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: Thank you, choir and orchestra.
SPEAKER_01: I love that song.
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful song, incredible picture from Psalms as we've studied.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we are uh going into week two now of our study of the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to ask you to turn to Philippians chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are going to take the fall and we're going to study through the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible book.
SPEAKER_01: It's one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_01: Uh many folks have been teaching the Bible that's their favorite Sunday school teachers around our church.
SPEAKER_01: I heard from a lot of folks saying that.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're very excited about that.
SPEAKER_01: And as we walk through that, just to help you, if you were interested, we have these available in the lobby.
SPEAKER_01: This is a little notebook that has just the book of Philippians in it.
SPEAKER_01: And it is also, it's written on or published on uh on regular type of paper that you can write on.
SPEAKER_01: It has wide margins and notes.
SPEAKER_01: So as we go through this book study together, as we talked about last week, one of the things that we're doing is learning how to study Scripture in context and study through a book together.
SPEAKER_01: So I hope it'll be a blessing to you, and you'll join with us in that journey.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, as we begin this study, uh last week we looked at the theme that we'll be uh taking through the book, and that is a life worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, that comes from uh right directly from the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It is verse 27 here in chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I want to ask this question that we asked last week as we begin this third this theory, this theme of walking through this book.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says in verse 27, just one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if my dad stopped me and he said, Son, I'm only gonna tell you one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that means pay attention, son, right?
SPEAKER_01: That means I better remember that or I'm in trouble afterwards if I'm not paying attention to it.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what Paul says, just one thing.
SPEAKER_01: And then he gives that command.
SPEAKER_01: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That is an incredibly powerful and significant statement, obviously.
SPEAKER_01: He says, this is the thing that I'm going to talk to you about, church at Philippi, and down through the, by projection, down through the years to churches just like ours.
SPEAKER_01: What does that command mean for us in real life?
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's telling us live.
SPEAKER_01: That means we got to live that out.
SPEAKER_01: That means Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday night, whatever it is, it's got to look like a life worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: How do we live out that command in real life?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're going to begin to unpack that a little bit this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you will, look with me there in verse 27, and we're going to walk through the last few verses at the end of this chapter so that we can see this command, and it's just exactly how he explains it.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 27, just one thing, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Then, assuming we're obedient that command, then, because we're doing that, then Paul, who is writing from prison, says, Whether I'm able to come and see you, or whether I'm absent, I will hear about you, church, 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: That working side by side.
SPEAKER_01: There's another version that says, contending, which I love that we'll talk about that in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Contending side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, he is writing from prison this letter to the church at Philippi.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, Listen, I know that there are people who stand against the gospel, but we are going to contend and wrestle for the gospel because that's the one thing that being saved by the gospel commands and requires of us to do.
SPEAKER_01: This is a sign of destruction for the opponents, but of your deliverance, and this is from God.
SPEAKER_01: For it has been given to you on Christ's behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, having the same struggle that you saw I, Paul, had, and now hear that I, Paul, have.
SPEAKER_01: And so he describes what it means for us in great detail using his own experience that he's in the middle of there.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to just see a couple of scripture points that I want to remind you from last week that I want to set up on how we answer this question: how do I live for the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Now you remember this live, this is an illustration of citizenship and our greater duty as citizens.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's literally putting up for us the idea when he says, live worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That is to meet the duties that I have as a citizen of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It is a call to that sense of citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: It elevates these greater duties that I should have that I am following that are calling me to live in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: And then we looked at this idea worthy.
SPEAKER_01: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: In the original language, that's that picture of scales that you would use in commerce.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the price for something, and it weighs down that scale.
SPEAKER_01: And in order to be worthy, you have to balance those scales.
SPEAKER_01: And so we know that the way we're we're not worthy in our own, again, he's talking about the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is I have to surrender my life to him.
SPEAKER_01: I have to allow him to work in me, and I have to be so surrendered, allowing so much Jesus to come into my life that it is beginning to balance my life to the scale of the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's the standard that we're called to.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that's a standard that goes beyond just, Amen, Pastor Greg.
SPEAKER_01: We love the word and we go on about what we do.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Paul is specifically challenging the idea that all we have to do is show up at church every now and then and say yes and amen, something, and then go about and live our lives as we want to.
SPEAKER_01: Look what he says here in verse 29.
SPEAKER_01: For it has been given to you on Christ's behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Now he uses that word Christ there, not just Jesus, his name as Redeemer, but Christ, his title, as the anointed Messiah sacrifice for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's saying, because you have trusted in Jesus' sacrifice for your sins, his death, burial, and resurrection, it has not been given to you on Christ's behalf only to believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: Christians are called to a life far beyond just hell of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: How go to church.
SPEAKER_01: In this context, we've got to understand that we are called to a standard of citizenship and activity and living that is way beyond ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: It is something that is approximating the same sacrifice that Jesus had when he gave his life for us.
SPEAKER_01: It should only make sense that if Jesus gave his life for us and I give him my life, it's not my life anymore.
SPEAKER_01: It's Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_01: And what is Jesus going to do with this life that I've surrendered him other than what he did with his?
SPEAKER_01: And so my life is called literally, behaviorally, activity-wise, to a greater standard than just I believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And here's, get these other pictures.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 27, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Then whenever I see I come, and if I'm able to do that, or if I am absent, I will hear about you, that you are standing firm.
SPEAKER_01: That means standing against the tide.
SPEAKER_01: It means being strong in the gospel, immovable.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing can stop us from this life, meeting this duty of the standard of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what comes against us, it doesn't matter what those struggles are, we are standing firm in the gospel, greater than he who is in us, than he that is in the world, and therefore we are strong standing against the world for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Contending, contending, or working side by side.
SPEAKER_01: I don't really like that word working right there.
SPEAKER_01: Contending is a much better work, is work, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Some people work, and some people they look like they're working.
SPEAKER_01: There's no question about contending.
SPEAKER_01: And the root word is the same.
SPEAKER_01: It can be work, it can be whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says lower.
SPEAKER_01: He says, since you are engaged in the same struggle, it's this idea of an athletic competition.
SPEAKER_01: And it's this idea that we are pushing and that we are fighting.
SPEAKER_01: It's the idea since we're in football season that we're in the fourth quarter and it is fourth and two, and we're down by four, and we have to get a touchdown.
SPEAKER_01: And you get in the huddle, and the quarterback looks at you as a guard or a tackle or a center.
SPEAKER_01: Fellas, this game is over if you don't back somebody up off this line.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta have two yards, hat on a hat.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta beat somebody or we lose.
SPEAKER_01: That's contending, that's struggling, that's pushing forward, that's everything that is in me.
SPEAKER_01: I am fighting for this gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It is the duty that I am called to as a citizen of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It is the responsibility that I have because Jesus died for me on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: A few weeks ago, we looked at the scripture for the joy set before him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus endured the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He contended for our souls on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He conquered death and sin and rose again conquering death and sin in victory.
SPEAKER_01: And we are struggling for that.
SPEAKER_01: This is the call, this is the challenge, this is the standard, this is elevating our definition of what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to learn in our lives and our modern culture, there are so many things that distract us and so many things that pull us away.
SPEAKER_01: There are so many things we can be involved in.
SPEAKER_01: There are so many duties and responsibilities that we have.
SPEAKER_01: We are so busy, just not that far after COVID, when we were all sitting around bored and now we're running ragged already again.
SPEAKER_01: It did not take very long.
SPEAKER_01: In the midst of all of that, are we contending for the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Are we fighting with everything that is in us?
SPEAKER_01: Are we struggling to advance the gospel regardless of what's going on around us?
SPEAKER_01: Paul uses the example of himself here.
SPEAKER_01: And listen to what he says again in this verse in 29.
SPEAKER_01: For it has been given to you on Christ's behalf, not only to believe in him, it is not enough to give mere assent to the truth of the gospel or scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what the gospel says.
SPEAKER_01: Again, look what he says in 27.
SPEAKER_01: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is what that means.
SPEAKER_01: Let's rehearse that again.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 2, it explains it in great detail.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us have sinned.
SPEAKER_01: We have done things that we know are wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Our consciences have been pricked.
SPEAKER_01: We know that that's something that I should have asked forgiveness for.
SPEAKER_01: I've hidden that because I didn't want anybody to know I did it.
SPEAKER_01: All of us understand what the conviction of sin is.
SPEAKER_01: The effect of sin is this our sin must be judged by a holy God.
SPEAKER_01: That's why death happens in the world.
SPEAKER_01: That's why people die.
SPEAKER_01: Death is that our bodies do not live for eternity because of the judgment of sin.
SPEAKER_01: And our bodies will physically die, but that death, that physical death, that human death, is not the only death.
SPEAKER_01: We will spend an eternity in hell paying the price for our sins, being judged for our sins by a holy God.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, look, they can put me in prison for preaching that, but that's what the gospel is.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, there's no other hope but Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But he uses the term the gospel of Christ, and that's the good news.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes on to give in detail in chapter 2 what happened.
SPEAKER_01: God looks at us as the creator.
SPEAKER_01: As Jacob read from Psalms 8, as we've sung, Who am I?
SPEAKER_01: Who am I that God would care?
SPEAKER_01: I rejected him when I sinned.
SPEAKER_01: But that picture in that psalm also gives the picture of Jesus as the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: Because he looked down out of heaven and he said, Greg's life, I am not satisfied with that.
SPEAKER_01: And he stepped out of heaven in grace and mercy and he lived a sinless life.
SPEAKER_01: He put himself in the form of a man.
SPEAKER_01: It says, he humbled himself into the form and the physical nature of a man in chapter 2, so that he could live a human life.
SPEAKER_01: He lived a sinless life.
SPEAKER_01: And then he allowed himself and gave himself to people who took him to a cross and they nailed him there, and he died so that his sinless human life could become a substitute death to pay the price for our sins, so we would not have to.
SPEAKER_01: On the third day, Jesus rose again, conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: And now the good news of gospel, the gospel, the good news of Christ is he is that sacrifice that died in our place.
SPEAKER_01: And if we will bring our lives to him and our sin to him, and we will confess our sin to him, Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, but I know you love me and pay the price for my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to take my life, everything I've been, I am, and I ever will be, and I'm going to give all of that to you.
SPEAKER_01: It is now your life.
SPEAKER_01: You paid for it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm giving it to you because you gave your life for me.
SPEAKER_01: And then we are saved.
SPEAKER_01: Our sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: We are cleansed.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us.
SPEAKER_01: We are never alone.
SPEAKER_01: He walks through life with us.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to transform us.
SPEAKER_01: He shows us how we can live so far beyond the human experience by living a life worthy of the gospel that we trusted for our salvation.
SPEAKER_01: He never leaves us alone.
SPEAKER_01: He walks through that with us.
SPEAKER_01: Every promise written in Scripture is sealed with the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then when our bodies physically die, the Bible says to be absent from the body is present with the Lord, and you immediately are in eternity with Jesus forever.
SPEAKER_01: That's the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what Paul says: listen, if it has radically changed your here and your later, if it has radically changed your human life and given you eternal life, if your sins were forgiven and you have been transformed and you are in the process of being transformed in the image of Jesus, then how in the world can you just sit around and not contend for the gospel that has saved you?
SPEAKER_01: That's what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about, don't be frightened about opponents in your way.
SPEAKER_01: Whether that's somebody that just tries to shut you down or doesn't like you or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: If it is in Paul's day when it's he is put in jail for preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He was beaten by people who thought he was a Jewish heretic.
SPEAKER_01: All of those things, he said, listen, Jesus is bigger than that.
SPEAKER_01: Now he gives us his example.
SPEAKER_01: And how do we live this out?
SPEAKER_01: How do we answer that question that I live worthy of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: That I am contending in a manner worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Paul gives us his own example.
SPEAKER_01: Again in verse 29, for it has been given to you on Christ's behalf, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.
SPEAKER_01: Having the same struggle that you saw I had, and now hear that I have.
SPEAKER_01: He was opposed in Philippi when he was preaching the gospel there in Philippi.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard the story of the Philippian jailer who Paul led to Christ while he was in prison when God released him from prison.
SPEAKER_01: And now they know he is in Rome and he is in shackles and chains and prison because of preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, listen, it doesn't matter what we face, you're going to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Now just a thought for us.
SPEAKER_01: It's always been weird to kind of preach sometimes about these things in America because we have the First Amendment and constitutional protections, and we were, you know, godly nation and all that kind of stuff, you know.
SPEAKER_01: That's we've we've had all that.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, we're going to have to learn what passages of scriptures like this mean.
SPEAKER_01: Not to offend some, but just let me take a moment.
SPEAKER_01: It's clear after a presidential debate this week that we have the vice president of the United States, a governor of one of the states in America, who are standing firmly and celebrating positions that are in direct contravention to the Holy Scripture of God.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, some people don't like it when preachers, whatever, but you know, when they step into the Word of God and they step into our world, it is clear.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: It's great to be in a church where people love the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We have a great heritage here.
SPEAKER_01: We have a great heritage here, and it is an honor to follow the kind of preachers who've been here and preached these same things and taught it from Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what we got.
SPEAKER_01: Just to understand, when they celebrate taking your tax dollars to pay for abortions to the ninth month, then it's not a far stretch for the radical LGBTQ agenda that they both clearly have been invested in for the entirety of their political careers.
SPEAKER_01: It is not difficult if you're going to take our tax dollars to pay for abortions.
SPEAKER_01: If you care that little about life, they'll take our tax dollars and they'll pay for the surgery of minors to attempt to change their genders and celebrate it as if that is some valuable thing.
SPEAKER_01: That's why they will not protect young ladies on sports teams and locker rooms.
SPEAKER_01: I have a daughter that grew up playing softball and volleyball and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: It's just wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And make no mistake, this is not a political issue.
SPEAKER_01: It is a biblical issue.
SPEAKER_01: Follow with me.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible makes it clear that the number one most important, tangible picture of salvation is the structure of the family.
SPEAKER_01: Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
SPEAKER_01: Clearly, the gospel is invested in the picture of marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Husbands play a part where we live out the gospel and the picture of Jesus before our families and our children.
SPEAKER_01: And then when you live a sacrifice-loving life like the gospel of Christ, then what's going to happen is people are going to see and they're going to want to know how to receive that gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And wives live out the role of how a Christian receives salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says in the book of Ephesians again, wives submit yourselves and everything to your husbands as to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It is a picture of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It illustrates salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It illustrates it to our children.
SPEAKER_01: And when the world steps in to destroy the picture of marriage by making it something other than a man and a woman living out the gospel so their children know what the gospel of Jesus is, then They it is a direct attack on the very gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've got to understand the world that we live in and not be confused.
SPEAKER_01: This is not about who you like or who you don't like or whatever else.
SPEAKER_01: And when we face an election where someone like that wins, and I'm not predicting, and I don't know when that happened, and I'm not a prophet, and my dad was not one either.
SPEAKER_01: But one of these days it is going to happen, and we will live in a world where the statement that I just made is more than just offensive and canceled, it becomes illegal.
SPEAKER_01: It will happen at some point unless God brings sweeping revival that changes it.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's what happens: if you have only been living, believing, and not raising your gospel life, and behavior to the level of contending for the gospel, you are not prepared for those days.
SPEAKER_01: And so as the church, we've got to have a standard where our focus is wrestling, fighting, pushing, hat on a hat, beat the opponent, make the two yards, and advance the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's the picture that is clearly being explained right here.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul uses that example.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, y'all have seen the struggle.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in jail for preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And y'all got to get there.
SPEAKER_01: So we got to do more than get mad about politics.
SPEAKER_01: And we've got to do more than buy tickets to football games.
SPEAKER_01: And we've got to do more than that.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to live to the standard of our citizenship for the Jesus who died for our sins and rose again.
SPEAKER_01: And if Paul gives us this example, I want to give you just three small pictures here of what his perspective is and what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to ask it as a question to myself and to you.
SPEAKER_01: It's fun sometimes when you talk to folks after church and they go, man, Pastor, you were really preaching, and they'll say, Well, you stepped on my toes and all.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all just remember I had to live with this sermon for two weeks before I came here, right?
SPEAKER_01: My feet are already so chewed on by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So what happened?
SPEAKER_01: So here's what we're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to ask this question, myself and you, is our purpose in life to advance the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Is our purpose in life to advance the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Look back at what Paul says in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 21, For me, living is Christ, and dying is gain.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in the original language, the word is is not even there.
SPEAKER_01: It's only put there in English so we can understand the flow of the sentence.
SPEAKER_01: What it literally says is living Christ.
SPEAKER_01: There's no life outside of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said about himself, I, Jesus, am the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said about himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said about himself, I am the living water.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said about himself, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: There is no life outside of Jesus, and there is certainly no eternal life outside of the forgiveness that comes from the gospel and Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so Paul says very clearly, living as Christ and dying is gained.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: If your purpose was not, if your life purpose was not advancing the gospel, why would you go to prison for the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Why would you go to prison for the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Paul says very clearly in verse 12, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul makes it very clear that his entire purpose in life is the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He later on says, now look, it doesn't mean I've arrived.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean that I've accomplished everything I've accomplished.
SPEAKER_01: I'm still surrendered and I'm still pursuing in life what Jesus saved me to be and to do and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: So he's not stating somehow that he has elevated himself to some level.
SPEAKER_01: But what he is saying is, my purpose in life is the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And as much as God will allow me, and as much as Jesus will work in my life, and as many opportunities as I have, my sole focus is the gospel being advanced.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is the gospel being preached in places where people are dying and going to hell so that they can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: That's what that means.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean protecting the church.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean that, you know, I like this and this is my haven and I come and hide here and this is my foxhole and all that dirty world out there, and then I'm going to touch us back in here.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what that means.
SPEAKER_01: My sole life, even if they throw me in prison, is to do everything that God will allow me to do to advance the gospel to people who are dying and going to hell without Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We are contending even in the Thames when there's opposition.
SPEAKER_01: We are finding ways, wrestling ways, hat on a hat.
SPEAKER_01: Whip somebody to make the two yards, to get to a lost person who needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
SPEAKER_01: Romans, the Bible says God demonstrated his love towards us and that while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_01: And 1 John, he said it this way: not that we loved him, but he first loved us and gave his son for us.
SPEAKER_01: Our duty, that citizenship duty that he's trying to elevate and call us to, is a life of such attachment to the love of Jesus that it drives us in every way that it can be to share the love of Jesus with someone else.
SPEAKER_01: Paul didn't go to prison so he could scream at people about what they did wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Paul went to prison so he could tell them Jesus died for those wrongs.
SPEAKER_01: They're called sin and there's judgment for them.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus paid the price for it, and he took your punishment for it, and he rose again so you can be clean and forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: And have a hope in life that you never knew you had.
SPEAKER_01: The world is our goal.
SPEAKER_01: We are trying to reach them with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: We don't hate lost people.
SPEAKER_01: We love them with the love of Jesus to try to go out and show them that there's hope for the things that they're struggling with.
SPEAKER_01: That they need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It is our job.
SPEAKER_01: This is not our haven we're hiding from.
SPEAKER_01: These are the starting blocks that we race from to take the gospel to a world that needs him.
SPEAKER_01: We are trying to strive in a way with those balances worthy.
SPEAKER_01: I am trying to allow Jesus to create so much Jesus in my life and so much love for lost people in my life that I am contending always to reach them.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we call out sin.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we speak into matters.
SPEAKER_01: Because there is so much lying and untruth that goes out there, and we have to explain the truth as we just have.
SPEAKER_01: When I talked about the definition of marriage, listen, what we're trying to get through, the point is there is a way to answer the heart cry.
SPEAKER_01: If you will find Jesus, you will know how this works.
SPEAKER_01: In every year that I've lived in the state of Arkansas, I've used this illustration before.
SPEAKER_01: In every year I've lived in the state of Arkansas, we are in the top five, numerically, the top five states in the country in third-time marriages.
SPEAKER_01: You got that?
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what's happening, what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_01: So work with me for just a second.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is people want to be in relationship.
SPEAKER_01: They are hungry to be loved.
SPEAKER_01: They are trying to figure it out, and we have the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Man, that ought to excite us about a state where people are searching and we got the answer.
SPEAKER_01: And we are striving and contending.
SPEAKER_01: What is your perspective of what is your what is your purpose in life?
SPEAKER_01: Are you driven by the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Are you engaged with your love list?
SPEAKER_01: Because gospel is your purpose?
SPEAKER_01: You think about when we talk about a love list here, three people, what we're talking about, this is a way to help us learn evangelism.
SPEAKER_01: Three people that you know God's put in your life that need Jesus, and you're praying three things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, I'll pray for them to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, I'm praying for an opportunity to invite them to church.
SPEAKER_01: And number three, I'm praying for an opportunity to share my testimony with them.
SPEAKER_01: Three things.
SPEAKER_01: Three lost people, God put them in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And you are praying and you are seeking and you are looking for every opportunity you have.
SPEAKER_01: You are praying that they'll be saved.
SPEAKER_01: You are asking the Lord to give you an opportunity to invite them to church, and you are praying for an opportunity for you to share your testimony on how you are saved.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about that.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just a cute thing.
SPEAKER_01: It is an effort that we are trying to build into our lives as a church family so that we are on purpose sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That we are recognizing that God put me in that place, in that school, in that homeroom, on that team, on that street, in that family, in that workplace.
SPEAKER_01: He's put me in that civic organization.
SPEAKER_01: He's put me there because he's put people that need Jesus there.
SPEAKER_01: And he has put me in there.
SPEAKER_01: I am the guard on that offensive line, and he has whispered into my ear when he put me in that place.
SPEAKER_01: Hat on a hat.
SPEAKER_01: I need two yards because they need to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Go.
SPEAKER_01: That's a purposeful life.
SPEAKER_01: Paul also describes his perspective of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Is my perspective of life the advance of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Man, I mean, just listen to this for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: This guy is in prison.
SPEAKER_01: He's been in prison.
SPEAKER_01: All of that has happened to him.
SPEAKER_01: And listen to what he says in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know, brothers, what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So that it's become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, he threw me in jail because now I can tell these guards about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Listen what else he says.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the message fearlessly.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_01: Put me in jail.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be here.
SPEAKER_01: Because it got y'all's dander up, and y'all are out telling people about Jesus now.
SPEAKER_01: Do we view the issues that we face in life that way?
SPEAKER_01: Do we ever even think, praise God, this advances the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, I'm going through this advances the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Man, this is hard.
SPEAKER_01: This is hard at work.
SPEAKER_01: This is difficult.
SPEAKER_01: People are where praise God.
SPEAKER_01: Here's an opportunity for Jesus to come out of my life and a chance for the gospel to be explored.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, He's put me here in this hard spot, and I got to deal with all this because people are going to see Jesus come out, and I'm going to get an opportunity to share Jesus with people.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like this, I don't like that, I don't like that.
SPEAKER_01: When our perspective should be, how many people got saved?
SPEAKER_01: How many times do we share the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: That person I invited to church, they didn't come this week.
SPEAKER_01: But oh, I so wanted them to be here in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to double my efforts, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'm praying even harder that they get here.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, here's what else he says.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about this for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: When he uses his illustration of you are appointed to suffer the same battle that I'm appointed to, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever that moment is in our culture, when it becomes so difficult or even unlawful to speak against abortion or to stand up for biblical marriage, one man and one woman, or to speak into any of those issues, if it becomes illegal, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: We don't get an asterisk that tells us we don't have to do it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: If it becomes illegal, we've been appointed to the same struggle as Paul.
SPEAKER_01: If it becomes hard and we get canceled and cancel culture or whatever kind of a deal, that doesn't remove from us the imperative and the command to share Jesus and see people say.
SPEAKER_01: Next week, thank you for so many of y'all.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are praying for our team.
SPEAKER_01: Our team is getting our prayer partners in place.
SPEAKER_01: Next Sunday, we leave for London to go.
SPEAKER_01: And I've shared it with you before, but in this context, it's really important.
SPEAKER_01: One of the reasons that we felt like God has really led us as a church to get involved in London is because it's hard over there.
SPEAKER_01: They are years advanced from where we are in opposition to the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And when I first sat down and a pastor talked to me about and introduced me to Pastor Joel, he said, listen, Greg, America's on its way, and we're going to get there, and so we better learn how to share the gospel now in that context.
SPEAKER_01: And you read this scripture right here, it begins to make sense, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: We got to go learn how to do it where it's hard because it's getting harder here.
SPEAKER_01: We got to learn new strategies and new ways, and we've got to learn things about you can't do as much public deal, but you can do every bit as much private deal.
SPEAKER_01: And how do you build relationships?
SPEAKER_01: Love list.
SPEAKER_01: And have God open doors to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Is your perspective that whatever happened to me happened to me so the gospel would be advanced?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever we're working on, how is it impacting our ability to share the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Is that our perspective?
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to witness to that person.
SPEAKER_01: God told me who to put on my love list, Pastor, but you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: It's a friend, it's work, it's awkward.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: How is that a perspective of life that advances the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Listen what else Paul says in here.
SPEAKER_01: This will blow your mind right here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says in Philippians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Read with me in verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: Apparently some of them got frustrated because, well, here's a good preacher, and here's a bad preacher.
SPEAKER_01: Some preachers are preaching because they love the gospel, some preachers are preaching just for money.
SPEAKER_01: Some people are preaching to advance the gospel, and some people are preaching just because they want to put on Paul and their tag of Paul or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says in verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of goodwill.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, duh, you know, there's all kinds of motives.
SPEAKER_01: These do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The others proclaim Christ out of a rivalry, not sincerely, seeking to cause me anxiety, me and my imprisonment.
SPEAKER_01: But listen to what his perspective is.
SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
SPEAKER_01: Who cares why they're doing it?
SPEAKER_01: What does it matter?
SPEAKER_01: Just that in every way, whether out of false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: If the name of Jesus got proclaimed, praise God, Jesus got proclaimed.
SPEAKER_01: How much do we get bogged down in this and that and this and that and all this other and all that kind of stuff?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying that doctrine's not important, and I'm not saying all that's not very important.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that at all.
SPEAKER_01: Please don't make this say that.
SPEAKER_01: But what I'm saying is, who cares what the athlete does at the end of the football game if he proclaims the name of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus got proclaimed.
SPEAKER_01: If our goal is the proclamation of the name of Jesus, then we're going to celebrate the proclamation of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because my perspective is driven by the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And then question three.
SPEAKER_01: My purpose in life, my perspective in life, and is my passion for my life to advance the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Just so you know, he is elevating the standard of living a holy, worthy life.
SPEAKER_01: He is trying to elevate us to the level of Jesus died for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: Why would I go be running back into that?
SPEAKER_01: Listen to his passion for his life because his purpose is to share the gospel, because his perspective is the advance of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: His personal life and passion is to never do anything that in any way hampers his gospel testimony so he can advance the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: In prison, Paul says in verse 20, my eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body or in my life or in the choices that I'm making, whether by life or by death.
SPEAKER_01: When we start talking now about personal holiness and all of that, it's one thing to pursue some legalistic definition of whatever.
SPEAKER_01: But man, it's a whole nother thing when you look at every sin, choice, idea, thought in your life against the cross and the price that Jesus paid for it.
SPEAKER_01: When your whole purpose is, I want to live this life in a way that when I share Jesus, it at least has credibility.
SPEAKER_01: They may not like me, they may not like this, but at least they'll know I believe it.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, Listen, if I die in this prison, I want to make sure that I died in a way that people know he really believed the gospel is true.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, when I meet Jesus, if they kill me in this prison and Jesus immediately shows up, I don't want to be ashamed because of my reaction and my lack of faith and my anger and my frustration and all this other stuff.
SPEAKER_01: It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed about anything.
SPEAKER_01: If our purpose in life and our perspective is the advance of the gospel, it's going to challenge you to levels of holiness that you didn't even know existed.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to challenge us because as we grow closer to Jesus, it's going to be constantly this thing gets in the way, this thing is changing my perspective, this thing is hampering my testimony, this thing is something that I need to get rid of so I've got more time for prayer and more time for my love list and more time to build a relationship and more time to meet my neighbors and the people that I work with.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to give me a higher standard of my language at the coffee pot or in the huddle on the football team or at cheerleading practice or in band practice.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to change everything about how I do.
SPEAKER_01: Because I have an eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed about anything.
SPEAKER_01: Are we pursuing a life where Christ will be highly honored in it?
SPEAKER_01: Live worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible testimony from the life of Paul.
SPEAKER_01: As we close this morning, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever trusted in the good news of Jesus who died to save you, to forgive your sins, to change you, to create in you the kind of passion and influence and joy and desire for more that is illustrated in Paul's life in this passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus loved you so much that he stepped out of heaven to die on the cross for you.
SPEAKER_01: He endured the wrath and punishment of sin that is by right ours.
SPEAKER_01: And then he rose again and he conquered death and hell and he made new life.
SPEAKER_01: And if you will give your life to him, he will change your life.
SPEAKER_01: He will give you an eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: He will make you new.
SPEAKER_01: And you will never be forsaken.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll give your life to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Our pastors are going to come stand ahead of the aisles.
SPEAKER_01: If you're on television, you're watching online, listen, you can do this right there in your home.
SPEAKER_01: If you do, you contact us.
SPEAKER_01: We want to walk with you.
SPEAKER_01: We want to celebrate in your decision.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got questions, you think that guy's crazy, I got questions, just call.
SPEAKER_01: Write.
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: We're here for you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're in this room and you need Jesus, I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are going to stand and they're going to sing a testimony of their desire to live worthy.
SPEAKER_01: And listen to them sing and hear the credibility of what God does in lives and come and give your life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you and we thank you and we pray, Father, that you will continue to elevate our picture of what it means to live worthy.
SPEAKER_01: Grow us, help us, excite us, challenge us, equip us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, take us there so that we can take the gospel to people who need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, this morning, if there's someone who here needs to be saved, we want them to know how much Jesus loved them.
SPEAKER_01: Give them a freedom to come and to give their life to you.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this in the loving, saving, holy name of Jesus 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's First Baptist Church.