THE FIVE CHAPTERS of this book provide an introduction to a letter the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians almost two thousand years ago. The subjects he treats are so much at the core of Christian faith and life that I could think of no better summary title than Basics for Believers.
Originally these five chapters were prepared as four messages delivered during Holy Week 1994 at the “Word Alive” conference in Skegness, England. (Chapters 2 and 3 were formerly a shorter single message.) I am profoundly grateful for the invitation to come and participate in that ministry of Bible exposition.
Nothing would please me more than if, as a result of reading this book and consequently meditating on Philippians, many believers were to echo Paul’s words: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:10–11).
Soli Deo gloria.