And this was a rough morning for me. And the thing that popped in my, but you know, one of the things we were talking about is the fact that we have access to the throne room of grace through prayer, which is a blessing, it's a benefit, it's a privilege, and it's something we should use as often. And the Bible says, pray without ceasing. So I know that through my experience of walking in with God, that it's not based upon how you feel, But, you know, we're trying to prayerfully align with his words. So this, when I was praying, the scripture came to my mind is one that we quote often when we come in is, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. So I was like, okay, we know the direction. And I'm like, but Lord, I need to unload a lot of this heaviness. I need you to be my comforter in the sorrow, because I wanna praise you with as pure a heart as possible. So that access to prayer is also a time where you can get cleaned up. And I always think about it, the refiner's fire. We're in the refiner's fire, and some of these back-to-back trials seem sometimes, if you're just thinking about it, it can be overwhelming. And I've been overwhelmed a lot. a lot. This is a transparent, real moment. But I've also known that through the prayer, I get comfort. I get peace. I get encouragement. I get the strength to keep on keeping on. And that's where I want to leave the testimony with. It's not, the Bible says many of the afflictions of the righteous. So that part we know, we understand and we experience. We know that we said, think it not strange when fiery trials and tribulations come. And we know that we're in a fallen world. So we have to deal with fallen realities, sickness, death of loved ones, our own aging, all these things that we have to do with that as you're talking about is the real life. Going through it is it gets difficult, but we also know where scripture promises we have access to the throne of grace where we obtain mercy. and find grace to help in the time of need. We can come and make our petitions and requests known to God. I believe the overarching framework, a lot of times people have this expectation that life is supposed to be easy when you come to Christ, and that's far from the truth. I think we know that in this body, but for people online, all that mainstream Christianity, you're living your best life ever, and it's not true. It gets difficult, it gets rough. And sometimes day by day is all you can manage. But thank God, He's a God who's there day by day. He's not transcending only, He's imminent. He gets intricately, intimately involved in our lives and I need Him. And I know I'm not the only one. I know there's a bunch of us who need Him. And there's a bunch of us who have testimonies of His faithfulness. He comes through time and time and time again. I'll get choked up talking about it. He comes through faithfully. So that God, that faithful God is who we're coming to worship. That God who's faithful time and again, we want to express our love and gratitude. That God deserves our praise. That God created us to worship him. That God deserves his worship. And so with that said, let's do that. So Lord, we do, we come boldly. as your corporate body, sometimes broken, bruised, and battered, but knowing about your faithfulness. We come in sometimes feeling like we're weak and we're overwhelmed, but we know that you are the rock that is higher than us, Lord God, and you're that sure foundation while everything seems unsure and insecure. And you said your strength is made perfect in weakness, So we thank you, Lord God, for teaching us and showing us that you are the way, that you are the truth, that you are the life. You're the source and the giver of life. You're the one who gives us new life in Christ. And so, Lord, we bless you. We appreciate you. We adore you. We magnify you. We revere you. We're in awe of you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You are worthy. You are worthy of all praise. You are worthy of all adoration. Hallelujah. You created it for this. And thank you for giving us the real meaning and purpose of life. Thank you for anchoring us through the storms of life. Thank you for being our comforter and our encourager. our strength. And thank you for reminding us that we're just pilgrims passing through. We're not, this is not our home. Thank you for giving us a blessed hope, a hope of eternal life, not only now, but in eternity, where you're going to make all things new. And where there'll be no more weeping, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more suffering, we thank you for giving us that hope that anchors us through the storms and difficulties of life. So Lord, right now, we, your grateful people, we, your called out people, we come together in your name, the name that is above every name on heaven and earth, the name that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory, honor, and praise of the Father. We come together in your name, and we just want you to have your way. We want you to show up and show out in the way that you can to bring glory to your name and bring growth to your people. We know you're conforming us into the image of your son. So as uncomfortable as this life gets, we thank you, Lord, that we have you at the helm, the refiner's fire. Hallelujah, purging and purifying us, cleansing us, Lord God, to conform us into the image of your son. So shine forth bright in us. You called us to be a city on a hill that is not hid. And so help us to let our light shine before men that they may see our good works and not glorify us, but glorify you, our father, which art in heaven. So that's what we want right now, Lord, is let this time be consecrated and sanctified for your purposes. Use everyone in the gathering because every member supplies to the body what is needed. There's no big I's and little u's. Every member is critical and part of your process. So let us love and appreciate each other. Let us love and appreciate your will and your purposes. And Lord, we thank you, Lord God, that you are faithful to your promises. So use the preacher, Lord God, we appreciate him. And Lord, use him mightily. As Paul said, I didn't come in the lofty words of human eloquence, but in the demonstration of spirit and in power. So use him. Dunamis power, let his needs be met as he meets the needs of the house through being a yielded servant. And just have your way. We need your way, we want your way. And so we thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. Bless the Lord. So we gonna read together from Colossians 2, verses four through 12. And it reads, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit. enjoying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him. rooted and built up in him, and established in your faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Yes, Lord. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and putting off the body of sins of flesh by the circumcision of Christ. buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Bless the Lord for his word. And now we're gonna lift him up in song and praise. Amen. Good afternoon, everyone. It is a great day to be alive. Just a great day to be able to worship the Lord And we're going to do just that. We're going to just worship the Lord in spirit and in truth as he requires, which is awesome. So let's just sing. We're going to go back a little bit in time. but I feel like, you know, anytime we sing an old song, there's just new gratitude around it because there isn't old worship, right? When we thank God, we thank him for today. We recall yesterday, but we thank him right now in this moment because we can. And that's just a beautiful thing to be able to and to be allowed to and to have the opportunity to worship him from this moment. So that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna worship him from right now. So Lord, we thank you. The splendor of the king. Clothed in majesty. You can sing. Let all the earth rejoice. Let all the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light. and darkness tries to hide but it trembles at his voice trembles at his voice how great Is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Oh, see how great, how great is our God. Can we say that again? How great is our God. How great. Yes. Sing with me, how great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. We can rest in Him. He holds the world in His hands. From age to age He stands. And He holds all time right in His hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. The Godhead three in one. We've got the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. Sing with me, how great is our God. All will see how great, how great is our God. Let's say that again. How great is our God. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. Let's sing that verse again. He says from age to age He stands. From age to age He stands. Yes. And He holds all time right in His hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. The Godhead. The Godhead's three in one. Who do we have on our side? The Father, the Spirit, and the Son. The Lion and the Lamb. is our God. Oh, please sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. Let's sing that again. How great is our God. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God and we're just going to solidify that he is the name above all names you're the name above all names you're worthy of all praise he is worthy and Lord my heart will sing How great is our God. I love this one because things come to mind and I say, no, he's bigger than that. Hallelujah. You're the name above all names. You're worthy of all our praise. And Lord, my heart will sing. How great, how great. Let's say it again, hallelujah. You're the name above all names. Yes. You're worthy of all praise. And yes, my heart will sing, Lord. How great is our God. How great is our God. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great How great is our God. One more time. How great is our God. How great is our God. Oh, sing with me. How great is our God. We all will see how great, how great is our God. He is great. He is truly great and greatly to be praised. And I think sometimes we just say that because we're used to saying that, but he really is great. And this is a season of thanksgiving and remembering to have gratitude. And I was walking around the house, and I think I got irritated by something one of the kids did. And I said, Lord, I'm not, you know, trying to gather myself. And I said, someone is helping their child fight a deadly disease right now. Someone is trying to figure out how they're going to pay a PG&E bill, a water bill. Someone doesn't even have a bill because they're outside trying to figure out how to get all of their belongings in the cart they stole from Safeway. You know, that they're trying to roll it around and keep it together. And Lord, here I am upset in my four-bedroom home, you know, because they left the light on. It came on. It was on. You know, Lord, and they, you know, I'm moving clothes from one closet to another closet because it's an empty room. And I said, Lord, I want to have gratitude, not for the stuff. but because you have been God. This is a sign that you are just God, that I can walk around in the abundance of who you are. And I wanna remember that when these little things that don't matter show up and try to affect the joy that you have given me. I wanna remember how great you are, Lord, as I stand on what looks like a mountaintop, Lord. I wanna remember your goodness. And that's what we're doing as we stand together, brothers and sisters. We're remembering the goodness of the Lord. We're remembering together how good he is. Hallelujah. How deep his love goes for us. Hallelujah. While we were not on mountaintops, while we were sitting in muck and mire in our sinful, dirty, ugly, nastiness, he still saw beautiful. He still saw what would be, hallelujah, and he sent his only beautiful son to die on a rugged, dirty cross and to carry all of our sins, hallelujah, to die a sinner's death for us because he desired to have relationship with us. So he didn't wait for us to be whole and beautiful and all these wonderful things that we think. He loved us at where we were and made a plan of salvation for us and extended grace and love towards us. And that's why we should worship Him in all states, in all seasons, wherever we are, we should remember, hallelujah, and not withhold worship, withhold evangelism, withhold anything, hallelujah. We should love Him and worship Him wherever we are. So let's sing together about the love of Jesus Christ towards us. Let's sing. How deep is the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns his face away, as wounds which mar the chosen one, bring many sons to glory. We are counted in that number. Hallelujah. We are the sons and daughters brought to glory because of such sacrifice. Hallelujah. So behold the man upon a cross. My sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice. Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there. Until it was accomplished, His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. Thank you, Lord, for the finished work of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord. Hallelujah, Lord. So I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. We're going to sing that verse again. If ever we think we've made it. Hallelujah. We just remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. We lay it on that. Hallelujah. I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. This is what we lay it on. But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Hallelujah. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom Why should I gain? Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart what I know. His wounds have paid my ransom. Let's sing it again. Why? Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. His wounds have paid my ransom. Thank you, Lord. Your wounds have paid my ransom. Paid in full. His wounds have paid my ransom. He poured the cross. Hallelujah. His wounds have paid my ransom. In total. His wounds have paid my ransom. His wounds have paid my ransom. We are grateful today, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. He didn't leave a balance for us. Hallelujah. He didn't pay it partway. Hallelujah. There wasn't a layaway plan. It was paid in full. Paid in full. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. So grateful. Hallelujah. It's the top of my gratitude list. Hallelujah. I am so grateful. I'm so grateful. You may have your seats, Transforming Love Christian Center. And those of you who are visiting with us online, welcome. We hope that you are worshiping alongside of us today. We are here at 193. 00 Redwood Road in Castro Valley. We're here every Sunday at 1 30 p.m. and we hope one day that you'll join us. Come on down and let us wrap our arms around you and tell you face to face how much we are happy to see you because we're happy that you're here streaming with us and we'd be happy to see you in person and to worship alongside of you. There's something about being in the room where it happens. But we're happy that you can get the gospel however you can get it. That's the beautiful thing about technology, that God is everywhere. He is everywhere at the same time, so we are happy about that. A couple of announcements. You can visit us at our website at www.transforminglovecc.org, where you can learn all things TLCC, what we believe, who our leaders are. You can see in the Bible study tab that we have Bible study on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. via Zoom. You can get plugged in. I imagine that we are not going to have Bible study on Thanksgiving. We hope that you are evangelizing around the table or wherever, however you choose to celebrate Thanksgiving, that you are sharing gratitude with the folks that you love and reaching out and being the arms of Jesus. in the earth in some way. And so I am thinking I'm safe enough to say that we will not be having Bible study on Thursday. But please plug back in next week where I'm sure it'll resume where you will get further information about that. So no Bible study this Thursday night, but you can still reach out to us so we can get you plugged in for the following week, okay? You can click on the donate tab where you can see there are two ways to give online, kind of online. So you can send a check or money order to the PO box listed, those instructions are online. Or you can zelle from your account into the ministry and those instructions are also there. Quick and easy ways to get it done. If you're in person, you can go ahead and get an envelope from the back table and there is a location right there in the front that you can drop it on in and we can process from there. We are grateful for those of you who have been led to give to this ministry. It helps us to do what God has called us to do in this house. So thank you so much for your continued donations here. With that being said, this is an awesome time to silence your cell phones. One more awesome announcement. Everybody knows Brother Gibbs back there. Wave your hand, Mr. Gibbs. Guess what, folks? It's his birthday today. Happy birthday, Mr. Gibbs. Yes, we love that the Lord has allowed you to be in our midst on a very special day, and we love seeing your face, and so we are happy that we are able to celebrate you and to say it to your face, happy birthday. Mr. Gibbs from us here at TLCC. Happy birthday to you. Mr. Gibbs is a faithful member, and when I tell you, when you get in conversation with Mr. Gibbs, I hope you got 30 minutes, okay? I hope you got that good 30 minutes, because he is going to give you what he got. So we are happy that you are here, and we hope to celebrate with you many, many more birthdays. And so we are blessed to have you in our midst, and blessed to have you as a part of our family. With that being said, we hope that you all will have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. And whatever that looks like for your family, we hope that you will just have a time of gratitude and thanksgiving. We are thankful to the Lord for yet another year. It has been a year of all kinds of wonderful and interesting things. And so we are just grateful to be able to make it to a space to have gratitude at another Thanksgiving. You know, that's a mouthful, but there has been so many, whoo, it's been a rollercoaster ride. I'm just happy to be able to sit anywhere on that day and say, Lord, I thank you. Thank you for this moment. And so I hope that from our family here at Transforming Love Christian Center to your family, wherever you are, and those of you who are in the midst, have a wonderful time of Thanksgiving with your families, friends, loved ones, and those that you care about, and however you celebrate. With that being said, we are going to be diving into the word. So please get your Bibles out, silence your cell phones. We have a wonderful guest speaker here with us who is not a guest, he is family. Pastor Doug is going to be breaking the bread of life with us today. And this is a great opportunity to press the share button if you are streaming with us so that you can evangelize immediately. And so please give a warm welcome to Pastor Doug. I really appreciate the church family here and the engagement of worship and scripture that is given every single Sunday. Josh, thank you for playing the keyboards every week and leading us that way. Keisha, thank you for leading and singing today. Rick, it's great to have you lead us in both sharing your heart. And it's been special to have the scriptures being read. And I think it's fantastic. We've already heard the gospel. We've heard the gospel by the scriptures that were read and also by the scriptures that were sung. We all sang those. And those are great songs of truth. And I hope that we think about truth when we sing songs, because it's not just singing and making a sound. It's another proclamation, it's testimony. We've already heard two or three testimonies today from each of the individuals that are up here. And I know each of you have a testimony, which is telling the truth about who God is and what he's done in your life. And so that's a very special part of this together. So let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter two. And I'm going to be using the ESV, the English Standard Version. It's very similar to other versions, the King James Version or the New International Version, depending on what Bible you have. But I use the ESV version. But what I'd love to talk today about in God's Word is about the whole concept of being lights in the world. And we live in this dark world and we need to be lights. We need to be a light to the world in which we can influence. We don't necessarily influence everybody, but we do influence somebody. There's somebody who's in our life or in our world. Maybe it's going to be this Thursday, maybe this week, but it may be in your neighborhood or your home or your place of work. Some of you maybe you're traveling, but are we persons of light? And we're going to look at what the scripture says about that. But before we do, I want to start in verse 12 of Philippians 2 and read a scripture here that I hope will set the tone for us here together. It says this in Philippians 2. My beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. So let me ask you a question here before we even get into the text here. Who is the one who mentored or modeled the faith to you the most? Who is the one who mentored or modeled the faith to you the most? Now for some of us, maybe like me, I was raised in a church. And so I had early leaders who made a difference in my life as a kid, as a young child. And maybe that's not true for all of you, but for instance, a friend of mine, a man who's older than me, his name's Walter Lindquist. And when I was a junior high kid, and you know junior high kids, they're kind of hard to deal with, but Walter Lindquist, love junior high kids. He loved me and the other friends of mine from the local school here in this area at Hayward where I grew up. And Walter Lindquist helped me as a 12-year-old and 13-year-old learn how to begin to understand God's word for myself and understand how much it mattered to love others and to think about my character and qualities. And I was a ratty, bratty junior high kid for a while, but Mr. Lindquist shaped my life by being caring for me on a junior high level. Wow, so that's one guy. who made a difference in my life. Maybe you have one from junior high age. Well, then soon after that, I went to high school. I came to this church as a high school student. And you know, when you're a freshman or sophomore trying to be cool in Hayward High, I was trying to be Mr. This and That. And it wasn't working out very well, but I kind of had this whole sense of friendships with other people that were not believers. I think I might have been the only Christian that I knew of anyway at Hayward High at that time. Maybe there were others, but I didn't know any others. But a guy named Steve Thrush took me under his wing. shaped me as a freshman and sophomore and junior in high school and began to spend time with me both around the campus and on weekends and kind of helped me know that God loved me. The Word of God mattered and he helped me instruction in my life in a way that was new to me, but now I was starting to grow in faith and it was really great. Well, then there was a guy when I was in college, he became the youth pastor here at this church. And when I came home from college and for a couple of years after college, he was my pastor. His name was Don Larmer. And Don Larmer began to shape my life. He began to give myself, he gave me attention. He gave me insights at a college age level, not just at junior high level, but he brought me along with understanding that I really needed at that time. And so I want to ask you all, do you have someone who was a model for you or mentored of you? Maybe it was when you were a kid, a teenager, a young adult, or maybe it's even last year. And a lot of you are adults and middle-aged adults, and maybe it's that same person. I think your pastor, Jamie Hawkins, is a dear man of God, a wonderful man of God. a truthful man of God, but there's also other individuals, men and women, in this church who are persons of God. They love God. They follow God. And I look around the room right now, and I know a lot of you, and I think personally how your life is consistent with God's Word, and you're a model by how you live, not just on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon, but throughout the week, throughout the life, you are demonstrating faithfulness to God's Word and to God's ways. And so that's a beautiful picture here. And there's people around I see right now that I say that as well. So that question, who is that one that mentored or modeled the faith to you the most? And is there somebody in your life you can look at right now? Maybe you can write that person's down name for yourself in the past or even recently who they are the one who made a difference in modeling their Christian life for you. But notice what Paul says, he's writing from prison, and he's writing the passage I just read, I'm gonna say it again in a couple times. He says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence. All those three people I mentioned in my life are not present anymore in my life. They were then, and this is now. And somebody made a difference 25 or 40 years ago for me. And now the question is, like Paul's question, who's writing from prison, he says to them, not only when I'm present with you, but when I'm absent. And so let me ask you another question that I started with. How do you grow or live out your own faith when they are not with you? If that man or woman made a difference in your life a year ago, or 10 years ago, or 30 years ago, but they're no longer in your life, do you have a faith? Or is your faith dependent on someone who's no longer there with you? And while they're with you, while they're talking to you, while they're helping you, you're able to make it and go on with a life of following Christ. and they're a living life and example for you, but they maybe are not with you anymore as those three disappeared from my life for various reasons, not because there's something wrong. One has died. The two others have moved away and I haven't seen them for years. Now, do I still respect and appreciate them from years ago? Yes, I do. Do we talk and do they have an influence in my life? Not currently. They made a big influence in my life, but they're not currently there with us right now. And so, notice what Paul says to the people from Philippi. He says, when my presence was with you, Are you living it out much more even in my absence? So let me go on now to Philippians 2.12, which is something we looked at a little bit a few minutes ago. He said, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Oh my goodness, that's a challenge now. It's not work out their salvation. In other words, piggyback on their faith. But do you have your own faith? Have you worked out your own salvation? Now, it doesn't mean to earn or work on your salvation. In other words, you don't provide your own salvation. That's not what it's saying. but it's talking about the salvation you've received from the Lord God. Are you working it out for yourself? He starts with the word beloved. What does beloved mean in Scripture? Here's Paul in prison who went through a lot of stuff in difficult times, but he's looking at the Philippian people and he calls them beloved. It means, literally, greatly loved. Friends, you are the beloved of the person who stepped out in faith and led you to the Lord. You're beloved of your pastor, Jamie Hawkins. You're beloved of other brothers and sisters in this room. You are beloved, which is a word which means longed for with a deep affection. an affectionate call. There's an invitation here. He says, beloved, Paul is saying this, beloved, there's some things I want to say to you. And the God's word wants to say this to you all as his beloved, the beloved of the Lord. The Lord loves you and he's called you. He's inviting you for a life that you can live even if you're The person who made the biggest difference in your life may not be around all the time, but you are the beloved of the Lord. So the beloved is an interesting word here because it says to work out your own salvation with fear and shame. Let's talk about that a little bit here. How dependent are you or me, I look in the mirror about this, to grow or live out your faith due to another? In other words, your faith is true or strong because of that person and you're kind of riding along with them. You're riding shotgun with them. Or is there a faith that's your own? And we've talked about that a little bit earlier here. Is the Christian life really a Christian life because we, essentially a matter of passive trust of God, in other words, or is it active obedience? In other words, can we just say, well, God, you're God, so you're just gonna zap me with newness of life. You're gonna zap me with some sort of life and joy and freedom and strength and righteousness in my life, because you're just a God who zaps people. Or is there a sense of active obedience ourself? I kind of wonder if this is two sides of the same coin. So, for instance, in the Bible it talks about God's sovereignty. He's in charge of everything, but he also has a sense of human responsibility. In other words, yes, God is in charge. He's sovereign over the world. but he also calls us to be faithful and obey and to do the right things. And so there's both and. God is sovereign, yes, but there's also a sense of our responsibility to join him, to follow his ways. We can't just sit there listlessly just saying, well, I'm in, that's all that matters, and we just drift along. No, it takes a sense of obedience for what's true ourselves. And so, for instance, the writing of the scriptures. We know that God wrote the scriptures through these men and women in the Bible and, you know, through the Old and New Testaments, but it took over I don't know exactly how many years, but it's over 100, 200, 300, 400 years, 500 years that the Bible was written as different persons received from God through his sovereignty, the word of God and scribed that out, wrote that out. And so there's a sense where God wrote it, but it took human authors who literally wrote it down. They didn't just have a mechanical hand that, you know, they kind of, just had to do it, there's a sense of, I don't quite understand it, but there's a sense of the beauty of God's work and the obedience of the writer to write down what the Holy Spirit communicated to them. We today, a lot of us try to reconcile scriptures that are difficult, and we try to push it to a certain way ourselves. In fact, Scriptures are sometimes mysterious to us. It's like, whoa, I don't know if I fully understand that. And so people will sometimes say something or exaggerate something or will emphasize one little aspect that they have thought about. That's why there's so many lessons or ideas out there, so many denominations. But you know what? God sovereignly leads his people, speaks to his people, and we have to sometimes figure out things and walk through things together. We have to learn from each other. And so some people will emphasize one truth over all the others, and they'll make a denomination or a belief system that's out of this one little thought. And we go, where is that coming from? Well, it's because sometimes people lead us that way. We need to be wise people and learn from the scriptures and from good solid teachers along the way here. But the scripture says here, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, I'm not saying figure out and make up your own ideas. That's not the point. But we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The literal word workout means to have a constant energy and effort to finish a task. And so there's a sense of working out. It's a constancy of us to know clearly, helpfully, understand as best we can, but to do it with fear and trembling. It's not just a scared fear, but it means a reverential awe. That's what the word literally means, a reverential awe of fear and trembling. And so this fear that we're looking at in the scripture here is one that makes us aware of many things. To work out your salvation with fear and trembling, first of all, it creates in us a sense of self-distrust. I cannot just figure it out myself and make sure I am the only one who can see these things out. It also means there's a sensitive conscience. There's a sense of, I have a fear and trembling. I have a sense of respect for God, a holy God, a beautiful God, an awesome God. We sung about that God this morning, but also the scriptures, they're God's word. And so there's a sense of sensitive conscience to what God is saying. And he says, It means also to being on guard against temptation. There's a sense of I don't want to cross a line. I don't want to live a life that has sin or I dabble with things that are not healthy or good or holy. And so there's a sense of being on guard. I have a sense of not worrisomeness but a sense of I want to guard against evil. and I want myself to not step across these ways. And so it's a guard against temptation in my own life. Why is this so much in verse 13? It says, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Let's break down that one verse into five short ideas here. It is God. So it is God. It is God first. It is God who gives us this. What's he doing? Second idea here. He's at work in us. It is God who is at work in you. And who is he at work? He's there for you. He's working in you. So it's God who's at work in you. Why? Both to will and to work. verse, still the same verse, for his good pleasure. It's God who is at work in you for his good pleasure. To will and to work. So think about God this way in your life. He's at work, to will and to work, that's with thoughtful, purposeful choice. God is at work with purposeful, thoughtful choice in your life. He's not a God of mere whim or emotional desire. He's not a God just impulsively. He's choosing to work in your life for His good pleasure. What does that mean, for His good pleasure? Well, his good pleasure means that he finds great joy and satisfaction in you as you obey him, as you come to follow him and know his will and live his will. He has great enjoyment out of that. Have you thought about that? Do you ever think that God actually has joy in you? I grew up in a small, little, fundamentalist, legalistic Baptist church. I don't think I ever imagined that God had any joy in anything I did. We were, in that church, we were taught to almost be like worms groveling in the dirt. And I know there's a lot of realities about sin in our life can put us in the dirt, but my point is this. That's a side of what can be true about our life, but as we obey God, as we become close to Him, as we love Him, as we conformed to his image and his will, he has joy in us. He has satisfaction with us. He has pleasure in you by your obedience. It's not a matter of shaking a long finger at you all the time. You're always doing something wrong. Just the idea he's welcoming you to come close to him and be like him and to accept and declare and obey the things that he's asked you to be. And he has satisfaction. Our God is a God of satisfaction and joy. A believer's sanctification brings him satisfaction. When you conform to God's desire in your life, as you live out and obey his ways, his will, his desires, he has joy and satisfaction over you and in you. And that's a beautiful picture that we need to both understand that we need to be challenged by, but we also can accept the fact that he loves us in that very special way. Well, the scripture goes on to Philippians chapter 2 verses 14 to 16. Let me read those for us here. He then transitions a little bit here. He says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Oh, my goodness. Did he have to bring that up? Doug, my disciple, do all things without grumbling or disputing. OK, here we go, Lord. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. So here's Paul who's saying, I'm not with you anymore. In one sense, you're on your own. You were in my presence and things, we were able to walk together. Now I'm absent from you, but I want you to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling because you're on your own. But do all things without grumbling or disputing. Okay, so let me pause here and let's talk about grumbling and disputing just for a minute. It is hard. Without grumbling or disputing. It literally means complaining or discontentment or dissatisfaction or moaning or griping. And I want to ask you this question. I look in the mirror and ask myself the same question. Who was the first complainer? It's my father. His name was Adam. He was probably thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago. If you ladies, it was Eve. But Adam was the first complainer. Remember what he said? God, this woman you gave me. And he not only blamed Eve, his wife, he blamed God. God, it's your fault. You're the one that gave me this woman. And woman, it's your fault. And he had a lot of other complaints that Adam had and did a lot of good stuff. But he was the first complainer. You know what? I'm a son of Adam. I'm a complainer. Now you guys know I'm a nice guy. I smile a lot. I'm friendly. I was voted friendliest of the class at Hayward High School in 1973. They don't know my heart. I could smile on the outside, but inside I was a moaner and complainer. Now, I've lost my first wife due to death. Some of you knew Lisa. She was here with you a lot of times. It's interesting that in a book I read about grief, it's called Good Grief is the name of the book, and we've passed it out to over 150 people now, there's a line in that book I've underlined, I've read the book probably five times, I've underlined it continuously. It's a line that says this, the human is always looking for someone to blame. The human is always looking for someone to blame. And I read that and I say, oh my goodness. That is so true. I'm a nice guy. I help a lot of people. I've been a pastor for years. It doesn't matter. I still in my heart of hearts find I'm always looking for someone to blame. It's his fault. It's her fault. They're like this because they are whatever. And so we can easily choose to complain or gripe or be dissatisfied because of someone else. And so look at this world and how we grumble. I like to do this with my hands, so I'll do that right now. We look at the world around us and we look at how terrible it's going around the world in many ways. Israel and Gaza. Ukraine and Russia. There's all this war and conflict or threats, North Korea, China, Middle East. Okay, what about our own country? Oh, who's ever president right now? The president that we already have, the president we've elected, the president, the president, the president. Oh, it's the Congress people. Okay, well, their fault, their fault, their fault, their fault. Well, how about the state of California? We have a governor. We have attorney generals. We have, it's their fault. It's their fault. It's their fault. Okay. What about the Bay Area? What about the city you're a part of? You know, they've had recalls going on for everybody. I mean, you know, there's recall, recall, recall. Oh, it's their fault. Their fault. They're figuring it out. Well, and then it's, it's my neighbor. My neighbors, I can't stand my neighbors or some of my neighbors, okay? Oh, well, it's part of my family. This member of our family or the one who used to be part of our family or the estranged member of our family, it's their fault. They've been the ones to do this. And we kind of create this whole sense of that. It's in my home right now. Who's in my home right now? Oh, it's their fault. I'm always finding a fault with that person and their, you know, and we look in the mirror. I go, wait a minute. What about, oh, it's me. Now, all those people could be at fault, yes. They could all do choices or things that frustrate you. But if we're honest about it, we look and say, is my life a perfect life? Have I lived a perfectly gracious, loving, generous, kind, compassionate life? No, I know what I think, I know what I feel, I know what I've done or what I am doing. And so we have this reality here that complaining or griping or whatever is something that can be very close to home, very close to our own heart, very close to people right around us that are close. So how would You describe this generation in which we live. Look what Paul said about the generation of his time. We call this the early church or it was the time when he was first known. And he was in Philippi, Colossae, loads of other little cities. He's in a prison. So look at the words that he's chosen about his generation. See if these apply at all to today's generation. He uses the first word, crooked. That's in the ESV version. Your version may say something slightly different, but a crooked generation. But the root of the word crooked is scoliosis. It's what is bent, curved, or crooked. So he's saying the generation of his day 2,000 years ago was a crooked generation. Metaphorically, it means anything that deviates from a standard or a norm. morally or spiritually corrupt. And so Paul is saying his generation was crooked, it was deviating from a standard of normalcy, and it was spiritually corrupt. Then he says it was also twisted. That's his word, not mine. 2,000 years ago the word twisted, and in the original language it means his generation was perverse, deceived, or morally warped. So this is 2,000 years ago, and we haven't even talked about the Old Testament that led to a lot of conflicts in the Old Testament. This is in the New Testament era. He says it's crooked and twisted, it's perverse, deceived, and morally warped. So it should be no surprise that our generation could be used in these same definitions morally warped crooked twisted is this culture we live in today crooked and broken and is it a mess and is our neighborhoods or our cities is our personal life sometimes our families a mess crooked deceived perverse It doesn't mean that we're all that way. It means that the culture and the life around us is that way. And in the midst of that, He's calling us out from that midst, from that mess. He's calling us to be a different kind of person, to be a different kind of people, to be a kind of church that is different than the culture around us, to not be just imitating the culture. And I've been in the ministry of churches for probably 45 years. And I tell you, there's so much compromise in churches to be just like they would just want to be satisfied to be just like the world around them. It's like, oh, my goodness, we can just look and say, and I'm not here to pick on any one church. I'm just I'm not going to name churches. I look in the mirror. I got to be careful of my own heart. But it's a matter of saying we are living in a messy world, a crooked world, a twisted world. And the people in general in this world are that way. and we probably live among them, we probably have been them, maybe we're that way ourselves. But the point is, it's crooked and messy. And so Paul is saying, friends, in Philippi, and in Oakland, in Castor Valley, in Hayward today, you all are living, we all are living in a twisted and perverse society. and he's calling us out to be children of light. And then he gives these qualities that he's asking us to be. Look what it says in the scriptures here. Verse 14 and on here, excuse me, I lost it here. Yeah, verse 14, that you may be blameless, and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation against whom you shine as lights in the world. Let me pause right there. The call is for us to shine as lights in the world. And that means as a church, but it means individually to live as a light of truth, a light of innocence, a light of blamelessness, to be a light that is seen by others around us. Among he you shine as lights in the world. How do we do that? Holding fast to the word of life. My early disciples, my Sunday school teachers, wanted me as a junior high kid to hold fast to the word of life. And then I grew up older and I had somebody in high school that came alongside me to help me live, hold fast to the word of life at Hayward High School and then Cal State Hayward. And then I became an adult and I live in this community. And the Lord wants me to hold fast to the word of light. And now I'm 69 years old. I know I only look 40, but no, seriously, I feel like I'm 69 or older. But today the Lord's calling, Doug, I want you to hold fast to the word of life. And for each one of you, hold fast to the word of life. because it's a twisted generation out there. It's a sin sick world out there. It's a crooked, perverse, morally corrupt world in which we live. Doesn't mean everybody's this way, but I'm just saying that that's the culture, that's what we're fed. That's what we feel. That's what we have to endure. That's what we see all around us. And so he says to us, live holding truthfully to the word of life. So that in the day of Christ. Now, Paul saying this to the Philippians, I would say this without, I don't want to stretch this, but your pastor, Pastor Jamie Hawkins, is trying to preach God's truth to you daily, weekly, regularly. And when he's here, you know his heart, you know what he says, you know what he believes from the word of God. It isn't him making it up. It's something that he pulls right from, directly from the word of God, so that we can learn from him on that. But notice what it says, you're holding fast to the word of life so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud. Now, we don't think of pride We think of that as a sin. It can be a sin, but his proud means a sense of, I'm confident, I see that in you. That's what Paul's saying. I'm proud of you Philippians. I see this in you, and I think your pastor has a sense of joy or pride or satisfaction like God does when he sees us walking truthfully with the word of God. We hold fast to it here. So then Paul goes on here to say, to show that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. I think past, I have a friend of mine retired today from a church in Alameda after 38 years. And I don't know, I haven't talked to him today. I do know him from the years he's there in Alameda. And his view would be, I don't want to labor in vain. The years I've spent pastoring this flock in Alameda, this flock that he gave himself to, through thick and thin, through high times and low times, sometimes more low times than high times, through confusing times, through difficult things, through hearing things from people that no pastor ever wants to hear, but you have to try to figure out how we're going to walk together here. And that pastor who retired today, I know his joy would be to feel, I did not labor in vain. I know your pastor does not want to labor in vain. And it's not about how many, but what kind. I love that. It's not about how many are in the room. It's what kind of people are they? Are they people who love God, obey his word, are seeking to do his will no matter what? There's no greater joy or satisfaction of a pastor than to know that people are sincerely trying to live out the truth of the gospel, the truth of the word of God, the truth of the principles of God's word as best they can, working out their own salvation with fear and trembling. I'm not trying to falsely flatter you all, but I'm going to flatter you a little bit. I do believe that the hearts of the people I know in this building and maybe those that are watching, I believe you are sincerely, faithfully trying to live out what you know to be God's word from your own study of it and from what your pastor has preached to you and taught you his word through the 15 years I've known him. I think it's a matter of there's no greater joy for a pastor than to know the people of God that they serve are attempting to live out truthfully and faithfully the word of God they've been given through the years. And that often is inconvenient. It often means it causes transformation and people to make repentant changes, to sometimes do things now differently than they used to do, to make decisions in their life now than what they once were. You're a new kind of people. You're a beautiful people of your heart. And it's because God's word and God himself have called you to be something. And don't look around and count the numbers of how many people are in the building as much as what kind. Who are they? What's going on in their mind? What's going on in their heart? What's true about them? And so scripture says here to walk as lights in the world, to shine as lights in the world, the scripture says. So for Paul, his plea was to those who knew him and had grown in faith due to him. He wanted to be proud and thankful to God for them. And he did not run or preach or lead. as if it was in vain. It's not a waste of time. It matters. This really matters. And I love what I see in you guys, in you gals, in the life you're living, your life. And so for many years, I've known about this church and there's a beautiful story being written and cared for here as well. And so Paul says in verse 17, even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. And so that's a real question I think that Paul is giving here that he was facing being poured out as a drink offering is at the end of his life. I'm not saying that about your pastor, but I'm saying that Paul felt that in his weariness in the prison he was in. But the idea here was there's a sacrificial offering of your faith and I'm glad and rejoice with you all. I think Pastor Jamie would rejoice in what he's what God is doing in your life. I want to say from a distant I'm a third person distance. I see that going on in your life and there's a beautiful story here. Likewise you should be glad and rejoice with me. Rejoice with your pastor, rejoice with each other, the people that help lead worship, speak songs, sing songs, help teach. It's a beautiful story that's going on here. And so as we look into our hearts today, my final question is this. Is there clarity about what God is doing in your own salvation experience? Work out your salvation. with fear and trembling. Don't just take it from or copy and hope for the best from those that have come before you, but your own salvation to work it out with fear and trembling, not scared fear, but with sensitive conscience fear. a sense of reverential awe of what God's doing in your life and in your setting and your situation. And so I just believe God's word has something for us all today on that. So let me just close this in prayer and ask for God's help in doing that as well. Lord, I thank you. I thank you this week of Thanksgiving for this church, for TLCC. I thank you, Lord. because of not how many are here, but what kind of people they are and they're wanting to be. Thank you, Lord, that you've put in their heart to be a child of light, to be someone who is living out truth and faithfulness in a world that's very confusing and messed up and attracting so many other thoughts and ideas. Thank you, Lord, for the men and women who love you and are faithful to you and desire to grow in faith. And Lord, I pray they be teachable and learn from their pastor and other leaders here for the days to come. So, Lord, we now pray for your guidance, your help by your Holy Spirit to love you and truthfully walk with you for the days to come. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, I think we are done today.