Good morning, everybody.
Hope you all are well.
Thankful that you are here.
Go ahead.
Grab your copy of God's Word.
This morning we are going to primarily be looking at Philippians chapter 1 verses 27 and 28.
So the city of Philippi itself, it gets its name from Philip of Macedonia,
who some of you may know as the father of Alexander the Great,
who is a very famous historical figure.
The city itself gained notoriety in the ancient world
because of a famous battle that was fought there in 42 B.C.
when the armies of Antony and Octavian defeated the armies of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi.
This battle is significant because after this, the age of the Roman Republic was ended
and from there began the age of the Roman Empire.
After the battle, Philippi became a Roman colony,
which at the time was incredibly significant
because it came with many of the same benefits of being a Roman from Italy,
including Roman citizenship,
which is something that we'll kind of touch on here in a minute,
but at the time would have been a very big deal.
So from there,
we can also see the story of the beginning of the Church of Philippi,
which I think is beneficial for our time this morning in Acts chapter 16.
If you want to turn to Acts chapter 16, go ahead.
I'm not going to read it verbatim,
but I'm just going to kind of paraphrase it for the sake of time this morning.
So in Acts chapter 16,
you find the Apostle Paul seeking to go to Asia to preach the gospel,
but the scripture tells us that the spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go.
So from there, he ends up in the city of Troas,
where in the night he receives his Macedonian call,
which was a vision that he had of a man from Macedonia
urging him to come to Macedonia to help him.
So Paul has this vision and concludes that God has called him to preach the gospel there.
So he immediately goes there in obedience to the Lord.
From the beginning in Acts chapter 16,
we can see how God built his church in Philippi in ways that only which God can do.
So the first person that we see converted in Philippi is Lydia,
who we are told is a seller of purple goods.
So in Philippi, there were not enough Jews there to constitute a synagogue.
So Paul finds himself down by the river,
rolling up on essentially a women's Bible study,
a prayer meeting.
And this is where we meet Lydia, right?
The Bible tells us that she was a worshiper of God.
And upon hearing Paul's message,
we are told that she becomes a believer and is baptized,
as well as that of her whole household.
From there, Paul spends some time in Philippi.
And the next character that we meet is a slave girl,
who we are told is demon-possessed and has a spirit of divination.
This spirit of divination gives her this ability that brought her masters much gain.
She followed Paul and his companions around the city,
proclaiming,
These men are servants of the Most High God,
who proclaim to you the way of salvation.
So she did this for long enough that,
this cracks me up,
it says,
Paul was greatly annoyed.
So he commands the spirit to leave her in the name of Christ,
to which the spirit does.
But after this happened,
this now creates a problem for the slave girl's masters,
because they now have no way to make money from this.
So they get angry.
They seize Paul and Silas,
and they bring him before the magistrates,
accusing them of doing things that are not lawful.
So the magistrates and the people there,
they attack Paul,
they rip his clothes off,
they beat him with rods,
and then they throw him into prison.
And there we meet our next convert of the Philippian church,
the Philippian jailer.
So the Philippian jailer,
he did not simply just follow the orders that he was given to keep them in the prison,
but he throws them into the inner prison and fastens their feet in stocks.
This would have been something incredibly painful,
incredibly uncomfortable.
And that night,
Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns in prison,
which is cool enough as it is.
But they're singing and they're praying,
and there's a great earthquake.
And this earthquake,
it is to the magnitude that it causes all of the doors in the prison to open.
It causes all of the stocks to become unfastened.
So the jailer wakes up,
and he sees what has happened.
He sees all the doors of the prison open
and assumes that the prisoners have escaped.
Now,
at that time,
the jailer was responsible for ensuring that this did not happen,
and often the punishment for failure in his duty would have been death.
So the jailer,
he grabs his sword.
He's about to go ahead and end his life then and there.
But Paul,
seeing this about to happen,
in verse 28,
he cries out to the jailer.
He says,
Do not harm yourself.
We are all here.
The jailer,
his response to this is,
he falls down before Paul and Silas in fear
and says,
What must I do to be saved?
From there,
they share the gospel with him,
and the jailer,
along with his entire household,
are saved and baptized.
So that's the beginning of the Philippian church.
These are the cast of characters
that we see in Acts chapter 16.
You have Lydia,
the wealthy seller of purple goods,
the formerly demon-possessed slave girl,
and the overzealous Philippian jailer.
And so these are the people that,
along with others,
that Paul is writing this letter of Philippians to.
Only God can bring these people together.
All right.
Now we'll get into Philippians.
Chapter 1,
verses 27 and 28.
It says,
Only let your manner of life
be worthy of the gospel of Christ,
so that whether I come and see you or am absent,
I may hear of you
that you are standing firm in one spirit,
with one mind striving side by side
for the faith of the gospel,
and not frightened in anything by your opponents.
This is a clear sign to them of their destruction,
but of your salvation,
and that from God.
So the first thing that I want to take a look at
is verse 27a.
And in this,
we have a command from Paul
that he gives the Philippian church
in extension to us
about how we are called to live.
He says,
Only let your manner of life
be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
So there's a couple things in this text
that I think is really important to define
to understand what Paul is saying.
Some of you in your Bible,
you may have a footnote
after the phrase manner of life,
right?
And it says,
Only behave as citizens worthy.
So the Greek word here for manner of life,
forgive me for this,
I'm from Hog Mountain.
The Greek word here is
Pauli,
Paulit,
you,
me,
again,
from Hog Mountain,
which the word is the same root word
that we get our word politics from.
We see the same word in Philippians 3.20
where Paul says,
But our citizenship is in heaven,
right?
There's not a great English translation to this word,
but it carries the idea of living in accord
with where our citizenship is.
So this is something that would have resonated
with the people of Philippi,
because again,
as we stated before,
their citizenship,
their Roman citizenship,
was something that would have been
incredibly valuable to them.
It would have been something
incredibly important,
right?
So it would have carried weight
and expectation.
There was ways in which Roman citizens
were expected to live.
No different than us here.
If I identified myself as an American citizen
or said that you are an American citizen,
there are some things that would pop up in your mind
that say,
Oh,
well,
this is how an American citizen acts,
right?
The next word I think that is beneficial to define
is the word worthy.
This is something to which we ascribe worth or value to,
and in this case,
the utmost worth or value.
And then the last thing that I think
is important to define here
is the gospel of Christ.
So the word gospel literally means good news,
and even more specifically,
it means the good news
that Christ came to save sinners,
that we were dead in our sins
before a holy and righteous God
with no hope of saving ourselves.
We were separated from God,
that Christ being fully God
humbled himself
by taking on human flesh,
living a perfect and sinless life,
was crucified and died on the cross,
being the perfect sacrifice for sin.
He then rose from the dead,
defeating sin and death,
and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.
And us,
through faith and believing in this gospel,
can receive forgiveness of our sins
and now be justified
or declared righteous by God
and will one day also be raised to live
eternally in the presence of God
in glorified bodies.
That is the gospel.
There is simply no greater news than this.
When we talk about the gospel,
when we think about the gospel,
we should never assume the gospel.
We should ensure that we understand
what the gospel is,
but those two that we are talking to,
that they understand
what it is when we say the gospel.
I like John Piper.
He summarized this passage,
127a,
and he summarized it like this.
He said,
the all-encompassing summary
of the Christian life is,
live as citizens of heaven
with the gospel as the center
of your all-authoritative
heavenly constitution,
showing by your life
that the gospel is worth more to you
than everything else in the world.
So that's the command.
That's the command that Paul has given us here.
So for me,
I read this
and this naturally leads to the question,
well, how in the world do I do that?
Right?
That is a huge order.
How do I live up to it?
Where do I begin?
Fortunately,
Paul does not leave us guessing,
but he follows this
by telling us exactly
what this looks like.
So look at the rest of the passage with me.
It says,
so that whether I come and see you
or am absent,
I may hear of you
that you are standing firm
in one spirit
with one mind,
striving side by side
for the faith of the gospel
and not frightened
in anything by your opponents,
this is a clear sign to them
of their destruction,
but of your salvation
and that from God.
So now let's look
at how we are called
to live out this command.
I have four points
that I want to consider
this morning,
but I'm only going to give you
the first three.
I'm going to go ahead and apologize.
I'm not Nathan,
so there is no alliteration.
Point number one,
stand firm.
Point number two,
strive.
Point number three,
be fearless.
So point number one,
stand firm.
What does it mean
to stand firm?
It means to be resolute
and to not change course.
What is it as Christians
that allows us to do this?
It's our faith.
First Corinthians 16, 13,
be watchful,
stand firm in the faith,
act like men,
be strong.
As believers,
we can ultimately stand firm
because of our unshakable faith
in the gospel of Christ
that Jesus is who he says he is.
That's what allows us
to withstand the forces
of the world.
It is what allows us
to block out the noise
of other people,
encouraging us
to stray from the path
that God has set before us.
Does anybody here
like watching Western movies?
Anybody?
I grew up with them.
I love them.
I used to sit with my dad
on Saturday mornings
and we would watch the Duke,
especially on Christmas.
They would have the Duke marathon.
But generally,
in these movies,
you have a main character
who is always portrayed
as morally good, right?
I would watch this
and I would always root
for this guy.
He would stand in the face
of evil
to protect someone
or something
from the bad guy.
I always respected
these people.
They would do the right thing
no matter what
the consequences were.
And inevitably,
in every single movie,
there's a scene,
usually at the end,
where they have to
stand their ground
in front of incredible odds.
So now,
even with our kids,
Lauren and I,
we love to give them books
with examples
of Christian men
and women like this, right?
Christian men and women
who are standing firm
for a higher purpose
than John Wayne ever was.
They love the story
of Eric Liddell, right?
I'm sure many of you
are aware of Chariots of Fire.
Anybody who ever went
through Clay's house
back in the day,
you've definitely seen
this movie a couple times.
But Eric Liddell,
he refused to compromise
on his convictions, right?
We love these stories.
I put these stories
in my kids' hands.
I want them to emulate
these saints
that have gone before them, right?
So we've talked about
what it means to stand firm
and that it's our faith
that allows us to stand firm.
So how do we continue
to do this as Christians?
How do we as Christians do this?
So I think about
when I was a coach,
we used to tell our players
all the time
that pressure came
when we were not prepared.
So we would spend hours
practicing, doing drills,
watching film,
doing everything
we could possibly do
to put our players
in a position to succeed.
So that way,
no matter what situation
happened in a game,
they've seen it before,
they've done it before,
they're not going to be surprised,
right?
They're prepared.
So for us as Christians,
if we're going to walk
faithfully with Christ
in a manner worthy
of the gospel,
we too must be prepared.
Paul says in Ephesians 6,
verse 1,
therefore take up
the whole armor of God
that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day
and having done all
to stand firm.
Stand therefore,
having fastened on
the belt of truth
and having put on
the breastplace
of righteousness
and as shoes for your feet,
having put on
the readiness given
by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances,
take up the shield
of faith
with which you can extinguish
all the flaming darts
for the evil one
and take the helmet
of salvation
and the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God.
So to be able
to stand firm,
we must put on
the whole armor of God.
We are to immerse ourselves
in the truth of God's word
and wrap ourselves in it
as a belt
would have held in
a soldier's tunic
preparing him for battle.
We are to put on
the breastplace
of righteousness
as our obedience
to Christ's commands
and our communion with God
protects us
and our hearts
from the schemes
of the devil.
We are to put on
the shoes of the gospel
of peace,
knowing that we are
supported in our walk
by the peace
that the gospel
of Christ gives us.
We are to take up
the shield of faith
of our,
we are to take up
the shield of faith
in God,
knowing that his word
and promises are true,
extinguishing the flame,
flaming darts
from the evil one,
protecting us
from sin and temptation.
We are to put on
the helmet of salvation,
signifying that we belong
to Christ
and protecting our minds
from doubt.
And finally,
we are to take up
the sword of the spirit,
the word of God,
to fight and defend
against lies
and untruths.
As Christians,
we can stand firm
by being prepared
for attack
and ready to defend.
So take up
the whole armor of God
and be ready
to stand firm
in the faith.
Point number two,
strive.
What does it mean
to strive?
The Greek word here
literally means
to struggle
along with someone.
So we'll get to
the along with someone
part later,
spoiler alert.
But I just want
to talk about for now
what it means
to strive, right?
Striving means
to devote
serious energy
or effort
to something.
We cannot be
inactive and strive.
We cannot be lazy
and strive.
But what are we
to strive for?
It says here
that we are to strive
for the faith
of the gospel
and it can be
a struggle.
Paul,
another great example
in 2 Corinthians 11,
he says,
five times I received
at the hands of the Jews
the forty lashes
less one.
Three times I was
beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned.
Three times I was
shipwrecked.
A night and a day
I was adrift at sea
on frequent journeys
in danger from rivers,
danger from robbers,
danger from my own people,
danger from Gentiles,
danger in the city,
danger in the wilderness,
danger at sea,
danger from false brothers,
in toil and hardship
through many a sleepless night,
in hunger and thirst,
often without food,
in cold and exposure,
and apart from other things,
there is the daily pressure
on me of my anxiety
for all the churches.
So this is what a life
of struggling,
striving for the faith
of the gospel looks like.
Paul devoted his entire life
after his encounter
with Christ
on the road to Damascus
to proclaiming the good news
of the gospel of Christ,
and it came for him
with a multitude
of hardships.
Now for most of us
here in America,
we are not going to experience
this same level of hardship
that Paul experienced,
but my point
that I'm trying to make
is that we are still
called to labor
regardless if we experience
hardship or persecution
or not.
We should be actively
seeking opportunities
to preach the good news
of Christ
to the lost around us.
All of us,
whether we go to work
every day,
we go to school every day,
if we're a stay-at-home mom,
if we're retired,
we're at the grocery store,
wherever,
we find ourselves
in places
and have opportunities
to be ambassadors
for Christ where we are.
But doing this,
it requires effort.
It takes something from us
to go up to a neighbor
or a co-worker
and engage them
in gospel conversation.
We have to put ourselves
out there.
We have to put our faith
out there.
We may have to overcome
a little bit of anxiety
or a little bit of fear.
It takes effort
and diligence
to train up our kids
in the way they should go.
We may have a couple
sleepless nights
patiently discipling them,
helping them
to work through something
and pointing them
to Christ.
Growing up,
my dad had a big garden.
I'm sure you guys
can probably imagine
where I'm going to
take this analogy to.
But every year,
he would spend
so much time on it.
He would till the soil.
He would fertilize the ground.
He would plant the seeds.
He would water.
He would pull weeds.
He would protect it
from pests
and from birds.
And he did this every day.
He would be sweaty.
He'd have to work.
He'd be sweaty.
I would be out there with him,
sweating right alongside
with him.
And I would be doing it
thinking,
man,
I would rather be playing
video games right now.
Right?
This is not fun.
This is not enjoyable.
This is work.
But when it came time
to harvest
and it came time to eat
and that corn
was on my plate,
I was really thankful
for the work
that went into it.
It was good.
The fruit of the labor
was sweet
and we got to enjoy it.
How much more so
for laboring
for the faith
of the gospel?
If we truly understand
our position
before God
apart from Christ,
that we have been saved
by his grace,
we will love
others enough
to labor for them
to know the same peace
that we experience.
Matthew 9,
36 and 38,
when he,
meaning Jesus,
saw the crowds,
he had compassion
for them
because they were harassed
and helpless
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said
to his disciples,
the harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few.
Therefore,
pray earnestly
to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers
into the harvest.
We get to be those laborers.
How cool is that?
Praise God
that he saw fit
to use us.
People who received
his grace
that didn't deserve it
to share that gospel
of grace
with other people.
Then as we labor
and as we pour into
and we invest
and we see this thing,
hopefully we get to see
the fruit of this labor.
We get to see
the spiritually deaf
receive their hearing,
the spiritually blind
receive their sight.
That's an amazing thing.
We get to see that.
So yeah,
we're commanded,
that's part of our call,
to live a life
worthy of the gospel of Christ.
We are called to strive.
So we have stand firm,
we have strive.
Now point three,
be fearless.
What does it mean
to be fearless?
Simply put,
it means to be free from fear.
Simple enough.
Not rocket science.
However,
I'm sure
that even the toughest of us,
the biggest,
the baddest,
the strongest of us,
there's something
that we are afraid of.
So how can we be freed
from that fear?
We can be fearless
because the truth
of the gospel
takes away fear.
Look up a couple verses
in Philippians
to verses 20 through 23.
Paul says,
as it is my eager expectation
and hope that I will not be
at all ashamed,
but that with full courage,
now as always,
Christ will be honored
in my body,
whether by life
or by death.
For to me to live
is Christ
and to die is gain,
not tell.
I'm hard pressed
between the two.
My desire is to part
and be with Christ
for that is far better.
What can you possibly do
to somebody
that has this mentality?
Right?
You can't touch them.
Paul doesn't care
if you kill them.
Right?
His purpose
is to proclaim
the gospel of Christ
because he knows
and we know
as believers
that death brings
eternal communion
with Christ our Savior
and that there's
nothing sweeter.
Right?
Again,
if we are found in Christ,
we will be raised
from the dead
to have eternal life
with the Father.
That's why we can say
to live is Christ
and to die is gain.
Paul,
he's not scared
of prison either.
Earlier in chapter 1,
he actually says
that his imprisonment
has served
to embolden others
to speak the word
without fear.
He sees his own
personal time
in prison
as a service
to share the gospel
throughout the whole
imperial guard
and he's celebrating that.
It sounds like
a wild way to think
in our world today
but as Christians,
this is the way
that we're called
to view our own lives.
Jesus says in Matthew 10,
starting in verse 26,
he says,
So have no fear of them
for nothing is covered
that will not be revealed
or hidden
that will not be known.
What I tell you
in the dark,
say in the light
and what you hear
whispered,
proclaim on the housetops
and do not fear
those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul.
Rather,
fear him
who can destroy
both soul
and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows
sold for a penny
and not one of them
will fall to the ground
apart from your father?
But even the hairs
of your head
are all numbered.
Fear not,
therefore,
you are of more value
than many sparrows.
So everyone
who acknowledges me
before men,
I also will acknowledge
before my father
who is in heaven.
But whoever denies me
before men,
I also will deny
before my father
who is in heaven.
So for us to live
a manner
and a manner worthy
of where our true
citizenship is,
we are to obey
our king fearlessly.
We can do that
because we know
that he loves us
and cares for us.
He knitted us together
in our mother's womb.
If we do this,
we know that Christ
will acknowledge us
before our father
in heaven
and we will receive
our reward.
Again,
many of us
will not face
this level of persecution.
Most of us
will not simply
run into that.
But if we just,
even for a moment,
consider worst case scenario
and we do face that,
Paul still has something
to say about it.
Verse 28 of Philippians 1,
not frightened
in anything
by your opponents
for this is a clear sign
to them of their destruction
but of your salvation
and that from God.
So even if we face
opposition in the gospel,
it's a sign
of our opponent's destruction
but it is a sign
of our salvation
from God.
Jesus said
that a servant
is not greater
than his master
and our master
suffered the ultimate sacrifice
that we could be set free
from sin
and death
but also from fear
as well.
Paul says
in verse 29
that it has been granted
to us
that we should suffer
for his sake.
It's been granted
to us
that we should suffer
for his sake.
It's implying
that it's a gift
that has been granted
to us.
Why?
Because if we suffer well
it brings God glory
and that's our purpose.
We are here
to glorify
the Lord
our God.
So the fourth point,
I didn't give this one
to you before,
but how is
our manner of life
worthy of the gospel
of Christ?
The last point
I want to make
is that
it is to be in unity
with one another.
So let's look at
our passage again
1.27-28.
Only let
your manner of life
be worthy
of the gospel
of Christ
so that whether
I come to see you
or I'm absent
I may hear of you
that you are standing firm
in one spirit
with one mind
striving side by side
for the faith
of the gospel
and not frightening
anything by your opponents
this is a clear sign
to them of their destruction
but of your salvation
and that from God.
So we can see
that we're called
to stand firm
we can see
that we're called
to strive
and we can see
that we are called
to be fearless
however
all of those commands
are tied together
in Christian unity.
How do we do this?
Paul talks about this as well
a couple verses down
in chapter 2
verses 2-5.
He says
complete my joy
by being of the same mind
having the same love
being in full accord
and of one mind
do nothing
from selfish ambition
or conceit
but in humility
count others
more significant
than yourselves
let each of you
look not only
to his own interests
but also to the interests
of others
have this mind
among yourselves
which is yours
in Christ Jesus.
So this is what
this is a great picture
of what living
in Christian unity
looks like.
The beautiful thing
about this unity
is that we already
have this as Christians.
We have this in Christ.
We have divine fellowship
with one another
through the Holy Spirit.
So how do we live this out?
We already have it.
How do we live this out?
The first thing
it looks like
humbling ourselves.
It looks like
looking out
for the interests
of other people
over the interests
of ourselves.
We have the perfect example
of this in this same passage.
We left off in verse 5
if we carried it
verses 6-8
talking about Jesus
who though he was
in the form of God
did not count equality
with God
a thing to be grasped
but emptied himself
by taking the form
of a servant
being born in the likeness
of men
and being found
in human form
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death
even death
on a cross.
There's no greater
picture of humility
that you could possibly find.
You have Jesus
like creator of the world
God
right?
He humbles himself
taking on the human flesh
the form of a servant
then he humbles himself
further
by dying
being the perfect sacrifice
for our sin
being
satisfying that debt
that we could not pay
and doing it
through crucifixion
the most gruesome
possible way
that a person
could be
killed.
Like Christ
we are called
to humble ourselves
for the sake of others
we are called
to genuinely
look out
for the interests
of other people
and Paul exemplifies
Timothy
later in chapter 2
in this same manner
he says
starting in verse 19
I hope in the Lord Jesus
to send Timothy
to you soon
so that I too
may be cheered
by news of you
for I have no one
like him
who will be genuinely
concerned for your welfare
for they all seek
their own interests
not those
of Jesus Christ
but you know
Timothy's proven worth
how as a son
with a father
he has served me
with the gospel
I would love
if my name
if I was in the Bible
that this would
and that's what Paul
says about Timothy
that he was
genuinely concerned
for the Philippians
welfare
not like the others
who were only worried
about their own
interests
so again
this is what we are
called to
but to do this
it requires humility
it requires patience
it requires
bearing with one another
in love
Ephesians 4
1-7
Paul talks about this
as well
he says
I therefore
a prisoner for the Lord
urge you to walk
in a manner
worthy of the calling
to which you have been called
with all humility
and gentleness
with patience
bearing with one another
in love
eager to maintain
the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace
there is one body
and one spirit
just as you were called
to the one hope
that belongs to your call
one Lord
one faith
one baptism
one God and Father
of all
who is over all
and through all
and in all
but grace was given
to each one of us
according to the measure
of Christ's gift
so all of us
in Christ
we have the same Father
the same Savior
we each receive grace
as it was given to us
in Christ
we are part of one body
and share in the same spirit
we all have the same hope
it's hard to imagine
that as a Christian
I have more in common
with a believer
in another country
from another culture
than I do with
a family member
of mine
that is an unbeliever
but it's true
right
if we remember back
to how
the first couple
people we met
in the Philippian church
the Lydia
the seller of
purple goods
the demon
formerly demon
possessed slave girl
and the overzealous
Philippian jailer
they would have had
very little in common
apart from that bond
that they share
in Christ
right
it is that
common bond
of shared faith
and that spirit
that unifies them
together in Christ
to be a part
of one body
right
we know however
though
that maintaining
this unity
is not always easy
and we actually see
an example of that
in Philippians chapter 4
right
later in the chapter
Paul entreats
two women
to agree
in the Lord
he says
these women
labored side by side
with him
for the gospel
he says
that their names
are written
in the book of life
but yet
he still has to tell them
to get along
right
that is not
how I would want
my name
to be in scripture
right
let it be said
of us
that we don't
squabble
and quarrel
amongst ourselves
we are called
to be unified
with one another
just as Christ
is unified
with the Father
last scripture
for the day
from John 17
starting in verse 20
I do not ask
for these only
but also for those
who will believe
in me
through their word
that they may
all be one
just as you
Father
are in me
and I in you
that they also
may be in us
so that the world
may believe
that you have sent me
the glory
that you have given me
I have given to them
that they may be one
even as we are one
I in them
and you in me
that they may become
perfectly one
so that the world
may know
that you sent me
and love them
even as you love
me
so why are we
to be unified
with one another
so that the world
may know
that the Father
sent Christ
and loved his people
even as the Father
has loved Christ
how are we
to show the world
the power of the gospel
if we cannot even
be unified
amongst ourselves
we bring glory
to God
when we show
sacrificial love
and care
for one another
and for when we
humble ourselves
we get opportunities
to do this
every single day
very rarely
is someone called
to be a lone wolf
we are created
to live
in community
with one another
so when we are
when we are
sorry
when we are united
in Christ
we can help
one another
to stand firm
we can labor
together
for the sake
of the kingdom
we can encourage
one another
to be bold
and fearless
and stand
in the face
of opposition
and in doing
these things
we live
in a manner
worthy
of the gospel
of Christ
so I'm going to
close in just a second
but there's just
one thing I wanted
to say
before we do that
and what that is
is I wanted to
commend you all
for the way
that you guys do this
from where I sit
or from where I stand
I am constantly
encouraged by you guys
for the way
in which you
lay down your own
interests
to love other people
my family
personally
has been served
many times
by so many of you all
and I am incredibly
thankful for it
right
so it's
it's beautiful
to see
a group of people
do this
so well
so
my encouragement
to you all
would be
to continue
to press into this
right
continue to bring
glory to God
to show the world
around us
by our actions
that Christ
was sent into the world
to save sinners
right
that Jesus is
who he says he is
if you would
please join me
in prayer
who he is