
According to a Gallup poll, around 36% of U.S. adults express a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence, which is considered a relatively low percentage compared to previous years, indicating that a significant portion of the population does not feel highly confident.
“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”
Joe Namath
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Php 3:2). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Dogs - Wild dog. Filthy.
Evildoers - Bad, Immoral, Wicked, Wrong, Difficult, Harsh, Incorrect
Mutilate the Flesh - Circumcision
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ga 5:2–6). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Mt 23:27–28). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Php 3:3). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Col 2:11–15). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Php 3:4–6). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Christian Flesh
Family Heritage
Church you attend
Education
Achievements
Bank Account
Good Deeds
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Php 3:7–11). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
When we
12 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. 13 Brothers, 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, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Php 3:12–14). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Make my own/make me his own - καταλαμβάνω (katalambanō)
Obtain requiring effort, attack, overpower by force
We
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 Co 9:24–27). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Prize - βραβεῖον (brabeion).
Derived from “brabeus” - The judge at the public games who assigns the prize
Takeaway: Identify where your