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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
God's Sovereignty & Providence
Who could just describe the goodness of who you are, Lord?
We rejoice in you, and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.
Will you stand with me?
With admiration,
patience, who is like the Lord,
our God?
Is like the Lord, our God.
Redeem his kind,
will keep us in
adoration.
In
dark grief,
to
gladness,
who is the Lord, our God?
Our God.
And holy
beside
with
that,
our
God,
grief,
our God,
our God.
There is no one, there
is our God.
It's great to sing praises to his name this morning.
It says in Psalm 33, verse 4 and 5.
For the word of the Lord is right and true.
He is faithful in all he does.
The Lord loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is filled with his unfailing love.
Of a thousand burning suns blazing in the heavens,
there is only one, he is our God.
Building up and tearing down his rivals,
there
is only one, the
King on the
throne,
who was and is to come, and to the Lamb who was slain, be all
glory.
Now to the King on the throne, who was and is to come, and to
the Lamb who was slain, be all glory.
That's blessing your glory.
Lord, we stand before you knowing that you are holy.
We stand before your throne undeserving.
But Lord, we come and sing praises to your name.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.
Bring an offering and come before him.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
You are holy.
You are mighty.
You are worthy.
Worthy of praise.
I will follow.
I will listen.
I will love you.
All of my days.
I will sing.
Satan does not like when we cry out to him in the power of his name and in his
holiness.
We can defeat Satan this morning by singing out to him,.
You are worthy of praise.
Sing out with me.
Prince of peace, and I will live my life for you.
You're my prince of peace, and I will live my life for
you.
It is wonderful to be here.
It's a privilege to come and speak to you about
Paul, our Lord, the inerrancy of scripture.
And Pastor John had started the whole theme of sovereignty and what does sovereignty
mean for all of us.
How does it impact our lives and what does that mean?
And we're going to continue in Philippians,
not just what sovereignty is about, but what providence comes about and how the Lord uses that.
But before we go there, I want to just give some house rules.
I was given some house rules, all right?
Just got to be honest with you.
So my wife, Joyce, my beautiful bride, she gave me a
coaching thing this morning, and she said, look, you're going to go up there.
You can't talk fast, all right?
You really don't do that, okay?
I said, all right, okay.
And she goes, you know all that apologetic stuff that you always talk about?
Anytime someone asks you a question, you start going down this path of, oh, yeah, and the history of this, and this is what's going
on, and the verse over there, and she goes, try not to do too much of that, all right?
People just want to learn certain things.
It's good advice.
I had to rearrange certain hard wiring in my head when I was beginning to put this all
together, and there's a purpose there.
My name is Ivan Solero.
I'm one of the elders here.
I teach with my brother, Matt, and Drew.
He's not here right now, but we teach apologetics here.
I also help with John Detoli, and my brother John, and then Rod.
He's out there somewhere in another space with the agape class, and the
Lord has been so good to us, good to this church, good to people, even in the worst of
times that we're living in.
I truly believe that God has a hand on this church, and with Jeff, and with John,
the rest of the deacons, it's just an amazing group of people.
All the teachers here, we're very, very blessed to have that.
And with that, I wanted to just do some platforming right now.
I'm gonna be good,.
Not to go down the path of too much, but I wanted to give a sense of what sovereignty means,
and then what providence means.
In God's sovereignty, there's absolutely nothing that happens in the universe that is outside of God's influence and authority.
One would say,.
Well, there's the back of that.
In Revelations 21 .6,.
It says,.
God is above all things, before all things.
He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
He is immortal.
He is present everywhere so that everyone can know him.
In Colossians, Paul reiterates, he says, God created all things.
All things together, both in heaven and on earth, both visible and invisible.
And so the beginning part of Philippians, what Pastor John was talking to you about is getting an
understanding of how God's sovereignty oversees everything that's happening there.
And while we have free will to make choices there,
he is overseeing it.
He is everywhere. He's constant.
Now, as we get into verse 15, Paul starts to switch gears and he
starts to put in his opinion through the Holy
Spirit.
About God's providence.
And how God uses different people, different groups for his purpose, for his
will.
And to have a clear understanding of what God's providence means for all of us is.
It's a divine providence,.
It's the governance, governance of God by which he with wisdom,.
Love,.
Cares for, and directs all things in the university.
The doctrine of divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things.
So you have two things that are going on simultaneously.
So you have God's sovereignty and you have his providence that's happening there.
And we know a lot about the providence part because it's written in scripture.
We have many examples of that.
One being Joseph, when he was sold.
Later,.
He saved Israel, basically saved mankind.
From the famine.
What he told his brothers, what you thought was evil, God would use for good.
There was Moses.
Confronting Pharaoh. He had the Israelites leave Egypt.
Rahab,.
Who let the red sash out of the window.
Or whatever was there.
To help the messengers and protect their family.
And to finally.
Take over Jericho.
Job in his suffering to show God's authority and his providence.
The amazing truth about Judas.
It was Judas' betrayal that allows us to have salvation.
That's a crazy thought when you think about that.
And in John 17, 11, and 12, as
Jesus is praying to God and he's asking for protection for the
disciples but they foreknew that Judas was going to do this according to what the
scripture is going to say.
And if it wasn't for his betrayal we would not be here as a church as a family of believers
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Which is crazy when you really think about that.
And then from that point you jump over to Paul who saw the
persecutor before his conversion on the road to Damascus and who ends up being one of the greatest
Bible writers, teachers and evangelists.
The world has ever seen.
His truths that he has in his different books still impact people today
and they guide people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8, 28 explains it this way.
And we know that for those, and catch this for those who love God all things
work together for good for those.
Who are called.
According to his purpose.
And Paul sets up this premise in Philippians
in having the church of Philippi which is the first church to really understand what the Bible
and what God's word really means and how it's going to penetrate the good news there.
So.
Before we start this part, let's pray.
Father we thank you so much.
For your word.
We thank you Lord for this church for the people that are here.
We thank you Lord that the Holy Spirit is here that we have leadership here that we have people that are
wanting to learn.
That are opening their hearts.
And their minds to have you in their hearts Lord.
We pray that the words that come out of me Lord they're not about me, they're about you Lord that
everything I say and everything we talk about edifies you, glorifies you.
Worships you Lord.
We pray that these words will penetrate Lord that these words are true.
We ask this in your name's name, Amen.
So today's sermon is God's Providence in Joy and Suffering and it really talks about
what type of believer.
You are.
In the politics class we make a big big deal about the idea of belief versus.
Faith.
There's.
People that believe things and then there's actual faith that's intrinsic.
Believing can be the mind.
The faith is the mind.
The heart, the action.
And so we kind of.
Go back and forth and Paul references.
This in the beginning part there.
Some quick facts that I want to share with you.
Paul's conversion happened somewhere between 33 AD and 35 AD.
If you go to Acts 9 to the road Damascus he is approached by
Jesus, a bright light and.
You know.
Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?
And in that moment he is.
Converted.
And his ministry lasted about.
33 years.
A lot of people don't realize that, how long it was.
But it was 33 years.
He wrote the first book, the prison epistle, Philippians was the first book that he wrote.
It was the first church in Asia Minor.
And he was.
Under house arrest.
There were four books in total that he wrote.
Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, Philippians.
And he.
Did this in a house arrest being chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day.
He was allowed to have visitors, he was allowed to have people come and go.
Obviously he was passing out the letters as that happened.
He.
Did not know what his life was going to be like in the.
Next.
Months or what have you.
But whatever happened that was going to be happening there.
He was going to rejoice.
And he says this throughout.
In his letter to the Philippians.
There.
He could have cried out for release.
He could have done something like why are you doing this to me Lord?
It changed my whole life.
But he never did.
And the letter to the church of Philippi is one of full, full rejoicing.
It's only 104 verses.
Four brief chapters.
But it's amazingly profound.
And.
It's really a poignant epistle from the jail's apostle.
To the beloved.
Supporting church that loved him, that he was shepherding, discipling.
It kind of gives a glimpse of who he was in his intense passion for the
love that he had for the people and the love that he had for Jesus Christ and the love that he had for the ministry.
That he was doing.
He also points out in the beginning part here the motives of people who were trying to undercut him,
trying to make him not to be who he said he was.
There's a number of layers.
That happens through all this.
But probably the thing that's starting to change and what we need to identify with.
Is that.
In our belief in Jesus Christ we are not just here to be.
Kind of stagnant.
But to change this world and to change it for the purpose of telling the truth.
C .S. Lewis saw it this way, to be ignorant and simple now, not to be able to meet the enemies
on their own ground would be to throw down our weapons and betray our uneducated brethren who have
under God no defense, but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen,
good philosophy.
Must exist.
If for no other reason because bad philosophy needs to be answered.
And Paul talks.
About this.
Realizes that as he's beginning with the book of Philippians that he is laying out
how the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to be penetrating.
Through people who are believers.
But through other people that not necessarily believe but just want to undercut him or say something
about him.
And it is a mark for us to take this seriously as a biblical plan to defend
the faith.
And Paul was wonderful in defending the faith everywhere he went.
So the church of Philippi, just briefly here, was started
and it's in Macedonia around 49 -50 A .D.
It was the first church established.
On European soil.
It's beginnings were documented in Acts 16 .11 -40.
With his companions of Silas and Timothy they visited Philippi, encountered several key individuals including
Lydia, the prominent business woman who really was the person that gave the financial
support to go ahead and start the church.
And so throughout.
The book of.
Philippians, it's about unity, humility, joy, providing guidance and living out
the Christian faith.
Alright?
But Paul was in prison.
And what does that mean?
So Rome knew that something was happening.
This group called the People of the Way was out there.
And there was some undercutting that was starting to happen.
So he was moved around a number of times, kept under house arrest,
Acts 28 -30.
And the form of detention that they had to give him was more lenient than a
dungeon like I was saying before.
And he worked through that in terms of getting the inspiration through the Holy Spirit and through the
people who were coming by to start writing and writing and writing.
So let's read the text and see where we're at.
We're at the point now where he's in prison, he's thanked the church
for their support.
He thanks everyone that.
Sees where.
He's hoping the church will go to.
And now he's starting to switch gears.
He's pointing out the different groups that are after him and for him and the reason why that's okay
and that he rejoices in that.
So starting in verse 15 he says, Some indeed preach Christ for envy and rivalry, but others for
goodwill.
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaims Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in
my imprisonment.
What then?
Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is
proclaimed.
In that, I rejoice.
He continues, Yes, I will rejoice,.
For I know that through your.
Prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance,
as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed and that with full
courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether be life or by
death.
For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall
choose, I cannot tell.
I am hard -pressed between the two.
My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more
necessary on your account.
Convinced of this,.
I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the face, so that
in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my.
Coming to you again.
So Paul's laying out now that there are challenges and there are tests in this.
It's a lesson for us in terms of.
Being.
A believer in Jesus Christ.
The road of being a believer is not a comfortable road.
In fact, it's a warning sign if you're too comfortable being in Christ.
If you're claiming in Christ and you're comfortable,.
You better do it.
Self -examination, it doesn't work that way.
Paul's attesting to that, that there are people that are going to try to push them to various
different directions.
It's similar in our lives.
We continue to try to proclaim the truth of what's happening there.
Other people that you think are friends, acquaintances that may know you, will try
to stop you.
It is the nature of our spiritual warfare that we're involved in and how we go ahead and address
that and be able to show love and joy through the whole process.
For him, he was dealing with the Hellenistic culture trying to rival God's truth.
Through their own Greek deities.
At the same time.
Of course, he had to deal with the Judaizers that were strictly going with the law.
Then there were the false teachers that were coming into the church.
We look back.
At the Church of Corinth and.
Paul had to deal with all the type of undercuttings from the sexual immorality in the church to the
false doctrines that are being preached there.
Then there were groups that were mixing the pagan ideologies with what the gospel was
about and doing it within the church itself.
He was dealing with that part too.
At the same time, he was having travel problems, personalities he had to deal with.
Finally, there was Rome.
Rome was at the point now where his penetration with the people of the way is getting to the place
where these various different governors and other political facets that were
involved in society are taking notice there.
They wanted to squash Jesus' rebellion.
The other part of this was the animosity.
That came.
From within the church.
How do you deal with animosity in the church?
Starts to.
Break it out.
I put names to them.
There were three different groups that were very distinct.
There was the casual observers which were the Paul voyeurs, the people who.
Knew Paul before he was Paul.
It was Saul, the persecutor.
He was an oddity.
Who is this guy who.
Converted and now he's out there and he's pushing the gospel into these different areas of the world.
They followed to see what's going on.
They believed.
That something had happened.
But they really didn't have faith.
In what was going on there.
Even though the gospel was being preached and you had this guy here who got converted,
they didn't know what to make of it.
He was just an oddity to them.
Then you had the second group which I'll call cultural announcers.
They believe also.
But also they didn't have.
Deep faith.
They relied on the law and customs.
Paul was definitely pushing against that.
He was talking about grace.
Talking about how.
God's grace through the death and the cross and the resurrection is salvation.
It was totally opposite to what they were speaking about.
Then the third group was these committed believers that were willing to die for
Jesus.
All three played a role and God used all three through his providence to spread the good news all over.
If we go into verse 15, it says some indeed preach Christ from envy and
rivalry but others from goodwill.
Everybody was speaking about Christ but they didn't know Christ.
Most of them didn't know Christ.
Within the pagan.
Society, many who were claiming to know Christ but their motives for preaching were different.
There was an economic motive that was underneath that.
There was a reputation motive that they were trying to do.
There was.
The motive of undercutting what Paul was doing.
Since he's in prison, what a better time to go ahead and do this.
Paul recognized.
This.
Back in the church of Ephesus, Paul faced the same opposition.
It was not because of what he said because he was speaking truth but it was because of how he said it
and what he looked like saying it.
Isn't that funny how.
That works?
You can meet people out in the real world.
And they're telling you exactly what the truth is but the delivery.
May not be exactly what you like.
And they don't.
Have a presence and.
Who are you?
Who are you to tell me.
Anything?
We're very fortunate because in this church here we have, we call him Phil the Evangelist.
It's a wonderful evangelism class and I would encourage everyone to attend it.
Phil was just telling me after the first service that in a couple weeks he's going to start it up again.
We're all, yeah.
I got you stuck in that one.
He's going to do it again.
But but but.
What's interesting is that.
It's not.
A conversation you're going to have that you don't feel like people are just going to easily bend over especially
in the world we live in right now.
They're going to push back.
And they're going to push back hard.
And so.
Our defense to this thing is to know scripture and to know what the gospel means for them.
And so when Paul's talking about this he's thinking about the different types of
motives that people have there and.
There's a lesson in here.
When we see someone speak in truth.
Automatically assume that you're going to be suspect which gives you more reason why you need to
have your defense ready to explain it, to explain the good news.
Jealousy.
Can and will motivate.
That's what a lot of these people are doing.
They motivate to enjoy the person falling down.
And that's what they're looking for with us too as believers.
They want to see us trip up.
The downside is that jealousy works when it deprives others of their own selfish gain.
It never builds up, it only tears down.
And Proverbs 3 is very explicit about the motives of this.
It says, they all have turned aside, together they have become corrupt.
There is none who does good, not even one.
So even in our sin nature our innate nature we don't have the
capacity.
Without the Holy Spirit.
To go ahead and understand and our natural tendency is to go ahead and tear it
down.
Verse 16 goes the latter, they do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the
defense of the gospel.
And Paul states very clearly that he and others have a mission.
The mission is to spread the gospel everywhere anywhere they can.
These are the committed believers who are willing to die in the defense of the gospel.
And so out of this love that we have, we have a sense of
understanding where God wants us to go and that our love should be paramount in
doing that.
That it's not a situation of just going ahead and being punitive about the gospel, but saying that
we are living this image of the Lord and that you.
Want part of that.
So God uses everything for his purpose and when there's a rogue element out there spreading lies
and gossip, the vicious rhetoric, God will show others the caliber of that rogue soul.
And that happens.
How often does that happen with us?
That we're talking to people and we even people that seem to be saying, well, you know, I understand the
whole Christ thing and everything else like this.
And after a while God reveals the natural motivations of what these people do.
And all we can do is.
Pray for them.
In some cases we have.
To forgive them.
But our.
Job is to go ahead and spread the good news.
To there.
And Paul sees a light in all this.
In verse 18 he goes, what then?
Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and that
I rejoice.
So in his perspective of what is happening, no matter what is happening, as long as
the word of Jesus Christ is coming out there in some.
Form, it's okay.
The word of mouth is everything at that time.
And if people are talking about Jesus Christ, there can be some traction that's going to happen from that.
And he was fine with that.
And so he calls out the motives of there.
And there were two.
You know, the what then or so what he poses to us in pretense, meaning what their real
motive was.
And then in truth,.
Christ is being spoken of.
And Paul did not approve of the motives, but for him, the salvation of souls was paramount.
And that should be our call.
That it doesn't matter like if we have it down tight.
As long as we're sending the message of Jesus Christ out there, something will stick.
Something will happen.
The Holy Spirit can use that and do that.
And God can and will turn whatever cursing into blessing.
And his providence is at work all the time there.
Which.
Segues me into really explaining what the three groups are.
So we have this.
Casual observer.
And who are they?
Who is the casual observer?
Random visitors.
They saw a podcast.
Church jumpers.
Pew potatoes.
Are there pew potatoes?
They hang out.
They just hang out.
They kind of love the church.
Thing.
They love the God thing.
The group we have this group here today.
Back then, they view people the way as an oddity.
They went against the Judaism and Hellenistic belief of that day.
Like I said before, his reputation preceded him.
And so they just wanted to see this oddity.
His immense.
Reputation as Saul, a persecutor that was actually killing Christians
was really a dynamic story of his conversion.
Like how can that possibly happen?
People wanted to see that.
But the church of Philippi was small.
It wasn't really that large of a church.
It was about 100 congregants.
They even saw the people of the way there were making such differences.
Within the country.
And the surrounding areas.
That people stood up and noticed.
How does that reflect for today?
So in 2019, a Pew research study claims that approximately 65 of adults
in the U .S. identify as Christian.
Think about that for a minute.
65 % in this country say they're Christian.
And what has happened is that Christian here is more of a brand as a separator.
I'm not Hindu or Islam or Muslim.
Or Buddhist.
I'm a Christian.
It's not really an identifier as it should be in being in Christ.
It breaks down like this.
43 % of Protestants are Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians.
20 % are Catholic.
1 % are Orthodox Christians and 1 % are other Christians.
If we had true in Christ believers, 65 of this country, you
wouldn't recognize this place.
It wouldn't be.
What we're saying it is.
So we have a problem there already.
And this is a church problem.
This isn't a problem about the world itself.
This is inside the churches.
Themselves.
We have two different demographics that we're dealing with.
Those who absolutely do not know the Lord and those who sort of claim to know the Lord.
But don't have faith in the Lord.
And that's what Paul is referring to.
So you have these people that claim they know something but they have no faith in that.
And it's up to us as part of our mandate as a believer in Jesus Christ to go ahead
into there.
Into our churches and into everywhere that we can see to spread the good news.
The second group are the cultural warriors.
This is the temptation.
Of compromise.
And there are two significant types in this.
The religion of wounded theology is where we're at right now.
This is a form of paganism.
We talk about it in an apologetics class.
We call it tribal spiritualism.
This is the one where we're seeing all the time where.
Survivor.
Victimhood becomes the rite of passage in the religion of survivorship.
It's all about justice.
And victimization.
And you've seen it.
All of you have seen it.
The religion's central focus is the transference from victim to survivor i .e. the gay movement,
Black Lives Matter, CRT,.
Transgenderism,.
A sense of moralism, women pastors, social justice, abortion, to name a few.
And they're perverting grace to go.
Between what sin really.
Is about.
And the people who advocate this truly believe Jesus represents this.
It's not a question of like well, I'm admitting that I'm doing something absolutely wrong.
They believe and they change the gospel to fit that narrative.
They change scripture to fit that.
They're not interested in truth and they express their truth only in fairness, freedom, and
justice instead of pursuing God's truth.
Political conformity underscores their own ideology and replaces biblical truth by bending scripture to fit their
own narrative.
In the end,.
It's all about power and it's.
About being our own God.
Now,.
I drive the guys in Apologetics crazy because I
say all the time that everything you see in our country, in this world, starts
at two points.
Either there's a sovereign God or you think you're God.
And everything comes out of that.
So when you read the news, you read everything that's happening there, understand that the
starting point is they think they're God.
They don't believe in a sovereign God.
And once you can grasp that concept and that truth there of what's happening,
you can understand man's plight to go ahead and try to overthrow.
Whatever it's going to be.
The latest one is AI.
Our pastors,.
When they.
Went to Fullington, they went into a hostile.
Environment of so -called Christians.
They went there to try to make a defense, our
pastor Jeff,.
Of his books on what was really true.
If you can take a second and just imagine what was going on there.
They fly over to California, they land there, they go into a place where
400 delegates.
Literally hate them.
And I'm not stretching the truth.
There were some that were going to kind of bend their way, but for the most part
they were disregarded.
They were.
Charged with punitive.
Nonsense.
They went there speaking truth. Absolute truth.
What's weird about it.
Is that, and this is an.
Example of God's providence, is that you have two guys from Mount Lowell
in a little church.
That goes out to.
Fullington.
And those two guys upended.
Everything over there.
They were the main source of conversation the whole time.
And that proves.
What God.
Can use people.
To do what they did.
And God bless them, and God bless.
This church that we support that.
That that can happen.
And so Paul is addressing that type of attitude with the Church of Philippi and what was happening
there.
Even with other people that were coming into the forefront of the law, of the politics, or whatever else
like this, God's truth is going to win in the end.
The other part.
Of this is the religion of legalism.
And that's the Judaizers, the Mosaic.
Law.
And we have that issue here today.
You know, it's a cultural religion.
And it's dangerous.
People who want to push a workspace.
Conversation.
Is hurting those who don't have a full understanding and idea about what grace is
all about.
It sucks the life out of grace.
It makes orthopraxy.
Dominant.
When.
It's not supposed to be that for salvation.
The people that get hurt in that part are new believers.
When they first accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, where did they go?
Who did they go to?
And unless you have churches like here that are going to disciple.
And to.
Mentor, it can very easily fall into a work -based type.
Of religion type of.
Thing very quickly.
And ironically, Paul when he was Saul, he was the king of legalism.
To the point where he was killing people because of that.
He was.
The person that drove what the Pharisees and
Sanhedrin wanted to get done.
And it was.
A zero -sum game.
He wanted to kill Christians.
It didn't matter.
He didn't care if they were old, young,.
Married, not.
He was determined to kill them.
That should.
Be a lesson for all of us about God's grace.
And his conversion and what it can do to somebody.
And how.
When the Holy Spirit is in somebody, the impetus of it, the driver of it, can change a world.
And he did it through Paul.
And then you.
Go to the last group, which is the committed believer.
And the committed believer pursues truth through his love.
And it's easy to see.
They have stability of character.
They rejoice in the Lord.
It's always about praying.
Control their thoughts.
Contentment in the heart.
Has a fruitful life.
So the people of the way, when.
They were present, didn't have to really say much.
Their lives reflected exactly what was happening.
And it was different than the other groups that was happening.
And Paul.
Knew that.
In chapter 4 of Philippians, he goes over through these things of who these believers
were and the attributes that they carried.
And he explains his attitude towards his imprisonment and death.
He goes in verse 19.
Yes, I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my
deliverance.
And everything from his viewpoint pointed towards his only.
Purpose on earth.
That is to spread the gospel through the Holy Spirit.
And he was a person of confidence, but not in himself, in the Holy Spirit.
He knew the Philippians.
Loved him and were praying for him, that soon he would be released.
But the most important aspect for Paul was.
The truth be told.
The lesson for us here is that we're all going to have to face adversity.
And the question becomes, do we place our confidence.
In truth?
And truth is the only way to battle adversity.
Verse 20.
As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full
courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
And so he had eager expectation.
In the Greek, it meant stretching away from your head and looking.
Like actually taking an outer body experience of looking.
And he expected, his expectation was, if I am here by mandate
to spread the good news, I know somehow, some way.
That the Holy Spirit.
Is going to do what he said he's going to do.
It may not be in my lifetime.
It may not be with the people I'm with.
It may not be in the place I'm at.
But I know if I'm doing my part, the Holy Spirit will.
And he was excited about that.
Again, Paul's courage was not from him.
It was from Christ.
And the Holy Spirit was a driver.
And in doing that, he took his life and his death as.
A lower economy.
He said, it doesn't matter.
What I'm doing here as long as I'm doing it for the Lord.
If I live or die.
It doesn't matter.
He was ultimately the image bearer of Christ.
Which kind of brings us to now this whole idea about the Christian and the people of the way.
We hear that.
Word.
Christian a lot.
It's just so marginalized.
Now that.
I have a tendency not to use it.
I always use.
The word in Christ.
Because it's everybody you talk to anybody, it's almost they're saying.
And it's hard.
To decipher that.
It's more of a label now.
The people of the way.
Was and still very.
Specific.
The first term.
That was used was.
Used as the Christ ones in describing the followers of Jesus Christ in Antioch.
In Acts 11 .26.
It was used as denigration.
It was used six times in Acts.
And it was in reference to the lifestyle, the way they live, the way they were persecuted
and the defiance to stay true.
To Jesus and the gospel.
A lot of testimony.
That.
They don't even have to say a word.
People are around them and they knew they were different.
They knew.
And that's testimony for us.
In each one that they read the references in Acts, the way, you will see how.
Far the gospel has traveled.
And how it has affected so many in a short time.
The book of Acts that we're going through, we're going through in our Thursday night Bible study class that Drew
Drew has.
And I would recommend everybody, if they can, to at least come to one class.
Matt and I, we kind of pitch it once in a while and help out there.
But the story of Acts is an amazing story because it really talks to predominant characters, Peter
being one, Paul being the other one, of how the gospel was driven so.
Quickly.
Through the people of the way.
As much persecution that was happening to the people during that time, the more persecution, the
more the gospel came out.
We're just approaching the part now where Stephen is giving his
dissertation, lecture,.
Argument.
To the.
Pharisees in the Sanhedrin of what they did.
And if you.
Know the story, you know he'll be martyred.
At the end of it.
But he was pointing out through the Holy Spirit, being powered by the Holy Spirit,.
Of how.
Jews had.
Prophets in the past and killed them all.
And these were precursors to what Jesus Christ was going to be doing again, to the point where at the
end of the passage, and this is referenced also in Revelations, that they were gnashing their
teeth from the.
Anger that happened.
And the same thing is true when people get thrown into a lake of fire.
They'll be gnashing their teeth.
That's not going to be from pain.
That's because they are so hated of the God that we
have in the Lord.
They gnash their teeth.
And we see that there.
So he comes up to.
This place.
Where it's really the pinnacle of his life, verse 21.
And this is really the key verse that you need to take home.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
What do you do with that?
There's no way out.
If you claim to be in Christ,.
If you claim to be a believer.
Of following Jesus,.
If you claim to anyone that, oh yeah, I accept the Lord Jesus Christ
You kind of can't get out of that verse.
Because he kind of sets the barrier.
He sets the boundary.
He sets the bar for me to live as Christ.
For us to live as Christ.
And if we're not living for Christ, if we die, we're going to be with Christ.
Where do you go?
Where do you go from that?
This is the pinnacle of Paul's life.
While Paul's in prison, facing trial, possible sentence of death, he sees deliverance in the conclusion.
Hopefully he would be set free.
But now the pressure of life and death is not quite there.
His spiritual DNA, our spiritual DNA.
Now at this point.
Is we live for Christ.
Everything we think about, everything we do, everything we act,
the thoughts,.
Our motives,.
Is Christ.
How do you do that?
Again, another zero sum.
It's a difficult proposition for all of us to do.
Especially the fact that he's saying this.
And he's chained to a guard.
In house arrest.
That living for Christ is everything for us.
For those in Christ.
And to die?
Well, we'll be away from the body.
And present with the Lord.
Very, very hard.
This is a daily axiom of our lives.
It's something we all should carry.
We do not need anything else.
Simply and eloquently, Paul raises the bar of everyone who claims to know Jesus Christ as our personal
Savior.
If this is not your daily call in life, you need to reexamine your priorities.
And pursuits.
Now, as a fun exercise, I try to do this.
For to me, to live is,.
And I put blank,.
And to die is blank.
So let me see.
For me to live is in Christ.
For me to live.
Is career.
For me to live is.
Marriage.
It doesn't even make any sense.
When you're professing.
To be a believer in Jesus Christ.
That is what God died, I mean, excuse me, what Jesus died
on the cross for.
The Christian life is not a hobby, Sunday thing, it's life.
What would you place in life instead of Jesus Christ?
What is more important in your life than.
Jesus?
What bothers you that people cannot recognize you as a follower of Jesus Christ?
Simply done, if you walk out of this church and people do not understand or see something different
about you,.
There's a question there.
And that's the mandate.
Of the people.
Of the way.
You don't have to be pronouncing on a soapbox like I'm doing right now.
They should automatically know when they see you in your presence, in your work, at
home,.
Anywhere,.
You're different.
Which brings me to the whole idea about ministry.
So, we all have responsibilities about our own ministry.
Being in Christ is having your own ministry.
It.
Can be just being at home,.
Who you are at home.
It can be at work,.
Friends,.
But that's a responsibility for us.
That we also carry our own ministry.
In Christ.
And he looks.
Towards us to do that, spreading the good news for that.
In verse 22, he says, if I live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which shall I
choose?
I cannot tell.
And this is the, this is kind of a loving dilemma that he has there.
He has this wonderful family in the church of Philippi, yet he can be with the Lord.
Like, family, Lord, either way, to go on living
physically, the benefits was fruitful labor for Paul, the benefits of the Philippians, other churches to help him towards
the progress and joy of the faith and increase the joy in Christ.
The other one, the other way is to die physically.
Paul would be with Christ, that is, in Christ's immediate presence, which would be an immense advantage.
To Paul personally.
So, it's, I don't want to use the word.
Selfishness, but.
You know,.
If we know that we pass from here and we're going to be in the presence of the Lord,.
But while we're here,.
We have a job to do.
We have a ministry to do.
We live under these choices.
And verse 23 says, I am hard -pressed between the two.
My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far.
Better.
So, there's the yin and yang of it.
We become part of the church, mentoring, helping, spreading the word of God,
and look forward to the day that we meet the Lord Jesus Christ, or we just go.
So, he's squeezed between two paths.
One, he feels the father -shepherd of the church that he truly loves, that he has a responsibility to mentor and disciple, and
yet, having this desire to depart, in audible terms,.
To leave,.
He sees eternity with Christ.
That anticipation is not about wanting death, but more about wanting eternity.
With the Lord.
And that should be our desire every day in our lives.
This is not fatalistic.
Those who claim to be in Christ, one day,.
Will be with the Lord.
One day.
But that one day isn't here yet,.
Because you're sitting here.
So, what is today?
Death for us is not bleak.
I'm just reminded of the story.
Of.
When Louise Reynolds.
Went to be with the Lord.
And we were at the church there,.
And it was a celebration.
The whole gathering, all the people who knew her, loved her, her testimony, her witness,.
And it was an absolute.
Celebration.
It should always be like that for us.
That our family here,.
Our brothers and sisters in Christ here, no matter what happens, if one of us goes.
Home,.
I'm hoping that you at least applaud me.
I'm going home to the Lord.
Same thing is true with you.
My cancer,.
I just want to do a quick segue here.
I was diagnosed with cancer.
They only gave me 7 % to live.
Joyce and I, my dear sweet wife here,.
We looked at each other like,.
What are you talking about?
How can this happen?
I've got things to do.
I've got things I've got to.
Get done here.
We were finished up in ministry with soldiers there, a place called Living Springs, young men
that had just come back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
One of the main questions.
They kept on asking us is, where is God after seeing what they saw.
Over there?
And then,.
This whole cancer thing.
Comes up.
And the.
Biggest fear I had.
Was I did.
Not want to be put on the shelf.
Lord, don't put me on the shelf.
I wasn't afraid of dying.
I just didn't want to be put on the shelf.
Not to do anything.
And you don't have to.
Use me at all as an example,.
But the Lord has us here.
To do something.
Not to be idle.
To make something happen.
And that's what Paul is referring to with this.
In verse 24 he says,.
But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
He still has work to do.
As long as we are alive on this earth, God has a purpose for us being there, which translates that each of us have our own ministry.
Don't look at us here at the church as being the end all.
God has a purpose in.
Each one of your lives.
Each of your ministries happen daily, hourly.
It happens everywhere.
If you use it.
And finally,.
25 to 26, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your
progress and joy and faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in
Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.
There are.
One purpose for existence upon this earth is to be animated with our maturity and joy in Christ.
Paul was confident in every way that the Lord chooses.
Where he's going to end up going.
That should be our.
Call to action.
That if he's with the presence of the Lord or he has us here doing what we need to do in the church, so
be it.
In the application of this, there's a lot.
That's being taught here.
The power of the gospel.
What does that mean for us?
The power of the gospel can cut through everything and anything.
With that is the rejoicing in our.
Adversity.
We will have it.
As believers,.
But it's.
Brothers and sisters here.
That's what.
The church is made to do.
It's to encourage us, to lift us up, to when we fall down, pick us up and push us back out there
to love each other no matter what.
It helps us to live with a purpose.
There's a value with selflessness.
There's a value with.
Giving and serving.
As Jesus did, as the disciples did, there's a value with that.
We are blessed by that.
At the end, there's the hope of.
Eternal life for us.
As believers in Jesus Christ.
I hope for all of you as we see these dark times that are happening there, and it seems
like it's coming right to our front door, understand that.
We are not alone.
That we're.
Together as brothers and sisters.
To band together,.
To do something together, to change the world together.
It only takes a few of us to do it.
And that our hope is that we will draw others for Christ.
Our other hope is that when we finish what our mission is, that we will be in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Father, I thank you so much for the truth that you show us in your word.
I thank you, Lord, for this church, for these brothers and sisters who I love so much.
I thank you, Lord, for everything you do in our lives, every day, all the interactions, Lord.
I pray for discernment.
I pray for mercy.
I pray for understanding and patience, Lord.
And Lord, I pray that you would not put us on the shelf, that you would use us for your purpose, Lord.
I pray that you continue to build this church up, build these leaders up here, build the teachers that are here, the
deacons here, the mothers and fathers that are teaching there.
I pray for all of that, Lord, in your precious name.
Amen.
Will you please stand?
Christ alone, my hope is found.
He is my light, my strength, my song.
This cornerstone, this solid.
Ground,.
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace, when
fears are stilled, when strivings cease.
My comforter, my all in all,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
His body lay, light of the world by darkness
slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day, up
from the grave He rose again.
And as He stands in victory, sin's curse
has lost its grip on me.
In His heart with the precious
blood of Christ.
This is the power of Christ in me prescribed.
To vital.
Breath,.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man can
ever block me from His hand.
Power of Christ, I'll stand.
Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
and to present you blameless before the presence.
Of His glory with great joy,.
To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and
authority before all time.
And now and forever.
Have a wonderful week.