Additional Details ------------------------------ Product description: Even a confirmed optimist would be challenged to find positive news in a daily newspaper or TV newscast. Reports of corporate scandals, terrorism, war, human suffering, and tragic accidents dominate the news media with alarming consistency. Heaped on top of such dismal reports are our own personal problems. The weight of all these negative circumstances is enough to make our shoulders droop, our hands drop, and our eyes drip. However, supernatural joy is available in abundant supply. Essentially this joy is what Paul’s letter to the Philippians is all about. Like a gusher, joy seems to spurt from the book of Philippians and splash right into our lives. Whenever the heat of battle threatens to dry our souls, we can refresh ourselves by drinking from the Philippians well. Written by the apostle Paul when he was under house arrest at Rome, the book of Philippians supplies reason after reason to be joyful. It presents Paul as a prime example of one who rejoiced in spite of adversity. His confidence in the Lord enabled him to triumph over dreadful conditions—unjust arrest and confinement, separation from friends, shackles, and the possibility of execution. Through it all, Paul testified, “I . . . do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Phil. 1:18). As you teach this course, reflect the joy of the Lord and inspire your students to find in Philippians many reasons to “rejoice in the Lord” (4:4).