Y'all good. Cause we just sang that. We're gonna raise a mighty roar. Anybody catch that part of that song? I don't know about you, but, like, when you are singing, you know, words matter.

We talked about last week that when you're studying the Bible, you need to pay attention to key words, repeated words, and kind of dig down a little bit deep, asking questions like, why does this mean this? Why does that mean that? But when you're singing especially, you don't want to just be robotically singing the words that are up on a screen. He said we would raise a mighty roar. Hallelujah.

Come on, guys, let's think about that. God has brought us together, that he has saved us, he's rescued us from hell, and in that respect, that we could raise our worship and give him the very best. I bet that some of you in this room have already spoken a thousand words to day, but let's speak our best words to him because he is worthy of our praise. And I'm glad you're here today. I'm glad you come to hang out.

My message is about an hour and a half. So, I mean, we're going to talk about Paul being in prison. Some of you may feel that about 12 o'clock. I'm just kidding. I'm just joking.

Hey, how many of you. I'm so glad that you were able to take some of these study guides. And if you weren't here when we were handing those out, these are really. They're actually really cheap. They're little esv.

It's the Bible text with some columns that you can write in, you can draw in it, you can circle it, you can color code it. I found out today that Larry Carter and Kevin Hurt. Y'all use more colors in your notes than I think that's in the rainbow. But you can mark, you can dissect. And one of the things I want to challenge you to do when you're reading Scripture is slow down enough to ask questions.

So, like, when I'm looking, we're going to be in Philippians 1. We're going to start it in verse 12 today. But for example, when you're going down through this text and he says in verse 18 in that I rejoice and I will rejoice. Okay, well, what is it that is bringing him joy in that moment? And what is it that's going to bring him joy in the future?

If you. If you make some observation, you'll notice that in verse number 12, there's the word advance and in verse 25, there's the word progress. Well, they're actually the same word, but what is it that is progressing? Where is it going? Why is it going?

Ask. Learn to ask good questions. And that's why, if you're afraid to mark your Bible that your grandma gave you when you were 7 years old, don't mark that one. Buy one that you can write in. I promise you're not desecrating the Bible if you sketch in it like this.

What you're doing is you're digesting it. And we want to digest the word of God so that it can take root in our heart. So I know in this service we have more students. Students, can I give you some advice? I was a youth pastor for 17 years, and you're sitting in here, and you give me the awesome opportunity that I get to teach and preach to you, if you want.

And this is for adults, too. If you're sitting there going, like, you know, I get really bored when people preach. If you will take a notebook and you will jot down notes as someone is speaking, I can guarantee you you will be more engaged. And there might be something said or put up on the screen that you need to go back and chew on a little bit later. So I want to encourage you parents, the best thing you can buy and start teaching your kids is how to take good notes, how to hear when someone is speaking.

I'm an auditory learner. I used to sit and I would almost literally type verbatim what my professors were speaking, because that's how I processed it. Whatever works for you. Because at the end goal, like each week, we're going to try to give you a little bit of a different nuance of what you can do in your Bible study. Ask good questions.

In fact, say that with me. Ask good questions. But I guarantee you, you will get more out of your time studying the Bible when you take the time to slow down and let it speak. You know, a good cook knows how to let certain meats sit on the counter or certain things kind of simmer on the back burner. That's what this is about.

You want it to have a good effect. So we're going to be in Philippians chapter one, starting at verse 12. Last week, I gave you a definition for joy, that joy is grace recognized. Now, I know there's a lot of different nuances to what joy looks like and what it is. We talked about how similar the word in Greek of joy and grace from the same root.

And so when I say that, it's joy that it's grace recognized that you and I exist. We live, we move, we act, we breathe because of God's grace. And we're saved only because of God's grace as he moves on us. And so in that you and I both have this little catch can, if we know Jesus Christ, from which we can pull joy no matter what our circumstances may be, no matter what may come against me, we always have something from which we can pull. And last week, as, as Paul is beginning to endear himself back to the Philippians, we talked about how he was grateful for the work that they were partnered in.

And we talked about how God's not finished with you. He's still working on you. There's a good work that God is doing in your life. And so we landed on that there was joy in serving together as he's praying this prayer of sanctification. Now, I know we don't talk about sanctification a lot, but basically sanctification, simply put, it means to be set apart.

God is working in your life and mine to separate us from this world system that is under the weight of the sin of the world. And so he's working in us. And one of the ways that he does this is through suffering. I don't like suffering. How many of you, if you're like me, you may not work certain muscles on a regular basis.

And so like when I was in my 20s and 30s, believe this or not, I used to wakeboard. I wasn't great at it. I was trying to get better at it. But have you ever hit the water and face planted going 30 miles an hour? It hurts.

In fact, you can get the most serious sinus affection on Lake lanier if you faceplant one, because Lake Lanier is nasty. But I promise you, July 4th, I can't remember what year it was. I. I was behind the boat. But on Lake Lanier, there's so many boats around you, there's a lot of ripples.

And the front edge of my board caught, turned my board this way and I went slap face into the water. Water jetted up my nose. I had the worst sinus infection on the face of this planet. In the summer, you know, like Crosby Head needing a little bit of warmth. I mean, the bacteria in Lake Lanier didn't need anything to help cook it a little bit.

But I know every year we would get up on that wakeboard and I'd get home and these muscles on the top of my hips would hurt and this little muscle down here at the Bottom of my calf would hurt. And it's like when you endure some kind of physical trauma, you kind of feel like Tim Conway. None of you don't know Tim Conway unless you watch SpongeBob SquarePants, because he was a voice on there. But back in the day, y'all were going like, wait a minute. Tim Conway was on SpongeBob?

Yes, he was. Go look it up. But he was on a show called the Carol Burnett show. And there was times that he would do this nuance of a skit where he was this old man. He was a doctor, he was a pharmacist, he was a clock repairman, and he would come walking like this.

I mean, it's so fun. You need to watch it. If you want to see some good slapstick comedy, watch Tim Conway. But see, that's what happens with us when we undergo sometimes some physical, not just trauma or anything else, that's the way we feel. We get up and we're like, oh, gosh, I can barely move.

But we know that that exercise produces something good, doesn't it? In your life and mine, we have to understand suffering is common. Every person on the face of this planet will endure some kind of suffering. I don't like to suffer.

But wouldn't you rather suffer knowing that something good can come out of your suffering? Because, in fact, I want you to think about the different kinds of suffering that you can endure in your life. It could be you find out a terminal illness, or somebody backs into you in a parking lot, or somebody robs you, or there's all kinds of things that. That come upon us, and it's kind of like unjust suffering. But then there's this other box of suffering that are things that happen to us because we are stepping forward in what God has called us to do, which, collectively speaking, is the furtherance of the gospel.

If you read about the martyrs of history who put their lives on the line, that people might know the gospel in Jesus Christ, that is suffering of a whole different caliber. But I want you to hear me say this. Whether you're suffering in the world because it's just the world and the world has fallen and there's sin in the world, or you're suffering because you've put yourself out there and God has called you to do this, and it turns out for suffering, either one of those situations can work for you and for me, for God's glory and the furtherance of the gospel, when I see it the right way. Because what happens in our life is something bad will happen. Some kind of suffering comes in our life and immediately we think, well, you know, God's just out to get me.

Or we think, well, you know, this is unfair because I'm a good person and bad things shouldn't happen to good people. Right? Well, number one, I want you to unravel that because there's no one good. That's what the Bible says. So when you start trying to play the justice card before a holy and just God, knowing that you're not, you can't play that card.

Bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to bad people. And good things, I mean, all that happens. Karma doesn't exist. It rains on the just and it rains on the unjust.

And that's not just blessings. Bad things happen to supposedly redeemed people too. But if I live life as a divine victim, I will miss opportunity that God might use my suffering for the furtherance of the gospel. I think about the Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite books. Alexandre Dumas, who also wrote the Three Musketeers, you might be more familiar with that.

But. But the book and the movie they produced in 2002 with Jim Caviezel are not the same. Has anybody read the book? A few of us have. Did you read the Abridged or the Unabridged?

The abridged is about this and the Unabridged is like this. I've read both because I love the story. It opens up with a young man named Edmond Dantes, who is the second, like really number three after the captain on a ship. And he has a friend named Fernand who actually, you don't know this. He's jealous of Dantes because Dantes has this beautiful fiance named Mercedes and he serves under the first mate whose name is Don Glars.

And they're on a ship in 1815 near the coast of Italy in an island called Elba. Does anybody recognize the island of Elba? Who was banished to the island of Elba in 1850? I got a kid in the back raising. Who was it?

Napoleon Bonaparte? Did y'all hear that? Adults. That's what I'm talking about. You just, hey, when you get home, you hug your mom and dad real good.

And so the captain of the boat is sick and so, so, so Edmund is like, hey, we got to get him some help. So they, they beach on the shore and they. I don't think they have a clue. I mean, Dante's really is at characterizes a good hearted person. He loves the owner of the shipyard, he's loyal to his Captain.

But Don Glars is jealous because the captain's taking notice of Edmund. And they go on shore to help the captain, and they find Napoleon. And Napoleon makes a deal. Say, hey, listen, I'll let you use my doctor if you'll take these letters back for me. Edmund doesn't know what's in those letters.

He just knows they're letters. And so his good heart, and it sticks him in his coat and he goes on. But his friend, or supposed friend Ferdinand and Don Glaares both see this, and so they begin to cook a conspiracy, especially when he gets back. And they make Edmund the captain of a ship. Don Glarus is like, no, I was first mate.

That should be me. Ferdinand, in his arrogance, it's like, I've actually got royal blood. And he's being promoted. He's got this beautiful fiance. And so they agree together to go to the magistrate, to a man named Villefort, to have him arrested for being treasonous.

And so he arrests Dantes. And he brings him in, and Edmund gives him the letters. I mean, he doesn't hold it back. He gives him the letters. But the Villefort's surprise as he looks on the envelope, they're actually addressed to his own father, who's a Bonapartist.

And so he takes those letters and he burns them and. And at that point, it's like Dante's just like, okay, I dodged a bullet there. And they take him outside and they throw him in a paddy wagon and they haul him off to an island prison called the Chateau d'if. A deep and dark and lonely place to live out his days in. A dungeon where once a year, on the anniversary of his imprisonment, the guards would come and whip him.

And for years and years he lived that way because three men conspired against him and threw him into prison unjustly. And when Dantes gets in there, I mean, like, he has hope, like he actually inscribes on the wall, God will give me justice. And each year he's carving it. But as years pass, he begins to lay the rock aside, and he doesn't freshen up. God will give me justice.

In fact, in his imprisonment, he becomes bitter and angry and. And vengeful. And all he can think about is getting out and getting revenge on these men who caused his imprisonment. The one day, six years in his imprisonment, to his shock and in fear, a head pops up in his floor. And it's an old gentleman named Abb.

Faria. And he had been imprisoned wrongly, too, because he had a secret he knew the location of an immense treasure. And he makes a deal with Dantes and says, hey, if you'll help me dig and get out of this place, I'll teach you some things. And Avi looks up at the wall and he sees, God will give me justice. And he makes a comment about it to which Edmund says, there's no talk of God in here, priest.

He's embittered and he's angry because he'd been imprisoned wrongly. But. But for a moment, the priest tries to get him to look at it from a different perspective. And he says, perhaps your thoughts of revenge are serving God's purpose of keeping you alive all of these seven years.

Now, what I want to tell you is the reason I'm telling you that story is because this is not Paul. This is actually opposite Paul. This is anti Paul. Edmond Dantes and Paul are not in the same boat. Paul is in prison in Rome and he's writing to the Philippians and he's saying, hey, wait a minute.

You think that what happened to me is bad, but I'm here to tell you that what's happening to me is actually good. In fact, what's happening to me in this imprisonment is for your benefit. It's for the benefit of the Gospel, and it's for the benefit of your own good growth. Remember the prayer from last week? He said, I'm praying that you may abound more and more in love, in knowledge and discernment.

And he said, so that you may be purified at the coming of Christ. He's talking about their sanctification. But Paul even admits in this passage that all of this is happening for my own sanctification, my own being set apart, my own separation from the world. I don't want to think like the world thinks. I want to think like Christ thinks.

And so I'm going to ask you a really pointed question. And when I ask this question, if I went down to the kids area and I asked all the kids, if you've asked Jesus into your heart, how many you think would raise their hand? Every kid would, because half of them don't understand what that means. Adults, half of you don't even understand what that means. So stop using that phrase.

Honestly, I can say, Jesus lives in my heart and never deal with my sin. Are you with me? That's a hard statement, isn't it? But I want to ask you a question, and I bet, and I'm not asking you to, if I asked you to raise your hand to the answer to this question, every one of you would raise your hand. Is Christ the center of your life?

Is Christ the center of your life? And I bet a lot of you will go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Me and Jesus, we like bros.

I'm going to ask you a different question. How is Jesus the center of your life? Is Jesus the center of your life in such a way that whether it's common suffering or whether it's suffering for a cause, that you have a source of joy and confidence no matter what suffering may come? Now, let me balance that for a minute because I'm going to tell you, suffering stinks. It hurts.

I don't like it. It comes out of nowhere. And I'll begin to try to process and analyze. Okay, well, God, why is this happening? Did I make a mistake?

Did somebody else make a mistake? Should I go beat somebody up? I mean, we start processing this, but the one question we should ask ourselves is God, how in my suffering am I revealing to this world that you are the center of my life? And whether I'm living or whether I'm dying, you are my life. David, in Psalm 30, verse number five, is processing and trying to make sense of why God would allow his enemies to come against him the way that he has.

And he begins to connect it, that this is God's justice on me. And he says in verse number five, his anger is but for a moment, but his favor is for a lifetime. And you'll know this next phrase. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. And I'm afraid that a lot of times in our life, we get so focused on the here and now that we forget the eternity that God has promised each one of us if we would trust Jesus Christ as our Savior.

So I want to invite you to stand with me as we read. I'm going to read a little portion of this text and I'll just make. I'm going to make a promise to you. I'm going to do my best for us to walk through this chapter as quickly as we can, giving it its due justice. But I want us to focus on this idea that our collective suffering for the Gospel is never ever not in vain.

Never. Your suffering is never wasted by God. But we can miss it without the right attitude. So pick up with me. In verse number 18, he says, what then?

What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether in pretend or in truth. And I'll explain that in the text, Christ is proclaimed. Did you catch that? No matter where the source comes from, if Jesus is being proclaimed, I am happy Glory to God, whatever that medium is.

When Jesus is exalted, I can rejoice. And he says, and I will rejoice, puts it in the future tense. For I know that this. This what again ask. Good question.

What is the this, this imprisonment will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything. What in the world is he talking about? His own sanctification. Because he says, but that with all boldness Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. And here's the uncomfortable verse.

This is the one that's hard for us to swallow. For to me to live is Christ. When he's the center of my life or to die is. Is gain is I get to stand and bask in his physical presence. Father, as we dig into this text, Lord, let it speak to our heart a way that it would encourage us going through, that you would be glorified and the Gospel would go forth in Jesus name.

Amen. So let me give you just kind of a quick little synopsis of. Of starting at verse 12 and going through verse 30, Paul's going to discuss his circumstances, which the world would probably deem as bad and wrong because unfortunately, even back then they believed in something like karma. Something bad has happened to Paul. So therefore Paul must have done something bad.

Okay, but he's telling him, no, my circumstances actually are for the good, the good of the gospel and the good of you. So he takes this stance of the Gospel as he begins to talk about these men who not only are preaching a false gospel, but preaching and bringing him up as the example. And so he then goes into stating his surety and being sure and confident that whether he's alive or whether he dies, Christ is at the center of his life. And again, I ask you, I'm not asking you, do you think Christ is the center of your life? I'm asking, how is he at the center of your life?

Does he encompass your life 24 hours a day, seven days a week? So then he connects that situation to their sake, that his suffering and their suffering is the medium by which that they can grow in sanctification together. See, when we think about sanctification sometimes and God working in my life, the good work he's doing in me, it's very easy to get very selfish about that, to go, well, I got to focus on me. I got to watch out for me. I got to make myself look good.

This text is pointing out that the process of sanctification in your life is as connected to the other person as it is to you. In fact, what I would say in this room, I want you to just kind of look around. Whoever it is God has put in your life is in your life because he wants you to grow in sanctification together. Which means that I can't grow in sanctification if you're not growing in sanctification. That as I'm pursuing the purity of my life and pursuing God separating me, calling me out and doing his will, I have to remember that we're in this together.

We're spiritually connected through the gospel of Christ. We're spiritually connected by the spirit that is shed and shared abroad in our hearts. That when we embrace the pressure that God allows to come into my life, it actually that pressure can cause my joy to flow and spread. I did a search about how much pressure it takes to cause a volcano to erupt. And you know what AI said a lot.

I didn't get a number. Well, because every volcano is different. The soil make up and we could talk about all of that. I could bore you to death. Actually, no, I didn't get any geek out on that.

But here's what I know. There's enough pressure under the rock to push molten lava out and it just continues and it flows. You're like, can anybody ever cut that valve off? It just keeps coming. It just keeps coming.

It just keeps coming. Why? Because there's still pressure. When you allow the pressure of life to work the way it should, it can push good things things out if there's good things there. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So therefore, if there's evil, if there's envy, if there's other things in your heart, when pressure comes, guess what's going to come out of your mouth. That. But when you fill your heart with good things and the word of God and the love of the brother, that's what comes out when pressure comes. That's why when we're studying the Bible that we need to ask good questions. Because the Bible has told me I need to hide this in my heart.

Why? So that when tragedy comes, what comes out of me is edifying. So let's dig into this point. Number one, God uses adverse circumstances to spread the gospel. Paul uses adverse circumstances to spread the gospel.

That is the absolute truth Paul said in verse number 12. Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have Turned out perfect tense for the greater progress of the gospel. In this verse, he's talking about the progress, the going forth of the gospel. In fact, I mean, it's kind of cliche to say it, but, you know, Paul is chained to some Roman guards. Wouldn't you like to be the Roman guard that had to Hear him preach 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

Laura's already heard this message four times this week, and I'm hoping she gets saved this morning.

Let's be real. Laura's probably more saved than I am.

Wouldn't you like to be the one? Well, you know what? I would have loved to have been the one sitting there chained to Paul so I could just glean a little bit of his knowledge and honestly, his fervor. Come on, let's be real. When you're in a room of people, let's say it's a party.

In fact, I noticed this. I'm gonna pick on our men. The breakfast was awesome yesterday, but when I walked in, I felt like I was at a middle school dance. All the guys are just kind of standing around like, what do we do? But then you find those one or two, like a Dwayne Cannon who's downstairs teaching in our kids ministry, that just his personality alone just brings light into a room.

But then sometimes you got those people that as soon as they walk in, they bring the temperature down. I would have loved to have been sat chained to Paul. I'm pretty sure I could have walked out of that cell after visiting Paul for five minutes and believed I could have saved the entire world. What about you? As we sit here and we think about what it is that God's got us in.

Look at verse number 13. So in my imprisonment in Christ, we've got a lot of different phrases to explain what in Christ means. But Paul is saying, I'm here because this is God's will, Jesus Christ's will for my life. He put me here. Now, that makes a lot of you mad.

When you think about the suffering that you have been through or that you're going through, that Jesus our God would actually put you in that position. But he puts you in that position because God teaches you dependence and sanctification through suffering. It doesn't make sense. Every religious order rewards people for success, but in the Christian world, we learn and grow as we suffer. Christianity is always backwards from the world.

And he said it's become known through the whole Praetorian guard and to everybody else. Because Paul did not hold back. He didn't sit down like Dante's and say, well, I guess I just need to feel sorry for myself. I'm a divine victim. God's out to get me.

And how many of you, if you were really, really honest and transparent, sometimes feel that way? I'm raising my hand because I'm guilty. I'm guilty sometimes of going, God, have you forgotten about me? Hey, Lord, do you notice what I'm going through? Do you see the heartache that I'm experiencing?

Why, God, are you letting this happen? I mean, we all get in those phases, but for a moment, when we can connect it back to the joy that we have in salvation and the assurance of his grace, when we can recognize that, then God can take your suffering and turn it around in a whole different way and show the world the power that we have in our joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he goes on in that next verse, and he says, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Wait a minute. That sentence makes no sense.

If my leader is sitting in jail because he was preaching the word of God, you know what I would do?

I wouldn't say anything. Why? Because I'd be afraid of going to jail myself. But what he said was, no, they are tapping into the actual perspective. They should have that in this suffering, we're declaring the broken body of Jesus Christ his crucifixion.

And it's actually making them more bold to go out and declare this to the world. I think about Nelson Mandela, which for many of you young people, don't even know who Nelson Mandela is. But he stood up in the 50s and 60s against the apartheid in South Africa. And in 1963, he went to prison unjustly because of his speaking out. And he stayed in prison for 27 years.

So if you're 27 years old and younger, raise your hand. All right. If you are exactly 27 years old, raise your hand. Anybody? Wow.

What's the odds if you're 30, 27 to 30 years old, raise your hand. Okay. He was in prison as long as you've been alive.

And he inspired people to not quit. His being in prison, in fact, inspired people around the world to not give up and to fight and to press in. In fact, he set himself prison far from breaking our spirits, made us more determined to continue with this battle until victory was won. And so what is it? What is your personal prison?

What is it that you're stuck in? Don't lay down in that suffering. Don't lay down and wallow in self pity. Let it get a fire in your gut to press forward and to proclaim the goodness gospel. Because at the end of the day, everything in your life, you can lose it.

You can lose your home, you can lose your job, you can lose your family, you can lose your friends. We could lose this building, we could lose everyone around us. But the one thing that is constant assures I will never lose Jesus Christ. If I know him. It's the only thing.

So for you, for me today, how is it that I can let God use these adverse circumstances in my life for the furthering of the gospel Paul wrote? For I consider the suffering of this present time isn't even worthy to compare to the glory that is to be revealed to us. We have to hold on to that truth that no matter how hard it gets, no matter how much the pressure comes, I can tap into that joy and say, God, I'm not experiencing the joy. I don't see anything in front of me right now to make me happy. But I know that it's coming.

I know that it is coming. Christmas morning's coming and I'm gonna get to open up the gift and it's gonna be awesome because it's gonna have Legos in it. No, it's gonna be the return of our Lord to, to come back and take us home. You see, God Point two uses any presentation of the gospel, no matter how much I mess it up. I want you to think about this.

Regardless of our motivation, you came in here today and let's say this is the spectrum of your motivation tank. Some of you may have came in today and you're about 70% motivated to be here. Can God use that 70% motivation to do something in your life? But let's say some of you came in here and you got 90% motivation. Whoo, man, you ready like Ric Flair to just charge it, you know, I'm saying now, you may get more out of the experience than the one who's at 50%, but he still uses that.

But I want to know, some of you came in here and you're at 1.5%. You barely drug yourself in here. You are Tim Conway, spiritually shuffling in, going, I just don't know that I want to be here. And here's this preacher telling me that I need to think good thoughts when bad things happen. He's a jerk.

God can use any circumstance and the gospel can be received. Now, in this context, there is something bad happening. There's people preaching some messed up stuff. He says in verse 15. Some are preaching Christ from envy and strife.

Question, question. Envious of who? They're not envious of Paul's situation because they don't want to be in prison. What are they envious of? Power and prestige.

The whole reason the Philippian Church existed was because of Paul. They wanted his power, they wanted his influence, they wanted his position, they wanted his platform. And so you know what they probably did? I can just kind of imagine this. They probably got up in a.

In an arena and just said, hey, guys, I want you to look. Look at that pitiful man. He had to have done something bad or God wouldn't have let something bad happen to him. But you know what? We've got it all figured out, so if you'll just come and listen to us, you'll be okay.

And they create strife, division among people, dividing them. Paul had to write to the Galatians in Galatians 1:6 and says, I'm shocked that all of you are deserting the. The gospel so quickly for another gospel that I did not preach to you. And so they're out of alignment. And so the reason, as you read on down through there, he says, you're bringing distress to me is because he's going, here I go again.

The one church that seems to have it right. I'm going to have to write and address just like I did the church in Ephesus and the church in Corinth, who were just doing all kinds of debaucherous stuff. They're going to desert the purity of the gospel, forget that God is leading them through sanctification. So let me just meddle for a moment. Every word that I speak from this pulpit, please dissect it.

I want my motivation to be pure. The only two reasons I'm standing on this platform today is, number one, because God called me and I love you enough that I want you to be the best you can be. And I'm not saying that so you can go, oh, wow, he's awesome. I'm not saying that that is true. If I'm standing up here saying so that you will pay homage to me, so that you will think I'm cool, so that you will follow me and put me on a pedestal, then you need to distrust the things coming out of my mouth.

When you watch other preachers online, when you're reading books, you need to ask the question, why are they doing this? Because the deception comes when we make an idol out of our preachers.

If something Happened to me someday and I left this church. If any of you follow me, I'm going to be mad.

You need to be here because this is where God's called you. I can't tell you how many times I've heard churches splitting because the preacher's like, well, it ain't going the way I want to. So you know what I'll do? I'll go up the street and we'll start another church. And then he pulls 20 or 30 out of that church.

Because they're following a personality. Don't follow a personality. Don't follow the cool vibe. You weigh out the words that's coming out of that preacher's mouth and line it up with scripture and make sure that he's preaching and teaching the word of God. And I'm going to tell you, no preacher is perfect.

If you haven't been around me long enough to know, I will say something stupid. Give me about five minutes, I will open up my mouth and dumb will go.

But you know what I rely on? I rely on the power of God's Word and his Holy Spirit working in your heart and my life. That he may say exactly what he needs to say to you. Do you believe that today? Because he can work the gospel, regardless.

Regardless of what my motivation is. I mean, let's be real. You may wake up next week and be 90% motivated to be here. And then the next week, you may. I don't know, you may back into somebody at the Walmart parking lot.

And so you drive in and your car is jiggling like this because you don't have the money to fix it. And you may be 30% motivated to be here, God can use whatever motivation you have. And if somebody stands up to preach and they're not preaching exactly the way that it's like form, fit and cookie cutter. Thank God he can still use the word of God to save men and women. And that's good news why?

Because I ask you again, how is Jesus at the center of your life? Not if he is, but how is he? Point number three. True joy is produced when Christ is truly the center of my life. He said, yes, I will rejoice.

Future tense. For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ. So let me ask you a question. Was Paul going to be delivered if they didn't pray for him?

I'm going to argue, number one, that God is sovereign and God had a plan to let him out of prison. I Think this was his first imprisonment and he was going to get out. You know why? Because God wasn't done with the work that Paul needed to do with the Philippians and other places. But here's the other thing.

We are interconnected. When we pray, we're saying to God, God, I'm checking out of my agenda. And I want your agenda to be the utmost to be exalted. So when I pray, I am more likely to be able to see God at work. When I don't pray, when I'm not focused on other people and I'm only focused on myself, I may miss what God's doing in among the body of Christ.

And so he connects these two things together, praying and trusting that the Spirit's going to do to deliver him. But what does that deliverance look like? He said, according to my earnest expectation, this yearning, this hope that he has, that I would not be put to shame in anything. Why would Paul have anything to be ashamed about? Well, they're trying to attack him and say, you're in prison, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

But you know who he was most worried about thinking of him was Jesus. He said that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. And he makes this profound statement, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. What life do any of us have if Christ is not the center of our life?

I'd love to hear the answer. What life can you have? What value of life can you have if Christ is only the center of your life for one hour on Sunday morning and he's not the center of your life? You know, for many, many years, there were arguments about, was the earth the center of the universe? Was the sun the center of the universe?

Is Jesus the center of your universe? Is he the center and the direction and the thing that motivates you? He says, but I'm hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart to be with Christ, which is very much better, because I'm tired of suffering. Paul probably had days where he's like, I'm tired of this, I want out of this. He said, yep, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

He's convinced of this, that the good work that God's doing in his life was for their benefit. And guys, listen, when you're going through hard times and you decide to give up because you're the divine victim and God's bringing all this suffering on you, the void that you leave in this room and you leave in other people's lives is noticeable because he's called us to be together. And whether it's in death or whether it's in life, Jesus has to be the centerpiece of my life for to ever experience and progress in that joy. He says down here in verse number 25. Again, he said, for the progress and the joy of the faith.

You see, Paul was realizing, I want me. I want to be delivered so that you can experience the joy in seeing what God has done in my life. He kept his promise to declare glory. To declare glory.

To shout from the mountaintop. I was in Texas in 2006 when they won the national championship. It's been that long? Almost 20 years ago. I was in Dallas, Texas.

I was at a house with a classmate who invited us over. And we were standing there. And when they won, you could hear it. Horns honking and people shouting. I mean, you could hear it physically in the city because they had won the national championship for you.

And me today, if all my existence means is that I'm going to just focus on what God's doing in my life alone, I'm missing out on the joy I can have watching what God's doing in the life of others, which means I need to do life with others. The word progress is only used three times in the Scriptures, used in 1st Timothy 4:15, where he says, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. So my question to you is this. Is Jesus being the sin of your life evident to those who are around you? What is the evidence in your life that that's what he's doing in your life?

Let me give you this last point. Believers are called to strive together for the gospel against any opposition. Dantes, when he partners with Faria to start digging, Faria's production increased 100%. Because now, rather than one person digging a bowl of dirt a day, there's two in your life and mine. Our production can increase exponentially when we see how this ties us together.

He says, only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. So whether I come to see you now or I remain absent, I will hear that you are standing firm, say, standing firm, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. What is he saying there? Well, Number one, he is saying, conduct yourself, walk worthy. He says it all through the New Testament.

To walk worthy of your calling, to walk worthy of the Lord. You've been saved. You are now royalty. You are Sons and daughters of God, you need to walk in that salvation, walk in that gospel, so that the world can see that you are different. And by being different means that you're being sanctified.

And our goal is that we would do it out of a pure heart and pure motives. But when suffering comes, that is the greatest point for me to be able to step back, renew my mind, and say, lord, I'm going to let this suffering be for good. If I'm going to suffer, as Peter said, let it be suffering for something that is good. But here it is standing firm in one spirit. In other words, unified.

Unified and striving together. Which means we're not just standing still, but that we're moving forward together. Why? Because we're called to strive together for the gospel against whatever opposition is there. Some of us like to suffer in silence.

But can I tell you, one of the greatest things you could do is invite one person in your life, one person in your life that you can call on whenever things get hard. They don't have to solve your problem. They just need to lock arms with you and keep you going. Why? Because we know what James wrote, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance.

Kenneth Weiss said, as the saints suffer for righteousness sake, they substitute for their absent Lord not only the task of preaching the message given to them, but also for suffering for his sake in his stead. In other words, people aren't looking for you to have Jesus plastered on your T shirt. What gives them hope and meaning is when they see you and me suffering. Well, in the world, that's bringing hostility to us because of our faith. It models the blood and the bruising that Jesus carried on the cross.

So how are you suffering? Are you suffering? Well, I'm going to be honest with you. None of us are perfect at it. But you know what?

I want to suffer. Well, I want God to teach me in my suffering. But in doing so, I want him to help me grow in love, to grow in faith and know, grow in joy. In that last verse, number 29, he said, for it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but to also suffer his sake. You know what the word granted means?

It's got the same root as joy and grace. In fact, it says, he has graciously given to you for Christ's sake, not only to believe, but to suffer. That is the oxymoron of our faith. That we could actually sit here and say, my suffering is a gracious gift from God. But can I ask Can I get real with you for a second?

How many of you have been through an experience, and when you came through it, you looked back and you saw the gracious hand of God all the way through the journey, and for some of you were going, I've never experienced that. Well, you know what? I'm going to have hope that as you renew your mind to start focusing on the gospel and the joy that's untapped in your salvation, you too can find the energy to suffer well. So I want you to stand with me as we get ready to close this out. We're going to open up this altar.

I don't know, you might be here today, and you're like, you know what? My faith is nowhere in the ballpark of what you just talked about. And I'm going to trust that the gospel that was just preached, that you can be saved by repenting of your sins and trusting in the Son of God who died on the cross to take your sin away, was raised again to give you new life. That today, somebody in this room joining us online, you might need that gift. You have never been saved.

But here's the thing. If you want to be able to endure this life, then you need to make sure that your salvation is sure. Maybe you haven't been baptized. Maybe you need to come forward and talk to us about joining this church so you don't have to feel like you got to suffer alone. Or maybe you just need to come and pray.

And as I've said many, many times, no one will come to this altar and be by themselves Today. As we get ready, I want you to think of these questions. Is Christ truly the center of my life? And if he is, how. How can we see suffering different in our life?

How could God use your current situation for his glory? And am I standing with others to see the gospel going forth? Father, as we come to this time of decision, reflection, I pray that you speak to us. There was a lot of verses this today, Lord. I pray that you would use it to speak boldly and loudly to us and that God, as we reflect, Lord, that you would be glorified, that you'd be magnified, and that we'd be transformed as a result.

As we sing, ladies and gentlemen, Fred's down here. Kevin's down here. Randy's down here. I'm down here. We would love to sit here and talk to you.

If you want to be saved, you need to be prayed for, whatever it is. This is your time to make a step, to make a decision of what God may be putting out in front of.