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That this morning, church. There is no other promise like the promise that we have in Jesus. We honor you, Lord. We bless you. You're worthy. We offer unto you the fruit of our lips, our praise, our song, a joyful noise unto you, acknowledging you as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the glorious one. We shouted out of the depths of our innermost being, we honor you this morning. Jesus mighty name. You believe that say good amen. Yeah, give them a great big hand clap and shout a praise. Lord bless you. You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy, worthy, worthy. Worthy.
Well, we'll release our upper and lower elementary. Uh parents, if you have not checked them in, please follow them out and they will uh then make your way back in here. If you already have, they can just follow the hermit there. Good morning. We're glad that you are. Here this morning. I'm gonna switch this over, Dan. With us here. It's called Together in Christ. Book of Philippians. It's good to see Dante on the keys this morning. Just so y'all are aware, you know, Dante came to us. K to B and several of the team in January said, Hey, I've been leading worship since I was seven years old. And I need to focus in some areas. I feel like the Lord's telling me to focus in some areas. I need to step back from some of that responsibility. And we said, Dante, we affirm that in the name of Jesus. We believe that. And so we came a little while ago and said, Hey, I'd like to, I can't, you know, carry that same capacity of leadership as I did before, but I'd like to play. And so we said, we love to have you because we love Dante. So you'll see him, you'll see him here from time to time playing an instrument. And we uh, you know, I I'm We believe that this stuff as we come together is like a house chore. And this this is not our ministry. It's like house chores. We belong to the family. So we and we want people to administer that out of the overflow in their life, whether you're playing a keyboard or being an usher or whatever it is that you're doing is a house chore and come out of the overflow of that. And we recognize seasons of life and pee lives, and we never want anybody to feel used for their gift, you know. Uh and so I say this a lot. This would be true for Donji, for sure. The gift that he is and the gift that he has. That's true for every one of you. You are a gift to the body out of who you are. And then we all have gifts that we bless the body, right? So it's important for us to do that. But I just wanted to acknowledge my friend there. And listen, when you playing the keys and you got a Jesus jersey on. Come on, somebody. Come on. I said, Dante, I love this. I don't know if I could pull off Jesus jersey, but I would like to. I think it looks awesome. That gold chain looking good. I don't think I can do it, but I love it. I love it. I love it. But I just wanted to acknowledge that and appreciate him and his labor amongst the body here and so many others. What a powerful time of worship. Shine did a great job with the team of leading us and just man, I just love corporate worship. There's something about the body coming together and lifting up a song to the Lord. I'm grateful for YouTube and all that, you know, a couple clicks, you can hear the greatest uh music in the world, greatest, greatest worship stuff in the world. But there's something about the body coming together, corporate, corporate worship, worship with brothers and sisters that you know that you love, that you care for. There's just it's just irreplaceable.
So Preaching through Philippians, as I said, together in Christ. Jonathan Eslie did a great job last week talking about the beginning of chapter one and basically operating from that framework of how sometimes our mentality is me and not we, and a recognition of the body of Christ uh coming together. And I want to finish out chapter one today. Our title today is Anchored in the Gospel. I'm gonna talk a little bit about Uh, you know how Paul is addressing the Philippians individually. And then he comes at the end of the chapter here and he talks about them or talks to them as the church together, more as a group uh together. And I want to talk a little bit today about being really anchored in the gospel no matter uh our circumstance, right? No matter what we might be walking through, of how we can really stand together, how we can strive together. Sometimes we use that term strive in a negative sense, uh, like striving, please God. We're not talking about striving in our relationship with God, but striving together uh and encouraging one another. There's something to that. And uh I I'm I uh I like comfort. Does anybody else like comfort? I just want to make sure I'm talking the right people. We we we like comfort, okay? Uh my dad, I was selling the first service at my dad a couple years ago. He bought one of these uh zero gravity massage chairs. Y'all see zero gravity massage chairs? I mean they just kind of lay you at a certain point, they grab you. The door to his RV was. And so unfortunately for him, uh, he could not get this massage chair in his RV. So I said, you know what, Dad? It looks like it's gonna have to stay at my house. I'm really sorry to tell you that, but uh, that's what it's gonna look like. And then uh my son-in-law Malachi and I, we had to take one arm off of the chair and actually get it in the bedroom door. And then I told my dad or in the office door, I said, bro, it's in there forever, like it's not leaving. I don't know what to tell you, but it's my chair now. You're welcome to use it anytime you want to, but This is in my house, and I'm gonna fight you if they leave, right? So I love it. I could I'll just be laying in that thing or just lean you back in the side of your arm, your feet or grab feet and yank your legs down. I mean, it'll twist you in ways you didn't even know existed. Amazing. And I'll fall asleep in there, wake myself up snoring. I mean, it is amazing. So I love comfort.
I I there's nothing wrong with comfort, but sometimes we get to a point, kind of living in the West, living in the United States, you know, sometimes we can allow comfort uh to become our primary concern. You know, we we kind of focus so much on comfort that we live for comfort and we do not like anything that makes us uncomfortable. And so sometimes we would put our own comfort above the gospel. In fact, we would not maybe overtly say it, but sometimes we would think: if it's uncomfortable to me, then it can't be God. It's gotta be the devil. Now I know we not say it, but sometimes we believe it. I'm not comfortable, so the devil must be attacking me. Well, maybe. But maybe not. Maybe your flesh is just stirred up because you've embraced comfort to a level that it does not need to be embraced.
And I want to talk a little about that today because when you look at the reality of Paul, here he is literally in prison writing this letter to the Philippians, and you don't see him operating in self-pity. You don't see him frustrated. His attitude is not off. In fact, he makes this statement. It's an amazing statement. He said, there's people actually preaching the gospel for the sole purpose of making it more difficult for me while I'm in prison. But it's all right. Because thank the Lord God, Jesus is being preached. I gotta tell you, I don't know if I would have that perspective. I'd be like, that one's fake, and that one's fake. I hope I wouldn't do that, but I might. Right? So here he is writing this, and I want to talk this morning about being really anchored in the gospel because Paul put that above his personal circumstance.
I want you to get this picture. Has anybody ever been on a boat where you dropped an anchor? Anybody been in a boat? Anybody been in a um probably this doesn't happen as much on a lake unless maybe you're in a large lake. Uh but anybody ever been to the ocean where you fishing or something and you drop the anchor in the ocean and the boat is rocking? Anybody been there? Like it's just on those ways. I get seasick really easily. I gotta take a little something. I don't like I can't even go to the park and ride that little merry-go-round that goes around and around. I get motion sickness pretty badly. So when I'm in the in the water and I'm on a boat, they drop the anchor. The anchor is holding you in the same spot. But how many of you know the boat itself is going up and down? I remember the last time I did that, it probably was because I had McDonald's on the way. That was a really stupid mistake. But let's just say that uh I fed the fish and I attracted a lot of them to our boat. I'll say it that way. Because we're just constantly rocking up and down, but we didn't really move ultimately because we were anchored. I want you to have that picture because I think that is a good picture for us when we're anchored in the gospel. Because how many know that life has waves? I mean, if you've not walked through disappointment, if you've not walked through surprise, if you've not walked through difficulty, then you're probably only six months old. Hallelujah. You're not even conscious of what I'm saying. Right? All of us walk through pain. We walk through difficult circumstances. We want life kind of smacks you. Uh life be life and as they say, you know, it might smack you in the face, and you're moving. And yet, when you're anchored in the gospel, you're not really moving ultimately. I want you to get that picture because I think that that's a great analogy and picture of what Paul's trying to say here in the first chapter of Philippians.
He says here, verse 12: look. And this is kind of the person I'm anchored gospel, whatever my circumstances. Look what he says here in verse 12. Now, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me, look at his perspective. He's gonna come right out and say it. What has happened to me being imprisoned falsely, right? And for the sake of the gospel, he says, it is actually served to advance the gospel. So when this happens to it, I'm okay because it's advancing the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I'm in chains for Christ. In other words, I'm in prison and he's probably chained to a guard, okay? And he just took the opportunity for a captive audience to preach the gospel to him, and he's done that so much, telling people about Jesus that the whole palace knows, the whole prison knows that he's there because he's preaching the gospel, and it has not slowed him down at all at preaching the gospel. He says, And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. In other words, out of my own boldness, Paul's courage was. Was contagious, right? His boldness led other people to be bold. You ever been in a situation where you observe somebody doing something and it inspired you to do that more? Right? There's something about that that I think is helpful. He says, it's true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel. The former, those that are preaching it out of manipulation and selfish ambition, he says, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing they can stir up trouble for me while I'm in chains. But what does it matter? I mean, I don't know if I could say that. What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. And then he says it again Yes, and I will continue to rejoice. Now, they were evidently not preaching a false gospel because Paul comes against a false gospel very strongly multiple times in the New Testament. So they must have been preaching the true gospel. They were just doing it out of the wrong motive. They might not even have believed it. They literally are only preaching the gospel to make things more difficult for Paul. That is an amazing passage of scripture.
But here's what you see here prison and people are two different pressures, right? And yet they reveal the same conviction that Paul had, and here was his conviction. Advancing the gospel mattered more to Paul than his personal circumstance. Could that be said of you and I? Do we care more about our personal circumstances than we do the kingdom of God, which is his rule and reign, or the gospel of Jesus Christ? One do we value more? Be careful how we answer that because God is obligated to test it. That word translated advance or the further the gospel carries this idea of moving forward despite obstacles. It was a word they would use when they were clearing out a pathway for an army to advance. In fact, Paul uses the same word we're going to read in a few minutes in verse 25 about uh people, of them, their progress, joy in the faith. In other words, he's rejoicing that the gospel is advancing, and he's rejoicing that these believers are preaching the gospel and advancing as well. See, he did not allow him being in chains. He said, I'm in my chains, but don't worry about it because it served to advance the gospel. He did not allow his situation to hinder him. In fact, he said, I've got an audience that I may not have had otherwise. So I just went ahead and preached the gospel to him.
Some of you guys remember the June conference, uh, June 5th, I think, is the date there. You can go back, probably watch this online when Marzia, Iranian sister, was here. Uh, who she and her friend wrote that book, Captive in Iran. They spent almost a year in one of the worst prisons, literally in the world. And they and it was exactly like this. They used it as an opportunity to preach the gospel and minister to the women in that prison. If you've not read that book, read it. In fact, I listened to it rather than reading, and it was awesome. Uh, just encouraging, challenging, because they're not allowing their circumstances to dictate to them. They just said, here's where we are. Yes, we're working to get our way out. Yes, we're doing all the proper things and going through all the channels. But while we're here, we're going to preach the gospel. And it was amazing how God used them to minister to the women that were around them. Paul said, What's happened to me has happened to me, and it's okay because it's happened for good. In fact, I'm reaching a group of people that I probably would have never reached.
I think about the story. And now if we put again, it's easy for us to read the Bible and have hindsight. So we kind of pass over things that we don't think are a big deal, but imagine. They go to Corinth, but guess what happens when they get to Corinth? They meet Paul the apostle. This is where they meet Paul. They have a church that meets in their house in Corinth. They end up back in Rome ultimately, but on their way they get to Ephesus. So they meet Paul in Corinth. They have a church that meets in their home. They go to Ephesus. Guess what they have? A church that meets in their home. They get back to Rome. Guess what they have? A church that meets in their home. In other words, what The enemy tried to use for his glory, God ultimately used for his glory and for their good. They decided it doesn't matter if our business is here in Rome or Corinth or Ephesus or any other city, wherever we are, we're going to be the church, we're going to have people in our home, we're going to have a church, we're going to partner with uh Paul for the rest of our lives. So their whole life was changed because they did not allow a circumstance to hinder them from preaching the gospel. We can remain available to Christ and rejoice with his work, even in circumstances that we would have never chosen. Have you ever found yourself in a circumstance that you did not choose or that you would not choose? And what did we do with it? I'm not saying that for you to beat yourself up or be in condemnation, but what did you do with it? What will we do with it in the future? Chances are every person in this room in the future will find ourselves in a circumstance that we did not necessarily bargain for or desire. What will we do in that moment? What will we do in that moment? See, the question is not will I get through this? The question is will Christ be seen through me in this? That's a whole different mindset. I'm anchored in the gospel because to live is Christ, to die is gain.
This is gonna be heavy. Y'all ready for heavy? You just can't present it any other way. I'm just gonna I'm just reading it right out of the scripture. Verse 19. He says, For I know, now look at this is amazing right here. I know, and he lists two things that are sustaining him. I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He said, through those two things, your prayers, the provision of God, what's happening out for my deliverance. Can I say to you that if Paul the Apostle, this incredible man of God, is saying, I feel the strength of your prayers, saints. And through your prayers and the provision of the Holy Spirit, that is what is sustaining me and will bring me to my deliverance. If this great man of God, Paul, is saying, I need your prayers, they're sustaining me, the provision of the Holy Spirit is uh is sustaining me, then what is How in the world could Jonathan make it without the prayers of the saints? How could Jonathan make it without the provision of the Holy Spirit? How could you make it without the prayers of the saints? How could you make it without the provision of the Holy Spirit? The answer is you could not.
Jonathan, what are you saying? I'm saying that our prayers for one another matter. Our prayers over this body of believers that we call destiny life matter. Please don't push that responsibility off to somebody else. If you're a part of this body, the responsibility is yours. Why? Because you are a part. We're in covenant one with another here. I when when when people come to my mind randomly, I'm putting that in quotes because I don't believe it's random necessarily. I literally my default in that is to pray for them. Now, do they need prayer every time? I don't know. I'm not God, but you can't hurt to pray for them, can. So if some, if I'm driving down the road and somebody comes to my mind or heart, I pray for them. And oftentimes I'll text them hey man, I'm just praying for you. You came to my mind this morning. I'm praying for you. I hope all is well, whatever the circumstance is. Can I encourage you to do that? If somebody comes to your mind, pray over them. God may be using you to sustain them along with his provision of the Holy Spirit.
He says eagerly verse 20 and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body. Listen to this, whether by life or by death. That's strong. And here's a famous verse. You've been around church any amount of time, you probably heard this verse. For me to live is Christ, and die is gain. If I were to go on living in my body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yeah, what Continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your boast in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. In other words, I'm torn between Dying and being with Christ, which is way better and not dying, living and staying here with you, which is going to produce fruitful labor. I'm torn by that. And then he says, but here's what I'm going to do I'm going to stay with you. That's what I believe I'm going to do. I'm going to stay with you for your benefit, not for his benefit, for your benefit. So he specifically connects his endurance in this situation to their prayer and the provision of the Holy Spirit. And he says, For me to live is Christ and to die is. Is gain.
What does it mean when he says to live is Christ? Here's what it means: it means that for Paul, the source of his life, the center uh of his life, the purpose, his message, the reward of his life, everything about his life was to live is Christ. And so he kind of creates, I'm gonna call it a an ultimate win-win in his mind because he's saying there, if he lives, he gets to continue to serve Christ and have a whole bunch of fruitful labor. But if he dies, he actually gets to be with Christ. When the fear of death is taken off of your plate, it just produces, it has to produce in you a boldness that's supernatural. When the worst thing that you can imagine, like he says there, even if I die, I'm going to see Jesus. Is that our perspective? That's tough. What if we saw our calendar through the lens of to live as Christ? What would change? I had a guy tell me one time, he said, I can tell you a lot about a person by looking at their calendar and their checkbook. In other words, I can tell a lot by where they spend their time and where they spend their money. I can tell a lot about their life. What would your calendar or your checkbook tell us about your life? Would it scream, gospel is my center, Jesus is my center? Or would it scream? I work him in from time to time. How would we feel this? Paul says, for him to live is Christ. How would we fill that blank? Would he say to live is to make a lot of money? To live is to be significant. To live is family. Whatever it would be to live is you fill in the blank. What would that be in your life? Can I say to you, whatever you put in that blank is what your true anchor is.
Now we might not like that. I gotta tell you, one of the greatest things can ever happen in your life is to stop lying to yourself. We're so deceived. And social media and our this whirlwind of worldly philosophies out there that sound so good on the surface. I'm telling you, it's got people so confused. Don't know up from down. I hear Christians saying things that are so anti-biblical, it's not even funny. And saying it with conviction. You know what we're saying? We're putting whatever it is that we're worshiping in that blank. Now, I'm not saying that to condemn you. Please hear my heart in. I don't want anybody to feel condemned, but I want you to be challenged to not lie to yourself. We're never going to get healing and freedom unless we allow the truth of God to really form us. And we can't get to the truth of God until we stop lying to ourselves. I'm not asking what do I wish was in that blank? What would I hope was in that blank? What do people see about my life that would be in that blank? I'm saying in your heart of hearts, what is in that blank? Because that's what's really anchoring us.
What's the team? I think 301, maybe this last Wednesday. It might have been Christ College. I can't remember which one. But I said, you know, I think, you know, for me in a very tangible way, the ultimate in consecration would be this. It's taking a blank sheet of paper, signing your name to the bottom of it, and saying, Lord, whatever you put on this paper, I'm signing up for. I don't even know it. Now I know we probably don't, some of you might, but we don't use nearly as many checks as we used to. Right? Because we can pay things digitally. But back in the day, when you used a digital or you used a paper checkbook, nobody in their right mind signed a whole bunch of blank checks. Unless you're really dumb. Why did we not do that? Because we recognized that my signature was liberty for whatever any thief or whomever else could take that check and write whatever they wanted to in that, and I had to be obligated to it because I signed on the dotted line, so to speak. When we consecrate our life to God truly, that's what we do. We sign before anything is on the paper. Now maybe we count the cost. Jesus said it's good for you to count the cost. Maybe we count the cost, and maybe you're like the rich young ruler that came to Jesus and said, You know, I what do I need to do? And he said, I want you to fulfill all these, you know, fulfill the commandments. He said, I got that down, I do that. He said, I want you to sell everything you have and give it to the poor. He said, I can't do that. And what did he do? He walked away dejected. It wasn't that God cared he had stuff, it was that the stuff had him. It was an idol. He had placed it over Christ.
And my question for us today is what do we have in that blank? If we live primarily for money, then death will take our possessions. You might have heard that little thing of somebody saying there's no U-Haul trailers behind curses. When is the last time you saw a hearse pull on a Utah, uh U Haul trailer? In other words, you can't take it with you. If we live for recognition, then death removes our name. If we live for pleasure, death ends our enjoyment. But if we live for Christ, death brings us into the fullness of his presence. Whatever is in that blank is our true anchor.
And then he makes a statement that might even be more challenging. He says, the live is Christ, and he makes this amazing, crazy, heavy, challenging. To die is gain. Could we say that? Could we say it in the depths of our life? Could we say it and mean it? To die is gain. If you were to walk out of this building today and step into eternity, God forbid, could it be a gain? Is that our perspective? Jonathan, that's heavy. I know it's heavy. It's a weighing of priorities. It's a weighing of the ultimateness in our life. I understand many in this room, you've walked through loss. We miss people when they step out of this earth, and that's okay. There's times when people have passed, we would deem too early. You know, they didn't live a full life in our estimation, and I get there's loss there, and that's okay. We're human beings, and that's okay. There's responsibility there. You know, I think of my own family, right? Of my family being taken care of and my responsibilities that I would have here on the earth, nothing wrong with any of that. But if I put all of that above Christ, if my if my mindset of what is temporary, if I put that above what is eternal and ultimate, this is where I get. Messed up.
Paul says there to die is gain. Only a life totally lost in Christ could say this. Polycarp, great church father, here's what he says: quote, 80 and six years I have served him, and he never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my king and my savior? He said that in response. God, this is not our perspective, church. I'm not trying to be heavy, I'm not trying to but it there is a reality to living for eternity. Our life, you can live a hundred years on this earth. And it is. And the scheme of eternity, it's and I understand, I'm not trying to be over dramatic. I understand that this life is the only life that we know. So even those that are looking forward to being in the presence of God and with Christ, it's hard for us to even imagine that because we've never really done that. So I get on a very human level that this is all we know, and we like to hold on to it, and we're okay to be here. For some years and live a lengthy life on the earth. Nothing wrong with that. But if my if my framework for living is this is ultimate versus eternity, eternity being ultimate, I had the cart before the horse. I'm backwards in it. And I'll never get free in that. He says, to die is gain. And then he says that he doesn't even say, like, if I stay here, it's because I want more time to get more. He says, I know that there would be. Fruitful labor. In other words, it'd be to your benefit. If I stay here, I'm gonna labor and have fruitful labor, and it's to your benefit. I care for you. There's a sacrifice and a sacrificial love of him. His view of eternity did not cause him to withdraw from earthy responsibilities. He saw those as good, rather than the opposite. A freedom to really serve without being controlled by his own self interest. And it's interesting because he's not really choosing something good and something terrible, he's choosing to be something between something good and great. Good if I stay here and I minister and I have fruitful labor and I care for you. And it's great if I go on to be with Christ because that's even better anyway.
Thirdly, lastly, I'm anchored in the gospel by standing together. Look at verse 27. He says, Whatever happens, whether I live or die, stay here or leave. He says to them, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit. And this is where he says it striving together as one for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them. What's a sign to them? You standing firm, you striving as one in the faith, and you not being frightened. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you'll be saved. And that by God. In other words, not out of your own strength, but out of God's strength, you'll be saved. He said, For it's been granted to you on behalf of Christ, this is hard right here. Not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. There's a lot of people to say, I believe in Jesus. There's a lot of people to get born again for all the things that Jesus can do for them. In fact, sometimes we just try to sell Jesus to them. I mean, we wear, again, it's okay if you got a cross for a necklace, okay? But we wear a cross as a necklace and is jewelry. Can you imagine if you saw somebody and you looked at their necklace and you said, Oh, I love that electric chair that you have as a necklace? Say that right because the electric carriers what for death. Guess what the cross is for? Death. When we give an altar call, you know what it is? Death, so that I can have life. But is it death to everything that I know? Is it death to everything that I desire outside of Jesus? When's the last time we heard this? Fulfilling your air that you thought that you knew and depended on is absolutely rooted up and decimated. Jonathan, I don't like what you're saying right there. I Paul said it. Go out and seek suffering. And I'm not saying that you know that we're not trying to harm ourselves, of course, but there is reality to the death of our own desire and our own flesh and our own human thinking. He says to die is gain. Is that effective?
Oh to suffer from him, since you're going through the same struggle you saw I had and now here that I still He says to he says to them, I want you guys to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy. And then he gives them three. Expressions of that life. He said, Here's what I want you to do as a body. I want you to stand firm in one spirit. I want you to strive together as one for faith and gospel. I want you to remain courageous in the face of opposition. Three things he tells him to do right there. When I think about walking a manner worthy of the Lord, that that word there, he says, conduct yourselves. That's kind of the idea that uh Philippi would have been a colony in Rome. And so they would have been Roman citizens. They would have felt good about that. They would have felt really good about being Roman citizens. He talks later in chapter three about being citizens of heaven. And so he basically is saying to them: it's great that you feel confident in your Roman citizenship, but there's a citizenship that you have that's far greater than Roman citizenship. That's a good word for Americans. Grateful for my American citizenship. I'm grateful to live in this nation. And yet, far beyond my American citizenship is my kingdom citizenship that is far better than American citizenship can ever be. You've heard me say I can preach all about this because I man, sometimes I hear American Christians talk. If you're not, if they're not a Christian, I just it is what it is. They're just saying, but I hear American Christians talk and it's grievous. It's grievous at times to hear American Christians talk about other believers from other nations in such a derogatory way. It gives me. And I've said a ton. There's all I can say on this, I just say this part. Where America values and kingdom values align, we should shout from the rooftop. But where American values and kingdom values depart, we should challenge and speak prophetically to as the church. There's a lot there. I won't go into that.
But I want you to conduct yourself. And I think about Ephesians 4. If you know anything about the book of Ephesians, that letter, Paul spends the first half of it. Basically, the first three chapters, he's writing it as a letter. The chapters came later. But the first half of this letter that he's writing to them. He's talking about the reality of who they are in God. Like it is just an incredible letter. I love the letter to Ephesians. The first half of it is just incredible. Then he shifts in chapter four for us, and he says, Therefore, in other words, in light of all the reality of who you are in Christ, and he spends the rest of the letter telling them how they should live. Now, in light of who you are in Christ, I want you to live this way. So he says, Therefore, in view of God's mercy, there I want you to conduct yourself, excuse me, as a prisoner for the then I urge you live a life worthy of the calling to which you've been called. That's what he says in Ephesians. Can I say to you, he's not talking to preachers. He's talking to every believer. In light of who you are as a believer, this is how you should live. And I want you to walk in a manner worthy of the call to which you've been called. That word there in that phrase in Ephesians is uh, in other words, he's saying, I want your actions and your words to match. Those ancient scales, you know, you'd see an ancient scale. Maybe you watched the movie about ancient uh Rome or something, and you would see the way they had a scale. They didn't step on the digital bathroom scale like we do, right? They had this scale like this, and it was balanced. One side was all they would balance it. And then there's a picture, that word worthy, and of walking in a manner worthy, it's a picture of that scale. He said, I want your actions to match what you're saying. Sometimes we say things we do, we believe that we believe them until they're challenged. And then we really know what we believe.
I think that this to live is Christ, to die is gain. I think it's easy for us to say that we don't really know if it's true until something happens to us that forces us into the desperation of that statement. That's just Jonathan's opinion. But I think there's times when. It's tested.
He said, I want you to stand firm. That word stand firm is like a soldier that's holding their position. I want you to be a good soldier. I want you to stand firm against the position. I don't want your circumstances to dictate to you what you're saying in the gospel or of your view of the gospel. Who among us would be under pressure and that would need help? He's saying, I want you to stand firm together. When you come to a Sunday morning corporate gathering, do you come with the mindset of a consumer? Or do you come with the mindset of a New Testament priest to come and worship before the Lord and minister to the Lord and then catch the overflow of that ministry and come with the mindset to be aware of people that are around me and observe them with my natural eyes and spiritual eyes, my natural ears and spiritual ears of those among us that they be hurting? Or do I just come to get my needs met? I'm leaving that church because my needs didn't get met. I'm not trying to be callous. And we should care for people. But if you left a body of believers because your needs were not getting met, you had the wrong perspective in the first place. I know I'm saying that strongly, but that's just a reality.
We have created a consumer mentality rather than a body of believers standing together. I don't mean we, Destiny Life. I'm not talking to anybody in particular. I'm just saying, in a general sense, Is the body how what is our perspective? Is our perspective of Testament priests coming, ministering to the Lord and ministering one to another? Are we standing together, linking arms together? I realize that there's times when people come and we gather on a Sunday morning and we're hurting and we're walking to a trial and we need the body. So I'm not talking, you know, times that we need the body. We need the body. I'm talking about an ongoing mindset of a consumer. All of us need the body. Paul has said, Paul said to him right when he started. I feel your prayers, and I feel the provision of the Holy Spirit, and I know because of those two things, I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it. He said, strive together. That's like a picture of athletes working together. That's like a team working together. We're linked arm in arm. Think about uh rowing, right? Crew, is that what they call that? Crew, rowing, and growing together. I love efficiency. I like sometimes I want the signals and the difference in a life differently. What if somebody in the middle just said, I don't think I want to roll on that really like that cadence. I think I'm gonna roll differently. I think I think I want to roll twice while everybody else is rolling once. What are they gonna do? They're gonna chuck down out of the boat, probably. Get out of the boat. Paul saying, I want you to be together. I want you to be in lockstep. I want you to listen to the Holy Spirit. I want you guys to be together. When you have opposition, I want you to be bold in it. I don't want you to be fearful. I want you to see the gospel as the anchor of your life. Yes, the waves might be going, you might be moving up and down, but man, the gospel is the anchor of your life. I want you to be in lockstep. I want you to pray for one for another. I want you to be together one for another. I want there to be joint, supply, and joint. I want you to be connected. I want you to love each other. I want you to pray for one another. That's what he's saying to the Philippians.
He says, I want you to remain courageous in the face of opposition. Why? Because the opponents attack on them, even maybe their temporary victory is just that. Temporary. He says, God's going to have his way. God's going to have the final word. So you might be walking through a situation right now, and maybe people have come against you, and people have said things about you that aren't true, and they're talking about you, and it's kind of beyond your control and it hurts. Let's not minimize a hurt of it. There's a reality to it, and yet God will have the final word. Even if that final word's not on this side of heaven, now that's the hard one for us. But even if it's not on this side of heaven, it's okay. I'm living for eternity, I'm not living for temporal things. See, his circumstances were difficult. But he said, I don't even care. I don't even care. Like he just came to this point where it's like I Christ is being preached. But if I die, we'll see Jesus in it. This is Jonathan's translation, but that's what he's saying. To die is game. Why? Because the gospel was not a priority, it was the priority in his everything about his life centered around Jesus.
Now, if I ask this question, every person in this room, myself included, would raise our hand. Do you believe that your life should center around Jesus? We would all say, yes. Does your life center around Jesus? Because we want our neighbor to think we're good Christians, we would all raise our hand. Yes, Jonathan, my centers around Jesus. But in the depths of our heart, church, here's what I'm asking. I'm gonna pray in a moment.
We're gonna receive union. Or am I on other areas of my life to come before you? Right? Are there idols in my life? I'm not even aware of. We need the Holy Spirit again. I'm not, I don't want anybody to feel condemned. We need the Holy Spirit to show us. But when He shows us, let's not lie to ourselves. Let's just say, okay, this is the reality of where I am. Lord, this is the reality of where I am. Can I tell you something that you probably already know? God already knows where you are. We're not hiding anything from him. But acknowledging. There's something powerful about us acknowledging that. Here's where I am, Lord. Here's where I am. I don't know if the gospel's anchored my life. I I think that I'm allowing my circumstances to dictate more in my life than I really want it. I don't have to go through a priest, I don't have to go through someone else. I can pray to you, Father, because of the sacrifice of Jesus. That's what we're doing. Bible also talks about Corinthians about discerning the body. That's discern Christ's body two thousand years ago on the cross, but you know what else it is? It's discerning this body. The church. Believers. We need each other. We need others.
Would you stand with lift this bread up? Would you, Father? This bread representing your broken body. Your word declares that by your stripes that we were healed. Maybe there's some that are in need of physical healing today. I pray that as we receive this bread together in unity, that you would touch them in their physical body. Maybe you need physical healing in your body today. Maybe you're watching online or here in the buildings. You eat this. Bread, ask the Lord, Lord, would you manifest healing virtue in my physical body in Jesus' name? Let's eat together. It's juice. Satan is not here. Because he has no idea. This sacrifice that he made 2,000 years ago was in your place and my place. We could never fulfill God's law. Do it. So Jesus did it. He died a literal physical death for us. And even we receive communion today as we're anchored in the gospel. We're anchored in that belief that he's done that and that he's gone before us and that we are secure in him.
If you're here today and you don't know him. It's as simple as saying, God, would you come in and forgive my sin? What you've done for me. That's you. When I pray over these elements, I want to just call out to God. He'll hear you. He knows your heart. He knows everything about you. He sees it. Let's drink the juice together.
Father, thank you. Thank you for your cover. Lord, would you show us areas of anything in our hearts and our lives that we've placed above you? Any area that we're not anchored to the gospel, would you reveal it to us? Not to shame us, not to shame us, but to show us what you desire to do. I thank you for this body of believers that we call Destiny Life Church. Would you help us go to another level of caring one for another? Would you help us go to another level of sharing your gospel with those that don't know you? As we go out and about, that you would stir us toward sharing the beautiful good news of what you have done. That others that are floating in that sea without an anchor would have An anchor, would you do it? Would you show us? In just name. In Jesus' name. If you believe that, say a good amen. God bless you. Be seated. John's gonna come and lead us.
Oh, I'm sorry. I got one more thing to do. I apologize. Thanks, John. You might see one of these in the seat beside you. Uh if you don't, raise your hand if you don't have one. We got some mushrooms or get one. If you're a part of Destiny Life. Uh church, then free to participate in this, okay? It says at the top there, select from among you. Uh we've preached this QR code will take you to a few messages. This will too to give you some more context. We've been talking about this for about a month. So if you haven't had an opportunity to watch it, you can. And basically, here's what we're asking. Acts 6 is an example for us, even though they don't use the term deacon. It's pretty accepted that that's the initiation, if you will, of deacon ministry in the New Testament. And uh basically they said to the to the uh congregation there, we're saying to you, select from among you people that you see that are full of faith. Full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom. And you don't have to you, if you have more than three names, feel free to write them down. If you have less than three names, that's okay too. Don't write your name on this. You don't have to write your name on it. But we're saying to you, those that would meet these qualifications in First Timothy, First Timothy 3, as much as you would know, and then be full of wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit, and full of faith. We want you to suggest some people that you think that we could ordain as deacons. What we're going to do, we don't really vote at Destiny Life. We don't really see that in the new testament, so we don't really vote at Destiny. What we would do is the elders will grab get all these, we'll put them together, pray over them, we'll get the names. Sometimes there's things that people would not be aware of, you know, going on, which is right. We're not putting nobody's business out. Uh bet these names and we'll come back in a couple weeks. Say, hey, here's who what's from among us, the affirm. And uh we're asking the Lord, as we said before, we're not trying to make anything happen, but if there's some that we feel we need to ordain as deacons, then we will ordain them as deacons. Okay. So it doesn't have to be anybody in this service. It doesn't have to be at this campus. I think we got pictures of the deacons, by the way. You don't need to, these are from both campuses. If you're a deacon here, most a lot of them were in the first service. Tim and Anna. Tim is back there. Wave at us, Tim. Tim and Anna are deacons. John and Pam, stand up. You just want to ask yourself, I disqualification is that's we say, but here's another good thing to ask yourself. Would I trust this person? Would I send somebody to them for godly counsel? Like would I trust to send somebody to this person? That's a great filtering question. If the answer to that is no, don't write their name down. Okay. Here's another good filtering question. In Acts 6, when they ordained the deacons, they were distributing resources to widows. So ask yourself this question: Would I trust this person or this couple to distribute resources? You know, would they be good stewards to my knowledge? If the answer to that question is no, don't write their name down. Okay, these are just good filtering questions of like, would I trust these people in godly wisdom? Right? Write those down and we'll we'll uh when you leave put them in the bucket, the offering bucket. We'll collect all that together, it'll get to us and we'll we'll uh what's the word I'm looking for there? Put them together. South Carolina Mullen. Highlight. Okay. All right. John, come on. Give John a great big hand, would you? John and Cheyenne are primarily over the Owasso campus, but they're gonna be here more and more. So love y'all. Thank you. Give it up for Jonathan as well, would you? Don't you love him? We've got a lot of John in this house. Okay. We're gonna continue in our worship with our tithes and offerings. Uh very simply put, just give them back to God. What is God's? So if you guys need prayer or anything at all, we're gonna have our prayer teams up at the front here. Prayer teams all bite you up now. There's anything that spoke to you in this message, or maybe you have something completely unrelated that you could just really use some prayer for. We would love the opportunity to connect with you. So please, please, please just take a moment to cover the front. Father, Thank you for the word that you place in our hearts. Let it be seeds planted and let it be seeds watered. Father, I pray in Jesus' name that it is you who would make it grow in our lives all the more. And as we go, Lord, we would go with a sense of being sent back out into the world, Lord, whether whether it be just in our own hearts, in our homes, God, in in in business, in the arts, wherever we are, Lord, that we are truly ambassadors of you. God help us to walk those things out in Jesus' name. Amen. Again, it's comfort prayer, need it. If not, then we're dismissed. Have a great day.
