SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Truly, God is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the greatest uh verses describing his faithfulness is found in the first chapter of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Philippians chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: And today we're going to start a study that will take us through the fall on the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: And the theme for this study is going to be life worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And that comes from a verse found here in Philippians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Now, read with me if you will, beginning in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Paul and Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is like the address of a letter.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, this is a letter that was actually written by Paul to this group of people, as it says in verse 1, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, the city of Philippi.
SPEAKER_01: Just a little bit about the city of Philippi.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, in one of his missionary journeys, planted a church there.
SPEAKER_01: The city of Philippi was a Roman city.
SPEAKER_01: It had colonized that area, planted that city, built that city, so it is a Roman city.
SPEAKER_01: And so it has all the culture of Rome.
SPEAKER_01: It has all of the philosophy and the teaching of Rome.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that was important in a place like Philippi, that Roman citizenship is a very vitally important thing.
SPEAKER_01: We think of citizenship here in our country, and we teach citizenship, and it's an important part of the culture of who we are.
SPEAKER_01: It was an important part of the culture of Rome as well.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is a very interesting city in which to think about.
SPEAKER_01: And it shows up all throughout the book of Acts in a number of places when Paul is there and planting churches and all that.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul had a great love for this church.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: He's writing this letter to the church, and what would happen is these letters would be read to the church almost in the same way that we read Scripture today.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: This is the introduction of that letter.
SPEAKER_01: Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and the deacons.
SPEAKER_01: And so you guys are not allowed to skip church today, right?
SPEAKER_01: You're referenced in the letter.
SPEAKER_01: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, when he showed up there in that city and he planted that church, and people began being saved, they began to help him expand the gospel and share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And then when he moved on into other places and was a church planter and missionary in other places, this church was giving to his ministry and supporting his ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Much like we're talked about today, the Dixie Jackson offering in Arkansas Baptists giving to missions and to missionaries, and so he's thanking them for that and bragging on them for that kind of partnership.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I am sure of this, I'm confident of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's an that's a great thing for us, I think, even as a church, to think about as well.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, this was a fairly new church.
SPEAKER_01: It had been planted, Paul planted it, it was growing, people were being saved, but it was a fairly new church.
SPEAKER_01: I love this verse because it's written not just to the individuals in the church, but he is writing to the entire church.
SPEAKER_01: And so not just to each person does he say God will be faithful and continue to work in you, but he's even talking to the church as a whole.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you think about it, listen to that verse, that he who started a good work in you, the church, will carry that on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's an incredible message for us as we stand here today in a church that was planted in the mid-1800s.
SPEAKER_01: Is that awesome?
SPEAKER_01: The mid-1800s.
SPEAKER_01: And yet today here we are.
SPEAKER_01: We're preaching the gospel, we're sending out mission teams, we're participating with people all over our state.
SPEAKER_01: We're participating through our association here all over the river valley.
SPEAKER_01: We are sharing Jesus in schools and high schools and middle schools.
SPEAKER_01: We're sharing Jesus in the workplaces.
SPEAKER_01: We're inviting people to church.
SPEAKER_01: We're sending out people on mission trips.
SPEAKER_01: This year, as we move towards the end of the, what we call the church year at the end of September, this year we've baptized in the 30s again this year.
SPEAKER_01: That's two years in a row, that our baptisms have climbed back into the 30s, and it's been many years since the church has seen 30 plus people baptized in two straight years.
SPEAKER_01: God is good, amen?
SPEAKER_01: And we are seeing him work.
SPEAKER_01: And I just think it's incredible when you stop and think about that statement that uh that Paul is saying, listen, God will keep working in you as a church.
SPEAKER_01: And he'll keep doing that until Jesus comes back, and we are testimony to that, and it is a blessing when we think about the heritage and the future of our church because of what Jesus is doing in our church.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul makes it very clear he who started that good work.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus who started that with the people who were saved in Philippi, Jesus who created a church through that evangelism, and Jesus will continue to work.
SPEAKER_01: Just like in the River Valley, Jesus brought together believers and a church planner to plant a church, people who wanted the gospel to be planted in the Fort Smith area.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus has seen people saved through the ministries of this church year after year, generation after generation.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus will continue to do that.
SPEAKER_01: It is right for me to think this way, verse 7, about all of you in the church, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So what Paul is referring to there is Paul is now towards the end of his life and ministry.
SPEAKER_01: He has been arrested.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, there's a portion of his journey that was in this city of Philippi, and now he's been taken to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Later on in this verse, he will talk about being in imprisonment, and then he's literally chained with guards who are guarding him as a prisoner.
SPEAKER_01: And so when he talks about his imprisonment, he is talking about literally being in prison.
SPEAKER_01: And so he writes this book to this church, writes this letter to this church from prison, which is an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: As you begin to study the book, you see how much he talks about the joy of Christ and the joy of serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And he is in prison writing about the joy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible when you think through that.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 8, for God is my witness how deeply I am miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray this, that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of a discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as he continues to write, he talks about his imprisonment and he talks about how God has used that to advance the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to a section where he talks very personally about, he knows he's probably at the end of his life.
SPEAKER_01: And that famous verse, to live as Christ and to die as gain, comes from this chapter of this letter.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, literally, I know I'm chained, but I know you need my encouragement for me to live as live as Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It is Jesus through me in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: But to die is actually gain.
SPEAKER_01: I get to be with Jesus in heaven forever.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, What has always astounded me, this truth.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, I am hard-pressed on which one I want to do more.
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to stay and help you, but man, I can't wait to get to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And to be with Jesus who saved me.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I literally can't figure out which one I want to do more.
SPEAKER_01: But I know you probably need me to stay here and encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he gets to verse 27, which is the verse where he begins to move from this greeting and these personal testimonies, and now he begins to set up the theme of the letter.
SPEAKER_01: And here is the statement that is the theme statement of this letter.
SPEAKER_01: Just verse 27, just one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And he challenges us to that.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Ry Grupp used to tell us all the time I don't know how much Jesus you have in your life right now, but you have all the Jesus that you want.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus died on the cross to fill us up.
SPEAKER_01: Paul has said that his prayer for them is for them to never stop growing in knowledge and discernment.
SPEAKER_01: He wants them to approve the things that are superior, to be pure and blameless in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He wants them to be filled with the fruit of righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus lived to fill us up and to and to overflow through our lives into the lives all around us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died for that.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's working for.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he never stops working in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's never Jesus that stops working, but sometimes we stop allowing him to work.
SPEAKER_01: We put on a pause or we get distracted and we chase something else and go somewhere else.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Paul is saying here is he really wants to elevate their picture of what the Christian life looks like.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to shake them up in a positive way and cast a greater, bigger vision for what it means for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the author and finisher of our faith, as we looked at last week, the one who died and rose again, the one who is filled with resurrection power, if he is going to fill you up and teach you all discernment and elevate you to those things he says that are superior, man, he's trying to say, listen, who can you be if your life is surrendered to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: That Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And he's trying to elevate that in a positive way, call them to a greater vision, stir something in them, in their faith, to know, man, you can be used by God and filled with him so that you are a testimony, he says at the end of verse 11, to the glory and praise of God.
SPEAKER_01: You can be that person that people say, Well, I know God is real because I've seen him in their life.
SPEAKER_01: And he's trying to elevate and challenge that in a good way, in a stirring way, to create that vision for who we can be in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what we'll take some time exploring through that and the other themes in the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's interesting as we'll it'll take time and we'll really walk our way through this.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll be well into November by the time we finish this book.
SPEAKER_01: And you think, why would we take all of that time in just one book of the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of ways to do this.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of ways topically, like we do a lot of times.
SPEAKER_01: That helps us cover a lot of things in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: When Scripture talks about the full counsel of God's word, sometimes it's good to be able to just move through and get those themes throughout Scripture that help us grow.
SPEAKER_01: But also, there is great value when we stop and slow down and take some time to work our way through and dig deeper in one book.
SPEAKER_01: So let me give you just some thoughts about that real quick while we do that.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, context.
SPEAKER_01: It's learning these scripture verses in context.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Philippians is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you grew up doing Bible drill if you grew up in church?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, every year in Bible drill, there were verses from Philippians, right?
SPEAKER_01: I was a three-year state winner.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all know what that is.
SPEAKER_01: And so many of y'all were there and did better than I did.
SPEAKER_01: So um, but what happens in Bible drill, it was fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens is you would get a list of scriptures that you would memorize that were iconic, important, key promises, and verses that every believer ought to know.
SPEAKER_01: They taught you how to use your Bible, and that's some you may have heard the term sword drill, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so you'd say, you know, hear your Bible, attention, present Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all remember this?
SPEAKER_01: And they would say, Find the book of Philippians, go.
SPEAKER_01: And you would have ten seconds to find the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: And it then when you found it, we were all standing in a line, and you'd step out, right?
SPEAKER_01: That you got your verse, and they'd call on you, Greg, and you'd say, have to say the book before, that book, and the book after, because you had memorized all the books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And then they would have key passages that you would have to go to.
SPEAKER_01: And there were key passages from Philippians, and every year in that three-year rotation, there were verses from Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: There are incredible, iconic verses that we've heard.
SPEAKER_01: We just read one in verse six.
SPEAKER_01: He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: To live as Christ and to die as gain is in chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter two is let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in loneliness of mind and let each esteem others better than himself.
SPEAKER_01: Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: A verse that we quote often, that Jesus, that God has given him the name which is above every name.
SPEAKER_01: That's in Philippians chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: In Philippians chapter four, you have verses like this I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: My God shall supply all your needs through his riches and glory.
SPEAKER_01: There are all kinds of scripture verses in there.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, those verses, as powerful as they are standing on their own, boy, when you read them in the context of a book and you study them in light of the themes in the book, they become richer and deeper in that context.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, and this letter was read, they didn't just stop, they read the whole letter when they read it to the congregation.
SPEAKER_01: So it's really good for us to stop and do that.
SPEAKER_01: It requires us to deal with all kinds of topics in the book.
SPEAKER_01: We can't just pick and choose.
SPEAKER_01: We hit what God is talking to the churches here, right?
SPEAKER_01: Extended time in a book means as you soak in that, as it becomes more and more familiar, as it becomes more and more on your mind, it really opens us up to hear God speak.
SPEAKER_01: And so when you're doing a book study, it really helps you as you are swimming and immersed in the things and the verses of that book that God has our attention and begin to speak to us through the layers of that.
SPEAKER_01: It gives time for revealed truth to take root.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when you come here, you come on a Sunday morning and Matt or Jared or Dave or somebody's preaching, or you come on a Thursday and Dave's preaching, or you've got your Sunday school teachers.
SPEAKER_01: We have incredible Sunday school teachers here.
SPEAKER_01: They're giving you truth every week, and you're learning these things, and you go, oh, I need to write that down, and oh, I need to keep track of that.
SPEAKER_01: But we just keep advancing as we keep teaching, right?
SPEAKER_01: When you're in a book study like this, man, you begin to layer and it's slower, and it allows time for that thing that God has spoken to you because we're in that same vein and we're staying in that same lane, it allows him to water that and allows it to take root and to get deeper.
SPEAKER_01: It helps in our meditation of scripture because we've become so familiar and we begin to own it because we hear it often.
SPEAKER_01: It helps in our memorization.
SPEAKER_01: When something becomes familiar, then you can begin to memorize.
SPEAKER_01: We were walking in with somebody from church today, and we were having a chuckle, it's a pretty morning, and all that.
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing this morning?
SPEAKER_01: And this person, oh, I forgot my Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, it's a good thing you have it all memorized, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so we're laughing about that.
SPEAKER_01: But scripture memorization is one of those things that is a lost discipline for us as believers.
SPEAKER_01: I know that's distracting to y'all.
SPEAKER_01: So just we'll get there.
SPEAKER_01: Brother Dave will go break a window or kill something and make it stop.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Rogers used to tell me all the time: if something lays an egg, everybody's distracted.
SPEAKER_01: You just need to stop and admire it for a moment and then go on.
SPEAKER_01: It deepens our fellowship as we study together.
SPEAKER_01: As we are on a common path, and God is speaking to us, and he's layering those themes, and when you are sharing, it really can add to our congregational fellowship and growth together because we've really stayed in a lane long enough that we're all kind of in that process together.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you another thing why we want to do this study.
SPEAKER_01: Because part of transformation or discipleship, transformation is one of those three uh core values that we talk about evangelism, presence of God, and transformation.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how we study our scriptures, affirming the discipline of scripture and all of those things, those are a part of the transformation process.
SPEAKER_01: And so part of what we do is elevate in every way the teaching of God's word and the discipline of having a quiet time and studying your scripture.
SPEAKER_01: When we take some time to do this as a church family, we are elevating those biblical skills.
SPEAKER_01: And so let me give you just a couple of thoughts about those biblical skills and how we elevate that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: If you can go to the next screen.
SPEAKER_01: That is a verse in 2 Timothy where he tells us that's how we should study, and it's the picture of a workman.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Again, we get a deeper understanding of God's word when we take the time to learn to unpack a book like this.
SPEAKER_01: It improves our observation skills.
SPEAKER_01: I've taught before about what we call the inductive Bible study method, and I'm not gonna go through that again this morning, but we've talked about here's three things you do.
SPEAKER_01: You observe what's in the scripture, you interpret what's in the scripture, and then you take the applications from the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Observation is a careful reading, learning what God is really trying to say in there.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we read this book and we see the layers of the themes and all of that context of scripture, it helps us in our observation skills.
SPEAKER_01: It also helps us with our interpretation skills, and we can really begin to understand what that verse really means.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to go grab a Bible verse that we really like and just make it say what we want it to say.
SPEAKER_01: There's an old preacher joke that illustrates that, kind of goes like this.
SPEAKER_01: A guy who didn't know a lot of scripture, a new Christian, he's reading about um uh all about the famous people in scripture, and he starts reading about Noah, and he's looking at Noah and Noah's family and God's command to build the ark, and he uh didn't realize that in his brand new Bible as a believer, some of the pages were stuck together.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, you know how that happens, right?
SPEAKER_01: So here he goes, he's reading, and the Bible says, and Noah took a wife, and then you turn over and it says, 475 cubits long, 800 and you know.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I'm not really sure I understand that, but it's in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I guess I have to believe it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Context makes all the difference, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: And so you have to really understand that to interpret it correctly.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, it helps connect the dots.
SPEAKER_01: We see as God repeats something in a book, in the context of a message to a people, how he's trying to drive home a greater truth that should really define our worldview and how we see things.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we connect the dots from chapter to chapter, the same terms, the same imageries, the same ideas, a deeper layering of those.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it really creates a deeper understanding of what that means.
SPEAKER_01: This is a great book for us to study as a church because it was written to a church just like us.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we go through this journey, we also have ordered some of these to help you.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about how to make journals, how you write in your Bibles, the kind of things that you highlight and circle and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And if that's new for you, this is a little something.
SPEAKER_01: They're available out in the lobby if you want one.
SPEAKER_01: No pressure, nobody's trying to do that.
SPEAKER_01: But if you this would help you, this is the book of Philippians, just itself.
SPEAKER_01: And it is written and printed on normal writing paper.
SPEAKER_01: If you can see it has Large margins on the side and a note page next to each page of the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And this gives you an opportunity to write in it, to scribble in it, to practice journaling and all of that, and it doesn't affect any one of your Bibles that's your study Bible or the one you come to church with or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And so these are available in the lobby if you would like one.
SPEAKER_01: No pressure, you don't need one.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show you in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I use good old legal pads, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so, but if that helps you, those are available.
SPEAKER_01: They're only$5 out there.
SPEAKER_01: And I would encourage you if you're if you're concerned about writing in your Bible or you're concerned about trying something new and you don't want that permanently in there, get one of these and just scribble to your heart's content as God speaks to you and exercise those skills.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me talk to you about this theme for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: As we are connecting the dots throughout Scripture, here's where we get to this verse.
SPEAKER_01: And the text of that verse again in Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, is Paul's command, and this is a key theme throughout Scripture, but especially in the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: You see it highlighted as he describes them in those first 10 verses that I read.
SPEAKER_01: As he says, My prayer for you is that you will approve or live up to whatever the superior things are in life, that the purity in your life will reach the level of Jesus, that you will be filled with this fruit in your life.
SPEAKER_01: He's elevating that picture.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the theme when he begins to talk to this church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you just one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Just one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now that verse, as I've been studying and working through this, it struck me and it stuck out, and it became the one theme that I wanted to pull through.
SPEAKER_01: And as I began to do that, I began to study in light of that theme.
SPEAKER_01: And as I've been reading through the book over and over and over, I began to see God layer all of those things.
SPEAKER_01: What does that command mean for us?
SPEAKER_01: What does it challenge me to do in my life?
SPEAKER_01: What will it challenge us as a church to do as we are challenged to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you just a couple of thoughts about that verse.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back just the verse if we can.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you just a couple of thoughts about that verse.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it is a command.
SPEAKER_01: It is a command.
SPEAKER_01: He says, live.
SPEAKER_01: It is, you're going to do this, live.
SPEAKER_01: It is a command to be obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: It's what we call an imperative command.
SPEAKER_01: You must do this.
SPEAKER_01: The voice of this verb tense is one that is calling us to obey.
SPEAKER_01: We initiate a response to the command.
SPEAKER_01: And it also is in a tense that is always in present tense.
SPEAKER_01: So what he's saying is always, every day, take the initiative to obey the commands of God to live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's literally what the command says.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this word live your life.
SPEAKER_01: You may have a different translation.
SPEAKER_01: It may say something like this conduct yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: You may have the word conduct in yours, or you may have the word conversation in yours, and that's the picture of life.
SPEAKER_01: In the original language, it's an incredible word picture here, and it's really given to the people who live in Philippi because this illustration would make sense to them.
SPEAKER_01: As I mentioned, they were Romans, and it was a Roman city, and in the culture of Rome, citizenship was one of the most important things that they had.
SPEAKER_01: It meant something to be a citizen of Rome, the privileges that you had as a citizen of Rome, but it also meant to them a deep responsibility of citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: They felt like there was a strong duty for them to live as a Roman and to positively impact the culture of Rome because that was your responsibility as a Roman.
SPEAKER_01: You think about different times in our history when presidents or others have called us to greater citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: The famous quote from President Kennedy when he said, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
SPEAKER_01: That is a call to the citizenship duty in all of us to live up and make an impact where we live.
SPEAKER_01: Because that was such an important cultural reference and a powerful cultural reference.
SPEAKER_01: In the original language, this is actually a word picture of citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: What he's really commanding us is recognize that your citizenship is not Roman now that you're a follower of Christ, but it is actually your citizenship is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You are a child of God, a blood-bought son or daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_01: You are now a joint heir with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You are a citizen of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Your citizenship is there, and you're just a pilgrim here now.
SPEAKER_01: You don't live here any longer.
SPEAKER_01: This is not your address any longer.
SPEAKER_01: And because your citizenship is in heaven, to live worthy of that citizenship is something that they would have understood in their culture.
SPEAKER_01: It is a call up to the church and to the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It is to be all that you can be.
SPEAKER_01: It is to say, I'm not going to ask what the church can do for me, but I'm going to ask what I can do for the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: What God has done in my life because he saved me, the good news of the gospel, I am now going to live that out in honor of him, and I'm going to try to be worthy of that duty of citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: And then the word worthy is another word picture, and it's the scales of justice, if you think about those scales or scales of commerce.
SPEAKER_01: And what he would say is, as you know, if there's one thing in this side of the scale, it's heavy and it tips the scale down.
SPEAKER_01: And then you begin to have to put other things in this side of the scale until you find the measure.
SPEAKER_01: In that day and time, they would measure value in things.
SPEAKER_01: We would have this weight and we would do this.
SPEAKER_01: One of the common examples that I particularly love is when you go to one of those yogurt places and they have all of the toppings and everything, and you get that big cup and you put it under there, and then you get some of that, and then you put all that stuff on there, and then you go to the counter and they take my yogurt deal and they put it on that scale and it goes thump.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like$24.97.
SPEAKER_01: And I have to start taking money and put it on there to level the scales, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is on one of those scales.
SPEAKER_01: And now that I've been saved by Jesus and He begins to work in my life, the call of my on my life as a citizen of heaven is to begin to put as much Jesus in my life as I can for those scales to become in balance.
SPEAKER_01: To be worthy is for the Jesus in my life to become equal to the person of Jesus because of what I have surrendered myself to him to allow him to do.
SPEAKER_01: Our citizenship is in heaven because of the gospel, because of the good news of salvation, because we've been saved, because of what Jesus died on the cross to do in our lives, and I am in a constant, never-ending change to allow him to put as much of himself in my life as I possibly can, as he begins to transform me and I begin to be worthy of him because of what he's done in my life.
SPEAKER_01: It is an incredible picture of surrender.
SPEAKER_01: It is an incredible picture of understanding I cannot stay in the condition that I am in.
SPEAKER_01: I am not allowed to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as you begin to get a theme or a verse like that that impacts you, what do you do with this book?
SPEAKER_01: What do you do in your sheets?
SPEAKER_01: What do you do in your journal?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me give you a couple of questions to write down.
SPEAKER_01: As you read through a chapter, ask these questions.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of ways to do it.
SPEAKER_01: This is another way to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Ask, what are the truths of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: What does it say about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Ask, is there a sin to confess, or has God convicted me of something?
SPEAKER_01: And as you read that in that verse, you can begin to write that down on one of those pages across from that verse where he spoke to you.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's a habit or a command to follow, and you want to, God speaks to you of that, and you want to begin to write that down.
SPEAKER_01: Themes that speak loudly to you.
SPEAKER_01: This is a theme that has been calling me, and I'll share with you in just a moment what I see.
SPEAKER_01: It's a theme that's calling us.
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean to be a Christian, and how do we elevate that view in a way that stirs our faith and calls us to walk with Him?
SPEAKER_01: And then questions to ponder.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes your study starts with, he just sticks something in between your eyes and you can't get rid of it, and you don't understand it, and it's a question, but he sticks it there and he stuck it there for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: So you want to begin to plow that question and find out.
SPEAKER_01: So as you're reading through a chapter, chapter one, this week, if you want to get started and read in chapter one, then you just start those questions.
SPEAKER_01: And if God speaks to you, if through one of those questions, you begin to write notes in your journal.
SPEAKER_01: There's another way that I do this, and I've shared this before.
SPEAKER_01: It's what I call brew, that you brew a verse, or you can brew a theme.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what that means: it means first you believe that God speaks to you.
SPEAKER_01: Then you take that verse or that theme that He's spoken to you, and you read it and you repeat it and you soak in it.
SPEAKER_01: And as you begin to do that, then you take each word and you consider each word carefully, as I've just done with that verse.
SPEAKER_01: Live that picture of citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: What worthy really means.
SPEAKER_01: As we begin to break each word down and consider it, God begins to speak, and then you want to write it down.
SPEAKER_01: If God took the time to teach you something, if he's speaking into your life, if he's trying to do something with you, write it down.
SPEAKER_01: Don't lose it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me share with you, as I brood this theme, here's my notes, as spiritual as they are.
SPEAKER_01: Bobby said this morning, hey pastor, why don't we just show them a picture of your notes?
SPEAKER_01: So let me first apologize to all of you who are teachers, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's what my chicken scratch looks like.
SPEAKER_01: The smartest person in the church has to be Charlene because she can actually read that.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And so, but you just see right there, it's just a journal.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just scratching stuff down and writing it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you, as I brewed, this theme of living worthy and what that means for us, let me give you just some thoughts that I have.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it should raise the standard of my choices and behaviors.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm going to live worthy of the gospel, that means, and it's a command, and I have to be the one who initiates my obedience, then I have to raise that standard.
SPEAKER_01: I have to challenge myself to more Jesus, more surrender.
SPEAKER_01: That idea of citizenship and that lofty picture.
SPEAKER_01: He chooses that illustration to speak to them because for them it was a lofty ideal.
SPEAKER_01: And so if he's going to illustrate what this means with a lofty ideal, that means living for Jesus should be a lofty ideal.
SPEAKER_01: It should be something that is mind-boggling to me.
SPEAKER_01: It should be something that I cannot do in my own strength.
SPEAKER_01: It should not be something that I'm comfortable in, but it should be something that challenges my faith to grow.
SPEAKER_01: I got to raise the standard of what I see and what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01: The next thing, it excites and encourages my faith.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see a little bit of number two there.
SPEAKER_01: It excites and encourages my faith.
SPEAKER_01: Think about what this means.
SPEAKER_01: Live worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus who died and rose again, who conquered death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is the good news that Jesus saves and he forgives and he changes it, that he saves us forever.
SPEAKER_01: It's the picture of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: It should excite me.
SPEAKER_01: I should be willing to step out and do things I can't do because I understand I am living in the power of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says in chapter three, he challenges them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I want to know the power of the resurrection in his life.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter one, we read where he says, I'm praying this for you, church family, that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment.
SPEAKER_01: I want to know what it means for Jesus to work.
SPEAKER_01: I want to know what it means to step out in faith in a way that only God can move and do that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to try not to preach this, but this is just a this is just a pet peeve I have.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know when it started, but I don't understand why church is always back up.
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that church is always back up?
SPEAKER_01: We cut the budget, we make everything smaller.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you teach a Sunday school class.
SPEAKER_01: I can't teach, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: We go on a mission trip, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that we're always backing up?
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that we're shrinking the vision?
SPEAKER_01: I served as an interim pastor in nine different churches when I was serving on the Arkansas Baptist Convention.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of an interim, there's always a sermon that you get to preach.
SPEAKER_01: And it's really fun to preach it and challenge the church as the new pastor is coming in, and you have all these different points.
SPEAKER_01: But one of my points is this when I became a pastor, nobody told me that the pastor's office is the place where dreams go to die.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody ever told me that.
SPEAKER_01: And somebody might get frustrated, and somebody might do this.
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that the church is always backing up when the Bible says that through the resurrection power of Jesus, yet in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we believe that revival can break out in the river valley?
SPEAKER_01: If somebody is not baptized on a Sunday in church, some of us ought to get so frustrated that we stand before God and we say, That is not acceptable for your church.
SPEAKER_01: Show me who I can go lead to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: God, we need your power, and I believe that we can baptize every week in this church.
SPEAKER_01: He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion.
SPEAKER_01: I should stir and encourage our faith.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do something I had never done before.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna step out in G for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna step out what he calls, and I'm gonna move forward in advance.
SPEAKER_01: It creates a sense of gratefulness for us.
SPEAKER_01: Live worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The word gospel is good news.
SPEAKER_01: It's the good news of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God he saved us.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God he didn't leave us in our sin.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, he didn't leave me to my own devices and wherever I would have ended up if I had not known Jesus and had not had those guardrails in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord that he saved us when we worship.
SPEAKER_01: We are worshiping because Jesus has saved us and we are grateful beyond our ability to describe what it means that Jesus took our sin on the cross and died for us.
SPEAKER_01: It changes how I view people, changes how I view people.
SPEAKER_01: Think about this.
SPEAKER_01: It changes how I view lost folks.
SPEAKER_01: Live worthy of the good news of salvation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The most important thing we can do is go out and tell people the good news that Jesus will save them.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing more important than that.
SPEAKER_01: And what I should look at when I see people is not people who cut me off in traffic, and not people who cut me in line, and not people who are raising our taxes, and not people who are giving me speeding tickets, and not people who are frustrating with this, and not referees who are making bad calls and not letting the hogs win and not all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus loves people even in Texas.
SPEAKER_01: I'll probably get an email for that one.
SPEAKER_01: I just went too far.
SPEAKER_01: We see people they are not the enemy, they are the point that they need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: My brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I see somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Paul says.
SPEAKER_01: He celebrates them.
SPEAKER_01: I celebrate you because of your partnership in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He says, it is right for me to think this way about all of you in verse 7 because I have you in my heart and you are all my partners with me in grace.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, verse 8, for God is my witness how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, he loves these people and he knows that they love him, and he knows that they love each other, and he knows that the love of God is in that church.
SPEAKER_01: And when we begin to do, when we begin to understand that it is the love of Jesus that makes us love each other, it challenges how we view each other and how we help each other and how we serve each other and how we not criticize each other and how we not try to cancel each other and how we step in each other's lives to elevate the Jesus in their life.
SPEAKER_01: That's why in every single chapter in this letter, after stating this, he talks about how they're supposed to love each other.
SPEAKER_01: It changes how we view each other, and it changes how we function.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have one purpose and one mind.
SPEAKER_01: As you read in verse 27, he says this live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Then, whether I come and see you, if I get out of prison, or whether I'm absent and can't make it there ever again, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, working side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It changes how we do things when we focus on living in a manner worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible book.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you'll take this journey with us.
SPEAKER_01: I am excited to see what God is going to do as we watch Him continue to work.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I hope somehow today God has used this to excite you about what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: That Jesus will save you and he'll use you and he'll change you and he'll make you a part of a family and he'll give you a mission and he'll empower you and he'll save you forever and he'll give you a home in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, this is the good news that he spoke about.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are sinners.
SPEAKER_01: All of us have done things wrong.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in this room, you're probably old enough to have a conscience and know that you've done something wrong.
SPEAKER_01: You need to be forgiven for it.
SPEAKER_01: And we cannot forgive ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that sin is punished, but Jesus loved us so much.
SPEAKER_01: The good news of Jesus Christ is that he stepped out of heaven, he lived a sinless life, he went to the cross, and there he died a life that did not have any punishment attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: He stepped into our shoes and he took our sin and he died as a substitute for us, and then he rose again, conquering death and sin to offer us new life.
SPEAKER_01: That is the good news.
SPEAKER_01: And if you will come to Jesus and you'll take your life, everything you've been, you are, and you ever will be, and you will commit it to him, he'll save you.
SPEAKER_01: That's the good news.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, I don't know if I can live worthy like that, what you've elevated that picture.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the great news.
SPEAKER_01: He who began the good work, when you give your life to Jesus, he's the one that does the work and he starts it, and then he takes you through the journey, and he's the one that does it with you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what happens when you give your life to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to bow your head as we close.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've never accepted Christ as your Savior in a moment, our people are going to stand and sing a testimony because our folks believe this.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have such a good church.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have people going on mission trips and singing in choirs and teaching Sunday school and doing all the things that they do.
SPEAKER_01: And they're going to sing a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to be saved, I'm going to invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: We'll have ministers at the head of our aisles.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody will be out there either at the top of the stairs or in the lobby if you're in the balcony.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to invite you to give your life to Christ so that He can do this in your life too.
SPEAKER_01: If you need a church home, come join us in this journey.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to have you in our family.
SPEAKER_01: If you need prayer, come and let us pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you and we thank you for this incredible book that you wrote to this church and through them wrote to all of us.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Father, for this journey that will take you to church that you'll do Jesus things in our lives through it.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray this morning as we close this service, if there's someone who needs to be saved and begin this journey, I pray this morning you'll give them the freedom to come and the faith to come and to trust Jesus and the good news of salvation in Him.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this in His name and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith at First Baptist Church.