The Gospel is Unstoppable!
- I will not be discouraged by Circumstances.
- I will not be discouraged by People.
Why? THE GOSPEL IS UNSTOPPABLE! (Phil 1:12-14)
Why? THE GOSPEL IS UNSTOPPABLE! (Phil 1:15-18)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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The unstoppable message.
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You know, getting discouraged has been really easy for me lately.
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Because it's October, and guess which baseball team is not playing?
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I seriously, I was drinking the Kool-Aid.
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I thought this was going to be the year.
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And anybody else, like, you know, June, July, You're like, this is our year.
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We're going to get into the playoffs.
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What happened?
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Discouraging.
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And then I thought, well, at least the Steelers season is starting.
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At least Thursday night I had things done.
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So I'm like, you know what?
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The evening's cleared.
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I can watch the Steelers beat the weakest team in the league.
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How is that working for you?
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And then I thought, well, you know what happens, Corinne, at the beginning of October, right?
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The penguin season, at least the penguins.
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And hoping against hope.
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I actually was flipping through the channels, and I saw it said-- did you see that too?
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It says Islanders at Penguins.
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I'm like, maybe something happened that I completely missed.
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And I turned it on, and it was that replay of last year, like Crosby's return.
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I was like, OK.
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Now I'm really discouraged.
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Well, I'm going after joy.
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Who's with me?
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I'm going after joy, right?
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And joy is found not in things black and gold, but joy is found in God and in the things of God.
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And last week when we started Philippians, we saw that the apostle Paul said, "I love the church." He said, "I love the church.
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"The church is where God works.
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The church is where I am comforted.
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The church is where we grow in the Lord, grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
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Remember verse five, he says, I'm praying for you joyfully.
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In verse five, it says, "Because of your partnership in the gospel." That was the very first thing, Paul, right out of the gate.
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It was about the gospel.
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And I want you to see in verse 12, what we're picking up this week.
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Last phrase in verse 12, he's talking about advancing the gospel. And almost every verse today we're going to look at, Paul is talking about the gospel. I think there's only one verse in this section where he doesn't mention the gospel, preaching Christ, proclaiming Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ was the Apostle Paul's passion. And I think that's missing in the church today. I went to Bible college in Circleville, Ohio.
02:58-03:07
Has anybody ever heard of Circleville? Some of you have. What's Circleville famous for? Besides, that's where Pastor Jeff went to college. Yeah, real famous.
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What was it? Yes, the Pumpkin Show! Is it this week? Oh my goodness. Well, for those For those of you not in the know, every year, Cherkovo has this pumpkin show, and it's all anybody talks about out there.
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And they basically, they close down the entire city, literally, they rope off the city.
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And have you been there, Tom?
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Okay, I hope nothing I say is going to offend you, but.
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They have pumpkin everything.
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Pumpkin cookies, the world's largest pumpkin pie, which was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, to be honest with you.
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Pumpkin beer, pumpkin sandwiches, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin-- name it.
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They had-- that's all everybody talked about.
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I don't like pumpkin.
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OK, I just don't.
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And the only thing worse than pumpkin is pumpkin spice.
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Who likes that stuff?
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Well, needless to say, I was disappointed in the pumpkin fest and I was one of the few.
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I just didn't get it.
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And I think that's what's happening in churches.
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That you have some people that are very passionate about the gospel, but I think by and large, Most people come in and they're, "I don't get it.
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What's everybody so excited about?
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I just don't see why everybody's so excited." Well, Paul was excited about it because the gospel is the power of God.
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Do you know, do you know, there's only one other thing that's called the power of God.
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That's Jesus Christ.
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Other than that, the only thing in the Bible that is specifically referred to as the power of God is the gospel.
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And Paul was passionate about it.
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It's the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
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So let me ask you, church, if we are the channel that God is using to bring dead people alive, If we are the channel that God is speaking through to reach the lost, to minister to the hurt, with a message that is incomparable, with a message that, as we'll see today, is unstoppable, let me ask you, church, why do we struggle with discouragement?
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When I was first called into ministry, I was so wide-eyed.
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I thought, this is gonna be easy.
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Because like, well, you know what?
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When I went to Bible college, I'm like, well, I only need to buy one textbook, right?
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Like a lot of college students have to buy all these books.
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I only need one.
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I found out that wasn't true.
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Rip off.
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Like, you need other books besides the Bible?
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But there's a lot of discouragement, even in ministry.
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Satan is unable to stop the power of God's Word. Do you believe that? I do.
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You know, God says that His Word always accomplishes the purposes for which He sends it out.
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So when the Gospel is proclaimed, understand that Satan cannot stop the power of the Gospel. He can't do it.
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Nothing can stop the power of the gospel.
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So what does Satan do?
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Satan discourages God's people.
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Because if we're less likely to speak up, if we shy away or if we're discouraged to the point of abandoning the ministry that God's called us to, then the gospel's not going out at all.
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There's a lot of discouragement when you're involved in ministry.
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And I don't just mean pastoral ministry, like, "Oh, Jeff's going to talk about, like, preacher talk for the next half hour, so time to tune out." No, whether you're involved in children's ministry, or the hospitality ministry, or The worship ministry, there's discouragement in ministry.
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One time during a especially discouraging period, I asked the pastor of the church I served previously, I said, "Have you ever felt like just "throwing it all in, like done, quit?" And he smiled and he said, "Once a day, every day, "there's discouragement involved." And what we're going to see when we get into the text here, this is just like in our faces.
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I know some of you may be going through discouragement right now.
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Like, you know what?
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Once upon a time, I was excited about serving the Lord and I was excited about this church plant.
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And you know what?
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Now we're a year and some change down the road.
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Getting a little discouraged.
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I'm getting a little discouraged.
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Well, if you are, there are two categories.
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Two broad categories that are the source of your discouragement.
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They're right here in the text.
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Paul's going to address them, but here's the thing.
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What we're going to see is Paul saying, "Here's how you can face the things that discourage you in your ministry and still have joy, because nothing stops God's purposes.
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So number one on your outline, I will not be discouraged by, write down the word circumstances.
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Why?
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Well, let's look at verses 12 through 14.
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Paul says, "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
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What happened to Paul?
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Well, he says here, "So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ." Okay, so he's talking about his imprisonment.
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But most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." So first of all, if we are going through a period of discouragement right now, the one main source that can be from is just your circumstances.
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I'm in a place right now in my life, things aren't really going optimal.
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I'm not really enjoying what's happening in my life right now.
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Well, when Paul wrote this, he was in prison.
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Jot this reference down.
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We're not going to turn and read it, but I want you to.
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Acts chapter 28, verses 16 through 20, because immediately when you hear, well, Paul's in prison, what do you think of?
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What do you think of?
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You think of a dungeon, right?
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Where he's chained, arms above his head, and there's like a rat sitting there and like a skull.
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That's what you think of.
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But actually with this imprisonment, Paul is not in a common prison with criminals.
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Actually during this imprisonment, there was no real legal issue Paul was facing.
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He was in prison more for his safety than for committing some sort of a crime.
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When you read Acts chapter 28, verses 16 through 20, It talks about this, but Paul was actually staying by himself in a house, but he was chained to a guard.
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Now, understand that Paul would have been chained to a guard 24 hours a day, and the guards came in six-hour shifts.
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So quick math, how many guards is that a day?
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How many, okay, Lorming says four.
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Okay, four, okay, good.
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All right, I'm not that good at math, so sometimes I just have to call on you to help me out here.
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24 hours a day, six hour shifts, that means Paul had four guards a day that would come in and chain themselves to him for the next six hour shift.
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And I gotta be honest with you, that sounds like that could really get discouraging in ministry, don't you think?
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Couldn't you hear it?
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You know, Paul, you had this great ministry and you were planting all these churches and you were doing amazing things for God.
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Now look at you.
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You can't do anything.
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You can't do anything because you're chained to a guard, Paul.
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that your ministry has become completely shut down.
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Paul, you should be discouraged by your circumstances, don't you think?
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Shouldn't Paul be discouraged?
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He's out preaching and people are coming to Christ.
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Now Paul is chained to a guard.
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That should be discouraging.
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But you see, you gotta flip the perspective there.
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Because if you would have gone to Paul and said that, "Paul, Paul, you're chained to a guard." You know what he would have said?
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He would have said, "No, the guard's chained to me." "But Paul, your ministry is stifled." Paul's like, "No, ministry is fantastic right now." Because do you know why?
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I get to preach to this guy for six hours a day, and he's not going anywhere.
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How much can you communicate in six hours?
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You're like, "Pastor Jeff, you do a fine job every Sunday communicating for six hours.
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That was a joke, visitors.
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We don't really stay here six hours.
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Six hours, Paul's like, yeah, I get this guy for six hours and I'm telling him all about Jesus Christ and how he died on the cross, how he rose from the dead, how the Son of God came to die for my sins, and he wants to give this gift of salvation to you.
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And shift change, and Paul's like, "It's great, "because then they bring me somebody else, "and he gets six hours.
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"Hey, let me tell you about Jesus Christ "and the way that he died on the cross "and he rose from the dead." Shift change, "Hey, let me tell you about Jesus Christ." Paul's like, "My ministry's not stifled, it's fantastic." I used to do prison ministry, and people ask me, "Well, what do you think about prison ministry?" And I told people I love it.
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I used to go in and preach for two hours and I've never had anybody get up and leave.
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It's fantastic.
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My ministry is not hindered, it's not postponed, it's not suspended, it goes where I am.
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So jot these three sub points down.
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If you're discouraged by your circumstances, if you're in a place right now where you're like, yeah, I'm just really, I don't really know if God can use me right now because I'm in a bad place in my life.
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Write these three things down.
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First of all, letter A, God uses unlikely situations to advance the gospel.
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God uses unlikely situations to advance the gospel.
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Look again at verse 12.
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The church in Philippi was like, "How's Paul doing?
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"How's Paul doing?
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"It must be rough.
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"It must be really hard.
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"He's chained to a guard.
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"It must be hard.
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"Paul, how are you doing?" "Well, I'll tell you how I'm doing." He goes, "I want you to know." brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." He knew what they were thinking. "Your ministry shut down." "No, no, no, no, no, no. I want you to know something. The gospel is going on better than ever, because every effort to stop the gospel of Jesus Christ actually furthers it. Write that down, take notes, watch for it, and do a little research on it. Every effort to stop the gospel only advances it every time. You're like, "Well, can you give me an example?" I'll give you just two. How many of you have ever heard of John Bunyan. Not the guy with the big blue ox. That's John's brother Paul. This is John Bunyan. He wrote what? Pilgrim's Progress, right? Did you know that his preaching was so powerful that they actually put him in Bedford jail to silence him. But he preached at the top of his lungs from inside the jail and people actually gathered around the outside of the jail just to listen to him preach. Well you can imagine how that angered the authorities. So they took him down to a part of the jail where no one from the outside could hear him no no matter how loudly he spoke.
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So because he was sort of isolated, do you know what he did with his time?
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He wrote Pilgrim's Progress, which has ministered to people for generations and generations and generations.
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The effort to stop the gospel only advanced the gospel.
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I love this one.
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French philosopher Voltaire. He was a skeptic who destroyed the faith of many people. He said within 100 years of his death, the Bible would disappear from the face of the earth. Voltaire died in 1728, and 50 years after his death, the Geneva a Bible Society, moved into his former house, and used his printing presses to print thousands of Bibles.
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Every effort to stop the Gospel actually furthers it.
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So understand this, first of all, God uses unlikely situations to advance the Gospel.
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Secondly, letter B, God uses my struggles to reach the lost.
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Look at verse 13 again with me.
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He said, "It's become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest of my imprisonment is for Christ.
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God uses my struggles to reach the lost as in people I would not have met otherwise." He talks about the imperial guard.
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That was the elite of the elite.
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Not only them, but the word was spreading.
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Notice, he says, "And to all the rest." Again, imagine drawing that assignment.
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Imagine if you were one of the Imperial Guard.
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You know exactly how that went down.
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Maybe after the first few shifts of being with Paul, you got talking to the other guards.
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You get talking to your buddies, and you're like, "Yeah, I drew the assignment with the religious nut. Well, what was that like? Oh my gosh, he just he talks about Jesus this and Jesus that and Jesus this and you know. But you see, after a while they didn't just hear Paul's preaching. They would have been seeing Paul's character.
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They would have noted hypocrisy. They would have seen if the Apostle Paul was talking about victory and the resurrection of Jesus Christ one day and then complaining and cursing God the next day. They would have seen that. But they didn't. And that's how it progressed. Paul, what would you like to talk about today, the same thing I talked about last time. And notice if you flip over a page to Philippians 4 verse 22, as Paul's closing up, I love as he says, "All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household." How did those people come to Christ? Because what happened to Paul really served to advance the gospel. You know, truth and time go hand in hand, and a steady testimony gets people's attention. There are some people right now who may be in a situation that you didn't choose and you certainly don't prefer, but I want to ask you, who's your imperial garden? Who are the people that God has chained you to so that he may reach them with the gospel? I've shared with you before, you know, when our children were diagnosed with autism, I was immersed into a whole subculture of society that I never knew existed. You start showing up at these speech therapy places and these support group places and you know these you know doctors offices where they're helping treat these kids and you just look around you're like wow there's a whole group of people that are going through the same struggles that we are. These are people that we wouldn't have met otherwise. Did you know that? Before Owen was born, how much time do you think we spent in the office of speech evaluators. Take a guess, how much time? Okay, Sammy, what are you doing today? Why don't we go hang out at the office where they evaluate autistic kids? Yeah, that sounds like fun. So there's a sense in which we sort of feel like, do you get this? We sort of feel like we've been chained to this, sort of God put us in a situation where we're gonna be rubbing shoulders with these people, because we are these people. We wouldn't have met these people otherwise.
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That's one of the glorious things about the gospel, among a trillion other things.
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But God will take your struggles, the hurts that you're going through, the obstacles that you think are obstacles that God says, "That's not an obstacle, So that's an opportunity, because using this I'm going to put you in the path of people that I love and that I want to hear the gospel.
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Paul got that, and he was chained to a guard.
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Can you and I get that?
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And if we get it, the question is what kind of testimony are we giving?
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What kind of a testimony?
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You know, if I show up at this speech evaluator's office and I'm sitting with these other families and I'm just like, "Oh, autism has been so rough "and I hate my life and it's been miserable "and everything seems hopeless.
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"And by the way, I'm a Christian.
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"Why don't you come to my church sometime?" Save me a seat.
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That sounds fantastic.
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Steady testimony, steady testimony.
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God's using it.
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And if you get that, you allow that.
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Then verse 14, jot this down.
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God uses the faithful to inspire his people.
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So not only to reach the lost, but he says, "And most of the brothers, "having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, "are much more bold to speak the word without fear." So how did it affect the church?
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How did it affect other Christians?
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Three words here, confident, bold, without fear.
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So let me ask you, why does persecution cause boldness?
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Why does persecution cause boldness?
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Why is that?
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I would think if I was just sort of reasoning this out in my natural mind, that when I see somebody preaching the gospel and they're in prison for it or they're being mistreated for it, I would think that I am less likely to preach the gospel because I don't want to be mistreated for it. But the truth is it doesn't work that way.
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Persecution always results in boldness because people see that this stuff is real. We're not playing games here. You know that? We're not playing games. This is lay it all down for the message of eternity. Jesus Christ is alive. His death accomplished what he said it would accomplish. His resurrection accomplished what he said it would accomplish. Heaven is real. It's a really place and real people are really going there when they receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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This is real stuff. And persecution has a way of giving that a shot of adrenaline.
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This is real. There's a real spiritual war going on. They would have seen Paul's effectiveness, and they also would have seen God's protection. And I was trying I'm trying to think of a way to, how is it that you can see somebody like Paul going through what he's going through and be even more fired up?
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And the best thing I could come up with is Rocky Balboa.
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I don't mean the movie with that title, I mean the character.
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But why is it that after you watch Rocky, you feel like you could whoop anyone?
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Is it just me or anybody else?
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Seriously, when you watch Rocky, you feel like, bring it on.
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I could whoop anybody right now.
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The thing that I didn't understand seeing Rocky as a kid and then actually watching real boxing growing up, the thing I didn't understand is in real boxing, they don't stand there and get punched five times in a row and then punch the other guy five times in a row.
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Sorry, tangent.
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It doesn't really work that way.
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But somehow Rocky inspires that.
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I guess Eye of the Tiger is the only thing I can call it.
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There's something about seeing Rocky get beat to a pulp and then coming back victorious makes me think I could do it.
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I can't.
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But you know, for like an hour, I really think I can.
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And I think in a sense, that's what happens even with the gospel. The people see, "Here's a man, Paul, beaten down but still victorious because he's not letting his circumstances get the better of him." That's inspiring. Paul's not going to let imprisonment stop him from preaching. In fact, his imprisonment's helping his preaching, so what am I scared of? Paul's doing it. And it's a truth that God uses the faithful to inspire his people. So why does persecution cause boldness? I kind of think that's why, but here's another question that really actually bothers me more. Why does freedom cause laziness? You would think in this culture, because there's no threat of imprisonment for handing out Bibles or tracks or preaching on the corner or whatever, you'd think that'd be happening a lot more.
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But it's not.
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Many people just don't see the gospel worth proclaiming, worth standing up for, worth fighting for.
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Maybe we're just lacking some good examples in our day.
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Maybe you need to be that good example.
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So people see that circumstances haven't stolen your joy.
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Your circumstances haven't stopped you from joyfully reveling in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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So I will not be discouraged by circumstances.
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Why?
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Because the gospel is unstoppable.
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When I glory in the gospel, and I'm facing some tough circumstances, all that means is God is using a more strategic way to get his gospel advanced and in that I rejoice.
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One more thing, if you're not discouraged by circumstances, what's the other thing that typically will discourage you? People. People. I'm gonna give you another run at that because that was a great spot for an amen. You ready? If you're not discouraged by your circumstances, do you know what will discourage you? People.
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Well, it was true for the Apostle Paul. Look at verses 15 through 18. He said, "Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The the defense of the gospel, the former proclaimed Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that "I" what? "Rejoice." So if you're not going through some kind of a struggle, you're going through some kind of a person that's being a pain. Now Paul here obviously you caught he was speaking of two groups when he talked about people preaching the gospel. Some people they preach the gospel for the right reasons.
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he mentions in the latter half of verse 15, "But some preach the gospel out of envy and rivalry." What does that even mean? Well, obviously, word was getting out about Paul. So you have some other preachers going, "Well, why is he so popular?
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That should be me." You know, Paul's in prison, and that's all everybody's talking about is, you know, Paul's preaching to the Imperial Guard, and you know, converts that are chained to him, and Paul's doing this, and Paul's doing, that should be me.
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You know what?
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I've heard Paul preach, and he's really not that great.
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Especially compared to me.
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I think I'm a much better preacher than Paul.
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That should be me that people are talking about.
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I should be like the Billy Graham of this city, not Paul.
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Envy and rivalry.
32:33-32:40
So they're like, well, I'm gonna up my little preaching game bit, because I should be what people are talking about.
32:42-32:45
But you have to understand this, the message was not in question.
32:46-32:48
It's clear, Paul never called their message into question.
32:49-32:54
He says they're preaching Christ, he says they're proclaiming Christ, verse 17.
32:57-33:00
The message isn't in question, the issue here is their motives.
33:01-33:44
You have to understand that to the Apostle Paul there was a huge difference, and there should be a huge difference to us. If somebody's preaching a false message, that needs to be corrected. You know, there's a ministry saying, "Well, Jesus wasn't really God. He didn't really raise from the dead." That's heresy, and we point that out. And we tell people, "You don't go to religious organizations like that." And that's why sometimes, you know, church, we come under fire if we say anything about, you know, Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses or Christian science.
33:44-34:51
Well, it's all the same God. No, it's not the same God. We are worshiping Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. We do not endorse religions that deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Don't go to those places. It's not a Christian denomination. There's a difference between that and people who are actually preaching the truth of the Bible, but maybe their motives aren't the best. People often ask, "Well, what do you think about this ministry or that ministry?" You know, "Jeff, what do you think about this church? What do you think about Benny Hinn?" I get people ask me these questions. A lot of times I get to Jim, like, "What do you think about Benny Hinn?" I try not to. "What do you think about Jack Van Impey? What do you think about John Hagee? What do you think about these ministries? What do you think about ministries. Here's how you resolve that. What do you think about those ministries?
34:51-35:15
Here's how you resolve that. Are they preaching the gospel? That's the first thing you have to examine. Are they preaching the gospel? Are they accurately representing the Word of God in their preaching and teaching? If they are, what Paul's attitude, great.
35:16-35:17
Hey, if they're preaching the gospel, great.
35:17-35:25
I might not agree with their motives, I might not agree with how they go about some things, but if they're preaching the gospel, that means the gospel's getting out, praise the Lord.
35:31-35:34
Truth is more powerful than the package that it comes in, do you know that?
35:36-35:45
If God could speak through Balaam's donkey, He can speak his truth through people even with bad motives.
35:45-35:47
The truth is more powerful than the package it comes in.
35:49-36:02
But sometimes, church, even in lesser issues, when we look at other ministries, even other ministries that are preaching the gospel, our knee-jerk reaction is to condemn versus rejoice.
36:05-36:06
And that's wrong.
36:10-36:14
You know, I don't think that church is a good church because they have a coffee shop right in their lobby.
36:15-36:17
Are they preaching the gospel?
36:18-36:18
Yeah.
36:19-36:21
Are there people that are going to that church that are hearing the gospel?
36:23-36:23
Yeah.
36:24-36:28
Does it seem like Jesus Christ is making difference in the lives of people in that church?
36:28-36:28
Well, yeah.
36:29-36:31
Then who cares about their stupid coffee shop?
36:33-36:33
Right?
36:35-36:37
And someday we're gonna have a building and we're gonna have a coffee shop.
36:39-36:41
but we're still gonna be preaching the gospel.
36:43-36:47
Well, this church does things a little differently and I don't like the music in this church.
36:47-36:49
In this church, are they preaching the gospel?
36:51-36:53
Well, yeah, but I think that preacher's kind of a jerk.
36:53-36:54
Is he preaching the gospel?
36:56-36:57
Yeah, but I don't like his attitude.
36:57-36:58
Is he preaching the gospel?
36:59-37:00
Well, yeah.
37:02-37:08
Then praise the Lord, because the truth is more powerful than the package that it comes in, right?
37:11-37:23
Paul says, verse 17, that these people that proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment, that just seems rotten.
37:23-37:29
Like not only is Paul in prison, but they're trying to kick him while he's down, so to speak.
37:31-39:40
You can imagine the message getting up saying, you know, I know a lot of you have heard the teaching of the Apostle Paul, you know why he's in prison, right? I'm sure he committed some grievous sin that he's been arrested for. Or, you know, in God's sovereignty, that's God's way of restricting Paul's influence. Or, every day's a Friday, and I want you to know that today God loves me more than he does Paul? Because Paul's in prison. I'm not. God loves me more. And Paul's like, "These people are just trying to afflict me out of rivalry." Well, why does that hurt? I wish. I don't know if it's a personality thing. I don't you have to learn? Honestly, I don't know. But I wish it was so much easier to dismiss that stuff. I do. I just, I wish it was easier to dismiss that stuff. I wish it was easier to dismiss criticism. I do. I wish it was. I wish somebody could come up, and it's happened to me a lot, somebody comes up to me either after service or they call me or they email me or whatever or show up at my house and they just criticize what I'm doing and I wish I could just be like yeah okay you're entitled to your opinion it hurts even worse than criticism is accusation It hurts when people falsely accuse your motives, falsely accuse you based on things that they assume but things they don't have information about. It hurts.
39:41-39:58
Why does it hurt? Because what's the number one commodity in ministry? In You have to be trustworthy.
39:58-40:08
Nobody's going to follow a pastor if they firmly believe, well, he preaches it, but it's not incorporated into his life at all.
40:08-40:11
He talks a lot about Jesus, but we don't see any Jesus in him.
40:12-40:20
And when your character's attacked, there's a sense in which that is attacked, and it sort of discounts your integrity, and it hurts.
40:26-40:29
We should expect affliction from the world.
40:32-40:44
But you know, I've had more sleepless nights, heartburn, and stress over church people than I've ever had over worldly people.
40:45-40:52
I've had people that unashamedly, not Christians, attack me for things that I've said or done or whatever.
40:54-40:55
That has never bothered me.
40:56-41:00
I'm like, they're lost, they're dead in their sin.
41:01-41:01
That doesn't hurt.
41:02-41:06
What does hurt is when it's people that you think are on your team.
41:13-41:15
with the criticisms, with the accusations.
41:18-41:20
You know, it's real easy to lash back.
41:21-41:22
And Paul could have, right?
41:23-41:30
Paul could have been like, "Listen, Church of Philippi, "they're saying these things about me, "but let me tell you something about them." But what did he say?
41:32-41:40
He's like, "They're preaching Christ motivated by rivalry." Isn't that great?
41:40-41:41
They're preaching Christ.
41:42-41:42
Isn't that awesome?
41:43-41:44
The word of the gospel is getting out.
41:45-41:49
Their motives are completely backwards, but who cares because they're preaching Christ.
41:49-41:50
Isn't that awesome?
41:53-41:54
I need some of that.
41:57-42:03
I'm still learning, so I'm preaching to all of us here.
42:04-42:05
Don't let people get you discouraged.
42:07-42:09
Don't let people get you discouraged.
42:11-42:15
And Paul says some people preach out of goodwill, some people they preach out of love.
42:16-42:23
They love God, they love the lost, they love the church, but here specifically he's talking about preaching out of love, referring to they love him, they love Paul.
42:25-42:28
There's a sense in which they're saying, you know what, our brother needs us, let's get to work.
42:30-42:31
Let's get to work.
42:31-42:34
So Paul, in wrapping up, he says, what then?
42:38-42:47
Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, again talking about motives, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice.
42:48-42:51
Some people do it out of envy, some people do it out of love.
42:52-42:55
It really doesn't matter as long as the gospel is proclaimed.
42:57-42:59
You know, that's a sign of being sold out for the gospel.
43:01-43:12
You don't care who's doing it or if they're doing it better than you or how many people they have or why they are doing it, you just rejoice because the message is getting out.
43:14-43:16
Because the message is what matters.
43:17-43:19
The message is what does God's work.
43:20-43:22
The message is what leads to Christ.
43:26-43:36
When I start to think that this is Jeff's work, Jeff needs to do this, and Jeff needs This is God's work.
43:38-43:42
Because if Jeff gets hit by a bus this afternoon, the work continues.
43:43-43:47
And next week, somebody else is going to be standing up here, proclaiming the gospel.
43:50-43:52
The message will not be stopped.
43:53-43:58
Not by a trial, and not by the poorly motivated people.
44:01-44:07
So here's the thing, let's find our joy in the unstoppable gospel.
44:09-44:12
And like Paul, what we're going to find is unstoppable joy.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 1:12-18
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.