"The Message to the Philippians Part IV" By Jesse Rairdon August 30th,
2015
You
may be seated, please. Brother
Bob H., if you could come and lead us
in prayer. 1.
God
opens the door and God closes the door. 2.
God
finishes what He starts. He
finishes
what He starts in your life, and He finishes what He starts in ministry. Amen. 3.
Suffering
is not the end. Of
course, because Jesus
said the Gospel must be preached, and then, the end. In
week 2, Parrish really had two
messages within a message: The
first
one was the message to the church,
and then there is the message in
the
church. And he had
five main parts to
it: Part
1: The message to the Church starts with Love.
Whatever we do; whatever we go to say,
started with love. With
love. Let your
motivation be love. Part
2: The Church is built on the
Lord Jesus, and everything else is beneath Him.
Everything else is beneath Him. Part
3: Christians should watch
their tongue. Part
4: Those with Testimonies. And
he had some other points I
want to highlight, here, too: I
really like when he expounded
about how we can’t outlive Gods blessings, how they are everlasting to
everlasting. When
He blesses you with
something, when He tells you He’s going to do something in your life,
that
blessing is going to outlive you.
Amen? -
Philippians
is a place where we go to seek God and get interrupted.
When they went to go pray, to seek God by the
river, they got interrupted because someone needed to be saved. Which brings up the next
point: -
Philippians
is a place of evangelism and salvation. -
Philippians
is a place of persecution. You’re
going
to suffer persecution for what you believe, and what you talk about,
because
they did suffer persecution, and we do suffer persecution. -
Philippians
is a place of answers and salvation.
When they were in the midst of the persecution, when
they were in jail,
God performed a miracle. But,
then, as a
result of that, someone asked, “What do I need to do to be saved?” So, it’s a place of
salvation. -
Philippians
is a place to take a stand for the God you believe in.
Take a stand.
If you don’t stand for anything, you’ll fall for
everything. Somebody
just took a stand for God. Week
3, Chris talked about Counting
the Cost. He had
three main points: 1.
Counting
the Cost 2.
Pressing
towards the prize 3.
Our
Resurrection He
shared about what we have to
give up as we count the cost. We
can’t
just start, say, “Here am I, sign me up,” and not consider what we’re
getting
into. We’ve got to
leave some stuff behind,
all right? You
can’t just say, “Sign me
up, Lord, I’ll live this Christian life, because anyone who’s ever done
that,
they didn’t last long.” You’ve
got to
count the cost—even Jesus said it—you’ve got to consider what you’re
getting
into. Is a king
going to go against an
army and say, “I got that army taken,” or is he going to say, “I don’t
have
enough to defeat them; maybe I better make peace with them.” You’ve got to consider it,
is this something
you want to do the rest of your life, or is this just a short-time
thing? This may be
just a phase you’re going
through, or, “Someone just talked me into something,” and then, “I’m
out of
that.” You better
count the cost. Not
trying to re-preach what you said, Chris,
but that was really impactful. Then
he talked about, of course,
his second point was Pressing for the Prize, and you can’t press
towards the
prize until you count the cost. You
have
to keep pressing towards the prize. Then
he talked about our
resurrection, and one point that really stood out to me was: God
is going to change our body
and all that will be left is our soul.
How
much is your soul worth to you today?
How
much is your soul worth to you today?
Is
it worth more than all of the fame, fortune, and glory that the world
seems to
provide? What’s
that all really amount
to in the end, if you really weigh it up to the end, is it worth losing
your
soul for all these things that the world has to offer?
What will a man give in exchange for his
soul? Amen?
So
this brings us to Part 4 of the
Message to the Church at Philippi. We’re
going to cover three areas today: 1.
Working
with others in ministry 2.
Keeping
focus on the right things 3.
Giving
with purpose 1.
Working with others in ministry In
verse two, Paul, in this final
chapter—of course, it wasn’t verses before, it was just one big letter,
it kind
of ran in together, we’re going to go by verses so that we can kind of
pinpoint
some things. Philippians 4:2
I
beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche,
that they be of the same mind in the Lord. (Turning
to Brother Parrish and
Brother Andy) Thank you. Always
willing
to be good examples. I
appreciate it. Philippians 4:3
And I
intreat
thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in
the
gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose
names are
in the Book of Life. 2.
Keeping focus on the right things Philippians 4:6-9
Be
careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God. And
the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Those things,
which ye have both learned, and
received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be
with
you. Things
like…. Truth. This
matter that’s coming at you, have you
weighed it up with truth? Is
this
true? Is this right? Is this in the Word of God? Weigh it up. Things
like… Honesty. Am I
honest in this? Are
they honest in this? Things
like… Just- I want to share
this definition of just because sometimes we just sort of look over
words, or
we kind of read through it, or gloss over it as we’re going through the
Bible. It comes
from the Greek word: δίκαιος díkaios,
dik'-ah-yos; from G1349 (in the Strong’s Concordance); equitable (in
character
or act); by implication, innocent, holy (absolutely or
relatively):—just, meet,
right(-eous). 1.
righteous,
observing divine laws 1.
in a
wide sense, upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of God 1.
of those
who seem to themselves to be righteous, who pride themselves to be
righteous,
who pride themselves in their virtues, whether real or imagined 2.
innocent,
faultless, guiltless 3.
used of
him whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to
the will
of God, and who therefore needs no rectification in the heart or life 1.
only
Christ truly 4.
approved
of or acceptable of God We
pray, “Is this just?” Are
you bringing God’s ‘just’ into this
situation? What
does God think about
this? “God, do You
like this, or do you
dislike this?” Things
like… pure- what are my
motives? Are they
innocent,
modest….clean? Prayer
will cause me to
consider that, if it’s pure, the thing I’m about to go to do. If I’m wrong, cause me to
get it right. “God, show
me where I’m wrong.” Cleanse
me, make me
pure in my thoughts and my actions.
Amen? Things
that are lovely… friendly
towards, i.e. acceptable:—lovely.
In
other words, in this situation, am I going to show myself friendly
towards
somebody, or am I going just to combat, and show that I’m right, and
prove
everybody else wrong. Thing
that are
lovely. No, it’s
not just talking about
the pretty girl who sits in front of you in church.
It’s a little more than that.
Amen?
We do have pretty women, especially my wife, I know. I’m going to shout out to
my wife. She’s home
sick, today, so keep her in
prayer. I’m going
to share with her when
I get home. I’ll
make sure, because you
guys will tell her. Things
that of a good report… Now,
God wouldn’t just let me step away from
and brush over things that are of a good report. Let’s
step away from Paul’s letter
for just a moment and go to the Old Testament.
We’re going to talk about the difference between a
good report and a bad
report. You see,
the Children of Israel
had been given a promise of a vast land that had everything to offer
them. All the
promises of God. Twelve
spies were sent to go spy out the
land. Ten of those
spies brought back a bad
report, and had nothing good to say, and two of them brought back a
good
report. Let’s see
how the story unfolds. Numbers Chapter 13:25-33
And
they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to
Moses, and to Aaron,
and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the
wilderness of
Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the
congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And
they told him, and said, We came unto the
land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and
honey; and
this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless
the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled,
and
very great: and
moreover we saw the
children of Anak there. The
Amalekites
dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites,
and the
Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and
the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people
before Moses, and
said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to
overcome
it. But the men
that went up with him
said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger
than
we. And they
brought up an evil report
of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel,
saying, The
land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up
the
inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a
great
stature. And there
we saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and
we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,
and so we were in their sight. Numbers 14:1-10
And all
the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept
that
night. And all the
children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and
the whole congregation said unto them,
Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had
died in
this wilderness! And
wherefore hath the
LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives
and our
children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into
Egypt? And they
said one to another, Let us make a
captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then
Moses and Aaron fell on their faces
before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun,
and Caleb the son
of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their
clothes: And they
spake unto all the company of the
children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search
it, is
an exceeding good land. If
the LORD
delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a
land
which floweth with milk and honey. Only
rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land;
for they
are bread for us: their
defence is
departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation
bade stone them with
stones. And the
glory of the LORD
appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children
of
Israel. That
goes on; if time permitted, I
would read the whole chapter, but, I tell you what, there’s a lot of
good meat
on them bones. Basically,
it go to the
point where God said, “Enough. EEEnough
of your negative attitude, people!
I’m
going to destroy them all. Get
rid of
them all. Start
over. And Moses and
Aaron, basically, talked God
out of destroying them all. So,
God’s
judgment was, for every day—if you don’t know what the number forty
means, it
really means complete. Complete
circle. It’s good
to understand numbers when you read
and seek out things in the Bible, because they went out and spied out
the land
for forty days, so, forty years, one year for each day, they were going
to
wander in the wilderness until all their carcasses fell out because of
their
evil report. All
the time, Caleb and Joshua
kept trying to push what was right.
Kept
trying to say, “No, no, no, no, you don’t get this.
God’s already given it to us.
They’re bread for us.”
There are situations in your life that you
can’t overcome because you’re already defeated.
But you can see here how this evil report affected
the whole
congregation. It
affected
everybody. Sometimes
all we have to say
is evil; how does God feel about that?
When you bring communication to your elders, to your
leaders, to the
people you work with in ministry, bring good.
When you think, “This may not look good right now,
but I know God’s
going to see a way through this,” instead of saying, “We don’t have
enough
people.” God’s got
enough people right
here to do what he wants to do. God
can
take a few people and see a nation try to be changed from their
negative
attitude; God can do anything. God
will
bring the laborers; pray for the laborers.
Stop worrying about what you don’t have and use what
you have. God has
given you everything; God has taught
some of you for years, and you’ve been waiting, and waiting, and
waiting to use
what God has taught you. Stop
waiting! Bring a
good report. Prayer
will cause you to think
about that. If you
stop and pray before
you go to communicate something, “Is this good or bad?” Sometimes, people at work,
all it is, is
negative, negative, and it brings you down.
How do you think leaders feel if all you bring is
bad stuff? How
about you leave a message, “We met a
couple of people on the base today, and we prayed with them.”? How about, “We met over at
Sister So-and-so’s
house, and we prayed and had great fellowship.”?
How about we visited this person in the
hospital, and prayed for a miracle, and there were people just outside
the
door, kind of listening in, just to see what was happening.”? God does those kinds of
things. Bring the
good report; bring the good fruits.
Some of you re still wandering around in the
wilderness thinking that you have to pay for somebody else’s sins. It’s time to stop
wandering. It’s
time to enter into the Promised
Land. The promises
that God has given
you in ministry, and the resurrection, are there for you. Stop wandering around
worrying about what
somebody else did or didn’t do. God’s
called you, now, to do
something. Amen? Time
doesn’t permit me to go over
the rest of this story and hear the end result, but take some time
tonight when
you go home to look at this a little further.
Amen? If
you run across people, and all
they have to say is negative, avoid them. All
they are doing is poisoning the well we
all drink out of. Avoid
them. Don’t even
give them the time of day. There’s
a difference between somebody that
wants to be restored, and drink good water, and somebody who wants to
poison
the well. Amen? Now,
let’s continue in Philippians
4:8. Let’s kind of
go over that again. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever
things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise,
think on these things. Let’s
think about virtue for a
minute. ἀρέτη
arétē, ar-et'-ay; from the
same as G730; properly, manliness (valor), i.e. excellence (intrinsic
or
attributed):—praise, virtue. 1.
a
virtuous course of thought, feeling and action 1.
virtue,
moral goodness 2.
any
particular moral excellence, as modesty, purity There’s
a whole lot of attack
against manliness, and against fathers in our society today. This is a good thing that
God’s
instilled. It’s not
a bad thing. We’ve
got to raise our youth, our young men
to have these qualities. When
you pray, “Is this
virtue? Am I
bringing virtue to this
situation?” Think
about praise…. ἔπαινος
épainos, ep'-ahee-nos;
from G1909 and the base of G134; laudation; concretely, a commendable
thing:—praise. To
give someone or something
praise. When
you go to encourage somebody,
to praise somebody. Bring
praise to the
situation. To give
somebody a praise. Now
to our final part in Philippi,
the Church of the Philippians: 3.
Giving with a purpose Philippians 4:15
Now ye Philippians
know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, [When Paul
had that vision,
when he baptized Lydia and everybody, that’s what he’s talking about
right
there: Acts chapter
sixteen] when I departed from Macedonia, no
church
communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. Philippians 4:16-17
For
even in
Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I
desire a
gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. Think
about that for a
minute. Not because
I just wanted you to
give money, Paul’s saying, but because I desired fruit to your account. Philippians 4:18-19
But I
have
all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things
which
were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
wellpleasing to God. But
my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The
church had resources; it takes
resources to meet the needs of ministry. Not
only in money, but in efforts, in talents,
and time. The end
result is, God gives
us more; God gives them more. This
is a
different level of giving; giving with purpose.
God desires to bless you through your giving, not
only money, but time,
talents and availability are ways we can communicate this. What
if there is a need for
mentoring teen-agers, young men and women, and you have the time, you
have the
ability, you have the training, you could meet that need, but you never
communicate it? You’re
never going to
bear fruit, unless you communicate. What
if you’re good at hosting
people, or cooking, I mean, your food actually tastes good? That’s not me.
You might eat to survive with me, you might eat a
hotdog or a hamburger
off the grill, but, my wife, it’s ministry when she cooks. People are happy. They’re not trying to
shove the rest to the
dog under the table. It’s
a
blessing. Communicate
those things to
the leaders. Do you
think sometimes
these young people from the base might want a home-cooked meal instead
of
always going to starving, or grabbing a quick bite?
Maybe you could open up your home, invite
them over, and share a little bit about the experiences of your life,
and host
them, encourage them, teach them.
Amen? Remember
Priscilla and
Aquila? You never
know who’s going to
come for those type of settings. What
kind of part in life God’s going to change.
Amen? Remember
you can’t outlive God’s
blessings and you can’t out give God. Let’s
close with Paul’s letter as Paul
would close it, in his own words: Philippians 4:20
Now
unto
God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Remember,
we talked about that,
that there’s nobody above the name of Jesus.
Everything else is beneath Him. Philippians 4:21
Salute
every saint in Christ Jesus… Philippians 4:23
The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
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