1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:00,480 Thank you. 2 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:02,400 Thank you for you, too, for the whole family. 3 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,200 And I'm very grateful for the team that go to Africa. 4 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:06,960 You know, we pray for each of them. 5 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,840 And the missionaries, our missionary from Middleton Baptist, 6 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:14,160 you know, our pastor and the whole team, Police, Brother Bob, 7 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,840 George, and the more the other churches, they go over there. 8 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,680 But I'm very grateful and I'm very excited, you know, to hear the 9 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:21,520 preaching tonight. 10 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,240 Thank you, Pastor, for your dedication for the Lord. 11 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:24,960 Amen. 12 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:25,440 Amen. 13 00:00:25,850 --> 00:00:27,170 I mean, that was going to be my testimony. 14 00:00:27,170 --> 00:00:28,410 I'm so thankful to be here. 15 00:00:29,130 --> 00:00:35,970 We have been through a lot of stuff that has been an uphill battle 16 00:00:35,970 --> 00:00:36,410 at times. 17 00:00:37,050 --> 00:00:39,690 The Lord has helped us through all of our problems. 18 00:00:39,690 --> 00:00:44,650 I mean, we had one thing after another to get here and get the house 19 00:00:44,650 --> 00:00:45,610 sold over there. 20 00:00:45,610 --> 00:00:49,850 We had issues with crazy inspections that we didn't think 21 00:00:49,850 --> 00:00:50,730 we were going to have any issues. 22 00:00:50,730 --> 00:00:52,650 We thought this was going to be a smooth ride. 23 00:00:53,150 --> 00:00:54,230 There's nothing wrong with the house. 24 00:00:54,230 --> 00:00:54,910 It should go. 25 00:00:54,910 --> 00:00:57,950 And then they wanted some crazy things, and we said, that's 26 00:00:58,510 --> 00:01:00,110 not going to be a smooth ride. 27 00:01:00,190 --> 00:01:02,710 And the Lord, one by one, worked out those problems. 28 00:01:02,710 --> 00:01:03,310 So we are. 29 00:01:03,550 --> 00:01:05,390 We are praising God that we are here. 30 00:01:05,390 --> 00:01:07,550 We are so thankful that we are here today. 31 00:01:07,550 --> 00:01:08,510 That is for sure. 32 00:01:08,909 --> 00:01:09,790 Anyone else? 33 00:01:16,190 --> 00:01:19,870 I just want to thank the Lord for the children at this church. 34 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:25,440 It's just amazing, you know, for the most part, how they are learning 35 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:26,320 and growing. 36 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,240 And also, it was so much fun yesterday at the tie dye event. 37 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:33,440 I really wish more people would have come out, but it really 38 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:34,480 was a lot of fun. 39 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:39,200 So we're also very blessed by the Salt sisters that plan these 40 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,240 activities and volunteer to carry them through. 41 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:43,360 Amen. 42 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:44,480 Pretty cool. 43 00:01:46,730 --> 00:01:52,890 Well, Last chance. 44 00:01:53,290 --> 00:01:54,410 Oh, we got one more. 45 00:01:56,250 --> 00:01:58,490 It just takes a little bit of time. 46 00:01:58,570 --> 00:02:02,730 I know you're thinking some of you want to do a testimony, but I'm 47 00:02:02,730 --> 00:02:03,130 thankful. 48 00:02:03,130 --> 00:02:08,210 We went to Sight and Sound the other day and just to see the way 49 00:02:08,210 --> 00:02:09,290 they bring it to life. 50 00:02:09,290 --> 00:02:09,690 And. 51 00:02:09,690 --> 00:02:13,700 And the story of sound started out with Moses and then Joshua and 52 00:02:14,180 --> 00:02:17,260 how the Lord provided for the children of Israel. 53 00:02:17,260 --> 00:02:19,540 And then you look at them and you think, how can you complain? 54 00:02:19,540 --> 00:02:23,500 But speaking for myself, other people too, probably we do the same 55 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:23,820 thing. 56 00:02:23,820 --> 00:02:28,940 You know, we forget all the ways that God has blessed us and 57 00:02:28,940 --> 00:02:29,780 been faithful. 58 00:02:30,260 --> 00:02:30,900 Amen. 59 00:02:42,510 --> 00:02:46,310 All right, if that's all that we're going to do, I. I can pray. 60 00:02:46,310 --> 00:02:48,070 Brother Carlos, you don't have to come up here. 61 00:02:48,070 --> 00:02:48,870 I was just thinking about that. 62 00:02:48,870 --> 00:02:50,590 I might as well just go ahead and do it. 63 00:02:51,070 --> 00:02:52,270 We'll go ahead and pray. 64 00:02:52,430 --> 00:02:54,550 And we will begin. 65 00:02:54,550 --> 00:02:59,790 So one thing that I will mention, Brother Lee had to go to 66 00:02:59,790 --> 00:03:06,600 the hospital with to take his mother in law so he asked me to make 67 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:11,440 mention of that tonight and just to tell everyone because they 68 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:11,720 were. 69 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,480 I don't have any other updates for you. 70 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:14,520 He hasn't said anything. 71 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,040 He just told me to pray that they were headed towards the hospital. 72 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:23,400 That was about 3, 3 o', clock, no 2:20 this afternoon. 73 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,360 Whenever they took her, she goes by the nickname Bunny if you're 74 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:29,160 familiar with her. 75 00:03:29,810 --> 00:03:32,050 But it looked as if she was having a heart attack. 76 00:03:32,530 --> 00:03:35,010 I have another praise that I could give. 77 00:03:35,010 --> 00:03:41,570 My mother as well had an issue over the weekend and something with 78 00:03:41,970 --> 00:03:46,010 her medicine that she was taking and low sodium and she had 79 00:03:46,010 --> 00:03:49,650 to be rushed to the hospital midnight on Friday I believe it was 80 00:03:50,370 --> 00:03:54,290 and they were trying to observe her but she's looks like 81 00:03:54,290 --> 00:03:55,690 everything is going good there. 82 00:03:55,690 --> 00:03:57,330 So I praising the Lord for that. 83 00:03:57,410 --> 00:04:00,330 I know you weren't privy to that or had any chance to pray but 84 00:04:00,330 --> 00:04:04,050 the Lord our God knows our needs and he's working all the time. 85 00:04:04,050 --> 00:04:07,450 So let's pray now and we'll begin this evening. 86 00:04:07,450 --> 00:04:10,650 Our heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much that we can come 87 00:04:10,650 --> 00:04:14,330 here today, that we can be here at this church, Lord, that we 88 00:04:14,330 --> 00:04:17,850 could praise your name and look at your word, Lord, and thank 89 00:04:17,850 --> 00:04:21,810 you for the testimonies that we've heard tonight, Lord, just the 90 00:04:21,810 --> 00:04:24,900 many different things that we and how we are blessed. 91 00:04:25,620 --> 00:04:27,820 We're blessed in this ministry, Lord, we're blessed in 92 00:04:27,820 --> 00:04:28,340 this country. 93 00:04:29,140 --> 00:04:34,660 Blessed to be working for the kingdom alongside one another and 94 00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:39,540 doing all that we can for the gospel, Lord, and just the the many 95 00:04:39,620 --> 00:04:43,860 avenues that you have here that are open to us, Lord. 96 00:04:44,260 --> 00:04:48,460 And Lord, you bless us still in providing for us and in the things 97 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:52,570 that we have in our daily lives and the needs that we encounter, 98 00:04:52,570 --> 00:04:56,250 Lord, just as you did for the children of Israel or that same God 99 00:04:56,250 --> 00:05:00,890 that provided so great an escape, Lord, so great a rescue ward 100 00:05:00,890 --> 00:05:04,810 is the same God who is willing to show us mercy and provide greatly 101 00:05:04,810 --> 00:05:05,250 for us. 102 00:05:05,730 --> 00:05:10,690 Well we do pray for brother Weed, Mother Ma and Susan, Mother 103 00:05:10,690 --> 00:05:12,930 Lord, just as they went to the hospital. 104 00:05:13,330 --> 00:05:14,570 We don't know anything Lord. 105 00:05:14,570 --> 00:05:15,530 We pray for your healing. 106 00:05:15,530 --> 00:05:19,920 Pray that you give the doctors wisdom, Lord, as they they stay there 107 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,320 and try to diagnose and figure out what all has happened more and 108 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:24,040 what they can do. 109 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:26,200 We just ask for your mercies there. 110 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,920 We ask that you would help us tonight as we look at your word. 111 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:30,560 We ask these things in Jesus name. 112 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:31,160 Amen. 113 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,040 All right, turn in Your Bibles to Philippians chapter two. 114 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,680 Philippians chapter. 115 00:05:53,570 --> 00:05:55,730 What is success? 116 00:05:57,650 --> 00:06:03,450 It's a debatable answer, debatable question that probably 117 00:06:03,450 --> 00:06:04,530 will get many answers. 118 00:06:05,170 --> 00:06:09,010 This morning we talked about where practical Christian living 119 00:06:09,570 --> 00:06:10,210 begins. 120 00:06:10,370 --> 00:06:14,930 And we saw that Christian life is not lived by self effort, but 121 00:06:14,930 --> 00:06:17,410 by yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit. 122 00:06:18,690 --> 00:06:22,370 So the question naturally flows in the progression here. 123 00:06:23,170 --> 00:06:29,010 Okay, if I truly yield myself to the Spirit, what should that life 124 00:06:29,410 --> 00:06:30,130 look like? 125 00:06:31,010 --> 00:06:34,410 Because we would all like to be successful in our endeavors no 126 00:06:34,410 --> 00:06:35,570 matter what we're attempting. 127 00:06:36,220 --> 00:06:42,540 But what does a successfully led spirit filled life look like? 128 00:06:42,620 --> 00:06:43,500 We have to get that. 129 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:48,620 You know, you can't dance around the question of, about whether 130 00:06:48,620 --> 00:06:51,180 or not everyone is led, maybe differently. 131 00:06:52,060 --> 00:06:57,780 There is a gold standard that you label as success, but what does 132 00:06:57,780 --> 00:06:58,620 that look like? 133 00:06:59,180 --> 00:07:02,490 And I think that in Christianity mainstream we do get 134 00:07:02,490 --> 00:07:06,410 caught up on that word, successful Christian ministry. 135 00:07:06,410 --> 00:07:08,370 Pastors get caught up on what? 136 00:07:08,370 --> 00:07:10,330 Successful Christian ministry. 137 00:07:11,290 --> 00:07:14,410 How many people did you have that morning on Sunday? 138 00:07:17,290 --> 00:07:20,170 That goes into many people. 139 00:07:20,250 --> 00:07:22,410 I've been to different conferences, I've heard different 140 00:07:22,410 --> 00:07:25,530 people go to conferences and everybody shares their stats. 141 00:07:26,490 --> 00:07:31,450 Why some sort of comparison to see who has the most. 142 00:07:31,530 --> 00:07:35,370 Is, are they trying to judge up of, you know, who has the most 143 00:07:35,370 --> 00:07:36,370 this or most that? 144 00:07:36,370 --> 00:07:42,250 The most programs, but most conversions, those disciples, I mean, 145 00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:44,050 we're all sitting here thinking to ourselves. 146 00:07:44,050 --> 00:07:48,610 And even in our own Christian walk, we have our own measure of 147 00:07:48,610 --> 00:07:48,970 success. 148 00:07:49,610 --> 00:07:53,930 I don't know about you, but if I've read my Bible and I've prayed, 149 00:07:55,070 --> 00:07:56,710 I'm feeling like I'm a step ahead. 150 00:07:56,710 --> 00:07:57,350 I'm all right. 151 00:07:57,350 --> 00:07:59,150 I'm having a successful Christian day. 152 00:07:59,790 --> 00:08:03,270 And then if I don't read my Bible and pray and I get through 153 00:08:03,270 --> 00:08:04,910 the day, I'm like, I'm a failure. 154 00:08:06,270 --> 00:08:07,030 I'm horrible. 155 00:08:07,030 --> 00:08:10,990 God must love me less today than I loved me now. 156 00:08:10,990 --> 00:08:11,910 Is that true at all? 157 00:08:11,910 --> 00:08:12,750 Absolutely not. 158 00:08:13,950 --> 00:08:14,550 Well, how. 159 00:08:14,550 --> 00:08:17,390 What does the success in the Christian life actually look like? 160 00:08:17,390 --> 00:08:22,080 Philippians chapter two begins to try to answer some of that question. 161 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:29,200 Paul shows us that success is not measured by conventional means, 162 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:34,080 not by money, popularity, accomplishments or recognition. 163 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:39,200 Success is measured by whether God is producing his life through 164 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:39,600 us. 165 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:47,840 And that success is something that we all would want and desire 166 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:48,680 to to see. 167 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,040 Is God producing something real in your life? 168 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:52,000 That's what you're asking. 169 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,240 The question, do you have any fruit? 170 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:55,840 What does that mean? 171 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,160 Is the fruit of the Spirit working in you? 172 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,880 Is God changing you into his image? 173 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,360 Sometimes that question, do you have any fruit? 174 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,080 People ask that in relation to how many souls have you seen? 175 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,000 Say person and if you haven't seen any, you have no fruit. 176 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:12,240 God isn't working at all. 177 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:14,730 There's zero accomplishment. 178 00:09:14,970 --> 00:09:18,730 The Holy Spirit's just living inside of you for no reason this 179 00:09:18,730 --> 00:09:19,370 past year. 180 00:09:19,370 --> 00:09:22,530 No, there's, there's fruit, there's his working, there is his 181 00:09:22,530 --> 00:09:23,290 accomplishment. 182 00:09:24,410 --> 00:09:25,610 There's a guy fella. 183 00:09:25,610 --> 00:09:26,770 How many of you are bowlers? 184 00:09:26,770 --> 00:09:27,770 You like going bowling? 185 00:09:28,650 --> 00:09:29,370 Going bowling? 186 00:09:29,450 --> 00:09:31,450 Yeah, my dad had, he liked going bowling. 187 00:09:31,450 --> 00:09:33,050 He had his own bowling ball. 188 00:09:33,130 --> 00:09:34,170 They had a little team. 189 00:09:34,570 --> 00:09:36,850 They really liked that for a long time. 190 00:09:36,850 --> 00:09:40,250 I really wasn't around for that part of his life, but they like 191 00:09:40,250 --> 00:09:40,730 doing it. 192 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,400 Ed Lorenz bowled a perfect game. 193 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:47,440 Then he had a heart attack. 194 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,960 Is that the success of a bowler? 195 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:56,440 The 69 year old retiree had started bowling in 1957 and had bowled 196 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:58,880 two other perfect games in 2004. 197 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:03,520 His per game average for his last full season was 223. 198 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,440 Now, I don't know about you, I'm, I'm just struggling to hit 99. 199 00:10:08,810 --> 00:10:11,610 My daughter I think bowled at 87 the other day. 200 00:10:11,610 --> 00:10:14,410 Whenever we took her he. 201 00:10:14,410 --> 00:10:16,090 His average 223. 202 00:10:16,330 --> 00:10:19,370 This is fairly hard to do in a perfect game. 203 00:10:19,930 --> 00:10:24,610 In 2005 he was inducted into the Kalamazoo Metro Bowling association 204 00:10:24,610 --> 00:10:25,690 hall of Fame. 205 00:10:26,010 --> 00:10:30,810 He died after his third perfect game in January 2006. 206 00:10:31,450 --> 00:10:34,640 They said if he could have written a way to go out, this would 207 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:35,240 have been it. 208 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:40,360 Said Johnny D. Masters Lorenz bowling partner man, he was thinking 209 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:41,640 that's the way to go out. 210 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,520 He died doing what he loved to do. 211 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:47,000 He died after that perfect game. 212 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:48,040 That was the perfect record. 213 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:49,320 Three games perfect. 214 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:51,480 That's what success looked like. 215 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:56,040 We chase success here in America all the time. 216 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,880 Some people chase it faster and you know, you go to other some 217 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,690 parts of the country where it's lower moving and their success 218 00:11:04,770 --> 00:11:08,650 is something that is completely different than what maybe 219 00:11:08,650 --> 00:11:11,090 someone in an inner city may be trying to chase. 220 00:11:11,410 --> 00:11:14,370 We're working hard to chase that success too. 221 00:11:14,770 --> 00:11:18,930 In the United States there was a survey that went out and all these 222 00:11:18,930 --> 00:11:23,330 people who assumingly are just chasing success, like everyone, they 223 00:11:23,330 --> 00:11:27,530 had a poll that they did and 68% of those people said they needed 224 00:11:27,530 --> 00:11:33,960 more fun, 67% said they needed a long vacation, 66% said they often 225 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:41,880 felt stress, 60% feel time is crunched, 51% want less work, more 226 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:48,240 play, 49 feel pressured to succeed and 48% feel overwhelmed. 227 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:50,640 That's, that's the feeling. 228 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,080 You ever feel overwhelmed in spite of chasing success? 229 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,520 We chase success. 230 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:00,170 It's sought after but we're no closer to it than when we start, 231 00:12:00,410 --> 00:12:01,210 it seems. 232 00:12:01,530 --> 00:12:02,010 Look there. 233 00:12:02,010 --> 00:12:05,330 In Philippians chapter 2, Paul gives us some instructions in verse 234 00:12:05,330 --> 00:12:14,370 number 12, after the description of Jesus taking upon 235 00:12:14,370 --> 00:12:21,530 himself the form of a servant, after seeing what a successful servant 236 00:12:21,530 --> 00:12:26,700 looks like in the life of Jesus, Paul says in verse number 237 00:12:26,700 --> 00:12:31,580 12, wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in 238 00:12:31,580 --> 00:12:35,180 my presence only, but now much more my absence. 239 00:12:35,980 --> 00:12:40,300 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is 240 00:12:40,300 --> 00:12:46,060 God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 241 00:12:46,620 --> 00:12:50,020 Now, you will notice two different things in here that we'll 242 00:12:50,020 --> 00:12:50,460 talk about. 243 00:12:50,950 --> 00:12:55,030 But there's two people working on your salvation. 244 00:12:55,350 --> 00:13:00,070 There's number one, you, and number two, it is God who's working 245 00:13:00,390 --> 00:13:01,430 on your salvation. 246 00:13:01,590 --> 00:13:07,910 It's both in that stance, and yet each one is addressed as if one 247 00:13:07,910 --> 00:13:09,750 is doing everything. 248 00:13:10,310 --> 00:13:12,710 And Paul doesn't seem to reconcile either one of those things. 249 00:13:14,470 --> 00:13:18,240 A person has painstakingly written out a definition of these 250 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,240 verses to give you a little bit more insight. 251 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,520 Listen to some of the words the way this is described. 252 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:27,760 Therefore, my dear ones of you have always obeyed my suggestions. 253 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:32,519 So now, not only with the enthusiasm you would show, you see, 254 00:13:32,519 --> 00:13:34,640 he knew the Philippian Church quite well. 255 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:39,120 He knew they were going to show this enthusiasm, not only with 256 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:43,240 the enthusiasm you would show in my presence, but much more because 257 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:44,240 I am absent. 258 00:13:44,900 --> 00:13:52,980 Work out, okay, cultivate, carry out to the goal fully complete. 259 00:13:53,140 --> 00:13:55,620 That is the command that is being given here. 260 00:13:55,860 --> 00:14:00,500 Your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling. 261 00:14:01,140 --> 00:14:07,220 That is that self distrust, with serious caution, tenderness 262 00:14:07,300 --> 00:14:12,830 of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrieking 263 00:14:12,830 --> 00:14:16,790 from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ. 264 00:14:17,190 --> 00:14:22,150 There's a carefulness in our walk with God, not in your own strength. 265 00:14:22,310 --> 00:14:27,429 For it is God who is all the while effectually at work in you, 266 00:14:27,830 --> 00:14:31,630 energizing, creating in you the power and desire both to will 267 00:14:31,630 --> 00:14:36,630 and to work for his good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. 268 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:43,720 That we as Christians, number one, success, has to be understood 269 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,320 as working out in the heavenly gym. 270 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:49,640 I don't know how many of you work out. 271 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:55,000 I have a gym and workout gear I was made fun of whenever I got 272 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:55,320 here. 273 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,320 I just got it very recently. 274 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,560 It hasn't had time for it to work on me yet. 275 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:08,850 Okay, but working out your salvation with fear and trembling, 276 00:15:09,730 --> 00:15:13,010 that is a command for us as Christians. 277 00:15:13,410 --> 00:15:16,290 Now we have to be very careful because, number one, we don't want 278 00:15:16,290 --> 00:15:17,250 to live by list. 279 00:15:17,810 --> 00:15:20,050 But what is practical Christianity doing? 280 00:15:20,130 --> 00:15:23,490 Practical Christianity is doing something. 281 00:15:24,450 --> 00:15:31,730 It is working to Yield to God in all that he would call us to do. 282 00:15:32,220 --> 00:15:36,780 Paul connects the obedience of Jesus in the proceeding verses there 283 00:15:36,780 --> 00:15:40,620 to the obedience of those Christians in the following of Jesus. 284 00:15:40,620 --> 00:15:44,380 Jesus was obedient to be a servant. 285 00:15:44,620 --> 00:15:49,900 He took upon himself the form of the servant, thinking, not robbery, 286 00:15:50,140 --> 00:15:54,140 to be equal with God, yet he took that form of a servant. 287 00:15:54,860 --> 00:15:57,340 That was a lot of work. 288 00:15:58,150 --> 00:16:00,310 That was a position that Jesus had to take. 289 00:16:00,310 --> 00:16:05,110 We as Christians, we have to take up that position of yielding 290 00:16:05,270 --> 00:16:07,590 to God in every avenue of our life. 291 00:16:07,830 --> 00:16:10,070 This obedience is abiding in Christ. 292 00:16:10,150 --> 00:16:12,230 This obedience isn't sharing the gospel. 293 00:16:12,390 --> 00:16:14,710 Disobedience is in following his will. 294 00:16:15,350 --> 00:16:19,590 Work out, put real effort into your Christian lives. 295 00:16:19,750 --> 00:16:25,240 Now in a workout plan, when you go about to do this, you set 296 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:30,080 out and the first thing that you do if you're going to be serious 297 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:34,880 about a real workout plan for your physical body is to set forth 298 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:35,440 plan. 299 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,560 No one goes and eats whatever they want and then goes into the 300 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:42,560 gym and well, I'm just going to go in there and live. 301 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,320 Maybe you do that if you're angry or you're just trying to get 302 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:46,080 your mind off of it. 303 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,320 But no one just goes about it willy nilly. 304 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,100 Everyone who goes into the gym, they usually follow a workout 305 00:16:52,100 --> 00:16:52,500 plan. 306 00:16:52,980 --> 00:16:55,780 They record at times what they're doing. 307 00:16:56,180 --> 00:16:59,380 They're marking careful progress. 308 00:16:59,860 --> 00:17:04,740 They're going about it very careful so that they can track everything. 309 00:17:05,700 --> 00:17:09,380 The best bodybuilders who are really into fitness, they get into 310 00:17:09,380 --> 00:17:11,220 the macros of their fit. 311 00:17:11,540 --> 00:17:17,589 You know, the banana had 75 calories and 1 gram of protein and 312 00:17:17,589 --> 00:17:19,949 they put that into their chart and they're trying to get up to a 313 00:17:19,949 --> 00:17:20,989 certain amount of protein. 314 00:17:21,309 --> 00:17:24,829 And it also, you know, it has this amount of potassium and I need 315 00:17:24,829 --> 00:17:29,149 that amount of potassium to start off my day and to, to start 316 00:17:29,149 --> 00:17:30,029 off my diet. 317 00:17:30,189 --> 00:17:32,709 And then some people, I, I don't do anything until I've drank 318 00:17:32,709 --> 00:17:34,349 a whole glass of water before the whole. 319 00:17:34,349 --> 00:17:36,509 I mean, they get nitty gritty into it. 320 00:17:37,229 --> 00:17:40,909 That is how we as Christians are supposed to our Christian want. 321 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,800 Now, I don't know if that's how everyone is doing things, but 322 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:50,440 that is what this is looking like, working out, putting real effort 323 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:51,800 into our Christian lives. 324 00:17:52,600 --> 00:18:00,760 What would it look like in your life if you put real considerable 325 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:07,160 effort, goals after goals after milestones of where you want 326 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,300 to get to in your Christian walk and the things that you want 327 00:18:11,300 --> 00:18:12,420 to accomplish? 328 00:18:12,740 --> 00:18:16,620 What would it look like if you made a roadmap and planned it out? 329 00:18:16,620 --> 00:18:22,820 What would you do to try to achieve that level that you have 330 00:18:22,820 --> 00:18:23,300 in mind? 331 00:18:25,060 --> 00:18:29,300 Furthermore, what does God want us to achieve? 332 00:18:30,180 --> 00:18:35,350 What would you do to reach the goal that God has set forth for for 333 00:18:35,350 --> 00:18:38,430 your life in the year 2026? 334 00:18:39,070 --> 00:18:40,430 God has goals for us. 335 00:18:40,910 --> 00:18:44,750 I am certain that God has a goal for every single one of us. 336 00:18:44,750 --> 00:18:49,710 For Romans 8:30 tells us that he has the goal that we would be 337 00:18:49,710 --> 00:18:51,230 conformed to the image of Christ. 338 00:18:51,790 --> 00:18:57,070 And that is a goal that God is consistently working into our life. 339 00:18:58,350 --> 00:19:00,670 Work out your own salvation. 340 00:19:01,010 --> 00:19:04,450 There is a sense in which our salvation is complete, in the sense 341 00:19:04,450 --> 00:19:06,530 that Jesus has done a complete work for us. 342 00:19:06,930 --> 00:19:07,290 Still. 343 00:19:07,290 --> 00:19:11,170 There is also a sense in which our salvation is incomplete and that 344 00:19:11,170 --> 00:19:14,610 it is not yet a complete work in us. 345 00:19:15,170 --> 00:19:19,410 God is trying to perfect our faith. 346 00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:23,730 He is trying to conform us into the perfect image of His Son. 347 00:19:24,850 --> 00:19:28,050 And I can tell you, I don't look like His Son right now. 348 00:19:28,340 --> 00:19:32,060 There is still much work that needs to be done, but that is the 349 00:19:32,060 --> 00:19:32,420 goal. 350 00:19:32,660 --> 00:19:36,020 To be conformed to the image of His Son in every avenue of our 351 00:19:36,020 --> 00:19:36,340 life. 352 00:19:37,060 --> 00:19:41,700 The believer must finish, Mueller says, must carry to conclusion, 353 00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:46,020 must apply to its fullest consequence what is already given 354 00:19:46,020 --> 00:19:46,740 by God. 355 00:19:46,900 --> 00:19:52,660 In principle, he must work out what God in His grace has worked, 356 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:57,670 in which we as Christians have a great work that has been done to 357 00:19:57,670 --> 00:19:59,470 us at the moment of salvation. 358 00:20:00,270 --> 00:20:02,510 God has worked in us. 359 00:20:02,990 --> 00:20:08,510 Now we work with God to bring that forth and that is by yielding 360 00:20:08,510 --> 00:20:09,070 to Him. 361 00:20:10,270 --> 00:20:14,190 God works in us and this increases our responsibility to work 362 00:20:14,270 --> 00:20:14,910 with Him. 363 00:20:15,310 --> 00:20:19,990 And this is a bit of a paradox, if you will, of a sovereign 364 00:20:19,990 --> 00:20:24,410 God who orders our steps and a covenant making God. 365 00:20:24,970 --> 00:20:30,570 Salvation is a free gift and yet a cost, everything, commitment. 366 00:20:30,890 --> 00:20:32,730 And that is what Jesus would tell Him. 367 00:20:33,210 --> 00:20:36,890 No man sits down to build a castle and doesn't consider the cause. 368 00:20:37,850 --> 00:20:43,450 It is foolish for that person to begin a work and then to stop 369 00:20:43,530 --> 00:20:45,690 not having enough material. 370 00:20:45,690 --> 00:20:47,530 Everyone would look at him and laugh. 371 00:20:48,610 --> 00:20:53,490 Our Christian lives must be evident more than on Sunday. 372 00:20:54,290 --> 00:20:57,330 Our Christian lives cannot be separated from the rest. 373 00:20:57,890 --> 00:21:00,210 That is not what a successful Christian life. 374 00:21:00,610 --> 00:21:04,210 And this is oftentimes a bit of the. 375 00:21:05,250 --> 00:21:07,530 The problem in, in Christianity today. 376 00:21:07,530 --> 00:21:09,730 There's a categorization of lives. 377 00:21:09,970 --> 00:21:12,890 There's the life we live on Sunday at church and there's the 378 00:21:12,890 --> 00:21:14,850 life that we live every other day of the week. 379 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,120 And those two don't seem, don't seem to cross. 380 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:20,120 And what is the saying? 381 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:25,960 Well, you know, we go to church and that's great, it's good, 382 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:27,480 it lifts my heart. 383 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,080 But that's not practical. 384 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:31,640 I can't eat spirituality. 385 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:37,000 I need a job this right here, this is my real life. 386 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,960 This is the real life here. 387 00:21:40,850 --> 00:21:43,170 How does church affect my job? 388 00:21:43,890 --> 00:21:48,690 How is church affecting my my bills or what I'm eating tonight? 389 00:21:49,010 --> 00:21:53,890 How is church, how is living spiritually affecting my physical. 390 00:21:54,050 --> 00:21:57,170 And that is, that is the complaint, that is the question. 391 00:22:00,130 --> 00:22:03,970 All too often though, what Christians are doing is they're separating 392 00:22:03,970 --> 00:22:05,210 their lives from Christ. 393 00:22:05,210 --> 00:22:09,730 And successful Christians lives are one, not two. 394 00:22:10,130 --> 00:22:15,130 God is a God who indwells and fill all areas of our being, infiltrates, 395 00:22:15,130 --> 00:22:17,490 if you will, every angle of our life. 396 00:22:17,650 --> 00:22:21,170 And so we as Christians, we go to work. 397 00:22:21,330 --> 00:22:23,970 As Christians, you pay the bills. 398 00:22:24,130 --> 00:22:27,250 As a Christian, your refrigerator breaks. 399 00:22:27,490 --> 00:22:31,890 As a Christian, you have arguments and debates with your neighbor 400 00:22:31,970 --> 00:22:34,610 and with your spouse and with your kids. 401 00:22:35,370 --> 00:22:42,890 As Christian, every avenue of Christ is supposed to penetrate our 402 00:22:43,290 --> 00:22:43,690 life. 403 00:22:44,330 --> 00:22:47,330 And honestly, in the generation that I grew up in, I know 404 00:22:47,330 --> 00:22:52,290 many, many people in my age group of 30s and 40s where they grew 405 00:22:52,290 --> 00:22:57,090 up in a life of seeing hypocrites of where we go to church 406 00:22:57,090 --> 00:22:58,010 on Sundays. 407 00:22:59,370 --> 00:23:03,540 I was told this one time by a little kid I was trying to get and 408 00:23:04,420 --> 00:23:06,740 it was a Wednesday night program, I was trying to get him 409 00:23:06,740 --> 00:23:10,820 to go and do his study, his worksheet. 410 00:23:10,980 --> 00:23:14,940 And I said, well, can't you go home and ask your mom to help you 411 00:23:14,940 --> 00:23:18,500 with the worksheet and fill out your paper? 412 00:23:18,820 --> 00:23:25,700 And what he said to me was, we don't do this whole Christian thing. 413 00:23:27,630 --> 00:23:28,670 This kid's like seven. 414 00:23:30,510 --> 00:23:33,790 Where does he get that we don't do this whole Christian thing 415 00:23:34,190 --> 00:23:34,910 at home. 416 00:23:35,630 --> 00:23:40,790 And that's the problem is the hypocrisy in our own lives at times 417 00:23:40,790 --> 00:23:45,830 of we look really good on Sunday, but throughout the week we 418 00:23:45,830 --> 00:23:48,670 live as if Christ hasn't affected us. 419 00:23:48,670 --> 00:23:51,150 And these things can't be so in the life of a Christian. 420 00:23:51,390 --> 00:23:55,270 Not a successful Christian, not a Christian who is seeing the 421 00:23:55,270 --> 00:23:59,470 power of God, not a Christian who is seeing God change their life. 422 00:23:59,630 --> 00:24:01,550 Look over to Colossians, chapter three. 423 00:24:02,590 --> 00:24:03,870 Colossians, chapter three. 424 00:24:03,950 --> 00:24:10,550 Paul gives us a list, if you will, of some things that we are 425 00:24:10,550 --> 00:24:13,870 to do to live a successful Christian life. 426 00:24:14,110 --> 00:24:19,470 But how the Christian life is to infiltrate every avenue of our 427 00:24:20,130 --> 00:24:21,090 main life. 428 00:24:21,890 --> 00:24:25,530 He says in verse one, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 429 00:24:25,530 --> 00:24:29,050 things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand 430 00:24:29,050 --> 00:24:29,570 of God. 431 00:24:30,530 --> 00:24:34,210 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 432 00:24:34,290 --> 00:24:37,970 For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. 433 00:24:38,770 --> 00:24:40,610 What he begins to list. 434 00:24:41,730 --> 00:24:45,170 In the previous chapter, the apostle had shown what a Christian 435 00:24:45,170 --> 00:24:46,090 ought not to follow. 436 00:24:46,090 --> 00:24:49,980 He was dealing with false heretics, false teachers. 437 00:24:50,140 --> 00:24:53,700 And he warned these Colossians against some of these doctrines and 438 00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:56,460 erroneous errors that they were beginning to learn. 439 00:24:56,780 --> 00:25:02,380 And then he brings out this great chapter about how the duties 440 00:25:02,380 --> 00:25:06,140 in life and how everything revolves around Christ. 441 00:25:06,700 --> 00:25:10,300 How is God supposed to affect my relationship with my neighbor? 442 00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:11,660 How is he going to fix that? 443 00:25:11,900 --> 00:25:12,220 That. 444 00:25:12,220 --> 00:25:16,090 How is God going to fix my relationship with people? 445 00:25:16,810 --> 00:25:20,250 Well, he begins setting forth, he says, the duty of setting the 446 00:25:20,250 --> 00:25:21,410 affections on things above. 447 00:25:21,410 --> 00:25:26,210 There, the verse one, the duty of mortifying corrupt passions and 448 00:25:26,210 --> 00:25:27,290 carnal tendencies. 449 00:25:27,450 --> 00:25:30,490 The duty of speaking the truth, seeing they put off the old 450 00:25:30,490 --> 00:25:31,650 man with his deeds. 451 00:25:31,650 --> 00:25:36,410 There in verse nine, the duty of kindness, gentleness, charity 452 00:25:36,730 --> 00:25:37,970 and the spirit of peace. 453 00:25:37,970 --> 00:25:42,370 In verse 12, the duty of edifying one another by psalms and 454 00:25:42,370 --> 00:25:43,410 songs of praise. 455 00:25:43,970 --> 00:25:49,410 How we are to live our Christian life with our affection 456 00:25:49,490 --> 00:25:51,570 set on the things of God. 457 00:25:51,730 --> 00:25:55,570 The duty of wives, of husbands, of children, of fathers, 458 00:25:55,570 --> 00:25:56,370 of servants. 459 00:25:56,770 --> 00:26:01,490 Every single little area of our Christian life is to be dictated 460 00:26:01,570 --> 00:26:02,850 by the Holy Spirit. 461 00:26:03,170 --> 00:26:08,980 And how he would handle this matter, how he would talk to this 462 00:26:08,980 --> 00:26:09,340 person. 463 00:26:09,980 --> 00:26:15,660 What would Jesus do if there was a physical need in the lives 464 00:26:15,820 --> 00:26:16,540 that in the. 465 00:26:16,540 --> 00:26:19,740 In the time when he was here with his disciples, they would pray 466 00:26:19,820 --> 00:26:21,340 he would get the thing solved. 467 00:26:21,980 --> 00:26:25,580 It was a need that was not too great for God. 468 00:26:25,980 --> 00:26:28,220 Your job is by the grace of God. 469 00:26:29,180 --> 00:26:32,780 How am I supposed to do my job by the grace of God? 470 00:26:33,340 --> 00:26:36,820 You do it because he has enabled you to do it and he is enabling 471 00:26:36,820 --> 00:26:38,060 you to keep that job. 472 00:26:38,220 --> 00:26:42,820 I often wonder, you know, well, I'm in sales, so every single 473 00:26:42,820 --> 00:26:45,380 month I've just got to pray for God, for those sales. 474 00:26:45,380 --> 00:26:46,540 I guess I'm not. 475 00:26:46,780 --> 00:26:48,140 I can't sell more. 476 00:26:48,140 --> 00:26:49,500 There's not a customer there. 477 00:26:49,740 --> 00:26:50,900 Or, or if. 478 00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:54,540 If I don't have clients coming to, to take up my services, I've 479 00:26:54,540 --> 00:26:55,660 got to pray for those services. 480 00:26:55,740 --> 00:27:00,220 Oh, if I just had a regular job, then I would just be sad, you 481 00:27:00,220 --> 00:27:00,580 know, just. 482 00:27:00,580 --> 00:27:03,020 You don't even have to worry about those things. 483 00:27:03,020 --> 00:27:05,140 You've always got a job, right? 484 00:27:06,180 --> 00:27:09,860 No, I know many people that have had a job, got laid off. 485 00:27:10,100 --> 00:27:10,900 You're at the gr. 486 00:27:10,900 --> 00:27:14,780 By the grace of God in that job that you think is so stable and 487 00:27:14,780 --> 00:27:15,700 so steady. 488 00:27:16,100 --> 00:27:17,220 Anything could happen. 489 00:27:17,540 --> 00:27:19,820 I don't know what you're going to work for, but if you work for 490 00:27:19,820 --> 00:27:22,020 Google, you're like, well, Google will never go under. 491 00:27:22,180 --> 00:27:24,460 Well, they got done with you, so they fired you. 492 00:27:24,460 --> 00:27:26,160 I mean, you just go through the list. 493 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,880 There's no telling what could happen. 494 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,440 No, there is no Such thing as job security. 495 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,640 Okay, you could break your leg and be on disability because your 496 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:37,360 spine has paralyzed you. 497 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:39,120 There is no job security. 498 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,760 You are, by the grace of God, working in your job, keeping it, 499 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:44,920 working in it. 500 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:49,760 The problems, the successes at work, it's all by the grace of God. 501 00:27:50,810 --> 00:27:55,090 Your relationship to act like Christ and love one another as he 502 00:27:55,090 --> 00:27:55,330 says. 503 00:27:55,330 --> 00:27:58,770 The duty of edifying one another, the duty of wives, husbands, 504 00:27:58,770 --> 00:28:00,330 children, servants. 505 00:28:00,650 --> 00:28:01,490 It's a love. 506 00:28:01,490 --> 00:28:05,610 And that Christlike love and the very image of humility that Christ 507 00:28:05,610 --> 00:28:09,690 set forth in the preceding verses of Philippians, chapter two. 508 00:28:10,250 --> 00:28:12,890 Your bills, the unexpected. 509 00:28:14,010 --> 00:28:18,780 The IRS said you didn't pay it out, not the opposite. 510 00:28:18,780 --> 00:28:21,940 You know, we all are like, oh, great, we got a check from the irs. 511 00:28:21,940 --> 00:28:22,540 Thankfully. 512 00:28:22,860 --> 00:28:26,940 What happens when the IRS says you didn't pay enough or your escrow 513 00:28:27,020 --> 00:28:31,500 goes up and you weren't expecting your house payment to rise? 514 00:28:32,620 --> 00:28:33,740 The unexpected. 515 00:28:34,860 --> 00:28:36,780 We go to God for those bills. 516 00:28:37,180 --> 00:28:40,300 How am I going to pay this except by the help of God? 517 00:28:40,780 --> 00:28:43,420 Your stuff, God knows what we have need of. 518 00:28:44,430 --> 00:28:47,870 We asked this morning, does God care about if your AC breaks 519 00:28:47,870 --> 00:28:48,430 in your house? 520 00:28:50,190 --> 00:28:51,310 He cares about you. 521 00:28:53,390 --> 00:28:57,870 And just as my child cares about some of the smallest little 522 00:28:57,950 --> 00:29:03,350 things that are so insignificant to us, to me, I care 523 00:29:03,350 --> 00:29:04,110 about my child. 524 00:29:05,070 --> 00:29:07,790 And so that means I care about what they care. 525 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:14,840 And so God has knowledge of what we need. 526 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,240 We only have to go to him and pray for it. 527 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:23,400 No matter how wonderful that request is, how impossible that is. 528 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:29,000 As God said to Abraham and Sarah, is there anything too impossible 529 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:29,560 for God? 530 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:31,480 Is there anything too wonderful? 531 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,400 Philippians, chapter 2, verse 12 is telling us that we are to care 532 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:41,590 about our salvation in such a way that it affects all that we do, 533 00:29:42,230 --> 00:29:43,510 our new life in Christ. 534 00:29:43,990 --> 00:29:49,150 We are not to work it out, not in a casual carelessness, but in 535 00:29:49,150 --> 00:29:54,870 a careful attention to a new, radical way of life. 536 00:29:55,990 --> 00:30:00,590 You know, David Platt is an author and pastor of a church. 537 00:30:00,590 --> 00:30:06,180 And one of the things that he, he said in a conference meeting is 538 00:30:06,180 --> 00:30:08,860 he went to China for a conference. 539 00:30:09,260 --> 00:30:15,860 He was going to go there and go to a Chinese church and there 540 00:30:15,860 --> 00:30:19,060 were going to be other churches in the area that would come 541 00:30:19,060 --> 00:30:20,420 and some leaders would come. 542 00:30:20,420 --> 00:30:21,580 This was what he was told. 543 00:30:21,900 --> 00:30:24,460 They're going to come and you're going to be able to teach 544 00:30:24,460 --> 00:30:25,660 them the Bible. 545 00:30:25,980 --> 00:30:31,140 And so in America and other conferences, and you plan a conference 546 00:30:31,140 --> 00:30:35,740 and you say, okay, we'll have, if we're going to go heavy on the 547 00:30:35,740 --> 00:30:40,772 sessions, we'll start at 9, 30, and we'll have a session, 40, 548 00:30:40,868 --> 00:30:44,620 45 minutes, you know, 10 attention span is we can't just go 549 00:30:44,620 --> 00:30:45,060 too long. 550 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:49,300 We'll have a break and we can break for some donuts and then come 551 00:30:49,300 --> 00:30:52,740 back 15 minutes later, have another session. 552 00:30:52,980 --> 00:30:55,860 Then we'll break for lunch, and then we'll have one more in the 553 00:30:55,860 --> 00:30:56,820 afternoon after lunch. 554 00:30:57,770 --> 00:30:59,290 So, you know, three sessions. 555 00:30:59,850 --> 00:31:01,210 And so he. 556 00:31:01,210 --> 00:31:03,930 He goes there thinking that this is the way it's going to work. 557 00:31:04,010 --> 00:31:06,810 He's got it set up for multiple days. 558 00:31:06,970 --> 00:31:09,450 And so, you know, he's got his lessons laid out. 559 00:31:09,610 --> 00:31:13,690 And he does the first lesson there in the morning. 560 00:31:14,410 --> 00:31:16,490 He says, okay, we're going to go ahead and take a break. 561 00:31:16,570 --> 00:31:17,850 And they're like, well, we don't need a break. 562 00:31:17,850 --> 00:31:18,570 We don't need a break. 563 00:31:19,050 --> 00:31:20,970 He's like, oh, okay, eager. 564 00:31:21,290 --> 00:31:23,110 So he begins to go into the second lesson. 565 00:31:23,260 --> 00:31:25,660 It's like, well, you know, now we can go ahead and take a lunch. 566 00:31:25,740 --> 00:31:26,420 Well, we can. 567 00:31:26,420 --> 00:31:26,700 We. 568 00:31:26,700 --> 00:31:27,580 We don't have to eat. 569 00:31:27,580 --> 00:31:28,620 We don't have to eat just yet. 570 00:31:28,620 --> 00:31:28,860 Just. 571 00:31:28,860 --> 00:31:29,660 Just keep on going. 572 00:31:29,660 --> 00:31:31,020 And we say, well, I only got three. 573 00:31:31,420 --> 00:31:32,380 Three lessons. 574 00:31:32,460 --> 00:31:35,820 And the guy said, wait a minute, you only, you only brought 575 00:31:35,820 --> 00:31:36,700 three lessons for this? 576 00:31:36,700 --> 00:31:39,299 And he said, well, no, I mean, I have more material for that. 577 00:31:39,299 --> 00:31:39,740 I just. 578 00:31:39,740 --> 00:31:41,740 We can't go through everything one day. 579 00:31:41,980 --> 00:31:44,220 And the guy said, no, you don't understand. 580 00:31:45,260 --> 00:31:48,940 You need to go through everything that you have. 581 00:31:49,410 --> 00:31:52,770 You don't understand what these people have sacrificed to be. 582 00:31:53,490 --> 00:31:54,610 He said, I don't understand. 583 00:31:55,090 --> 00:31:55,970 Please teach me. 584 00:31:55,970 --> 00:31:56,450 Tell me. 585 00:31:57,090 --> 00:32:00,450 And the pastor, the Chinese pastor there came to him and said, 586 00:32:00,610 --> 00:32:01,730 these people have. 587 00:32:02,050 --> 00:32:03,570 Have traveled for miles. 588 00:32:04,050 --> 00:32:08,010 And the fact that they are here for this weekend, this is the 589 00:32:08,010 --> 00:32:10,290 major harvest time for their crops. 590 00:32:10,450 --> 00:32:14,610 They have abandoned their field, they have abandoned their 591 00:32:14,770 --> 00:32:17,460 livelihood in order to be taught. 592 00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:25,260 They are here because they want and need the word of God taught 593 00:32:25,260 --> 00:32:31,380 to them in a way that is a greater need than their own livelihood. 594 00:32:31,780 --> 00:32:34,980 They've abandoned everything so that they can hear you. 595 00:32:36,180 --> 00:32:42,100 And David Platt was absolutely forward, taken aback. 596 00:32:43,010 --> 00:32:47,170 And so he literally finished his entire weekend worth of notes 597 00:32:47,330 --> 00:32:48,690 in that very first day. 598 00:32:49,010 --> 00:32:53,330 And then from there on for the next three or four days, he just 599 00:32:53,330 --> 00:32:54,210 taught the Bible. 600 00:32:54,850 --> 00:32:58,770 He just began in the book of Romans and just started teaching. 601 00:32:59,010 --> 00:33:02,930 And what he came away from that meeting and conference and time 602 00:33:03,250 --> 00:33:07,010 was that here in America, we are not radical. 603 00:33:07,490 --> 00:33:07,750 We. 604 00:33:07,820 --> 00:33:10,620 We are not raising our children to be radical Christian. 605 00:33:11,020 --> 00:33:15,780 We are raising casual Christian who are not dependent upon 606 00:33:15,780 --> 00:33:19,940 the power of God, are not living a life that is full of God's 607 00:33:19,940 --> 00:33:22,780 salvation and its effects on that life. 608 00:33:23,180 --> 00:33:28,060 And he was smitten in his heart about his own walk with God. 609 00:33:28,860 --> 00:33:34,900 Radical Christianity should be the normal Christian life. 610 00:33:35,300 --> 00:33:39,300 And I know that that is very hard for us to digest. 611 00:33:39,460 --> 00:33:41,940 We can hear it, we can even agree with. 612 00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:49,860 But to digest that we as Christians need to be radical in 613 00:33:49,860 --> 00:33:55,060 our thinking, that we are literally consumed in every avenue 614 00:33:55,060 --> 00:34:01,170 of our life with Christ to where it affects us that much that 615 00:34:01,170 --> 00:34:02,730 we would give up anything. 616 00:34:03,210 --> 00:34:06,410 That is the part that is hard to digest. 617 00:34:07,450 --> 00:34:11,530 We are to obey the command of the Spirit given to us through Paul 618 00:34:11,610 --> 00:34:17,050 to work out salvation, go about your Christian life, intentionally, 619 00:34:17,450 --> 00:34:19,930 put effort into it. 620 00:34:20,170 --> 00:34:27,970 He exhorts us, as if everything is riding on us, to work 621 00:34:27,970 --> 00:34:28,930 out our salvation. 622 00:34:29,410 --> 00:34:36,530 Yet he prays just a few, a few sentences later, as if everything 623 00:34:37,490 --> 00:34:39,090 relies on God. 624 00:34:39,490 --> 00:34:43,850 And this is the paradox of the working Christian working for their 625 00:34:43,850 --> 00:34:49,650 salvation and the God who securely saves them in his sovereignty. 626 00:34:49,970 --> 00:34:51,050 This is a paradox. 627 00:34:51,050 --> 00:34:51,930 Don't get me wrong. 628 00:34:51,930 --> 00:34:55,920 It is completely paradoxical to say that man is working in his 629 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,520 salvation and yet God is the one who's doing the same. 630 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,440 And yet Paul presents both of these concepts, as he often does 631 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:08,040 in Scripture, of man choosing God and God choosing man. 632 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:11,080 He does not reconcile these two points together. 633 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,000 He never explains them. 634 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,480 He presents both of these truths as truth and just leaves. 635 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:22,930 And we as Christians, you know, you've heard that saying, work 636 00:35:23,410 --> 00:35:25,410 as if everything depended upon you. 637 00:35:25,570 --> 00:35:28,290 Pray as if everything depended upon God. 638 00:35:28,610 --> 00:35:31,330 That is the same thing that we are to do in our salvation. 639 00:35:31,490 --> 00:35:35,929 We are to work, to yield to everything that God would have us 640 00:35:35,929 --> 00:35:37,410 to do in our Christian lives. 641 00:35:38,050 --> 00:35:43,330 But we pray for the Spirit to change our wicked hearts. 642 00:35:43,650 --> 00:35:48,390 We pray that that God would save our loved ones. 643 00:35:49,110 --> 00:35:51,750 We're praying for God to change their hearts. 644 00:35:51,750 --> 00:35:55,830 We're praying that God would call out to them, that God would 645 00:35:55,830 --> 00:35:59,350 pour out his grace on them, that God would do an amazing work. 646 00:36:00,230 --> 00:36:08,830 Yet if you and I do not go and witness to them, if you and I do 647 00:36:08,830 --> 00:36:13,550 not live a holy Christian life and a changed life that they take 648 00:36:13,550 --> 00:36:17,950 notice of, that they look at and say something's different about 649 00:36:17,950 --> 00:36:18,350 them. 650 00:36:18,670 --> 00:36:23,950 If we don't do that on our part, what hope does that person 651 00:36:23,950 --> 00:36:25,150 have of being saved? 652 00:36:25,150 --> 00:36:25,870 We pray. 653 00:36:25,870 --> 00:36:29,390 And we can pray all day long for them to get saved and God can 654 00:36:29,870 --> 00:36:30,590 save them. 655 00:36:30,590 --> 00:36:34,990 God is his will, is that all men would be saved. 656 00:36:35,470 --> 00:36:40,220 He's not just the Savior of the saved and those who are Christians. 657 00:36:40,220 --> 00:36:41,780 He's the Savior of the whole world. 658 00:36:42,420 --> 00:36:47,620 He is calling out, but we have to. 659 00:36:48,820 --> 00:36:56,060 We are responsible for working with him to see the loss come to 660 00:36:56,060 --> 00:36:56,420 Christ. 661 00:36:57,300 --> 00:36:58,420 How shall they believe. 662 00:36:58,900 --> 00:37:00,500 Except someone preaches. 663 00:37:01,140 --> 00:37:04,500 How can they believe unless they have heard the Word? 664 00:37:05,340 --> 00:37:06,940 So there's a bit of a paradox there. 665 00:37:07,340 --> 00:37:10,060 We are in our Christian life looking for that success. 666 00:37:10,700 --> 00:37:16,780 It requires work on our part, a yielding to God, a radical Christianity. 667 00:37:17,260 --> 00:37:20,060 Success is living as a faithful witness before others. 668 00:37:21,420 --> 00:37:26,700 People in every avenue of our life are watching us. 669 00:37:26,700 --> 00:37:29,340 Look there in verse number 14 of Philippians chapter 2. 670 00:37:32,070 --> 00:37:36,310 He says in Philippians chapter 2, verse 14, do all things without 671 00:37:36,390 --> 00:37:41,830 murmurings and dispute that you may be blameless and harmless, 672 00:37:41,830 --> 00:37:45,870 the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked 673 00:37:45,870 --> 00:37:49,950 and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as the lights. 674 00:37:49,950 --> 00:37:52,230 As lights in the world. 675 00:37:52,710 --> 00:37:56,510 Now understand what that means, that we shine as lights in 676 00:37:56,510 --> 00:37:56,950 the world. 677 00:37:57,860 --> 00:38:02,260 This is not a command to shine brightly in the world. 678 00:38:03,700 --> 00:38:07,180 This is not a command that you need to go out and shine brightly 679 00:38:07,180 --> 00:38:07,780 for Jesus. 680 00:38:08,980 --> 00:38:17,060 No, you are shining brightly, whether or not for Jesus or for yourself. 681 00:38:17,460 --> 00:38:20,660 Everyone sees and understands that you're a Christian. 682 00:38:21,060 --> 00:38:24,900 Do you have people in your job that know you're a Christian? 683 00:38:25,540 --> 00:38:29,220 Whether you act like Christ or act like the world, you are shining 684 00:38:29,220 --> 00:38:29,780 brightly. 685 00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:31,860 And that's what Paul's exhortation here. 686 00:38:31,860 --> 00:38:35,500 People know where you work, how you react, how you speak, how 687 00:38:35,500 --> 00:38:36,660 you handle pressure. 688 00:38:37,140 --> 00:38:41,940 The worst thing I've ever heard in my life is this. 689 00:38:42,420 --> 00:38:44,340 I thought you were a Christian. 690 00:38:46,180 --> 00:38:50,510 Those words, that is horrible to hear. 691 00:38:50,910 --> 00:38:53,470 I don't know if you've heard them, but I've heard them before. 692 00:38:53,710 --> 00:38:56,110 And that is not something that you want to hear. 693 00:38:56,350 --> 00:38:57,790 You shine brightly. 694 00:38:58,270 --> 00:39:02,750 Whether or not that's for Jesus, they know that you're a Christian. 695 00:39:03,230 --> 00:39:04,830 Fruit matters. 696 00:39:05,790 --> 00:39:08,750 Paul wanted his labor in Philippi to bear fruit. 697 00:39:09,150 --> 00:39:11,390 He was working for those people. 698 00:39:11,550 --> 00:39:14,390 He was working to teach them, to exhort them. 699 00:39:14,390 --> 00:39:15,630 He wanted to see fruit. 700 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:18,400 Success is not merely starting the race. 701 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,160 Success is finishing faithfully. 702 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:22,760 A changed life. 703 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:24,120 That is the success. 704 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:26,200 The fruit in your life. 705 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,200 Success is being willing to be poured out for Christ. 706 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:33,600 Look there in verse number 17, holding forth the word of life, that 707 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:35,000 I may rejoice in the day of Christ. 708 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,640 I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. 709 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,240 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice in service of your 710 00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:43,840 faith, I join, will rejoice with you all. 711 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:49,040 To be offered upon, to be poured out for Christ. 712 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,800 That's what Paul was willing to do. 713 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:58,320 If I be offered upon the sacrifice, like the drink offering 714 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:04,600 in Leviticus that was poured out for God, he was willing to sacrifice 715 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:05,840 anything for the Gospel. 716 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:09,720 What are we willing to be poured out for? 717 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:14,760 Success is seeking Christ's interest above your own. 718 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:19,320 Successful Christian lives live for Christ rather than themselves. 719 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:24,760 It is the example of other men in the Bible that we see. 720 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:31,640 We have the example that Paul gave here in First Corinthians 10. 721 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:33,800 Let no man seek his own but every man and others. 722 00:40:34,350 --> 00:40:37,950 Well, he says in verse chapter 13. 723 00:40:38,830 --> 00:40:41,550 Or no, I'm sorry, Philippians, chapter 2, verse 4. 724 00:40:41,550 --> 00:40:44,430 Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the 725 00:40:44,430 --> 00:40:45,070 things of others. 726 00:40:45,390 --> 00:40:48,990 It's that concern for other people. 727 00:40:48,990 --> 00:40:54,270 We have examples of men such as Demas. 728 00:40:55,230 --> 00:41:00,200 He hath loved this present world, having forsaken me, is depart 729 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,920 unto Thessalonica, Titus, unto Dalmatia. 730 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:09,680 In his last moments, Paul had Timothy, Titus, Paphroditus, Epaphras, 731 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:10,600 Tychicus. 732 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:12,440 These were not all famous people. 733 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:16,120 There's just one verse mentioned for their names, and that's 734 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:16,360 it. 735 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:22,680 But these were men who were living faithful interests, who had 736 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:28,530 set their affections on things above, who had set their affection 737 00:41:28,690 --> 00:41:29,570 on others. 738 00:41:29,970 --> 00:41:31,970 And this is what Paul says about them. 739 00:41:33,410 --> 00:41:38,650 He says, because of the work of Christ, Epaphroditus was near 740 00:41:38,650 --> 00:41:40,690 unto death because of me. 741 00:41:40,770 --> 00:41:45,330 Demas, speaking of how he had left him, having not that person 742 00:41:45,570 --> 00:41:49,490 to care for him, as maybe some of these other people did. 743 00:41:49,810 --> 00:41:52,770 Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister of the Lord, 744 00:41:52,770 --> 00:41:54,050 shall make known to you all things. 745 00:41:54,700 --> 00:41:58,100 All of my state shall Tycheus declare unto you who is a beloved 746 00:41:58,100 --> 00:42:01,420 brother and a faithful minister, fellow servant in the Lord. 747 00:42:01,580 --> 00:42:07,900 These were people that Paul being poured out, working on behalf 748 00:42:07,900 --> 00:42:11,820 of Christ, working to see fruit in other people's lives. 749 00:42:12,540 --> 00:42:16,860 These were people that he had a part in their fruit. 750 00:42:17,260 --> 00:42:22,450 These were people who he had loved and loved courageously. 751 00:42:23,010 --> 00:42:27,890 Success in the Christian life surely is not narrowed down to the 752 00:42:27,890 --> 00:42:28,930 things that we've talked about. 753 00:42:29,810 --> 00:42:31,530 It cannot only be these things. 754 00:42:31,530 --> 00:42:33,010 But this is a very good start. 755 00:42:33,570 --> 00:42:35,410 This is a very good understanding. 756 00:42:35,810 --> 00:42:39,330 But now comes the question, what if I fail? 757 00:42:40,930 --> 00:42:42,370 What if I don't have success? 758 00:42:43,330 --> 00:42:45,490 What if I don't have any fruit in someone? 759 00:42:47,060 --> 00:42:51,220 A person was talking to their pastor about that and was saying 760 00:42:51,220 --> 00:42:53,140 about how they had deep spiritual grief. 761 00:42:53,460 --> 00:42:57,260 He said he kept telling him how woefully he must have failed 762 00:42:57,260 --> 00:43:00,740 someone that he loved, for that person had wronged them so destructively. 763 00:43:01,620 --> 00:43:05,260 And he said to that young person, who are you to think that 764 00:43:05,260 --> 00:43:06,660 you are better than our Lord? 765 00:43:07,860 --> 00:43:09,700 Not Jesus, do everything perfect. 766 00:43:10,340 --> 00:43:12,430 And yet Judas betrayed him. 767 00:43:13,310 --> 00:43:15,390 Yet people hated his guts. 768 00:43:15,390 --> 00:43:18,190 At times they picked up stones to kill him. 769 00:43:18,750 --> 00:43:21,390 Who are you to think that you are better than our Lord? 770 00:43:21,950 --> 00:43:27,110 Oftentimes we'll get that picture of success that, well, I 771 00:43:27,110 --> 00:43:29,710 must have failed in my Christian walk. 772 00:43:29,790 --> 00:43:34,670 This person doesn't do this or doesn't do that. 773 00:43:35,630 --> 00:43:44,280 And we, as Christians, we have to understand that it is not so much 774 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:50,040 what have I accomplished, lives that I change, we want to change 775 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:50,440 lives. 776 00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,920 We want to impart to other people. 777 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,120 We want to see success stories. 778 00:43:56,360 --> 00:44:00,760 We want to see other people come out and be able to praise them, 779 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:03,320 praise God for the work that he did in people's lives. 780 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:06,470 We want to see that, that material, that tangible, so that 781 00:44:06,470 --> 00:44:08,590 we can say, wow, that's. 782 00:44:08,590 --> 00:44:10,030 I've done something that's good. 783 00:44:10,030 --> 00:44:10,510 But that's. 784 00:44:10,510 --> 00:44:12,110 That's not the measure of success. 785 00:44:13,710 --> 00:44:17,390 The measure of success is your faith to your God. 786 00:44:18,190 --> 00:44:23,310 The measure of success is how did you run the race that God called 787 00:44:23,310 --> 00:44:24,190 you to run? 788 00:44:24,910 --> 00:44:29,770 Because God measures success not by. 789 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:34,880 By the things that we accomplished, but rather of how much 790 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,240 we have yielded to him. 791 00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:40,800 That's what living the life practically looks like. 792 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:44,920 The Christian life lived practically is how much have you 793 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:46,560 yielded to God? 794 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:51,920 DL Moody is going to get to heaven with thousands of souls saved, 795 00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:55,200 and you may get to heaven with 10. 796 00:44:55,740 --> 00:45:03,660 Say if God has called you to have 10 souls, say you will receive. 797 00:45:04,060 --> 00:45:06,060 Well done, thou good and faithful servant. 798 00:45:06,140 --> 00:45:08,900 You did what I asked him and D.L. 799 00:45:08,900 --> 00:45:15,420 Moody, who God had called to see 10,000 souls saved. 800 00:45:15,580 --> 00:45:16,780 Deal Moody will see. 801 00:45:17,180 --> 00:45:19,420 Well done now, good and faithful serf. 802 00:45:19,580 --> 00:45:22,550 You have done what, What I called you to do. 803 00:45:23,110 --> 00:45:25,430 The calling is different. 804 00:45:25,990 --> 00:45:28,630 God calls us to do different things. 805 00:45:29,110 --> 00:45:30,630 You can't all be pastors. 806 00:45:30,710 --> 00:45:32,310 You can't all be evangelists. 807 00:45:32,630 --> 00:45:36,110 You can't all see thousands and thousands of souls saved. 808 00:45:36,110 --> 00:45:40,110 But God has called you to a specific place and a specific time 809 00:45:40,110 --> 00:45:40,790 for a reason. 810 00:45:41,510 --> 00:45:42,710 That is your calling. 811 00:45:43,030 --> 00:45:45,670 That is how you judge success. 812 00:45:46,230 --> 00:45:48,670 Am I doing what God has called me to. 813 00:45:48,820 --> 00:45:50,260 To do on a daily basis? 814 00:45:50,580 --> 00:45:55,540 Have I yielded to the Holy Spirit in these areas of my life? 815 00:45:55,940 --> 00:45:59,700 Because at the end of our life, that is all that matters. 816 00:45:59,940 --> 00:46:02,500 Did you do what God told? 817 00:46:04,020 --> 00:46:05,220 Let's pray, Father. 818 00:46:06,420 --> 00:46:09,460 Thank you, Lord, for your grace and guidance in our life. 819 00:46:10,180 --> 00:46:15,950 Thank you for the grace that when we do fail, Lord, your grace 820 00:46:15,950 --> 00:46:19,710 is there to pick us up and to put us back on our feet. 821 00:46:20,590 --> 00:46:25,790 Lord, I know that not everyone is called to do the same thing, but, 822 00:46:25,790 --> 00:46:30,190 Lord, you have for sure called each and every single one of us to 823 00:46:30,190 --> 00:46:35,190 something, namely, number one, a relationship with you, Lord, that 824 00:46:35,190 --> 00:46:36,590 is wonderful and beautiful. 825 00:46:37,390 --> 00:46:41,430 And, Lord, there's many times whenever we would neglect that relationship, 826 00:46:41,430 --> 00:46:41,650 Lord. 827 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,960 Lord, for other things, for things of this world. 828 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:50,000 And, Lord, you have called us to set our affection not on the things 829 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:52,280 of this earth, but on things above, Lord. 830 00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:56,040 So I pray that you would help us in our calling, whatever that 831 00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:56,720 may be, Lord. 832 00:46:56,720 --> 00:46:59,840 That we would faithfully perform that calling. 833 00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:05,240 That we would carefully direct our attention to it and to all that 834 00:47:05,240 --> 00:47:11,330 our salvation has directed us to, or that we would seek to attain 835 00:47:11,410 --> 00:47:12,050 to it. 836 00:47:12,130 --> 00:47:17,730 That we would seek to yield to you continually and be transformed 837 00:47:17,730 --> 00:47:21,050 by the renewing of our minds, Lord, and the inward working of the 838 00:47:21,050 --> 00:47:21,530 Holy Spirit. 839 00:47:21,530 --> 00:47:25,170 I pray these things and then ask in Jesus name for them.