When The World Hands You Lemons...PREACH CHRIST! (Philippians 1:12-14)

The Lord’s Day Gathering, Call to Worship, and Psalm 62

Welcome.

Welcome welcome to the Lord's Day gathering. Are you excited? Come on. Yes, some of us are excited. Thank you. It's an exciting time for us to come together. I myself every week I long for today and anticipation for that refreshing reflection and sanctifying means of grace that God has prescribed in the gathering of the Saints coming together as the family of God to Worship our Father to to once again be reminded of what God has done.

What God has done in each of our lives. God the Father who who chose us and set his love upon us. God the Son who redeemed us who purchased us by blood ransom and God the Holy Spirit who now Dwells in us and seals us for that day of glory that we must be reminded of saying don't lose sight of it.

Amen. This is why we gather today. We can't forget just how formative the Lord's Day gathering is for the Saints. That's why the writer of Hebrews said hey don't neglect it don't neglect the gathering of the Saints because of how how sanctifying it is in our lives and it molds us and it grows us and We can't do without it.

Can we I? Look forward to it each week. So I'm glad that you are here. And if you're a guest with us We have we have a few guests this morning. We thank you for being here. We each one of you could have gotten and should have gotten one of these connect cards.

There's an opportunity for you to check some boxes from information about who we are and how we function as a church. But there's also a section at the bottom. For how can we pray for you? And I just want you to know that if you fill that out these cards do make it to a group of us on Tuesday mornings that meet every week here and we will most certainly Pray for that need if you have need in prayer, which we all do do we not?

So so thank you for being here. Our prayer is that you just like the rest of us would grow in the fear and knowledge of the triune God. You are certainly loved by the people of God here. So let's Without further ado.

Let's start our service off. Let's officially start here at 12 5. We believe that we need to start our service with a call to worship a Way to look to God's very words as a reminder. So please stand with me for our call to worship.

It's portions of Psalm 62 and and if again if you're a guest you may not be familiar with how we we do this. But typically with our call to worship we have broken down this Psalm in a read and a response.

And so you'll see it up on the screen. We as a people we declare God's words of truth as we are reminded of who he is and what we're here to do. And this psalm it's my soul waits for God alone. It's to the choir master.

It is a psalm of David. Where he says for God alone our souls. Wait in silence. For he alone is our rock and our salvation. Trust in him at all times. Oh Peoples pour out your hearts before him. Those of lowest state are but a breath those of highest state are a delusion and the balances.

They go up put no trust and extortion set no vain hopes on robbery if riches increase. Once God has spoken twice. Have we heard this that power? Belongs to God and to you Oh Lord belongs steadfast love and all God's people said Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer and Prayer of Adoration

Well before we go into a prayer of adoration this morning I would like for us as a people to recite the Lord's Prayer together. Remember when the disciples asked Jesus they said they said Teach us how to pray teach us how to pray.

How should we go to to God and prayer and and this is his example of prayer? This is not something magical that if we just read this this prayer from Jesus. This is something that we should just repeat over and over again.

This is a template. But it doesn't hurt for us to go back to it as a people and be reminded of how Jesus has called us to pray. We have it up on the screen here. If you don't remember it our Father in heaven.

Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as We also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation.

But deliver us from evil. Let's pray a prayer of adoration to our God father. We bow before you. Humbly acknowledging that you are the sovereign creator of.

All.

We are your creation we are. We are but a creature Made by your sovereign great glorious hand. And this morning. We get the privilege of coming before you as children. Coming into the throne room of the king.

That we are Boldly able to proclaim his father as Jesus taught us to pray. We are adopted. We are brought in because of the blood of Christ. For you have redeemed us you have saved us from our enmity with you.

You are holy. You are perfect that no sin can ever be within your presence. You cannot just overlook our Iniquities. But for those of us that are in Christ today He took our sin upon himself so that we might become his righteousness.

The blood of Christ cleanses us so that we may boldly come before you today worship and spirit and truth because of the The Holy Spirit that is dwelling within us. And we ask this morning that you would be honored in our worship.

We ask this morning that you not allow us to offer up false fire before you. That we worship you the way that you have prescribed for us to worship you God. That we would worship from a heart of of repentance and and.

All.

Of who you are. We thank you this morning that you've brought us together that you've not left us to ourselves. We thank you that we are not a people that just are wondering as sojourners. Without brothers and sisters around us.

And that is why we gather today to be able to To encourage one another all the more as we say the day drawing near. Be honored in it as we your children bow before you in Christ's name. Amen, and amen, but we do have a special day today as you see we've got the baptismal out again.

It has been coming out quite often lately praised the Lord and so you may be seated. I actually want to ask Chase and Kylie if you would make your way up here. For those of you that don't know chase and Kylie Helms.

How long have y 'all been married now. A month. Two months. Yes. Okay exciting. Well, they have come to us and expressed a desire to to pursue membership here. We are going to be having our new member classes coming up soon and all of the Requirements in order to meet and become part of a covenant community, but in the process They have shared a desire to be baptized and they've both asked if they can share a testimony Before we go to this ordinance of baptism.

Baptism Testimonies of Chase and Kylie Helms

My name is Chase Helms and today I'm professing my faith and obedience to Jesus Christ through baptism. When I was around 10 years old, I began to comprehend who God was in the reality of heaven and hell.

The fear of eternal fire and torment drove me to a profession of faith and a water baptism. Even though I understood the concept of life after death and a heavenly father. I was not truly regenerated by the Spirit.

I Was like the seed that fell on rocky soil. My faith had no root and withered away over time. The largest proportion of the largest portion of my life was spent Pursuing worldly pleasures and searching for my fulfillment and things that left me in despair.

December of 2020 was the month that the Lord led me to the foot of my Savior's cross. I was in one of the lowest darkest moments of my life. My worldly pursuits had left me unfulfilled defeated and longing for a joy.

That was not counterfeit. One night while I was lying in bed I picked up a Bible off my bookshelf that I had never given a chance as I began to read the Gospel of Luke through the Spirit opened my eyes To what I had been longing for my entire life.

The joy I had been longing for was fully indwelled in the person of Jesus Christ. For the first time in my life, I had truly tasted the beauty of the gospel and the hope of his promise. Christ alone had released me from the chains of death and brought me to life.

Today, I'm coming forth to profess the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ through baptism as he commanded. The faith I profess today is not one of prosperity personal gain or worldly satisfaction.

The faith I profess is a promise that one day we will see the Son of Man return in glory. Death and sin will be defeated forever and he will make all things new. It is with great hope that I profess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

My name is Kylie Holmes. And today I'm following Jesus command of baptism. I was first baptized in early high school. I had grown up in church and knew the main Bible characters and their stories and decided to get baptized with a friend.

But it was more of an I'll do it if you do it type of situation. I didn't have the slightest understanding of the gospel and I only did it to get it over with. Later on in early college, I got baptized again.

I had just returned from a winter retreat where I developed a fear of hell not a love for God. While I was on the retreat I was asked if I knew where I was going if I died right then. I Admitted that I didn't and attempted to do what I grew up being taught and asked Jesus into my heart.

But once again, it wasn't a love for Jesus. It was a fear of hell of the fire and eternal suffering not that I would be separated from God for eternity. Summer of 2019. I went on a 10-week discipleship program called Orlando project the first eight weeks I just went with the flow did what I was supposed to work read the Bible worship.

But I still lacked an understanding of the gospel. I talked to my group leader and she gave me a video to watch and an article to read. The video was the story of Jesus in the rose. The premise behind this is that no matter how much we go through are crushed messed up and Destroyed by life.

Jesus still wants us. This piqued my attention. I don't remember anything about the article I read except for one phrase that really stuck with me. Why would Jesus go through all of that pain and suffering whipping carry across two kilometers up a hill be crucified die and raised?

From the dead just to leave me tomorrow. At that moment my eyes were opened and I finally understood the gospel in the weight of what Jesus had done for me. I never got re-baptized half because I saw it as repetitive.

I'd already been baptized twice, but half of it was out of a fear of what people would think of me. So I ran and avoided it for five years. After talking with Nathan and Chase and praying a lot about it.

God convicted my heart. We are called to have faith then be baptized. So I'm here today to finally stop running and be obedient to what he commands.

The Baptism of Chase and Kylie and Prayer for Their Marriage

Coat for this one. All right, Chase. I'm gonna ask you once again.

Have you put your faith in Christ and Christ alone for your righteousness? And well, then brother it it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit buried with Christ.

Grace to walk in newness of life. It's warm at least. Yep. Kylie I'm gonna ask you the same. We just heard it it's a little repetitive. But but we want to be clear you have put your faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone.

He alone is your righteousness. Yes, well, then it's my honor to baptize you my sister in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit buried with Christ. Raised to walk in newness of life. Praise the Lord praise the Lord guys.

Let's let's pray. Let's pray that God would continue to work in their hearts and sanctifying Them and their family. It's fresh fresh new family, right? This is an exciting time. Let's pray pray with me dear.

My father. Lord, we come to you. Once again, we thank you. We know that there's nothing uniquely special about these waters that there is nothing being washed away here. What needed to be washed away had already been washed away had been cleansed by the very blood of Christ.

This is but a picture. This is An example of what has happened and you've called us to be baptized. To show and to declare to the world that we are a new creation. We've been washed clean. We have been made anew and what a beautiful picture Christ that you you have prescribed.

Thank you for for Chase and Kylie. We pray you bless them pray bless them in their marriage. But now as they've been obedient to you and that first act of obedience Lord, I pray that you would just use them mightily for kingdom purposes.

We thank you once again in Christ's name and all God's people said let's stand and worship together.

Amen. Let's stand and sing this. Jesus paid it all. The Savior said Yes. Watch. I'd have saved my soul. I am yours forever. More this. I'm sure you my God have saved my soul. When you came for me.

Changed by the.

Enemy, but you go. Now I'm free I am free My joy and you are my hope. I am saved By your grace alone.

I will sing.

For he said My soul You brought me about. I'm bursting out. I have saved my soul. I am yours forever. More I won't be moved of this. I'm sure you my God have saved my soul. I will trust in you.

I will stand.

In my salvation They'll all be shaking my soul. They. You're my comfort when I feel forsaken. My red-gold chamber of gods. Now the sting of death is gone. My salvation, my steadfast hope. Then don't be shaken, my soul will forsake.

I swore the tempter would never keep my hope In life's fearful path, for my love is all. He once told me that He will be so holy. He saves our heads. I swore, precious in His eyes, He'll not let my soul be lost.

On His head shall I lie. Him as such upon. He will hold me. Justice has been satisfied. He will raise within to endless life. He will hold me. Faith has found me so holy. My Savior loves me so.

Offering and Congregational Prayer

Lord, thank You for these people here this morning, Lord. Lord, thank You for the two that were baptized this morning, Lord. What an awesome, awesome way to start a service. Lord, I pray this morning, Lord, as we prepare to take up this morning's offering, Lord, I just pray, Jesus, Lord, that You would just bless this offering.

Lord, bless each and every one of us here this morning. Lord, bless the Word as it's about to be preached, Lord. Father, we love You, we praise You, ask all these things in Jesus' precious and holy name.

In Jesus' name, amen.

He Holds Me Fast and the Faithfulness of Christ

That song gets me every time. I'm confronted with that glorious truth that if it were left up to me to stay faithful to God, I would not hold fast. If you could lose your salvation, if you could lose your position in Christ, you most certainly would.

There's no way you could. But praise God that Christ declared, of all that you've given me, I've not lost one. Not one. He holds me fast. Praise God. Well, our study through Ephesians, as most of you know, we've been going through Ephesians all last year and then in the beginning of the year, but with our little mini-series within, as we've gotten to that portion in chapter 5 of God's design for the family, is going to be delayed a couple more weeks, I'm sorry.

I've already gotten some pushback this morning, as people have found out that we're not going into it immediately. I've had to delay it due to the fact that our supporting church, Riverbend, down in Florida, Josh Brown has his ordination service next week to be installed as the teaching elder there at Riverbend, and I've been asked to go be a part of that and speak at that installation service.

And it just kept getting postponed and postponed, and so now it's official. I will be going down there next week so it's an exciting time for that church. I know that for those of us that are here, we hold Riverbend near and dear to our hearts for their oversight and support over the years as we planted.

I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of it, so please keep them in your prayers as they make this transition for Josh and Victoria as he is stepping into some big shoes. That is going to be a massive undertaking, but God has prepared him for that.

But on another note, Pastor Scott, who was the teaching elder there, keep him and Gina in your prayers for they are going back into the mission field. They are headed back out west to plant churches in rural areas the way they've done for so many years.

And so I talked to him the other day. He is excited to make his way through here on their way out sometime at the beginning of the summer. So he'll be here to share with us the vision and where they're headed and how we can come alongside them in their mission endeavors.

So please keep them in your prayers. But as for today, as the elders and I thought and prayed about what we should look at, what text should we go to today since we have an opportunity to look at anything and all of Scripture that we want to as we're taking a break from Ephesians.

And I found myself drawn back to Philippians. For those few of you that were here at the beginning, we went through Philippians. This was the first sermon series when we were meeting back at the house.

There's probably only five or six of you there at the time. So you're probably not going to remember much of it. But God uses this particular letter from the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi. He uses this to really mold how Christians should perceive circumstances.

Should see all of life in the way that the Apostle Paul presents it to us here in Scripture. Circumstances that oftentimes don't seem ideal and sometimes just seem downright bad, don't they? We all go through them.

We all experience the brokenness of this world. And as I talk with many of you, as I counsel with many of you, I know that you yourselves are feeling the pangs of this current reality of this brokenness and difficulty.

So I would like for us to look back at a portion of this letter and have our minds renewed by its truth prayerfully that will help us see those very circumstances through the lens of God's wisdom. Sound like a plan?

All right. Well, I've titled today's message When the World Hands You Lemons, Preach Christ. Okay. So go ahead and open up your copy of God's Word to Philippians chapter one. We're going to be looking at verses 12 through 14 this morning.

And I know I usually preach from the ESV, but these particular verses, I actually like the NASB better. So I'm going to be reading from that, but you should be able to track with me here. As you turn there to Philippians 1, 12, I would like to remind you of the circumstances surrounding Paul's writing this letter.

The church in Philippi, the Christians there are in a hostile culture, just like all of the Roman provinces. You see these cities that are run by the Roman culture and these Christians, they do suffer persecution in the midst of that.

And as Paul writes this letter to them, he himself is actually chained to a Roman guard and imprisoned as he writes this wonderful letter. So this sets the groundwork for how we can understand it. Let's read our text.

Philippians 1, starting in verse 12, Paul says,. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusted in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

This is the reading of God's word. Would you pray with me again? Let's pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds to this great truth. Oh, dear Heavenly Father, we come to you once again and we thank you for your word.

We thank you that you've not left us to ourselves, that we have the clarity of Scripture here, but we so desperately need the power and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit within us to truly comprehend them at times.

Lord, guard our ears from error. Guard my lips from speaking an untruth from your word. I pray that this would go forth and work in each saint this morning. For those that are yours, that it would renew their minds, encourage them, challenge them, convict them.

For those that are not yet yours, I pray that you would use this to awaken them to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for it. In Christ's name, amen. Well, the Apostle Paul has spent much of his ministry desiring to go to Rome.

This is where Paul's been wanting to go, is Rome. And now, here he is in Rome. However, this is not the way that the Apostle Paul had planned on his mission endeavors making their way to Rome. I'm sure Paul had not planned on being taken to Rome as a prisoner.

His plan to go to Rome was very strategic. If you look at the trajectory of the Apostle Paul's mission endeavors, you begin to see a theme, don't you? You begin to see him targeting major cities, and he goes into those cities.

Of course, this plan makes sense, doesn't it? If you want the gospel to spread in greater volume, you go to where the greatest concentration of people are, and the gospel spreads throughout those cities and then makes its way out of those cities.

This was undoubtedly the Apostle Paul's game plan in his mission endeavors. And during this time, there was no city like Rome, was there? This city had a population of over a million people. Think about how bad the traffic is in Jonesboro, and we only have a couple hundred thousand.

You have a million people, and this is where Paul wants to go. This is a city. The whole world surrounds around this city at that time. The saying was that all roads lead to Rome because it was the center of the whole known world.

So what better place to preach the gospel? So, of course, Paul wants to go there. We see his desire for this when he writes to the church in Rome. In Romans chapter 1, he says, I don't want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you.

I want to come to you. This has been my intention, but thus far I have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. You see his heart there?

That's what he wants to do. He wants to get to Rome to pour into the saints that are there and then to share the gospel, the good news, with the Gentiles that spread throughout. He wants to go there, yet God is using him elsewhere at the time.

All the while later, a few verses there in Romans 1, he was eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Well, here he is. He makes it to Rome. And again, of course, not as he had planned. He would usually enter a city as an evangelist, but now he enters this city as a prisoner.

Arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome to stand trial before Caesar. Rather than going in and preaching in the public square the good news of Christ, he's now chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day for two years while he awaits a verdict of live or die.

So instead of being able to preach openly in the streets to all who would listen as Paul would often do, he's now given the opportunity to preach directly to Caesar's own personal guards and household.

Many of whom, as we will see in a moment, were converted. They were children of God. Now we find ourselves here in verse 12, and Paul jumps right out of his greeting and into his own circumstances. The Christians and Philippi are obviously concerned for his well-being.

They care for him very much. This is a very caring people. Even in the midst of their own suffering, they care for the apostle Paul because they love him so, and they bear his burdens. So they care for him.

They're worried for him. So he gives them an update. He says, yes, I'm still in the chains. I'm still awaiting a possible death sentence from Caesar. However, he says that this has advanced the gospel.

Paul is reminding them that even in the greatest of difficulties, the gospel of Christ advances. He's saying, I may be hindered. My plans may be hindered. You may be hindered. The gospel can't be hindered, can it?

The gospel cannot be hindered because Christ is victorious.

Amen.

Thank you, Danny. He will rescue every last sheep, as we said a moment ago. As we sang, he will hold me fast. He's the one that comes and gets every last one. Christ is victorious. And no circumstance, no government, no prison, not even Satan himself can even slow it down.

In the slightest. And this is what we see here in this text. So I want us to see three things in these three verses here. Three things. I think we have it up on the screen. The first one is, I want us to see the proclamation of God's perfect plan.

The proclamation of God's perfect plan. Look there at verse 12 again with me. When he says, now I want you to know, brother, in that my circumstances, they've turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.

Now notice the very beginning of this verse. He says, now I want you to know. This is Paul introducing this thought here at the beginning of the letter. Like I said, he just got through the greeting. And he's telling them, hey, listen, I need you to hear this.

I want you to hear this. What's he wanting them to understand? That his circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, right? His circumstances. What circumstances? We just talked about it.

His imprisonment, right? This is Paul saying that this has turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. He's not downplaying his circumstances. He's not pretending that he's not in them. He's acknowledging this circumstance, but he's seeing it from a different perspective.

Paul's big grand plan of preaching the gospel in the streets of Rome are shot. That's been his whole ministry. I've got to get to Rome. I want to get to Rome. God has hindered me. And now he's here. Not only that, he's likely going to die.

For Caesar could just as easily give the thumbs up or thumbs down on his life. And here he is saying, my circumstances, this situation, it's turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Not, hey, when the world hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Got to make the best of it. I mean, that's kind of what we do sometimes, is it not? When we are dealing with circumstances that are difficult, we just deal with it like, well, this is life. I guess we just got to make the best of the situation.

Do the best that we can in the midst of it. And our perspective is so me. It's so, well, here's my circumstance. But that's not Paul, is it? No, he says the greater progress of the gospel. He's speaking of this, notice, as it's the greatest possible scenario that could have happened.

He says, my imprisonment, my lack of comfort, my threat of death, my personal freedom, my pain, my loneliness, are nothing compared to the advancement of the gospel. And it is a small price to pay. I wish I could see things like Paul does.

Don't you? Paul would ultimately be released from this first imprisonment. But he doesn't know that. As far as he knows, he could be dying there. Yet we see the same attitude six years later. He's imprisoned again in Rome for a second time.

And while in prison, at that time, he writes a letter to his protégé, Timothy. As a matter of fact, turn there with me to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Because I think this gives us a little bit of an insight into what Paul's meaning back here in Philippians.

2 Timothy chapter 2. Again, this is one of Paul's protégés. This is a young man that he is establishing churches. And he's been discipled by the apostle Paul. And Paul here is writing him again. Again, chained to a Rome guard for a second time.

And here in 2 Timothy chapter 2, starting in verse 9, he says,. For which I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment, as a criminal. But the word of God is not imprisoned. The word of God is not. I may be imprisoned.

But the word of God is not in prison. You catch that? This is precisely why Paul is confident that this is for the greater progress. You can imprison me. Yeah, you can take me and lock me away and throw away the key.

But you can't imprison the gospel. Good luck with that. You can't stop Christ Jesus, the reigning king, from finding his people and reigning. You cannot contain it. And the more that you try, the more it will advance.

Because God is using you as his pawn. That's the God we serve. Sovereign. Paul knows this. So how is Paul so confident that this is the advancement of the gospel? Look at what he says next there in 2 Timothy, in verse 10.

He says, For this reason I endure all things. I endure this imprisonment. I'll endure shipwreck. I'll endure beating. I'll endure stoning. I'll endure hunger. I will endure whatever the sovereign God ordains in my path.

I will endure it. No matter what happens to me. As he said in Philippians 4 .13, he says, Hey, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can handle whatever he puts me in. Because God is the one that sustains him.

He goes on and explains his motivation. Look at it. He says, For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen. Paul knows that God has a chosen people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.

And this is what gives him the greatest confidence to endure hardship. He knows that his missionary endeavors, He knows that his evangelism efforts have a 100 success rate. Because those that are his will be awakened to the truth and saved.

God has a people that he has set his love on from eternity past. We've seen that in Ephesians, right? And he has them in each of these cities. And he, again, will not lose one of them. Just as we quoted a moment ago in John 18.

For all that you have given me, I have not lost one. And this gives Paul an incomprehensible certainty. In whatever circumstance of hardship. And what is he certain of? Look at the next part of that verse with me there.

That they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. Paul is never focused on this life. He's never focused here. He says for me to live, well that's for Christ.

I'll endure hardship. In my imprisonment, they're not hindering the gospel. Oh, but for me to die, that's gain. That's when life begins. Like right now, I'm a sojourner in a foreign land on mission that my king has set me on.

But one day I will get to be in glory with him.

That's life.

That's what I'm focused on. And I want these other saints, the ones that are his, that he is going to awaken from death to life. I want them to experience Christ Jesus and eternal glory. Though they are dead in their trespasses and sins, they will be made alive through the hearing of the word.

This is Paul's confidence, is it not? He knows that the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit does not depend on him. And it does not depend on his circumstances. He is merely a mouthpiece in the hands of a sovereign God who ordains all things to be.

Not a molecule in the whole of creation moves without God's ordaining purpose. God provides the hearing of the gospel and saves those that are his. Praise God. Now go back with me to Philippians 1. There in verse 12 again.

I'm going to read it again so we keep it in our minds. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Paul wants the people in Philippi to understand that his circumstances haven't caught God off guard.

God has a perfect plan in our suffering. We don't always get to see it, but here it's obvious to Paul, right? Sometimes when we go through suffering, we don't know what it's for. Sometimes people come to me and they say, well, pastor, I dealt with this suffering over here.

I don't know what that was for. What was the purpose of it? I don't know that I've ever seen any fruit come from it. Obviously God didn't have a plan in it. Well, it had a plan. All things work together for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purposes, right?

It had purpose in it. We may not see it. Oh, but here, praise God, God had orchestrated it in such a way that it's just obvious right before him. And he wants the believers to see how obvious it is. They see his suffering.

They know this wasn't Paul's plan to get to Rome in this way. He wanted to preach in the streets. However, it turned out to be the best plan, the greater progress of the gospel. This is Paul's proclamation of God's perfect plan, is it not?

God's perfect plan. It's better than Paul's. Paul had a plan. It was a good plan, was it not? Go to Rome is a great plan. Sometimes we have great plans. We have great vision. We have great ideas and we want to do this.

We want to do that. As the people of God, praise God, do it. Plan your way as God directs your steps.

Right?

And so God is the one that has a perfect plan. And this is the proclamation of that. The second thing I want us to see is the purpose of God's perfect plan. The purpose of God's perfect plan. Look at verse 13 with me.

He says, Here's the reason. Here Paul mentions his imprisonment, but not how we think. We think of this imprisonment as something brought on by the Roman authorities, do we not? They're the ones that have arrested him.