Scripture referenced 12 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Philippians 3:1-14 the primary passage preached through, covering encouragement, warning, Paul's resume, counting gains as loss, and pressing toward the prize
1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;
4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
7 However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.
8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;
11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
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Keep this verse
Romans 2:29
cited to explain that circumcision is a matter of the heart, not a fleshly thing
29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
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Acts 9
Jesus meets Paul on the road to Damascus, blinding light and thundering voice, Paul's radical conversion
1 But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.
4 He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
6 But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one.
8 Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
9 He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying,
12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.
14 Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
17 Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.
19 He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
20 Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God.
21 All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!”
22 But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.
23 When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,
24 but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,
25 but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.
26 When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
28 He was with them entering into Jerusalem,
29 preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him.
30 When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
32 As Peter went throughout all those parts, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.
33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.
34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” Immediately he arose.
35 All who lived at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did.
37 In those days, she became sick, and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
38 As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.
39 Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.
40 Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41 He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
43 He stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.
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Philippians 2
poem about who Jesus is, his humility, servant form, obedience to death, and exaltation above every name
1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
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Jeremiah 9:23
do not boast in wisdom, might, or riches, but boast in knowing the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness
23 Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
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Galatians 6
Paul says far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to him
1 Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.
5 For each man will bear his own burden.
6 But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.
7 Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.
11 See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand.
12 As many as desire to make a good impression in the flesh compel you to be circumcised; just so they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
13 For even they who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh.
14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
16 As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.
17 From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
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Hebrews 11:26
Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, looking to the reward
26 accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
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Matthew 13
man finds treasure in a field, sells everything he has to buy the field
1 On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.
2 Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.
3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.
4 As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.
5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.
6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.
7 Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.
8 Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.
9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.
14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:
15 for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.
17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.
18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.
19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.
20 What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;
21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22 What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.
26 But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.
27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’
28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;
32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”
33 He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,
35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
36 Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
38 the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.
39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40 As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,
42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
44 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46 who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,
48 which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw…
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1 Corinthians 15:10
Paul says he worked harder than any of them
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
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Colossians 1:28-29
Paul toils and struggles with all of God's energy that powerfully works within him to present everyone mature in Christ
28 whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
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Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, noted as often taken out of context
13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
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John 9
Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath, the healed man tells the Pharisees one thing I know, I was born blind and now I see
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”
9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”
10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.
14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.
17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,
19 and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”
22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was the first sermon from the new associate pastor at First Baptist Jackson, preaching through Philippians 3:1-14. He came to it fresh off a big life transition, moving from construction work in Alabama to pastoral ministry in Wyoming, and that personal weight of not trusting in his own experience gave the passage a natural entry point. The message centered on what it actually means to stop placing confidence in the flesh and to count every earthly gain as loss compared to knowing Christ.
What was said
Paul opens the passage with a warning to watch out for the Judaizers, teachers who were adding requirements like circumcision on top of faith in Christ. The pastor explained that calling them "dogs" would have landed as a genuine insult in the cultural world Paul was writing from, where dogs were not the beloved pets they are in places like Wyoming. The point was serious: these people were attaching fleshly conditions to belonging to God's people, and Paul was pushing back hard.
Paul then builds his own credentials, not to boast in them but to show that he had more to give up than anyone in the room. He was circumcised on the eighth day, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, zealous to the point of persecuting the church, and blameless under the law by his own account. The reason Paul lists all of it is to make the contrast that follows as stark as possible.
The twist comes in verses seven and eight, where Paul calls all of those gains rubbish, a word the pastor noted is a polite translation of something closer to excrement. He walked through how Paul arrives at that reversal by going back to Acts 9, where Jesus meets Paul on the road to Damascus with blinding light and stops him cold. That encounter flipped everything. The things Paul had stacked up on one side of the ledger moved to the other, and Christ moved from being a threat to being the only gain worth having.
From there the sermon moved through three things Paul says he is now gaining: to gain Christ and be found in him, to receive a righteousness that comes through faith rather than law-keeping, and to know Christ in both the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. The pastor used a quote he attributed to Jim Elliot, which Elliot had drawn from Philip Henry, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose," to sharpen that contrast. You cannot hold onto any of Paul's fleshly resume forever, but you cannot lose Christ once you have him.
The closing section on pressing toward the prize answered an obvious question: if righteousness is a gift and not something earned, why does Paul talk about straining and toiling? The pastor was clear that the pressing on is not to achieve salvation but flows out of it. Christ has made Paul his own, and that is the engine. The straining is the response of someone whose eyes have been opened, not the effort of someone trying to earn what they do not have.
He tied the blind man in John 9 to that final point. The man healed by Jesus could not explain everything the Pharisees demanded he explain, but he knew one thing: he had been blind and now he could see. The call at the end of the passage is for people who have received that same spiritual sight to forget what lies behind and press forward, not in their own energy but in the energy God powerfully works within them.
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Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Blake described coming from construction in Alabama to serving as associate pastor in Wyoming, and said he was wrestling with not placing confidence in his own experience or how many sermons he had preached. Where in your own life do you find it hardest to stop relying on what you have done or who you are rather than on Christ?
- Paul lists out his credentials as a Pharisee and then calls all of it rubbish compared to knowing Christ. What are the gains or achievements in your own life that you find most tempting to build your identity on?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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