this morning due to the baby dedication service but the more I prayed and studied the text from Philippians I just felt like it was it was really meaningful and poignant to what we have said here today and seen here today already and so I'm just going to continue on in our series in Philippians today and I pray that the Lord will use this message as he always does to just Help you convict you whatever the case may be right where you're at today, okay, so Philippians chapter 1 verses 27 through 30 just four verses today that we're going to look at and Just ask that the Lord would add his blessing to them Philippians 1 27 through 30 the Bible says only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ So that whether I am come and see you or I'm absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, And now here is in me. Father, thank you again for what we've already had a chance to see and experience today, Lord. I pray now that you would just add your blessing to your word, that you would increase and I would decrease, that everything we do here today would point people to Jesus, and that you would work in the hearts and lives of your people in a mighty way. Father, thank you for the opportunity to stand today before this congregation and share the word of life. I pray that it would grow forth in their hearts to eternal life or to continue to help them in their walk. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. I've titled this message today, Gospel Living. We've talked a little bit the last few weeks about things like, for me, Paul said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so now, as a believer, Paul is going to shift gears a little bit. If you've noticed as we've looked at these opening chapters and opening verses of Philippians, He has talked in the first person. All this conversation thus far has been directly about Paul and his life, his afflictions, his hope to spread the gospel, his willingness to die if necessary for Jesus. And in verse 27, He abruptly makes a switch to the third person. He is now going to talk about them and focus on the church. And so I believe that now Paul has given an example of himself and wants to now try to apply that example to the congregation in Philippi. And so I want us to think about something. I've titled this message Gospel Living, like I said. And I want us to think about our world today. And maybe you've said something like this. People have different goals, I'll use that word, on how they would like to live their lives. I have heard a lot of people lately especially talk about living off the grid, right? So trying to be less and less dependent on the government or on just any outside sources and live independently off the grid. I've heard some people say that they would like to do RV living. to just sell everything, get an RV, and just travel around the country and live that way. For some people that sounds wonderful, for others it sounds horrible, right? So everybody's got a different idea of what living would really be glorious or not. But I want us to think about gospel living. What does that mean? The gospel means good news. It means telling people the good news of Jesus Christ. It means living out that good news that has changed us when we met Jesus. And so how do we live that kind of life? Well, I want us to look at three things today that I hope will help you to focus your life on a more permanent type of gospel-centered living. And number one is this, that gospel living is unyielding. Gospel living is unyielding. I want you to look at the opening sentence in verse 27. He says, only let your conduct, the King James Version uses the word conversation, which is an archaic word that we don't use much in that. It's not just our verbalization of things in that sense of the King James. It literally means the way you live your life so only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. The word conduct there literally means to live your life as a citizen under the authority of a government and so this would strike a very familiar note with the Philippians because if you remember when we introduced this book we said that Philippi was independent of Roman government. They had been grafted in, if you will, so that they enjoyed all the privileges of a Roman colony without the taxation and all of the other things. They had a military presence there that would protect them, but they were still free to worship and do things as independent citizens. And so, it was through this agreement, if you will, that as long as they lived, peacefully with the government, they would be left alone for the most part. And so, this idea, this word of conducting yourself means that while we are of this world, or we are in this world, we are not of this world, right? We have a heavenly king that oversees things. And he dictates to us how we ought to live in this world that we are temporarily inhabiting. What does that look like? for the believer. In a nutshell, Paul is saying, and we might say it this way, as Christians, we need to walk the walk. We need to live our lives, yes, as sinners who will still fail daily, but to the best of our ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, guys, we have got an obligation to Christ to live, not for ourselves, but for Him, and to exemplify that in the world as we go each and every day. Someone wrote this little poem. I believe I'll have it on the screen there. It goes like this. You're writing a gospel, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say. Men, read what you write, whether faithless or true. Say what is the gospel according to you. As people watch your life, Are they attracted to Christ? Are they drawn to the fact that you live so differently from the world that it is something that they cannot describe? Even if they don't want anything to do with Jesus, they can't deny that there is something different about the way that you live your life and the way that you believe. Can people say that of you as a Christian? In Philippians 3.20, Paul writes, our citizenship is in heaven. from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our citizenship, Christian, is not here. Again, we should obey earthly governments as long as it doesn't deviate from the Word of God. But ultimately, we are responsible not to the President, not to earthly governments, but to the King who rules and reigns eternally. That is where our alliance and our allegiance must lie. There was a story told about Alexander the Great. And he met a man, the story says, who was a very lazy and good-for-nothing soldier in his army. And Alexander the Great asked this lazy, good-for-nothing soldier what his name was. And wouldn't you know it? The man said, my name is also Alexander. And Alexander the Great looked at him and said, either change your name or change your ways. And I want you to think about that for a moment. If you couldn't speak ever again, if God silenced your lips so that you could no longer speak, What would your life say? What would your life say? If you couldn't say anything for Jesus, would people still see that you are a follower of Christ by the way that you live and conduct yourself? I think that's a question that deserves to be asked of all of us at times. In Acts 11, 26, I want you to see this. It says that when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year, this is speaking of Paul, they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And notice this last sentence. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. The word Christian, I believe, is used loosely in our world today. It doesn't mean a whole lot anymore in a lot of people's eyes, especially in the eyes of the world, to be called a Christian. And quite frankly, I can understand why. Because there have been many scandals, and many false teachers, and many false prophets, who have cast shame and reproach upon the name of Jesus. And so when people see the church, when they see Christians, they want nothing to do with any of it. And I think that's a sad report. And I think that it also, I shared something on Facebook this week, that because there has been so much damage done to the church and by the church, that when there is a faithful body of believers, when there is, I hope, a faithful pastor, there is so much skepticism that it takes years to build any kind of trust and rapport with the community. People are just waiting, almost hoping, that you will fail. They're almost looking for you to mess up so they can pounce on you. You see this on Facebook and social media all the time. People are just gleeful when someone falls. I won't say there's none, but there's little sadness. There's little prayer offered. It's just, see, I told you. There's another one. And I get it. I do. I genuinely do understand why they feel that way. But church, we have got to try to do better. We have got to try to somehow turn the tide of skepticism towards the church. We have got to live as Christians are called to live. Not just in name, but in deed. Do you know what the word Christian means? It means Christ-like or Christ-follower. What if we used that word instead of Christian? What if we said, I am a Christ-follower? Would that still carry the same weight with us? Are we truly following Jesus? Not when He goes where we want to go, but when He goes in the difficult places where we don't want to go. When He leads us in the valley of the shadow of death. Do we not want to go there, but we have to? Because the Master says that that is the way He wants us to go. Are we willing to live with that kind of faith? To go into suffering with Him, and not try to find a way around it, or avoid it altogether. I'm not saying these things are easy, and I'm certainly not saying that I've got it all figured out either. But I'm saying that as a Christian, if we're going to take that name upon ourselves, then let's strive to really be what it means. Parents stood today and they said, we are committing ourselves to raising these children in godly homes. I know it's hard. I know you come home and you're tired. I know that you want to just relax a little bit. But take the time to kneel down by the bed with your kids. and show them how to pray. Open up the Bible and sit around the table, turn the tablets and the TVs off for five minutes, and show them how to read the Word of God and why it matters. Get up early on Sundays, or better yet, go to bed early on Saturday. and get up on Sunday and get them dressed. If they have to come with their hair messed up and their teeth unbrushed and pajamas, that's okay. I see those people at Walmart every day. I don't care if I see them here. It's okay. Trust me. I certainly don't care. I would rather have you come all messed up than stay home. Raise your kids in the church. Don't just let this be a service that comes and goes and then it's business as usual. Live as Christians, because your children are watching, and they will be the first ones to call you a hypocrite, if you are one. Don't let that happen. And if you do fall short, show them how to pray in repentance and say, I messed up. Forgive me. Model forgiveness. Model the need for grace. We don't expect you to be perfect. And listen, this church will not be perfect. There will be times when we fail you, when we fall short. Forgive us. and help us to be better. Let's live like Jesus because gospel living is unyielding in its commitment. Let's not look for any more excuses. Number two, gospel living is unified. Look at the second half of verse 27. He says there that whether I come to see you or I'm absent, listen to what he says, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast one spirit and then next he says with one mind you strive together for the faith of the gospel I want to say this the Bible speaks over and over of the need and the importance of unity we live in a country that that has been founded and based upon individual freedom. And thank God for that. I would never for a moment diminish the sacrifices that have been made, the blood that has been shed, so that we can have the liberty and freedom that we have in this country. As imperfect as it is, I praise God and thank God every day that He placed me in the United States of America where I have freedom to do this without fear at the moment of death or being jailed. for my faith. But I want to say this, we talk about in church, we preach about in church, and I believe it's biblical, the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We ask that in evangelism. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? And yes, that is absolutely true. There has got to come a point in your life where you make the choice to turn from your sins and trust Christ. where this has got to be you and Jesus making a decision. It cannot be your mom and dad's faith, your grandparents' faith, the pastor's faith. It's got to be your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But too many people take that another step and say, I have a personal relationship with Jesus, and I also have a personal faith. And what they mean by that is, I determine what my walk of faith looks like. I determine what commands to follow and what commands not to follow. I determine which pages of the Bible I like and which pages I rip out and throw away. And that's not at all what the Bible teaches about living a gospel life. The gospel life means you die to self. It means that you commit yourself completely to Jesus and that you obey His command. He says in John chapter 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. We have got to live single-mindedly focused on pleasing Jesus. He gives a defensive position in this verse and an offensive position in this verse. Did you notice that? He said first that He wants us to stand fast or to stand firm in one spirit. There is a war, a spiritual war, being waged against the kingdom of god and his bride the church i hope you're awake enough to realize that i hope that you see that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers And there is a serious need for Christians to wake up from their sleep and their slumber and get engaged in this battle. Yes, we see all the wickedness taking place out there. We see it with our eyes. Maybe we experience it in our own lives. But understand this, there is most certainly a demonic force behind that. And we can't attack the people, but we can attack the methodology behind it. We can certainly stand firm together and agree that murdering a child in the womb is a sin. Amen? The church has been too silent. For too long. This is not political, guys. This is the problem. As soon as you talk about abortion, as soon as you talk about family, all of a sudden everybody wants to go to this political realm. Long before anybody ran for office, Jesus Christ wrote and spoke these words that say, murder is a sin. He said, He said thousands of years ago, before a vote was ever cast in America, that God made them man and woman, male and female. And it's not political. And I know it's easy to shout amen about those kinds of things, because probably for the most part, everyone in the room is on board with that. But the Bible also says things like, you shouldn't fornicate. You shouldn't live together before marriage. It usually gets a lot more quiet when we start. Hey, I'm just being honest. Because we can't load up all our stones to throw out there and have a problem in here or else I'll go back to point one. which was to be Christ-like means to live like Jesus and obey His word. And so the answer to all of these things, whatever sin it is, and listen, everybody in this room's got it, just because you came to Jesus doesn't mean that you don't struggle with sin anymore. You may be ashamed to admit what yours is, but I know, you might not know what it is, but I know you got it, because I got it. And He knows what it is. And so, again, guys, the point is not to come in here and pretend that you've got it all figured out. The point is not to come in here and hide it so that nobody finds out that you're a mess. Because we're all a mess. Look at some of these football jerseys and you'll know that. Amen? Amen? My point being, guys, we have got to get over the fact that shame and guilt cripples us from coming to Christ. You're here today not by chance, not by accident. You say, I just came to see my grandchild get dedicated. I didn't want to get yelled at. Sorry, you picked the wrong Sunday. But we do this every Sunday. It's not just because you're here. And my point is this. It's not to shame you. It's not to beat you down. It's not to belittle. It's to tell you that there is something so much better than what you're settling for. That Christ has something so much better. If you found that person in your life that you love, commit to them. Commit to them. Do it right. I promise you. Do it right. Before God, in a church, say that I want to spend my life with this person and I'm going to strive to live godly and holy so that we can start a family right. And do it the right way. And I promise that God will bless you for that. He will. And listen, I'm just going to be honest and I know that this might fall on deaf ears. But if the person says, I don't want to do that, they're not your person. They're not your person. Because the Bible says a lot about marriage. And one of the things is to not be unequally yoked. And if you can't start off together on that, you're in for a lot of trouble along the way. And so I want to help you. I want you to know the Lord in this thing. And that goes for anything in life. This isn't a sermon about marriage. But it certainly is applicable for us to live the way that God wants us to live. In Acts 4.32 it says, I want you to notice that not only was there a stand that needed to be taken in Philippians 27, he talked about to stand fast in one spirit, but then he says, with one mind, strive. So this is an offensive. Now we're moving forward with direction, with purpose. He says, strive together for the faith of the gospel. I tried to put that into a quote or a sentence to try to put my thoughts into this, and this is what I came up with. Unity happens when believers merge their individual wills into the sovereign will of God. When we all lay aside our pride and our need to have it our way and we merge, listen, we all have different ideas and opinions. We talked about this at our town hall on Wednesday. It is wonderful to have diversity. We don't want everybody to just go along just because and forsake their convictions and their beliefs. But we want us to be willing to lay aside our preferences for the glory of God and the furtherance of His church. And work together to share ideas, yes, but realize that we are unified under His will. We stand fast in one spirit and with one mind. That's the thing about coming to Jesus. Our thoughts become His thoughts. And our ways become His ways. If we would just live our lives for Jesus, it would eliminate so much confusion. Everybody wouldn't have to try to figure out what they're supposed to be doing, because we'd all be doing the same thing, different ways, but the same purpose. The same purpose to bring glory and honor to Jesus. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1.10, he says, now I plead with you, brethren, By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing. Again, it doesn't mean that we don't have differences of opinion, but the mission is the same. We're all focused on the same thing. And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. What a beautiful picture of harmony. And the church should model that. The world is chaotic and confused. Everybody is doing their own thing. We live in an age of relativism where there is no more truth, and everybody believes that what they do is the truth. Right? And it's just an absurdity. Because nobody ultimately can point to any absolute. But the Bible is absolute in everything that it teaches. There is one way. His name is Jesus. And everything that flows through him is unified by him and through him. All the confusion is removed when we would live for him. There's going to be a lot of football games on today, no doubt, right? And for the Bengals fans, listen, Joe Burrow is a fantastic quarterback. But Joe Burrow can't go out there 1 on 11 and win a game. He can't throw the ball to him. He may have to today if all the receivers are out. But he can't throw the ball to himself. He can't block for himself. He can't return punts and play defense too. He's got to rely on his teammates to block for him. Please block for him. You've got to block for him, right? He's got to get a running game going so he can actually get some time to throw a pass. A lot of things have to happen. The defense has got to stop somebody, right? So all that has to work together as a unit if they have any hope of winning a game. And it's the same with the church. We are all members, but everyone has a role. And when you fall short in your role, it affects the body. It just does. There's no way around it. That's why we talk so much about, we want you to be here. We need you to be here. We want you to serve. We want you to find a place. It's not just so we can get on Facebook after and say, we had a high in attendance today. Yeah, it's great to look out and see a lot of faces. But at the end of the day, it's even better to see people coming and growing in the Lord and serving the Lord and becoming who He wants you to be. That's what it's about. And that won't happen on one Sunday. It's a long-term commitment like anything else. You want to get in shape? You don't go to the gym once and walk out of there like Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's not going to happen. I wish it did. It'd be a lot easier, but it doesn't work that way. You've got to dedicate yourself. You've got to eat right, train three or four times a week, and be committed for the long haul. And the same is the way in church. There'll be some Sundays you come, walk in, walk out, and say, I didn't get anything today. But there'll be other Sundays where you'll walk in and you'll say, man, something changed today. I got something, and I took that with me, and it stuck with me the rest of my life. And I helped other people with it. And that's the process. that we need each other. When times are down. Ms. Rosie had a rough time last night. And the church was there. And there's been times when I've had difficult times and the church has been there. And I hope you can say that as well. We need each other. It's so important. And gospel living, I'll say this and then I'm done. Gospel living is unafraid. Notice what Paul says in these last verses. He says that not in any way are you terrified by your adversaries. in verse 28. Reading that initially we may not get the understanding of what he's trying to say there. It literally means don't be alarmed by your adversaries or don't be timid towards your adversaries. Have you ever seen a horse get spooked? That's the idea of this word. He's saying to them that you are going to face persecution. You are going to face opposition. If you really take point number one that I just talked about and try to live like Jesus, the enemy is going to ramp up his attacks. This isn't every day is a Friday and live your best life now. This is the reality that the more you live for Christ, the harder it gets sometimes. And that's the truth that a lot of people don't want to hear. This is not easy. It doesn't cost a thing to come to Jesus. He paid the price. But it'll cost you everything to follow Him. It will cost you friendships, relationships. It will cost you a lot to really follow Him. But it's worth it. It is worth it. But most people never get to that step because they say, ooh, this is getting a little difficult. I'm going to turn down the heat and compromise. Compromise has sent a lot of people to hell. It has. And it continues to do so. Many people have forsaken the faith because of compromise. I'm not telling you today that following Jesus is easy. I'm telling you today that following Jesus is worth it. I'm telling you today that following Jesus is better than anything in this life. Don't be terrified. when opposition comes. Stand firm in the faith. Press forward in your walk. Because when you stand up to the enemy, the Bible says when you resist the devil, you know what he does? He flees. He flees. He makes a lot of noise, but God has him on a short leash. And when we realize that when we walk in the Spirit, guys, that we have victory now. It's not something we're waiting for. It is currently ours. And so I want you to see three quick things, and I promise I'm done. In these verses, He says to not be terrified, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you salvation and that from God. My little sub-point here is that there is a salvation that's ensured. There is a salvation that's ensured. Remember Paul said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. No matter what anybody does to you, they can't take away who you are and what you have in Christ. They can steal your stuff, they can burn down your house, they can end your life, but they cannot take anything that you have in Christ. Not one iota of it. Our salvation is ensured notice what else he says in the very next verse 29 He says for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ Not only to believe in him, but to suffer for his sake you see that word granted It's in my New King James version there in verse 29 for you. It has been granted. You know what that word is It's the same word in the Greek that we get the word grace from we think about salvation being a gift of grace but we probably don't think about suffering being a gift of grace but Paul is saying for us as believers the persecution is going to come and God has ordained that for us as believers we often pray God get me out of this mess and God is saying I'm using this mess for your sanctification I'm using this problem to draw you nearer to me in faith. And that is a real struggle for us. Again, I'm not telling you I've got this figured out. But I would say that my second point here is that there is a suffering that has to be expected. I think a lot of harm has been done by, again, these false teachers that tell you coming to Jesus means ease and comfort and prosperity. And there will be seasons where you have those things, because those are a gift from God as well. I'm not saying that if you're not suffering 24-7 that you're outside the will of God. Don't feel guilty if you're blessed right now. Rejoice and give thanks. Share that with others, because it hasn't been given to you to just hoard up. But there will come a time when you're on the other end of things. And when that suffering comes, it should be expected for us. Because God has to prune us to see us grow more fruit. And pruning's not comfortable. But boy, it's beneficial. We need it, church. And lastly, he says in verse 30, have the same having the same conflict that you saw in me and now here is in me. The last thing is that there are similarities encountered. I've said it to several people in the last month who have went through and are going through some very difficult times. As hard as it is for you, God will use your testimony to help others. There are people in this church going through things right now that they have never gone through in their life. And they're scared, and they're uncertain. I'm not saying they don't have faith. I'm saying that all of us have doubts and anxieties. Right? It's okay to admit that. Again, you don't have to come in here and fake that you've always got this strong faith that's never shaken. And if you do, praise God. I don't. I'll just be honest. But there's people going through things that have never walked this road before. And in this room, there are people that have walked down that road that they're on. And they need you. They need you to pray with them. They need you to hold their hand. They need, like the paralytic man, somebody to grab the corner of the bed and carry them to Jesus because they're too weak to get there. They need your help. That's why we share our testimonies, and we weep with those who weep, and we rejoice with those who rejoice, because we need each other. There's people in here facing medical things that you've been through. Share your story. Tell them how God was faithful. Tell them how God helped you through those dark times. Tell them how God was there when you wet your pillow at night with tears, and God saw you through, and He helped you through. They need to hear that. We need to hear that. People of God, we're too quiet too often. I kid with you about showing some emotion and getting excited about Jesus. Because I don't think we should be quiet and silent about what He's done for us. He's been too good for us to bite our tongues and never talk about Him. If you don't have anything to say about Jesus, I wonder what's going on in your life. Because man, He's been so good to me. And if you know Him, you know He's been good to you too. So tell people about Him. Share about Him. Praise Him continually for what He's done. There was a quote by a guy named David Roper. He said, when we come to the end of all our dark valleys, we'll understand that every circumstance has been allowed for our ultimate good. No other route would have been as safe and as certain as the one by which we came. If only we could see the path as God has always seen it, we would have chosen it as well. God makes no mistakes. Never. You may think, why? Why am I going this way, God? Why are we wandering in the wilderness? Why are we standing in front of the Red Sea? God has a plan. Are you trusting Him with it? I want to ask you as we... Phyllis, you can come, and Tiffany, you can come for the invitation hymn. I want to ask you a question. If our actions today are doing the talking, What are they saying about the Jesus we profess to follow? If you can't answer that with assurance and confidence, then do something about it. Come today and say, Lord, I want to live for you. I want to have gospel living in my life, in my home, in my workplace. I truly desire to live for Jesus. Help me. Use me. And when you pray that prayer, you've got to be willing to know that God may ask something of you. He may say, okay, if that's what you want, then you need to do this. You need to remove this. You need to be more faithful in this. It's not just coming and praying a prayer and say, I did that. It's being obedient to how God answers you in that prayer. Are you willing to do that? And most of all, I'm not asking you to work harder to know Jesus, because you don't know him by works, you know him by faith. I'm asking you today, before you roll up your sleeves and get busy for Jesus, does Jesus know you? Does Jesus know you? I didn't ask if you call yourself a Christian. I said, does Jesus know you? If you can't answer that, Today is the day of salvation. I would come before we even sing a word and get up here at this altar and ask God to save your soul. Ask Him to forgive your sins and wash you clean. Because that's why He came. And He's the only one that can do it. Let's pray. Father, thank you this morning, Lord, for this church. Thank you for all that we felt and heard here today, Lord. God, I pray in this invitation now that you would just move in the hearts of your people. Let them have the faith and the boldness to step out and make the decisions that I know they need to make. God, whether it's to receive Christ, to really follow Christ, to join this church, to surrender to some service, whatever it is, today is the day, Father, that I pray that they will make that step. And we give you all the thanks for that in Jesus' name. Amen.