Alright brethren, welcome to the church service this evening.
Hope you're ready to sing some praises to the Lord.
If you are, please open your hymnals and let's turn to hymn number 158.
And I know we've not sung this one probably ever as a church, but it's really easy to follow.
158, let's begin by singing O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing 158.
And when you have found it, can you please stand? 158.
O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.
God Save The King
O for a Thousand Tongues to sing
My Great Redeemer's grace
No worries of my God in peace
No chance of his grace
My gracious master
Have I not assisted him or played
Jesus, the name that drowns our fears, and builds our sorrows'
lips.
Yes, he is a jitter, he is a sinner.
Yes, he is fine and well and makes.
He breaks the power of casualty.
He sets the prison free.
His blood can make the palace clean.
He's a lover there for me.
Here, here, here, there, his praise be upon us,
our tongues and joy.
He might behold your sin, but I'm plainly willing for joy.
All right, let's pray.
Our heavenly Father the Lord, we want to come.
Before you tonight, Lord, to praise you, to worship you,
to lift up your name.
So, Lord, I pray you receive us and, Lord, I pray that you
help us with your Holy Spirit to learn from you tonight
to be a little bit more like Jesus.
And, Lord, I just thank you so much for the salvation
you offered us all.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
All right, a more familiar hymn, 223.
Two, two, three, springs of living water.
Two hundred and twenty-three, springs of living water.
Three hundred and twenty-three, springs of living water.
Four hundred and twenty-three, springs of living water.
It makes me glad and happy all the way.
Now, glory, grace and blessing, but above I'm drawn.
I'm shouting hallelujah every day.
Drinking at the springs of living water.
Happy now am I, am I sure they satisfy?
Drinking at the springs of living water.
Oh, what the fallen mountain falls so high.
Oh, sinner, won't you come today to bow the ring?
A fountain there is flowing deep and wide.
The Savior now invites you to a water-free
Where those in spirit can be satisfied.
Drinking at the springs of living water.
Happy now am I, am I sure they satisfy?
Drinking at the springs of living water.
Oh, what the fallen mountain falls so high.
All right, our last hymn before the boggling.
Let's turn to hymn number 100.
Hymn number 100, day by day.
And we've reached passing moments.
Hymn 100, day by day.
Oh, what the fallen mountain falls so high.
All right, our last hymn number 100.
Hymn 101, day by day.
And we've reached passing moments.
Shrimp by the Radu.
And the dry is here.
The wrestling field of trials.
I'll be looking in
It burns hard, it's climbing all the way slow
It's up to you, it's a rocket in space
Running in, it's coming in faster
Making true, it's a grace
Every day of the year, someone near me
With a special grace and holy child
Oh, my dear, he's a woman, what's she mean?
He would sing his gospel all the time
He would reflect the soul of his mother to her joy
It's a charge that a prince of debate
As the grace that shines upon my vision
It survives the way it remains
Helping me in my relation
So to trust the grace of the Lord
That I lose my fortune on the way to
Helping me in my lonely heart
The only hope that's more than trouble he takes
And to take that from a father's hand
But I'm not the only one that's waiting
All right, great singing.
Please take your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians chapter 2.
And brother Matthew is coming up for the reading.
Philippians chapter 2, thank you.
Philippians chapter 2.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bows and mercies,
fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, of things in earth, and things under the earth,
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings,
that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
Yea, and if I be offended upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
I joy and rejoice with you all.
For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me.
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you,
that I may be of good comfort when I know your state.
For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
But ye know the proof of him, that as a son of the Father,
he hath served with me in the gospel.
Him therefore I hope to send presently,
as soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
But I trust in the Lord, that I also myself shall come shortly.
Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother,
and companion in labour, and fellow soldier,
but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness,
because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him,
and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
I send him therefore the more carefully that ye see him again,
ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness,
and hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ
he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life,
to supply your lack of service towards me.
So let's pray.
Lord, we just thank you that we can be here tonight
to receive the word from you and from Pastor Kevin.
Just pray you'll fill in with the Holy Ghost as he expounds the scriptures to us.
In Jesus' precious name. Amen.
All right, so because I'm not going to be with you guys here this Sunday,
and I love to go through at least one chapter of the Bible with the Church once a week,
I decided we'll cover Philippians chapter 2.
We started Philippians on Sunday, we did Philippians chapter 1.
It was a bit of a long sermon for an afternoon service,
so again, thank you for your patience.
This won't be as long of a sermon, okay?
So Philippians chapter 2.
Let's start the verse number 1.
It says, if there be any consolation in Christ.
The title for the sermon tonight is, Consolation in Christ.
Consolation in Christ.
What does the word consolation mean?
Well, it's a state of being consoled, okay?
It's a state of being comforted.
Now, you know, you can be someone that gives the comfort,
but consolation is the person that receives the comfort.
And so the Bible begins by saying that we can find consolation in Jesus Christ.
We can find comfort in the Lord.
They say, why is that the first thing that's been brought up there in verse number 1?
Well, just a reminder, go back to the previous chapter.
Philippians chapter 1, look at verse number 29.
You know, and this is, again, the reality of the Christian life
that you need to think about.
It says, verse number 29,
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, which you've done,
praise God, you're saved, you've believed on him,
but also to suffer for his sake.
I'm not going to, you know, cover the sermon that I preached,
yes, a la, or sorry, on Sunday,
but you can see that we will suffer for Christ.
If we work for him, if we live for him, if we serve him,
if we preach the word about compromise, we will suffer for him.
But you see, the Lord Jesus does not leave us without comfort, without consolation.
You see, when you suffer for Christ, he will also comfort you.
In fact, didn't he say that he will leave us the comforter,
which is the Holy Spirit that resides in each and every believer.
And so we all have access to the consolation or the comfort that comes from our Lord.
But remember, when you go through difficulties because of the name of Christ,
you have that comfort. That's why it's being brought up here in verse number one.
What does that say? A consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit, in any bowels of mercies.
What is it saying?
Again, let's pick up verse number one. Let's read it just carefully once again.
If there be, therefore...
Now, are these things available in our Christian life, if there be?
Of course they're there.
Of course there's consolation in Christ.
Of course there's comfort of God's love.
Of course there's the fellowship of the Spirit.
Of course there's bowels of mercies that we receive from God.
So because we have these things, because God has blessed us with these mercies,
it says in verse number 22,
Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded.
Now, Paul is right into the Philippian church.
For us, we ought to be looking at this, yes, the Philippian church,
but we ought to be looking at this epistle and all the epistles that are written to churches,
as though Paul is writing that, or this, to New Life Baptist Church.
So if God is there, who has given us conciliation, who has given us comfort,
then we should fulfil the joy of Paul.
Then look, this is the joy of all religious leaders.
This is the joy of your pastor.
What is that joy?
That ye be like-minded.
Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
You know what any pastor, or even the apostle Paul, who started a church, wants for their church?
They want unity. I want unity.
I want love in our church.
Like, if God can give us comfort, if He can give us love and fellowship,
then brethren, that is a reality that we too ought to have those same characteristics in our church.
How loving is our church?
You say, maybe it can be more loving.
Of course it can be more loving.
But you know how loving our church ought to be?
As loving as God is toward you.
You know how much comfort you ought to find in our church?
As much as comfort or consolation that Christ gives you.
How much mercy should we find in our church?
As much mercy as God has given you.
And that is the joy of the apostle Paul.
That would be my joy as well.
And I know.
I know there's conflicts.
I know there are divisions that occur in churches.
I know we don't always see eye to eye and it could cause some ruffled feathers in ministry in the church.
But you know what, if that's how the church is, I'm not going to have much joy.
I'll tell you what as a pastor.
Because the church and servant is not going to give you the joy.
The joy would be when we're united.
There's unity, there's love.
We're like-minded.
What does it mean to be like-minded?
That we think alike.
That we have the same goals and purposes.
Again, we're not here starting some cult.
I'm not saying be like-minded like me and my family and do everything the same as my family.
That's not the standard. The standard is God's word.
We're not talking about being like-minded.
We're talking about having the same mind that we learned from the scriptures.
Which eventually, as you keep going through this chapter,
you'll discover that it's the mind of Christ.
We ought to have the same mind as Christ.
We ought to refresh and change our mindset to be aligned with God's word.
That would be a like-minded church.
That we think alike, that we love alike.
Being of one accord, there's unity, one mind.
Our church can do great things.
But it won't be able to accomplish great things if we're divided.
It won't accomplish great things if there are conflicts left unresolved.
We must be like-minded, having the same love.
Verse number three.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
That's how church ought to be.
Not a place of strife.
There's a problem if it's a place of strife.
Vainglory.
There's a problem if church is a place where people are trying to be glorified for self.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
But, this is how our mind ought to be.
But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
When we come to church, we have to look at each other and say,
you know what, I'm going to prioritize everybody else.
Look, if you come to church and receive a blessing, I hope so.
I hope that's what you get out of church.
But really, your mindset ought to be, how can I be a blessing?
I hope you come to church to be renewed and to be energized by God's word and be encouraged.
But your mindset ought to be, how can I be an encouragement?
How can I lift my brethren?
Hey, I hope I get lifted, but how can I lift my brethren?
It's a good place to come and be prayed for.
But your mindset ought to be, how can I pray for my brethren?
What do my brethren need prayers for?
I hope you get served in church.
But your mindset ought to be, I want to be a servant.
I want to lift up other people.
That's what it means to be lowly in mind.
Lowliness or being lowly is very similar to humility, but it's a little bit different.
If you interchange these words, I don't think it's a problem, but it's a little bit different.
When we talk about humility, we're talking about how you assess yourself.
You might achieve great things, you might have great strengths, great achievements,
but someone that is humble will not toot their own horn.
They're not going to go around with their nose up.
Yeah, they can do great things, but if nobody knows about it, so what?
You're not trying to make a name for yourself, that would be humility.
But lowliness has not so much to do about how you feel about yourself, but how you look upon others.
Do you elevate other people?
Would you rather be lowly in the eyes of someone else?
Do you want to be the master or do you want to be the servant when you look at other people?
That's what it means to be lowly, though it's very similar to humility.
But it's kind of a different view.
Humility is how you perceive yourself.
Lowliness is how you perceive yourself in light of others.
Now, when we got thinking about this, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
you know, let's go back to Philippians chapter 1 verse 15,
and again, let nothing be done through strife.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
And this touches upon what we read there earlier on Sunday at least in Philippians chapter 1 verse 15,
which says, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife.
Now again, I touched upon this, now if someone's going out there preaching the gospel,
and they're doing it out of envy, and they're doing it to get into strife,
I'm not going to stop them, I'm going to rejoice that at least they're doing the work.
But you notice as we get to chapter 2, the instruction is, look, don't do anything out of strife.
Meaning that if we have a soul winner in our church that's constantly getting into conflicts,
or they do it out of envy, it's like, again, they're looking at the apostle Paul,
he's suffering, look at what he's going through, he's the champion, I want to be like Paul,
I envy that, I envy that attention.
There are some soul winners like that, but that's not how a soul winner ought to remain.
Because that kind of attitude, that envy, the desire in what Paul goes through,
the attention that Paul gets, that's just vainglory, as we saw there.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
So once again, if we have a gospel preacher, a soul winner, that is just getting into conflicts,
and you feel like they've got the wrong motivation, look, don't discourage them,
rejoice at the work that they're doing.
Give them time, and instruct them, hey, look, it's not out of strife.
We go out there for love, it's out of the love of the lost.
It's for the love of the gospel of the kingdom that we get out there and do the work.
It's not about ourselves, you know, it's not about ourselves being highlighted,
it's about looking at others, and brethren, that's what we do when we go soul wins, don't we?
We esteem other better than ourselves.
Hey, that lost person at the door deserves my solid hour, or my solid two hours,
where I'm lowering myself, I'm becoming a servant, and presenting the gospel,
hoping that they would be saved.
But that attitude ought to be in Christian service as well.
Christian ministry in our church.
You know, and I'm very thankful for the men that get up behind this pulpit and preach.
I don't see strife and vainglory in your demeanor.
I don't see the wrong motivation.
You know, when people get up to preach behind this pulpit, you know, the different men,
I see humility, I see a lowliness, I see servitude.
You know, I see that you love your brethren, that you care enough to give the time and attention,
you know, the due diligence to see people God's word.
I like that. That's how we ought to be as a church, okay?
And whatever your service is, doesn't matter preaching behind this pulpit,
whatever our service is, brethren, it ought to be done in humility,
it ought to be done in lowliness of mind, esteeming other better than ourselves.
And you know, again, when you esteem others better than yourselves, again,
another thing that we can take out of this is that we're not in competition.
I'm not in competition with you, okay?
Please don't look at other people in the church and think you're in competition, okay?
That we're competing against each other. No, we're not competing.
We're looking for unity, supporting one another.
If someone does well in life, hey woo brother, well done.
Oh man, that ought to be me.
Oh, if someone gets out there and wins souls and they get free salvations,
oh, I don't think he got free.
Look, just rejoice. Rejoice.
And look, if they got the wrong motivation, they did it out of strife and main glory,
well again, you know what their reward is,
but at least rejoice that the gospel's getting out there
so some work is being done in the house of the Lord.
And we're not in competition with other churches either.
You know, I'm not competing with other pastors.
You know, I love it when we have Pastor Stevenson here on Wednesdays.
We don't have him tonight. If you're listening, pastor,
hey, we're not in competition with one another. I appreciate.
Hey, when Pastor Stevenson's here supporting our church, supporting the work,
alright, you know, he had planned to have a friend day.
You know, I kind of got mixed up, but it's coming up this Sunday.
And I said to the church before I forgot that, you know, we've got men here preaching.
I said, hey, if you guys want to go and support the friend day, go for it.
You know, I think we ought to be encouraging other churches,
encouraging other men of the Lord that are doing great work.
I'm not in competition with anybody, okay?
You know, so, again, I'm steaming other better than myself.
You know, other godly pastors, other good churches that love the Lord,
that are saved, that are preaching the right gospel,
teaching from the King James Bible, I'm going to steam them better than me.
I'm going to steam them better than New Life Baptist Church.
I don't want to have this attitude thinking that I'm the best.
Vainglory! No, I'm not in competition.
And you know what, when it comes time to be rewarded by Jesus,
He can be the judge of the works that we've done.
Look at verse number 4.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
You can see what this like-minded, you know, you can see, again, over the mind,
the mind being reinforced, being like-minded, being like Jesus,
having the mind of Jesus.
Look not every man on his own things.
We all have our own things that we need to look after.
But don't forget that other people have needs.
Look on the needs of others, on the things of others.
If you can actually do something to help in a very physical, tangible way, do it.
But if you can't do it in a very physical, tangible way,
the very least thing that you could do is pray for them.
You take it to the God that supplies all our needs.
The very least that we could be doing for each other in love and unity is praying for each other.
And there are people in our church that have great needs to care and pray for one another,
esteeming them better than yourselves.
It says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, meaning that Christ Jesus,
Jesus himself did not look upon his own things, but every man on the things of others.
He looked upon the things of others.
And we know what that led him to do.
That led him to lay down his life.
Jesus did not lay down his life for himself.
He did it for us. He did it for sinners. He did it for others.
That's what it means to be like-minded.
The mind of Christ.
The standard is Christ.
How Christ conducted himself.
How he thought. How he loved.
How he cared for others.
That needs to be our church, the same love.
It's a high standard. Of course it's a high standard.
And I hope we just get better.
I hope we grow in love.
I hope we grow and care for one another.
Because that's the goal.
And again, this is what's going to fulfill Paul's joy.
This is what's going to fulfill my joy when we see this love and unity, this like-mindedness in our church.
Verse number six, speaking of Christ, who had been in the form of God.
Isn't that amazing?
That Jesus Christ is in the form of God.
His form is God.
He is God.
What's the form of man?
I've got the form of man. You've got the form of man.
We've got humanity.
Have you got the form of God?
Only Jesus Christ has that form.
Again, reinforcing the deity of Christ.
Thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Jesus Christ is equal with God.
He does not think that's robbery.
You know, when you're a thief, if you rob, you take something that does not belong to you.
Well, Christ does not think this is robbery to see himself as equal to God, meaning that he is God.
He's not a thief.
He's not taking godhood for himself.
You know, we haven't appointed a man as God.
He is God. He is equal with God.
He has the form of God.
Jesus Christ is 100% God.
But not only that, we see in verse number 7.
But made himself, and again, this is the same, you know, don't take it out of the context.
But made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men.
See, Jesus Christ is 100% God, yet 100% man at the same time.
But what I like about it is he made himself of no reputation.
I mean, look, when he came to this earth,
when you read about his stories in the script, is he just going around, hey, I'm God, guys.
You know, bow down and just worship me.
Build me a kingdom.
All right, everybody in Israel, come and worship me.
You know, come and serve me.
That wasn't Jesus' approach.
And yet he's God, but he made himself of no reputation.
What do we learn about Jesus?
But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
That's how Christ came to this earth.
That's how God came to this earth.
You have to think about how mighty, how powerful, how great our God is.
And yet he came to this earth and was not seeking that praise,
and you know what, he came to lay down his life.
He came to be a servant.
He came to look upon the needs of others.
And if we're going to be like-minded, we've got to take the same approach in our church.
And humility came to serve, not to be served.
Not that it was wrong to serve Jesus.
Not that it was wrong to worship Jesus.
Hey, we see sometimes people in the Bible actually realize who Jesus Christ truly is.
The Lord God, and they get down and they worship him.
Jesus never rebuked them, because he was God.
He deserved our worship. He deserved praise.
But no, he actually came to lay down his life.
He came to be a servant.
Verse number 8.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wow.
Who was he obedient to? He became obedient unto death.
Obviously he's been obedient to his Father's will.
His Father said, look, this is the way to save humanity.
This is salvation. This is what we need to do.
You need to lay down your life. You need to shed your blood for sinners.
And Christ was obedient to that death. Obedient.
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And so something we learn, just looking at what Christ did here,
is that if you have a problem with pride, and we all do to some extent.
I know we all do. Don't tell me you don't.
As soon as you say, I've got no pride, that's your pride speaking.
But we learn here, the answer to pride, to overcome pride, is obedience.
Obedience to authority.
Christ was obedient to his Father, even unto death.
Children, if you find yourself rebellious, and again, we all are kids.
Even your parents are rebellious, I'll tell you now.
And we've grown up being rebellious. We went through the rebellious teenage years.
We went through the rebellious teenage years, believe it or not.
But to overcome that, you need to learn to be obedient.
And say, look, even if I don't want to obey Mum and Dad, I'm going to do it.
And you say, why should I do it? Because Jesus was willing to be obedient.
Enough to die for you.
Can you just at least be obedient to your parents?
Because your parents aren't going to ask you to die on a cross.
And for the sins of all humanity.
If Jesus Christ set this example for us of obedience, of humility,
and humility is the opposite of pride, of course,
then we can be obedient to the authorities that we have over us.
What's the answer to a stubborn, rebellious wife?
Obedience to the husband.
That's how you overcome pride.
Say, you know what, even if I don't want to, I'm going to obey.
I'm going to do what is right.
I need to take down this pride.
What's the answer to a stubborn, rebellious man?
Obedience to Christ.
What's the answer to stubborn, rebellious church members?
Obedience to the pastor.
And look, do I ask that much from you, really, in church?
I might ask you to stand up, let's sing the first hymn, you know, and sit down.
And turn to this hymn, you know, and give attention to the preaching
while it's being preached, and I appreciate all of that.
You know, there's very little that I ask, I guess, as a pastor, but...
What's the answer to a prideful employee?
Obedience to your employer.
Obedience to your supervisor.
Can you at least do that?
Because Christ was obedient unto death.
And we're meant to be like-minded.
We're meant to seem other, better than ourselves.
Absolutely, obedience to authority is the answer to pride.
Obedience to authority is humility.
Humbling yourself before the needs of others.
Something else that I want to bring out of this in verse number seven,
again, we're in verse number eight, but verse number seven and eight,
it says at the end of verse number seven,
it was made in the likeness of men,
verse number eight, and been found in fashion as a man.
Listen, when Christ came to this earth,
he came in the likeness of man.
Found in fashion as a man.
Why is that important?
I'll quickly read to you from James chapter two verse nineteen.
Before I read it to you,
how are we saved, brethren?
We're saved by grace through faith on Jesus Christ.
By grace alone, through faith alone, on Christ alone.
That's how we are saved.
It's our belief on Christ.
On what he has done for us.
Our trust on what he's done for us.
That's how we get saved.
Alright?
Now when Christ died, who did he die for?
Well he came in the form of man,
because he died for man.
He died for mankind.
This is important.
Because some idiots, I say idiots,
okay, would take a passage like James chapter two,
verse number nineteen,
which says, thou believeth that there is one God,
thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble.
So they'll say, oh see,
believing is not enough.
Even the devils believe there's one God and they tremble.
But did Jesus come in the form of a devil?
Did Jesus die for the devils?
Did Jesus die for Satan?
Of course not.
That's number one, okay?
He came and he died like a man.
Jesus Christ, 100% God, yet 100% man.
Salvation is only available to man.
Man, woman, mankind.
Okay?
Not the devils.
And people that mock our faith,
that say it's just by faith alone and Christ alone,
oh but the devils believe.
Well look, they don't believe on Jesus Christ.
They're not trusting his death,
burn, and resurrection for their salvation.
It says here, do they believe there is one God?
That doesn't save anybody.
The Muslims believe there's one God,
but is there faith on Jesus Christ,
on his death, burn, and resurrection?
They don't even believe Jesus Christ died on the cross.
Alright?
But you know, again, it's just,
I'm saying, idiots.
Morons that take a passage like James chapter 2,
verse number 19,
oh faith is not enough because even the devils believe.
Salvation is not available to the devils.
Okay?
And they don't even,
believing in one God does not save anybody.
Okay?
Believing in one God does not save anybody.
And this comes, you know,
I'm mentioning that because,
as we keep going through this,
you need to understand that just believing in one God
is not enough to save you.
You know, when you go door to door,
I'm sure you've heard it.
You know, are you sure that if you die today,
you know, you go to heaven and they respond,
well, I believe in God.
I believe I will because I believe in God.
Well, the devils believe in one God.
Okay?
Because what God do you believe in?
I don't know.
If you say you believe in God,
hey, there is one true God.
Do you believe in the one true God
which was declared unto us by Jesus Christ?
That's the God that saves you.
Okay?
That's the God, not just I believe in God
because people have wild imaginations of what their God is.
Some people say I believe in God
but they're talking about the earth and the trees
and the animals and themselves.
As we keep going through this,
you'll see that salvation is only through Christ.
Verse number nine.
It says, wherefore God also have highly exalted him
and given him a name which is above every name.
What I love about this again is the fact that Christ came
and made no reputation of himself.
He lowered himself.
He was humble.
He died.
He was obedient unto death.
And brethren, we learn a great truth.
When you humble yourself,
when you elevate other people,
when you put the needs of others first,
God will exalt you.
Just like he exalted his son.
Okay?
God will exalt you.
You wouldn't be lifted up by God.
You wouldn't be exalted by God.
You need to be humble.
You need to be lowly.
You need to become a servant.
This is the same teaching that Christ gave us
in Matthew 23 verse 11.
I'll just read it to you.
Matthew 23, 11.
Jesus Christ says these words.
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.
And he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
I think we all want to be great for God.
I don't want to be great for this world.
I want to be great for God.
I want to please the Lord.
I want to be exalted by God.
What do you do?
You have to be humble.
You have to be lowly.
You have to love other people.
You have to look at the needs of others.
Pray for others.
Lower yourself.
Become a servant.
Take down the pride.
Become obedient to the authorities
that God has put over you.
You say, but pastor,
I'm just going to lower myself
or lower myself.
But then God picks you up.
God elevates you to a higher position.
People will look at you
because God has blessed you greatly.
But the way of exaltation, brethren,
is not self-exaltation.
The way to exaltation
is to lower yourself and humble yourself
and wait for God's timing.
In due time,
he'll give you the blessings.
He'll exalt you
and you'll be in a much better position
than you were beforehand.
Again, Christ has given us that example.
When we have these instructions
and commandments from God's Word,
you need to remind yourself
Christ has already done these things.
We preach about being a soul winner.
Christ has already been the soul winner.
We say about suffering for Christ,
Christ already suffered for us.
We talk about being humble and lowly.
Christ has already been humble and lowly.
We talk about being a servant.
Christ has already been the servant.
We talk about being baptized.
Christ has already been baptized.
We talk about learning the Scriptures,
reading the Bible.
You know what Christ did
when he was a child and he grew up?
He read the Scriptures.
He grew in wisdom,
he grew in knowledge.
Everything that God asks from us,
his Son already did that as our example,
and we are to follow after these steps.
This is why we can't complain and say,
do I really need to do this?
Jesus did it for you.
Can't you do a little bit in return?
Because God's not going to ask you
to do as much as Christ did.
We can do a little bit more for Christ.
Verse number 10.
And again, he's been given this name
above every name.
That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow
of things in heaven.
Isn't that amazing?
All things in heaven will bow to this name.
And things in earth.
Again, this must be the millennial reign of Christ.
I'm assuming.
Things on earth.
When everyone's going to bow down to Christ.
And things under the earth.
We're talking about hell here.
Even the seas if you want the creation.
And then hell.
Everything.
Everybody.
Every knee should bow
at the name of Jesus.
Verse number 11.
And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
You know what glorifies the Father?
When we say Jesus Christ is Lord.
When we say He's in charge.
He's in command.
And we're going to bow down and serve Christ.
This glorifies the Father.
This glorifies God.
And I love the fact that over and over again
we see Jesus here.
Let's read verse number 9 again.
Wherefore God have also highly exalted him
and given him a name which is above every name.
You see, it's not just
I believe in God.
No, you must believe in the name of Jesus.
And at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow.
Verse number 11.
And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Be careful of the Hebrew roots movement.
How important is the name of Jesus?
Over and over again.
God the Father has given him that name.
A name which is above every name.
This is the name that saves us.
Again, John 1-12, one of my favorites.
But as many as received him
to them gave you power to become the sons of God
even to them that believe on his name.
Believe in that Bob died on the cross for you
and rose again will not save you.
Believe in that Kevin or Peter or Paul
or any great man in the Bible
died on the cross and rose again
will not save you.
It's his name. His name is Jesus.
It's not Yeshua or Yeshua.
That's what the Hebrew roots movement
wants us to do as Christians.
They want us to move away from the name of Jesus
which is found in our holy scriptures.
It's Yeshua.
That's his real name.
And if you truly want to be saved
you must call him by his real name Yeshua.
Kind of like the jail of witnesses.
They say you've got to call him Jehovah.
You know you're not saved.
That's his name. That's the name of God.
That's the name of salvation.
Listen brethren.
At least the name of Jehovah is at least in the Bible.
The name Yeshua is not in the Bible.
It is not in the Bible.
Listen, I've already preached on this.
We're a King James only preaching church.
Okay. Hey, the Bible that we use
that we claim to be perfect and preserved
is in English.
And you're never going to find anywhere
Hey, and it's a big book,
a lot of books, a lot of chapters,
a lot of verses, a lot of writing.
You're never going to find the name Yeshua
in your Bible.
So I'm not going to call him Yeshua.
I don't even know whose name that is.
Yeshua.
And we have Baptist pastors
using this name
so ignorantly
independent fundamental Baptists, yes I've heard them.
Yeshua.
Who is Yeshua?
Can you show me in your Bible
if I'm going to call my Lord by a name
and not really see it in the Bible?
Well, it's not in the English translation, Pastor Kevin.
Well, the only place
you know, when the Scriptures were given to us
and the name of Jesus was revealed
as the name of the Son
that is in the Greek New Testament.
And look, you go back to the original writings
speaking of Jesus and his name
and in Greek
you won't find the name Yeshua.
It's not in the original language
and it's not in our English King James Bible.
So why are English pastors using the name Yeshua?
Because they've been influenced by the Hebrew
roots movement
which does not believe
in salvation by faith alone.
They definitely believe in salvation
by keeping the Old Testament law.
100%.
But listen, that name does not save anybody.
You can say, I believe that Yeshua
died on the cross for me and rose again from the dead.
That man is not saved.
He must believe in the name of Jesus.
Okay?
That's the name that God has given us.
Alright?
And you say, well, come on, Pastor.
That's the translation from Hebrew.
But nobody knows Hebrew.
So what are you talking about, Pastor Kevin?
You must be so ignorant.
Don't you know there's a nation in the Middle East
that speaks Hebrew right now?
Listen, modern day Hebrew
is not the same language
of the Hebrew that was spoken
by the Israelites of the Old Testament.
How do I know that?
Because this is well documented.
No one will debate this.
The Hebrew language was dead.
Nobody spoke the Hebrew language.
It was definitely dead
by the end of 200 AD.
Okay?
And it was revived in the late 19th century.
That's about 1,600 years
where this language
was not spoken.
There's no videotapes
of anyone speaking the Hebrew language.
There's no tape recordings.
You can't go back
and hear how people
spoke Hebrew.
But when it was revived,
they took the text
and they had to create new sounds
based on that.
How do you know that the modern day
Hebrew language is the same
as Old Testament Hebrew language?
You've got no idea.
Nobody has any idea.
They had to create new sounds
because they don't know what it sounded like.
It was a dead language
for 1,600 years.
The language they spoke, the Jewish people spoke
was Yiddish, if you don't know that.
And Yiddish sounds nothing
and has no similarities
to the Hebrew language.
Yiddish is more like a Germanic language.
It's got nothing to do with Hebrew.
So, when you hear
Jews today speaking in Hebrew
and they're telling you
the name of Jesus is Yeshua,
they've got no idea what that even sounds like.
I mean, think about that.
Pretend the English language
just died.
Nobody was using it for 1,600 years.
And we didn't have the internet.
We had no modern ways of recording the English language.
1,600 years later,
someone finds English.
They see the name of Jesus.
Okay, the J, we're going to pronounce it as
Shuu.
And the E, we're going to pronounce it as
Oh.
And all of a sudden you're going to have a
zhoshosh, potentially.
You're like, oh, this is the name you've got to be saved by.
This is the real name.
It's ridiculous.
Okay, the name that the Bible has revealed.
Are we Bible believing Christians or not?
If we're Bible believing Christians,
the name that the Lord God has given us
through his holy scriptures
is Jesus.
Please don't get
mixed up in Hebrew roots.
Or anyone that's trying to take you away
from the name of Jesus.
Verse number 12.
Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only,
but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
Now firstly, what I find interesting here
is that Paul says, look, you've been
more obedient.
You've been more, you've been
of more service, of more love,
this like-mindedness in my absence.
I think the closest
that we experienced this as a church was
when I was down in Sydney.
Absent, away from the church.
Obviously, when the pastor,
or the main leader there is away,
it requires other people to pick up
more responsibilities.
And as much
as I tried to cover the main
issues in church while I was away,
there were still little things that popped up every now and again.
Oh, this is not getting done. Someone's forgotten to do this or that.
You know, because you kind of forget
all the things that gets done in church.
And so, in time, everybody had to pick up
a little bit more, a little bit more.
And there's the same thought there, you know, that
great, you know, you've always obeyed, but you know,
sometimes, when the presence is not
there, there's greater obedience.
That's what Paul is praising this church for.
Then he says, work out your own
salvation with fear and
trembling.
And of course, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this one,
but of course, the false prophets,
you know, those that preach a false gospel,
they turn to this passage
and say, see, you need works to be saved.
Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
You've got to have the works to be saved, they'll say.
And of course,
this is nonsense. Let's keep going there.
Verse number 13, I'll explain that in a moment.
But it says, for it is God
which worketh in you,
both to will and to
do his good pleasure.
And so we see this work
in your own salvation has to
do with the work that God is doing within
you to will and to do
his good pleasure. When you do
the things that God, that pleases God,
you are working out
your salvation.
You're working out. It's like when you hit the gym.
And you hit the gym and say, man, I had a
good workout. Yeah, good.
All right. All right, well,
now that you're saved, hey, you need a good
workout. You need some obedience.
Do what God says. Do the things
that pleases God.
Work it out.
It's not salvation. It's what we ought to
be doing as obedient Christians
for our Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, of course, this has nothing to do with salvation.
You guys know very well
Ephesians chapter 2,
verse 8, for by grace
are ye saved through faith, in that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest
any man should boast.
Didn't we just say earlier that we shouldn't
be boasting, we shouldn't be prideful,
we shouldn't be chasing after
vainglory, rather we should be humble,
lowly of mind.
You know what, if salvation was by works,
guess what, it'd be a,
it'd be all about boasting.
Look how good I am. Look what I've achieved.
Look what I've done.
I'm a better Christian than the one next to me.
We're a better church than the other churches around us.
Brethren, it's not by works.
It continues in verse number 10.
For we are His
workmanship
created in Christ Jesus
unto good works.
So should we do good works?
Yes.
When we were saved, God gave us a new creature,
a new man, a new spirit
that can do the good works,
the things that pleases God.
It says which God have before ordained,
that we should
walk in them.
Brethren, these are things that we should do,
the works, the commandments,
we should do these things.
Not to be saved, but to please
our Father, to please our Lord.
Verse number 14.
Do all things, now notice this,
talking about serving each other, loving one another,
right, thinking about other people.
Do all things without
murmurings and disputings.
You know, when we come
to serve in the house of God,
we should not murmur.
You know, someone offers me and says,
you know, pastor, I'm willing to
I don't know, I'm willing to mop the floors
after service, for example.
I'm not asking you to do that.
Great, serve the Lord.
Don't turn around a month later
and say, well,
ah man, you know, people keep
leaving rubbish on the floor,
and you know, the floors are dirty,
and I'm going to mop.
You've got to do it.
You've decided that I'm going to lower myself
and be humble and be a servant.
Great!
Work out your salvation.
Please the Lord, but do it without
murmuring. Do it without
whining. Do it without complaining.
Right, if you're willing to
do the work, then
imagine that. Imagine going to
for those of you that work 9 to 5 work,
you know, you've got a job to do.
And you go to work and you know you've been employed
to accomplish the task.
And we start doing the task, ah, boss, I can't believe
I've got to do this work.
You took on the job.
Right, you
said, I want that job.
You signed the contract, yes, we'll do this job
and you can't then turn around and complain about the
job that you signed up for.
That's murmuring, disputing.
Reverend, we ought not to be like this.
We ought not to be like this in the house of
God, we ought not to be like this anywhere.
Do all things without
murmuring and disputing.
That you may be blameless
and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke
in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation.
Is Australia a crooked and perverse nation?
Of course it is.
Among whom you shine as
lights in the world.
We've been called to be a light, the light
of the world.
Christ gave himself that title,
then he gave it to us as well.
You know what, if you're a whiner,
whinging, whining, complaining,
murmuring, alright,
disputing, arguing,
right, if that's your way
of life, then you're not going to
be a light in this world.
It says again that you may be blameless, the
sons of God without rebuke.
God's going to rebuke you if
you're a whiner. God's going to
rebuke you, okay.
And parents, don't let your
children whine and complain
without rebuke. If your
children are complaining and whining,
rebuke them. Chasing
them. Teach them this is not on.
Okay, this is not
how we ought to live our life.
There are people that
whine, it's like, I don't know,
it's like they've not learnt as children.
They've not learnt how to appreciate
and be content and have a positive
mindset. All they do is whine
and complain and are a negative
influence. Cast down
depressed, it's depressing to be
around these people that murmur
and complain. You think when Jesus
Christ was walking this earth, if
we spent time with Jesus, do you
think it's going to be a negative experience?
Do you think Jesus just
complained, oh man, you guys are so
sinful, I've got to die for you, you can't believe it.
Man,
couldn't you guys try to live a righteous life and keep
the commandments? You think Jesus
Christ walked the earth like that?
Oh, Lazarus,
you have to die. Now I've got to bring you back from the
dead.
No, of course Jesus Christ was not like that.
He was lowly.
Hey, the task
that he was given to do, he did not complain
about it.
And we ought not to be like this.
It's stubbornness, it's
rebellion, it's prideful.
You know, when we read it in the Bible
in the Old Testament, Israelites, and God
calls them a stiff-necked people,
that's what you are,
if you're this way. You know, we say things
oh, that person's got a strong personality.
My child has a very strong personality.
No, they're stiff-necked.
Yes, they are strong, yeah.
They're stiff, okay?
They're rebellious. They need to be rebuked.
Verse number 16.
Holding forth the word of life.
So that's,
you know, holding forth God's word that I may
rejoice on the day of Christ.
We saw this last, on Sunday. What is the day of Christ?
The rapture, okay?
That I may rejoice on the day of Christ.
That I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain.
He says to the Philippian church,
listen guys,
I want to rejoice on the day of Christ.
Like, I want you guys to be serving one another,
loving each other, being like-minded.
I don't want you guys,
I don't want to be a church that's just complaining
and fighting
and wining
because then I'm not going to rejoice on the day of Christ.
You see, when Christ comes back,
He's going to reward us for our service.
Jesus Christ says in Revelation 22, 12,
and behold, I come quickly
and my reward is with me
to give every man according
as his work shall be.
Brethren, do you want to get some extra rewards in heaven
because we had a church
that is like-minded,
a church of love and mercy
where we prioritized someone else
above ourselves,
we lowered ourselves, we were servants.
But if we do this as a church,
you know what,
then we can rejoice, we too can rejoice
on the day of Christ,
knowing that we're going to be rewarded
for the labor and the service that we did in this house.
But if you're a murmurer,
complainer, don't expect to be
rewarded by Christ, you know,
in our church.
So he goes,
that's why he says that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain.
He's labored so much in the Philippian church,
we saw that he started the church.
He went to Philippi, right, and he got the people saved
and he started this church.
He goes, man, if it's just a search of complainers
and whiners and murmurers,
then it's all just for vain then.
It's all empty and it wasn't worth it.
Because we're not going to be rewarded
in the way that we should have been
if we were a church that was united
and had great love.
Verse number 17.
Yea, and if I,
and by the way, before I keep going,
there's a reason why I travel
back and forth into Sydney
and back again.
And look, I tell you now, I promise you now,
in my flesh, I don't want to do it.
I've got an early flight tomorrow morning.
I don't want to do it, I don't want to wake up early
and go to Sydney.
Listen, I don't want to have labor
these five years in vain.
I want to have labor.
I want to give my time and attention.
I want this church, and blessed be the church,
if in my lifetime, if Christ comes back,
that I can rejoice,
knowing full well that, hey, Christ is coming
and is going to reward our churches
for the love, the unity, the great work
that we've done for him.
Then he says in verse number 17,
Hey, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice
and service of your faith,
I joy and rejoice with you all.
For the same cause also do you joy
and rejoice with me.
Verses 17 and 18
is basically the same thought
that we saw earlier in chapter 1
where he says, for to me to live is Christ
and to die is gain.
Because again, he does consider the possibility
that he might die in prison.
And so when he speaks about himself becoming
a sacrifice,
and service for your faith, he's speaking about
he could potentially die.
He could potentially be that human sacrifice
for the service of the Lord
and the gospel message and for the church.
But he says, look, even if that happens,
he's going to rejoice.
Again, a positive outlook.
And he says, hey, even you as a church,
you can rejoice.
And know that we've died for Christ.
We've died serving him.
There's great rewards if you've died for the service
of the Lord God.
Verses 17.
He says, but I trust in the Lord
to send Timotheus, that's Timothy, same man.
Okay, Timotheus,
shortly unto you that I also
may be of good comfort
when I know your state.
So I'm not sure what the lack is,
but I guess Paul can't visit.
So he says, look, I'll send Timotheus.
I want to hear about you.
And verse number 20, it's really sad.
These verses make it really sad.
He says, why does he have to send Timotheus?
He says, for I have no man
like-minded.
What's that idea of being like-minded?
That love.
The mind of Christ.
I have no man like-minded
who will naturally care
for your state.
He goes, look, I've got nobody else
that actually cares
for the church.
So I've got to send Timotheus.
He says in verse number 21,
for all seek their own,
not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
That makes me so sad.
But it also shows us
how few
men there are that are willing to serve
in church
as far as
official positions
like pastors and deacons.
There are so few that meet the qualifications
and so few that are like-minded,
meaning that actually care for God's people.
Rather,
he finds, as Paul
on his journey and people are coming
and ministering with him and serving with him
and being part of other churches, he finds
that these people, they just seek their own.
They only care for themselves.
Not for the things which are Jesus Christ's.
He's talking about Christians.
Christians that are saved.
That say, yeah, Paul,
I want to be a pastor one day.
Yeah, Paul, I want to go and start a church
one day. He says, look, when I look
at all the people that have said these things,
I find that they just seek their own.
Not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
Because Timotheus is one of the few
I'm going to send him, you know,
because I can't be there.
This is very real.
This is a very real situation.
Hey, pray that God will
send a man to Blessed El-Baptist Church,
a pastor.
Send a man, or maybe one of the men
in the ranks there can rise up and take
that position. There are very
few that naturally care
for other people in church.
Okay? Because they seek their own.
Now look,
am I saying that I don't seek
my own in no regard?
Of course I'm going to look after my wife, my children
and provide for their needs and I've got to be the
main breadwinner and make sure we're all provided
for. Okay?
But it's a high calling to be a pastor
or a leader like this. It's a high calling.
You have to have the love
for other people.
I guess I'm thankful that I
grew up in church. I'm thankful that I grew up in a Christian
family, that I've got
uncles that are pastors, so
I've been in church.
I understand the sacrifice.
I know the cost
that's involved to serve in the house of God.
But some people don't know that cost. They don't know that
love that they ought to have
for God's people.
Verse 22.
He goes about
Timotheus, he says, but you know the proof of him.
So, Timotheus
or Timothy has proof about himself.
About his qualifications, about how
he can serve the church. What is this
proof? That
as a son with the father, speaking
about Timothy as the son
and Paul as the father, because he was
obviously an apostle, he says
he has served with me
in the gospel.
The proof that
Timothy is someone that cares
is that he's
served in the gospel.
That he's a soul winner.
That he preaches the gospel.
Now, of course, this is not saying
that because he preached the gospel
you know, that's it, you're qualified
to be a pastor.
But what it is saying is that if there's a
pastor that does not preach the gospel
there's something wrong with that man.
That man has not
proven himself to be someone
that can care for a church.
If you can't care for lost
souls, if you can't care
for the main doctrine of the Bible, salvation
how can you get behind a pulpit
and preach to God's people?
Any other doctrine.
It's ridiculous.
Pastors that don't preach the gospel.
Because look, there's proof of Timothy.
He's ministered in the gospel.
He has served in the gospel.
Now,
we see this again in 2 Timothy, I'll just read it
to you. Again, speaking of Timothy
the epistle to Timothy is from
Paul. Okay, it's Timothy.
In 2 Timothy 4 verse 5
Paul says to Timothy
But watch thou all things
endure afflictions
do the work of an
evangelist
Pastors need to do the
work of an evangelist.
Pastors have to preach the gospel.
That's
proof that that person even deserves to be
there in the first place.
Please, if you ever find yourself in another
church and your pastor does not
preach the gospel, look, you shouldn't be
under that man.
Find a pastor that preaches the gospel.
Find a pastor that actually knows how to present the gospel.
A pastor that you've seen
prove and win souls.
And not only that,
I'll keep going there, it says do the work
of an evangelist and it says
make full proof of thy ministry.
Prove yourself, Timothy.
See, it's not just to become a pastor
but to remain a pastor
to prove yourself that this is a ministry
worthy of your calling
then you ought to be a soul winner.
You ought to be ministering in the gospel.
Isn't that interesting?
That this is something that Paul has to
identify and yet you think
it has to be something so obvious
though, it should be something that's given.
But would it surprise you if I
said to you there are independent fundamental Baptist pastors
that do no soul winning?
Would it surprise you?
It probably
should surprise us, but they're out there.
Verse number 23.
Him therefore do I hope to send presently
so soon as I shall see
how it will go with me.
But I trust in the Lord
that I also myself shall come shortly.
So he's hoping to come
and be with them as well.
And then it says this in verse number 25
a new name gets brought up.
Yet I suppose it necessary to send unto you
Epaphorites my brother
and companion in labor
and fellow soldier
and fellow messenger
and he that ministered to my wants.
So we hear about another person here
Epaphorites
and Paul is sending him to the Philippians
as well.
Now you say well didn't he just say
he's got no other man that's like minded.
But what I believe
we don't know a lot about Epaphorites
we don't know much about him.
But what we learn here, what I believe anyway
is that he's actually from the church of Philippi.
He's actually one of those members already
because it says Epaphorites my brother
companion in labor, fellow soldier
but your messenger.
He's actually yours.
He's your messenger
and he that ministered to my wants.
So he was sent I believe
by the Philippian church to go and help Paul
in the ministry.
Because remember earlier in chapter number 1
it said that the Philippian church was the only church
that communicated with Paul.
It was the only church that sought and helped to help Paul.
So it looks like part of that help
was to send one of the men in that church
to go and labor with Paul.
And so Paul is sending that same man back.
It says there in verse number
26
For he longed after you all.
That kind of makes sense.
That he's already got a natural love for them
because he's one of them.
And was full of heaviness
because he had heard that he had been sick.
For indeed he was sick
nigh unto death.
So Epaphroditus here
was so sick, nearly dead.
He says but God had mercy on him
so God healed him.
And not only God had mercy on him
but on me also
lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
So because God was merciful to heal
Epaphroditus
the same mercy was given to Paul
because he didn't have to witness
someone to die.
To add sorrow upon the sorrow that he's going through
while he's in prison.
He went through and healed this man.
But as I keep reading through this
it doesn't look like he's completely healed.
It looks like he's healed from death.
Like he's not going to die from whatever he's got.
But he still seems like a sickly man.
Because the way Paul speaks about him in verse number 28
He says
I send him therefore the more carefully
that when you see him again
ye may rejoice
and that I may be the less sorrowful.
He says receive him therefore
in the Lord with all gladness
and much in reputation.
You guys look, think about the reputation that he has.
Again we saw earlier
that he's a fellow labourer
that he's a fellow soldier.
This is a man that's gone to war for the cause of Christ.
He has served in the ministry
he's helped Paul
and so he's saying look
please remember him for his reputation.
And I think
and again I'm just
I'm liking things that have happened in my life in church
is that
what I've observed
when I was in one specific church
that supported a lot of missionaries
we get these missionary letters coming back
and they'd be read in our church
and I would say
80, 90 percent
I'd like to say 100 percent
because that's how much it seemed like to me
but maybe it's 80 or 90, it's a very high percentage
of missionaries
that when they write their letters
are like, every month
okay, please pray
you know
I've been sick with X, Y and Z
please pray for my wife
she's been sucked from this
please pray for my children
it just seemed like every missionary letter
and I was like hey, what are the souls
that have been saved?
I can't wait to hear this missionary letter
I want to see the great work they're doing in Papua New Guinea
in Romania
in whatever places, in Vanuatu
whatever other places these missionaries are going to
but it just seemed like every letter
we're sick, we're sick, we're sick
I remember thinking
I'm just confessing my faults towards you
just thinking man
is becoming a missionary kind of like
like paid health care?
like, what about the work though?
why aren't you out there?
and then I realised, hold on, when I read the scriptures here
some people can get very sick for the cause of Christ
you know
and it made me re-evaluate
I remember going to the Philippines
and going to all these missionaries
now look, I'm sure there are lazy missionaries
that do no work
you know, they're on a holiday to another country
getting a paycheck from several churches
I'm sure there are many like that
that are not preaching the gospel, not doing anything right
but you know, I can see that in these scriptures
there are
there are, you know, we're to suffer for Christ
and you know, if you put it all on the line
if you really give yourself wholly
to the work of the Lord
you will become physically sick
everybody gets physically sick
you know, when you become overly stressed, overly worked
your body starts to break down
and this is something that I think
everybody that serves
in ministry, full time ministry
ought to be just careful about
is not to allow themselves to become so sickly
so broken down physically
that they're nighing to death
and that you need God's mercy to bring them back
you know, and I think this church has been reminded
hey, please remake his reputation
meaning that I think he's returning back kind of like
well, not, you know, quite sick
and instead of judging him as a sick man
maybe, you know, consider his reputation
consider the work, the ministry
that he's done, okay
and then he keeps going there, verse number 30
because for the work of Christ
he was nigh unto death
see that? It wasn't just
everyone gets sick, it's not just an
everyday sickness that he got, he goes
because of the work of Christ, this man
pushed himself to the point where his body
broke down, he goes not regarding
his life, to supply
your lack of service toward me
so he's come, you know
there was a lack, you know, so they sent
him to go and help Paul
and I guess this guy just overworked himself
you know, he probably had such a great love for Paul
such a great love for the work of God
that he overworked himself for the work of Christ
he was made nigh unto death
and again, this just reminds me myself
that I have to be careful
you guys know, I'm still struggling to battle
this cough that I've got, this, you know
I thought I was getting better and then I went
and I just got worse, right
and you know, all I'm saying is
Brevin, if I get sick
you know, please be patient with me because I may not be able to serve
as much as I would like to serve
I might not be able to do as much as I would like to do
and every now and again, especially
it's my wife that does it more to me
she'll highlight to me, you know, Kevin, you're not looking too good
you're not standing too good, take a break, take a rest
and you know what, if I say to you
Brevin, at some point, listen Brevin, I need a week off
you know, brother Jason, brother Callum
brother Matthew, you know, someone else
you guys weren't just going to preach for me this Sunday
I'm not feeling too good, please, you know
don't have a negative view on that, don't think
oh, but that's your job, pastor, like you said here
and hold such a reputation
like, at least consider the work that's being done
for the service of the Lord
you know, have that as your mindset, as your positive outlook
rather than condemning someone that might not be well enough
to do as much as
he might hope or desire
you know, because again, your body
can break down in the service of the Lord
so, we must be careful about this
and I believe, you know, if someone
gets sick, sickly, for the cause
of Christ, you know, in ministry
for the church, you know, or ministry
you know, doing a work of God
you know, as an evangelist, something like that, we should take care
of the needs, you know, we should step and say
look, this person got sick because
they were doing the work of the Lord, they were doing work
for the house of the Lord, and that person should
be looked after in their sickness
alright Brevin, Philippians chapter 2
let's pray, heavenly Father
Lord, I want to thank you for your word
Lord, thank you for the depth that's found in the Bible
and Lord, even when
I read and prepare to preach
Lord, I feel challenged in so many areas
Lord, I pray that you'd help us with our
humility, Lord, help us to be lowly
help us to love, help us to have the mercy
that we ought to have as a church, the unity
that we ought to have as a church
Lord, I love this church, I love new life
but this church, and there's great love here, I know
Lord, but we can always be better
Lord, we can always be like Christ
Lord, I pray that you'll do a work in us
help us to work at our salvation
Lord, help us to be like-minded
and to prioritise the needs of others rather than just
looking out for our own needs
Lord, there are many people in this church that have needs
so Lord, as we come before you later on
to pray, Lord, I pray you'd hear us
as a united church, a church in one accord
Lord, as we bring these requests before you
we thank you for being a great God that answers prayers
in Jesus' name we pray, Amen
alright Brevin, please take your hymnals
297 please
297
we'll sing close to thee
297, close to thee
ah, before we keep, before we sing
Matt, are you able to put it on a little bit
are you able to like, make it like a
1.25 speed or something like that
you can try, it's a bit slow
I remember you told me last time it's a bit slow
double speed?
maybe 1.25 or something
all along my pilgrim journey
Savior, let me walk with thee
not for ease or only pleasure
nor for fame my prayer shall be
gladly will I toil and suffer
only let me walk with thee
close to thee, close to thee
gladly will I toil and suffer
only let me walk with thee
lead me through the veil of shadows
bear me all life's fit for see
and the gate of life eternal
may I enter Lord with thee
close to thee, close to thee
close to thee
then the gate of life eternal
may I enter Lord with thee