Philippians 2: God is Working In You

Prepare to uncover the incredible truth that joy doesn't have to hinge on our ever-changing circumstances but can be deeply rooted in the steadfast promise of God's faithfulness. As we correct a previous blunder, we find ourselves in the midst of Philippians chapter 2, alongside Epaphroditus's heartfelt journey from Colossae to Rome. This episode is more than a mere discussion; it's a revelation of how Christ's ultimate example of humility and sacrifice becomes a blueprint for our own lives, teaching us that our actions are not the currency of salvation, but the reflection of it. Join us as we explore the profound realization that God is not only tirelessly fixing the shattered places within us, but is also fortifying us with the grace to fulfill His will.

This heartwarming session continues with an exploration into the indispensable influence of gratitude, taking a leaf out of Paul's letters to Timothy and Epaphroditus to demonstrate how a simple "thank you" can significantly lift spirits. We invite you to consider those in your own life who are beacons of joy, and encourage you to openly show them the appreciation they deserve. As we close with a moving prayer for awareness and gratitude for our own joy-bringers, we also reflect on the wisdom of Philippians 4, which teaches us to trade our worries for prayerful thanksgiving. Embrace this talk with an open heart as we celebrate the unshakable power of gratitude and joy that can transform our lives.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 God Working in You
• 11:10 The Power of Gratitude and Joy

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Philippians, chapter 2, and today's title is God is Working in you. God is working in you. We talked yesterday about how God is working on you and on circumstances all around you, but God is also working in you and all things Also. I made a little bit of a gaffe, yes, a little bit of a mistake. We're going to fix that in just a moment, but before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast, and also always come back and join us on the Bible Breakdown discussion at the Facebook group Bible Breakdown Discussion, where we dig in together and then, the more we dig, the more we find.

Speaker 1: 0:41

And I'm a little scattered right now because yesterday in our podcast and YouTube, we were talking about the Book of Philippians and how it got there. All of that was true, but I got the wrong name, the guy who journeyed from Colossae and went all the way to Rome. His name was not Ticacus, that was a traveling companion. The guy's name was Epaphroditus Epaphroditus, and we're going to read about him today and I don't know about you, but I'm still okay. I'm not going to name any kids Epaphroditus. We're going to call him Epap just to help us get there, but he's the guy who went.

Speaker 1: 1:15

And what I love about this is remember Paul wrote this while he's in prison and he's while he's there, he's encouraging this church. One of the things I love about this is this is not a church that's in crisis. You know, he's talking to the Corinthian church and he's talking to the Galatian church. They don't have struggle bus and he's trying to, you know, kind of snap him out of it a little bit. He's not doing that with the church of Philippi. He's encouraging them, he's loving on him, he's he's helping them understand that God is for them and not against them. He's helping them understand to see life as he's experiencing it, cause one of the things that we can get from this is that the the outward reality that you're experiencing doesn't have to determine your inner joy. That happiness comes and goes, but joy is the settled, confident hope that God is faithful. So we're going to read this together and see how he continues to build on this. And also, he's going to talk about Epaphroditus, not ticacus. So you ready? Philippians.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Chapter two, verse one, says this is there any encouragement From belonging to Christ, any comfort from his love, any fellowship together in the spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another and working together with one mind and one purpose. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble. Thinking of others is better than yourself. Don't look out for your own interests only, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Well, what was Christ's attitude? Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges and he took the humble position of a slave. He was born as a human being and when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and he died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, god has elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name that is, above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. So what he's saying is is that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, equal, co-equal with the Father, son, spirit, co-equal that he did not think that he couldn't, wasn't willing to do anything about it, but he set aside that part of his divinity. He never, he was still fully God. But then he stepped into humanity, clothed himself in flesh for me and for you. So he's saying he did that for us. He got nothing out of it, he did it fully for us. And he's saying have that mindset about serving others. Don't serve others to see what you can get out of it. So serve others for the sake of serving, and I think that's a wonderful idea that we could all grab on to.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Verse 12 says this Dear friends, you always follow my instructions when I was with you, and now that I'm away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation. Obey in God with deep reverence and fear, for God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases him. Now pause again. Notice how he's not saying you don't work for salvation, you don't work to get saved. Okay, salvation is a free gift that comes by accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior. He says, work to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. In other words, faith. Salvation comes through faith alone. But faith should not stay alone. As we start to grow in God, we start to grow and we start to develop and we start to work out of our lives All of the sin and all of the addictions and all those different things, so that we can obey God more fully. But then here's the great news. The next verse says it is God that's working in you and he is the one that's going to give you the desire and the power to do it pleases him. One of the things I love about God is that God works in us and we give our lives to him. He goes to war against every broken place in our life, but he at the same time gives us the power and the desire to then overcome those broken places. It's wonderful. God saves us and then he gives us the power to defeat all of our enemies. What an amazing Savior he is.

Speaker 1: 5:50

Verse 14 says this do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people, hold firmly to the word of life them. On the day of Christ's return, I will be proud that I did not run this race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God, and I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice and I will share your joy. And now Paul is going to commend to them Timothy and Epaphroditus. Here we go, verse 19,.

Speaker 1: 6:37

If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer you up by telling me of how you are getting along. I have no one else like Timothy who genuinely cares about your welfare. All of the others care only for themselves, but not the matters of Christ Jesus. But you know how Timothy has proven himself like a son with his father. He has served with me in preaching the good news. I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here, and I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon.

Speaker 1: 7:15

Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, coworker and fellow soldier. He was your messenger to help me in my need. I am sending him because he has been longing to see you and has been very distressed that he that you heard he was ill. And he certainly was ill. In fact he almost died. But God had mercy on him and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another. And so I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know that you will be glad to see him and then I will not be so worried about all of you. Welcome him in the Lord's love and, with greater joy, give him the honor that people like him deserve, for he has risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn't do from far away.

Speaker 1: 8:09

So Paul finishes this by saying man, I'm just so thankful for the people that God has put around me, who are helping me, as God is working in me and God is working through me. And can I tell you, as we end our time together, what a wonderful moment, just to take a moment and say you know what God nobody does this thing called life alone. Now, I want to be careful in this because we all have broken places, we all have difficulties, we have broken relationships and things, and I know that we take time for that. But also to realize none of us are here because we did it alone. We've all had people along the way who have helped us. What would it look like today if you took a moment and you thanked God for the people who've been with you along the way, people who've challenged you, people who've encouraged you, people who have made life a little bit easier? What would it look like today if you took a moment and you sent out three text messages? You may have to take time.

Speaker 1: 9:12

The reason why I picked three is because, like when I started saying that, you know, one person came to your mind. Maybe it was a family member, maybe it was a close friend. Number two maybe it was one of those or maybe it was someone in your life group. But then number three you have to think about it. Can I encourage you to do something for me If someone has made a difference in your life, if someone has made life a little easier, if someone has helped you get a little closer to God, if someone's been an example to you of what a Christ follower should be not perfect, but someone who's trying send them something, send them a text message, make a phone call, send them something just to say, hey, you know what? Thank you, you make me better, you encourage me, you make me wanna love God a little bit more. And can I tell you this too one of those three send it to somebody who you don't think needs it. You know what I've learned when I've sometimes kind of went out of the box and I've thanked somebody that I thought, man, they probably hear that kind of thing all the time. They don't need to hear it. Do you know? What most of the time happens Is they come back and they go. I can't tell you how much I needed that, because many times it's those that we think don't need it that need it the most.

Speaker 1: 10:15

I was talking to a guy one time and he was just an encourager man, just such an encourager. He always had a kind word for people and I just wanted to tell him that. So I just said you know what, man, every time I see you, you make me feel better, you're just an encourager. And he was almost in tears. And he said, brandon, you'll never know that because I love to encourage people, I don't usually get to be just honest, because if I'm ever having a bad day, they panic Like, hey, you know, if so, and so is having a bad day, I'm done. And he says I don't ever have a chance to just say you know, I'm struggling. Today, I'm having a hard day.

Speaker 1: 10:49

So hearing that it makes a difference in your life, man, that means the world to me. Can I have a conversation with you? And it was beautiful. It was beautiful, and so can I tell you, as God is working through you and as God is working in you, he's gonna continue to do that, and as he encourages us to then the same mind that Christ had, that he was willing to give everything up to serve us.

Speaker 1: 11:10

What if we did like Paul and we commended other people, we celebrated and epaphrodite us a Timothy and just said thank you, you make me better and watch what it will do to someone's life? Let's pray, father, thank you so much because you've put people in our life that help us. Help us, lord. Then we realize that our outward reality doesn't have to determine our inward joy, and sometimes it's been because of other people who've come along and they've reminded us and they've put a smile on our face.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Holy spirit, I pray right now that you will put somebody on everyone's mind that is listening or watching this right now, that you'll put three people and though maybe it will cause them to bring up old memories that are just filled with joy today to realize that none of us are an island. We're all here because of the good things other people have done in our life, and that we will return that favor today by just being grateful. Thank you in advance for all you're going to do. In Jesus' name, we pray amen and amen. Well, god wants you to be filled with joy, not anxiety, and he said this in Philippians 4, verse six and seven. He says don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything, Tell God what you need and thank Him for all he's done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything you can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. I love you. See you tomorrow for Philippians, chapter 3.