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Philippians 1:12,18 -Christ Is Preached- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-07-26
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But I would you should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather into the furtherance of the gospel. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing dad affliction, under my bonds. But the other of love knowing that I'm set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Not withstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yay, and will rejoice. Father, we thank you for the apostle Paul's attitude as he's imprisoned, chained to a Roman soldier, and spending time at club fed, Lord. And we just pray that you would help us to understand the the the release, the freedom, the joy, the blessing that, Lord, you're there in the room with us. You're there in the hospital room. You're there wherever we may go, Lord. You've never forsaken us. And, Lord, we pray evermore that we would lean in, that we would yield, that we'd surrender, that we discover the life of the spirit as Paul is trying to describe unto us, Lord, and the gospel's not bound. The gospel continues to go forth. And so, help us as we leave here today to once again remind ourselves that we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. That, there's neither height nor depth nor principality nor power. There isn't anything, Lord, that could ever ever ever separate us from your love, Lord. So bless now we pray. Speak to us, Be our teacher. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? The apostle Paul himself is chained to a Roman guard being held prisoner in Rome. He's riding into the Church Of Philippi, which he founded ten years previously. And, his emphasis is upon the victory that we have in Christ Jesus. The emphasis, the theme of the letters, the fullness of joy available to the believer through through all the different circumstances, that we face, the adverse circumstances. I've noticed we as Christians, we live in a time of obsession with self. We live in a time of victimization. We're all victims, And it's always somebody else's fault. And there's no victory in that sort of attitude or philosophy of of meeting with therapists, meeting with people that will listen to our story. And then we get the story out and, you know, they wind up saying your mom didn't hug you enough, your dad didn't miss, you know, whatever. And I'm a parent. I know what it is to watch our children suffer or people suffer and and not not understand that the focus is upon the Lord, that we need to go vertical. We need to focus upon him. That all we all of us, parents, kids, everybody, all of us are failures. But Jesus never fails. And so when we face circumstances that are adverse, that are against us, that come against us, we need to understand that these are ordained of God. Paul was able to look at what happened to him as being ordained of God. This he's in God's will. And when you when you ask yourself, hey, am I in God's will? Why am I here, Lord? What happened? How how did I get to this place? And he may not answer all those questions, you know. But one thing as Peter described, if you're gonna suffer, don't suffer as an evildoer, you know, rob you know, be burglar or whatever. If you're gonna suffer, suffer because you're righteous, because you're doing that which is right. And the criminalization of the apostle Paul, you know, making him a criminal simply because he's speaking concerning Jesus. And he he won't stop. He's turning cities upside down with the proclamation of the gospel and all. And the Jews are just just livid. They just wanna silence him. And he was one of their one of their greatest hitmen, you know. And he was traveling as far as Damascus with letters to apprehend people in acts chapter nine and to bring them, you know, back to Jerusalem before the council and all. And it didn't work. You know, the Lord Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, and he saw great shining light at twelve noon on the desert, you know, trail, desert road. And the guys that were with him and all, they heard a voice, but they couldn't couldn't make out what was being said. And Saul's hearing, Saul, Saul, why art thou persecuting me? Why art thou so far from, you know, from me? You know, why are you persecuting me? He says, who art thou, Lord? And he says, I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Can you continue to kick against the pricks or against the goads? And what was happening is the apostle Paul, I believe, was tormented. He was tormented in his mind with the image of Stephen in acts chapter six and seven. When Stephen, the first martyr, deacon Stephen, and you got Philip also, but but but Stephen there. And Stephen is just reading the riot act to the religious leaders, and he is so incredibly powerful in the scriptures. He pins their ears to the wall, and he just goes through their history scripturally. And he reaches a point with them where he's just indicting them and showing them that they're the ones that, you know, crucified the just one and all. And they got so angry and the persecutors laid their coats at the feet of one called Saul of Tarsus. And he was being groomed by Gamaliel and and the the religious pharisaical hierarchy to be a great man within Judaism. And and there he is, Saul of Tarsus, raised in a university town, an intellectual and tutored by Gamaliel. And he said later in his testimony, concerning his contemporaries, he exceeded them all. He was a pharisee of pharisees. He's a brilliant brilliant man like Moses was, you know, while Moses was in Egypt. And Stephen Stephen said in Acts seven that Moses was once an eloquent man. And by the time God broke Moses, Moses couldn't even speak. Moses had a speech impediment. He God told him to go to Pharaoh and tell him, let my people go, and and Moses had no confidence anymore. And the Lord emptied him of Egypt, emptied him of the world. And the apostle Paul, he's gonna go through a similar situation, as the Lord's gonna break him too. And so, the Lord, reveals himself unto Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus goes blind, and he doesn't eat or drink or do anything for three days. God told him to go into a street called Straight in Damascus and go to the home of one guy named Judas, and that when you're there, I'm gonna send somebody onto you. You know, you're gonna get clarification of what what my calling is upon your life. And so the Lord sent a disciple named Ananias, and Ananias went to the house of Judas. And Ananias, when the Lord gave Ananias a vision, he says, you know, Lord, this this guy's a dangerous, dangerous, evil man. He's done a lot of dangerous, evil things to other people. Why would you want me to go to him? And the Lord said, he's a chosen vessel unto me. Show him what things he must suffer for my namesake. Has God chosen you to suffer for his namesake? That doesn't sell, does it? If I want this church to grow, I gotta tell people what they want to hear. But the reality is, you're living the reality. I'm living the reality. We all go through suffering. Now we want that suffering to be mitigated and be a short span as possible, but we go through different seasons of in and out of bliss and pleasure and blessing and then times of the valley. We go into the valley. And in that valley is where we're broken, in that valley is where we hear the Lord, and the valley is where the greatest nutrients are and everything, the water rushing down. And ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. Right? The Lord's there with us. The mountaintops, we love to be in the mountaintop. We love to be up there with Jesus. Matthew 17 with, you know, Peter saying, hey, let's build three booths here. You know, let's stay here on the mountaintop. I'd love to stay in the mountaintop. Times of great success, time of people receiving Christ and just so exciting and all. And then the Lord says, no, you can't stay there in the mountain top because the fruit is born in the valleys. It's in the valley that the fruit is born. So they come down from the Mount of transfiguration, and they come down what meets them? A a man with a demoniac son, and he's casting himself into the fire and all. And that's in many cases, that's what our life is like. We go from the mountaintop to the valley, and we draw closer to the Lord through that sickness in that hospital room or our our child that hates us or whatever it may be. And and and we draw to the Lord, and we don't have the power to fix it. We don't have the knowledge to fix it like Jehoshaphat in second Chronicles 20. Lord, we don't have the power neither know we what to do, but our eyes are on you, Lord. And as we begin to worship, the Lord discomfits our enemy. The enemy doesn't get the victory. The circumstances may not change, but we change. And we rise above those circumstances and worship under the Lord, and we're transformed and changed. We're no longer a victim. Amen. We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. And that's the apostle Paul. He's there in prison, And he's thinking maybe my life's over. All the dreams I had, I wanted to go all the way to Spain. I wanted to move the gospel. I mean, Agabus, one of the prophets came to Paul and and took his belt and bound Paul and said the guy that owns this belt is gonna be bound when he goes to Jerusalem. And don't go there. The trouble awaits you there. And Paul's like, hey, don't break my heart, you know. I'm not your tears aren't gonna stop me. I'm ready to die. That was his attitude. He was already a dead man. He was already crucified with Christ. And so he he wanted so badly as we see in Romans 10. He wanted so badly to reach his countrymen. And and he's speaking unto them in Hebrew, as soon as he mentions that the Antonio Fortress says he's getting beat up, as soon as he mentions the Gentiles, they throw stuff into the air and crazy, and then now he's gotta be protected by Roman, you know, soldiers, and he's gotta be able to be snuck out of town because there's a conspiracy to kill them and all. And and now Paul is on his way to he's on his way to Rome. He's gonna stop by way of Felix and Festus and and King Agrippa and Bernice. They're gonna listen to him, and then he's gonna appeal to Caesar. And when he appeals to Caesar, to Caesar, you're gonna go. And he spent a couple years in a prison there in Caesarea Philip says Caesarea. And and then now he's on his way to Rome. He's going by ship. All expenses paid. You're going to Rome. And the ship that he's on, you know, capsizes, breaks into part, and he's protecting all the soldiers, all the people that are on that ship and getting to the shore and and the whole thing. So now he's finally in Rome, and he's writing a letter to the church of Philippi that he planted ten years ago. And he's saying, I may be bound. I may be in chains. I'm chained to, there are about 9,000 Praetorian guards there, and they rotate. And Paul is being rotated with guards that are assigned to him. And but and he's saying, you know, the gospel's not bound. And by time we get to chapter four of the book of Philippians here, Paul's gonna say, the whole household of Caesar has heard the the gospel. And some commentators have said that Paul actually came before Caesar Nero and was able to give a testimony of Jesus and all. And and Caesar Nero rejected the gospel message. Remember how how king Agrippa says, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian and almost and Paul saying, I I wish it wasn't just almost, but all the way, you know. And, he was accused of as much learning making him mad. This guy was articulate. He was able to to communicate the gospel, to communicate Judaism and the whole history and the purpose of Jesus, you know, coming on the scene. And when Jesus apprehended Paul on that road to Damascus, he apprehended him and he said, Paul, Saul, I'm gonna show you what things you must suffer. And as we move through the book of acts, you've testified of me in Jerusalem. Now you're gonna testify of me in Rome. And and that's where this, story picks up here as Paul is, he's accepted his circumstances as being from God. Paul could rejoice because he saw adverse circumstances of his life being used of God to further the gospel. Notice number one, God used the exposure verses twelve and thirteen. But I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have have have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the gospel. So you would think these adverse circumstances is going to clip your wings and cause you to not be able to fulfill God's plan and purpose for your life. You're thinking, hey, I'm in I'm in, you know, I'm I'm in prison or I'm in a hospital room or I'm going through a terrible terrible divorce. My spouse was very unfaithful to me. And now how do I regroup? How do I where do I go from here? All that I dreamt of, all that I wanted to do for the Lord, you know, is is the devil winning? Is the devil neutralizing me? Is the devil taking me out? Do I need to tap out? You know, where do I need to go? What do I need to do? And Paul wanted the Philippians to understand that the things that happened unto him, the circumstances he found himself in, the beatings, the shipwreck, being stoned, going hungry, being naked, in peril, misunderstood by friends, loss of family, they would have a mock funeral for a Jew. If you become a Christian in this culture, Saul of Tarsus, there's a mock funeral. Your family disowns you. And you if you're being groomed to be a member of the Sanhedrin, that means you're married too. So the apostle Paul who's single now, once had a life like like us, like many of us who are married. And I don't know about children and all that, but but in any event, he had a past. And he's able to summarize his past. He said, I counted all as dung, all as refuse, all the all the great things that Egypt presented to Moses, you know, in Hebrews 11, it says, he esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all the splendor of Egypt. And Paul's able to say, considered all that Judaism offered me as dung and refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Imagine being a great religious leader, but not knowing Jesus. Just spinning your wheels like Nicodemus. Nick, you must be born again. You must be born of the spirit. And a whole lot of people play in church and a whole lot of people within Christian dumb, and, they don't know Jesus away from me. I never knew you. And one of the things that exposes that you truly do know Jesus is as you go through adversity And your faith remains. Your faith is strong. You you fall more in love with Jesus. You're so thankful that he got you through the hardest time you've ever faced in your life. And there's a picture of a shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders, and it's a picture of a sheep that was rebellious, a sheep that would stray away. And and legend has it that the shepherd, need be, would come and break one of the legs of a of a sheep like that. Or barbecue it, have leg of lamb, but break one of the legs. And then and then that sheep is dependent upon that shepherd for everything. Water, food, everything. And that sheep's leg is healing as it's there on the shepherd's shoulders and all. And when that shepherd's when that sheep's leg finally heals, the shepherd lets that sheep down, and that sheep stays on its heels. Right on the heel of that shepherd, never never veering away again. The rebellious sheep, they can lead other rebellious sheep, you know, away and into the ditch and all. And so so they know the Lord's voice and and in a time of suffering, you hear the Lord's voice. You're listening. You're clear. You get rid of all those things that have been been competing to hear his voice. And he's he's he's revealing himself unto you. And so Paul wanted the church of Philippi to understand this, and they they knew of this. They knew how he started out with Paul and Silas in Acts 16 getting beaten. And then at twelve midnight, you know, rejoicing, praising the Lord, singing unto the Lord, and bringing the house down and all the chains coming off. They knew his beginning, and now they're looking ten years further, and now he's in prison. And Paul still has an indomitable spirit within him that the devil is not winning. The devil has lost at the cross of Calvary. And no matter what circumstance God allows in my life, when no matter what adverse circumstances doesn't mean that God doesn't love me. He does love me. And he proved it at the cross of Calvary. It means that he wants me to be a witness, a testimony, one that would testify of his faithfulness. And that we can rise above the quality of life that God offers you and I is the life of the spirit. Jesus said in John 10 verse 10, the thief, the devil comes not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I've come that you may have life and that more abundantly, the abundant life of the spirit that people can view and see. And he's his spirit isn't broken as he's there in prison. He's he's not defeated. He's not a victim. He's not rehearsing all the things that brought him to that place and chasing his tail in a circle like we see so many in our culture, you know. You're just chasing your tail. You just never move on. You just never never get going. There there's no furtherance of the gospel. There's no testimony of God's greatness. There's this defeat, a defeatist attitude. And so all of it was God's perfect will for his life. None of it could stop the furtherance of the gospel. This word furtherance, It means to cut a path so others could follow. The progress of the army corps of engineers cutting the brush, building a road so that the army could advance. That's Paul. He's the pioneer Paul. He's moving on. He's point man. He's up ahead and he's breaking up the brush. He's making a way for those behind him, those coming after him to realize the realization that Jesus never fails. No matter what happens, we win. We get the gospel out. We share with those in prison. We share with those in the palace. We share with no matter where we are, the hospital, the nurses, the doctors, the prison, the schools, all the places the Lord sends us through the adverse circumstances. You know, you may get a a flat tire, something as simple as a flat tire and be alongside the road. It's a divine appointment. The guy or the gal that's gonna stop, God wants you to witness to him. And you're just so angry that you got a flat tire. It's not an accident. It's ordained of God. It's ordained of him. So you seize the moment. You seize that opportunity to share Christ as you're, you know, driving in the tow truck, flatbed, you know, way and everything. There's so many opportunities. So are the adverse circumstances of your life being used of God to further the gospel? What has God changed you to? Has God changed you to poverty? Has he changed you to poor health? Some of us, we suffer an inordinate amount of poor health. It seems unfair. Why God? Is it ordained of God? Is it God's will? Are you in God's will? Has God crippled you? God crippled Jacob. Jacob tried to to wrestle God. And the Lord Jesus walked on him. Jacob tapped out. When he tapped out, he won because God had to break him. He was a conniver. He's a heel catcher. He would use his wits to outsmart out think to connive with people. The Lord changed his name from Jacob to Israel once he broke him, which means governed of God, Prince of God. And Jacob walked away from that encounter as Hosea describes, and as he wept and all, crippled, limping, because the Lord took his hip and dislodged his hip, the loin of his hip. And boy, we we are dealing with a lot of people falling and getting getting new hips, you know. And hip pain is no fun. Knee pain is no fun. And Jacob walked away from there limping. He was crippled. God, oh, that's a cruel God. No. It's a reminder. It's a reminder that day that God broke you. You finally, in your rebellion, your abstinence, your self seeking, the Lord, Before he can use you greatly, he's gotta hurt you deeply, a w Tozer is quoted as saying. So God gives you that breaking moment. I don't know if God is breaking you. The apostle Paul went out for three years in the Desert Of Arabia to be schooled in the things of the Lord. He'd been to school in Tarsus and Gamaliel and all, but now he needed to get to know Jesus, get to know the gospel. And sometimes in that breaking, that's that period of time that we have to spend time at Jesus' feet, and we're being rebuilt, so to speak. We're being discipled. We're being we have plenty of time now to be in the word of God because we can't walk anymore. We've got six months of recovery. And there's plenty of time to get rid of the phone and get the Bible back out and dust off the pages. I'm I'm told that the kids that are growing up today, they're they're they're gonna be so addicted, so immersed in all the electronics and all that there's gonna be a gap between generations and an inability to communicate, inability to connect because they're so immersed in the technology. Don't you just love that you have a bible? I mean, you might wanna read your bible on your tablet or your phone or whatever, but it sure is nice to just get a bible out, and the sun was shining the other day and get your chair and just sit there and just read. Read a couple chapters. Read a couple books of the bible. Read the Psalms. Just just read. It's a blessing. As the Lord fills you, as the Lord ministers unto us. And sometimes we just get so busy, busy, busy, we don't have time and the Lord invades our comfort zone. The Lord invades our life and he says, now you got time. Is your prison one of loneliness? Are you chained to the home? The children, the dishes, the laundry. You once aspired to be a writer, to have a great career, and you had to quit college. You got pregnant and married, and you're home watching the kids. And you you gotta be careful because the enemy would make you think that your life is not adding up. It's not the splendor and the glamour of being a writer. But you're raising the Lord's kids, and there's nothing greater than that of being a mother. But you have to first reconcile in your heart that you're in God's will. You haven't missed out on any dream, so to speak. God has something better. Something that fits you better. Something that's going to minister to more people. Maybe you're gonna write a children's book someday. Hang in there in the season of small things. Maybe you're changing a nine to five job. And when you became a Christian, dreamt of being on the mission field. And thirty years has gone by and you're just like, did I waste my life? What's it all about? What have I been doing? You're in the mission field. You're right where God planted you. Grow where he planted you. You're in. You're right there where you're supposed to be. Discouragement sets in. The disillusionment that life has passed us by. The secret what's the secret of Paul's joy? Is in accepting these adverse circumstances as God's will. Surrender. Surrendering to God's will. Lord, it's your will that I'm in this prison. I'm not gonna fight your will. I'm not gonna fight you. I'm not gonna argue with you. This is where you place me. You told me when I was going to Jerusalem that I was a good witness. I was warned to not go to Jerusalem that they wouldn't receive. But I went anyway. And then you told me I was gonna bear witness of you before kings, before the Gentiles, that you were gonna take me to Rome. I'd love to go to the footsteps of Paul in Rome. I'd love to take a trip over there and walk through, you know, Europe someday and tie it into the Israel and maybe Turkey, see the seven churches. That'd be a fun trip, you know? But would I go to where he was imprisoned? Would I go to where they beheaded him? Where would that where would that trip take me? And all of the apostles except John the beloved died violent deaths of martyrdom. Serious? Is that God's will? Martyrdom? You're invincible. Devil can't touch you if you're Peter. In acts chapter 12, James gets taken. That's his time. But Herod's waiting for Passover to finish and he's gonna grab hold of Peter and kill Peter because it pleases the Jews. And Peter has a jailbreak. Peter has an angel there that opens it up and the and the people are praying. There's a prayer meeting on behalf of Peter. And Peter gets out of the the incarceration, and it's God's will that Peter continue for a period of time. Peter had learned earlier that Jesus said when he was old, he would be taken by someone and taken to where he would not, you know, that he would die, you know, upon the cross like his Lord. Well, Peter's young at this time. So, hey, Lord, you got a problem. It's your problem. You you you're gonna have to work this out. You're gonna have to get me out of here because they're gonna kill me come, you know, couple days here. And he was sleeping. He had such incredible peace. It wasn't the same Peter that denied the Lord on three occasions before that cock crowed. It wasn't that Peter. He is transformed. He's a different Peter. He didn't fear death anymore. What's the worst the devil can threaten you with? Death. And Jesus said, don't fear him that can kill your body, but fear him who not only can kill your body but cast your soul into hell. So God's able to use the adverse circumstances as people hear about Paul being there chained to a Roman soldier, and Paul's able to minister to the household of Caesar. He's able to minister to the to the, Praetorian guard, the guards that are there he's chained to. And he's able to take what the devil would mean for evil, and it's being turned around for good. Much people are hearing. And so the secret of Paul's joy is accepting the adverse circumstances as being from God, that of surrender. And I've learned you must surrender every day. You might surrender today to the circumstances, but tomorrow, there's that fighting against God once again. Wanting to demand, wanting to pray, wanting to find the formula to get what we want to get out of that fiery furnace. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are there, they're not gonna back down to Nebbe. They refuse to back down to Nebbe. We're not careful how we answer you, o king. Our God is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us. But even if he doesn't, we're still not gonna bow down to your golden image. There's no way. And so, Nebby looks at the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter. The people that threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace died from the intensity of the flames. And the only thing that was burned up in that fiery trial, Peter says, think it not strange when you experience a fiery trial. James says count it all joy when you experience these trials, this testing. And Nebbe says, did we not cast three into there? And yet there's a fourth. And he says the son of man. Jesus is in that fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And they're not anxious to get out of that fiery furnace. They're not praying and oh, and hurting and screaming and howling. It's hot in here. I gotta get out of here. No, the flame didn't touch him. Even the smoke didn't go on him. They enjoyed the fellowship of that fiery trial with Jesus. And Nebby commands them to come on out and I I would I would think they're a little hesitant to come out of there. But a picture of the Lord Jesus in every circumstance, in every difficulty, ordained of him, planned of him, designed of him, All these things that he's allowed into our lives. It's about attitude. It's about our spirit. It's about our faith. God wants to use your life right where you are. We discover our purpose. We discover that we're a witness of Jesus. We discover we have a testimony. There's no testimony until you're tested. And I discovered if you fail the test the first time you got to retake it. Some of us are retaking these tests, these tests of faith, over and over and over again. And we discover also it's our calling. And then when we rest in that calling, when we rest in who God has made us, and we discover who he's made us, and that it fits, everything fits. This is God ordained. We discover that in his foreordination before the foundation of the earth, he purposed these things. It's a tale already told. He sees way up ahead, and he promises you and I in Romans eight twenty eight. All things, not some things, all things, all these circumstances are working together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. You're called according to his purpose and you discover his purpose for your life. God wants to use your life right where you are. He says verse 13, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and all other places. That word manifest means to shine, to appear. Excuse me. I'm not sick. God exposed himself through Paul. Jesus said, you're a city set on a hill. You're the light of the world, Christian. You're the salt of the earth. And so we shine bright. We shine bright, through these things. And when it's dark around you, when the darkness is enveloped and it looks evil and all that, you're shining the ever brighter. You stand out from the world. You're not a compromise. You're not merging and trying to go along to get along. You refuse to shut up. You refuse to give in to the dictates of those in authority that don't speak in this man's name anymore. They can't shut you up. God exposed himself through Paul. The gospel is proclaimed in the heart of the empire in Rome and Caesar's Palace. Guard after guard 9,000 praetorian guards there at the palace. What if Paul did not want to accept this assignment? What if he continued to complain and complain and complain? I don't want this excitement. What if in our vernacular, he would say, I didn't sign up for this. I signed up for the Joel Osteen, my best life now. This isn't working for me. Pastor, tell me what I wanna hear. I'm out of here. I need a therapeutic message centered on me, on man, not a Christ centered message, not a Christ centered message of the cross and suffering, death, burial, resurrection. No. I want to feel good. I want to live in denial. I want to believe that everything's continue as it always has, and that we voted the right man in, and he's gonna save our country and we're gonna enter into the millennium. A golden age. That's what I wanna believe. Tell me what I wanna hear. Peter, James, John, their generation, they believe the same thing. They believe that Jesus came to usher in the millennium. They believe that Jesus came to overthrow the Romans and that they were going to get all the prophetic promises to the nation of Israel and they wouldn't be under the subjugation of the Romans. That their Messiah had come, the anointed one to come. If he can walk on water, he certainly can deal with the Romans. If he can heal the lame and the blind and demons and and feed 5,000 with few loaves and fishes, certainly there's nothing he can't do. And when they began to understand that Messiah would be cut off, they still couldn't get it. It it bewildered them. They were so fixated on who's gonna sit on your right hand, who's gonna sit on your left hand, who's gonna be the greatest in your kingdom, and that's where many of us are. We're thinking that somebody's gonna come along and help us to continue in this age of prosperity, and that we're gonna solve all the world's problems with technocracy and club of Rome and all the different different philosophers and prophets and people saying we won't die, Jared Kushner and others. And president Trump this week saying, embrace those data centers. Those data centers are good. Encourage the people in your community to allow these data centers to be built. That's a messianic mentality. Trust me. Trust me. We're gonna make America great. You're gonna be tons of millionaires. You're all gonna be millionaires with this cryptocurrency, stable coin and all. Millionaires. Greatest time ever. Well, that's what the disciples were caught up in. They were caught up in and what was taught to them was true. They just had the time wrong. They they eventually, yes, the nation of Israel is gonna enter into the messianic age, a golden age. And we too as the church, we're gonna rule and reign with him. But it's not through politics. It's not through these politics, not through technocrats. Jesus said in John chapter five, I come in my father's name and you receive me not. Another shall come in his own name and him you will receive. The world is being prepped for the antichrist who will promise peace and prosperity and safety. And we're looking at the bible and we're saying, the bible promises suffering. The bible promises a time Jesus said of suffering the world's never seen nor will ever see again the tribulation period. And we're exhorting people to come to Christ to be raptured, be caught up. That's the solution. Or if we go through a time of the collapse of America to bring on the one world governmental system, We gotta be ready in our heart. These circumstances are ordained of God. We may suffer like many have under the collapse of their countries. We may have to suffer like the Christians in Iran, The fastest growing church in the world, but persevering. The Christians in China persevering. Christians in Nigeria and Arab countries and Muslim countries with an ideology of killing the the Christian. And Paul's not fearing death. He's not gonna back down. He doesn't care if if Nero says, alright, let's execute this guy. Paul's ready. He's already a dead man. He's already crucified with Christ. So manifest to shine. So God exposed him through Paul. The gospel was proclaimed in the heart of the empire in Rome and Caesar's palace, guard after guard. And if Paul didn't accept his assignment, he'd have missed a great opportunity to fulfill the reason of which Jesus had apprehended him. How is God wanting to expose himself through you? How is God speaking to your heart? How is God wanting to shine through the adversity that you face? God used Joseph to cultivate, to cut a path for his family. God sent Joseph ahead. Psalm a 106 talks about his feet were put in chains like Paul and his feet hurt. Joseph, you know, with his coat of many colors, he was given prophecies that his father and mother, the sun and the moon, and his brothers would bow down to him one day and his brothers got real angry at that whole thing. And with that coat of many colors and all the envy, the jealousy and all, and they grabbed hold of Joseph and they sold him into slavery with the Midianite caravan that was heading toward Egypt. And Joseph's about 17 years old at that time, and he's gonna be unjustly treated. And he's a type of Christ, a type of Christ. And and so he's sent ahead. He's sent before. And and he unjustly created the house of, you know, Potiphar. Potiphar's wife making advances at him and all. And it's showing his his relationship with God. How can I do this great evil against God as she's making advances at him sexually, and he's refusing them? And then she's lies and said he he tried to lie with me and all, and then he's, you know, thrust deeper into the prison system, and he's able to interpret dreams, and it's the interpreting of dreams that eventually gets to the right people, and he's released. And then he comes into the audience with Pharaoh, and he's able to let Pharaoh know there's gonna be seven years of famine and that we need to buy up all the land right now and all the farm and all the grain and store everything that we can in these good seven years because after seven years, there's a famine And he's able to do that, and then that famine affects his dad and his brothers, Jacob and the boys. And they they have to come back and forth to get grain and they have to sell everything they have to stay alive. And by the time, they've sold everything, now, Joseph reveals himself unto them and the 70 come forth, Jacob with his his family, his wives, and his kids and all. They come down into Egypt and God is preparing. He's using these adverse circumstances. They get in the area of Goshen, a place to raise sheep. The Egyptians hated sheep, so these guys are shepherds. They got a great place with good grass and all to grow and to be nourished. And then it came a time where the pharaoh knew not Joseph. The pharaoh that was favorable died, and now there's a new pharaoh, and now they're not treating the nation of Israel very well. God is forming a nation. He's forming a nation of 2,000,000 people four hundred and thirty years later that are going to exodus. They're going to leave Egypt, and they're gonna enter into the promised land, aren't they? But God used Joseph, a type of Christ to, at 30 years of age, to take on that role as second only to that of pharaoh and to be a deliverer of the children of Israel. And Joseph looked at his brothers when dad died and he said, what you did, you meant for evil. But God meant it to save many people. He looked at the adverse circumstances, all that he had to go through from 17 years old to 30 years old. A time of preparation to prepare him for the epoch, for that that climax, that climatic moment, the revelation, the understanding that, hey, this all wasn't for naught. It was all part of God's plan. God's plan to mold and shape me to be able to handle that sphere of leadership. God's plan to get my family ready to be willing to leave and to come to Egypt. God molding and shaping and maneuvering and bringing all these circumstances together to save many people, to bring forth the nation of Israel, to bring forth the Messiah eventually. And a lot of times, it's hindsight. It's finally with the hindsight that we're able to look back and realize, you know, those were some of the toughest times we ever lived through, some of the toughest times on our marriage, but you know, they were some of the greatest, some of the most blessed. A time of honeymoon with Jesus and such excitement. Our faith was so strong and we're willing to do anything, take any risk and, you know, for the kingdom of God. But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it under good to bring to pass as is this day to save much people alive. God wants to save much people through you. God has a purpose in your suffering. Accept it. Let him use your life to cut a path to expose himself through you. God wants you to lead the way. God wants you to show people how are how are we as Americans who are so soft, how are we going to get through tough times ahead? With a collapsing economy, how are we going to do that? We as Christians need to lead the way. It's a life of faith. It's a life of trust. Jesus said when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Jesus prayed for Peter. The devil desires to sift you as wheat, Peter, but I'm praying for you. What's he praying for Peter? That your faith fail not. The most precious thing that you and I possess is faith. Not faith in faith, but faith in Jesus. Trust, faith, dependence, confidence in Jesus. And I like verse six, being confident in this very thing that he that has begun a good work in you, that he will complete it on the day of Jesus Christ. Right? I love it. No matter how much a failure I am, his mercies are new every morning. The work that he's begun on me, he's gonna complete it. I'm his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works which God has before ordained that I should walk in them. God has a plan. God's an engineer. He's a designer. He's a giver of life. Your life's not an accident. These things he's allowed into your life and my life, there's a reason. You're exposing him. You're exposing him. You're in places. You're seated in board rooms. You're seated in prison. You're at the gym. You're at school, at college. Wherever you go, you're his representative. You're the one that's furthering the gospel as God is exposed under these these folks. So Paul could rejoice because he saw the adverse circumstances of his life being used of God to further the gospel. God used the exposure. Secondly, God used the encouragement. Verse 14. Excuse me. And as many brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. So the many many of the Christians were emboldened because they saw Paul not wimping out, Paul not shrinking from his responsibility, Paul not tapping out, Paul not quitting. The two spies that went in and said, hey, let's take it now, Caleb and Joshua. They had a believing report, and, man, they they wanted others to catch catch the drift, catch the faith, catch the vision. But the 10 with the unbelieving report came back, oh, it's walled cities, and there's giants, we're just grasshoppers in their sight. And that unbelief permeated the hearts of the people with unbelief, and Caleb and Joshua are so frustrated because they saw, like David saw, this Goliath, nine feet six tall, there's nothing. The battle belongs to the Lord. Since God's for us, who can be against us? We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. You know? The stage is being set for God to show himself mighty on our behalf. And Paul's faith, his courage, his unwillingness to capitulate, his unwillingness to wimp out and to give in to any magistrate, any person that would tell him you can't speak in his name anymore. You guys can't meet on Sunday. You guys can't meet on Easter Sunday because there's this COVID disease out there. Do you think we're the first generation that ever faced a threat? We went out. We believe the lie. We took the lie in. We dishonored God with our unbelief. If it happens again, we're gonna wimp out? No. We're not gonna wimp out. We're gonna stand bold. We're gonna put the Lord first. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, as Job said. He knows the way that I take. When he's tried me, I'm gonna come forth this gold. These trials are good. These trials are mold and shaping me. He's bow he's burning off the dross. He's burning off the impurities. It's a season of preparation that I might enter into the the the epitome, the climax of the of the purpose in all this. To glorify the Lord. And as many of his brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. When we read second Timothy, we see that they all bailed on him because getting closer to execution time. There'd be guilt by association. And Paul says, all men have forsook me, but the Lord stood with me. The Lord didn't forsake me. And when the Lord commanded you and I to go forth and preach the gospel to every creature, when he commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations, He says, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. He's promised he'll never leave us nor forsake us. So the Lord is with us here in these days, in these last days, no matter how arduous, how difficult, how deceptive, how crazy the times become in these demonic unleashing of craziness. I've never seen a crazier time. And it's gonna get worse and worse. So they went from fear to boldness because of the example of Paul. Paul blazed the trail for others to follow. The gospel flourishes during the time of persecution. Consider communist China. Before after World War two, we had a guy that we supported named Chiang Kai shek in China. And I don't know if you know this, but like even North Korea and these countries were like the Jerusalem of the East. And Chiang Kai shek was favorable to Christianity and many missionaries and people from Europe and The Americas and people went there to share the gospel, just get the gospel out in all of China. And then the Rockefellers, the globalists began to after World War two, yet 6,000,000 Jews killed by the globalists by the bankers. You had 20,000,000 Russians killed by Stalin by their own government. You had 40,000,000 Chinese killed during the communist revolution in the fifties. Now why is that? To stamp out Christianity, to wipe it out. They wanted a beta test. They wanted to bring forth a beta test of a country with a one child policy and all of the tyrannical methodology and and is is China? China's the model. China's the model the devil's been working on to bring the whole world in this technocratic system of track and trace and tyranny in the whole thing. Well, Chiang Kai shek as he was supported, he would advance. But as militarily, he's not getting weapons. He's not getting the monies and the things he needs to fight against Mao Tse Tung. Now Mao is bringing forth the communist revolution and again, 40,000,000 of his own people he had to get rid of to establish his communism. And when the walls were finally open, the doors were open. What happened? The church flourished. He couldn't stamp the church out. The church flourished in China. And so too in Iran today, the mosque are relatively empty because the church is flourishing. Persecution has always helped the church to be refined and to create a fervent, a fire within the hearts of God's people to stand for him. And that's what's happening as Paul is 6,000,000 Christians were killed in the first two centuries also, by the Romans. 10 waves of Roman emperors were trying to stamp out Christianity in the first two centuries. What was the greatest debilitating factor to the church? Constantine. The church in 03/13 Amen. Joining the government. A government sanctioned church made the black dark ages happen, where the wicked of the government and all facets of society began to join the church and infiltrate the church and water down the word of God and not allow the word of God to be be assimilated and and spread. And the attacks from the religious governmental people sending in armies to the Waldens is to wipe them out because they had a bible, the crime of having a bible. You can only have the, you know, the Roman Catholic bible, Roman Catholic version. You guys are rebels. But it didn't stamp out the gospel. The gospel continued. But in that time of acquiescence to the world, it it softened the church and made the church, you know, lukewarm. And that's what we see today with the latest to see in church. I'm rich and create whose goods in need of nothing, but we lack the power. And a good good good dose of persecution might wake up the the true church. The missionaries were expelled from the country. The gospel is outlawed. Christianity was on trial in China. When the borders open, the westerners, the church within China was thriving under the communist oppression. Russia, the same thing. When Russia opened up, the church flourished. The early church flourished under the persecution also. And then darkness. Consider the effect of modernism in England and Canada. There's a post Christian era. Satan strategy in wiping the church out and its influence in America, the same with Europe and Canada and the West is they tell us we're morons, that we're ignorant, that we're stupid, that we can't debate that we we don't even know creation and such. And and what's happened is we've become dumbed down. The churches aren't teaching God's word. And they're correct. We are morons. We're foolish. We've adopted a existential humanistic philosophy of man at the center. Every man doing that was just right in his own eyes. Just as in the time of the book of judges. Tolerance was pushed real hard, which is compromise. Compromise with the world. Meet the world halfway. What's it do to the church? The churches, they're again compromised, neutralized. Social media, censorship, track and tracing, going to jail in Canada for having a bible, for preaching in a park. Pastor Arthur Pawlowski. And presently, we're looking at the two main things that's driving our culture is sex and money. Immorality and prosperity. Worldliness is driving our culture. And the church has adopted all these things. Little persecution goes a long way to wake the church up, to sift, refine. In acts chapter four, Peter and John were apprehended, interrogated by the religious leaders because they healed a man that was lame and they preached the gospel and 5,000 were saved, but they were treated as criminals. They boldly told the leaders. They they came to the temple, Peter and John, and as they're going to the temple at nine at nine in the morning to the temple, There's a guy that was placed there by his family at the beautiful gate, and he would beg for alms because he was impotent in his feet. He was crippled at his feet from his birth. He's about 40 years old right now. And Peter looks at him and the guy asked for alms, and Peter says, silver and gold have we none, but such as we have, give we unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. And Peter reached out and grabbed his right hand and lifted that man up, and that man came with him into the temple. And the the description there is, he's dancing, he's jumping, he's praising the Lord, and the people around there knew him. He was well known by the people in the temple there, and they're wondering what happened. And it was a it was a setting the stage for the preaching of the gospel, setting the stage for, you know, great signs and wonders, and 3,000 are saved, 5,000 are saved, and the church is just exploding and grow. And the religious leaders come along, and they're angry, and they're saying, who gave you the authority and what name, you know, are you doing these things? And Peter says, there's no other name under heaven given to a man among men whereby we must be saved. We're here in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Let me read it for you. It says, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand before you whole. This is the stone. So now he's quoting Psalm 118. These religious leaders should have known that that Jesus is the chief cornerstone. Upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. So he's illustrating. He's using some 118 to show them. This is the stone which was set at not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And it says in x four verse 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned, you don't have the theological degrees. You're not doctor Rick or doctor Peter, doctor you weren't trained formally like the apostle Paul was. He was trained formally. These guys were fishermen. These guys were really good in the scriptures, though. Peter's reaching back to Psalm a 118 with the help of the Holy Spirit, and he's quoting to these guys same way Stephen, a deacon, did the same thing. These guys know their bible. They may be fishermen, but they're men of the word, women of the word. Right? And most importantly, the key that unlocks the bible is Jesus. Without understanding he's the messiah, Jesus said the volume of the book is written of me. Search the scriptures, and then you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. It's all about Jesus. So you can be religiously trained, worldly, be a priest or whatever, and be totally pagan in your understanding, totally in darkness. You may know facts. You may know historical facts of the Roman Roman view of history, church history. You gotta be very careful of this. It needs to be mixed with. It needs to be enlightened with the holy spirit with the true moving and working of the holy spirit. So neither is there so he says the stone which the said not of you builders become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant man, they marveled And they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That's the kind of guy I wanna be. I wanna be with Jesus. I wanna sit at Jesus feet. I wanna be known as a guy that spends time with Jesus. They've been with Jesus. See, these guys knew Jesus. They knew his claims. They knew what he, what he was saying. They just didn't you know, remember when Jesus when they finally crucified Jesus and they put a criterion to soldiers to guard the tomb. They said this deceiver said, destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up. They knew what he meant. They knew that he was gonna raise himself from the dead. And so these guys said, hey, unless the worst thing happened, let's put a guard, guard the tomb so his disciples can't steal his body and all. But they knew what Jesus said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. There's no sign gonna be given up at the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah is three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. Shout out the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. These guys understood what was being said. And so you say you believe in God, you do well. The demons also believe and tremble. An intellectual consent to these facts is not saving faith. Do you believe in Jesus? Do you trust in him? They didn't trust in him. They didn't believe in Jesus. And they hated the fact that Peter and John were bringing the authority of Jesus and putting it in their face. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Remember when they said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? This is this is the carpenter's son. His own people were treating him that way. His own brothers didn't believe in him until after the resurrection. He came unto his own, the Jews, and his own received him not. He was in the world. The world was made by him, and the world knew him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. You gotta have that boldness. There can't be any doubt in your mind. There is no other way. There is no new gospel. There is new no new technology. There there there's nobody on the horizon that's gonna ever take the place of Jesus, the antichrist in place of Jesus. He's a pretender. He's a counterfeit, the counterfeit trinity. So make it make it clear, make it solid in your heart. The religious leaders tried to destroy Christianity by killing Jesus. Instead, they only threw gasoline on the fire. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Peter and John refused to be quiet. In acts four verse 20, he says, we cannot but speak the things which we have heard and seen. So when I'm in high school, when I don't know the Lord, I know how to be popular. I know how to gain friends. Compromise. Just go with the flow. Wherever the flow is, just go with the flow. When I became a Christian, I lost a lot of my friends because I couldn't compromise anymore. I had a belief system now. I had something I believed in. I had a person I believed in. So as much as I love them, as much as I wanted to hang out with them and all, there were certain barriers I wouldn't cross, certain lines I wouldn't cross and it made them uncomfortable. And then when I became a pastor, I tried to treat people as my friends. Go along to get along. Not an idiot. I'd like the church to grow. But if I have to compromise God's truth and I have to choose between you and him, I choose him. And every time I've chosen him, there's been a sifting. There's been people that are angry because I won't compromise, because I won't go along that way, because I won't water it down. I fear God more than I fear you. I fear God to the point that one day when I stand before him, I don't wanna give account and have your blood be upon me. You must receive the full counsel of God. I'm not gonna bring a watered down gospel with no sin and no repentance and easy believe ism and everybody's gonna make it in and that whole sorta lie that people wanna hear. I'm not gonna be the guy that appeals to people with itching ears. And I do believe I I meditate on this all week. I do believe the pastors know the truth. I believe there are many pastors out there far greater, far better expositors of God's word than I am. That know theology, that know the Bible, but they purposely choose not to teach the Bible. Why? The people. The people will not endure sound doctrine. They want to be successful, so they have to give the people what the people want to hear, which are therapeutic feel good messages. They choose to please people more than God. King Saul was like that. David was different. David was a man after God's own heart. I wanna be more like David. I wanna stand like Peter and John here and not fear these religious leaders and those trying to tell me that I can't preach in his name anymore. Seize the moment. Allow God to use you right where you're at, Where he ordained you to be. In acts four twenty eight, when they were rehearsing what had happened. For the Lord, whatsoever thy hand has and thy counsel determined beforehand to be done. So they recognize that all that happened to Jesus in acts four twenty eight, all that happened to him was preordained of God. They're given a scathing rebuke of the religious leaders, and then they come to the place that you and I, we all must come where Paul came, where we recognize these adverse circumstances, things that look so so bad are actually planned and ordained by God ahead of time. And so he says in acts four twenty eight, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined for to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grand under thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word By stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by thy name, by thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the holy ghost. And they spake the word of God with boldness. You couldn't shut these guys up. Seize the moment. And they overcame him, the antichrist. Revelation 12, by the word of their testimony. By the blood of the lamb and they love not their lives unto death. Jesus said, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me for whosoever will save his life will lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. So go from fear to boldness. Encourage others. Praise Jesus. Paul could rejoice because he saw the adverse circumstances of his life being used of God to further the gospel. Number one, God used the exposure for your note takers. Number two, God used the encouragement. Number three, God used envy. How's God gonna use envy to further the gospel? Watch what Paul does here. Watch what he does. Verse 15, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely supposed to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. So some preach out of envy envy, strife, contention. It means to canvassing for office. The opportunity to advance their own influence and lessen Paul's. A partisan movement, self seeking, posturing yourself that you're the best church in the community and denigrating the other pastors and the other people and they don't do it right, you know. And you're the best one, and you're you're trying to sell your brand in this day and age in which we live. And Paul had these guys, you know, not wanting to risk what he's risked and be imprisoned like he is, but they certainly wanted to jump on the bandwagon of popularity and see if they could get their brand. The the false prophets were denigrating Paul in the city of Corinth, and they were alluring the people of Corinth with their flashiness, with their bling bling bling. And Paul, they said, you know, he he he's rough in appearance and his voice is rough and he, you know, he's been beat with an ugly stick so much he's hard to even even listen to and watch, you know. And these false prophets, they've got makeup artists and these makeup artists take their bald head and put a rug on and glue it to their head, and and they give them real nice hip glasses, and they do a manicure and a pedicure, and they they bring the makeup in so that the lighting for the cameras shows just right, and they get their teeth veneered and, you know, they're hip and cool. They're they're the they're the hip and cool ones. But the apostle Paul, he's the one that labored eighteen months to plant that church in Corinth, and they disrespect him so much so that Paul says, the more I love you, the less you love them return. I'm doing this for free and you pay these false prophets, you know, they're making merchandise of you. It's just it's an oxymoron. You don't understand it, but Paul loved the church of Corinth. And he loves these guys and people come along and they try to try to, you know, capitalize off of his suffering and come in and with a vacuum that may be created of people that were following Paul and had it had, you know, able to attend that church and all or that bible study, whatever it is. They're wanting to sift these people away, to move these people away. So we talked today about evangelism. We also talked about transfer growth. Much of the growth in America today in a church is transfer growth, where one brand shines brighter than the other brand and the people in this church moved to this other church, and it's back and forth back and forth. But there's still people out there that need to be saved. It'd be nice to fill these seats not with people from other churches, but people who need to be saved and get saved. God's counting on you to do that, to share the gospel, to transform and change people's lives. Paul says in Philippians two three, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than themselves. Do you know the acronym for joy? Joy, the acronym. Joy is Jesus first, other second, yourself last. If you're putting yourself first, you're not gonna be joyous. You gotta put Jesus first. And then esteem others better than yourself. Other second, yourself third. Paul was not competing with anyone. His focus was Jesus. God resist the proud and he gives grace to the humble. God was using Paul to stir others into action. Paul rejoice that they were mobilizing their vast empires to preach Christ. He knew they were trying to stir things up. He knew their objective was to draw men under themselves and to build a case against Paul. He knew they were wanting to add affliction to Paul, But he didn't care about himself and about his own well-being or what people thought of him. He wasn't running for office. He was an ambassador and bonds given a ministry of reconciliation by his king. He rejoice because Christ was preached. If they weren't preaching Christ, would have concerned him. But there's various groups that were trying to capitalize on his situation out of envy and strife. He says at least they're preaching the gospel. The gospel is going out. So personal loss he doesn't care about. He cares about Christ. Paul knew the reality of prison of adversity, but he rejoiced. In second Timothy two verse nine, he says, wherein I suffered trouble as an evildoer even on the bonds. Notice this, watch this. But the word of God is not bound. I'm in prison. I'm in bonds, but the word of God, they can't silence me. They can't stop it. He's writing the prison epistles. He's writing letters to the churches that you and I are reading. This one in particular. The gospel's not bound. God's using that time that Paul's spending for Paul to write more of the New Testament. The gospel is not bound. Why did he rejoice the word of God is not bound? God is working through the circumstances he has brought into your life. God can use the chains. He can use the prison. He can use the sickness for his glory. Have you accepted? And here's the key. Have you accepted the circumstances of your life? Have you surrendered? Do you surrender daily? Do you take your cross up daily and follow Jesus? Or is this a day to demand my rights? This is a day where I want my entitlements. I want what's owed me. God, I've been a good boy. I go to church every week. I tithe, I give, I serve. God, you owe me. God will never be your debtor. When God blesses our lives, it's because of grace, his unmerited favor. You don't want a works relationship with God. You don't want that. You want a a relationship of faith and of love that he he bestows his blessings upon you because of his love. The blessings of the Lord make you rich and he adds no sorrow to it. If riches increase, set not your heart on it. God wants your heart. That's what he wants. He wants your love. Have you accepted the circumstances of your life? In Philippians four twenty two, Paul said all the saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. God sent Paul to Caesar's palace to save Caesar's household. All the servants and everyone there, not just the praetorian guard, but all the servants, people mixed up in there, Paul, over a period of time, couple years in prison is sharing the gospel. And one of the relatives of Caesar, they're saying was saved. Where's God sending you? I noticed that the pastors, they all wanna be sent to the White House. They wanna it to be on TV. Hey, I went to the White House, man. I prayed with these guys. Where do you want God to send you? The White House? To the outhouse? He says, verse 18, what then notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ has preached and I there and do rejoice and ye will rejoice even through envy. Even through guys trying to outdo me or whatever they're doing, they're preaching the gospel. It's it's drawing more attention to the gospel. Psalm 126 verse five, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that go forth weeping bear and precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing the sheaves with him. There's nothing as exciting as seeing somebody saved. And sometimes when you're in that prison cell, when you're chained, when you're in that hospital room or or whatever it may be, where you feel so alone. It's all worth it when somebody gets saved. Kathy and I, the thirty one years here, I can reach a point sometimes where it's like, you know, Lord, this is rough. This this is a rough go. It's so much easier back at the party I was a part of, you know. Thousands and thousands of people getting baptized and coming to Christ and all that. And then the Lord, he's so faithful. He brings someone in at the right time for me to baptize, or somebody raises their hand and receives Christ or hear a testimony of someone that you led to Christ, and I think, yeah, right on. Right on. God's still moving. God's still working. He hasn't quit. He hasn't passed us by. There is a purpose in it. There's a reason in it. And how do I know? Because the Bible says there's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents. We're into numbers. We're into big numbers and being celebrities and following celebrities. Whoever is gonna follow a guy in prison, none of the pastors today wanna go to prison. They're celebrity Christians. I don't see that in the New Testament. I don't see that in the book of acts. I see every single one of these guys that were celebrities, Peter, James, John, they suffered. They led in suffering. They blazed a trail in suffering that others would be emboldened, that they too be willing to die to self, take their cross of every day, and follow Jesus and go and make disciples. We can miss it if all we're doing as Christians, it's just settling in for pleasure. Living for pleasure. Hey, I just wanna live at the palace. I wanna go to Vegas to Caesar's Palace. I got an inkling. I gotta go. Jesus said, look on the fields for their white already to harvest. Preach the gospel. And if God sends you to Vegas, the casino, share Christ. My mom was addicted to the casino in her latter years. Absolutely addicted. Share Christ. There's a lot of people at the casinos that need Jesus. At Caesar's Palace, all the palaces, all the places, wherever he sends you. Some of the folks here, they work at the at the casinos in our community, which which attract a lot of people. They work as cooks, they work as clean the rooms, they work all through there. And they could share Christ. Share Christ with people that are needing Jesus. Father, we thank you. And Lord, we thank you for the example of the apostle Paul. We can't entirely wrap our head around it. He's he's just an amazing dude. And as we see the reality of the Christianity that we did sign up for, Lord, you promised us tribulation. You promised us that in this world we will suffer pressure. There will be pressure against us. But that we were to rejoice. We were to rejoice in that you've overcome the world. And that your peace, my peace I give unto you, not as a world give give I unto you. In the world you will have, that's a promise. You will have tribulation, but be of good share. I've overcome the world. Lord, we thank you that we're more than conquerors through you that loved us. At the cross Of Calvary. Through you that continues to sustain us and love on us and encourage us and help us to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus at the center. Jesus at the center of our hearts. And Lord, you're coming. You're coming soon. Lord, we wanna be ready. We're watching when we see these things begin to come to pass. We lift up our heads knowing our redemption draws nigh. And if you're here this morning and you're sensing the urgency today being the day of salvation, for why would you die in your sins? Today is your day to respond to the gospel. It'll never be any easier than it is today. This is easy as it gets. Jesus said it is finished to tell us that paid in full. All your sins, past, present, and future are paid for. God's calling you to come in repentance, to turn from your sin. Cry out to God, God be merciful merciful to me a sinner and whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son continually cleansed a man of all sin. God wants you to have your name written in the lamb's book of life. He wants to take all the adversity, all the circumstances, all the things that you face, and he wants to turn around for good. He wants to bring beauty from ashes. The oil of joy and gladness and goodness. Put a song in your heart as you rejoice in knowing the savior. Anyone here this morning, just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Anyone on Facebook, lift your hand up. I see you there. I see you. Hobo Kelly, I see you. I see you. Dated myself. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the faith that you've given us, the joy and the blessing of being gifted with this faith. And by your grace, through faith alone, Lord, you've saved us. Father, we worship you. We worship you afresh, and we pray that we wouldn't be bogged down with having pity parties and feeling sorry for ourself when we go through difficult times. Lord, we pray that we'd rise above it and put a song in our heart and we rejoice and thank you and fellowship with others who have it even worse. Be so thankful we don't have the the trials of someone else. There's always somebody has it has it worse than what we think. We think we have the market cornered. We think we're the only ones. But Lord, that's not true. You're a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. When we hit as it were our faces from you, You're despised and rejected of men. All we like sheep have gone astray. And Lord, you've laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus, a man of sorrows. So father, we worship you. We thank you for your son. We thank you for his love demonstrated on the cross of Calvary. And father, now as we partake of communion together, we pray, Lord, for intimacy. We pray for a cohesive oneness, the life of the spirit as we partake, Lord, that your life would be assimilated into ours and you draw us together as one, as one body. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
