1-4 PHILIPPIANS INTRODUCTION2006 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1-4 Philippians Introduction

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2006.

But this morning, we'll be looking at Acts chapter 16 as we start the book of Philippians. Now, the book of Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul, and it was written about 62 to 63 A.D., about 30 years after Christ was crucified as well as resurrected. And Paul wrote this letter while he was imprisoned in Rome.

Now, it's not the house arrest that we read of at the end of the book of Acts, but it's a little bit later, the same imprisonment, but a different time where he is in a lower dungeon chained to a prison guard. He writes to a church there located in a city named Philippi, which is the northern part of what we call Greece today.

Paul had a special relationship with the church there at Philippi. And for those who have known and studied this book before, you recognize and understand that this letter has probably the most love and affection shown by the Apostle Paul more than any other of his letters. He really had a great relationship with those who were in Philippi. The Philippians helped financially support Paul more than any other church, even though they were not a wealthy church.

The book of Philippians is a famous book, not a famous book, but a favorite book of many people. And it's for good reason, full of great encouragement and love from the Apostle Paul, great insight into how to live our lives for God and accomplish the things that he has set before us.

He writes this letter, the book of Philippians, to tell them thank you for sending him help in his time of need. They sent to him Epaphroditus with some financial aid, and he sends Epaphroditus back after some time with this letter for them to read.

The theme of the book is often noted is joy. It's used in its various forms, rejoicing, rejoice, joy, gladness and so on and so forth about 18 times throughout the book. Now, I'm sure I'll refer to this acronym later. So I bring it up now. If you want to know how you can have joy.

You can take each letter of the word joy and help you remember how to have joy. The letter J stands for Jesus. If you want to have joy, put Jesus first in your life. The letter O stands for others. If you want to have joy, put Jesus first and others second. And then finally, the letter Y stands for yourself.

If you want to have joy in your life, put Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. And you'll find that you have great joy in your life. And the Apostle Paul demonstrated that for us as this book is known as the book of joy. And he does put Jesus first. The term Christ Jesus is used ten times in the book of Philippians. The term Jesus Christ, another ten times.

Christ, the name by itself, is used another 16 times. And Paul refers to him as the Lord 15 more times. So we have about 50 times that Jesus is made reference to in the book of Philippians in these four short chapters. And so Paul puts Jesus first.

And we find great joy in this letter. So if you want to have joy, even in your most difficult circumstances, as Paul is in prison, put Jesus first in your life and in your heart. Put others second and leave the third place for yourself. The emphasis that God is placing upon my heart this morning as we look at the beginning of the church of Philippi.

Is this phrase or this saying, this sentence, that God has a specific and perfect plan for your life? Do you know that? Do you believe that God has a specific and perfect plan for your life? We will see this and we'll learn how we can live in that perfect and specific plan by looking at

at how the Church of Philippi began, and four popular verses or portions from the book of Philippians, putting them together and understanding how we can live the specific and perfect plan that God has for us.

Now here in Acts chapter 16, we're picking up Paul in his second missionary journey. It's right at the beginning of his journey. And he had a very successful first missionary journey in Acts chapter 13 through 15. And right from the beginning,

And that first missionary journey, he encountered great success and God was doing great things from beginning to end throughout that journey. But this time as he begins his second journey, things are a little bit different. He encounters some closed doors, as we will see.

In Acts chapter 16, at the beginning of the chapter, Paul meets up with a man named Timothy, a young man who is converted under Paul's ministry and later becomes a great son and disciple of the apostle Paul and joins him on this missionary journey. But we pick it up in verse 6 of Acts chapter 16, and it says this.

Now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. Here's Paul at the onset of his second missionary journey.

You could imagine what he might be going through, the anticipation of remembering all that God had done in his first journey and looking to go back and strengthen the brethren that had been saved and the churches that had been started. And he sets out, and I would imagine that his expectations are high. He's excited. And he desires greatly to go and to minister the gospel in the region of Asia.

Now, when Luke, the author of the book of Acts, is referring to Asia here, he's not referring to China and that continent that we know as Asia today, but he's referring to Asia Minor. It was a region there in the Middle East above the Mediterranean Sea, right next to the Aegean Sea, right across from Greece. It's known as Turkey today, and Paul greatly desired to go and to minister in that area.

And here's what I find so interesting. And again, the emphasis that God is placing upon our time together this morning. God has a specific and perfect plan for your life. You know, the Apostle Paul, he was a great apostle and missionary. He went all over, starting churches, sharing the gospel. People were saved. Miracles were done. We would think that God would say, you know, Paul, you're preaching the word.

You're doing a wonderful job sharing the gospel. Wherever you go, people are being converted. So go wherever you want to go, Paul. Just you go and share the gospel. And so Paul wanted to preach the gospel in Asia. But the interesting thing is God says no. Paul attempts. Now, we don't know how the Holy Spirit told him no. It says that the Holy Spirit forbade them or did not permit them.

It might have been through circumstances, through revelation, through not having a peace. We don't know. But for whatever reason and however way that he chose, God told him, no, do not go preach the gospel in Asia. Sounds maybe contrary to what we might think because don't the people of Asia need the gospel message? Don't they need to hear about Jesus and receive forgiveness for their sins? Paul desired to go.

But God said no. So then it goes on to tell us that he tries to go into the area of Bithynia. It's just north of Asia. And again, God says, no, you can't go there and share the gospel. Why?

You know, in Matthew chapter 28, we all have read that and heard that before. The great commission there that Jesus gives to his disciples, go therefore into all the world. And Paul is endeavoring to do this. Yet we find that it doesn't mean just go anywhere. But God had a specific place for Paul to go. Just as for you and me.

God has a specific and perfect plan for our lives. The Apostle Paul attempted to go and was not successful. And there will be times in your life that you will try something for God and it will not succeed. Maybe you've already experienced some times like that. You tried witnessing to that person or loving that person. You tried starting a Bible study or a time of prayer.

You tried going on a missions trip or you attempted this or attempted that and it was not successful. It did not succeed. Those times can be very discouraging after those times where we just feel like we've failed God.

Often we have the attitude after that and feeling the discouragement, we decide, you know, I'm not going to try that again. I'm not going to do something like that again. It's hurtful. It's painful. And God, you didn't come through. So I'm not going to do that again. But, you know, we need to learn from the example of the Apostle Paul here. You know, he tried and the Spirit said no. And so he tried a different way, a different area. And the Spirit said no.

He didn't know why. God hadn't revealed anything to him yet, but he kept going. He did not give up. Why was that? Why was he able to press forward like that and not give up? I suggest to you that it's because Paul believed the things that he wrote. As he wrote the book of Philippians, he didn't write the things that he wrote just because they sounded good, but because the things that he wrote are the truth. And he believed it with all of his heart.

The first principle that we find in the Apostle Paul here from the book of Philippians is Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, where Paul says, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Here in Acts chapter 16, we have that demonstrated for us. He writes it later to the Philippians, encouraging them, but he's living it out now here in Acts chapter 16. He has confidence that God who began the work in him would be faithful to complete it. He did not just write it to make the Philippians feel good. He believed it. And so when the doors closed, he didn't stress. He didn't freak out.

figuring that he had failed God, nor did he get discouraged and quit, but he kept pressing forward because he knew that God would be faithful to do what he wanted to do and to work in Paul the things that he wanted to work. And the same thing is true for you and I. God will be faithful to complete the work in your life. So don't give up. Keep going. Keep on trying. Keep on attempting things for God. And you will see him open the doors of

that he wants. God has a specific and perfect plan for your life. Bless you. The first thing we must do to walk in that specific and perfect plan, we learn from the Apostle Paul, it's be confident because he will complete the work that he began. As we go on in Acts chapter 16, now we're in verse 9. Let's read 9 through 12 together.

And it says,

And the next day to Neapolis. And from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. So Paul, in his confidence that God will complete the work he began, just keeps pressing forward. Tried to go to Asia? No. Tried to go to Bithynia? No.

So he ends up at Troas and there God gives him an open door. God gives him specific direction because he has a specific plan for him. He sends him to the area of Macedonia with a vision, a vision of a man calling for him to come and help.

Quick side note here, Luke is the author of the book of Acts. And here in verse 10, we find that he joins with Paul and Silas on their missionary journey. In verse 10, you'll notice it says, now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia. All the pronouns prior to this, Luke used they, they did this, they went there, this happened to them. But now he joins them and he's with them for this missionary journey.

But here's the specific plan for Paul. God says, here's what I want you to do, Paul. Go to Macedonia. And he has a work there for Paul to do. In verse 13 of Acts chapter 16, it says, And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us.

Now here we see the Apostle Paul apply another principle that he teaches in the book of Philippians.

You might be familiar with chapter 2 of the book of Philippians, where there emphasized and clearly demonstrated for us is the humility and servanthood of Jesus Christ. And the call for us to have that same mind as Christ, the mind of humility and the mind to put others before ourselves.

To serve one another. Philippians chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 says, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Paul goes on in that portion to tell us to have the same mind as Christ, who was equal with God, but humbled himself and became a servant and became obedient to the point of death. Now, if I was the Apostle Paul, I might do things a little bit differently. You'll notice that Paul does not go and

He doesn't stand on a street corner and begin to shout to all those who pass by that God had given him a vision and here he was to help them. He doesn't go to the top officials of the city and tell them and announce to them that, hey, help has arrived. Here I am. God has sent me to help you. He doesn't go with some grand scheme or plan. In fact,

Here in Philippi, he's not even able to perform his usual method of ministering the gospel. We find the Apostle Paul time and time again. His normal method of operation was that he would go into a city and he would go to the synagogue. And he would share the gospel with the Jews of the synagogue for a week or two or however long they let him. But finally, they would kick him out.

They would get so upset with him, and he would then minister to the Gentiles in that region. In fact, in Acts chapter 17, as Paul moves on from Philippi and goes to Thessalonica, we find him doing just that, ministering in the synagogue and then being kicked out ministering to the Gentiles. Now, Philippi did not have a synagogue. It had a very small Jewish population because it required 10 Jewish men

in order to have a synagogue. And so there was not a strong Jewish presence there. And so Paul goes, he doesn't have a synagogue to minister in, but that doesn't faze him. He's not going to do his normal routine or to perform some grand scheme or plan. He goes and he just looks for any opportunity to serve the Lord. And he ends up, God leads him, he goes to a prayer meeting. As the women who believed in God

would meet by the riverside to pray. Paul joins them and has the opportunity to share the gospel with them. And as we read, Lydia, one of the women there who feared God, she receives the gospel message. Her whole household believes, and they're baptized and saved. So here we find Paul. He has this vision. He goes. God gives him this opportunity, and this family is saved.

Now, you might be wondering at this point, what about me? You know, how can I find out God's perfect plan for my life? And I say that we do that by following Paul's example. How do we find this plan? By humbling ourselves and serving as God gives us opportunity. You know, maybe you heard Dion's message last week in Philippians.

And he said, you know, I do want to do my part in the body of Christ. I just don't know what part that is. I don't know what I'm called to do. I don't know what I'm gifted to do. And that's okay. We've all experienced that and felt that. Sometimes regularly and routinely we feel that. I don't know my part. I don't know my place. I don't know what I'm gifted. And when you are in that position, the best thing to do is just serve wherever there's a need.

And God will direct you from there because he does have a specific and perfect plan for your life. As we saw in Philippians 1.6, to walk in that, the first thing we must do is be confident because he will complete the work that he began in us. And so just serve him wherever with confidence, knowing that he will complete the work. You don't have to figure it out or know everything. Just have confidence in him and allow him to do that work.

And the second thing is we just looked at Philippians chapter 2. In order for us to live this life, the specific and perfect plan that God has for us, we need to be humble and serve others like Jesus did, serving wherever there's opportunity.

The account goes on in Acts chapter 16. I'll summarize some of the next few verses for you. Verses 16 through 24. Paul continues to stay there with Lydia who had given her life to the Lord as well as her household. And Paul is there ministering to her whole house. And they go daily, regularly to pray. Every day they go and there's this demon-possessed girl that would follow them shouting out that Paul was there to preach the gospel and

Paul, after many days, it says he becomes annoyed or disturbed by her. And so he turns around and he he cast the demon out of her. Well, her masters do not like this very much because they were using her because she was demon possessed. She was able to make them lots of money as a fortune teller. But now.

Without the demon inhabiting her, they're not able to do that. And so they become upset and they drag Paul and Silas before the authorities and they charge them with teaching a religion against Rome, something that's illegal. And as a result, they're beaten. Paul and Silas, they're beaten and put in prison. Verse 23 of Acts 16 says, And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Now, I want you to think about this for just a moment. Would you consider this a successful mission trip?

If all of a sudden we said, you know, hey, we want to join Pastor Tommy's doing some new trip to Taiwan and we go and we all get beaten after one family gets saved. We all get beaten and put in prison and we say, yes, success. We accomplish what we wanted to accomplish. If you were in Paul's shoes at this point, would you be tempted or more than that? Would you just say, forget it? I quit. I've done enough, gone through enough. No more.

But here we find the third principle from the Apostle Paul. The third thing that he shares from Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 through 14, which says, Not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Now, going back to the beginning, Paul is kept from going into Asia and ministering the gospel there. God tells him, no, you can't go into Bithynia. He goes to Philippi.

in obedience. He successfully converts one family, casts out one demon, but now he's been beaten with many strifes and put in prison. Is it time to quit? Not for Paul. No way. Paul says, you know, I haven't finished my work yet. I haven't completed all that God had called me to. He presses on.

He doesn't decide that, you know, well, now it's time to retire. I've gone through enough. He presses on and presses on, forgetting what is behind, forgetting the good as well as the bad, not resting on the accomplishments that he's done for God in the past, not worried about the injustices and wrongs that have been done to him in the past. He forgets everything. It's gone to him, and he presses on his focus, his goal to reach forward, to move.

Do the things that God has called them to do. We see this evidence as we continue on in Acts chapter 16. Let's read again, starting in verse 25. It says, but at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.

Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to them and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized.

Now when they had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. So here's Paul in prison, having been beaten with many stripes. He's chained to the wall, and there he is, moaning and groaning, whining and crying. Is that what it says? No. What's he doing? Verse 25, he's praying and singing hymns. He's singing hymns.

To God. Paul, you know, Paul is sincere. And again, he meant what he wrote in the letter to the Philippians. He just desires to be close to God. He's straining forward, even having been beaten, even in prison. He's straining forward in his relationship with God. And he's straining forward to serve God however he can. He's not putting on a show. He's worshiping.

You know, I look at this and I think, man, how many times have I not worshipped because I've had a headache or a bad day or a difficult week? But the Apostle Paul, he's straining forward. He's pushing forward. He desires to know God. In Philippians 3.8, Paul says, you know, I count all things as lost that I may gain, that I may know the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord.

He desires earnestly relationship with God, closeness to God. Now, as I continue to remind you, God has a specific and perfect plan for your life. And so, number one, to walk in this plan, you need to be confident that he will complete the work that he began in you. Number two, you need to be humble and serve others like Jesus did. And number three, you need to be reaching, forgetting the past,

and straining forward. You and I must learn to be like Paul, that no matter what the circumstances, we forget everything that's behind us, and we push forward, press forward in relationship with God, not satisfied with the relationship that we have currently, not satisfied in what we've done for God, but putting those things in the past, forgetting them, and straining forward to be closer to God.

to go deeper with God, to accomplish more in his name for his glory, and to see others come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You know what I find amazing is Paul, on the road to Damascus, he had an encounter with Jesus Christ.

And that took place in Acts chapter 9. You can look at that at a later time. But it took place approximately between the years 38 and 40 A.D. 38 and 40. Now, Acts chapter 16, what we've been reading, this account takes place about 11 years after that in the year 51 A.D. The letter to the Philippians that Paul is writing that we'll be studying over the next few weeks, he wrote 11 years later.

After Acts 16, at about A.D. 62 or 63. So at the time of Philippians, when Paul pens the words there in chapter 3 that we read, 12 through 14, about him pressing on and straining forward, he has been a believer for at least 20 years, maybe more, 25 to 30 years. He's been walking with God, and 25 years later,

After his conversion, he's still stretching and reaching and pressing and endeavoring everything he has in him to know God and to be obedient to him. Are you reaching like that this morning? Are you endeavoring with everything within you, pressing forward, putting all the things behind you that are in the past and saying, I don't care anymore. I want more of Christ in my life. I want to do more for him. I want to walk with him.

Put yourself in Paul's shoes for a moment. Not only is he there and he's straining forward in his relationship with God, praying and singing hymns to God in the prison, but he's straining forward in his service to God. Would you have shared the gospel with that jailer? This earthquake happens. You're all set free. The jailer is about to kill himself. Now, I think I might have said you deserve it.

You know, he might not have been involved in the beating of Paul and Silas, but he's the co-worker. He represents the same thing. He would have, if he would have had the opportunity, he put them in prison. He's guarding them unjustly. But Paul, he stops him from killing himself. Not only that, but he shares the gospel message with him. This is amazing to me. He's pressing forward, pressing on, wanting to see another life impacted for Jesus Christ.

You know, after a long day's work, I wonder, would you and I share the gospel with someone? A difficult week or year, things aren't comfortable or good for us. Do we strain forward? Do we press on to serve the Lord, to share the gospel? You get the picture. We must press toward the goal.

We must reach forward to Jesus Christ, to know him and to share him with others. God has a specific and perfect plan for your life. So you must be confident as you endeavor to walk in this specific and perfect plan. Be confident. He will complete the work that he began in you.

You must be humble and serve others like Jesus did, putting their needs above your own. We must be reaching, not satisfied with our current position in Christ, our accomplishments for Christ, but reaching forward, forgetting the past and seeking to grab hold of that for which Christ Jesus has grabbed hold of us. And finally, fourthly this morning, the fourth principle we learn from the Apostle Paul,

that we may learn to walk in the specific and perfect plan that God has for us. Be joyful. You can do all things in Christ. Be joyful because you can do all things through Christ. We find this in Philippians chapter 4.

I combined two verses together, verse 4 and verse 13. Verse 4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice.

In Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Over and over throughout this epistle, Paul says, rejoice, have joy. Here he is in prison, having been in prison for over two years, yet he has this great joy. Why? Because he knows he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, The Christian life is not supposed to be this drudgery or burden that sometimes we allow it to be. But you and I must choose, like Paul, to rejoice. Whatever you're facing this morning,

Whatever circumstances are in your life right now, no, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Look to him. Let him be your strength and you will have great joy. The burden is lifted off of us. We don't have to do it. It doesn't have to be our strength. We don't have to figure it out.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You know, Jesus said in John chapter 15, verse 11, he said, I've spoken to you these things that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. The Christian life is to be abundant with joy because it's a life where we walk and God fights the battles and God has the victories and God gives the strength. It's a life relied upon him.

Galatians 5.22 talks about the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. As the Spirit is working in our hearts and in our lives, there's to be great joy within us. And if you do not have great joy this morning, know this. Your strength is not in Jesus Christ. Your eyes aren't where they should be. He says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. As we keep our eyes on the Lord.

And we look to him for strength, knowing that we can do all things through him. We can have great joy. How do I know? Because here's Paul in prison. In Acts chapter 16, he was imprisoned. Several times throughout his next missionary journeys, he's imprisoned. But here is he pens the letter to the Philippians, imprisoned, waiting to appear before Caesar. He's been there for at least two years, having suffered, undergone horrible things.

Yet he has great joy. And we find this to be the most joyful of all his letters. Why? Because his strength is in Christ. And here his focus is on Christ. And he learns, I can do everything. It doesn't matter what's before me. I can overcome it through Jesus Christ. As we close this morning, God has a specific purpose.

And perfect plan for your life. Walk in it. By applying these four principles that we learned from the Apostle Paul. Number one, be confident. He will complete the work that he began in you. If you attempt to do things for God and it does not succeed, that's okay. Don't stress. You're not a failure. You haven't failed God. He's still going to be faithful to complete the work that he began in you. Keep going. Keep trying.

Trust and believe. Maybe you've stumbled and fallen. You've gone back into some areas of sinful activity. Or you've allowed the enemy to be victorious over different parts of your life. Be confident. Turn back to God now. And know that he will complete the work that he began in you. He hasn't abandoned you. He's right here with you. And he wants to finish the work. The second principle we need to apply is we need to be humble.

Just serve others as Jesus did. Look around you. There's so many who have needs. There's many needs here at the fellowship. Areas where there's opportunities to serve. There's needs within the body. People next to you. Opportunities to serve them. Coworkers. Family. People broken down on the side of the road or you run into at the grocery store. Wherever. Just be humble. Be humble.

And serve as God gives you opportunity. The third principle is be reaching. Don't be satisfied with where you are in Christ now. Forget about those times and those things that you've done. Those accomplishments and the successful things that you've done for Christ. Paul says, I put everything behind me and I strain forward. Go deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Seek to know him. That's the wonderful thing about God. You know, you can dwell with him and commune with him daily for 100 years, for 500 years, or 1,000 years, like we see some of the guys in the Old Testament. And every day, there's opportunity to go closer, to go deeper, to know him more, for him to reveal himself to you again and again and again. Don't be complacent with your relationship with God.

Reach forward. Press on. Get to know him. Be passionate about him. Draw close to him. Press on also in your service. Don't be satisfied. I've done enough for Jesus. I've accomplished enough. Paul, 25 years later, he's pushing forward.

There's still more work to be done. God still has things for you to do, works for you to accomplish, ways for you to serve him. Press on. Don't be satisfied with what you've done, but look forward to the things that he has in store. Finally, fourthly, be joyful. Don't be bummed out and freaked out about all the things that could happen or might happen or have happened. Be joyful. Rejoice in the Lord.

Find great joy in him, knowing that he is your strength and that whatever comes to you comes through the filter of his love. And he has this specific, perfect plan for your life. And as you're obedient to him, you can do all things through Christ. There's nothing that you can't accomplish that God has set before you. There's nothing that he will allow you to go through that will be too hard for you.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. So rejoice. Relax. And take comfort and hope in that. Look to him for strength. You know, we could easily think, well, that's the Apostle Paul. You know, he was this super apostle, this magnificent. He was a cut above the rest. That's why God used him so much. He was way above average. I'm just an average guy or girl. That's not what Paul says.

Paul expects us to follow his example. In Philippians chapter 4 verse 9, he says, You and I, because we can do all things through Christ, we are able to live the same type of life as the Apostle Paul.

To have the same dynamic and passion and fervor. He's no different than us. We all stand at the cross as broken, sinful people. And through Christ, we can do all that he leaves before us. And so you and I, this morning, let's endeavor. Let's take the steps to walk in that perfect, specific plan that God has for us. Being confident, being humble, being reaching, and being joyful.

Now this morning, you might be here and maybe you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You might be listening to this and you might not remember a time where you've had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, where you've been born again. God's plan for you is specific. He has it laid out in front of you. It begins with you receiving the gift of forgiveness for your sins. And you do it simply by asking. I want to encourage you. I beg you. I beseech you.

Receive God's free gift of forgiveness. Jesus Christ dying on the cross for you. Receive it for yourself. He died for your sins. He paid the price and washed it all away. And as you receive him, believe him at his word that by putting your faith and trust in him, you have eternal life. Believe it. Receive it. Simply by asking God to come in and give you a new heart and make you born again. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,

I do thank you for your word and the example that you've given to us in the Apostle Paul. Lord, I pray that you would help us to walk in this plan that you've laid before us. Lord, to go forward in all the things that you have in store, looking for your will to be accomplished. Your kingdom come, your will be done, God. And so, Lord, in seeking to do that, we ask that you would help us to be confident.

Lord, that we wouldn't be bummed out or discouraged over things that we've tried and haven't been successful. But God, we would be confident in you that you're going to do the work in us. And Lord, we look to you and ask that you would continue to mold us into your image. Make us more like you, Jesus. Lord, as we seek to fulfill your plan for our lives, we ask that you would help us then to humble ourselves like you did.

Help us, Lord, to humble ourselves and to serve others, to put their needs above our own. God, that we would look not to accomplish things for our glory or our own agenda, but, God, we would look for every opportunity that you lay before us and that we would serve those you bring into our lives and we would be obedient to the opportunities that you give us. God, as we endeavor to fulfill this plan that you have for us, we ask, Lord, that you would help us to be reaching God

that we would not be satisfied or complacent, but God, we would hunger and thirst for righteousness, that we would thirst for more of you, that we would crave our time with you, relationship to you, Lord, that every day we would seek to be closer and closer and deeper and deeper, to know you more. God, may you be our passion. And Lord, may we be reaching in areas of service,

Lord, even if it's been a long day or a week or a hard life, God, may we be striving earnestly and eagerly to take advantage of those opportunities that you give us. Lord, I pray that you would even allow us to see the fruit of it as Paul got to see the Philippian jailer saved and his whole family saved. Lord, I pray that this week for us, we would strive for those opportunities that

And that you would allow us to see the fruit. People coming to the knowledge of you. Confessing you as their Savior and Lord. God, as we endeavor to walk in this plan that you've laid out for us, help us to be joyful. Lord, we thank you that you don't require our strength. But Lord, you require us to look to you for strength. For us to allow you to do the work for us, through us, and on our behalf. God, may we take great joy in you.

rejoicing in you always because of how great you are, how wonderful you've been to us. Lord, and if any don't know you as their Savior and Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would open their eyes to see the first step in the plan that you have for them. Lord, it's specific and it's perfect. You want to give them mercy and grace and forgiveness. May they receive you by asking you into their heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.