Phil 1:1-11

  This is a letter from a man in love. Although the word only appears 5 times in this letter it appears 40 times in Paul’s letters and 43 times if we include the letter to Hebrews. In fact, all of Paul's New Testament letters are love letters because he is a man in love with the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  He is a man who has discovered personally the love of God in Christ.

  He is a man who is supremely in love with the Lord Jesus.

I’m in love, deeply in love,

with the Saviour of my soul

And I’ll sing praise to my King

while the years of eternity roll.

His love is in my heart never to depart

His blood has made me whole.

I’m in love with Jesus; He’s the lover of my soul

  He wants to share all the benefits and blessings of that love with those that he loves in Christ.

  This Church has a special place in his heart.

  It  was the first Church that he established in Europe .

  They had helped him financially at least twice before this letter was written. This letter is a thank you letter for another gift sent by the hand of a mutual friend, Epaphroditus.

 He prays for them; he ALWAYS prays for them.v4

  At this time his movements are restricted. He is a prisoner in Rome so he cannot pay them a visit.

  He wants the members of the Church in Philippi to experience God’s love in all its fullness.

  He wants their love, for all those things that Paul loves, to abound more and more.

  He wants it to abound in knowledge and depth of insight.

  He wants tem to be able to discern what is best.

  He wants them to be pure and blameless and fruitful. He wants them to be filled with the fruit of righteousness; the fruit that is the result of a close relationship with the Lord Jesus.

  He wants this to their continuing experience until the Lord returns.

  He wants their lives, each of them as individuals and all of them as a Church, to be to the glory and praise of God.