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And really being anchored in the gospel no matter our circumstance and how we can really stand together. We can strive together. Sometimes we use that term strive in a negative sense. I'm not talking about striving to be accepted by God, but striving together, hand in hand, uh as we suffer, right? Uh Paul talks about sharing and suffering. We'll talk about that a little bit. And struggle, any profound that you've walked through, seek a life where it was just a struggle. If you've not, then you keep the boat.
People in the same spot is moving. And I want us to get that picture in our mind today because when we talk about being anchored in the gospel, that's what I'm talking about. Circumstances of life may have us feeling like we're moving. You know, circumstances in life may like shift us around. The waves of life, if you will, may shift us around.
But as long as that anchor is there and it's anchor All of this become clear through the whole path is guard. And it's a sisters, look at this, become confident in the Lord and dare all the more proclaim the gospel without fear. In other words, his boldness and his uh presentation of the gospel in change inspired. Preached. And because of this, I will rejoice. And then he says it again: yes, and I will continue to rejoice. I know about you, but if people are out there, I don't even like people saying things about me that are true to stir up trouble against me. Now you out here trying to preach the gospel just to stir things up against me. I hope that I would be like Paul to just say, you know what? It doesn't matter. Christ is preached. I rejoice. I'm going to continue to rejoice.
One thing, but when it really got down to it, you really didn't believe what you said you believed. Or you said it and then it got tested, and you came through that test knowing, okay, I really do believe what I said. Because there's a lot of things we say, a lot of things we mentally ascend to that in the depths of our heart, I don't know if we believe it. I'm a very much so proof in the pudding guy. I do not like excuses. I don't like excuses of myself. I don't like excuses from. So let's have this conversation over and over. I just do not want to lie to myself. Let's talk about the situation. I can take what it is, but let's acknowledge the truth of the situation instead of lying to ourselves about it.
This is the reality of it. Now, this is something very simple and minute, but I can remember some years ago we were moving homes, and Teresa Vaughn, my mother-in-law. I had come to the point in my life where I just stopped lying to other intentions. What's the reality of this situation? Because we measure ourselves by our intentions and we measure other people by their actions, don't we?
That's a whole nother message right there. That word, advanced right there, or furtherance of the gospel, it it carries this idea of moving forward despite obstacles or Circumstances. Sometimes they used it for like a clearing barrier so that an army could advance. In fact, he uses the same word there in verse 12 as he does in verse 25 when he talks about the progress of the joy and faith. We'll read that in just a minute. Of them, it's the same Greek word translated there. So he's he's rejoicing because the gospel is advancing and these believers are also committed to progress. He uses the same word there. It didn't stop him. His chains didn't stop him from advancing the gospel. In fact, he utilized those chains to open up new avenues of the gospel. He thought, I, you know, I'm chained to a guard. This guy's a captive audience, no pun intended. I'm going to go ahead and share the gospel with him.
And sometimes we're getting so aggravated of our circumstance that we neglect the opportunity to share the gospel with people we probably never would have come into contact with otherwise. I always think of uh Scylla and Priscilla and Aquila, how they're in Rome, they have their business. The Emperor Claudius kicks them out of Rome. They go to Corinth. And I This is a church in their home in Rome. Why? Because no matter where they were, they said the gospel is going to be forefront in their lives.
My personal circumstance is not going to hinder me from doing what I know God has called me to do. His courage was contagious. Other people were inspired by his boldness. You ever read the Bible? Sometimes we I I've said this a lot, but it's true. I've tried to start reading the Bible really slow. I'm a skim reader. Like if I read just about any So evidently they're preaching the true gospel, but they're doing it out of selfish motives and just they don't even believe it necessarily. They're doing it make Paul make things uh worse. So you know what I'm doing. If I'm playing pickleball, I'm not laid back. I'm very intense in pickleball. But outside of pickleball, you know, maybe a few things here and there. I'm pretty late. Maybe I'm not laid back. I don't know. But generally, I, you know, I go with the flow most of the time. But, and and and even in a giving sense, you know, I mean, I truly I want to help people. I have a heart for people. But the moment that somebody manipulates me, I feel it. Right? I mean, probably most of us feel that. It feels icky, right? So we kind of put our defenses up in pulse.
Church, it's a totally different mindset to say, Oh, I'm never going to make it through this, or be again consumed with our own comfort than saying, Lord, no matter where I find myself, I want your kingdom, I want the gospel to be preeminent in my life, and I want that to be the focus and not my own comfort or well-being.
Number two, I'm anchored in the gospel because this is such an incredible scripture. To live is Christ, to die. Sometimes, because it can exist in the spiritual world, we may not see a tangible result for that. But can I say to you, if Paul the Apostle, this incredible man of God is saying your prayers and the provision of the Holy Spirit are what is going to get me through, can I say to you, Jonathan needs the prayers of the saints and the provision of the Holy Spirit? You need the prayers of the saints and the provision of the Holy Spirit. Most of the time, I would say a vast majority of the time, when God brings somebody to my mind in a random sort of way, I pray for them. I just trust that it's the Holy Spirit. It may not always be the Holy Spirit, but it can't hurt to pray for them. So literally, almost every time God brings somebody to my mind, I'll pray for him, and oftentimes I'll reach out to them. If I'm living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet, what shall I choose? I know I'm torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain. So he answers his own question. And I will continue with all of you for your progress and your joy in. Then we need the strength of a praying church. Let the Lord call us fresh, destiny like church to prayer. To pray over one another, to pray over the body, to pray the will of God to be accomplished, to pray over our city, to pray whatever it is that God brings to your heart and mind to pray.
For to me to live is Christ. See, Christ was the meaning of Paul's life. Here's what it means when he says to live is Christ: it means that Christ was the center, he was the purpose, he was the message, he was the That's okay too, because I'm gonna go on and see Jesus, and I'm very happy about that. In fact, that's even better. So in his mind, he's created this win-win. When the worst thing that can happen to you in our own mind of death, when that becomes, you know, okay because I'm going to see Jesus, guess what? You can be real bold in situations like that. When that's off the table, you can be a lot more fearless.
What if we saw our calendar through this lens of to live as Christ? What if my life, and I'm saying calendar because my life revolved around it. If we could look at that calendar, if we filtered our calendar through that question to live as Christ, what would change in our life? If we were to look at our life. And we were to have that blank there, and we were to say in my own life, to live is you fill in the blank. I know that's a heavy question, but what would your answer be? Because can I say to you, whatever your answer is, is the anchor of your life. To live is to make a bunch of money. To live is fame. To live is my family.
For us in a society like the United States, in a prosperous time in history, in a comfortable time in history. Again, I'm not saying all of it is bad. I enjoy comfort, but in this kind of season, it's so easy to just slide in. In other words, I'm gonna be laboring for other people. It's not even just for myself. That word depart actually, uh what it really talks about and that the uh the image of that is really loosening a ship uh from its side down so we continue on his journey or taking down a tent. Uh so that the the tent can go on. And what that is showing is that Paul did not have this view of death like it was extinction or it was over. It was just a step from this world into eternity, right? If I depart, if I step out of the both of those are good. Sometimes I grew up in a movement that was so focused on the rapture and the imminent return of Christ that we did not care about anything except going to heaven. That's not a biblical framework.
I don't have time to teach that today, but that's not a biblical framework. In fact, I'm going to just be so bold to say this it's harmed the church in the last hundred years. Because withdrawn, rather taking ground for the kingdom of God. So we've removed ourselves from things. Thank the Lord that people are getting a revelation and engaging more in culture and seeing the kingdom of God advance in every arena of society rather than standing back and standing. Hollering in Hollywood and talking about how wicked it is. You know why it's wicked? Because we removed the Christians. Because we are we're getting out of here anyway. Make all your nasty movies. We can't hear it. No, no, no. Why don't we have some Christians engage in that and make an art form out of the gift of God in you and represent Christ? We're doing that now. That's a soapbox. I don't mean to get on it.
Okay, number three. I'm anchored in the gospel by standing together. Since you were going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have, can I say to you, our personal security in Christ, if you will, is exactly what frees us to strive alongside other believers rather than turning inward to ourselves. If you're walking through a battle and a struggle, don't turn inward to yourself, turn to the saints of God. Connect with People. That expression there, when he says there, conduct yourselves, uh, Philippi would have been a Roman colony, and so they would have seen themselves as Roman citizens, and they would have been proud of that. And Paul is saying to them, listen, your allegiance to Christ, your your your kingdom citizenship in heaven, which he talks about in chapter three, is more important than your citizenship in Rome.
We could probably say a lot about that in the United States. Fifty year old Jonathan wants to throw a grenade at him. Fifty year old is trying to be restrained. I just say this. I've said this a lot and I'm grateful. They would citizenship with power. And live in a way that is blatantly contrary to who he is.
He identifies three expressions of that life of what it looks like that he says is a witness. When is the last time that we showed up to a corporate gathering? Not with a mindset that I'm just coming to hear a nice message and sing a few songs and receive from the Lord, but I'm coming to minister unto the Lord as a priest of the most high, my New Testament priest. And out of the abundance of that, yes, God does not be able to be giving you the mindset, administering one to it.
What is that? That's standing firm in one spirit, that's striving together as one for faith in the gospel. That's the second thing he says. He calls believers to labor together in the gospel from the great pulling in the same direction. A crew rolling team. What if the guys in the middle just said, you know what? I don't want to roll on that same cadence. I want to roll on another, I want to roll on my own cadence. And everybody just is rolling and it would just be a hot mess. And they're just right out. Somebody they're calling that out just right on pace. What are they doing? They're striving together toward a goal. God has called us as a body to strive together.
What is the goal? To see the gospel of Jesus Christ preached. Can I challenge us? Challenge myself. We are a discipleship house. If you cut us as destiny life, we're going to bleed discipleship. I'm grateful to God for that. We'll never stop in a discipleship house.
But I got to tell you what I would also love. You can disciple people who get born again. Another two disciples need to be born again. I love to see us just have an explosion of people coming to Christ. I'm not talking about just on a Sunday morning. They need Jesus. They're floating around in the water. They're moving to and fro, and there is no anchor. They don't have any hope. Are we attentive to it? I'd love to see people be born again.
Lastly, Paul says here, and I'll I'll close with this. Guys, you can kind of get we're close with communion. He says, remaining courageous in the face of opposition. In other words, he calls them to really continue to be a faithful witness when opposition threatens or intimidates them. He says that their steadfastness of God's final judgment. He says, you know, the power that your opponents seem to have over you right now, it's temporary. You're measuring with the wrong stick. See, his circumstances are hard. He's walking through challenges. But his security was really settled. What was it? I'm secure in the gospel. If I stay here, man, I'm gonna love y'all and I'm gonna care for you. And if I go on to see Jesus, that's even better. That's why to die is gain. To live is Christ. If I live, he is the focal point of my life. If I die, I'm going to see him, and it's okay. Changing circumstances, people disappointing us. I think over the course of my life, probably in the last ten years especially, I've it's I've become I don't know any other way to say this. I hate even saying it this way. It's a very like well, I won't say that. Never mind. I think I've become more aware of my own emotions. When I think about to live is fill in the blank. Would the gospel be there for me? Don't lie to yourself. Nobody's gonna come and ask you. You don't have to write it down. Let the Holy Spirit deal in your heart. Can I put Christ? Can I put the gospel? Could I put you, Lord? Lord, is my perspective eternal or is it temporal? Could I really say to die is gain? Like, is that my mindset or am I so focused on my own comfort? Am I so focused on temporary things? Manage well to steward well. Those are good filtering type questions. So write those down. I'm gonna pray over these in just a moment. And then as you leave, you can drop them in the black buckets. They say DLC, drop those in there where you would put your offering and we'll collect those. Okay. Can we pray over that? We taste things very seriously. Uh we trust the Lord in that. We trust that you are seeing as a congregation, hearing and discerning uh who among us uh is in this this uh category. Just mark that tithe and we can put buckets on each side of the double doors on the way out. Um you can also um do our text to give option, which the phone number is right there. Um they can get you all set up just by texting that number. Or you can go online to dlc.tv. So I just want to take a moment, just prepare our hearts to continue worshiping with their tithes by uh just taking a moment with the Lord in prayer. Say, Father, we love you and we thank you for your provision. God, that everything we Yeah. First one is a little bit more than a lot of people.
