(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, all right. The title of the sermon this morning is Striving Together, Striving Together. Now I actually preached this sermon down in Texas, but the whole sermon went kaput. The whole audio was destroyed except for from 53 minutes on, which was essentially the end of the sermon. So I actually wanted to preach this sermon to our church since he didn't get to listen to it when it got preached down there. And so I really think that this is an important concept that we fully understand. And you could preach a lot of different sermons out of Philippians 1. It's a great chapter in the Bible and one of my favorites. But the verse I want to focus on there is in Philippians chapter 1, verse number 27. The Bible reads, Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come 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. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the great church we have here. I pray that you would just bless everything going on in the other churches that we have started. And Lord, we have a lot of churches right now. And I just pray that you bless each and every single one of them. Thank you for our Sure Foundation Baptist family and our striving together. And Lord, I pray that, as great as our church is now, that we could be even greater. And I know that the sky is the limit. I pray that, Lord, you'd put these truths in our people's hearts. You'd fill me with your spirit. You'd fill the congregation with your spirit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right. So, to strive together. What does that mean? Well, striving actually means to make great efforts to achieve or obtain something. Control or fight vigorously for. So, striving is fighting. People say, well, Christians shouldn't fight. Well, the Bible says we're supposed to strive together for the faith of the gospel. And one person alone can't reach a world for Christ. Two people can't reach the world for Christ. It's going to take a group effort. It's going to take a team effort. And in case you didn't know this, as soon as you became a Christian, you became a soldier of Jesus Christ. Man, woman, saved child, however old you are, there's no limitations on the army that we have. In reality, the limitations are within ourself and how we live our Christian life and what our goals are that are in our minds. Because we only have one life to do everything we can for Christ in this life. And sometimes we get our mind off track on things that really don't matter. And really, that was the crux of Brother Corbin's sermon, is that I think he just completely went away from his notes, but this concept is a concept that I think is very important that we have one mind. Now, obviously, it's not saying we're like, yeah, I'm not going through loudspeakers and we're all repeating and chanting things or something like that. But one mind, as far as the things of Christ are concerned, it's important that we're all on the same page. Because there's a lot of churches out there, they might not even have all the same salvation. You know, being taught in the service. The doctrine does matter, and what we believe does matter, it matters that we believe the essential and most important doctrines that we're all in one mind on that. We're going to differ on opinions on certain things, and that's okay. But as long as everybody in this church understands that salvation is by faith alone, it's eternal life and we can't lose it, we're King James only, we're soul winning. We have that mentality that it's very important to stay fundamental. And if you're like, well, I don't know if I am fundamental, well, get fundamental. Because the fundamentals are in the Bible. And a fundamental, it's something that we're built upon. We're built upon the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's called the rock. When the Bible says that spirit, that rock that followed them was Christ in the wilderness, talking about the children of Israel. So we need to be able to strive together, as this verse says. And together means in fellowship, companionship, or close association. Not only should we have one mind, but we also should be together, striving, fighting for the faith of the Gospel. And obviously, we're for all these different things, but the most important thing that God left us here to do is to make sure to reach this generation that we're in with the gospel, and set up future generations so other people can get saved and pick up the torch where we leave off. A lot of these churches you see that are old life be, you know, there's nothing wrong with having people with gray hair or whatever in the services. But if you walk into the church as only gray headed people, then you know what? They have not reached the next generation. They have not strived together to reach that next generation. And that's something, you know, people talk about their legacies. I don't really necessarily care what my legacy is. I care what the legacy I'm leaving behind for the next generation is, though. And the legacy should be a legacy of faith, a legacy of fighting, a great church that's continuing to strive for the gospel. Number one, my first point this morning is the work that God has for us to do is more important than our personal desires. The work that God has for us is more important than our personal desires. And really, that's the battle that we fight with all the time. Our personal desires versus what Christ's desire for us is. Look at verse number 20 in the text there. It says, According to my earnest expectation and my hope that is 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. So the Apostle Paul is gonna go on and talk about, you know, whether he's alive or dead, you know, that he wants to make sure that Christ is magnified in his body in one way, shape, or form. Look at verse 21. It says, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And so while we're on this earth, in the bodies that we have, he said, and he's the greatest apostle in my opinion, for me to live is Christ. You know, he didn't say for me to live is Seahawks. For me to live is, you know, working on my car. For me to live is to be the best tent builder of all time. And he was a tent builder. He was a tent maker. But do you think that that's what he cared about more than anything else? No, he says, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. So either way, whether we're living, you know, we should be living for Christ because when we die, we do have gain. We're gonna be, you know, we're gonna be comforted where other people will not be. He says, but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I want not. I don't know what I would choose, is what he's saying. For I am in a strait betwixt two. You know, he's kind of struggling which one is better. But he says, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. But here's the thing, just because that's better doesn't mean that that's the choice that we should choose. You know, if you're saved and you theoretically did commit suicide, you would go to heaven. But is that the right choice to choose? Or maybe you just say, well, I'm just gonna go make sure I get martyred. I'm gonna go to a Muslim country and just start preaching Christ from the housetops, you know, where I'm gonna go to Iran in the town square and just start preaching Christ so I can be with Christ. Because that's far better. It is far better to be in heaven. It is far better to be with Christ. But he didn't leave us here without a purpose. He left us here with a purpose that we could accomplish the things that he wants us to accomplish. See, it's not always about us and our desires and the things that our flesh wants. It's about the things that Christ wants. As Brother Corbin was saying, I keep mentioning the sermon, but we're bought with a price. So glorify your mind and body, which are Christ's. Christ owns us, we're servants of Christ, and he has jobs for us to do. Now, if you choose not to do that, you choose not to live your life for Christ, you know, that is your choice, but it's not what God commands us to do. So Paul's saying, it's better for me to depart, but while I'm in my body, I'm gonna work for Christ. So keep a ribbon or a bookmark here, because we're gonna come back here throughout the sermon, but turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 6, 2 Corinthians 5 verse number 6. The Bible says, Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. That is the better option, that is the better choice, and really this is just teaching us basically that we, when we're here on earth, obviously we're not with the Lord, but once our body dies, we will be with the Lord. If you're saved today, you will be with Christ immediately. You will be in heaven, you're like, well I thought our body stays here, yeah it does. Our body rests in the earth and waits for the coming of Christ and we'll be risen again and we'll have bodies that can never die. But there is a judgment seat of Christ, okay? The judgment seat of Christ is where we will appear before Christ and give an account of what we've done in our Christian life. And I'm not saying the jumbotron's gonna play and every sin you committed is gonna be played on that screen. I'm not saying that. But the Bible says we will give an account to Christ and we don't wanna be ashamed at His coming. The Bible talks about His being ashamed at His coming. Some people it talks about how don't sleep. Christ wants us to pay attention and to be sober and to be waiting for the coming of the Lord and be paying attention to what's going on and not just living your life however you want because when Christ comes back, you will be ashamed. I'm not saying you're not gonna be saved. I'm saying you're gonna be ashamed if you weren't living your life for Christ. Wouldn't you like to be... It's like, I've said this before, but when the boss catches you working, isn't that a great feeling? Amen. You know, you're like just working hard and all of a sudden the boss is like, hey, how's it going? You know, shows up with the coffee or whatever and he catches you working hard. That's a great feeling. That's a great feeling when Christ comes back and he's like, oh hey, sorry I caught you his soul wanting or whatever. That's gonna be a great day to be caught paying attention, working for the Lord and being in Christ and serving Christ when he comes back, but what about the people that are just living their lives and drinking with the drunks and living like the world and living like the devil even though you're saved? You know, you're gonna be ashamed. You're gonna be ashamed because, I mean, think about Peter when he denied the Lord three times. When he turned and he looked in Jesus' face after that third denial, he went out and wept bitterly. And think about if you are not serving Christ with your life and he comes back and how you're gonna feel when he looks into your face for that time. Wouldn't you rather be serving God and being able to hold your head up at least to a certain degree? You know, obviously we're probably not gonna want to just like, oh yeah, I'm doing such great things, you know. But when the boss catches you working, it's gonna be a great thing, isn't it? So look at verse 2 in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I think, yeah, I haven't had you turn there. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 2. Now I believe that the Apostle Paul is talking about himself in these verses right here. He's talking about, and it probably goes back to when he had like this outer body experience or inner body. He doesn't know whether it was in the body or out of the body, but he just gets done talking about how I speak as a fool. It's foolish to boast about the things that you've done. And so he's trying not to boast. I think that's why he's using this language that he uses because he kind of has the details on what's going on. It's not like, oh, I just knew this guy one time that went to heaven. You know, there's all these people that say, you know, there's videos. If you just type in people that went to heaven and came back, you're gonna find seven minutes I was in heaven, or 35 minutes I was in heaven, or whatever it is, and people are saying that they went to heaven, they come back and tell what heaven was like. Well, why didn't the Apostle Paul get to tell what heaven was like? He didn't. He heard things that were unlawful for him to say. Look at verse 2. It says, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such in one caught up to the third heaven. So he goes to the third heaven where God is, where God lives, and it says, and I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter. So first of all, don't get fooled by these I went to heaven and came back, or I went to hell and came back stories. It's just, it's not true. And even if it was true, they're not gonna come back and say, if the Apostle Paul can't tell us how heaven is, then why is some dumb little kid that his parents put him up to write in this book or whatever, God's not gonna just let some rando just come back and tell how heaven was. Sorry, I don't believe that. I think it's supposed to be a surprise for us. There's a lot of things that are detailed about in heaven, but there's a lot of things that aren't. We don't know really exactly what everything's gonna be like, but we do know that we're gonna be serving God for all of our lives, which is forever, right? If you're saved. But Paul knew more than anyone how much better the location in paradise was than anybody else. And Paul received a lot of revelation, and he received a thorn in the flesh so that he wouldn't be lifted up and think he's so much better than everybody. God just gave him a lot of revelation. But he experienced both. He experienced the life on this earth serving Christ, and also the life that he's gonna see in the future with Christ. He knows what's better. He knows it's obviously better to be in heaven where he can be with God for all eternity, but he saw a glimpse of what heaven was like and knew that departing from the flesh and being with God so much better. Obviously, we all know that that's true. Now let's go back to our text in Philippians chapter 1 verse 24. I was just trying to highlight there how the apostle Paul, he really had the right to write these things saying, I know what's better, because he really did know what was better. But look what he says here in verse 24. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. So what's better for the people in Philippi? For Paul to stay alive for what reason? It says, 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. He's saying, hey, it's really important for me to come back to you and help you with your faith, help you to have more joy, help you to be rejoicing, and to have a more abundant Christian life. Paul knew what the better choice was, to be in heaven with Christ. But he said, nevertheless, it's more needful for you that I abide in the flesh. That's what he says. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Now why am I bringing this up? Because sometimes we get this idea, and we get really selfish, and we want what we want. But the Apostle Paul, his thoughts were about other people, about how he can help other people, and that's why he was such a great man. Because he loved the churches that he started. He loved the people in the churches that he started, and it was really important for him to be there for them. And he's basically saying, hey, it is going to be better in heaven. I know it's going to be better in heaven. It would be way better for me to just die and go to heaven, but it's more needful for me to abide in the flesh. Paul wasn't selfish, and you know what? We shouldn't be selfish like that either. And I'm not just saying about going to heaven. How about just living your life? Some people find it's more important to live their life. I just want to enjoy my life. And that's great. I don't think God doesn't want you to enjoy your life. I'm not saying, hey, to serve Christ is to not enjoy your life. I think it's more enjoyable to be a Christian than it is to be a heathen. Look, I've lived in both worlds. I know which one is better. And therefore I want to serve Christ and just go forward. When people say things about me, I don't care. Because you know what? My purpose in life is to be, it's needful for me to be here and to be serving God in the flesh than to go out and serving the world of my lust in the flesh. Because can't Christians go back to their old life? They can and do. But I'll tell you what, those people are going to be ashamed in front of Christ. And we don't want that, do we? Think about the fact of Jesus looking at you and you having to tell him why you decided to live your life the way you were. Why you weren't all in. Why you weren't having one mind with the brethren. Why you were not striving together as a team with your brethren to help and to encourage each other to be here. And you know there's just a lot of things that Christ wants us to do and you're like well we're always talking about soul winning, yeah, because it's the most important thing we do. There's nothing more important. There's no price on the price of a soul. There just isn't. So a soul is worth everything. Your soul, if you could gain the whole world but you lost your own soul, what profit is that for you? Oh yeah, I was Bill Gates and I got pies in my face twice. That's like one of my favorite videos. And then if you see the little clip version of it, it's only one pie, but then I realized that the full video he gets a couple more people come and hit him with pies. Anyway, that's what you get for being a vaccine monger. But anyway, so Paul the apostle was the starter and leader of many churches and he was a good leader and he was a good Christian and he had a good attitude and he was thinking about others besides himself. Look at John chapter 10 verse 10. John chapter 10 verse 10. He wasn't thinking about himself, he was thinking about others. John 10, 10 says the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. So Jesus came to give us eternal life but also to give us a more abundant and you know abundant means you're just, it's a greater life. You have more worth, you have more hope, you have a better life than other people. So it says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. So Jesus Christ was not a hireling. Jesus Christ came for one purpose and that purpose was to redeem mankind so that we could be back in fellowship with God and that we could serve him the way we should. Because in Egypt they served with rigor to the Pharaoh without choice, without land, without getting gain of any kind, they were just slaves. But Christ freed them, God freed them and allowed them to leave so that they could serve God the way that they should be. It's the picture of salvation, serving sin and self and the devil versus serving God and having an abundant life and having a better life and being saved. So when I was down in Texas I went and preached at Springcrest Baptist Church and Pastor Cobb is the pastor there and Pastor Reyes is also, there's two pastors of that church and what I thought was really amazing about Pastor Cobb is that he's 87 years old, he's still sharp as a tack, he's still serving God, he's still preaching sermons and he's been the pastor of that church for 47 years. I'm 48, so put that in perspective. He's been pastoring that church for 47 years and I'm sure that just like anybody that gets old you start to have aches and pains and things don't come to you as quickly but he's still serving God, why? Because it's more needful for him to abide in the flesh and to pastor that church than it is for him to be in heaven. Because you know what, if God said, alright, your time's done, then that's when your time's done when God says it's done. But as long as he's on this earth, his mission is to just continue to work for God. He said, I didn't see the retirement plan in the Bible for me. And so I think that that's great. But he was in the ministry for 60 years so he got called to the ministry or whatever when he was like 17 years old, he served God in different churches and then he became a pastor of some other church. So 60 years, basically, he was pastoring or ministering in some way, shape or form. That's older than I am, a lot older than I am. But think about that, how long have you been serving Christ? Do you intend to serve Christ all, maybe God just knew that Pastor Cobb was going to just continue to serve him in the capacity he needs to and hold it down for that small church there. The church has gotten smaller, but look, churches are getting smaller. Back in the day, J. Frank Norris had the biggest church on the planet, it was an independent fundamental Baptist church, and then he passed through a church in Detroit at the same time that was huge also. So we can just see the change in how people are from back then, because to have the biggest church in the country and it's an independent Baptist church where the guy is not just preaching soft-soap sermons, he's got chimpanzees behind him dressed in suits to preach against evolution. He went and rented the chimpanzees from the zoo, which you couldn't do that now and that would be really dangerous. Anyway, I'd be very afraid of them, but apparently there are nice chimpanzees that will allow you to dress them up in suits, but some of them will just rip your face off. But he also, his dad was a really bad alcoholic and there was an accident where there was a fatality in the town and he went and got the broken bottle or whatever and scooped up the brains in there and preached a whole sermon against alcohol in his church. I think that would probably be against the law today too, I don't think he could just walk up to a scene and just scoop someone's brains up. That's gross, right? But the picture was, hey, if you drink alcohol and drive and you're a drunkard, this might end up happening to you. But if you preach something like that, it would be all over the news, you'd be like banned from every YouTube station, every social media, there would be a great outcry against you for that. That's just how much things have changed. But just because things have changed, it doesn't mean that we change with those people. If you're fundamental, stay fundamental. And it doesn't matter if the sizes are shrinking, atheists act like that's something that's good. Is our world better because there's more atheists? No, our world is worse and people are more stupid because of atheism. You're like, well, they're really smart. No, they're not. They're a fool. The Bible calls them fools. If you don't believe in God, you're a fool. You're an idiot. You're a moron. You're like, well, that's really mean, Pastor Thompson. Look outside and you tell me that this world made itself. You can't say that. A system that we live in in this world where you go to sleep at night and you breathe on your own, you blink your eyes uncontrollably to wash the windshield wiper. You have built-in windshield wipers. We have trees that take in our carbon dioxide and turn them into oxygen. This world is existing by the power of God. And anybody that thinks that there isn't God, nobody who's going to walk up to this building and go, that's a great building, I wonder if somebody blew something up and it made it into this building. Nobody's going to think that, but that's what the idiotic Big Bang Theory teaches, right? That this world, some infinitesimal dot swirled around and blew up and made everything. That's idiotic. They talk about how our God's a fairy tale. No, that theory is a fairy tale. It's unprovable. It's unproven and they teach it in school as fact. And it's not a fact. You know what the fact is? The Bible is true. God created this world in six days and he rested on the seventh. He didn't need permission from anybody else to do it. And God's word is what's true and that's what we ought to go by in our lives. But Jesus Christ gave himself for others. It was God caring more about the world than he cared about his status in heaven as the Son of God, as the King of Kings. He became a lesser and he became a servant for us. So you know, because God serves us. Isn't that crazy that he serves us? He's God. But yet he came down as a servant to serve us so that we could go to heaven. That's a lot different than us having our own agendas, isn't it? We can never be as loving and giving as God. But you know what? We could appreciate what he's done for us and choose to serve him. Now look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 15. And you know, I was bringing up Pastor Cobb, I brought up Paul, I brought up Jesus. These are leaders in the church. But you know what? As a church member, you have your part to play in this church also. You're not lesser than anybody else. God's not a respecter of persons. God loves you just as much as he loves me. He loves you just as much as he loved Paul. But some people are just going to do more in their lives than others. But I'm trying to motivate you this morning to say, you know what? Maybe I should just stop living so much for myself and maybe I should live a little bit more for Christ. Or a lot more for Christ. It just depends on what's going on in your life. How much are you serving Christ right now? Could you say that you're spending hours a week serving Christ? Or you're not serving him at all? I mean, I don't really know. I'm not at your guys' houses. I'm not a cult leader. I'm not keeping up. You're not doing logs and turning them into me on how much time you spent sowing him. All that kind of stuff that Jehovah's Witnesses do. It's the honor system, you know? It's between you and God. And you're the one that's going to have to give an account to him someday for how you lived your life on this earth. But look at verse 15. It says, and that he died for all that they which should live not henceforth live unto themselves. Why did he die for us? So we could live for ourselves? No, so that they should not henceforth live unto themselves. That's what we did before. But unto him which died for them and rose again. So he didn't die for us to just live for ourselves so we could live for him. And you're like, well, that's kind of weird. Why would he just care about us living for him? He made us. It's his choice. He made us to give him pleasure. He made us because he wanted to have fellowship with him. And he wants to have fellowship with the people that choose to have fellowship with him. See, salvation is a choice. You get to choose. You can choose life or you can choose death. But you're going to have to choose. And by not choosing, you're choosing death. So some people are just like, well, I don't even think about that. We're out sowing in, I don't even think about that stuff. Well, you better start thinking about it because there's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. There's a heaven that we get to go to and a hell that's going to be eternal torture for all eternity. Look at Philippians chapter 2, verse 2 says, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. The apostle Paul repeats this theme throughout his epistles. The next time you read through the New Testament, just think about it and look at all the times where Paul talks about being in one accord and of one mind and how important it is. It says, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. So is it our mission to just live for ourselves? No it's to live for Christ. Is it to just live for ourselves? No it's to esteem others better than themselves. Isn't that what it says? Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Jesus came to die for others. The apostle Paul said it's need for me to stay in the body so I can help others. What is your attitude though? Are you here to help others or just yourself? And so I think it's just really important that we as Christians have a right mindset. Hey, being of one mind and striving for the gospel is you're putting other people ahead of yourself. You're putting the lost souls that are dying and going to hell on a daily basis ahead of yourself when you go sowing. When you're here at church and encouraging the brethren to exhorting others to do good works, you're thinking about others, not about just how much you don't feel like being here today or I just got to do this or I got to do that. Some people, once they start having excuses not to go to church, they're just going to keep coming up with excuses because it's a lot easier to just skip out after you've been skipping out for a while. And you know what's hard? What takes character? To be here three times a week if you can be. It takes character. Sometimes I get really upset about stuff like that and I preach about it until the cows come home, but ultimately people are going to just do what they want to do. But that is the frustration of a pastor is to be like, man, these people, they don't even realize that they're destroying themselves. They don't realize that the things that they're doing are going to have a long lasting effect on their family. I talk about reaching the next generation, it's really hard to do that when you're not even reaching your own children. And what are you teaching your children if you're not bringing them to church? What are you teaching them? God's not important. And then when they grow up and they're whores, your daughters are whores or your sons don't care about the things of God, your children don't get saved, then you're going to come crying and putting a prayer request in every Thursday for my kids to get saved. It's like, don't you care about your kids? If you would have been thinking about others instead of thinking about yourself and how important all the things that you want to do and how important it is to have friends and how important it is to have hobbies, then maybe you wouldn't have been so selfish that your own kids don't get saved. But people don't see it and you can preach it and preach it and preach it and some people just will never get it and they'll never do it. It takes character and it takes love in your heart to put others before yourself. So departing through death, departing through death is not the only way Christians can stop being part of the team. Departing from the church or retiring from Christian service is another way of departing, isn't it? See, it's not just departing. Paul was talking about departing between heaven and staying and helping, but some people's decisions aren't that. It's retiring or not staying in church or if Christ is keeping you alive and able-bodied and able-minded, he still has work for you to do. And you know what? Even if you're not able-bodied, there's still work you can do. Even if you're not able-minded, obviously you need to have some sort of a mind, but you can serve Christ without being able to walk. You can pray for people. And I talk about this a lot, my wife kind of really took this to heart and I'm glad she did. The shelf life of a Christian is a short shelf life of being able to physically do the work because it's not just mental, it's not just spiritual, it is physical. You could get in some kind of accident where you never walk again and when's the last time you went soloing? And you could say, well, I wish I could just go soloing again. But when you lose it, then you can't go back and get it. So why not serve while you can? Because we don't know what a day is going to bring forth in our life. And I'm not saying, hey, I hope you get in an accident so you learn this lesson. So obviously that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying think about the shelf life you have. What if five years from now you can't walk at all? What if you'll never walk right again? How are you going to go out? And it'll be too late. So now while the time is now, that's the time to serve Christ. Don't say I'm going to serve him later, I'm going to wait until I make all this money and then serve him. I'm going to wait until this time or that time. If you're going to keep waiting, you're always going to keep waiting. You're always going to have an excuse why you can't do it now. But we need to do it now. So it doesn't matter whether you're male or female, what age you are, anything like that. If you're alive, God can still use you. And if you've made mistakes in your life, God can still use you. Well, maybe you can't be a pastor. So what? It's not always fun. Okay, I'll just tell you, it's not always fun. But you know, it's rewarding. But you can still serve God and probably do greater works than I could ever do by not even being a pastor. I mean, there's people in our church that go so many more than I do, and they're earning great rewards. But that's not all my job is, is to go so many. My job is to do a lot of other things too. So I'm just saying that we've got to stop focusing on all the things that are about us and maybe start looking on the things of others. Number two this morning, part of striving together is how each Christian lives their life on this earth. So I kind of, it's spilling over from the last point, but look at Philippians 1.27 again. And it says in that verse, it says, Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs. Your conversation there, it means your lifestyle, the life, the manner which you live your life. And it's saying it should be as it becometh the gospel. So it should match what you say you believe, is basically what it's saying. And so Paul's saying that whether I come and see you or not, or else I'm absent, that I may hear of your affairs. You know, other people hear of the affairs of our church. They hear of the things that we're doing. They hear of how you live your life. And you might not, you're like, well, how would they know? I don't know. They just do. People just find stuff out. There's a lot of gossips out there, I guess, I don't know. But what do you want your conversation to be? What do you want your lifestyle to be saying? That person's a great servant of the Lord. That person loves God, they care about the things of God, instead of, oh, that person's the worst gossip in the church. That person doesn't really care about the things of God. They're kind of halfway in and halfway out. And God knows everything we do. So ultimately, who are you being accountable to? Sometimes we kind of live this life and we forget that God is up in heaven watching everything we do, paying attention to what we're doing, how we're living our lives, and it does matter. It should match what we believe, shouldn't it? You shouldn't be a totally different person when you're at work. You shouldn't be a totally different person at home. Do you talk about Jesus at home with your kids, or are they just hearing it here? Because if your life at home is not matching what your persona is at church, they know. Kids can spot a hypocrite a mile away, especially their own parents. So these things are important, not just for you, but obviously God is the most important thing. And he says to be holy, for I am holy. Be ye holy, for I am holy. That means separated. That means sanctified. That means set apart and different, a peculiar people, a peculiar treasure in all the earth. He wants his people, when people look at us, they'll say, they're different. There's something. Has anybody ever said, I just knew you were a Christian somehow. I hope that that happens to you sometimes. Or they see your children are more behaved than other children in the restaurant, and they're like, well, your children are so behaved. That happened to us all the time when we were, I mean, we didn't just let our kids run all over the restaurant. I mean, that's what most people do. Their kids are just being brats, running all over the restaurant. And if that's you, I'm not picking on anybody. I can't think of any kids at our church to just let their kids run all over the restaurant. But if that's you, then maybe you should fix it. Because people are looking at you. Whether you know it or not, people observe you. And I think that God wants us not only to live a good Christian life and to have a life that becomes the gospel, it's not just for our benefit, but it's for the benefit of others. So that others can see our good works and glorify our Father, which is in heaven. People don't just walk up to us all the time and go, I want what you got. They don't do that all the time, do they? But sometimes they do. And sometimes people are watching you for longer than you think. And you can have an effect on that person by the way you carry yourself in this life. Turn to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 1. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 1. The Bible says, Furthermore, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you had to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. So he's saying that the apostles told them how they were supposed to walk. That is talking about how you're supposed to live your Christian life. And it says, so that you would abound more and more, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. Are there commandments that we're supposed to follow in the Bible? This would indicate yes. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. He didn't say keep my suggestions. Oh, this is just a suggestive, you know, you're free in Christ, bro, but you know, you should kind of do it. Yeah, we should do it. And obviously we're not all going to obey every commandment all the time. We're sinful, we're fleshly. And if you're not walking in the Spirit, you're going to walk in the flesh. If you're not feeding your spirit, you're going to walk in the flesh. And if you're walking in the flesh, then you're going to be committing sin. But you should think about how other people view you in your life. Because if you're just holy here, you're just set apart at church, you're just set apart in front of your friends here, and you're not that way outside, then it is going to have an effect on how you, first of all, how God deals with you, and how other people view you. And if you want to have an influence on other people, you should do what God says. First of all, because God said to. And then second of all, because people are going to look at you, your kids are going to look at you, your family members, that you want to get saved so bad, you say you want to get them saved, but then you treat them in a different way. You talk to them in a different way. They see you act a different way around them. If you're going to the family functions and you're drinking with everybody because you don't want to look like a weirdo, well then, what are they seeing? Well, He says He's like this, but here's how He acts when He gets around us. That's not right, folks. You have to learn to have some separation in your life and have a sanctified life. Look at what it says in verse 3, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. Sanctification, again, set apart. Peculiar people, not weird, peculiar, different, a jewel that God looks at and He's like, I love that. I love that. I love that person. I love that family. I love those Christians, and they're peculiar unto me. That's what He always has wanted. That's what He wanted for the children of Israel, but did they ever match up to it? No, they were always just constantly doing wrong and failing, and obviously we do to a certain extent, too, but we have the Holy Spirit. Not all those people have the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit. The New Testament is different. The New Testament is the family of God of all nations of the earth. I'm not trying to build Yakima Indian Baptist. I'm trying to build a church that has all nations in it, and if Yakima nation is part of that, then I want them to come to church, but the town that we knocked, Harah, there wasn't a lot of saved people there and a lot of people that wanted to hear the gospel. There was a Baptist church there, but now it's lower Yakima, I think, Indian church or Indian Baptist church or something. I don't have Sure Foundation Baptist white church on the sign, do I? I want all nations to be here. That's what God intended. He didn't intend for us to have just all black churches, all native churches, all white churches. That's not how it's supposed to go. People are saved in all nations, but it says your sanctification, it says that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and in honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified, for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. So does God want us to live a holy life, yes or no? Yes he does. So part of striving together is that we're striving together and we're living in holiness and I'm not saying that you have to, I'm not pulling the Ray Comfort here, are you living in holiness? Are you living in holiness? That you're not really saved? I'm not saying that, but look, a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump, and when we have a lot of leaven in our church, it's going to spread to other people and we don't want to be in one mind striving together to be the most worldly church in Vancouver, we want to be not the most worldly church. When people come in here, they're like, ooh, they're holy. We want people to come in and feel like, hey, I need to, maybe I need to be more holy when I come to church. The way you dress shows a lot about who you are and what you care about. And it just does. And people think, well, God doesn't care about clothing. He kind of does. He had like special clothing that the priest had to wear. I mean, people, you know, he says, hey, men should wear men clothes and women should wear men clothes that are pertaining to a woman. You know, it does matter. You know, Moses, if the priest walked in with something that was not designed by what God said, what would happen to them? He's told them to wear those things so that they die not. So it is important what we wear, it is important how we dress, it is important how we use our body, what we use our body for, what we're looking at, what we're listening to. All those things do matter, folks, and God wants us to be separate. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 6 17, I won't have you turn there, but it says, wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. So people just say, well, yeah, it's, you know, you guys just think that you get saved, you can just do whatever you want. Do we do whatever we want, though? It's like I'm at your door right now, not doing whatever I want. Because at the sixth hour yesterday, my dogs were barking, my back was hurting, and I was just like, this is not what I want to be doing right now. And I was not getting any reception at any doors. But Brother Robert got four people saved, praise God. Four teenagers sit there and listened to the whole gospel and got saved. I'm sure many people have great stories like that. I was with him. So it counts for me, too. We part alike. If you're a silent partner, you're getting rewards right there with the person, because why? Because you were there. Because you're helping, because you're the silent partner. You're kicking dogs and slapping babies, right? Kissing babies and petting dogs, I'm sorry. Anyway, that's a joke. So I mean, obviously, God wants us to live a holy life. He wants us to live a separated life. And sin does affect the whole group. So again, it goes back to, are you selfish or not? Are you thinking about others? Because people will say, well, my sin doesn't affect other people. People don't know what my sin is. But it does affect other people, because a little leaven, leaven up the whole lump, there are sins that would get you kicked out of church. Obviously God wants us to have the purest church we could possibly have. Now let's turn back to Philippians chapter 1, verse 27 again. And my third point, and that'll probably be my last point, is striving together is a team effort. It's a team effort. It says in verse 27a there, it says, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs. That ye, what does it say there? Stand fast. So it's a team effort. We're supposed to stand fast. That means don't move from what you're doing. Don't, I mean, unless you're doing wrong. But stand fast, what? In the faith. There's a lot of also things that Paul likes to say, but he uses different sayings for it. Hold fast, steadfast, stand firm, withstand, stand. God wants us to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, right? He wants us to stay in the spot we're at, and it's a team effort to do that. So look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 11, Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 11. I did have four points, but I'm not going to go to the fourth point. I know some people have plans afterwards, so I'll try not to go too long here. Foods, cooking, whatever. So anyway, Ecclesiastes 12, 11, the Bible says, the words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. Now, the book of Ecclesiastes is also called the preacher. And what he's talking about here is that there's, you know, the master of assemblies would probably represent a pastor or somebody that's preaching the word of God. And it says the words of the wise, what are the words of the wise? How about the prophets? How about the apostles? How about the Lord Jesus Christ? Those are the wise words. There is goads. And a goad is like a sharp stick that has like a point at the end or maybe some barbs at the end that people would use to move cattle. And you're like, that's so mean. Well, now they have cattle prods that just shock them or whatever, or you know, whatever. They would just, you know, animals are beasts and sometimes they get stubborn. You know, have you heard the term stubborn as a mule? Sometimes mules just won't, you know, Balaam's beating his mule. Not that he was doing it for the right reason, but the nails that are fastened are fastened by the wise words that are goads. Goads are the wise words, you know, the reason I get up here and preach these things and I get up and yell and scream sometimes is because I want to goad you to do the right thing. And that's what the words of the wise are supposed to help you to do is if you're not right in your life, if there's things that are lacking in your life, and look, we all have things that are lacking in our life, but let the words of God goad you into doing those things that are right. It's exhortation. It's encouraging you to do the right thing. That's what exhortation is. Encourage you to do right. Encourage you to do good. And the words of God are like a goad. They're supposed to, you know, you're like, well why do you have to get so upset and animated and this and this and that, it's like, because that's what God's word's supposed to do. It's supposed to motivate us. Not to say, oh, I'm so good, let me walk out like this from the church with a halo on my head. You know, most of these churches are just encouraging, they're giving you a TED talk, they're giving you a Tony Robbins, you know, motivational speech with a couple poems, one scripture that's from the NIV, and then everybody goes out feeling good. Well, the Bible says the words of the wise are as goads. You know, if there's more people preaching and goading people to do what's right, then this world would be a better place. The churches would be in better shape and, you know, things wouldn't maybe be as bad as they are now. But it says, as nails fastened, you know, standing fast, being steadfast, the words of the wise are as goes to help nail you down and to keep you from moving out of your place. And it says, we'll turn over to Psalm chapter 92 verse 13, and I really like this passage here. Psalm 92 verse 13, you're like, well, how does, what does this have to do with striving together as a team effort? Well, because if the team isn't here, then it's hard to be part of the team, isn't it? There's a lot of team, you know, team sports where someone wants to be the individual so bad that they hurt the betterment of the team. Now obviously, we're all going to do different things, we're all going to strive differently like we're all going to be different on our individual levels. But on any good team, there's individuals that do individual things, but it all betters the team. And if they play like a team, you can have the best talented basketball players in the world and if they all want the ball at the same time, they're not going to be a good team no matter how talented they are. But there's also teams that they all play together and maybe they don't have the same talent or best players, but there's only one ball in basketball. They don't all get to shoot at the same time, in case you didn't notice. Now, if someone wants to jack up 35 shots a game and somebody else, you know, they're just, people become ball hogs and they don't play as a team and they're not as good. And so, that's why we as individuals need to realize, yeah, we have our own things to deal with, but we also bring something to the team. And if you're not part of the team, you're not doing the things with the team, then you're not helping the team. So it says in Psalm 92 verse 13, it says, those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. What is that talking about? Well, this is the house of the Lord. This is the pillar and ground of the truth. And the Bible says that if you're planted in this house, you know, what do plants do? They stay still. They get planted in earth. You know, there's all these pictures in the Bible about how trees having big roots and being next to the waters, and it's good to be rooted and grounded in the faith. Well, it's good to be planted in the house of the Lord. You know what plants don't do? They don't move, do they? They stay where they're at. And you know, yeah, you might have to build, get a bigger pot for the plant or whatever, and they get bigger and they flourish, and you got to trim them up sometimes, and there's a lot of things that go into taking care of plants, which I don't do, because I'm not like a botanist or whatever, and I'm just not that kind of person, but I do understand the concept a little bit, but what's this telling us? It's saying those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish. What do plants do if they're doing well? They flourish. But do all plants flourish? No, they don't, because you do have to care for them. You can put them in the sun, but if you forget to water them for like a month, unless it's a cactus, it's not going to do well. You can give it all the sun you want. But some people just, you know, they get these plants and maybe it's not for their area, maybe the climate in their house isn't right, you know, plants are going to do well in the places that they're supposed to do well, okay? But the point I'm trying to say is that plants don't move, and so when you're planted in the house of the Lord, when this is a place that you go for your safe space from the world, this should be a safe space for us. People are like, oh I need my safe space because I just can't handle all the stuff that's going on in the world. No, we need a safe space to keep the world out of here. This is supposed to be the house of God. And there's certain people that are allowed in, and certain people that aren't. And so it's not a hospital for every broken thing. Now it should be a hospital to help heal us, obviously, but it's not for everybody. Some people can't be fixed, some people are terminal. Some people are a cancer. We don't want cancer in here. We don't want predators in here. We don't want those kind of people. We want people that are saved to be planted in this house so that they can flourish. What does that mean? Abound. So they can get bigger, so they can get better. Look at verse 14, they shall still bring forth fruit, what does it say there? What's those three next words? In old age. Oh, what do you know? You stick and stay in church, and in old age, you're still going to bring forth fruit. What is that talking about? Sounds like soul wanting to me, right? You're going to still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing, amen. It's not talking about fat, the bad fat, it's talking about good fat. If a tree has, you know, you get those Christmas trees and they have like, you know, you buy them like they're from New Mexico or something, and they're, you know, they're these pines and you can't hang anything, but you know, here in the Northwest, we get those big trees that are fat and flourishing, right? And you can hang everything, you can hang all your ornaments and stuff on them or whatever if you do that. But the point is, is that if we're planted in the house of God, you know, it's a team effort for everybody to be here. It's a team effort for everybody to strive for the truth of the gospel. It's a team effort for everybody to be part of the team and not be a hindrance or a hurt to the team. So if you're like, even back to sports, if someone comes in and they're out of shape, then they're not helping the team, they're hurting the team because they can't have the endurance to endure. So like if you have sin in your life, you're not helping the team, you're hurting the team. Again, everybody has some sin in their life, but I'm just saying if you're in gross, negligent sin and you're not participating in church, I mean, that's just a bad place to be. You don't want to get to that spot. And things that are nailed down, don't move. Things that are planted, stay still. And you know what? They flourish. So be planted in the house of the Lord. Be as the nails that are fastened. Don't move. Be steadfast, hold fast, withstand, stand where you're at, don't move backwards. Moving backwards is always a bad thing in the Bible. And it says in one spirit, verse 27, back in our text, in verse 27, sorry, Philippians chapter 1 verse 27, it says that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Don't move. Have the same spirit. Finding the same things important as the other people in our church. Fighting together as one big team. That's the purpose. That's the sermon. That's what I'm talking about this morning. Not for our own desires or ends. Not for ourself. For the good of the team. For the good of the cause of Christ. Those are three things that we can really just focus in on and it is important to do self-checks. It's important to check your oil in your car. You find that important. Do you do a self-check? Where am I at? How's my Holy Spirit oil doing on my dipstick this morning? Is it low? Are you walking in the flesh or are you walking in the spirit? Let's turn to one last scripture and we'll be done. One last scripture, Romans 12 verse 15. And this is what's great about being part of a team, you know, and we care about other people that we've got to get on the same level with other people and care about what's going on in other people's lives. Not just be selfish and about ourselves. That's what teams do. That's what teammates do. When we pray for each other, we're praying for the rest of the team. When we go out together, we're helping the team. We're encouraging the team. We're encouraging soul winning. We're encouraging being in church. And Romans 12, 15, it says, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. Be of the, what does it say there? Same mind, one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. So we rejoice together. We weep together. We feel the pain that others feel together that we are striving with. And if you're here, then you know what other people are going through. If you're part of the team, you know what, you know, you have a kind of a pulse on what our church is going through. I think our church is doing great right now. I really do. I think our church is really at a high point right now, and I don't want to come off that high. I want to keep up in the high point with the pedal to the metal, with the dipstick fully, you know, it's overfilled. Our cup running over. I think that it's because people care. People strive for excellence here, and there's a lot of people that care about others. And you know, and if that's not you, and you're on the outskirts, get back onto the inside. You know, it's not, people don't like you, you're just not here. So be here. Be planted in the house of the Lord. And you know, I'll just, I'm not going to have you turn there, but one last thing that I wanted to say is in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14, or actually in 2 Timothy 3 it talks about how in the last times there's going to be persecutions, people enduring, hardships. The Apostle Paul talks about how seducers and evil men shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, and it says, but continue thou. Because there are going to be in a battle, who are we fighting? We're fighting the devil. We're fighting his armies. We're fighting his minions. It's not like we're just, we're striving together against nobody. There's an enemy that we're fighting. But it says, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So we've got to continue, we've got to strive, we've got to be of one mind. So just to recap everything, we strive together by putting others before our own desires, like the Apostle Paul, like the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, we strive together by living a separated life, pleasing to God. And that is going to help our church to function better. It's going to help your life. It's going to help the lives of other people that see your chaste lifestyle. And number three, striving together is a team effort of individuals in a group effort. We're all individuals. We're all going to do our own individual things, but the purpose of those individual things getting done is to help the team. Don't be a ball hog, all right? Be a team player, all right? So if we implement these principles and adopt the mindset that Christ and the apostles have, then we can do our part in our warfare of striving together, because striving is fighting, right? We're supposed to war a good warfare, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Man, woman, child, elder, doesn't matter, we're all on the same team. Team Christ, we're all in the same army. The Lord's army, right? Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this great church and all the great works that it does. And I pray that you just continue to bless our church, Lord. I pray you'd help us as individuals to be team players. Lord, I pray you'd help us to get the sin out of our lives, and Lord, that we would just plead for mercy, and also to, Lord, that we would just try to overcome the things that are in our lives that are just roadblocks to our living the abundant Christian life and being part of the team and having one mind striving together for the gospel. I pray that you just bless the rest of the things done, the soul-willing today, and we thank you for the visitors that came and for all the souls that were saved this weekend. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.