Aim Small, Miss Small

A final goodbye to 2023 and hello 2024.

• Aim small, miss small.
• One thing I notice for sure year by year.
• It becomes easier to decipher what is important in life.
• As a younger person so many things things seem so big and important and life ending if they do not come to past.
• But year to year I see my list getting smaller.
• Not that the items on the list are smaller but rather more focused.
• If you have not already take a minute and make your list of important things moving into 2024.
• We will launch into 2024 doing a deep dive into the Book of Philippians.
• 4 humility filled chapters that will change each of our lives to begin 2024.

Aiming to become a Partner of the Gospel.

Philippians 1:3-6 (ESV) 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.

• Aiming to become a Gospel partner.
• We are familiar with business partners.
• A partner assist in making provision to accomplish a certain mission.
• the sharing of what one has in anything
• a gift jointly contributed,
• exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship and/or participation.
• The Philippine church had a revelation of the importance of partnering with Paul as an agent of the Gospel.

Philippians 4:15-17 (ESV) 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

• Fruit that increases to your credit.

Philippians 2:5-7 (ESV) 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Introduction:

• Seeing I missed all of Christmas you will have to bear with me to get Christmas out of my system.
• The babe in the manger.
• Luke 2:16 (ASV) And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger.
• Ela… The ultimate Ant Man trick.

1. He became small.

1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

• He left Heaven.
• Was made manifest.

Colossians 1:15-17 (ESV) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

• He left glory.
• The Lord did it Himself.

Isa.7:14 – Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

2. Becoming Small:

The babe in the stable
Seeming so fragile so vulnerable
Yet all heaven on alert
An army of angels nearby
barely holding back their glory
The babe in his mother’s arms
while holding the universe in His
We try to grasp the idea
God becoming a small man
In order to draw us near.
If you find becoming small a hard thing to do Just take a trip down manger lane.
So we think it is hard to become small
hard to take the low road
harder to take the hard road
Always stay small in our own eyes.

3. He emptied himself.

Philippians 2:4-8 (ESV) 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form,

• Emptied:
• It can be used of removing things from a container until the container is empty, of pouring something out until there is nothing left.
• Here, Paul uses the most vivid word possible to make clear the sacrifice of the incarnation.
• The glory of divinity Jesus gave up willingly in order to become human.
• He emptied himself of his deity to take upon himself his humanity.
• It is useless to ask how; we can only stand in awe at the sight of him, who is almighty God, hungry and weary and in tears.

Philippians 2:4 (ESV) Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

• To empty oneself is being confident knowing that you can be refilled. John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

4. Jesus emptied Himself that we could be filled.

Ephesians 3:19 (KJV) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

• Jesus – the fulness of God – emptied Himself – so that we His creation – being empty – might become full.
• Humbled Himself and became part of His creation.
• Came to break the code.

• The fruit of prolonged faithfulness.
• Times and the seasons.
• Now, don’t get me wrong we always need to be faithful:
• Faithful with the little.
• Faithful with the much.
• Faithful while we are waiting for the next season.
• The Lord has put something special and unique in each one of us.
• Jesus is code key that unlocks the unique gifting or seasons.