wants is to impart to us the kind of life that evil has robbed us of. Three experiences mark this kind of life.

1. “Worshipping by the Spirit of God”―A lifestyle prompted by God that puts on display His goodness and power (Jer. 31:33-34). God enables us to:
• Know His desire, then engage our bodies in it (Rom. 12:1-3).
• Worship as a way of life, not just at a certain time and place (Jn. 4:19-24).
• Express Him to others in diverse, practical ways, rather than just in rituals (James 1:27).
2. “Glorying in Christ Jesus”―The joyful, open embrace of Christ as the ultimate treasure (Gen 15:1).
• Confidently rest, knowing that to have Him is to have it all (Rom. 8:32).
• Openly embrace our perpetual incapability and celebrate His grace (2 Cor 12:10).
• Assign meaning to the rest of life in light of the weightiness of this blessing (Matt 13:44-46).
3. “Putting no confidence in the flesh”―We can experience rest from the nagging truth about our own spiritual strength and stamina (Psa 130:3). God wants us to:
• Stop thinking we can make the good outweigh the bad. Believe in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
• Rest in the moment in front of us because of His overwhelming strength (2 Cor. 4:7-9).
• Wade in, expecting then experiencing His power (2 Cor 2:14-3:6).

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Read Pastor Bob’s personal notes on this passage.

Pastor Bob Fox
Philippians 3:1-4:20

“reboot_” will help you recognize critical moments when God wants you to shut down in terms of what you have always done, and restart, thinking from His perspective. It is a critical moment when AHA! or maybe AAH! you see clearly…

1. The reality of your “flesh”―the instinctive games you play to gain gratification, affirmation and advantage.
2. That your spirituality is fleshly―you use godly things to advance your own interests.
3. That the real treasure hunt in life is to gain more of Christ, not more of you or more for you.
4. That more of Christ is God’s will for you, and you must reboot until you achieve it.
5. That you must choose the true pattern of the faith from among the fleshly ones.
6. That there is a new kind of emotional life that the truth enables.
7. That your mind can direct your mind and that’s what the Holy Spirit does.
8. That instead of finding contentment, you must cultivate it.

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Pastor Bob Fox
Colossians 2:1-2

God is challenging us to be missional―to pursue the mission of Christ in each moment regardless of the task or activity of the moment.

1. It is “struggling” for the completion of God’s family. This involves thinking, talking, praying, innovating, motivating, traveling, sacrificing, giving, whatever, to bring about spiritual progress in others.
2. It is being preoccupied by the desire to bring about four things in others.
• To see them joined to Christ.
• To see them strengthened through supportive fellowship.
• To see their understanding of truth completed.
• To see them arrive at a full experience of Christ.

THIS IS CHURCH!―Missional living is a lifestyle in which life and church are mixed and this is God’s heart for us. Here’s what it will look like.

1. We’ll think “mission” all week long, owning the unfinished business.
2. We’ll enter every activity with a specific mindset―What is God doing here and how can I give it a push?
3. We’ll seek Divine appointments, and be people-driven not task-driven.
4. We’ll reach out to all people, even the unknown and passed over.
5. We’ll model love and provide for linkage to Christ.
6. We’ll engage in the “earthy” to facilitate the spiritual.
7. We’ll finish well, die secure, then live the dream!

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Who do you think the Nephilim are? Are they fallen angels? Are they giants?

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Grace and peace, Dave Lindstrom

The Nephilim of Genesis 6:4 probably comes from the Hebrew word pronounced “Nephal” which means “to fall” or pluralized “fallen ones”. According to the context of the passage found in Genesis 6:1,2 people were increasing on the earth (Genesis 6:1), there was marriage going on with the sons of God and the daughters of men (Genesis 6:2), and wickedness was great on the earth grieving Yahweh (Genesis 6:5,6).

1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

The Nephilim were part of this offspring between the sons of God and daughters of men (Genesis 6:4) and seemed to exist before the flood and after the flood as mighty warriors and giant sized people (Genesis 6:4, Numbers 13:33, Deuteronomy 1:22, 2:10).

The main question to ask in this passage is,” Who are these sons of God and daughters of men?” Bible scholars have arrived at 4 possibilities: 1) Fallen Angels and Mortals, 2) Godly Line and Ungodly Line, 3) Dynastic Rulers and Commoners, and 4) Man and Woman. Even though all 4 views have some strengths and weaknesses, as other Scripture is compared, the main two views given the most support are 1 and 2.

Either the sons of God are the fallen angels who were allowed by Yahweh to have sexual relations and marital relations with human woman (view 1) or the sons of God are the believing line of godly people coming from the lines of Seth, Enoch, Noah, etc. who start intermarrying with non-believing lines of people (daughters of men). Depending on which view you take gives you the Nephilim which are either a combination of half-demon (fallen angel) and human or a combination of a godly believing line intermarrying with an ungodly believing line.

Due to the difficulty of the passage, a spirit of Christian grace should be given with a leaning to views 1 and 2 as best fitting the Scripture. There is quite a bit of study to do in supporting and disproving each of these positions that the space of this explanation will not allow. My personal view is position 2, the Godly Line and Ungodly Line. My main support for this view comes from the context of the passage (where people, not other life forms) on the earth are multiplying in wickedness, angels were not previously mentioned in Genesis before this, and the fact that nowhere in the rest of Scripture does it allow for angels to interact and mate with humans. Also, Jesus seems to
discredit this idea in Matthew 24:38, Luke 17:27, Matthew 22:30.

Pastor Bob Fox
Isaiah 40:10-11

Families become unhealthy when the members are unable to act with balance towards each other. God provides for parents a great example of emotional balance in the way He responds to His family. Good parenting involves increasing our capacity to:

1. Exercise parental authority in a relational style.
2. Deal rationally, while conveying deepest emotion.
3. Establish clear expectations but equip in appropriate ways for success.
4. Create structure/predictability while maintaining spontaneity/flexibility.
5. Be uncompromising but accepting, touched continually but not manipulated.
6. Allow pain and loss, yet protect.
7. Discern God’s voice in the moment. Anyone who seeks to lead as God does, can count on being strengthened by God to do it.

Listen to Bob.