The River 2025/26 - ALIVE Lesson 10

of Christ the king.

He said there would be

the Lord

where

the power of

paid it all.

So praise the God of mercy.

When he rose, he freed his children.

Yes, he did.

Praise God. In Christ

over

in death.

He promises a future where joy will

never cease

for

When he rose, he frees his children from

the dark.

It is finished. It is done. So take

heart. He has over

the victory we need

the victory.

He is overcro.

Yes, he did.

And he found the great deceiver

and he

love

it.

is done. So take

over.

Yes. The victory

is the victory

he

is over

in Christ. We are overcome.

We've overcome.

Good morning.

Welcome back.

Good morning to those of you who are

online,

>> wherever you may be. Let's stand if

you're able and let's worship the Lord

together this morning. It's a beautiful

day, isn't it, today?

It's just uh good for my soul. Even

though it's super super cold, the

sunshine just is good for the soul.

Let's sing this chorus together.

I want to know you.

I want to hear your voice. I want to

know you more.

I want to touch you.

I want to see your face. I want to know

you more.

In the secret, in the quiet place

in the stillness, you are there.

In the secret, in the quiet hour, I wait

only for you. Cuz I want to know you

more.

I want to know you.

I want to hear your voice. I want to

know you more.

And I want to touch you.

I want to see your face. I want to know

you more.

I am reaching for the highest goal

that I might receive

the prize.

pressing onward, pushing every hindrance

aside, out of my way.

Cuz I want to know you more.

I want to know you.

I want to hear your voice. I want to

know you more.

And I want to touch you.

I want to see your face. I want to know

you more.

I want to know you.

I want to hear your voice. I want to

know you more.

I want to touch you.

I want to see your face. I want to know

you more.

I want to know you more.

But one thing I do, forgetting what lies

behind and straining forward to what

lies ahead, I press on toward the goal

for the prize of the upward call of God

in Christ Jesus. I love that verse from

our study this week. And

that's the hardest thing to do is

forgetting what lies behind. Uh but when

we do, then we can press on toward what

lies ahead and the hope we have. And so

when we sing I want to see you, we're

going to uh we have that hope that we're

going to hear his voice, literally hear

his voice and see his face. And isn't

that amazing hope that we have?

What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer?

There is no more for heaven now to give.

He is my joy, my righteousness and

freedom.

My steadfast love, my deep and boundless

peace.

To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus.

For my life is wholly bound to his.

Oh, how strange and divine I can see.

All is mighty yet not I, but through

Christ

in me.

The night is dark, but I am not forsen.

For by my side, the Savior He will stay.

I labor on. In weakness and rejoiceing,

for in my need, his power is displayed.

To this I hold. My shepherd will defend

me. Through the deepest

valley he will lead.

Oh, the night has been one and I shall

overcome

yet not I but through Christ in me,

no fate I dread. I know I am forgi

the future sure the price it has been

paid

for Jesus bled and suffered for my part

and he was raised to overthrow the

grave.

To this I hope my sin has been defeated.

Jesus now forever is my plea.

All the chains are released. I can sing.

I am free and not I but through Christ

in me.

With every breath I long to follow

Jesus.

For he has said that he will bring me

home.

And day by day I know he will renew me.

Until I stand with joy before the

throne.

To this I hope. My hope is only Jesus.

All the glory

ever more to him.

When the race is complete, still my lips

shall repeat. Yet not I, but through

Christ

in me.

When the race is complete, still my lips

shall repeat. Yet not I, but through

Christ in me.

Yet not I, but through Christ

in me.

My Jesus,

my savior.

Lord, there is none like you.

All of my days,

I want to praise

the wonders of your mighty

love.

My comfort,

my shelter,

tower of reuge and strength.

Let every breath

all that I am,

never cease to worship

you.

Shout to the Lord all the earth. Let us

sing

power and majesty praise to the king.

Mountains bow down and the seas will

roar at the sound

of your name.

I sing for joy for the work of your

hands.

Forever I'll love you. Forever

I'll stand.

Nothing compares to the promise I have

in you.

Let's sing that chorus one more time.

Shout to the Lord all the earth. Let us

sing.

Power and majesty

praise to the King.

Mountains bow down and the seas will

roar at the sound

of your name.

I sing for joy at the work of your

hands.

Forever I love you forever.

I'll stand.

Nothing compares to the proise I have.

No, nothing compares to the proise I

have.

Oh, nothing compares to the proise I

have in you.

Nothing compares, Lord, to the promises

that we find in your scripture and the

hope that we find there. And especially

in this passage in Philippians as we

read, our hope just lies in you. And so

we press on. We we keep our eyes fixed

on you. We keep moving forward. We

forget the things of the past. We only

remember the things that are victory and

goodness. And it's all pouring into our

walk with you as we move forward in hope

and in joy and in praise. And so that's

what we do. We we shout to you. We love

you. We praise your name, Jesus.

And so be with us this morning. We know

that you are. As we open your word, we

want to be more like you. And so it's in

your name we pray. Amen.

Magic happens when the little green

light turns on.

Welcome to the river.

My name is Rhonda Burchard.

I'm on the teaching team and it is so

good to be together.

We are in lesson 10. If you'd like to

take a few notes, you'll find a place to

do that starting on page 116

of your workbooks.

And I say it is good to be together. And

I mean that sincerely.

It is good to be together.

Raise your hands. How many of you have

talked to people recently who have told

you that they have stopped going to

church in the last few years,

right? I know. Me too.

Unfortunately, it is something that we

hear commonly.

The writer of the book of Hebrews tells

us, "Let us not give up meeting together

as some are in the habit of doing."

Does that surprise you that that's in

the Bible?

Some of us suffer from what's called

recency bias.

We think that is what is happening in

our lifetime has never happened before.

Not true.

People stopped attending church even in

the early church.

Isn't that interesting?

Nothing is new under the sun.

What has always been true is the

importance of showing up. So, good job

showing up.

It is a habit that you're creating,

modeling to your family, and it is a joy

to be together.

Today, we're looking at the second half

of Philippians chapter 3. In the first

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

half of Philippians, Paul, the author,

has been teaching us that there's

nothing we can do to be worthy of the

gospel. It is Christ himself who has

done the work on the cross. Our grateful

response to this remarkable truth is to

follow the Lord in humble obedience.

The rest of Philippians chapter 3:12-21

gives us some additional details on how

to do that and we're going to look at

that together today. Let's start with

that now. Not that I have already

obtained this or am already perfect.

Thank you, Paul, for letting us know

right away,

but I press on to make it my own because

Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider

that I have made it my own. But one

thing I do, forgetting what lies behind

and straining forward to what lies

ahead, I press on toward the goal for

the prize of the upward call of God in

Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are

mature think this way. And if in

anything you think otherwise, God will

reveal that also to you. Only let us

hold true to what we have attained.

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating

me and keep your eyes on those who walk

according to the example you have in us.

For many of whom I have often told you

and now tell you, even with tears, walk

as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction. Their god is

their belly and their glory in shame

with minds set on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven.

And from it we await a savior, the Lord

Jesus Christ, who will transform our

lowly body to be like his glorious body

by the power that enables him even to

subject all things to himself.

I feel like we should say amen.

>> Amen. Okay. So today's outline is

calling, Christ's thinking, and

citizenship.

Calling, we're going to look at verses

12 and 14. Christ's thinking, verses 15

through 19 and citizenship,

verses 20 and 21.

And here's our key truth. Knowing Christ

and being found in him is the prize.

Knowing Christ and being found in him is

the prize.

Let's start with the first part of our

outline. Calling.

For a number of years, I have been taken

with the idea that following the

brightness of the Christmas narrative in

the Bible, there would have been

darkness.

The Christmas narrative is filled with

the dramatic and breathtaking light. The

star of Bethlehem and the angel choir

surrounded by God's glory. shepherds,

wise men, and gifts. All of this is

bright and shiny and full of wonder.

But following the events of the

Christmas narrative,

the star moved on.

The angels returned to heaven

and everyone went home.

back to work,

back to life, and did their thing.

Raising families,

raising sheep,

working jobs,

living in the community,

kind of like us

in Oregon,

the skies were dark,

kind of like January.

Where is our motivation to keep going in

the dark days of winter?

One thing that keeps us going as

believers is calling.

Let's look at Paul's words in verses 12

through 14.

Not that I have already obtained this or

am already perfect, but I press on to

make it my own because Christ Jesus has

made me his own.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider

that I have made it my own. But one

thing I do, forgetting what lies behind

and straining forward to what lies

ahead, I press on toward the goal for

the prize of the upward call of God in

Christ Jesus.

The upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

What is this upward call?

Good question.

Theologically, we might say there are

two different kinds of callings in the

Bible, general and specific. The general

calling in the Bible is the call of God

to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior

and to follow his ways in obedience.

In addition to the general calling to

the life and faith and obedience to God,

the Bible gives numerous pictures of

God's calling of people to specific

roles and tasks. Think Moses,

think Mary.

Often these calling scenes are

memorable.

Interestingly, our author Paul's

conversion on the road to Damascus was

both a general call and a specific call.

A general call to salvation in faith to

Christ. A general call and a specific

call to be a chosen instrument of mine

to carry my name before the Gentiles and

kings and children of Israel.

When Paul refers to the upward call in

verse 14, he is talking about a general

calling, believing in Jesus as Lord and

Savior and following him. Paul is

talking about all believers when he uses

this phrase upward call. Here are some

examples of this general call of faith

for all believers using the word calling

from the New Testament that speaks to

God's summoning to a life of faith in

Christ. I think you're going to like

this. This first one is first

1 Corinthians 1:9

Corinthians 1:9. God is faithful to by

whom you were called into the fellowship

of his son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of

Colossians 3:15

Christ rule in your hearts to which

indeed you were called in one body, and

be thankful."

1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of

1 Timothy 6:12

faith. Take hold of the eternal life to

which you were called and about which

you were ma you made the good confession

in the presence of many witnesses.

And I think many of us really like this

one. First Peter 2:9. But you are a

1 Peter 2:9

chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy

nation, a people for his own possession,

that you may proclaim the excellencies

of him who called you out of darkness

into his marvelous light.

Don't you love those verses about being

called?

That's the general calling.

One author said these calling stories in

the Bible could also be called response

stories

because God does the calling and we do

the responding.

So, how have you responded to God's

calling on your life?

Let me ask you a few questions.

How have you responded to Jesus's call

of salvation?

How have you responded

to God's call

of obedience?

How have you responded

to his call for a step of faith?

As some of you know, I have two

daughters.

I'm going to tell you a story about one

of them, but in order to protect

some anonymity, I'm not going to give

you very many details. And I'm going to

ask you not to ask me any questions. And

if you know who it is, I'm going to ask

you not to talk about it.

One of them had something recently that

I believe God was calling her to do.

My daughter had all of her plans nicely

organized

where she felt comfortable.

And at the last minute, her plans did

not materialize

the way

she felt comfortable.

And she said to me, "I can't go."

And I said to her,

"Honey,

you're going to have to be brave."

And she was.

And she did it.

I don't know your story.

I don't.

But I would encourage you if God is

calling you,

be brave

and respond.

One additional thing I want you to

notice are the words press on and

straining

in this verse. These verses

press on is used twice and straining is

also used. These words indicate intense

effort leading to a goal or to strive

for a purpose. Paul is not saying that

we earn our salvation, but he is saying

that we need to take our faith seriously

with intentionality.

What we are learning here at the river

is so good and so rich. But really, head

knowledge only takes us so far. It's the

application of God's word to our lives

that changes who we are. And that's

where we need to press on as Paul

encourages us.

In Ephesians 4:1, Paul again uses the

Ephesians 4:1

word calling when he says,"I therefore,

a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to

walk in a manner worthy of the calling

to which you have been called."

From that I took our first truth. Walk

in a manner worthy of the calling to

which you have been called.

Walk in a manner worthy of the calling

to which you have been called.

This is a prayer that I pray personally

often.

May I be worthy, Lord,

of the call that you have called me to.

We've looked at calling. Let's move on

to the next part of our outline,

Christ's thinking. Philippians 3:5-19,

Philippians 3:5–19

Paul writes, "Let those of us who are

mature think this way, and if in

anything you think otherwise, God will

reveal that also to you. Only let us

hold true to what we have attained."

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating

me and keep your eyes on those who walk

according to the example you have in us.

For many of whom I have often told you

and now tell you even with tears walk as

enemies of the cross of Christ. Their

end is destruction. Their God is their

belly and their glory in their shame

with mindset on earthly things.

In this section, Paul uses the phrase

with mindset set on in verse 19. And

twice in verse 15, he uses the word

think.

As we have learned previously, Paul was

a man of great intellect and education.

And he wants us to use our brains also.

Paul begins with verse 15. Let those of

us who are mature think this way. What

is Paul talking about? What is this way?

Paul wants us to use our minds we have

be we have because we belong to Jesus.

Paul wants us to use the minds we have

in Christ. In other words, Paul wants us

to think like Jesus.

Paul wants us to think like Jesus.

Paul's life had been so transformed by

Jesus that in verse 17, he encourages

the Philippians to imitate him.

He asked them to use his life as an

example on how to live a Christfilled

life.

Paul was very aware that he had a

responsibility to model the Christian

life to new believers.

We also are modeling our lives to the

next generation of believers.

Have you thought about that? That we are

modeling

what it means to live the Christian life

to the next generation of believers.

As some of you know, my mother-in-law,

Died a few months ago. It's still hard

for me to even say those words. It just

feels like it cannot be true.

We had her memorial just this past

Saturday.

It was a beautiful service. She would

have absolutely loved it.

She was a remarkable woman of faith. She

became my spiritual mentor and one of

the greatest blessings of my life. As I

have shared in the past, Kevin and I

struggled with infertility for 14 years.

And we did not live close to his parents

during that time. So I would call D on

the phone many times with many tearful

conversations over those 14 years and

she would listen to me and she would say

many times and I can hear her voice. She

would say, "Honey, I don't know why

you're going through this, but I know

that someday God is going to use it."

She had such faith. She pointed me to

Jesus over and over and over again.

And we always ended our phone calls with

prayer.

She was such a wonderful spiritual

mentor to me.

Later she was thrilled when I discovered

Bible study and we were both delighted

these last past four years to share the

river together. It was such a joy and a

privilege. Um I now have her study books

from the river for the last four years.

Um, it will be a delight for me to read

them. Although, I must say she probably

already shared with me all of her

answers. Um,

but it'll still be special to read all

of them at some point.

Many times over the years, De also told

me stories of her spiritual mentor and

the blessing she had been to her. And

then D became my mentor. Do you see how

the blessing was passed down?

In this week's passage, Paul asked the

Philippians to model their lives after

him. Here is my question.

Who in your life is or could be your

spiritual mentor, your spiritual model?

Who in your family, who in your small

group?

I encourage you to pray about it and

reach out to that person and make a

connection with them.

Keep in mind, it probably won't be a

pastor or a leader. It will likely be

someone in your own circle, someone you

already know, someone who has time to

devote to you. For me, it was my

mother-in-law.

We live in a culture of influencers.

It's so easy to find a Christian

celebrity or a podcaster that we want to

pattern our life after. But it's a

really a better idea to pattern our life

after someone we really know and we can

imitate.

Here's our truth. Believers are called

to imitate the faith of fellow

believers.

Believers are called to imitate the

faith of fellow believers.

Is this surprising to you?

It was to me.

I thought when Paul said, "Imitate me,"

I thought that was just kind of a oneoff

passage. But when I researched it, there

is actually multiple passages that call

us to imitate other believers. Here are

two verses that I thought um were

I were surprising to me. I didn't even

know that they were there. Let's look at

Hebrews 13:7. Remember your leaders,

Hebrews 13:7

those who spoke to you the word of God.

Consider the outcome of their way of

life and imitate their faith.

I I loved that verse. Here's another

one. 3R John 1:11. Beloved, do not

John 1:11

imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever

does good is from God. Whoever does evil

has not seen God. These verses about

imitating were new to me and quite

honestly surprised me. But I think they

are worth thinking about. The idea of

noticing other people in their faith and

imitating that. I think that is a

fascinating thing. Also at DE's service

on Saturday, the pastor encouraged De's

grandchildren, my two children, and also

my niece and nephews to carry on the

tradition of Christian faith. As I

mentioned, we are modeling the Christian

faith to the next generation of

believers. And that is our next truth.

We are modeling our faith to the next

generation of believers. And believe me,

they are watching.

They are watching.

So, we've talked about calling and

Christ's thinking. Let's move on to the

last part of our outline, citizenship.

Paul writes in our last verses, "But our

citizenship is in heaven, and from it we

await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body to be

like his glorious body by the power that

enables him to subject all things to

himself."

When Paul says that our citizenship is

in heaven, that means that Jesus will

come from heaven to transform this

world, including us. Verse 21 says, "The

Lord Jesus Christ will transform our

lowly body to be like his glorious

body."

This of course sounds amazing, right?

I know many people who have experienced

physical pain either themselves or

someone they love find this very hopeful

and for others including mine mental

health is what has devastated their

family. So the idea of Christ's return

bringing transformation of not just a

new body but also a new mind is what

actually takes my breath away. The idea

of having family um with a new mind um

is what makes me very hopeful and very

um excited to meet those members of my

family with a new mind. I can't even

imagine. Um that'll be amazing.

The body includes the mind. So if that's

an encouragement to you, um hold on to

that. That's what brings me hope for

sure. And I'm guessing that it might be

for some of you as well. So here is our

final truth. At Christ's return, God

will put all things right. Resurrection,

creation, and justice. At Christ's

return, God will put all things right.

Resurrection, creation, and justice. So,

let me ask you, where do you need hope

that God will indeed someday make things

right?

Where do you need hope that God will

indeed someday make all things right?

How might you need to be reminded that

your citizenship is in heaven and not

here?

How might you need to be reminded that

your citizenship is in heaven and not

here?

Jot down a couple of thoughts on how

your group can pray for you this week.

Let's recount the truths that we've

covered today. Here they are. Walk in a

manner worthy of the calling to which

you have been called.

Believers are called to imitate the

faith of fellow believers.

We are modeling our faith to the next

generation of believers.

And at Christ's return, God will put all

things, resurrection,

creation, and justice. He will put all

things right. And our key truth is

knowing Christ and being found in him is

the prize.

Let's pray.

Thank you, Lord, for loving us. Thank

you for the opportunity to be together

and to learn from you.

Would you help each of us to just take

one thing from today, from this

teaching, from our time togethers in our

group, just to apply it to us, apply it

to our lives, to draw closer to you.

Keep us, Lord, where you can use us. And

as always, Lord, may we be quick to give

you praise for of every good thing. We

love you, Lord. Amen.

Have a great time in your groups.