Speaker 1: I want to give a shout out to our kids team ministry.
Speaker 1: Let's give them a round of applause doing a great job.
Speaker 1: Also want to say a huge thanks.
Speaker 1: We've got people in our parking team, in our hospitality team, our load in, load out team security team Spent a lot of time outside on Sunday morning.
Speaker 1: So God bless you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Let's give them a round of applause for how they serve and bless us.
Speaker 1: You know, as Pastor James obviously is not here this morning, sam mentioned that and, of course, he shared in a video.
Speaker 1: He's able to take some time away with his family And that's tremendous, and he asked me to speak this morning.
Speaker 1: I served with our worship team and helped with a life group and it's a privilege for me to do that.
Speaker 1: He's been working through a series in Colossians, so come back next week and he'll pick that up and begin to move forward with that.
Speaker 1: Just a little bit about myself.
Speaker 1: We've been here my family for about four years and I've pastored previous to that.
Speaker 1: I'm not pastoring currently.
Speaker 1: I'm a commercial truck driver.
Speaker 1: That's what I do.
Speaker 1: I do a lot of container stuff out of the port.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I go across the country, so I get to see a lot of this country and it's been a privilege and a blessing for me and my family in many ways.
Speaker 1: But as I was preparing for this message, i was thinking about an event that happened in my life back in 2005, when I was getting ready to graduate from seminary.
Speaker 1: We had a mandatory practice, like most graduations, where you line up and you go through and they make sure they have everybody's names, that they can pronounce it correctly, and it was mandatory.
Speaker 1: So if you weren't there, you didn't walk, and that's pretty typical for graduation.
Speaker 1: Well, as we were preparing, there was a spot in the line in front of me and the guy wasn't there.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know him, didn't know who he was, never met him.
Speaker 1: But the next day, when we're getting ready to graduate, he's there, he's got his cap down and everything on and it's good to go.
Speaker 1: And so we're just talking because I'm curious about what was going on.
Speaker 1: I had no idea and he had literally had just gotten in from the airport.
Speaker 1: He had been in Turkey where he was serving as a missionary, and the reason that he was back so late is because he was struggling to find a safe place for a family to live.
Speaker 1: This family was in danger, because in a country where it is against the law to give your life to Jesus Christ, they did.
Speaker 1: They became followers of Jesus, and so they were under the threat not just from the law but from their own community.
Speaker 1: And it just grabbed my heart when he told me that, and it just instantly made me reflect and realize what a privilege we have to live in the United States of America, where we can gather together in the name of Jesus and worship Him and serve Him Without that kind of oppression or fear or persecution.
Speaker 1: We are tremendously blessed, and so, as a church, we should give thanks for the incredible freedom that we have in a society that was founded on and has been greatly influenced by, godly people.
Speaker 1: We see it throughout the history of our country that this freedom that we have is coveted, it is desired.
Speaker 1: People from all over the world want to come and experience that freedom.
Speaker 1: It is truly amazing, And so we give glory to God because we live in a nation.
Speaker 1: As Pastor James had mentioned.
Speaker 1: It's not perfect, it's often divided, but many godly people have been used in this nation to do good things throughout the history of this nation in the world, and so we thank God for that And we thank those who have sacrificed to confront the evil of tyranny, to preserve and protect and secure these freedoms, and those people are inspiring.
Speaker 1: You know, james mentioned one of the guys.
Speaker 1: He's the subject of the book in the movie Hacksaw Ridge, and so those people inspire us.
Speaker 1: And there were people like that in my life.
Speaker 1: My grandfather was wounded in France and 44 fighting against Nazi tyranny, strafed by a German machine gun.
Speaker 1: My father risked his life jumping into the ocean off the coast of Vietnam, as in the Navy, to bring up, rescue downed aviators.
Speaker 1: And so when the time came I was a young man when Desert Storm broke out I said, ok, i want to do my part.
Speaker 1: It was one of my I guess my life goals was to serve in that capacity in some way.
Speaker 1: So I joined the army and let me tell you, the army was fantastic for me.
Speaker 1: I know if you've served, maybe that's not your experience, but it was great for me.
Speaker 1: I learned so many practical things that I use today, like how to make a bed, how to get up on time, which, if you don't know what that's like, let me tell you it'll transform your life if you can get up on time.
Speaker 1: It just changes so much.
Speaker 1: Expert marksmanship with a rifle and hand grenades OK, not a lot of practical use for that.
Speaker 1: And if you play cornhole with me you've seen that it does not translate to my cornhole game.
Speaker 1: You would say there is no expert marksmanship going on in that guy's cornhole game.
Speaker 1: So I haven't figured that out.
Speaker 1: But you know I was talking to a veteran, another veteran.
Speaker 1: We were sitting outside of a warehouse, our trucks were getting unloaded and he was just kind of sharing some of his story And he kind of went deep fast and it was just talking about some of the places he had served.
Speaker 1: He had been in the service for 20 something years, been in some very difficult places Ramadi, Fallujah and Iraq, among of them, some of the most horrendously inconceivable evil things that you could ever see or hear about.
Speaker 1: He saw them And suffering and sacrifice that we just we can't even comprehend.
Speaker 1: And so he comes back, he's out of the service now, he's out of the army and he's just he's he's.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of pain and a lot of anger And I listened to him and some of it's directed towards politics, some of it's directed towards the culture and direction of our nation And as he was talking about those things.
Speaker 1: You know, i'm just listening and my heart breaks for him because of his pain.
Speaker 1: It breaks for him because of this, this frustration and anger.
Speaker 1: But my, my heart really breaks for him because his greatest hope and his greatest treasure is in an earthly citizenship, in a nation that is up for grabs.
Speaker 1: That's what he has, and so that that desperation, in a sense, that despair that he feels, in a way, it points us to this need that we have for something that transcends what this world has to offer.
Speaker 1: We need a greater hope and we need a greater treasure.
Speaker 1: And so, when we think about it this way, as we look at the scripture, as we look at what God has done, there's really only one way that we find that hope.
Speaker 1: It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: It is found in a saving relationship with him, a life surrendered to him.
Speaker 1: And so, as we celebrate Independence Day this week, we also give God glory and thanks for all that He's done.
Speaker 1: But we focus on faith and freedom today, and we're going to do that by looking at something written in the scripture, in the book of Philippians.
Speaker 1: If you've got your Bible in the New Testament, right behind the book of Colossians.
Speaker 1: You can turn over to Philippians Here, the the Paul, paul that was mentioned previously, who's an apostle.
Speaker 1: He's a prolific missionary in the, in the midst of the Roman Empire, traveling all over planning churches.
Speaker 1: He writes to this church in Philippi that he established and he's writing to them.
Speaker 1: And these people that live in Philippi this is not in Italy, that part of the Roman Empire, it's over in Greece, but it is a major economic center.
Speaker 1: It is a significant and important place.
Speaker 1: The people that live there, many of them, have the privilege of Roman citizenship, many of them are retired Roman soldiers, and so this is where the church is.
Speaker 1: Some are citizens, some aren't, but they're proud to follow the customs and the laws of Rome and they're proud of their connections to Rome.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty significant thing in the ancient world to have a citizenship in this empire.
Speaker 1: So this is a church that also is facing a lot of the pressures that the church has always faced, that we face today.
Speaker 1: They don't really know where they stand with the civil authorities at that time.
Speaker 1: Some of that's unknown.
Speaker 1: It's evolving, it's unfolding.
Speaker 1: They have cultural pressure from people who either think that the gospel is foolish or they become angry about this exclusive truth claim of the gospel that there's only one way to God.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot that's going on in this time for them, and we face a lot of those same things today And we'll see in chapter three and verse 17,.
Speaker 1: We'll start there in a minute.
Speaker 1: But we face a lot of the same challenges to the free expression of faith in the public forum, to the uncompromised preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the teaching of the truth of His word.
Speaker 1: We see challenges to that.
Speaker 1: We see challenges to the promotion of godly morality.
Speaker 1: We see a culture and we see people in all forms of leadership whether it's civil, in the media, celebrities, in the corporate leadership that are trying to force people to bow to an ungodly worldview.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe even just to just shut up and be quiet, but more so just to go along and say this is true when we know it's not true, to say that this is right when we know it's not right.
Speaker 1: That's the pressure that we face, and it's no different for the early church.
Speaker 1: And so Paul writes to them because they have a choice.
Speaker 1: They can choose to go along.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we may be faced with that.
Speaker 1: Well, if you can't beat them, join them.
Speaker 1: We'll just go along.
Speaker 1: It's good for my career or whatever.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a pressure that you face, or maybe it's easier just to be silent and just if I don't say anything and if I just kind of keep to myself and keep my faith close and maybe I won't get into any trouble or have any controversy.
Speaker 1: But you know, there's another option, there's a better option, and it's what God instructs us to do as followers of Jesus.
Speaker 1: It is to stand firm, and we'll look at what that means as we look at the scripture this morning, because that's exactly what God's going to tell the people in the church of Philippi.
Speaker 1: It's what he's going to tell us today as well.
Speaker 1: So take a look with me at verse 17.
Speaker 1: That's where we're going to start.
Speaker 1: Paul writes and he says Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eye on those walking according, or those who walk according to the example you have in us, for many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: Their end is their destruction or their end is destruction.
Speaker 1: Their God is their belly And they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.
Speaker 1: So Paul's saying to the church and God is saying to us listen.
Speaker 1: There are people who have given us an example that we can follow.
Speaker 1: Obviously, jesus is the ultimate example.
Speaker 1: We can look in the scripture and learn from him.
Speaker 1: But there are people that maybe are in our lives.
Speaker 1: Maybe you grew up with parents or grandparents or some type of mentor that you saw them standing firm, you saw them living out this Christian faith in a world that was opposed to that, and so there are people that we can look at and follow as examples, because none of those people did that in the vacuum of a comfortable and peaceful, serene situation.
Speaker 1: It was always in the midst of difficulty, it was always in the midst of opposition, and so we learn from them.
Speaker 1: And that's why Paul says pay attention to look at, learn from those who are pursuing this upward call what he describes earlier in this letter to the Philippians as the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: They're pressing on, they're straining forward.
Speaker 1: That's the way he describes it, and so we have examples that we can look to and learn from, and he's telling us to do that.
Speaker 1: But he also mentions that there is opposition.
Speaker 1: He describes this opposition as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: Now, in his context he's probably talking about our best guess is people that are opposed, many of them, his fellow Jews that are opposed to the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: He says in other places that to the Greeks this is foolishness, this idea that we need to be saved, that we need to be made right with God.
Speaker 1: They have their other gods that they worship, and so to them this is foolishness.
Speaker 1: But to many people this is a stumbling block, it's an offense, it's something that they get angry about.
Speaker 1: It's not any different today.
Speaker 1: You know, if you start talking about Jesus being the way of the truth and the life, there's no way that the Father, but through him, you've just cut a line right through the middle of our world, and people fall on either side of the line.
Speaker 1: They either believe the exclusive truth claim of Jesus Christ as the way of the truth and the life, or they don't.
Speaker 1: And so when you start saying those things the truth of the gospel you may encounter opposition, just like the people in the early church did, like Paul did.
Speaker 1: So he talks about these enemies with tears because they glory.
Speaker 1: Their glory is their shame, the thing that they celebrate.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: This hits close to home, doesn't it?
Speaker 1: The thing that they maybe have parades about, the thing that they promote, the things that they're trying to push on other people, the things that they glory in, that they elevate that they?
Speaker 1: that is their shame before God.
Speaker 1: And he says their end is destruction.
Speaker 1: And he says this with tears.
Speaker 1: He's not angry about these enemies of the cross of Christ, he is grieved.
Speaker 1: These are lost people.
Speaker 1: These are people that don't know the grace in the mercy of God.
Speaker 1: These are people who are far from God, who have rejected him in the truth of the gospel.
Speaker 1: And so he says with tears yes, there are enemies of the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: And he describes them.
Speaker 1: He says their God is their belly.
Speaker 1: Now, i thought about that in.
Speaker 1: I don't think my belly quite qualifies.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know, at different times in my life it has been more majestic than it is right now.
Speaker 1: But what does that mean?
Speaker 1: My God is my belly.
Speaker 1: Well, that means that my desires, the desires of my flesh, my body, my cravings, that those become the objects of worship.
Speaker 1: Now, can't we relate to that?
Speaker 1: I mean, think about what we're told in the world today.
Speaker 1: If you have a desire, satisfy it.
Speaker 1: If it's something that you wanna do, then go for it.
Speaker 1: We see people trying to change laws.
Speaker 1: I mean, i don't even wanna get into it Anyway.
Speaker 1: So there's so many things that are sinful nature, craves and desires And that's what Paul's saying is these enemies of the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: They worship their own desires, their self gratification, and so they are lost.
Speaker 1: And so he has grieved over that.
Speaker 1: But there's good news, and that's where he's moving.
Speaker 1: He's moving to the good news that that does not have to be the end, that doesn't have to be where they stay, and so many of us, we may have been there, but that's not where we are today And we can celebrate that.
Speaker 1: And so, through the cross, god has made a way for us to move from that destruction to eternal life, a life that is now being transformed by the power of the gospel.
Speaker 1: Look what he says in verse 20.
Speaker 1: He makes a sort of a transition here, a contrast.
Speaker 1: He says but our citizenship he's talking about believers our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await.
Speaker 1: What a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Speaker 1: So to this group of people, many of them.
Speaker 1: They're proud Roman citizens.
Speaker 1: He's saying you have a greater citizenship, you have the highest possible citizenship if you're in Christ, even if you're not a Roman citizen.
Speaker 1: Some of the people in that church weren't.
Speaker 1: Some of them were slaves.
Speaker 1: They didn't have the kind of freedom that the Roman citizens had, but they still had a greater citizenship, and it was a heavenly citizenship.
Speaker 1: It means that they belong to Christ.
Speaker 1: Now he's not saying their earthly citizenship is worthless, and I wouldn't say that about ours as well.
Speaker 1: He uses Paul, uses his citizenship to advance the gospel.
Speaker 1: He takes full advantage of his rights and privileges as a citizen of Rome And we are to be good stewards.
Speaker 1: I think we've already mentioned it this morning about being good stewards of what God has entrusted to us and the freedoms and the responsibilities that we have.
Speaker 1: It's just the same.
Speaker 1: So here he is pointing out this that as believers, you have a life giving eternal citizenship, which is incredible.
Speaker 1: Because what happens to the Roman Empire?
Speaker 1: Is it around anymore?
Speaker 1: No, nations empires they rise, they fall, they become the most powerful in the world and oftentimes they diminish, they divide.
Speaker 1: That's what happens.
Speaker 1: But in the eternal realm of God there is a citizenship that is undisputed and it is completely secure.
Speaker 1: And that's what we have in Jesus Christ And that's what Paul is pointing the church to, because they face polarization, they face division and uncertainty, just like we do, and in the midst of that we have a great hope.
Speaker 1: And the great hope is this it is that Jesus is coming back.
Speaker 1: Jesus will return for his church.
Speaker 1: Jesus will make all things right.
Speaker 1: Jesus will end suffering and pain.
Speaker 1: Jesus will transform our lowly bodies into the lightness of his glorious body.
Speaker 1: And that's good news, because when you're young you may not think that's a big deal, but when you get older and this body doesn't do what it should do and you're like come Lord Jesus any time now.
Speaker 1: I'm ready, lord, i'm ready.
Speaker 1: My family knows the Lord, i'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's bring it on.
Speaker 1: So this hope that we have is rooted in that we have a savior and that savior is coming back for his church.
Speaker 1: And so we think about it.
Speaker 1: Paul says that, talking about things being subjected, and we look around at the world and it's like are all things being subjected?
Speaker 1: Not yet, but there will be a day.
Speaker 1: He mentioned it earlier.
Speaker 1: If you've got your Bible, look in chapter two.
Speaker 1: There in Philippians, in chapter two and verse nine, he makes a promise here for the divine revelation of God, speaking of Jesus.
Speaker 1: In verse nine he says therefore, god has highly exalted him that is Jesus, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Speaker 1: So a day is coming in a constantly shifting road We don't see all things being subjected but a day is coming when Jesus comes and returns and every knee will bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Speaker 1: And so we live with that expectancy, we live with that hope, and maybe it'll happen in our lifetime.
Speaker 1: Perhaps we'll die and then go to be with the Lord, but it could happen in our lifetime.
Speaker 1: We live with that hope and that expectation.
Speaker 1: So there's the fact that we are citizens of heaven, the fact that we have this hope that is in Jesus.
Speaker 1: Now Paul moves from this expression to begin to give us the call of heavenly citizens.
Speaker 1: What does it mean here on earth to be a citizen of heaven?
Speaker 1: He says in verse one, chapter four.
Speaker 1: Right there in verse one he says therefore, which means considering all that I've said to you up to this moment, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
Speaker 1: We hear that again.
Speaker 1: Ethan was reading from Galatians and we heard that stand firm, he's saying to the believers in Philippi stand firm thus in the Lord.
Speaker 1: This echoes what he said earlier in the letter.
Speaker 1: He talked about let the manner of your life be worthy of the gospel.
Speaker 1: He gave us the example of Christ, the ultimate example of humility and obedience, even to the point of death on the cross.
Speaker 1: He talked about living as light shining the world, imitating those who are following Jesus are standing firm lives that we can learn from.
Speaker 1: And so he's painting a picture throughout this letter of a church that is not weakened by disunity, that is, or weakened by drama or compromising the preaching of God's word.
Speaker 1: It is standing firm, it is unmovable, it is unshakable when the world comes against it, and it will.
Speaker 1: When you see what happens to the early church, you know, if you study your history.
Speaker 1: It does come against the church, but the church doesn't just survive, it thrives.
Speaker 1: We look in places in the world today where the church is being persecuted.
Speaker 1: It is powerful what God is doing through the church in those places, and it is not just surviving, it is thriving.
Speaker 1: So this is a picture of what we're seeing, of a church standing firm, of individual believers standing firm, and so we have that kind of banner if you will stand firm, thus in the Lord.
Speaker 1: But what does that look like for us?
Speaker 1: Well, he goes through this kind of rapid fire succession of elements here and versus following, versus two through nine, and we're gonna look at those real quick.
Speaker 1: But basically, this is like a recipe, if you're like okay, i wanna stand firm in the Lord, i'm accepting this mission.
Speaker 1: You know, i believe this is what God has called me to do.
Speaker 1: This is what it would look like.
Speaker 1: And he starts with a personal matter between two ladies in the church.
Speaker 1: In verse two he says I entreat you, odea, and I entreat Sintake to agree in the Lord.
Speaker 1: Now, if you're looking for a name for a baby girl, maybe not these two, but these are two ladies that Paul personally knows.
Speaker 1: And look what he says.
Speaker 1: Verse three.
Speaker 1: Yes, i ask you also, true companion speaking to a leader in the church, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of the life.
Speaker 1: So these are two ladies that were a part of his ministry team when he was there in Philippi.
Speaker 1: They were a part of the church and they seem to be prominent in the church and they have some sort of disagreement between them.
Speaker 1: But he says in verse four, he goes further.
Speaker 1: He says rejoice in the Lord.
Speaker 1: Always.
Speaker 1: Again I will say this is very emphatic again I will say rejoice, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because the Lord is at hand.
Speaker 1: He kind of puts that in the context that the Lord is at hand.
Speaker 1: And so there's this disagreement between these two ladies that were a central part of the team there, ministry team, and we don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: It's possible that they got pushed into the party planning committee.
Speaker 1: You know how that?
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 1: It's just what are we doing for Christmas?
Speaker 1: And somebody wants, you know, clear lights and somebody wants colored lights, and you know, and it's like, do we get?
Speaker 1: you know, i'm a classic, you know the glass bald guy, and maybe they're no, i'm sure it was nothing that trivial, though that can get pretty intense, you know that bold thing, but anyway, it's probably nothing that trivial.
Speaker 1: But there's some sort of disagreement going on And what Paul is saying to the leaders in the church and people of the churches you need to come alongside these ladies, because this disunity is dangerous to the church.
Speaker 1: It's not only harmful to them, but it's harmful to the church, because this is if you're writing anything down, this is how I would say it Unity among believers is essential.
Speaker 1: Unity among believers is essential to standing firm in the Lord.
Speaker 1: You know, we've heard it said from the scripture and from history that a house divided cannot.
Speaker 1: Thank you, yeah, i felt like I was at my dinner table with my young adult children, because anytime I bring up something from history, it's like crickets, unless it's Hamilton, which there's a musical and anyway, that's beside the point.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, we've heard that and it's true.
Speaker 1: A house divided cannot stand.
Speaker 1: And, as believers, if we're gonna stand firm, unity is absolutely essential.
Speaker 1: And so Paul is calling for this unity, and an element of that is being able to reduce the need for unity and to be able to make it and being able to rejoice in the Lord always, you know.
Speaker 1: Let me back up for a minute.
Speaker 1: When we think about unity, we could take a survey today of who's been hurt by somebody in the church, and I think probably anybody that's lived for any period of time it's been a part of a church it's probably experienced a painful encounter or maybe a season.
Speaker 1: Some of us have some pain that is beyond description because of something that happened as a result of somebody in the church.
Speaker 1: So we have choices.
Speaker 1: When that happens, we can just rise up and go on the attack.
Speaker 1: We can defend ourselves if we feel like we're being attacked and maybe not listen if there's any truth in what's being shared with us, or maybe we just resign ourselves to bitterness.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna sit here and stew and stir my pot of bitterness and resentment or maybe we just drop our ball and walk away and said I'm done with the church.
Speaker 1: And those are.
Speaker 1: Let me be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I taught to people throughout my life That probably is what most people wind up doing And that is not what God has called us to.
Speaker 1: You know, we can't be perfectly united all the time.
Speaker 1: People do hurt one another, but we're called to seek reconciliation.
Speaker 1: It's not always possible, but where it is possible, we should work for it.
Speaker 1: We should forgive as we have been forgiven.
Speaker 1: That's how Jesus taught us to pray Father, forgive my sins as I forgive those who sinned against me.
Speaker 1: I can't sit here and say, god, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, thank you for that forgiveness, but I'm not gonna forgive this person.
Speaker 1: That's an issue that I gotta work through and allow God to work in my life to bring forgiveness.
Speaker 1: It may not be instantaneous or overnight, but I need to work on that.
Speaker 1: You know that we need to work for reconciliation and we can pray for those and love those that refuse reconciliation.
Speaker 1: We can stand firm.
Speaker 1: But this idea of rejoicing in the Lord always, that might you're like okay, paul, well and good for you.
Speaker 1: You're an apostle of Jesus Christ, you do miracles, you get divine revelation.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 1: But if you had to work with the people I work with or live with, no, we won't go there.
Speaker 1: If you had to deal with the pressures that I face in my life, you wouldn't be telling me to rejoice in the Lord always And you wouldn't say again I say rejoice.
Speaker 1: Well, paul's not saying that because it's based on our circumstances.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the circumstances of his life, a lot of what we go through doesn't even compare.
Speaker 1: He's not saying that based upon the cultural climate.
Speaker 1: He's saying that based on the secure hope of what our heavenly citizenship, that we belong to Jesus Christ, that we have a hope of a savior who is going to come and transform us.
Speaker 1: That is working in our lives now through his Holy Spirit, and so we have a tremendous hope that we're where, yes, in the midst of great tragedy, we can find hope.
Speaker 1: And rejoice Doesn't mean that we're rejoicing over the tragedy or rejoicing over the pain, but we're rejoicing in the one that we have trusted our hope to And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: He also says let your reasonableness be made known, or let it be made known.
Speaker 1: You know, i think about this.
Speaker 1: You ever, you ever noticed like when the tornado has gone through somewhere and the news media is looking for somebody maybe a fire or something like that They find some of the wildest characters.
Speaker 1: You know, you got that tornado came flying, my truck went flying up there And you know just all kind of stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Well, they kind of treat Christianity the same way, the people that are portrayed or depicted in our media and our entertainment as Christians.
Speaker 1: A lot of times it's not very flattering.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's backward or ignorant or they're just off the rails, angry And sadly.
Speaker 1: There's truth in some of that.
Speaker 1: Obviously, nobody here, but there's truth in some of that.
Speaker 1: You know, we think standing firm.
Speaker 1: Sometimes maybe that's a license to be a jerk for Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's not.
Speaker 1: I had that T-shirt but I can't wear it.
Speaker 1: My wife won't let me wear it.
Speaker 1: I'm a jerk for Jesus.
Speaker 1: No, we don't have that freedom.
Speaker 1: You know, we're not about attacking people, we're not about going after people.
Speaker 1: I mean, we stand for truth, we're standing firm, we're praying about these things Absolutely.
Speaker 1: But we need to make our reasonableness, make that be made known, and how.
Speaker 1: What is that?
Speaker 1: That is our gentleness, that is our humility That should remind us of Christ.
Speaker 1: It is our lack of contentiousness that we're not the pot stirrer.
Speaker 1: We're not the grumble complainer.
Speaker 1: We're not the one that's always making the digs, we're not the always one that you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That is not the reasonableness that we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: Maybe you look at your social media account and you're thinking man, i should have read this before I posted what I just posted this morning, or you know, that would be a great thing, you know, to put over our computer screen or whatever you got.
Speaker 1: Let the rejoicing in the Lord is my rejoicing in the Lord.
Speaker 1: What people are taking away from this interaction Is my reasonableness.
Speaker 1: What people are taking away from this interaction, those would be great things for us to think about, because this unity, this rejoicing in the Lord and making known our reasonableness, these are essential elements to standing firm in the Lord.
Speaker 1: He goes on in chapter four, verse six.
Speaker 1: He says this another element don't be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: You know, you think about where this church was.
Speaker 1: There's a lot that they could have been anxious about And I think about some of you here today.
Speaker 1: I don't know all of you, but I know some of you And there are things that are happening in your lives.
Speaker 1: There are grave concerns that you have And it would be easy to be overwhelmed, just like the early church, to be overwhelmed by everything that's happening around us.
Speaker 1: But God said you could have peace.
Speaker 1: There is a peace that guards hearts and minds if we will take those anxieties and we will lay and for me this is a daily thing because you know what I do I pick them back up.
Speaker 1: You know it's like God.
Speaker 1: I'm feeling this anxiety about what, this issue that's happening in our nation or in my family or in my work or whatever, and I lay at it his feet and then I pick it back up And so daily I have to surrender these things, these burdens, these fears, sometimes anger and frustration.
Speaker 1: I mean I get angry when I think about, you know, i have three young adult children.
Speaker 1: Some of you have children that are older, younger, whatever.
Speaker 1: But I listened to what the influences if I could say the word right Influencers in their generation are preaching and how ungodly a lot of it is.
Speaker 1: There is some godliness in there, but there's a lot of ungodliness And it makes me angry that people are being lied to and deceived and they're being led down a path to destruction that's doing incredible harm.
Speaker 1: That makes me angry And I would like to say that's sort of a righteous anger.
Speaker 1: But I've got some of my own mixed up in there too, and I got to lay that down at the feet of Jesus.
Speaker 1: I got to give that to him because if I don't, that's going to consume me, just like the guy I talked to about earlier, the other veteran consumed with pain and anger, and I don't want to be there.
Speaker 1: I want to stand firm for the Lord And so we need to pray, we need to lay those things down, and there is a peace that will come from that, that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ.
Speaker 1: Real quickly, verse eight.
Speaker 1: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things, what you have learned and received and heard and seen and me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Speaker 1: Let me just summarize what Paul's saying there in verse eight.
Speaker 1: You know there are a lot of things that you could give your attention to.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of things that you could be consumed with, you know, as you engage in the world or choose not to engage, whatever the case might be, but he's saying these are the things that, if you want the peace of God in your life.
Speaker 1: Follow my example and think about these things.
Speaker 1: Let these things be foremost in your thinking in the way that you it's like a corrective lens, if you will the truth of God's word, which all of these things reflect, the truth of God's word.
Speaker 1: Allow that to change the way that you view what's happening in your world, what's happening in your life, and the God of peace will be with you.
Speaker 1: You know, paul provides this example.
Speaker 1: Sitting in, he's under arrest, he's imprisoned, he's gonna be on trial for his life.
Speaker 1: So he's not the guy that's sitting in this nice comfortable place writing these things.
Speaker 1: He's writing to the church.
Speaker 1: He's focused on what?
Speaker 1: Not the situation that he's in.
Speaker 1: He's caught up in a huge event in the nation This, the beginning of the persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Speaker 1: He's right in the middle of it And he could die.
Speaker 1: He knows that.
Speaker 1: He talks about it earlier in the letter.
Speaker 1: So it's not like he doesn't care about the events of the day.
Speaker 1: He does, but what he's saying is that there's something that is more important.
Speaker 1: And what he's saying to us, and what he knows, is this It doesn't.
Speaker 1: Yes, there are things happening in his nation, things happening in his culture, things happening in the lives of people that he cares about, but the life changing gospel that he's talking about, standing firm in this life changing gospel of Jesus Christ, it exceeds any political or social solution to the human condition, and so he's saying those are the things to focus on.
Speaker 1: Let that be what guides you as you engage with the world around you, because, again, there are a lot of things that we could give our thoughts to, our time, to our passion to, and we are to, engage, but we're to do that thinking about the right things, standing firm in the Lord, with our mind focused on those right things that we learn from the scripture.
Speaker 1: We possess the one true hope that can transform and save lives.
Speaker 1: I want to ask our worship team to come back and, you know, as we celebrate faith and freedom and Independence Day this weekend, we think about the price that has been paid for the freedom that we have.
Speaker 1: We thank God.
Speaker 1: I mean the story that Pastor James shared about the soldier risking his life to save all those other soldiers.
Speaker 1: Those things are inspiring And we should honor and celebrate those, and hopefully you do.
Speaker 1: But we have this historically unprecedented freedom compared to how most people have lived in the existence of the entire planet.
Speaker 1: Our freedom is just crazy off the charts way better than anything that anybody's ever had in the world's history.
Speaker 1: So we celebrate, we give thanks for that, for our American citizenship.
Speaker 1: But we also recognize this is not the greatest hope of the world.
Speaker 1: This is not gonna change and transform lives.
Speaker 1: Yes, it can make people's lives more comfortable.
Speaker 1: You get a lot more opportunity in this country than you do in many other countries around the world.
Speaker 1: You get a lot more freedom than you do in this country than many countries around the world, and I wouldn't take anything away from that.
Speaker 1: Those are tremendous blessings, But it will not transform a broken life.
Speaker 1: You know, i think about it today Our citizenship.
Speaker 1: That transcends what happens in any kingdom, any nation.
Speaker 1: It is a true treasure.
Speaker 1: It is the greatest treasure And hopefully, as Pastor James had mentioned this morning, that we walk away having given our hearts and our attention and our thoughts to our King Jesus more than anything else, because he is the only one that could have purchased that for us.
Speaker 1: God didn't send armies and navies and air forces and Marine Corps and all these other thousands or tens of thousands or even millions to go and invade planet Earth and lay down their lives.
Speaker 1: He sent one He's only some Because only Jesus was worthy to lay down His life and take it back up so that you and I could become sons and daughters of the Most High God, so that we could cry out to Him and say God, save me.
Speaker 1: I put my trust and my faith in You.
Speaker 1: He is the only one, and thank God that He came And thank God we have the hope that He is coming again.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe today you think you know, i haven't really thought about standing firm.
Speaker 1: I've just kind of been doing life.
Speaker 1: I haven't even wasn't even on my radar.
Speaker 1: And maybe you were challenged today And I would encourage you, if you were challenged like you need to seek some unity.
Speaker 1: Maybe you know the is the joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Missing in action is reasonableness missing in action.
Speaker 1: Is that what people are taking away from our interactions or are those things not present?
Speaker 1: Maybe we need to make some choices today about standing firm in the Lord, about taking our frustrations and our discouragement and our pain and our burdens And, instead of trying to carry them around ourselves, lay them at the feet of Jesus And if you have to do it again later today, or do it again tomorrow or the next day, do it again And again and keep doing that and keep giving that to the Lord And asking Him to do what only He can do So we can stand firm.
Speaker 1: You know, the reality is that maybe you're here today and you long for that peace that guards hearts and minds.
Speaker 1: You long for a hope that is more secure and greater than anything that can be found here on this earth, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus.
Speaker 1: Today you can enter into that relationship.
Speaker 1: It's very simple.
Speaker 1: You believe and put your faith in Him as your Lord and your Savior.
Speaker 1: You trust Him to forgive your sins, to make you right with God.
Speaker 1: You surrender your life to Him And I would encourage you today.
Speaker 1: If today you see that God is telling you I want you to be my child, i want you to be my son, i want you to be my daughter, i want you to have this hope, this treasure, you can respond to Him today.
Speaker 1: Would you stand?
Speaker 1: this morning?
Speaker 1: We're gonna pray in a moment And then our worship team is gonna lead us in worship and here in Somerville Baptist we have what's called a response time, where I'll be right here down front If you want just to come talk with me for a minute or maybe you're making a decision for Christ.
Speaker 1: I would love to get to know you a little bit and pray with you about that decision.
Speaker 1: Maybe you have some real deep need in your life this morning.
Speaker 1: You just need somebody to pray with you.
Speaker 1: I'll be down here for a little bit, so I'm gonna invite you.
Speaker 1: If you feel led to do that, come down and we'll worship together.
Speaker 1: Would you bow with me?
Speaker 1: Father?
Speaker 1: we thank you that you are our God.
Speaker 1: We thank you for the gift of your son, jesus, and all that.
Speaker 1: That means, lord, that we have the greatest hope, the greatest treasure.
Speaker 1: We have a citizenship that exceeds anything that this world has to offer And, god, i pray that the truth of that would take root in our hearts and, god, that you would help us to take your word and apply it to our lives, so that we could stand firm as individuals, as families, as a church, so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could continue to advance through us and change.
Speaker 1: Lord, we see so many enemies of the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: These are people that are lost And instead of being angry with them or attacking them, god, let us take the love of the gospel, let us take the truth of the gospels as we stand firm, so that they too might become children of God.
Speaker 1: God, i pray for any that don't know you here this morning, that you would just reveal yourself more and more to them, that they could put their trust and faith in you, jesus, and surrender their life to follow you.
Speaker 1: We thank you, god, for the precious gift of all that you have blessed us with in this nation, and for that we give you praise, we give you thanks, we give you glory, and we pray these things in your name, jesus, amen.