A Life Worthy of the Gospel (Philippians 1:27-30)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here we are in the book of Philippians so if you'll grab a Bible and go to the book of Philippians if you don't have a Bible there should be one tucked under the seat in front of you will be on page 570 in one of these blue Bibles um if this is your first time with us we're glad that you're here this morning we mostly just work our way through books of the Bible and that's what we're doing we're in Philippians this is a letter written by the Apostle Paul.
While he is in prison in Rome he was under house arrest so he most likely would have been chained to a guard in a home in Rome he's writing this letter to a Church in Philippi which is about 800 miles away um that has uh sent a gift basically like a care package for him where he is in Rome that they gave him this gift because when you were in under house arrest you were still responsible for your own care your own provision.
And so they found out that he was in Rome under house arrest they they send this gift to him and he's writing this letter back in thankfulness to them and he just got got done and what we were looking at last week in saying that he doesn't know whether he's going to live or die he doesn't know if they're going to set him free he doesn't know if they're going to execute him this where you get the verse that is to live is Christ to die is gain he's not just pontificating about a theological truth he's talking about a theological reality.
For himself while he is sitting in Chains facing a very real potential death he's saying if if they set me free I'll keep serving the lord it'll be for Christ fruitful Ministry is the way he puts it there'll be fruitful labor and if they execute me I'll go be with Christ to live as Christ to die as gain I I'll get what's better I'll get to go be with Christ and he's now turning from that to some instruction to the Philippians.
So we're in verse 27 he says this only let your manner of Life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ so now he's turning to giving them instructions he starts off with the word only we should perk our ears up he's boiling it down he's giving them something essential kind of a if if you forget everything else remember this now we know because of how talking with people goes this isn't the actual only thing he's going to say otherwise he wouldn't have written the rest of the letter.
But he is saying hey this is primary pay attention only and like okay what what's the main thing we have to do let your manner of Life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ oh is that all that's a massive instruction your manner of life so the way you live let your whole life be fitting matching to the Gospel of Christ do you know what the Gospel El of Christ is it's the message the reality the news that the God of the universe.
While we were in our sin and Rebellion against him took on flesh was born as a human that he lived a perfect sinless life so that he might pay the penalty for our sins he dies on a cross he's buried he rises again to show his victory over death and sin and hell that his his sacrifice was accepted he doesn't stay in the Tomb he's not just like a a a good man that we look to for for um uh some sort of motivation no he actually literally paid the price of our sin as a sacrifice and rose again.
So that we know that God's blessing is on him and that he accepts the sacrifice that he is the king of kings the Lord of lords that everything he said about himself is real that he rises and that all who Trust in him are forgiven your your debt is paid it's gone one of my favorite representations of this is in the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou Delmer goes down in the water he gets baptized he comes back out he says all my sins are forgiven I'm clean I'm washed they're washed away he says even that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in yazu and his friends go you said you were innocent of those charges.
And he goes well I lied and that's forgiven too and that's the reality that in Christ we're forgiven it's gone that he's paid the debt of our sin that was mounted against us that stood to accuse us that stood to drag us to Hell he's paid for it that there's hope and redemption and forgiveness and so Paul says let your life match that now for the Christians in the room we should want that we should want our life to match that we should immediately say yes I actually do want to live in such a way that it it's fitting that it matches that that it's worthy of that.
But that's a heavy request it's weighty someone came to you and said hey I I got a guest coming over to my house and I need you to help help me prepare a meal help me get the house ready they're going to be over on Saturday and you're like okay I can help cook they're like you're pretty good cook yeah I'm okay all right cool I need you to help cook uh it is the newly um crowned King of England Charles III he's coming to my house.
So I need you to make a meal fit for a king and you're like I was going to do cheese grits so I guess we could put shrimp in there I don't I don't know that's like my one dish I got like I didn't I for a king and this it's like yeah and remember he's British so nothing spicier than Salt but it needs to be delicious it's like okay here we go and that's some of what feels like here when he says I want your manner of life to be worthy.
And then all of a sudden he says of the Gospel and it's it elevates it to this oh okay what does that look like well he's going to tell us he doesn't leave us here to to just figure this out on our own he doesn't leave the Philippian Church to just figure it out on own he's going to say this is what it would look like this is a a life matching the Gospel before we read that part let's pray because as Christians we want this and we need the help of the spirit to achieve it.
Lord we ask that we would by your grace live a life that corresponds to the Gospel that we would live in such a way that we proclaim the truth of the rescue and the hope and the kingship of Jesus May our Church look this way and may our individual lives look this way and may by your grace and by the work of your spirit this be carried out in a real practical level in Jesus name amen all right only let your manner of Life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
So that so now he's going to say if it if that's happening if it's worthy of the Gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or am absent whether I'm released from prison and get to make it to you or I'm kept in prison or I'm executed or I just can't make it to you I may hear of you that you are so now he's about to say if your life if you're living in a manner worthy of the Gospel this is what I'll hear about you this is the report I'll get that I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by.
Side for the faith of the Gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents I'm going to read that again that I may hear of you that you are standing firm fir in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents a life fitting to the message of the Gospel a life fitting to what Christ has done for us is one that is Unified in the spirit with the Church.
For the Gospel fearlessly unified in the spirit with the Church for the Gospel fearlessly that's what he lays out for them so let's talk about that the first part unified in the spirit he says that I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind this is the unified in the spirit with the Church so that you're in one spirit with one mind you're on the same page and specific to this context he has said right before it that there are those who are uh out.
For selfish ambition they're out for their own name they're out for their own good and then below it he's going to talk about what we read together which is the humility of Christ and how we should have the same mind among ourselves that though he was in the form of God he humbled himself and took on the form of a man that we should be humble and and relate to one another so there's this idea of that we would relate to one another in humility.
Now there is some question as to whether or not when he says in one Spirit he means the Holy Spirit specifically and that should be a capital S which is what the NIV does with it it's the same word same word he uses in similar phrasing that he uses in chapter 2: 1 where it says any participation in the spirit and that's capital S we to understand that as the Holy Spirit or if he just means kind of the way we use it which is school spirit or we were all of the Same Spirit meaning we were all on the same page.
And then it really just means in one spirit with one mind is kind of saying the same thing twice I think if you were to follow Paul's logic because he uses this phrasing in other places in Ephesians 4 he uses it in Corinthians that if you were to ask him about it and say okay well what do you mean unified What Spirit what what's our Unity over he would You' eventually get to where he would be saying oh well the Holy Spirit like the the Holy Spirit is the one who's the one spirit that we have that's going to keep us unified there's no way.
For the Church to be unified without the work of the spirit and so it's going to be ultimately a work of the spirit for this to happen whether or not we need the Holy Spirit to work whether he intentionally brings it to mind here the Holy Spirit to mind or whether or not he is just saying to be unified that's still a work of the spirit so that we would be unified in the spirit with one another on the same page have you ever thought be a lot easier to be a Christian.
If I didn't have to hang out with these other Christians have you ever thought like I would be in a group and I know y'all say we should join a community group but that's going to be tough yeah it is do you know how agreeable I am when I'm by myself every one of my ideas is brilliant like I got married and I was surprised that she wasn't able ble to catch up with that as quickly as I thought it's like I don't know you don't think I'm I'm confused I've always thought I was a genius why are you acting like this.
But I'm patient with her um the idea that we're going to have to relate to other people takes work it takes effort there's there's difficulty and it takes the work of the spirit to be in us to create humility to create Grace but y'all we don't get to say well I love Jesus I just don't love the Church oh I'm I'm spiritual I walk in the spirit the Holy Spirit he you know I just I go alone and the Holy Spirit just tells me stuff and it's wonderful and it's like what Church are you a part of I don't need one of those you haven't been listening to the spirit he loves the Church he.
Loves Jesus and he loves the Church and he's going to help you belong to a group of people who love Jesus and love the Church and it's going to take humility and it's going to take work and it's going to take effort it's going to be frustrating in times but it's also going to be really beautiful we're better together it's going to be wonderful and you're going to grow in ways that you hadn't intended to you're going to grow in ways that you never would have grown.
If you were on your own and I do want to add this if people if you're saying okay I want to know how to listen to the spirit I want to know how to walk in the spirit what I would say is you begin by sticking your facei in your Bible and then putting yourself around other Christians that's how we walk well in the spirit that's how you learn how to hear the voice of the spirit to discern the voice of the spirit do you know the word of.
God you know that he's not going to lead you outside of what this says he's going to to speak and to teach you things but he's not going to say something contrary to the Scriptures and you begin to discern his voice you begin to learn how to walk in the spirit I want you to walk in the spirit I want you to be filled with grace I want you to be used by God mightily and I I want you to be in the word.
So that it's tethered as we do that and so that we get to walk in Church family together I want you to be in a situation when you were about to do something really stupid but you're in Church family and everybody in your group says we love you you that's really stupid I want you to be mad at them and I want you to submit to them I want you to get your Bibles out I want you to say why is it dumb why does everybody disagree with me I don't want you to go home and go wow I'm the smartest person in my group I'm the only one who knows what's right I want.
You to have some humility I want you to get what he's saying is that they would be in the same mind on the same page but it's not just for no reason it's not just so that they would have each other that's wonderful but there's a purpose behind it he says I want you to what I want to hear about you is that you're standing firm yall haven't fallen apart you haven't split up that you haven't been knocked over why standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side.
For the faith of the Gospel there's a purpose to the unity given to the Church and that's the proclamation of the Gospel that we're better together in proclaiming the Gospel and declaring that message y'all know that we have one primary thing that we're about as a Church is that some more people might meet Jesus every once a while I'll hear things and I'm like yeah yeah people say like I like the Church when it was small and then it's gotten bigger Praise.
Jesus you know it got bigger with a bunch of Sinners who needed Grace right and they're like yeah but they're aggravating yeah so are you me too that's that's the we we need Jesus we're we're here to Proclaim this message we're here to work together with this this is why we want to keep the main thing the main thing you know we don't do a whole lot we have a big pretty building the Lord's blessed us with but we don't do a whole lot at this building we don't invite a whole bunch of people here we don't have a bunch of programs here.
Because we want you to be out in the world telling people about Jesus we want your time to be freed up we love Gathering and pointing to Christ together and singing together and walking and studying the Scriptures together but we want to be be missionaries out in the world that's the main thing that's what we're after is to be standing firm with one in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel there's a Church that I know of I'm affiliated with it.
Well enough I know that at one point I think they're a good Church I think they love Jesus but I know that at one point they had multiple business meetings heated passionate business meetings over the purchase of doorknobs we're not going to do that here because it's not the main thing I I'm be honest with you I don't want you to be that passionate about doorknobs I just don't and if you are I want you to keep it to yourself honestly maybe don't tell people you know like we we want to be about seeing people meet.
Jesus which means that we give some freedom to our people who run Ministries to make decisions and and to handle their own budget and to do some things and every once in a while there should be times when you show up and see something you don't like I don't like that color and then you should remind yourself the Gospel is the main thing I've had people say to me I don't like this and I'm like yeah me neither Move Along let's go it's not the main thing we want to be pulling together striving not having Strife.
But striving for the Gospel which means that it should take some effort and some labor and some sacrifice that is a life matching to the Gospel I think that if we were to fill this out if we were to say okay I'm going to try to guess what Paul's going to say to have a life live a life in a manner worthy of the Gospel so that I may hear of you and if we begin to fill that out we would begin to say he's probably going to say this he's probably going to say this he's probably going to say this I'm sure we would put good things on the list.
But it's possible it would all boil down to at some point behave be moral live a life good enough but it's not something that we earn we respond to Jesus in obedience certainly we respond to Jesus in Repentance but a manner of life in a Church that matches the Gospel is a bunch of people who want to tell other people about the Gospel because it's so good that he redeems Sinners that he offers Grace that he rescued us not because we're good and not.
Because we're intelligent and capable and hardworking and that you need to come be a part of us if you're good enough it's no it's he saves Sinners he redeems the weak he died for us while we were still his enemies we have a king who rules and Reigns in love and grace and kindness towards us so that we strive to share the Gospel we're going to get to uh end our time this morning we're not about to so don't get all excited there's more to go.
But when we end our time long long time in the future from now we're going to get to pray over two Community groups that are getting launched out and I'm so excited because launching healthy Community groups the multiplication of healthy groups is one of the things that we've said that this helps us see that we're actually trying to do this and every time we multiply a group everybody in the group a lot of times is like Yay because it hurts it's sad I've told people before.
If your if half your group is being sent out and your response is good riddens you probably weren't doing a real good job of being in your community group you should love those people you should miss those people I had someone this past week say to me I miss every group I've ever been a part of yeah absolutely but we're striving for the Gospel which means there are times that takes sacrifice it takes effort it takes a little bit of something hurting a little bit.
For us to be able to see more people come to know Jesus it's the best way I know to put it I talk to our group leaders about this I tell them tell your group this this is the way I think about it at some point if I'm hosting a group you're hos on a group the table is full I got a table at my house that seats 8 we put a table outside to seat children cuz we love them so much we just don't want to hear them you know.
While we're trying to eat want to be able to see them there's a glass window you know put that stick in at some point Point there's no more room in my house and you love these people and so there's this this desire to go we did it this is it but as a Church family what we're hoping to do is to have group leaders train leaders in training and then eventually send them out to make disciples and to multiply and when we do that.
Now there's space there's space at this table and there's space at that table every time I've ever multiplied a group every time I've ever sent people out I'm sad about people who are leaving this group who weren't in my group the last time we multiplied which means that if we hadn't done that I never would have known this person loved this person seen this person meet Jesus we didn't have room for him we have room for him now and now we got to make more room.
For the next person who's going to come in and y'all there is a table that has enough seats there is a wedding supper of the Lamb that has the right number of seats and there's going to be a day when we get to all sit around it and there's going to be a day when we get to see the people who we got to know in life for a season to come to know Jesus but then we get to see the next person who we got to.
See come to know Jesus and the next person through our striving to proclaim the Gospel the effort and the intentionality that we put down and there's going to be a day when we sit at the wedding supper where the king rules and Reigns for all of eternity and there are enough seats at the table but until that day comes we strive so that more people might come to know how good and glorious King Jesus is more people might be at that table.
So some of your money should walk out the door and go to Mission work to generosity to this Church some of there should be times where you're you're mourning the loss of a community group while having to celebrate the launch of a new one we should put effort in to see people come to know Jesus that's the goal so we stand firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel and then he says this and not frightened in anything by your opponents not frightened in anything by your opponents he says I want to hear y'all are on the same page you're laboring to.
See people meet Jesus because he's so good and the Gospel is so good and the hope of Eternity is so good and the fact that this isn't all we get there's this this reality of forgiveness and joy I want to hear that you're proclaiming that and I want to hear that you're not afraid afraid of anybody who tells you to shut up you know that Christians we're not supposed to be scared of everything this is one of the things that that grats on me in our current cultural climate is that I hear a lot of noise on like online and stuff of Christians like ringing alarm Bells all the time we're not supposed to be.
Scared of everything y' we have such a bigger story with a king who wins and he's specifically saying they have opponents and they know that the one of the people who's the starter one of the starting people of the Philippian Church was a Jailer who Paul met because Paul was beaten and thrown into jail Paul's writing this letter from prison they have real opponents who don't want the proclamation of the Gospel he says I want to hear that you're not afraid of them.
And if you follow Christian logic what are we afraid of they have nothing they can give you on the on the grand scheme of Eternity there's nothing that anybody if you're a Christian that anybody can offer you there's nothing that they can take away from you and you can say like Paul who very really means this if I live I'll serve Jesus and if I die I'll go be with him so he says this not frightened at anything by your opponents this is a clear sign to them of their destruction.
But of your salvation and that from God that a lack of fear in the face of opposition declares the Gospel it co-signs it it's a clear sign of your salvation and their destruction because those who would oppose the Gospel are going to use human means to oppose it but human means aren't supposed to work on Christians all of them are supposed to Short Circuit we'll throw you in jail okay that's how jailers meet Jesus the Philippian jailers is like I I I just I know it was bad.
But I'm so glad he got arrested maybe they shouldn't have beat him but I'm glad he got arrested Paul says that everybody in the Roman guard they know about the Gospel because Paul's sharing the Gospel to the Roman guard while he's in jail we'll take everything from you okay I'll get Eternal versions of all that stuff because the Bible says anything sacrificed for the Lord that our reward is great in heaven like that anything that you try to take from me is actually ultimately you accidentally gave it to me forever like I don't I don't know exactly how that works I don't think it's like I got the best Toaster in life life.
If you stole it but it's like I think that there's just reward he honors this we'll kill you okay half a second later I'll be standing before the king and I'll have done all the work I ever had to do it's a clear sign to them of their destruction but of your salvation I love this quote it's a story from a pastor in Romania when they were under communist occupation he was preaching the Gospel and putting it on tapes and passing them out and he had passed it out and he got called in by some communist officers who were trying to stop the Church and they were correcting him rebuking him threatening him and he.
Says this during an early interrog ation I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me so he says sir let me explain to you let me explain how I see this issue your Supreme weapon is killing my Supreme weapon is dying here's how it works you know that my sermons are my sermons on tape have spread all over the country if you kill me those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood everyone will know I died for my preaching and everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say I'd better.
Listen again to what this man preached because he really meant it he sealed it with his life so sir my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before I will actually rejoice in this supreme Victory if you kill me after I said this the interrogator sent me home it's a clear sign I I have hope that you can't touch so when he says that the Church is to be unafraid in all these situations it's because we have something they can't touch and we serve a.
God they can't touch and he owns everything and guards everything and leads everything that we can trust him and so in the middle of all this there's nothing that they can give to us or take away from us a life a Church lived out in response to how good the Gospel is is that we would be humbly unified working side by side laboring together and we are better together we we want you to be a missionary where you are if you're the only person at your gym.
If you're the only person in that class if you're the only person uh on your floor at work that's a Christian we want you to be a a missionary there but we also want to be missionaries together because we're better together our groups are better together there are certain things that you're good at strong in built for as a Christian that someone else in your group isn't and so we work better when we're a team when we invite people in.
When we intentionally invite ourselves into other situations so look a lot of times as a group you can say hey I've been inviting this person who doesn't know Jesus to join our group but you can also invite the people who do know Jesus to join that person meaning that you know that they're going to go see this new movie or that they really would go throw axes or do a poker night or knit and drink tea or whatever it is is you know they'll accept that invitation.
So you just smuggle other Christians into the situation hey would you like to do blank and they say yeah and then they show up and two people from your group are also there and you just say hey welcome whatever and y'all hang out and just be normal Christian people who are kind and fun to be around and then later when you say hey you want to come hang out with our group you already know blank blank blank you already met this person at that thing it's easier to walk in you ever been invited to a party and you only know one person there what do you do.
Okay if you're like one of these people who's really good at parties I'm not talking to you I'm talking to everybody else what do you do you follow that yeah don't go correct you follow that person around like a lost puppy like hey be my friend hey talk to me hey hey hey hey hey or you do what I do you grab six cookies and stand in the corner just I'm I I don't know my friends over there I only know them and someone's like oh hey how you know them and you're like they my friend and they're like oh neat.
And then they walk off and you're like I'm I'm real good at this that shouldn't be your invitation all the time to people who hey do you want to come hang out at my house uh with a bunch of people you don't know read a book you don't care about and do some weird things that you're not sure about like pray also since you don't know much about Christianity it could be weirder than that and you don't know surprise you want to do that I invited them they didn't come yeah.
Okay it was a it was a high you know it's a high bar but if you can get your Church family around them to be friends with them to be kind to them to show them that we aren't weird and that the message is wonderful so that we're alive in response to the Gospel unified striving side by side for the Gospel without fear and he keeps going he's going to say he's pressing into this idea and he's kind of bringing this in front of them.
Look at verse 29 for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake it's been granted to you that you should not only get to believe in him that that's given to you that's granted that was Grace to you that was given to you that's what granted means it's a gift it was given to you that you would believe in him but also that you would get to suffer.
For his sake we're going to talk about suffering for his sake in a second but take a moment Do You Believe In Christ that was given to you he says it was given to you that you would get to believe in Jesus God do you know that there are people who don't there are people who don't have a hope of an eternity there are people who haven't had their sins forgiven there are people who are still dead in their trespasses and it's been given to you that you would believe some of you you're the only person in your family who believes some of you you're a wild minority from your your country of origin who.
Believe it's odd that you would believe some of you this is a lineage of Christian faith in your household and that was granted you by the grace of God Don't Blink at that I mean don't sneeze at that don't don't just move on past that like that's just something to take for granted it's something to understand that it's been so wonderfully good that you have a hope of Eternity through the work of Jesus that was not earned by you it was not given to you by your works or your ability or your intelligence.
But it was given by the blood of Christ and his goodness and mercy on your behalf and he says it was given to you that you might believe and it was also given he's talking to the Philippian Church but I think this rolls right into us that you would get the opportunity the grace the gift of suffering for the sake of Christ and that's how we're supposed to see it do you know that if you'll strive for the sake of the Gospel there's a chance that at some point you'll get to suffer reproach.
For the name of Jesus and do you know how wonderful that is there's a chance you might get mocked or reviled do you know there's a chance that someone might oppose you do you know there's a chance that something really Earthly bad might happen to you that is as this beautiful Heavenly gift that you might get to suffer for the sake of Christ that you might actually get to drop some sweat and some blood and some money and some effort and some tears.
For something that rolls into eternity that's how we're supposed to see that that's what Jesus says Matthew 5 he's talking to his disciples he says blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If we labor for the Gospel there's a chance that we get to operate on Jesus's account that we get to be reviled on his account that we get to be participating him in suffering for his sake and it is blessed that's why the disciples in Acts chapter 5 when they're beaten for sharing the Gospel it says then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name so what if you strive to share the Gospel with people in in your school in your classes and what.
If they oppose you and what if eventually they revile you and they accuse you and what if on that day we do what Jesus says and we look at him and say thank you thank you that I got a taste of what it was like to be you and to suffer and thank you that I got to join in your suffering for the sake of those who don't want to know you what if you share the Gospel at work and I tell you not to and you do it again and they say.
If you keep this up you're going to be in trouble what if you graciously humbly say I'm G to have to keep trying I'm going keep trying to share the Gospel I'm not what if one day you get fired not because you're bad at your job I want them to have to find three people to replace you if you get fired but but what if you just had these opportunities and you were sharing the Gospel and you were trying to point people to.
Jesus and they were opposing you and what if you walk out into the parking lot and you look at the sky you look up raise your eyes to the Lord and you say Lord I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills because that was my job but I trust you and thank you that I got to suffer reproach for the sake of your name now there's ways to walk this out in wisdom and there's ways to be as wise as a serpent innocent as a dove.
But y'all we're not supposed to be afraid we're not supposed to have one little remark from some kind of an opponent to the Gospel and we just clam up and stop may we stand in the spirit with the Church for the Gospel fearlessly because it's so worth it because the message is worth it because none of the other things that we labor for are ultimately worth it none of the other stuff lasts none of the other stuff stretches into eternity no other message no other no other person forgives sin rescues there's a movie that came out in 1998 called Saving Private Ryan and it's it's a good movie it's a war movie there's a.
Four brothers and three of them die and they go to write all three of the letters and send all of the folded up American flags to the mother at the same time they notice that there's one brother left and they just decide we're going to go find him and we're going to send him home it's the premise of the movie so they task a captain and a handful of people to go find Ryan and bring him home and as they're going several of them die they die going to get one guy out of the War the movie ends With Private Ryan as an old man standing over the graves of one of the men who.
Died for him and talking to it and he says I've thought every day about what you've did and I've tried I've tried to live something fitting and y'all we're the people who know Jesus know what he did know what awaits oh let's live in a way fitting let's respond in a way worthy to the Gospel let's live in a way that makes way more sense with Christ and Eternity than with the American dream let's pray L we ask that by your grace the reality of Eternity would grow grip us we ask.
Lord that you would help us to see the hope that is in Christ and to respond to tell other people about him to repent of our refusing to submit to a Church to repent from our not walking in the spirit and studying the word word and and listening to your voice and following your will to repent of all the times when we've lost the thread on what the main thing is so that we're worried about other things that don't matter.
Lord to walk fearlessly together and to see people come to know you we pray that you would bless this Church with more and more people who are saved by grace that will step in and walk shoulder-to-shoulder with us to see more and more people be saved by grace because this message is too good for us to sit on it you are a glor glorious King and we love you in Jesus name amen amen verse 30 says engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had.
Now here that I still have and I should have read that earlier the band's going to come back up what Paul's saying is that they are laboring I went to pray and I was like I didn't read my whole text Paul's saying that they are late laboring in the same conflict he's telling them not to be afraid in the same conflict that they saw that he had meaning that he was preaching the Gospel and went to jail and that they see that he still has.
Because he's in jail meaning they had real opponents and so I should have just read that earlier and said that sentence earlier and then said all the other stuff I said you're welcome the hope as we stand and sing and respond is that we would take a moment to consider the matchless worth of Christ and that we would say Okay Lord let me let me have a life that tries to mirror that and point to that let me have a life that only makes sense in light of that let's stand and sing.