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Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? So there are some folks out in the vestibule. If we stand up and start singing, I bet we'll sing them in. So let's let's try to do that.
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We'll be standing on the premises singing standing on the promises, alright? Would you stand with me and we'll sing standing on the promises. Hymn number four ten.
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Speaker 2Standing on the promises of Christ my king through eternal ages, let his braces ring. Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing. Standing on the promises of God. Standing standing on the promises of God my savior standing I'm standing on the promises of God standing on the promises that cannot fail when the howling storms of doubt and fear are sail by the living word of God I shall prevail standing on the promises of God standing standing on the promises of God my savior standing standing standing on the promises of God standing on the promises I now can see perfect present cleansing in the blood for me standing in the liberty where Christ makes free standing on the promises of God standing on the promises of God my savior standing I'm standing on the promises of God standing on the promises of Christ the Lord bound to him eternally by love's strong core overcoming daily by the spirit sword standing on the promises of God standing standing on the promises of God my savior standing standing I'm standing on the promises of God standing on the promises I cannot fall listening every moment to the spirit's call resting in my savior as my all in all standing on the promises of God standing standing on the promises of God my savior I'm standing on the promises of God.
3:35
Speaker 1Another one, wonderful words of life. How about that one? Sing them over again to me. Hymn number four zero six. All three verses of this
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Speaker 2and beautiful words wonderful words words of life wonderful Christ the blessed one gives to all wonderful words of life sinner list to the loving call wonderful words wonderful words words life.
5:57
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I'll invite the frontline team to come. Actually, no, I won't. I'll do announcements. That's what we do next.
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Announcements. Monday nights at First B is happening tomorrow night because it's Monday, and it's night at First B. So it's down the hall, fellowship Hall. We're going to be getting together. Carl is preaching from Luke 12 tomorrow night, and it'll be about the love of God and the justice of God and the balance of those two things.
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He is perfect in all that he does, both love and justice. Thank you for checking the airflow there, Blake. The next announcement we have is the men's snowmobile retreat. It's happening in a little less than two weeks, so January 26 through the twenty eighth. Kyle Knutson is the guy that's in charge of that.
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If you want to know more, if you want to get in touch with him, you can touch with me, and I'll put you in contact. You don't have to ride that if you go. Alright? That is old school snowmobile right there. Community Bible study is happening on Mondays, but it's not happening tomorrow, so I'll skip over it.
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It's happening 09:30 to 11:30 the following week, so Monday week. This is a book study for adults, Lord Change My Attitude Before It's Too Late by James McDonald. It's actually a really, really good book about that, and we'll hit it in the text again today just in brief passing that says, do all things without grumbling or complaining. You remember that one? I've never had any place in scripture I had more people call me back and say, man, that sermon was convicted.
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So if this sounds like it would work for you, it's starting January 14. Tonight's the night. Sunday night, Lord change my attitude before it's too late. And I'm going to share with you, these are all kind of small group opportunities. Small groups, we don't push, push, push, push, push, force you into them.
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We didn't put numbers up under your seats that say which small group you are a part of. We're letting you self select but that's one. This is another for ladies, Wednesdays from ten to noon starting this Wednesday right here in the sanctuary. We're going to have forty days of prayer starting off. It's about a six week study on prayer.
8:05
That's a good one. There's a Bible study for men where Chris and Nick, Darren, are gathering and facilitating, mainly just reading through the book of Romans. They started, barely got started in Romans, starting in Romans one last Wednesday at seven p. M. It's in the church office.
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That went, really well. And Precept, Thursdays, you're studying Hebrews this time around. That's good. Sharpen your pencils. Hebrews is a great, great book.
8:32
So Precept study at 09:00 on Thursday mornings. That's another small group. And if you do not see a Bible study up here, you haven't heard of one or you're not in one already and you want to be, will you please let me know? Mike Demetrius is is seeking to get all of the groups figured out, where they're meeting, when they're meeting, and all that. But if you will let me know, hey, I'm not in one and I want to be, we will find one for you, or we will make one for you, okay?
8:59
We want everybody to be involved with a smaller group than just sitting and receiving. It's a lot. There's a lot in a small group setting. Speaking of, there is a small group. It's actually a fairly large group.
9:12
There are about 35 or 40 people who are interested in going to Guatemala that we know of, and Tanya is gonna tell you more.
9:20
Speaker 3Alright. Actually, I'm just gonna give you an overview of some things coming up because, of course, when you've got the front of an incredible short term mission team where we know God's gonna do amazing things on the goers and this for the goers and the senders and the receivers. It's so beautiful. It's indescribable. On the front end of that is fundraising.
9:40
So one of the first things that we're gonna be doing is I'm entitling it the most expensive spaghetti stuff supper you've ever attended. And so we're gonna have that. I think we have it set for the weekend before Valentine's Day, some like the ninth around there tentatively. So we would love that if everyone would jump in and participate with the most expensive spaghetti supper you've ever heard of. And then something that take will take some thought before then is we're going to do on this twenty second, twenty third, and twenty fourth.
10:14
So drop off, I think, is the twenty first. Is that right, Diane? You think this Thursday? And then we're doing a huge indoor yard sale because it's not yard sale season. We thought we'd get all those people who are just so itching to go and they can't wait until June.
10:29
So it's gonna be one of those where you bring wonderful things, different things, things you're ready to get rid of, start gathering now. Please, please, please don't bring those things now because Diane will spank me. So the drop off is, like, February 21, and then the team is gonna organize them that day. And then we're gonna do something cool for Friday night, and then all day Saturday, it's gonna be open to everybody in the public. But we do need stuff from y'all.
10:58
It'll be a great time to clean out. Don't take anything to browse and buy yet. Bring it on to us on the twenty first so I don't get
11:06
Speaker 1in trouble. And from what I heard this morning, they're also planning to do a babysitting night on Valentine's. So on Valentine's night, here at the church, they're gonna take care of people's kiddos. If you wanna go out for dinner or a date, night, you can leave the Also,
11:24
Speaker 3one more thing. I'm gonna do one of the art classes where you come, and we do an acrylic painting, and we all just sit around, and people who can't think they produce art leave there with something totally awesome and museum worthy. So we're gonna do that. And, we haven't set a date for that yet. So if any of y'all would love to do that and are thinking one, we were thinking of doing it two times.
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Holler at me at a date that would be ideal for you, and maybe we can start working around it that way because there's no reason we haven't set the date.
11:54
Speaker 1Thank you. Alright. You should do the announcements every week. February 11, we're having a congregational meeting and we're having a combined service that day, so it's still a ways off. February 11, we'll meet at 10:00 and then we'll have the congregational meeting afterwards.
12:10
It's always a toss-up whether we're going to have it in the connect hour or after this service, and so we decided to combine the services together and do the congregational meeting just after that. So I think that's it. If there's anything else that I'm forgetting, it should be in the bulletin. Y'all should be able to find out about it. It's written down.
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So if there's nobody that's going to stop me right here, would you stand up and greet one another and we will bring you back together with a song.
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Speaker 2Holy presence, love, cast out my fear.
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Speaker 1Come Holy Spirit. Hymn number three eighty two.
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Speaker 2Come as new sight to the blind come lord as strength to my weakness take me soul body and come Holy Spirit I need you come sweet spirit I pray come in your strength and your come sweet spirit I pray come in your strength and your power touch me and make me whole Holy Spirit I need you come sweet spirit I pray come in your strength and your power
19:42
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat, and I will invite the frontline team forward this time. Would you pray with me? God, I thank you for those who have come this morning in the first and and then now the second service, Lord, that have come together and gathered in your name to worship you. And, Lord, at this time, we come together to say, your message, Lord, is worthy of broadcast.
20:07
Your message, Lord, is worthy of transmitting it, and we wanna do that. We want to be a part of the advance of the gospel. So, God, as a church, I pray that you would give us the foresight and the wisdom to put the resources where they need to be in order to be most effective for your kingdom. And, God, for, for the giver of the gift that you would bless them in knowing that they have taken part, that they have put back, they've lived out what it is that they believe. So in Jesus' name, Lord, I'm asking you to bless the gift and the giver.
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And Lord, I would pray that you would multiply and make it fruitful for the sake of Christ, very seriously for the name of Jesus. Amen. We are in our study. Y'all know how we do this. A lot of you.
24:07
I'm looking around. There are a few new folks in here, but what we have been doing for a long time now is going forward in scripture in the order that it was written as best we can tell. So we're in Philippians. This is between '61 and sixty three AD. Paul's writing from Rome to the church at Philippi, and he has a history with him.
24:25
He has had a history with him for quite some time. He he was there about eleven years ago. He was there again about five years ago. He's probably been through a couple of times, maybe a couple of times we don't know about, but we are up to this part of Philippians where it's two nineteen through thirty and three ten, and the reason I mention it that way is because both of these look like they have to do with travel plans. In this section, you go, what?
24:52
Wait just a second. We were just in some of the richest part of scripture in this full humanity and filled deity of Jesus, and it's this straight up didactic teaching to look at Jesus Christ, your example, and now we're discussing who's going where and when. And to me, reading over this, I I looked at it and I thought, okay, I see what he's doing there, but I wanted to help you all hopefully see what he's doing here. It's not just a travelogue. So this I'm going to start off with this verse.
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When we were in the beginning of Philippians first chapter, he says, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. He's saying, if you are Christians and you are, he's writing to a group of people who have claimed Christ and believe in Jesus already. So if you're a Christian, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. We know that there's nothing that you can do to earn God's favor or earn salvation. There's nothing you can do to earn it.
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The good news is that Christ came. The gospel is that he paid the price. He paid the penalty for your sin, and through belief in him, you can be set free. And your conduct can be now worthy because you can be a conduit through which God's love and his grace and his mercy flows to other people. So he says, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or I'm absent you know, Paul is in jail in Rome.
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He's writing to the folks in Philippi. They're his dear friends. I may hear of your affairs that you all stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. The good news that Jesus is the Christ, that he has made a way for man to be at one with God. Atonement was possible.
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So worthy of the gospel is what I'm hanging on right there. Worthy of the gospel sounds like, okay. Well, he goes on through the next chapter. He talks about unity through humility, imitating Christ's example, and then when he gets to this part about the travelogue, he's really saying, hey, Timothy. I'm not sending him yet, but Epaphroditus and sending him, but he's also gonna tell us to emulate people who are worthy Christian leaders.
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Now this week, very this very week, on Wednesday, I think it was, I got an email from Christianity Today. Christianity Today, I have a subscription to it, and they list every year America's ratings of honesty and ethical standards of clergy. So this is a Gallup poll of what people think about the honesty and ethical standards of pastors. 67% in 1980s, '85, '88, somewhere in there. Right after 2001, because this is done in December every year, it's been done in December every year since 'seventy seven, same standards, same occupations, and they ask basically which occupations do you trust and how much do you trust them?
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And so the clergy, during 2001, right after the attacks on nineeleven, people turned to their pastors, and they had more faith that they would be doing the right thing. And you see, it's pretty much tapered off since then. If you were to look at these low points, it would be times where it was a prominent pastor that failed, and it undermined people's trust in all pastors. So that's Americans ratings of honesty and ethical standards of the clergy, and it goes along with this. This is the level of trust by profession.
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I'm looking around the room to see if I'm gonna hurt anybody's feelings here. So by profession, I know y'all can't see that. I've read it. It's too small for you to read up there, but this is zooming in on the top. Nurses, you are the most trustworthy.
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People trust nurses more than they do doctors, more than they do pharmacists, more than they do military officers, grade school teachers, everybody all the way down. Nurses are the most trusted. Military officers are next. Grade school teachers. It's interesting it's listed by Christian in the blue line and not Christian on the gray line because they did differentiate, and they differentiated between Republicans, Democrats, moderates, and all that sort of stuff too.
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It's very interesting study to dig through the data on. Grade school teachers, Christians don't trust them as much as non Christians. Medical doctors, pharmacists. Pharmacists usually are jockeying for second position. Nurses win every year.
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They've won every year except for 2001. 2001 firefighters won because it was in December right after nineeleven, and they saw that those people put their life on the line and did what they say that they're gonna do. It's a very helpful thing to look into this sort of stuff, I think. So pharmacists usually are up there in second position, but have you all heard of the opioid crisis? Yeah.
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People are blaming pharmacists for the opioid crisis. That's kind of ridiculous, isn't it? Because they get a prescription from a doctor and hand you what he prescribes, right? But pharmacists are suffering from the opioid situation. Nurses are not.
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Nurses are doing fine. Doctors are lower partially because of that too. If you look at what Christians think and what not Christians think, the greatest disparity, and it makes sense, is for clergy. But look at judges. Non Christians have a greater estimation of the trustworthiness of judges than Christians do.
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Why do you think that is? Because of recent court cases. The judges are only saying what the law is or supposed to be. Christians have less and less faith in the justice system. I think we need to read Romans 13 where it says those are the authorities that are set over us, right?
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Clergy. 48% of Christians list them as high or very high on trustworthiness, clergymen like pastors. And only 25% of non Christians think that pastors are trustworthy. So I have been telling y'all for some time that I am a professional Christian, basically. I'm a professional minister, and y'all are ministering professionals.
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Nurses, you have got a platform that I don't have. You're right there when people are sick and ailing, and if you live out your call to help them, they trust you. They trust what you say. All of you, really. But look at the difference right here.
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25% to 48 is double the number of Christians, half the number of non Christians, if you want to look at that. 75% of unbelievers are not Christians. 75% will not listen to me or think I'm trustworthy just because I am what I am. I was a carpenter before I was this, but they trust me more as a carpenter than they do as a pastor. Do you get that?
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I wanted to start here because we're talking about emulating worthy Christian leaders, and the Christian leaders could be of any description, even the bottom of the list, lobbyists, congressmen, car salesman. Really, those are the bottom three. Sorry. I was looking around to see if I was gonna hurt anybody's feelings. The truth is Christian leaders are those who act like Christ.
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Okay? And it's not paid or not paid, It's those who act like Christ. So here we go. I'm gonna read the first 18 verses. Bear with me.
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If you see a white slide up here that has black print, it's because we've already covered it before in a different sermon. If you want to go back, you can hear those. They're on Facebook, and they're on the FirstBee Facebook page, and they're on the web. If they're not, they will be. So if you see this, I'm not going to re preach.
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I'm just going to read it. We're going to ramp up to it. Okay? Therefore, if there's any consolation in Christ, and there is. If there's any comfort in love, and there is.
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If there's any fellowship of the spirit, if there's any affection and mercy, and we agree, there is. Fulfill my joy, Paul says, by being like minded. Having the same love and being of one accord of one mind, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others as better than himself. Pay attention to that because he's gonna say it again today. We're gonna hear it again today.
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Esteeming others as better than yourself. That's very Jesus like of him to say that. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in very being in the form of God or in very nature, God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.
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Being found in appearance as a man completely human and completely divine, he humbled himself, and he became obedient, obedient to the point of death, even the cruel and disgusting and demeaning death of a cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and has given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, those on the earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father. What a beautiful hymn and statement on Christ. And therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, Philippians, not as in my presence only, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I said, working out your own salvation, it is a human responsibility to work it out after God has worked it in, and he says, for it is God who works in you, the sovereign hand of God is at work.
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His spirit is at work sanctifying us to the level that we will yield our will to his. For it's God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing or grumbling and complaining that you may become blameless, working towards a blamelessness and a harmlessness, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you, Christians, shine as light in the world, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run-in vain or labored in vain. Yes. And even if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, Paul says to them, and I say to you, even if it is something that is gonna kill me, basically is what Paul said.
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I'm glad and I rejoice with you all, and for the same reason, I'm asking that you would rejoice with me. But I trust in the Lord to send Timothy to you shortly. He just goes right into travel plans. That I also may be encouraged when I know your state. What I have heard of you is not jiving with what I know of you, so I heard some things, and it sounds like y'all are not getting along.
36:02
We've already run into that two or three times. We'll run into it in the next chapter for sure, and he wants to send Timothy to him, to them in Philippi so that he may be encouraged when I know your state. He's talking about Timothy. For I have no one like minded who will sincerely care for your state. So he's saying, among my friends and my running buddies that I've been hanging out with, right now, the only true one that I have is Timothy.
36:31
And I'm gonna send him to you shortly, but I'm not gonna send him right now. Right here where I am in prison, Timothy is the guy that will bring me what I need and go take messages for me because he has the liberty of movement, and I don't. So he is my guy. I have no one else who will sincerely care for your state that I can send out. For all seek after their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.
36:58
You know, if you're looking into Rome into Paul's imprisonment in Rome, one of the other books in the New Testament says, and he the guy came looking for him and had trouble finding him. You would think this is the great apostle, and he's now in Rome. He's written that great treaties, Romans, to the Romans. You would think he'd be almost famous, and people would be hanging around. But, honestly, when you're in prison for a while, people stop coming.
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They stop caring. And so he's saying, Timothy hasn't. He's here with me. And I wanna send him to you, but I'm not gonna do it right now. All else seek their own.
37:31
There are those who are moderately interested in Christianity or moderately interested in Christ, but they're not living it out by being a part of what's going on with me right here, right now. Now those few verses right there, and I'm stealing from D. A. Carson the titles of his commentary, I just liked them. What they lack in brevity, they make up for, and they get it right to the point.
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He says, these three verses say, emulate those who are interested in the well-being of others, not just in their own interest. That's good. That's what Timothy was for Paul. He was looking out for Christ, Jesus in the gospel. He's looking out.
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He's one of the co authors of this letter, by the way, Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ is the opening line. He's looking out for Jesus, and he's looking out for others. Emulate those who are interested in the well-being of others, not just in their own well-being. So Timothy is one of those. He's commended further here, but you know his proven character.
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So it's not just somebody that they don't know. This is someone who was there with him, and they've seen him progress, and and he's still with Paul after all these years. He even I hate to get into it, but he even went as an adult to be circumcised because he thought that it would give them a platform to preach the gospel even more. Timothy is completely sold out for Jesus, but you know his proven character that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel. Most sons in those days in the first century would go into whatever the trade was of their father, like Jesus was a builder because Joseph was a builder.
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And I would say, Jesus was a proclaimer of good news because his father is a proclaimer of good news, God almighty. Therefore, I hope to send him, that's Timothy, at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. Now he's there. He's awaiting trial. He does not know whether he'll be called up for trial or whether he'll be released.
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He doesn't know whether he'll be killed or told to wait longer. He doesn't know if he'll die in prison from some disease. He has no idea what's going happen. So he says, I'd like to send him. I really want to because he'd be really good for you, but I want to keep him here with me.
39:41
I hope to send him at once as soon as I see how it goes with me, but I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly, meaning, hey, I'm hopeful that the outcome of this thing means I'm gonna get to see you again. He's already done that two or three times through the course of this book. From there, he goes on to the next guy. Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. He's sending Epaphroditus with the actual letter.
40:04
That's the guy who's carrying the letter of Philippians from Rome to Philippi. Epaphroditus, my brother, my fellow worker, and my fellow soldier, that's actually a lot of honorifics for this guy, Epaphroditus. He is my brother, fellow worker, and my fellow soldier, but he's your messenger, and he's the one who ministered to my needs. So Paul being in Rome, the Philippians hear about where Paul is and what's going on, and that he is in need because when you're in a Roman jail, basically, you have to have your friends and family take care of you. And so they hear about it, and they said, who's going to go take this to Paul, our buddy?
40:46
Epaphroditus. I'll do it. Paul lists him as my brother, my fellow worker, my fellow soldier, but your messenger, he is the apostolos, the one you sent out to me to minister to my need. Since he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick, how many of y'all pray for mission trips? When we send out mission trips, how many of you pray for the people that are on those mission I know you do.
41:11
I really appreciate it. When you hear back on the first day of the mission trip, oh, they made it. The airport burned down in Kenya, but they made it. Did y'all remember that? That happened on Wednesday when the ladies were going on Saturday or landing on Saturday.
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Right? So the airport burns down the week before. Oh my goodness. What in the world is going on? Since he was longing for you all, Epaphroditus was a short term missionary.
41:37
Now we don't know exactly what he did, although it looks like from further on in the letter and from what it looks like, he was probably one of the leaders of the church at Philippi. Maybe. It's hard to say for sure, but he definitely believed in Jesus. He definitely believed in putting others first, and he definitely wanted to minister to the need of Paul. Since he was longing for you all, he was not just homesick, but he was longing because he was distressed that you had heard the news that he was sick.
42:02
How many of y'all have ever had this call where somebody says, oh, no. Everything's got and then there's nothing. You don't know what's going on. You've heard a phone call. It's obviously distressing, and then there's no signal.
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Well, they're just coming over the pass, you know? You don't know, but you don't know until you talk to them again. So the last word that they heard about Epaphroditus was he was sick, and it was making him sick that they still thought he was sick when he was actually better. For indeed, he was sick almost done to death. It almost killed him, but God had mercy on him, and he got better.
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Not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Paul's saying, I'm already in jail. Right? I'm already sitting here in jail. I can't go, and you know he's a roller.
42:47
He he goes. Paul goes, but he's stuck right there in Rome. God had mercy on Epaphroditus by healing him, but he also had mercy on Paul because what would be worse than to be there, be in prison, be stuck, find out Philippi is sending the guy with help, and then he's killed along the way or dies along the way of sickness. Pretty bad, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I sent him all the more eagerly that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful.
43:21
I feel bad that he's here, and I'm loving it. I'm loving every minute of it. He's doing a great job here. The whole palace guard has heard the name of Jesus, partially because of Timothy, partially because of Epaphroditus, partially because I'm stuck here. I sent him more eagerly that you may again see him and rejoice.
43:41
So receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness. Now he's built him up, hasn't he? He built Timothy up, but Timothy's not going. He built Epaphroditus up, but he is going, and he's saying, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men, both of them, in esteem. Now for me, being here and doing this, when I'm saying emulate worthy Christian leaders, and I'm supposed to stand up here and say, y'all imitate worthy Christian leaders.
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I can say it like, and I'm one of them. Or I can say it like Paul did and say, there are people around here who are suffering for Jesus, really. They're willing to get down into the dirt and work with people. They're willing to help others. They put it in the right order.
44:29
I I mentioned the first service. I went to a camp when I was 10 years old in Hamilton, Georgia. It was Camp Joy was the name of it, But it was J, period, O, period, Y, period. It was Camp Jesus, others, and you, in that order. So Timothy and Epaphroditus, from what Paul has told us, value the gospel of Jesus first, and then others come in line before themselves, willing to take on even death.
44:57
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem because for the work of Christ, he came close to death, not regarding his own life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me. And the only thing that was really lacking there, because they loved him and he knew it, it was just geography getting from Philippi to Rome with the probably monetary gift. Emulate those who have proved themselves in hardship, not the untested upstart and the self promoting peacock. Do you know people who are who have proved themselves in hardship? I think you do.
45:34
I know some who have been through a lot. I mentioned Doctor. Cash, and I didn't mention him in this service three weeks ago. I'm going mention him again. I have mentioned him to you before.
45:42
He's one of my professors in seminary. He was in Bangladesh for many years, and when he was there initially, he went in at the same time as another guy, and the other guy had his camera stolen. And when his camera was stolen, he got so mad at the the bungalow people, you know, the bungaladeshis. He got so angry that he basically cursed them and left the country and said, I can't deal with these people. They stole my camera, and he left.
46:10
So my Doctor. Cashin, my professor, stayed around, and he continued to minister. He continued, tried to dress in local garb, tried to learn and learned the language really well actually, and as he was there, he was beaten nearly to death. He's blind in one eye, and he had several broken bones, and he was dragged through the streets, and he stayed. Because he was willing to see those people come through it, he stayed there, and he healed eventually.
46:41
And because he didn't go home, because he didn't get out of because he valued the gospel of Jesus Christ more than he valued his own life and livelihood, people listened to him, and there was a dramatic move of the Holy Spirit because he lived out what he believed. So test, emulate those, sorry, who have been proved in hardship and tests and trials, not the untested upstart or the self promoting peacock. Now I know that you know self promoting peacocks. I can think there are probably a list in your head of preachers or pastors, especially TV guys, that fit that description. D.
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A. Carson is a scholar and a great professor too. I think that that's a good way to look at it. Hold these men, such men, in esteem, Timothy and Epaphroditus. And he says, and those like him.
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So such men, meaning there are other churches, right, and there are other Christians. It's not just them. There are plenty of people who take Christ as their model, and they've surrendered their lives to his service, and they are following after him and the spirit is sanctifying, and those are people that you should emulate. I think I get a little bit uncomfortable when I say to emulate anybody other than Jesus because Jesus is our ultimate example, but Jesus bodily is not here right now. We are the continuing body of Christ, the church.
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So we are in the position from knowing Christ that we are to be acting like him, and so there are some people that are ahead of us, and there are some people that are looking up to us, and this section of scripture is saying emulate those good examples. I thought of, should I mention anybody? Should I mention anybody in the church? No. I'm not trying to glorify anybody.
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Some examples from history perhaps. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you haven't read about him, read about him. It's great. Martin Luther King Jr.
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It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day tomorrow, and that's a really, really good one. I have people that I look up to around here, and as I look up to them and progress in a yieldedness, I pray that there are people that will look up to me. So we did this last week. I'm gonna go through it, not re preach the whole thing, white slide, black words.
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Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious. It's not hard for me, but for you, it is a safeguard. You need to hear this. Beware of the dog.
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Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the mutilation, the Judaizers, people who would put works as a requirement for pleasing God, that your works would be part of your salvation. We are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. None. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks that he may have confidence in the flesh, I even more so, and this is where he starts his testimony, circumcised on the eighth day, I had godly parents.
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A Hebrew of Hebrews, I was of the right tribe. Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, all the goody good goody two shoes stuff that you could do, I did it. Blameless.
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But what things were gained to me or what things I used to consider assets, now I count them as lost for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things as lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord. When it comes to just knowing Jesus, all that other stuff falls away. Is there some value in it? Yes.
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There is some value in the training that Paul received. There's some value in the church training that we received before we know Christ. Yes. But he's saying, I count it as loss when it's compared against the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my lord, from whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as scubular rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness is from God by faith.
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I wanna preach it again. If I don't keep if I stop here, I won't. Those verses, emulate those whose constant confidence and boast is in Christ Jesus and in nothing else. So you may have a superior intellect, and Paul did. You may have superior training, and Paul did.
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You may have extensive travels, and Paul did. But his main thing and the only thing he ever boast in, he said, I'll boast only in the cross of Christ because that is where salvation happened for me. His confidence is in Jesus Christ and in Christ alone. How many times have we sung? In Christ alone, my hope is found.
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He is my so are my shield. Emulate those whose constant confidence and boast is in Christ Jesus and in nothing else. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. And last week when I said this, I saw several of your faces. You've read this before, and you hit it, and you everything that I was saying, I explained except for this, that if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
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Do you feel like that's Paul expressing doubt that he might be saved? You can read it that way. It's not, but that's the way that some people read it. He's saying, I don't know exactly how it's gonna go for me, whether I'm gonna die at the hand of the Romans, whether I'm gonna die of illness, whether I'm gonna die of natural causes many years from now, whether I'm gonna be caught up to meet those in the air. He's saying, I trust in Jesus that I am saved, but I don't know exactly the means that's gonna take place, if by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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He knew that he was saved. He immediately steps into this. Not that I have already attained it, people. I'm not bragging, and I'm not saying that I'm already perfect. I'm not saying this as perfect, but I do press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
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Christian, this is a serious question to consider. Are you trying to grab hold of that for which Christ Jesus grabbed hold of you? Are you considering what it is that he saved you for or saved you towards, saved you to? So is it just about you getting a home in heaven? For sure, they're in those mansion sublime.
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Is it just about that, or does Christ have a purpose for everyone that he saves? I believe that he does, and this chapter is pointing us in that direction that we should emulate those who have gone on before us, living after their example as they follow Christ. Are you trying to grab hold of that for which Christ Jesus grabbed you? Brothers and sisters, I do not count myself to have apprehended, to completely have absolutely everything figured out. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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That line of sanctification on my timeline, the upward call, the trajectory should be going up. And then at the moment of the great mighty day of the Lord or our death one, to be glorified, to be going upward call. That is a reference to heaven, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You all tired? Am I wearing you out?
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It's a lot of verses. Okay? We've gone through a lot. I know. I tried because I feel like the flow of Philippians is so important in getting this and understanding what it's about.
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He's talking about emulating worthy Christian leaders, and he kind of came in the back door talking about himself, but he did it in a way that was not prideful at all, and he keeps on right here. Therefore, let us, all of us, as many or as mature, have this in mind. And if in anything else you think otherwise, if you disagree with me in any point, then God's gonna make it clear to you. If you earnestly seek him, he will be found. If you open your mind for God to change you and move you, he will change and move you.
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Do you get that? Do you believe that? If you yield your will to his, he will reveal his will to you. He will. So let us, as many of us as are mature, have this in mind.
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If anything you think otherwise, God will reveal it to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained. So you believe in God, and when you believe in God, it changes absolutely everything to know Christ Jesus. You begin to see your past in a different light, and you begin to see your future in a different light. And at that moment of belief, there is something that God shows you that you can live with.
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To the degree that you have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. If there is one Holy Spirit, and there is one Holy Spirit. If there is one Holy Spirit and God doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth, if we're all listening, we should be in agreement. Is that right? To the level that we're listening, to the level that we've already attained.
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So he's saying to the level that we've already attained, let us walk by the same rule and let us be of the same mind. Christ should be our example. His humility should bring us unity. Emulate those who are continuing to grow. Paul says, I'm leaving the things that are behind and going forward, and he's still growing.
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When he's writing this letter, he's still growing. Timothy was still growing. Epaphroditus was still growing through his experience. Emulate those who are continuing to grow spiritually, not those who are stagnating. For the ones that you see, they're brothers and sisters in Christ that you've been in the past looking up to and you see that they're stagnating, please encourage them.
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Encourage them. It gets to be a long life, right? If you just keep going, eventually, it gets to be a long life. Don't taper off. Keep on pressing on to the goal, and if you can help someone that is stagnating, please do.
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This is the last verse I'm going go over today. Three seventeen kind of closes out everything that's been set up to this point, but it also sets up eighteen, nineteen, twenty, and twenty one, but 18 through 21 kind of has this effect. It goes, wah wah. And I didn't want to end the sermon there. I want to end it right here, not right there.
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Okay? Next week, we'll start with the low note and go up from there. Brethren, brothers and sisters, if it's not limited by context, brothers and sisters, join in following my example. He does eventually say, follow my example. And note those of of us who so walk or who walk in this manner as you have us for a pattern.
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Now you definitely have Jesus for a pattern, and you can read all about him in the Bible. But as far as skin on people right here, right now, you need to have some people you look up to. How do kids learn to pray? From seeing their parents and their teachers and their peers pray. If you're not teaching them, they're not giving it, right?
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Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. So I read one other thing this week, and it kind of surprised me. It's about a guy who in college started a Bible study. It started to grow really quickly, and it kind of scared him because he didn't really know all that much, and he felt inadequate. And I know I've talked to several of y'all who started Bible studies, and y'all felt exactly the same way.
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And if it really takes off, it's it's kind of scary, you know, that it's taken off. So he found out that there was a guy on campus named Dave, and Dave was supposed to know all about it. And so there were two guys that came to the Bible study, and they wanted to know more after the Bible study was over. And so one of them was moderately interested. He was in college, and he had already studied Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam and stuff like that.
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And the other one was not a believer at all, just showed up at the Bible study, wanted to know more, and then fellow writing the story said so I took him to Dave, and Dave said to the first guy, why'd you come? He goes, well, I'm kind of interested in just you know, I'm in university. I wanted to study everything. I kind of got a passing interest in what it's all about. He goes, yeah, that's not what I do.
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And I thought, oh my goodness. Really? This is a guy who's asking about Jesus? No. He's asking about Christianity.
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He says it's really not what I do. He said, but I can give you these books. I can direct you to these places, and you'll learn about Christianity that way. And the next guy, met him separately, he said, what is it you want to do? And he goes, I want know that this stuff's for real.
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Well, he said, hang with me. And he said, I could try I could have tried, and the fellow who started the Bible study, Donald was his name. Donald goes, I could have just died right there because I thought, what's he gonna do? He's not telling to read Romans, he's not telling to read John, he's not telling him to read anything. And this Donald was a scholar, you know, turned out to be one.
1:00:14
He said, just hang with me. What do you mean? He said, just watch me. And it wasn't in pride, but he said, just hang out with me and see if I live what it is that I believe. And if I live what it is that I believe and that gives merit, then I want for you to but I'm going to let you hang with me for a while.
1:00:35
So that is the best example that we have when we live out our faith. We saw it on the graph with firefighters getting that spike right after they showed that they believe, and they live by what they believe. When we live by what we believe, it changes people. It changes the world. Since Martin Luther King Day is tomorrow, I have copies right here.
1:00:58
The copier kind of went crazy. I have a lot of copies right here of an abridged version of Letter from Birmingham Jail. It was written in April 1963. I mean, he was killed living out what he believed five years later. And I'm from Georgia, and I grew up in 1971, three years after Martin Luther King Jr.
1:01:18
Was killed. And what I believed when I was little and what I heard about him when I was little and what I believe about him now have changed completely, and it's primarily by seeing his example and reading what he wrote. And so I have a bunch of copies available if you'd like to kind of refresh your memory or hear about it. Since I'm talking about worthy Christian leaders, this is written to dear fellow clergymen. He was writing it to other pastors in the South mainly, and he was saying, if you believe the gospel, then we're brothers, and you gotta live that out.
1:01:54
And he lived it out. He went to jail a lot of different times for nonviolent activism, and then he was eventually killed for it, but he did bring about change. And I think that if we live out what it is that we believe and what we believe is right, and it is, if you're a Christian, if you believe the gospel, if you live out that gospel, you will make a difference. It'll make a difference in you. It'll make a difference in others.
1:02:21
So brothers and sisters, join in following my example, Paul says. Note those who walk as you have us for a pattern. The cool thing to think about is as you're looking up to those who have gone before you, there are others. If you're sincere, there are others that are looking up to you too. You can be a part of that line.
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I feel like I've forgotten something, but I'm past the hour. Anybody got anything else they want to say? Alright. I'm I'm I'm finished. Would you all stand up?
1:02:50
And I think that's it. I I also got home last week. Come on. Come on up with me. I came, last week I got home.
1:02:56
The next day I came into work, and a lady came in here and she said, I got home. I'm from Mississippi. I got home yesterday. You had had all those references to the South, and I can hear in your voice from you're from Georgia. And when we got to the end of that sermon, you didn't do an invitation.
1:03:11
There's no altar call. And I said, well, I do it sometimes, but I don't do it every time, and and nobody comes forward. They just don't ever come forward. So I want you to know the altar is always open, always, always, always. And it's not just for come down, pray with the preacher, receive salvation, or come and join the church.
1:03:28
If you want to come forward because something's heavy on your heart and you want to pray for it, come right here. It's not that it's magical or any really any different, but sometimes you just need a fence post, something you can say look back on and say, I went forward and I committed on that Sunday right there. So alright. Cleanse me. And number 657.
1:03:52
Speaker 2Search me, oh God, and know my heart today try me your savior know my thoughts I pray see if there be some wicked way cleanse me from every sin
1:04:33
Speaker 1free Alright. Would you pray with me? God, would you, lord, give us those in our lives that we can emulate that have been tested by hard times, those who care more about others, Lord, those who persevere and those who are growing in their faith, may we see examples around us that we can follow after as we look to you, Christ. And lord, may you help us to be examples for others to follow. Would you remove that selfishness and pride from us?
1:05:08
Lord, I pray that we would bend our will to yours and we'd yield to you. God, I know of several special prayer requests. Some of them were just discovered this morning about family illness. We had a man in the first service whose daughter has tests tomorrow and it's scary. As we go forward, lord, we want to put all of our confidence in you.
1:05:33
We trust nurses, doctors, apparently. But God, we ultimately put our confidence and trust in you. Would you, lord, have your way in those lives? Would you heal those bodies and receive the glory for it? Or lord, through the trial, would you do whatever it is that you would do in the lives of that family and around it?
1:05:56
Gotta pray for their healing, comfort, and peace. And in Jesus' name, Lord, amen. Now would you go in peace? May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and give you that peace. Amen.
