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Good evening, everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats as you find your seat. Go ahead and grab a song book. Turn to song number 255. Let's all stand together for this first song, if you're able. Song number 255, Come and Dime. Song number 255, Come and Dime. All together nice and strong on that first verse. Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed. He invites his chosen people, come and dine. With his man a heat of feed and supplies our every need. Vote his fleet to submit Jesus all the time. Come and dine, the last to call him, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitudes, you turn the water into wine. To the hungry, come and dine, come and dine. The disciples came to lend the soul, they in Christ command. For the last to call him, come and dine. Barely fowls the farce he sired, bread and fish upon the fire. The sea satisfies the hungry every time. Come and dine, the last to call him, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitudes, you turn the water into wine. To the hungry, come and dine. Soon the land will take his bride. To the ever added sign, all the hosts of heaven will assemble be. For we will be a glorious sign, all the saints in spotless flight. And with Jesus they will feast eternally. Come and dine, the last to call him, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitudes, you turn the water into wine. To the hungry, come and dine. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us this day that we can come to your house and hear the preaching of your word, Lord. And we thank you for the King James Bible that we have your word in our language perfectly translated. And I thank you for every precious soul here in this room now. I thank you for the souls that were saved out there also this afternoon. I ask that you please bless this service, Lord. I pray that you would bless the singing. But most of all, Lord, please fill Pastor Mihi with your spirit as he preaches your word unto us. And give us also your spirit in the congregation that we may take the things that Pastor Mihi teaches to us and apply them to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Go ahead and turn your song books to song number 250. Song number 250 as our second song, Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary. Song number 250 all together nice and strong on that first verse. Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing you. Cast your fear on Jesus today, bleed your worry and fear. Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing you. Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing you. Trouble's full, the Savior can see, every heart it can tear. Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing you. Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary, Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary, Jesus is bearing you. All right great singing thank you for being here this evening just a few announcements here before we sing our next song which will be 106 abide with me if you want to get that ready in your song book song number 106 our services are as follows Sunday morning is at 10 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock this Thursday we're actually going to conclude the book of first Samuel and then the following week we'll begin second Samuel and so hope to see you there you see the list of expecting mothers the important reminders there at the bottom some of the upcoming church events we have the homeschool field trip on Wednesday September 14th to the Discovery Cube in Orange County of course the activity is free you just have to be homeschooling and please make sure you see my wife more details about that samaria missing strips coming up on Saturday September 24th men's prayer night on Friday September 30th and then the fall program begins on Sunday October 2nd of course that's six weeks of just different things we're going to be doing on Sundays and just emphasize one of the things that we're going to do a new thing I'm just going to go ahead and say we're going to have a pumpkin sundae where we give away pumpkins to everyone who comes and so before these to do like these these little pumpkins that would give up but we're going to give out the full-fledged ones I think is what we're planning on so it's gonna be great and then of course we conclude the fall program with the annual thanksgiving banquet and yes it will still be the same theme as last year okay and so we're gonna we're gonna continue with that tradition and that's pretty much it you see there at the bottom make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service it's going to take some so many numbers excuse me from this past week salvations from monday to thursday any salvations from monday to thursday how about friday and saturday salvations for friday and saturday two okay the mori four okay anybody else how about this afternoon salvations for this afternoon three for brother marcus's team one for brother cody's team three for brother mori's team one for brother hike's team anybody else that I miss anybody going once twice thrice okay keep up the great work on soul winning let's go ahead and sing our next song 106 abide with me song number 106 song number 106 abide with me all together on that first verse abide with me lord me swift please all around abide with me for my oh oh in life Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forth to collect the offering, and you can turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter number one. Good evening. Tonight we're in Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one in the Bible reads, Paul and Timotheus the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus of Jesus Christ. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel you all are partakers of my grace for God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that she may approve things that are excellent that she may be sincere with and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God but I would you should understand brethren that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto 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 to add affliction to my bonds but the other of love knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel what then notwithstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached and either end you rejoice yea I will and will rejoice for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain but if I live in the flesh this is the fruit of my labor yet what I what I shall do choose I want not for I'm in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you and having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith that you're receiving rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by the coming to you again only let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of Christ that whether I come to and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God front you it is given in behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake having the same conflict which he saw in me and now here to be in me let's pray your Lord we pray we pray right now that you bless this service and every aspect of it Lord and that you feel pastor right now with your Holy Spirit and just give them boldness to preach the truth from the Word of God today Lord and that we all have ears to hear and that were edified by the preaching Lord and just bless this service again and we pray this in Jesus name Amen okay we're in Philippians chapter 1 and for the next couple weeks we're gonna be I'm gonna be preaching through the book of Philippians and so we're gonna go chapter by chapter on Sunday evenings and so we're gonna start here in chapter number one look at verse number one it says Paul and Timothy is the servant of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi unto the bishops and deacons grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ now let me say a couple things here before we get into what Paul the Apostles addressing here first and foremost I want to I want to state that you know the book of Philippians is a great book just like all the other books of the Bible but in particular because of the fact that it's a very encouraging epistle to read and the reason for that is because we see that the Apostle Paul is quite possibly you know bound in prison and he's writing this from prison so he's writing this from a midst of a trial from the midst of a tribulation and we see that he has a great outlook on life he's still dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ he's inspiring others and that's a major blessing because anytime you see someone go through a trial or go through a difficulty or go through something really hard but yet they have a great attitude they have a great perspective it often encourages us to make sure that we are also having a good attitude about whatever we go through you know we look at someone who is just going through some of the worst situations and they are plowing through that trial they're still serving God they're still in church you know that is an encouragement to us it's a challenge to us to also do likewise when we go through a trial as well and so the book of Philippians is a great book to read when you're discouraged when you are feeling you know disillusioned or even depressed you know there's a lot of great passages in the book of Philippians to exhort you to continue in the faith but another thing that I want to mention about the book of Philippians is the fact that as I already someone mentions the fact that he's possibly writing this from prison and we don't know exactly when this took place if I were to conjecture when this was it would be basically towards the latter end of his ministry in Acts chapter 28 if you if you've read through the book of Acts see the Apostle Paul took three missionary journeys but towards the latter end he was heavily persecuted even to the point where the Romans had to deliver him and then eventually he essentially wanted to appeal to Caesar and so they transported him to Rome okay and while he was at Rome you know he was permitted to essentially preach the Word of God while on house arrest so even though he wasn't permitted to go anywhere people were allowed to come to him he was preaching the Word of God and so that's possibly when this is actually being written and not just the book of Philippians but maybe even Galatians maybe even Ephesians as well as Colossians okay these will be referred to as Paul's shorter epistles now quite possibly maybe not Galatians but for sure Philippians Ephesians and Colossians only because all of these aside from the fact that they're all being written by him in prison you know a lot of them have a lot of similarities you know if you read Ephesians and Colossians he's almost addressing these the same exact things they're almost like identical and what he's saying to them so it's quite possible as he's writing Ephesians he's like oh I got to write to the Colossians and then he writes to them and that's why you see a lot of the similar teachings in Colossians that you would see in the book of Ephesians so the reason that's important to notice because that kind of shows you that when these New Testament books were written okay because when we look at it in our physical Bibles we see oh it you know starts off with Matthew Mark Luke and John ends with the book of Revelation that's how it was written but that's not actually true okay that's how it is chronologically in the Bible and obviously historically that's chronologically correct but as far as when they were written it's possible that the first writings of the New Testament were actually Paul's epistles his letters okay now how do we know that well for one these are being written during the events of the book of Acts so if he wrote these during the events of the book of Acts the book of Acts was not yet written yet that means these took place first and then the book of Acts took or the the writing of the book of Acts took place thereafter well the book of Acts is a follow-up to the book of what the gospel according to Luke right being written to Theophilus and the gospel of Luke is part of the Gospels so quite possibly the Gospels were probably the last writings of the New Testament obviously they're placed in the beginning because chronologically that's where they fall but as far as when they came out when they were written they're probably some of the last books written and so maybe the last book that's actually written is the book of Revelation since it goes along with John first second and third John the writers John he writes the book of Revelation thereafter okay and that's just food for thought but it's interesting to know and another reason why I believe that is the case is because of the fact that when you read the epistles you read these letters they don't necessarily quote the Gospels there's a lot of Gospels to be quoted if they're if they're available but they're not being quoted because of the fact that they're not written down yet which adds more credence to the fact that these men were men of God who are filled with the Spirit because they're they're not contradicting anything from the Gospels right everything that they preach and teach is being also taught in the Gospels the same gospel it's not a different gospel you know teachings about the rapture teachings about the tribulation it all coincides because of the fact that the author is God okay so he's inspiring holy men of God and they're writing this and so that adds more credence to that you can read the epistles and see that they're not necessarily quoting the Gospels not because they don't see it as authoritative but because they weren't yet pinned down at the time okay so they're all kind of out of order but it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day the author is God right but that's just food for thought just to kind of let you know that there so obviously Philippians Ephesians Colossians he's in prison the reason we know that is because he continuously says the prisoner of the Lord that he's in bonds and it's not just poetic you know language that he's using he's literally incarcerated okay now at the end of the book of Acts in Acts 28 that's where we leave off when it comes to the life of the Apostle Paul and you know some people are like oh you know he was beheaded by the Romans historians say that but you know we don't really know if that's true or not the Bible doesn't tell us that it kind of leaves off telling us that you know he's he was delivered from every evil work he was delivered from all the enemies of God it quite possibly could be that he just you know died of old age just serving God and that's it and you know as wicked as the Romans were they weren't necessarily the greatest adversaries of the New Testament Christians the greatest adversaries were the Jews okay and so the Romans are the ones delivering the Apostle Paul right they're the ones like removing him they're they're like escorting him using all these soldiers and just kind of going out of their way to help him it was the Jews who really sought to persecute the Apostle Paul and the other Christians there now the book of Philippians although we often think about well that's a church at Philippi it quite possibly might be churches you know that's not far-fetched because we see the churches of Galatia and although we don't see churches plural in Philippians what we do see is that he says the bishops and deacons right bishops plural bishops is a bishop is another word for pastor so he might be just addressing different congregations at Philippi which is a major city of Macedonia okay and so he's possibly talking to different congregations there we don't know if exactly we can surmise that based upon who he's addressing here in verse number one the next thing I want to mention here before we get into the chapter is when did this church start because if you think about it you know the way this church started is very similar to way the way a lot of churches start you know by someone just doing God's will and being led in a different direction right they're just kind of serving God and who I'm referring to obviously is the Apostle Paul because on his second missionary journey the Bible tells us that the Apostle Paul he's journeying through Missia and then he wants to go to Bithynia and the regions of Galatia which is north over in Asia but then the spirit suffer his suffers him not to do so so you know he's kind of led not to go into Asia which we know later on there'd be some churches started there right you have the seven churches which are in Asia but for whatever reason he wasn't allowed to go there at the time instead he ends up going you know to to Bithynia or excuse me to to Missia and then he has the Macedonian call right Acts chapter 16 he has this vision of a man from Macedonia saying come over and help us okay and the Apostle Paul takes this as a vision from God he thinks oh they want us to preach that God wants us to preach the gospel there and so he takes Timothy he takes his team and they go to Macedonia and specifically to go to Philippi which is a a chief city of Macedonia okay now actually after 16 is a very popular chapter with us because of the fact that we use it when we go out sowing right and if you think about it when you when you think of the story in Acts chapter 16 he goes there and then he meets me he meets he meets Lydia who's a seller of purple right she gets saved she gets baptized she starts serving God and then that's when they run into the demon possessed girl who's like saying these are the servants of the most high and he's like all right you know it's cool and he's like these are the servants of most highs I'm right these are the servants of his like me you're even possessed you know cuz she's like nagging him saying that over and over again and it's even though it's true what she was saying it wasn't necessarily something that was of God it's just that demon speak the truth as well understand and so you know he cast the demon out of that girl and what happens well apparently this girl was bringing in some revenue for the false gods and the false practices there so all these men come up and they're like oh man this guy mess with our revenue and our money so they throw them into jail okay they throw them into jail and that's when we have the famous story of the Philippian jailer okay who says what must I do to be saved believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved he gets saved his whole house gets saved Paul's like winning a bunch of people to the Lord throughout this whole trial and that's potentially where the church began there because now you have believers there right you have believers people were getting baptized or getting saved that's how possibly the church started there now what's interesting is that that Macedonian call he's like where is that guy we don't know where that guy was you know wasn't Lydia you know it might have been the Philippian jailer we don't necessarily know but what we do know is that the Apostle Paul you know he purposed to go into Asia he purposed to go to the regions of Galatia but was not allowed to because there is a greater need somewhere else and because he was just led of the Spirit to go to a different region what ended up happening a church ended up getting started there people were reached and it was a great church church or churches of Philippi were great Christians they're very mature in the faith and so that is the start of the church or churches at Philippi look at verse number three we're gonna this is Paul's salutation here says I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now so one thing we see with the Apostle Paul is that he really like loved people right and we know this because of the fact that he's like I'm thinking about you and you often think about the people you love right you love your spouse you think about your spouse but it's just not subject to your spouse you think about people who you love people who are near and dear to your heart believers brothers and sisters in Christ it's people you think about and the Apostle Paul he's far away he's in Rome he's in prison and he's like man I wonder how my brethren are doing at Philippi and I'm sure he's a little worried too you know it's like these are believers brand-new believers so he's kind of thinking about them and he's like I'm praying for you guys and later on he even says that I have you in my heart so we see the Apostle Paul's heart for people and it's a heart that we need to emulate amen it's a heart that we need to adopt and not just for you know your best friends at church but just for people in general that we should think upon others and how they're doing spiritually and think upon their spiritual health as the Apostle Paul did but one of the reasons why he was so near and dear to these people is for their fellowship in the gospel you see some of the closest people you'll be to in life are the people you labor with in the gospel right because some of the best stories you'll ever share are stories where you're going out there and preaching the gospel and so the the church at Philippi wasn't just a church of believers it was a sowing powerhouse they were out there preaching the gospel they're getting people saved and he's telling them your fellowship of the gospel you know I know that you guys are doing this he says in verse number six being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ now people can interpret this differently of what he's referring to but it quite might possibly be he's referring to salvation right because God begins a work in us at when we get saved but he's gonna perform it until the day of Jesus Christ and I think the reason the Apostle Paul stating this is because we don't know when he's gonna see them so he has to be confident that they're saved God will lead them you know God's gonna perform the work in them and God's gonna take care of them spiritually you understand and this is the kind of attitude we should also have when one day we start a church somewhere else and we commend those people unto the Lord wherever that may be we have to say you know the work that God has started in that church or in that person he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ okay he says in verse number seven even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart in so much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel year all partakers of my grace so again he's just kind of telling them you know I'm thinking about you I have you in my heart he's not just a missionary or a pastor who's just looking to get numbers he's actually a person who loves people and you know I often think about what's the best way what's that one thing that soul winners need to kind of make them really good soul winners you know what's that next thing that they need is it a good illustration maybe it's a couple more verses maybe it's it's you know they're delivering but honestly although all those things are good the number one thing you can do to really make you a really good soul winner is just actually love the people you're talking to because when you actually love the people you're talking to people can read sincerity when you're actually speaking to them and you're speaking to them out of sincerity and love because you actually care for them you know people can they can smell that they can see when you're being honest and sincere or they can see when you're being like a used car salesman or something you know it's just like they're just trying to sell you a car or you know you're like a life insurance person or something you know I remember years ago you know my my my son he was about I don't know he was a couple months old or whatever and there's a couple that we used to be really close to and they had gone out of church and you know we hadn't seen him in a long time and they're a group that we did my wife and I really loved like we I invested a lot into them like a lot of time into them a lot of time into him I you know we spent hours with them and just fellowshipping with them and bringing them along and just loving them and even hours over the phone you know just helping them through issues years ago and you know they ended up getting out of church they ended up going through some stuff and they got out of church so we didn't hear from them for a long time and then one day you know he contacts me and he's just like hey I want to come see you guys we want to come see you guys you know we want to come see your son we're like oh man this is great like they might be coming back to church and I was I was ecstatic because you know like when I first got saved and I invest in people I would literally like when people got out of church I cry because of the fact I just felt so bad that people just like left and it would it would break my heart and he was one of the words just like it kind of broke my heart that he just like would leave like that so I was just like hey they're gonna come and I was like and this is when we're really broke and I was just like Sarah hook up like the best dinner you we could put together because they're gonna come here they want to see little Bruce and then maybe they're gonna get back in church so they get there and we're just like hey we're like rejoicing over them and they're just like hey we brought your son a gift and I'm like well that's cool you know I'm like how you guys been and we're just thinking like they're back they're back and they're just then they're just like well we want to talk to you about life insurance and at first I didn't really click to me you know what I mean like what was going on and I'm just kind of like okay you know like I honestly I didn't put two and two together I was still thinking that they were coming because they're they want to get back in church that's honestly what I thought and I was just kind of life insurance like I'm like and they're like yeah you can and they start putting all these papers on talk about the plans that we can do and all this stuff and ever my wife and I think they're like would you have at least ten dollars to spare a month I'm like no I'm like we barely have like two bucks to spare and that's for like date night for like a order of fries that my wife and I can share together okay that's all we got okay I'm like the only life insurance I got is just doing God's will that's all I got and then after that whole conversation ended they just like ended up leaving and then I was like all right it was great seeing you guys and then I thought I was like wait did maybe they didn't really did they come for us like I don't even think they came to like because for the church for us I think they came for to sell us life insurance and you know it was it was painful it was painful you know and the reason I was painful is because I legitimately loved them you know there's there's a deep love that I had for him and their spiritual well-being but obviously it wasn't reciprocated but here's the thing is you know when you're when you're talking to people out knocking doors they can read whether you're sincere or not whether you're just trying to get through your gospel presentation because you've been working on memorizing the verses and memorizing on your your script which I'm all for that but you know what I'm all for I'm all for you learning the script and the verses to the point where it becomes muscle memory so then you can actually talk to people out of sincerity and love right well the Apostle Paul is being sincere right here he's just like I have you in my heart I'm thinking about you you know you can picture the Apostle Paul possibly in his in his you know in his bed at night maybe it's keeping him up thinking about the churches that he started thinking about people and how they're doing so he obviously shares this great love for those at Philippi and he says in verse number eight for God is my record how greatly I long after you all my and in the bowels of Jesus Christ he's like God knows I'm not lying God knows that I like I can't wait to see you again I cannot wait to see you again and I think you know there's some people in our church that when they leave on Sunday night and they're you know working throughout the week they think to themselves I can't wait to see the brethren on Thursday I can't wait till Sunday comes around you know I see the post sometimes just like Sundays coming people are looking forward to Sunday amen they're just like I can't wait to see the brethren I can't wait to sing the hymns and be with my brothers and sisters in Christ and the heart leaps when you see your brothers you know the heart leaves and it's just a matter of rejoicing well this is what the Apostle Paul feels and he's like I long after you on he's like why is he getting all mushy it's not getting mushy this is Christ this is Christianity my friends this is a bond that he shares with those at Philippi and look it's not like he sees them all the time he just misses them okay but he loves them he you know and one of the reasons by the way that he is like this is because he's the one who wanted to the Lord okay but you know you might not have not won the people in our church to the Lord but you might have invested in the people in our church in the Lord and you've adopted them as you know quote-unquote spiritual sons and daughters and that can cause you to long after them in the bowels of Jesus Christ he says in verse number nine and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment so why is he saying that well because obviously his love has abounded right and one thing you'll notice is the longer you're Christian the longer you invest in people the more you win people to Christ the more your love abounds for people and it abounds in knowledge and in all judgment and then he says in verse 10 that you may approve things that are excellent they may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ what is he saying I want you guys to make it to the end and I want you to be a good Christian to the very end okay and this is something that I desire for the people in our church obviously I desire for my family but even for the people in our church one thing that a pastor thinks about is like I want this person to make it to the end you don't have to be the greatest Christian but just be a person who loves the Lord until the end you know because it's a devastating thing to see someone become a castaway sometimes even a permanent castaway okay and he's like I want you to be sincere without offense till the day of Christ verse 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God and so Paul the Apostle is saluting his brethren he's exhorting them he's encouraging them he's talking about how they're the fellowship of the gospel that he has with them he's talking about the fact that God's gonna produce fruit in their life he wants him to be approved and things that are excellent until the day of Christ and now he's gonna get into his situation here okay so this is like the sandwich method you know he's giving them all this positive stuff and now he's like now let me tell you what I've gone through okay now the Apostle Paul was no stranger to for someone to talk about what he's going through pretty much all his epistles is him talking about all the stuff that he's been through now why would he do that in order to challenge those who are listening to him to you know go through the same or when they go through the same not to quit you see one major thing in the Christian life but there's one thing if there's one sermon you can preach it's just don't quit don't quit don't get out of it and a lot of the times we see the Apostle Paul constantly talking about how he was stone thrice he's beaten I mean he's constantly glorying in his infirmities because you know obviously has the power of Christ upon him but it also challenges others not to quit and makes others problem people's problems very minuscule right in comparison to his and they're just like well if the Apostle Paul is going through this and he's plowing through it so can I which is exactly what we're gonna see in this chapter okay look at verse number 12 he says but I would you should not understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel so before he even gets into what he's going through he's like I want you to know first and foremost the reason all this is happening to me is so the gospel could spread even further than what has gone in times past now this is fact when it comes to him writing this all the way in Acts chapter 28 why because he's writing it from Rome and there is no apostle during this time that has made it all the way out to Rome he's the only one most of them just stayed in Jerusalem but when you look and you study the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul you know the first one he goes a little further out second one a little bit a little further out than that third one he makes it all the way to Greece and then this missionary journey there wasn't necessary missionary journey he's just being you know extradited to to Rome but you know what he's preaching the Word of God in Rome and he ends up finding out in Rome that people have heard of this Christianity that's been spreading and he's able to win people to Christ he's able to preach the Word of God there's no one forbidding him to spread the message there so he's saying you know the reason you know God has allowed me to become in prison here in Rome is because people need the gospel here in Rome and then what he writes the book of Romans because there is obviously people he won to Christ there as well okay so he says the furtherance of the gospel now you got to remember this is that obviously you're probably not gonna be imprisoned you're not gonna be thrown in jail but at the end of the day no matter what trial you go through you always have to realize that in some way or another this is for the furtherance of the gospel unless you're suffering because you're an evildoer or something if you're suffering as a murderer or you're a thief or you're a liar or whatever you know you're just suffering the consequences of your stupid actions okay however if you're living righteously you're doing what you're supposed to be doing but you're suffering just know this this is for the furtherance of the gospel and even if you can't necessarily make sense out of it like I don't even know how is this gonna further the gospel it'll further it somehow it'll further the gospel somehow it'll place you in a situation where you have the availability to give the gospel to someone you weren't you know previously able to do so okay and so he tells them this is for the furtherance of the gospels verse 13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places what is he talking about saying everyone knows about me being in prison here the palace is referring to in Rome and he says in all other places so people are hearing about him being a prisoner then people are asking questions why is he being thrown into jail and of course them inquiring of why he's being thrown into jail causes them to want to seek out who this guy is they go to his his little you know house arrest place where he's at and then they ask him questions then they get sick understand says in verse 14 many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear now you would think that trials or this types of this type of persecution would actually have the opposite effect right which is what a lot of Baptist people Baptist churches and Christians think like oh man that's gonna have a negative effect no it actually has the opposite effect when you get persecuted you know the the lames and the weenies will get fearful and not preach but we want them to be that way though because if not they're gonna cause others to be afraid so they need to shut up and sit down and you know take care of whatever they got to take care of but if they can't be on the front lines we don't want them on the front lines because then they make Christianity we look bad by being a weenie and issuing apologies or whatever you know like Jeff Owens right where Jeff Owens in the 90s preached some of the hardest sermons against against fags and then you know the fags got on him and then he literally like issued this audio apology it wasn't even a videos like audio of him and he's just like I'm sorry I don't really believe all those things it's like you are such a weenie and then recently he's preaching at some church by the way he's preaching at some church probably in the north you know in the wherever you know I don't know where is it wherever his church is at doesn't doesn't really even matter some church who's lame enough to want accept them as a preacher and he's just like you know people compromise he's like they're changing and they're you know apologizing we're not gonna apologize for what we believe I'm like you hypocritical piece of trash you're such a hypocrite and I wish I could just reach through there and just go to that church and just disrupt the service and be like yeah like you Jeff Owens because he apologized to all the sodomites and didn't do many good anyways and unfortunately you know Jeff Owens was like a hero of the fundamental Baptist when I first got saved I still love listening to Jeff Owens I've listened to scores of his sermons I've learned a lot from a lot of doctrine from Jeff Owens and I always thought that he was just a really good preacher a man who stood for righteousness he was a very respected person in the independent fundamental Baptist movement until you know he compromised and capitulated to the girlies of this world and then he's gonna get up and say like as if he's not that you know I mean he's condemning people for compromising and for apologizing it's like projecting much Jeff Owens but here's the thing folks you know a compromiser like Jeff Owens inspires no one because hypocrites don't inspire people hypocrites make people not like Christianity you know what I mean hypocrisy makes people actually drives people away from Christianity because they see these people don't really believe what they say they claim to believe okay whereas when someone actually stands their ground and doesn't back down but is even pushing forward and pushing back that actually inspires people because then people are like you know what he's right and that's what the Bible says you know I'm gonna stand up for this too that's why that's why the world works so hard at silencing the man of God because they know that the man of God through God's Word will inspire others to take that bold stance as well they don't want that guy recruiting other people to Christianity to priest our hate message or whatever because they know it works because the preaching of God's Word is powerful it has the ability to reform the minds of many individuals and embolden them to actually stand up and preach God's Word without fear just like we saw here he said many of the brethren are waxing bold in the Lord they're not afraid to speak the truth you know without fear so it's just like oh man now everyone's like the Apostle Paul around here now everyone's preaching against the Jews now everyone's preaching against you know whatever you know everyone's preaching against Judaism now everyone's calling he's not the only one doing it now why because he emboldened others to do so as well and so the lesson that we can learn there my friends is that when you go through persecution you better never back down and if you ever want to be a pastor don't ever be a pastor if you just want to you like well you know I respect that stance but you know I'm not gonna get involved in all that controversy then don't be a pastor don't ever sign up to be a pastor don't ever want to be a pastor just be a regular church member because the pastor is supposed to lead the way when it comes to preaching God's Word and standing on the truth and not apologizing for it and you're gonna lead people straight you're gonna make you're gonna produce weenies you're gonna cause others to be afraid you're gonna cause others to capitulate you're gonna cause others to apologize for God's Word as well because of your example okay and look there's plenty of men out there who are godly men who are pastors who maybe don't take a strong stance but you know what this is a new generation rising up okay and we respect that previous generation and maybe they made some mistakes or whatever but you know what a new generation is rising up and it's important for the generation that we are in to make sure that we communicate we don't compromise we don't apologize we disciple eyes okay and so and you know obviously the previous generation they're just like we have so much to lose though you know building programs and tithes and all the money coming in to hell with all that we don't really care about those things what we care about is the truth being put forth we want people to believe the Bible we want people to get saved we want people to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and we need to produce some men so how are men produced do they need to go follow Andrew Tate or something like that is that what they need no they don't need Andrew Tate that whoremonger what do they need they need the Bible they need the preaching of God's Word to make them men to make them stand up for God's Word and to love their wives and to raise godly children and to be functioning members of society who love the Word of God and to hate sin and to hate the abominations of this land to hate those who hate the Lord and loudly proclaim it as well and not upon as well you know just you know yeah it's sin like every other sin it's perversion it's disgusting it's filthy it's faggotry and look the the enemies will constantly push back you know and the reason that they persecute is because you know that they want you to capitulate they want you to issue an apology they want you to see you back down because they can't do anything other than that and you know what if you capitulate and you back down you know what's gonna happen you know they're gonna come at you worse they're unmerciful which means like they don't it was like okay he back down leave him alone they're like oh no now I want fags in that church now I want you to I want fags around those kids you know you give them an arm they'll take a leg you know what I mean just just ask the the Levites you know concubine whoever got that joke no one got that joke but what I'm saying here is that you know the bonds that the Apostle Paul was in you know it really emboldened others to stand up for the Word of God and had the opposite effect now here's the thing though okay because when you get persecuted when you get deplatformed when you know the enemies of God are after you there's a couple categories of people that will respond to that particular persecution okay as we're gonna see here look what he says in verse number 15 he says some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill so there's gonna be a group of people who they see the channel taken down they're like all right here's my opportunity to really just become the popular one so they're gonna preach God's Word not because they sincerely want to get the truth out there but because they want fame they want recognition they see you being deplatformed as their opportunity to kind of get the limelight on them type of a thing strife and envy okay like oh man they took all those any NIFB guys down now it's our time get up and actually get the content out there but here's the thing their content sucks it's not spirit-filled and we'll still reach more people without a channel than they do with a channel but you know people preach Christ of envy and of strife because they're envious towards other pastors they want they have strife of other pastors but then some are also of goodwill so in other words the ones of goodwill they see the persecution and it inspires them they're like you know what I want to make a difference too I want to get people safe too I want to stand for God's truth too I want to die doing the cause of Christ too I want to get persecuted for this too it's of goodwill amen they're sincere men the one preach Christ of contention not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds this potentially could be a person who is talking about the things of God but you know they don't have the right doctrine but they're exposing the hate preachers right and you know they're exposing the hate preachers for being so hateful and they have bad doctrine but it's just like yeah I make more videos that's okay because Christ is still being preached because through that people are gonna think who is that guy who is this person you know and then they'll look up those preachers they'll look up that church and people will be one to Christ because the Word of God is still being preached you know God can still use even those individuals you know I always rejoice when someone makes an exposed video about me there's there's preachers out there who don't like that they think it's bad publicity but I don't see it as a bad thing at all when someone makes an ex you know exposing Bruce Mejia or exposing dispensation of heresy I'd give a thumbs up on that video I'm like this is great here's you know when we had the channel like here's where you can see that terrible movie here's here's the channel you can go to he says of contention not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds but here's the thing folks the more you afflict them the more they grow right but the other of love knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel what does that mean well some of these preachers see the Apostle Paul in prison and then out of love for the work of God and a love for the gospel they're like man I want to defend the gospel just like the Apostle Paul they see what sincere person the Apostle Paul is and are inspired again to preach the Word of God and to defend the Word of God look what it says in verse 18 what then notwithstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached and either in do rejoice yea and will rejoice now you know this particular statement he's saying here is like I don't care what people say out there because eventually the message is gonna get out you know I kind of struggle with that within the last couple of weeks because you kind of you know I think to myself you know the channels gone you know people are gonna take advantage of this there's so many false prophets on YouTube right now there's so many idiots out there but you know what if someone's sincerely looking for the truth they're gonna find the truth and you know if if someone is you know like that like that wino dude who went at it with me on YouTube the the the Christian wino I was rejoicing when he made a video exposing me because I was like cha-ching this is what we want this is what we want we want someone who has a bigger channel to expose because that's gonna cause more people to look for the truth and they're gonna see what a phony he is understand but at the end of the day you know no matter what happens if people are exposing us or they're for us it's gonna get the truth out there that much the more you understand and that's what the Apostle Paul is saying he's like I'm gonna rejoice whether someone has a good intention of preaching against me or you know our a bad intention of preaching against me or good intentions to defend me either way Christ is being preached and I therein do rejoice okay so you see what persecution can provide in your life you know it can produce a lot of fruit it can embolden others it can inspire others it can further the gospel that much the more and I guarantee you listen to me okay when you're persecuted not everyone who's for you is gonna tell you that they're for you right not everyone who sees you getting persecuted not everyone who saw us getting persecuted not everyone's gonna email us and saying hey we're praying for you but you know what if it causes their ministry to just be that much better of a soul winning Church mission accomplished now obviously they're not gonna tell us cuz you know they don't like these Anderson Heights you know they say all that but then they go home and then they're tuning in or whatever I mean it's fact I mean literally what the channel got deleted someone came up to me who's an old I have beer and we're just like what happened to the channel I'm just like how do you know the channel got deleted how Noah style these things if you're not an avid follower of the of the new IFB but I'll tell you why because the new IP is a thing in old IFB churches and even though they don't like us publicly in private they love us let me just let me let you in on a little secret the old IFB loves the new IFB in secret it rejoices once the notification comes on and then they they turn it down you know you know that I promise you that's what's happening got receipts it's true so even though you know they may not tell you they're supporting you deep down inside in private you know you're motivating people to actually stand for the truth there might be some pastor out there who's just not for us publicly but they hear about the persecution that our church has gone through they hear about the persecution the pastor Shelley has gone through and you know what it it inspires them and they may not like stand as hard as we do but if we could just push them a little further than where they were before mission accomplished if we can just get them to drop one f-bomb just one you know mission accomplished if we could just get them to say you know those filthy gays you know hey at least we did something you know if we get hey if we can just get them to hate sin that much more mission accomplished if we can get them to gag just a little bit you know I was just like you know what they do make me gag a little bit you know mission accomplished if we can get them to preach about soul winning a little more mission accomplished if we can get them to even use terminology that maybe they stop using like once saved always saved like faith alone like soul winning like being kjv only you're like they don't use us yeah a lot of churches don't use that anymore because they're ashamed of that but if we can get a pastor to just say we're King James only you know what mission accomplished and you know they don't need to send us an email or text message or whatever to let us know that they're moving in that direction who cares if they're doing it they're doing it and you know what they are doing it and throughout the years I've heard of many churches just kind of you know independent fundamental Baptist churches just kind of turning their church a little bit into our direction because they like it and so that's why it's important that we don't buckle under the pressure all right you know there's there's people that I've known in times past that just hated my guts back in the day we just didn't get along because they're worldly and I wasn't okay but when we're going through our persecution they were heavily involved in what we were doing they're just they're asking my wife sounds are like what's going on with Bruce man this is crazy you know and they're like we're praying for him they're rooting for us because it me and actually means something to them in their minds they're like this is legitimate this is like a legitimate church in fact during that persecuted during the protests I remember we we got some church members and the guy came up to me afterwards and said I've never seen anything like this like this isn't like a real church like you guys are really being persecuted like this is a legitimate church I'm like yeah this is a legitimate church you know I remember even I think it was like that the Thursday before the bombing we had some some missionary girl who remembers the missionary girl who came she's like an old IV missionary girl she wanted support and it's just not the time to come talk to me about that stuff you know I was like on high alert I was just like you know you know how I get when I get really like in that mode in that mode and she's like hi I'm just looking I'm just like we're fags are outside right now and I ain't about this right now I'm like if you want to come back on Sunday you know I'm just letting you know we're being persecuted right now and we're not even four girl missionaries it's like okay but the point that I'm trying to make is that you'll hear about people being inspired by what you do but there's gonna be others you don't hear about and I think the majority of people who are inspired by us we will never hear about this side of eternity and not just inspired by me I'm talking about inspired by the church you think it doesn't inspire pastors when they hear about church that our church didn't lose anybody during that persecution pastors lose members all the time over stupid stuff over like nonsensical things and they're thinking to themselves the church got bombed and they didn't lose anybody what's going on over there you inspire people you inspire pastors and members to just stick it out they're like man we're over here you know offended at the pastor or whatever because he preached this these people aren't even leaving after their church got bombed and so persecution that's my daughter she's not happy with my preaching right now he says in verse 19 for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ now please understand that when he says salvation he's not referring to justification of the soul he's referring to his deliverance the physical deliverance he says I know that this is gonna end up working out to God delivering me which you can read into second Timothy the book of said the letter written to Timothy second Timothy and by the way which was possibly also written during these times because at the latter end of second Timothy he tells Timothy to bring him the books and the parchments parchments is what they used to write so he's potentially writing these books he's telling him bring paper you know because he won't he needs to write these epistles right but in the book of second Timothy he's constantly emphasizing the fact that God's gonna deliver him from every evil work and another word for delivering is salvation to save someone so he's saying this is gonna turn to my salvation through your prayer I know God's gonna deliver me verse 20 according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death now what is he saying he's saying I'm not gonna be ashamed of anything and he's not saying like you know the word ashamed the way we would use it today he's saying I'm not gonna be let down God's not gonna let me down and anything that happens but then he follows up with saying you know God's gonna be glorified whether by my death or life though so what is he's kind of leaving room for the possibility that he might die it's kind of like Meshach Shadrach and Abednego right he's just like oh they're you know the our Lord would deliver us but if not though you know we're still not gonna bow down because he might not deliver us actually it's just like this the strong bold stance but you know the flesh is there and the flesh is like but we might die though you know and so he's kind of like he's like you know I'm not gonna God's not gonna let me down I'm not gonna be ashamed but God's gonna be magnified by my body whether by life or by death though because you know he wants to leave that open in case he does die and people call back to what he said and then he you know they're like oh I thought you weren't gonna die but he said by life or by death okay and then I love this verse verse 21 for to me the live is Christ and to die is gain this should be the model for every Christian for me to live is Christ what are you living for Christ what's the purpose of your life Christ what's the purpose of your marriage Christ what's the purpose of your children Christ why do you do the thing why do you work this job why do you do this why do you what is it what's the purpose of life Christ for me to live is Christ you see people live for all kinds of stupid stuff out there all vain things out there they're just doesn't mean anything they live for possessions and fame and money and people and the adulations of this world and the admin the admiration of this world folks we live for Christ that's our purpose in life and if you can understand it the purpose of our life that the the meaning of our life is Jesus Christ it just makes life that much easier to live because we're living for one man and that's all that's what our life is for so every decision you make you you make it based off of Christ right you're like you know the reason I'm even here the reason I'm even alive today is for the glory of Jesus Christ it's to glorify my Savior he says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain folks what are you gonna do to a man that who like believes that for me to live is Christ and to die is a horrible thing no he's like for me to die is gain you know the ultimate gain is not how much we can deadlift or squat although I would love to just squat a lot and deadlift a lot the greatest gain is to die according to the Apostle Paul he says in verse 22 but if I live in the flesh this is the fruit of my labor yet what I shall choose I want not so he's like man he's he's conflicted because he says you know I want to produce all this fruit while I'm alive but what exactly I want I don't know what I want why is that because he says in verse 23 for I'm in the straight betwixt two having the desire to part to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more than equal for you he's basically saying I would rather just be in heaven now a lot of people don't really understand that until you're going through the thick of it I've talked to people I've counseled people and I've talked to people who have gone through some heavy trauma just difficult situations and they've said things like this and I believe them when they say for me you know I rather just be with Christ I rather just die and go to heaven I remember speaking to one person and we were in disagreement about something and this is what they told me they're like I just wish all of us can just go to heaven already because because life at that moment was so painful it was so arduous it was it was so just tumultuous it's just like I rather just go home and you know once you're in the thick of a trial and everything is just dark around you you will get to this point where you feel the same exact way where you're just like I'd rather just it sounds morbid it's like I'd rather just die but when we say I'd rather just die we're just saying I'd rather just go home and be with Christ which is way better I'd rather just end this all not suicidal but just like I'd rather all this just end and I've been there I've been there where you just think to yourself like I'm just kind of already ready for the millennial reign I just want like I'm just honestly I'm just kind of tired of life this life is so wicked and you know you just you don't have enough strength and you're just like how much more do we got how many more years do we got here you know so hard because to be with Christ is far greater but hold on a second staying here and and winning souls to Christ and producing fruit is also important you know and he's saying there he says he says in verse 24 he comes to his senses and it says nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you do you know that you being here is needful for someone like someone needs you here so in times of tribulation when you just feel like man again I just can't take anymore I don't know what I just want to be in heaven just remember this like someone needs you here though you're like well how cuz I don't have any family I don't have anybody loves me and you know well yeah but you know there's some unsaved person that needs you though there's someone who doesn't know the gospel who's not saved who you can went to the Lord and they need you to go knock on their door and get them saved and you know you don't really truly know the impact you've made for Christ until we get to heaven I'm sure you know one day you'll get to heaven you'll meet a person that maybe you forgot about and they'll say you won me to the Lord you know I remember this story and it was it was a heart-wrenching story that my wife my wife's uncle told one time and it was a story of him when he was in Hammond Indiana he was on the bus around in Hammond Indiana and you know he had a bus route and he there's a lot of Puerto Ricans there so he would you know bring all these Puerto Ricans to church and there's one particular Puerto Rican girl she's about like four years old five years old and he would always beg the parents like let me take her to church let me take her to church and they're like no you can't take her to church again and he was just very persistent because that was like his route so one day he went and he's just like you know please mr. Mendoza you know can I take her to church and he's like all right you can pick her up tomorrow so he picked her up for church the next day and she wore her what is that Catholic dress called the communion dress like the really white or baptismal dress or communion dress or whatever just look like a Catholic okay you know but she's like I'm going to church you know so he brought her to church she ended up getting saved she got baptized it was just like an awesome day for my wife's uncle because it's like I've been wanting to bring this little girl to church for so long and now she's saved she got baptized and it was just like a really happy thing you know so and this is in Chicago you know Indiana's way farther than that so they would go all the way to Chicago to pick up all these kids and bring them to Indiana so then the next week he goes by to pick it to kind of tell the dad him can I pick up the little girl for church and you know he goes there and but she's missing and make a long story short she was brutally murdered she was brutally raped and murdered by some reprobate you know and it was like heartbreaking for him and here as he's telling the story he just says like you know he's telling his story to kind of motivate us to go out and reach people for Christ and the importance of it and he basically said like one day I know I'm gonna be in heaven and he's he said I know this little girl's gonna come up to me and say thank you for winning me to Christ and the principle there is that it's more needful for us it's more needful for people out there for us to stay you know so no matter how hard it gets no matter how difficult life can become just remember like someone needs you out there and don't don't ever take lightly that the person you went to Christ today you know we often say like if I never see you again where am I gonna see you you know we often say that right because you know we don't think they're gonna come to church or whatever you know they're not gonna come to church but where will I see you know you're gonna see me in heaven well you know what that is true that is true and so to depart to be with Christ is far better but to abide in the flesh is more needful for the lost here to abide in the flesh is more needful for your children here as of now to abide in the flesh is more needful for a brother and sister in Christ here because they need you here and he says there in verse number 25 and having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again so he believes he's probably gonna see them again now we don't know if he saw the Philippians ever again as far as like on this side of eternity but he did see them again one day right and he says in verse 27 only let your conversation be as it become if the gospel of Christ the whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs they stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel now here he goes again you know how he said you know that you know I shall be delivered and salvation and then he's like but God will be glorified whether by death or by life right but here he says I'm gonna see you again but in case I don't see you again though he's like I want to make sure that you guys your conversation is in the gospel what is it saying no matter what happens I better hear that you're still preaching the gospel right like if there's one thing that we want people to just continue to do for years on end is to win people to Christ because we don't want our labor to be in vain you know we want people that we went to the Lord and disciple and and and you know we teach them to years from now to keep see keep seeing people save that they're still out there so money you know I want to see people that I that I knew from years past see me now because I want them to know hey I'm still preaching the gospel you know hey Freddie I want to see you ten years from now still preaching the gospel amen came to our church you got saved started learning soul winning started going out hey twenty years from now I want to see you still preaching the gospel do you you better see still keep preaching the gospel 20 years from now you know we want to see these people enduring in the Christian life and then years from now even if we don't see them we see them decades later they're still out there so many winning people to Christ let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of Christ he says or else when I come and see you and or else be absent I may hear of your affairs the stand fast and one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel and you know even if the people that helped you you never see them again they will hear of your affairs there's plenty of people who don't talk to me anymore from the past but they're hearing of the affairs they are hearing about the people that are getting saved they're hearing about the Salvations and the baptisms and you know what that rejoices their heart I guarantee you it rejoices my heart when I hear people that I've that I've discipled in times past they're still serving God and they're winning souls to Christ I mean it rejoices my heart he says in verse 28 I like this verse and in nothing terrified by your adversaries what does it mean by nothing terrified don't be scared of your enemies don't be terrified by them why now here's a great motive not to be terrified of your enemies which is to them an evident token of perdition what does he mean when you don't show fear to the enemies of God that's a reminder to them crap I'm going to hell because this guy's the real deal when we stand bold for the things of God somehow that's like their little reminder you're gonna burn in hell buddy that's what it says it's an evident token of perdition so they're trying to intimidate you and give you death threats and see all manner of evil against you and you just take it like a man you just take it they're just like oh man I am going to hell because this guy's not backing down so an evident token of their perdition is your boldness an evident token of the fact that they're gonna split hell wide open is the fact that you're not standing down you're not backing down you're not apologizing you are as an adamant stone and you shall not be moved to them is just like thanks for the reminder buddy you just reminded me I'm going to hell that's what it does it's an evident token of their perdition but to you of salvation and that of God so when we stand for the truth it reminds us that we shall be delivered one day right that we will be delivered and shall be delivered one day again verse 29 front to you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake okay he's like just as much as it's God's will for you to believe on Christ for salvation it's also God's will for you to suffer what's God's will for my life suffer suffer pastor can you help me I'm trying to find God's will for my life suffer it's got a suffer for his sake what about like the other stuff though I mean that's that is the other stuff God's wills for you to be persecuted God's wills for you to suffer for his name's sake God's wills for you to have the fellowship of his suffering that's God's will for your life so instead of looking for some like mystical will you know what I mean where you know where's God calling me to in this place or you know just know this doesn't matter where he's called you to he's just called you to suffer so when you're suffering in this life just know hey I'm fulfilling God's will when you're in tears and you're in pain and sorrow and you're just going through the thick of it you can smile I'm to God's will this is God's will for my life because all suffering is temporary anyways he says but he's reminding the Philippians he's like hey just as his God's will for you to believe on him it's also God's will for you to suffer for him as well having the same conflict what you saw in me and now here to be in me he's saying you know the same suffering you see me you know I'm not the only one who's supposed to be going through this you guys all are supposed to be going through this and so the Apostle Paul shows his support there what a great chapter amen and you know ultimately everything is centered around the gospel it's it you're like why is he so fixated on the gospel because that's like the most important thing it's the most important thing okay and yes there's a lot of important things in the Christian life a lot of commands that we got to follow we have an entire Old Testament of principles that God has laid out for us to learn from and to to live a godly Christian life but at the end of the day is to make us formidable to be vessels and to honor me for the Masters use to priest the gospel to get people saved that's what God is concerned with and we see that the Apostle Paul had that that mentality let's pray father we thank you so much for the book of Philippians and what a what a great chapter what a great perspective what a great attitude for the Apostle Paul to have in the midst of trials I pray that Lord you to help us to view these trials as such Lord and we're not done getting persecuted we're not done going through trials and tribulations they're going to come again and I pray that you'd prepare us Lord help us not to capitulate help us not to back down help us to stand firm in our faith and recognize that this is your will and Lord we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen please turn your songbooks a song number 355 song number 355 what a friend we have in Jesus song number 355 all together on that first verse what a friend we have Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Amen wonderful singing your dismissed you