SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Hope you have one of these.
SPEAKER_00: Take it out.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_00: And as you turn to the book of Philippians, I also want to make a special note that every one of the bulletins that was handed out this morning, if you received a bulletin from a greeter, had an insert in it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a Sunday morning life group here in the next couple weeks, we are shaking things up, all right?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that we're asking you not to attend your life group.
SPEAKER_00: We love that people are in intentional relationships and have good, solid Christian community in their groups.
SPEAKER_00: But it is very likely that you might be starting 30 minutes earlier than normal or in a different room or a different place if you're not starting at the time that you normally meet.
SPEAKER_00: And so please take a look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Put it on your refrigerator, take a picture of it with your phone, make sure you know where you're headed on August 23rd.
SPEAKER_00: Got it?
SPEAKER_00: Got it.
SPEAKER_00: It's in your hand.
SPEAKER_00: So August 23rd, when someone comes and says, Now where where's my how come my class isn't meeting over?
SPEAKER_00: Just it's right here.
SPEAKER_00: You got it?
SPEAKER_00: It's right here.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna hand this out next week as well.
SPEAKER_00: Uh all of your leaders will be talking about it.
SPEAKER_00: Just please make sure you use that as a reference.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna be reading verse 12 through 18 this morning, but there's a lot there.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of ground to cover.
SPEAKER_00: And before we start our sermon, I want to pray for a good friend of mine.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Pastor Michael Kreiner, and he leads FBC Rockwall.
SPEAKER_00: FBC Rockwall is a large church in the Dallas area.
SPEAKER_00: They are a missions-minded church.
SPEAKER_00: They've got a lot of healthy things happening.
SPEAKER_00: They take a world mission offering in the fall, and the last couple years, they've raised more than a million dollars for missions in a single day.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty amazing, church.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty amazing that they have that emphasis on getting the gospel to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: But tonight they're having a special meeting and they're making some big decisions as a church.
SPEAKER_00: And I reached out to Michael this past week and I said, How can we pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm preaching Matthew in the morning and then pray for our special meeting.
SPEAKER_00: Pray that God's presence would be real, that we'd walk in unity, that we'd step forward to do God-sized things that only God can explain.
SPEAKER_00: So can we pray for that church?
SPEAKER_00: Can we pray for Pastor Michael?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's do it.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for the way we've already experienced your presence.
SPEAKER_00: And we come to this moment now, and I just ask for your help.
SPEAKER_00: Would you be the strength in this preaching, your word and the spirit showing up to change our lives?
SPEAKER_00: That we would sit on the edge of our seat to lean in, even as Melinda was encouraging these new kindergarten students that will be joining us in worship.
SPEAKER_00: Would we lean in?
SPEAKER_00: We want to see your presence in this church, in this community.
SPEAKER_00: We want to do God-sized things in this place for your namesake.
SPEAKER_00: We want to, even as we say at the end of all of our gatherings, we want to scatter out to be saw and light and live on mission for you.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what Pastor Michael and the other pastors and ministers on staff are attempting to lead in Rockwall.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some big decisions today.
SPEAKER_00: So I just ask God that your grace would be known, that the unity they've already been given because of the shed blood of Christ would be experienced.
SPEAKER_00: They would strive to maintain it.
SPEAKER_00: God, that people, men and women and boys and girls would hear about Jesus because of the things that you're doing in that local church.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for your blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Over Pastor Michael, even as he preaches multiple times this morning through Matthew, we pray for your blessing for that church.
SPEAKER_00: DFW is a big place with lots of people, and there's lots of healthy churches, and we need lots of healthy churches in this state, even in this community, God.
SPEAKER_00: Would we be more excited when you're moving in another church just as we would be excited when you're moving in this church?
SPEAKER_00: We just ask that you do big things for your name in Rockwall, Texas, and right here in Wimberley as well.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul is giving a missions report in our text today.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm in jail, but even though I'm in jail, the whole Imperial Guard has had a chance to hear about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It is a fun thing to see Paul giving this missions report.
SPEAKER_00: He has a joy that's fueled because the gospel keeps going out.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I've read this passage last week and plenty other times when he addresses the Corinthian church in chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I want you to know, Corinthians, that I made it of first importance to tell you that Christ died to pay for sins.
SPEAKER_00: And I made it of first importance to tell you that he rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: And now as he's addressing the Philippians, I think he's doing the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Man, there's some tough things about my circumstance, but can I tell you that the gospel is first?
SPEAKER_00: Paul puts the gospel over and above feeling pity or self-loathing or despair in his present circumstance, even though he is in chains for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that is something we can learn from today.
SPEAKER_00: Not just that Paul is the gospel first kind of person, but that we can be gospel first people as well.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read it in chapter 1, starting in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
SPEAKER_00: Some, indeed, preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.
SPEAKER_00: The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
SPEAKER_00: What then?
SPEAKER_00: Only that, in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: A couple things about the context before we dig in here.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Paul's in chains for Christ, he's riding from prison.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what is your go-to reaction when you are in an uncomfortable situation?
SPEAKER_00: Is it rejoicing?
SPEAKER_00: Mine's not.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just be really honest.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm in an uncomfortable situation, I'm usually complaining.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul here is rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: What about when you get accused unjustly?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: Don't say that about me.
SPEAKER_00: Is it rejoicing?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is alright.
SPEAKER_00: You can fight all my battles.
SPEAKER_00: Or is it self-justification?
SPEAKER_00: What about if you were in chains for Christ?
SPEAKER_00: I want to show you a quick one-minute video.
SPEAKER_00: I think often in America we forget that all around the world, Christians are persecuted for proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at this.
SPEAKER_01: In Colombia, Rolo delivers Bibles and shares gospel in guerrilla-controlled areas.
SPEAKER_01: Every time he leaves, he knows it's possible.
SPEAKER_01: He will never come back.
SPEAKER_01: In Iran, RMC has Bibles to desperate Christians who have never owned their own copy of God's words.
SPEAKER_01: In Nigeria, Elizabeth and her five children are now on their own because her husband was brutally murdered for his Christian Christian service.
SPEAKER_01: And in China, Wang Yi is serving nine years in prison prison.
SPEAKER_01: His crime crime leading a needing registered church.
SPEAKER_01: These are just a few of the millions of persecuted Christians living in the service of the world's most dangerous places to follow Christ Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He promised that his followers would be persecuted.
SPEAKER_01: And we are committed to serving server.
SPEAKER_01: For more than 50 years, the voice of the martyrs has served these bold and courageous believers by offering direct help when they face persecution, delivering Bibles to believers at any cost, and equipping frontline workers to advance the gospel the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Man, what a reminder.
SPEAKER_00: I might be the butt end of a joke because I have a strong Christian faith or because I'm a bold with my witness, but I'm not literally being beaten and drugged out of my house or being thrown in jail, or worse, being gunned down in a country where Christians are killed daily.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we we gotta be gospel-first people, and we gotta realize the blessing it is that we don't have that kind of persecution.
SPEAKER_00: But even if we did, would we rejoice?
SPEAKER_00: And would we be able to say, like Paul is saying, even though I'm in prison here, let me tell you where God is still working, where God is still moving.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna be the kind of Christian that I am marked by a life of joy and a life of rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: I also want to be the kind of Christian where the gospel comes first.
SPEAKER_00: Church, I'm just gonna rattle them off for you here, but I think they're all so good.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you seven descriptions of gospel first people that we find here in these verses, verse 12 through 18.
SPEAKER_00: Seven descriptions of gospel first people.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, gospel first people celebrate the kingdom advancement.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying, Hey, I want to tell you what's really happened here is that the gospel keeps going forward.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you might look at my situation and think, oh man, there's Paul, he's in prison again.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you, church at Philippi, the gospel is going out.
SPEAKER_00: Write this down just to do some homework.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 8 through 11.
SPEAKER_00: Paul talks about some of his trials.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about being beat, he talks about being hungry, he talks about being shipwrecked, about being given the lashings of 40 minus one.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of that, I think you could roll that into what Paul's saying here.
SPEAKER_00: Even if I'm beaten, even if I'm shipwrecked, even if I'm starving, the gospel's going out.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna celebrate because the gospel is going forward.
SPEAKER_00: Paul might be in chains for Christ, but the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel's going forward, and so he celebrates the word of God is marching on.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder how you celebrate kingdom advancement in your life.
SPEAKER_00: How are you celebrating when people get to hear the good news of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: I shared it just with our staff this morning because it was a big encouragement to me.
SPEAKER_00: We got to hang out with a church planter yesterday and his two kids, and he had a niece and nephew, and we were all at the lake, and we're swimming on the back end of a boat, and his little 10-year-old nephew says, Guess what, Pastor Aaron?
SPEAKER_00: Today I gave my heart to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we celebrated.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the gospel's going forward.
SPEAKER_00: You got to be talking about Jesus for other people to come to you and say, Hey, guess what God's doing?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, the gospel's going forward.
SPEAKER_00: You got to be known as a gospel first person, first of all, to even know what's happening around the world.
SPEAKER_00: What's happening in our very backyard, in our community, what's happening in this church family when we exit the walls or exit the doors of this church.
SPEAKER_00: Always remember there's a student in one of our student ministries, it got me so jazzed up to keep preaching the gospel, keep preaching the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I learned this because her mother came to me and said, You'll never know how powerful it is when you preach on Sunday mornings.
SPEAKER_00: I said, All right, tell me more.
SPEAKER_00: Well, my 13-year-old daughter, she just feverishly takes notes.
SPEAKER_00: She takes notes so fast, she wants to hear every word, she wants to remember everything that you say.
SPEAKER_00: Because during the school year, she goes into the library with one of her friends during lunch and she checks out a Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And then she opens it up to the passage that you preached and she repreaches your sermon to her friend that is growing up in an atheist home and has no access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And I just I will never forget that story.
SPEAKER_00: I want to celebrate things like that.
SPEAKER_00: I want to celebrate that the gospel marches on, even without me, right?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, it's a I don't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Even without me, the gospel goes forward.
SPEAKER_00: What ways in your life are you celebrating those kinds of things?
SPEAKER_00: I get excited to celebrate the power of the gospel going forward.
SPEAKER_00: I'm reminded of Romans chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, I'm unashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of salvation to those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: Man, how are we celebrating that?
SPEAKER_00: In our church, in our homes, in our families, in this community.
SPEAKER_00: Gospel first people celebrate the kingdom advancement.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, gospel first people focus on Christ through suffering.
SPEAKER_00: So here in verse 13, he says, I want you to know it's become known through the whole imperial guard.
SPEAKER_00: Even though I'm here in prison and my imprisonment is for Christ, and I'm being persecuted for sharing the gospel and I'm thrown into this jail.
SPEAKER_00: The whole guard knows that I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to focus on Jesus instead of focusing on my circumstance, instead of focusing on my suffering.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've walked through physical hardship in life, but as you've walked through physical hardship, did you use that as an opportunity to speak about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've walked through emotional hardship, but did you use that as an opportunity to focus on Christ and speak about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: So, what hard things have you walked through in your life?
SPEAKER_00: And how can we shift the story and say, hey, this hard thing is still hard?
SPEAKER_00: This hard thing is a result of brokenness in our world.
SPEAKER_00: And we say, Come, Lord Jesus, come.
SPEAKER_00: We are ready for brokenness to be done.
SPEAKER_00: But even in the midst of this brokenness, I'm gonna focus on Jesus, and that's gonna be more important than my pain and suffering and my present circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: And as I attempt to focus on Jesus, I want to see the gospel go forward.
SPEAKER_00: I think this is one of the points of Hebrews chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is our great example, so we fix our eyes on him and his suffering to say, Jesus, your suffering is worse than mine, so I have nothing to complain about.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Hebrews chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.
SPEAKER_00: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
SPEAKER_00: Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone take a moment.
SPEAKER_00: It's happening all across the room.
SPEAKER_00: My phone is off.
SPEAKER_00: We can just stop right now.
SPEAKER_00: There's a missing child in Leon Valley.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna stop as an eight-year-old, and we're gonna pray for this eight-year-old girl, Liana, and then I'll keep preaching.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, we do just want to pause.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of people in the room right now.
SPEAKER_00: Would you would you hear our hearts?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the circumstance is.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's family fighting, parents, custody.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's more of an emergency than that.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know and it's an unknown.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I just pray for Liana.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would calm her heart and mind, give her peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I've heard plenty of testimonies when kids are walking through tough circumstances, uh, that there is a man in the room comforting them.
SPEAKER_00: Would that be true right now for Liana?
SPEAKER_00: I pray, God, that there would be justice.
SPEAKER_00: I pray also, God, that there would be your divine intervention, that this young girl gets into a place where she is safe and she is loved.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's the only thing you can do when every phone goes off in the room.
SPEAKER_00: I want to get serious for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: I talk about this often because it was a serious trial that Chris and I walked through, but in 2022, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.
SPEAKER_00: She's got a couple more years of MD Anderson and tests and all those things before they're like, you're good, don't have to come anymore.
SPEAKER_00: But there was a season where she literally said, There are people very close to me that I've been praying for for years and years and years.
SPEAKER_00: There are family members that I love with all my heart, and I know that they're not right with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if it took me walking through breast cancer for them to have a wake-up call and get right with Jesus, I'll gladly raise my hand again for breast cancer.
SPEAKER_00: That is a gospel first person.
SPEAKER_00: If the Lord uses this tough, suffering, present circumstance that someone might come to know Jesus, it's all worth it.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I want to be more like that.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, gospel first people speak the gospel freely.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, commentators help me out here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a good study Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that the whole Imperial Guard is a lot of people?
SPEAKER_00: Scholars say that's about 9,000 people.
SPEAKER_00: The whole Imperial Guard, and maybe Paul's speaking in hyperbole here, but I would I would think not.
SPEAKER_00: I would think they all know, oh yeah, he's the one that follows the way.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one that never shuts up about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He always tells his testimony about he was on the road and Jesus met him and say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
SPEAKER_00: And then he was blind and the scales came off.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that guy's always talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks freely about the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so this whole imperial guard comes to know that forgiveness is in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other name given among men by which we must be saved.
SPEAKER_00: That's Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Or what about Romans chapter 10, where we're encouraged to speak?
SPEAKER_00: Because the faith comes from hearing.
SPEAKER_00: It says this in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: How then will they call on him in whom they've never believed?
SPEAKER_00: How are they to believe in him in whom they've never heard?
SPEAKER_00: How are they to hear without someone preaching?
SPEAKER_00: And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_00: As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he's heard from us?
SPEAKER_00: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I've talked to many Christians to say, Aaron, it's just easier for you to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And I can appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00: And I can I can be patient with that, and I can show compassion there.
SPEAKER_00: I love talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But here's something that I want to challenge you with.
SPEAKER_00: If you hesitate to speak up about Jesus, and you want to grow through that challenge, ask yourself if you hesitate to talk about Jesus even with other Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Because one of the ways that we can get more free in sharing the gospel with people that don't believe about the Bible or who God is or the forgiveness is found in Jesus, is that when we're around Christians, we speak up and talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: When we're around other believers, we say, share some testimony.
SPEAKER_00: I want to know how you're growing.
SPEAKER_00: When we're around other believers, we say, What are you learning in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Or when we're around other Christians, we say, Have you got to share the gospel lately?
SPEAKER_00: Or you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I get really nervous and I clam up.
SPEAKER_00: And so would you be willing just to meet me at a coffee shop and I'm gonna practice sharing the gospel with you, even though I know you're already a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Would you let me practice and get in a few reps?
SPEAKER_00: Because as you seek the Lord and ask for more strength and growth, sharing the gospel with believers helps us be less hesitant when we share with unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wonder if there's someone in your life right now, and I want to challenge you again.
SPEAKER_00: I did this last week.
SPEAKER_00: Take out your phone and write a name or take out a pen right on the bolts and say, This is the person I'm praying for.
SPEAKER_00: This individual.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to share with them.
SPEAKER_00: I've been a little hesitant, but but Lord, would you give me strength?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna practice with some other believers in my small group so that the next time I have the chance, I'll be a little more bold.
SPEAKER_00: I have a little more clarity in my mind of what I want to say.
SPEAKER_00: This is the person I really want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: Write down their name right now.
SPEAKER_00: Put it on your car, put it by your speedometer.
SPEAKER_00: You're going too fast, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to say how fast they're going.
SPEAKER_00: Just put their name there, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: Put it on your mirror when you brush your teeth in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: I had a friend, he was a huge encouragement to me.
SPEAKER_00: He's become an evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, So often we want to build bridges of relationships to share the gospel with someone.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you have a solid relationship, a solid friendship, the weightiness of the gospel can hold up because they know that you love them, no matter what their response is.
SPEAKER_00: And I get that.
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's some good principles there.
SPEAKER_00: He said, There's an issue though.
SPEAKER_00: There's an issue when we wait to mention anything about Jesus till six months into the friendship, and people are like, wait, hang on a second.
SPEAKER_00: You're a Christian?
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And they spent all this time and they didn't know who you were.
SPEAKER_00: But if just right off the front, maybe you're not going to be as bold or bang the head with a Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just going to say, Hey, can I just tell you why I love Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Or hey, we were going to church the other.
SPEAKER_00: It in.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I was praying for my kids the other night.
SPEAKER_00: Just slip that in.
SPEAKER_00: And then six months down the road, when you're like, hey, I want to be really bold and I want to have a conversation with you.
SPEAKER_00: Can I have some time?
SPEAKER_00: They're not surprised.
SPEAKER_00: There's no surprise in them saying, Hang on a minute.
SPEAKER_00: You waited this long to speak up about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Just as you start the relationship, make sure they know that that's who you are.
SPEAKER_00: Gospel first people speak the gospel freely.
SPEAKER_00: Number four.
SPEAKER_00: Gospel first people embolden others to speak the gospel freely.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that in verse 14?
SPEAKER_00: Most of the brothers, having become confident by the Lord in my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
SPEAKER_00: The result of Paul being in prison is that some of these Christians that were being a little embarrassed or they were being a little quiet, they actually speak up now.
SPEAKER_00: And they speak with more boldness.
SPEAKER_00: I once had an intern many, many years ago, 2013, 13 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: His name was Carter.
SPEAKER_00: And he was going to seminary and he was called into ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Now he's a missionary.
SPEAKER_00: He's gone back and forth to Europe plenty of times.
SPEAKER_00: He loves sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He came into our ministry and I interviewed him at a Starbucks and said, share the gospel with me.
SPEAKER_00: And he told me a lot about Jesus, which is really awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And then in ministry, he was able to get some clarity and speak about Christ with some more clear ways.
SPEAKER_00: And I saw him growing and I saw his boldness for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And then he left our ministry and we were in New Mexico and he came to visit and do some teaching at our church in New Mexico.
SPEAKER_00: And we went out to go hike the Guadalupe State Park, uh, Guadalupe Mountains.
SPEAKER_00: It was fantastic.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just having fun with a friend.
SPEAKER_00: And he and his new wife say, Oh, well, we can't go hiking until we share the gospel with somebody.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, wait a second.
SPEAKER_00: We've shared the gospel with hundreds of students.
SPEAKER_00: We're good.
SPEAKER_00: Carter's like, no, actually, I'm not good.
SPEAKER_00: I have this commitment that I gave to the Lord that every day we're going to try to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, we're going to go hiking, but we need to share the gospel before we can go hiking.
SPEAKER_00: And here comes Carter Cox, the old college student that was interning for us in 2013, now leading the way.
SPEAKER_00: He's leading me.
SPEAKER_00: He walks into the Ranger Station.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Hey, we're going to go hiking.
SPEAKER_00: Can you recommend any good trails?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is a trail.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, also, every day I try to tell someone about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Would you mind if I took two minutes and told you how much Jesus loves you?
SPEAKER_00: With my jaw on the floor, I'm like, I'm supposed to be leading this dude, and now he's leading me and making me more emboldened to speak up about Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have people like that in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you that person for somebody else?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're a gospel first person, and you're helping people be more emboldened to speak up about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Number five, gospel first people run away from complaining.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to read context.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 2, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was 14 is a better place to start.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 2, verse 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_00: Flip there.
SPEAKER_00: Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine like lights in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Other translations say, Do all things without complaining.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
SPEAKER_00: The minute I start to complain about something, I may lose the opportunity then to turn around and tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that God can't redeem it, that I can't ask for forgiveness, and I can't say, please excuse me, that was not the right attitude.
SPEAKER_00: Can I actually tell you about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: But I can walk into a conversation with one of two goals.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell this person about Jesus, or I'm gonna be negative and pessimistic, and I'm gonna complain.
SPEAKER_00: And gospel first people, they run away from complaining.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned it a couple weeks ago in Acts 16.
SPEAKER_00: Paul gets to share the gospel with the Philippian jailer.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think the Philippian jailer is one of the first members of the church at Philippi.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason the Philippian jailer knows to ask Paul and Silas, tell me about Jesus, how can I be saved?
SPEAKER_00: is they were thrown into prison unjustly.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of complaining about their situation, they're staying up until midnight singing songs and praying to God.
SPEAKER_00: They have an opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna complain or am I gonna praise God?
SPEAKER_00: We have an opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna be gospel first people, are we gonna complain or are we gonna seek to share the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: When you are a gospel first person, there is no room for complaining in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because every opportunity is an opportunity to say something about Jesus, his joy, his hope, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And when we complain, it just robs us of that opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: Gospel first people run away from complaining.
SPEAKER_00: Number six, gospel first people, they run away from comparison.
SPEAKER_00: And I've had to learn this lesson in verse 15 through 17.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says some of these people preach the gospel with bad motives.
SPEAKER_00: They're preaching out of envy or rivalry.
SPEAKER_00: Others do it from good.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want you to know that I'm happy that they're speaking up about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not my place to question their motive.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul doesn't compare himself to others.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because comparison is the enemy of joy.
SPEAKER_00: If you're writing anything down, make sure you catch that one.
SPEAKER_00: Comparison is the enemy of joy.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus taught us this in Mark chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: He says, verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name.
SPEAKER_00: We tried to stop him because he was not following us.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, Do not stop him.
SPEAKER_00: For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to soon afterwards speak evil of me.
SPEAKER_00: For the one who is not against us is for us.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm not gonna compare.
SPEAKER_00: And I I'll confess to you, there have been times in my ministry where I'm like, Well, what's going on over there?
SPEAKER_00: And why aren't you doing that over here, God?
SPEAKER_00: And what's wrong with us?
SPEAKER_00: And I compare.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be really vulnerable with you guys.
SPEAKER_00: A couple years ago, Asbury College was experiencing a revival.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you read about it in the news.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of people, 24-7, worship repentance, prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And in my critical spirit, when I first heard about this, I started to say, I wonder if that's contrived.
SPEAKER_00: What did they do out there at Asbury College to contrive this thing?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how wrong that is?
SPEAKER_00: I should have just been happy that it seems like there was a movement of God on a college campus.
SPEAKER_00: Said, I wonder if that's real.
SPEAKER_00: Is that really genuine?
SPEAKER_00: I should have just been celebrating God.
SPEAKER_00: Would you be honored?
SPEAKER_00: Would you be lifted up?
SPEAKER_00: Would you draw all men to yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Would you draw people to repentance?
SPEAKER_00: Would you change their lives forever?
SPEAKER_00: That they would experience getting married and having kids and leading Christ in their homes or going to the workforce.
SPEAKER_00: I mean gospel-first people are going into the mission field because they experience your presence in a very unique way right there at Asbury College.
SPEAKER_00: And that's gospel-first people.
SPEAKER_00: They run away from comparison.
SPEAKER_00: I think at times, especially in Western culture, we can compare other churches, and there's this sick distortion of the view of the church that the world gets because they think we're in competition.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not in competition.
SPEAKER_00: This church is not in competition.
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we're not in competition with any other church.
SPEAKER_00: Here in Wimberley or Dripping Springs or San Marcus or South Austin or New Bronfels, we're not in competition.
SPEAKER_00: We're on Team Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for still paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: We are almost through.
SPEAKER_00: We're on Team Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when God is doing something huge in another church, what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: We celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: When God's doing something in another denomination, we celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a gospel first person.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be walking in the temptation to compare or measure up or any of these things.
SPEAKER_00: When the gospel is your top priority, you run away from comparison.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I want.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that's what you want.
SPEAKER_00: We fix our eyes on Christ and we run the race and we do business for his name and for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Last one here.
SPEAKER_00: Gospel first, people celebrate every time Christ is proclaimed.
SPEAKER_00: So he says in verse 18, I rejoice because Christ is proclaimed.
SPEAKER_00: I rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians chapter 1 says it like this I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and returning to a different gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you as a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
SPEAKER_00: As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason for discretion and discernment.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just saying throw, throw everything out the window.
SPEAKER_00: But what I am saying is if the gospel, Christ alone, through faith alone, by his grace alone, is being proclaimed, we celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: If it's another denomination, we celebrate it.
SPEAKER_00: If it's another mission agency, we celebrate it.
SPEAKER_00: If it's a student ministry down the road, we celebrate it.
SPEAKER_00: If it's that friend we've been praying for, that they would just come to Christ and someone else shares with them and you didn't have the chance to, you don't get mad at that and say, oh man, I've been praying for them forever.
SPEAKER_00: You just say, God, you're awesome.
SPEAKER_00: You're still saving people.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to celebrate that the gospel is moving forward.
SPEAKER_00: So we we walked through this quickly with a lot of information.
SPEAKER_00: As we come to a close, can I just ask you one final question?
SPEAKER_00: Where is your focus on the gospel today?
SPEAKER_00: The good news that Jesus saves, the good news that we can be washed clean, the good news that even though I deserve condemnation and judgment, Jesus has paid it all.
SPEAKER_00: The good news that he rose from the grave on the third day that he's not defeated.
SPEAKER_00: And so even if I feel defeated by my sin, I can say, Jesus, you've got the victory.
SPEAKER_00: I want to walk in your victory.
SPEAKER_00: Where's your focus on the gospel today?
SPEAKER_00: Paul is bound and chained and contained in prison.
SPEAKER_00: But the good news is that Jesus is free.
SPEAKER_00: He rose from the grave, he's seated at the right hand of the Father, and he invites you and me to be gospel first people.
SPEAKER_00: I hope there's one thing you can think of that can change for you to be a better gospel first person.
SPEAKER_00: And come pray with us.
SPEAKER_00: Come pray with a pastor or staff member.
SPEAKER_00: Come get on your knees and just say, God, here it is.
SPEAKER_00: I give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: I need I need your help.
SPEAKER_00: I need your grace.
SPEAKER_00: I need this to change.
SPEAKER_00: Talk to the person you came to church with.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not a Christian, can I just give you one more scripture?
SPEAKER_00: It comes from Mark chapter 1, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, the time is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, repent and believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Would you believe on Christ today?
SPEAKER_00: Pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you so much for what we can learn in Philippians chapter 1 and help us, both individually and as a church family, as a body, help us be gospel first people.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the encouragement of Paul and his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But more than that, Jesus, thank you that you are the power behind his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And even 2,000 years later, you can use us, you can use this church in mighty ways.
SPEAKER_00: So in this response time, we just pray for honest conversations with you, God, honest conversations with each other, a further commitment to surrender, like we've sung about.
SPEAKER_00: And the kind of focus in our minds and hearts that says, Jesus, it's you.
SPEAKER_00: So help us respond in this time.
SPEAKER_00: I pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.