[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find
[email protected] dot. Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: We are studying this book, this letter from Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, and we have entitled this series of lessons. This is living. Now, I don't know what you think of when you think of this is life or this is living, but in my mind, it's probably like on a hammock somewhere in a tropical place. Maybe some sand, maybe a little bit of wind, a little bit of shade, maybe nice refreshment. And just being there in that peace and rest, listening to the waves crash, those kinds of things. In my mind, that sounds like living, right? That sounds like peace and rest and enjoyment and those kinds of things. And yet, when we think about this book, what we are finding is that in the book of Philippians, there's at least 18 overt mentions of either joy or rejoicing. And so when you look at this book, it's very, very positive. And what makes that so challenging for us to understand is that Paul is writing it from a prison to the church at Philippi. So when you hear all of these voices of optimism, all these expressions of joy, it doesn't. It seems kind of bizarre, doesn't it? It feels like it's a little bit out of place on some level. And yet, when we think about it, there's probably times in our own lives that we've gone through circumstances where maybe somebody said something, we were in a crisis or in some kind of challenge, someone says something that changes your perspective and invites you into a different way of looking at things. And it sort of changes the whole moment, you know, and changes the whole circumstance that you find yourself in to the point where you begin embracing those things. I'll give you an example of this. Years ago in youth ministry, we would do a yearly trip to the Ocoee, and we would go whitewater rafting. A lot of fun. It started out with probably 15 or 20 people and then it kind of grew and developed and. And got bigger and bigger. And we had a group that was. That was so big, we found a really great outfitter that would always take care of us. But one year, they called us and said, it seems to me that you have said you've got this many people, and we don't have a facility that holds that number of people, so we can't let you do that. And I said, oh, we've got people that are willing to, like, sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. They don't mind at all. We do this all the time, and it's not a big deal. They're like, well, you may not have a problem with it, but our codes say otherwise. And so they called me here at the last minute to say, find. You're going to have to find another place if you bring these people.
So we began scurrying and found a larger outfitter that was, you know, able to take us in, and they had places for us. And they sold me on this concept of what we. What they called cabin tents. I said, most people actually prefer these. They're very comfortable. They're very good. You know, you. It's very air, you know, airy and open and those kinds of things. And so we had in our mind that this might work. And so we booked it, and we went, well, we got there, folks, I just got to tell you. It wasn't what you were thinking, okay? It was basically like a military grade canvas tarp that was put over these big four posts of wood, and it had a wooden deck, so you were exposed, so to speak, but you weren't. There was no air flow in it. Like, it completely blocked all that. There was no electricity in it, and it was one bunk right after. It was, like, really, really oppressive. And, in fact, between each bunk was like a really little, small wiggle room. And they had, say they had these lanterns that you would hang up inside this cabin tent that was supposed to light everything up. Well, none of those lanterns, they had any batteries in them, so, like, it was just awful across the board. And so we went from these nice, you know, this, like, bunk house with air conditioning and us being together to really kind of a rough, rough situation. And the people, I can see it. The people who went on that trip are already smiling because they remember this trip so much. So we talked to the people, and we didn't express our disgust, but we just. They could tell that we were disappointed in our arrangements. Okay, I'll just say it that way. And so they said, hey, we have decided that we are going to do something for your group that's special. And I said, okay, great. Sounds awesome. Well, what is it? And they said, tubing. And, of course, if you're on the, you know, on a lake somewhere, you think of tubing as being drugged behind on a boat. But if you think about tubing from the standpoint of a koi, this is what you may have in your mind, that it would be like a really comfortable, like, slow flowing river, you know, peaceful wind, you know, hanging out with your friends, talking. You know, they got these big inflatable things that you got little handles on them, and you can just lean almost like you're in a lawn chair in your backyard and the water's trickling. And of course, if you're around obnoxious teenagers, they're all standing up on those things, like chicken fighting and stuff. But for us, it was like, that will be very relaxing after not getting a good night's sleep, having kind of a not great experience so far. That will be just perfect if we could just go down that river. Well, what I want to tell you is things started changing a little bit when they asked us if we would load up our own inner tubes, hook up their trailer, take it to a place, and then they said, we'll drop you off there and show you where it is, and then we'll show you where you need to leave a vehicle to put, pick up and take people back. And that kind of thing. It was a real confusing thing. But as we're loading up these inner tubes, what we realize is some of these inner tubes are, like, what look like motorcycle tires, okay? They're really, really thin. Like, there's a big hole in the middle. Like, how am I going to sit on that? And then they have, like, these five inch valve stems. You know what I'm talking about? Like, this is a legitimate inner tube, okay? And so when you get on that thing, it's, like, poking it, you know, it's awful, all right? And. But we get. We get those things, and they're aired up, and we load them up and we go to the place, and they. It doesn't look anything like this, okay? And I'm exaggerating when I say it looked like this, because what happened is we were not actually floating down the river. I mean, you see that guy in the front there trying to. Trying to find a way to scoot down the river. It was almost miserable, okay? Not, it was miserable. And we're going down this. This river okay. And the water is so shallow. We're. We're basically, you know, deflating those inner tubes. And some people just have them wrapped over their shoulder. They're just walking down the river. It's three and a half miles of misery. Okay? Water's freezing cold. We're running down through there, and, I mean, we're. You can look, and you can see in the eyes of everyone there, this is. This is our extra blessing that we're getting. You know, it's awful. And I remember out of nowhere, I'm looking around, and I'm seeing all these people with purple lips. They're freezing cold. They're tired. They're exhausted. It's three and a half miles. It's not like walking three and a half miles. It's like, you know, every step is like this. And some people, you would be in conversation with them, and immediately they would bot them out. You would. You would hear them talking, and then you would not because they would be underwater. It was just so awful. And we're all looking at each other just in the misery. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I hear this voice, tubing.
And I looked back, and every one of those kids joined in with David Hargett, who started this mess tubing. Everybody started screaming and getting excited and, yeah. And every time someone would fall, yeah, it was. It was the most obnoxious thing ever.
But what took place in that moment is we gained a new perspective.
All of a sudden, we were enjoying things together. It was the most miserable experience. And I'm going to tell you, even to this day, of all the rafting trips I've ever taken, that one is the most memorable, because despite the circumstances, despite the situation, that one voice that screamed out something that we could all connect to changed the perspective and the rest of our memories of that trip. So I look back on it now, and I think, oh, man, what a great time, what great people I was with on that trip, and what an awesome experience we had, even though the experience itself was miserable.
Well, that takes me to this book of Philippians, because what I want you to understand is we can all absorb that terrible circumstance that we find ourselves in, or we can change our perspective, and we can lighten our heart a new attitude, and with that, gain a different perspective and really begin to not just embrace the things that we're going through, but find the joy in the middle of it. And so last week, Peter. I don't think Peter was here preaching last week. Last week, Andrew, who was another apostle, but not that Apostle Andrew Edson spoke last week, and he shared this passage with us in Philippians, chapter one, verse 21. That says something effective, for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And what I want you to understand about that is, you know, Paul is telling us something very amazing here. He's saying, I'm finding myself in prison. And he pivots from his imprisonment, and now he's about to shift over into our responsibility and our response to these things. But here he just tells them this thing. He says, hey, for me to live as Christ, that means if I stay here in prison, and, by the way, he may not, Nero is the emperor at the time, so it could be that his life would end instantly.
But instead he says, if I live here, whether I'm here in the prison or whether I am out among you teaching, what I want you to understand is that's a gain. That's a good thing for me to live as Christ, that means I can go out and I can share people. That's my job and my responsibility here. But if I die, and, folks, we don't like to think about death this way, but if I die, it's even greater, because now I get to go and be with Jesus himself, and that's the whole pursuit of what he's doing anyway. So it's either I get to keep doing what I'm doing, or I get the fulfillment of what I'm doing. And so, either way, his perspective changed. And so he's saying, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain. Andrew made this statement. He said, I can't choose how long the chains will remain, but I get to make a choice about how I respond to them. And, man, Paul really showed us the right attitude. So he goes on to say, you know, convinced of this, I know that I'll remain and continue with you. And he says this, that I'm gonna do this with a couple of things in mind, and I'm gonna move on to these things. There's three reasons that Paul might remain.
He wasn't for sure, but there was a. He got some kind of indication that he would be remaining. And understand in those the three things that he says that I'm gonna do are all from a different perspective, right? It's not from these chains and from the shackles and from the burdens that I'm feeling. No. It's, I will be a part of the progress of the saints in Philippi. I'm going to spend my time doing what I can to encourage you guys through this letter, through other means, through other messengers, I'm going to find a way to help you continue to grow in your faith, but also I'm going to inspire joy in you. And in the same way, David Hargit, bless his silly heart and screaming his arm and jumping up and down in that, whatever, wasn't a creek, I don't even know what you call it, drainage ditch or something, in the same way that he changed the perspective of that environment. That's what Paul is saying. I want you to find your joy in the midst of whatever circumstance you're in. And then ultimately, whether I live or whether I die, it's to the glory of God. And I think that shapes the way we see things, right? It transforms our way of thinking to understand that we're here for a purpose. So he continues on here, and this is verse 27, he says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So when I think about this for just a minute, let my life be worthy of the, or my manner of life be worthy of the gospel. What does that mean? Well, I can't say that word. I've tried it a hundred times.
But that greek word, it comes from a root word. That is polis, and polis is the word that we get city from. Have you ever heard Indianapolis or metropolis or some of those other names? All of those with that polis at the end represent a city. And so this word that is used is used for the word conduct, but conduct becoming of a person who has a citizenship of their hometown. You ever heard your parents when you went off to church camp or any other place, or you went off to some kind of thing, and your parents will stop you and say, hey, remember where you came from. Remember who you are. Those kinds of things. Don't, don't drag our name through the ground. You do a good job and you represent yourself well. Well, the idea here is our behavior is becoming of the city. It's the representation of who we are, comes from, where we are from. And that's interesting, too, because I think about the number of people in this audience. We've got people who come to us from all different nations and countries. And even though they are here in this area, you can tell a little bit about them. I mean, is there any more german than Siegfried Bill? I mean, you know, he's a unique guy, right? I mean, we've got Wukosh and we've got, oh, goodness, there's others that I think of, but we've got so many people that come from different areas, and you can see a little bit of their culture, like the pride that they have in their citizenship. Now, this in particular would be very important to the people at Philippi because they had access to roman citizenship. They were a roman colony. So this idea of citizenship behaved like a person who gets these blessings is something that they would have caught. And while at the same time, Jesus Paul is going to talk to them a little bit about a different kind of citizenship, we'll get into that in chapter three, about their citizenship as not an earthly citizenship, but an eternal one. So following Jesus means that my way of life mirrors the values of my citizenship. And, of course, as he's changing their mentality from the here and now to something more spiritual that shapes the way we place our values. Right.
And then there's this word he says, walk worthy.
I don't know what this word does for anybody else in this room.
This word kind of gives me a little anxiety.
And I don't know if it's just because my surroundings, growing up, being a preacher's kid or different things, but when I think about the term word, the idea that I would be worth something, that I would, you know, have extra value, that I would find myself at an elevated state, is a really hard thing. But in the same vein, it's hard to imagine that I'm not worth anything. That's hard as well. And I think because we think about things and their value, their worth, oftentimes we do that unnecessarily to other people, and we place different values on different things. And I think that mentality causes us to say, hey, I'm not good enough. People are watching me. I feel like I'm under a microscope. I feel like people are looking at everything and criticizing every single thing that I do and say. And of course, when you're up here speaking, you're going to have words that come flying out of your mouth. Sometimes you go, oh, man, I wish I hadn't said that. And you just pray that people are not judging you for that. It's just really hard. And so you always feel like you've got to be on, like you can't make a mistake, like you can't fail. And so when I compare myself and my deficiencies to that of Jesus, and he is so righteous and I am so unrighteous when I compare myself to that, that is really hard for me because I don't feel very worthy. We even sing songs that say we are all unworthy, and we are, we're all sinners. We're separated from God on some level, and yet I want you to understand what this word means.
Axios means suitable, recognized as befitting, having worth that matches actual value.
Now take just a moment to think about the gospel, what Jesus has done for us, how he left heaven, came down to earth to show us our value by dying on the cross for each one of us. Do you understand? That's the actual value is what Jesus did, who he is, and what he accomplished for us. It's not about our worth at all. It's all about our worth in him.
And that changes everything about how we see ourselves. Because now I can hide in the shadow of Jesus Christ and say I am worthy, not because of my own doing, because of what he has done for me in bringing me to that word. See, he's the actual value. My job and my obligation as a Christian is to fall in love with what he's done for me and share that with other people. And that is what walking worthy is. It's our obligation to represent the values of our citizenship.
You've probably heard this story before.
Alexander Great, you know, has taken over the world, and his military was expanding and growing. And there was one evening where he went out among all of his people, and he went out to check on his military folks and was going around just encouraging them and talking to them and pressing them forward. And they had different people that were set at different posts all around the encampment who were supposed to be on the lookout for enemies. And of course, they come across one guy, and the guy is sound asleep. And so Alexander the Great is upset. He's like, wake him up. So they wake him up, and he wakes up, and he's startled, you know, and and he looks up, and he sees Alexander the Great.
And it has to be a moment of like, oh, no, what has happened? And so Alexander the great says, son, what is your name?
And he looked at him and said, alexander.
And he said, son, you either change your name or you change your behavior.
What he was telling him is, you're not being a good representation of who we are.
You're not owning up to your obligation. You're not wearing my name in the right way. Either change your name or change your behavior. And I think about all of us who have been baptized into Christ, who have died to ourselves. We've been buried and been raised up to walk in newness of life. Galatians three says, when that happens, we put on Christ. We clothe ourselves with him.
We become his property.
In fact, in acts chapter eleven, it says, the people who were following Jesus Christ, they were first called in that time christians belonging to Jesus.
And so we all wear his name. And the question is, are we representing him the way we ought to be? And it's just something for all of us to consider. AlexaNdER the great required that young man to be a better representation of who he was. And I think Jesus Christ would ask the same thing of us, to be the representation of the power of the gospel and how it can transform our lives. So in your manner of life, and again, understanding that, Paul talks later about a dual citizenship, citizenship of here, the things in your surroundings. And that's really important, by the way, because those are the people that we have an opportunity to touch and to influence and to lead closer to Jesus.
But then there's this citizenship in heaven which causes us to really think in terms of not the here and now, but how the here and now prepares us for what is later. And it gives us this focus to zero in on that as opposed to what we are in the midst of right now. And so is your manner of life more indicative of your earthly citizenship or your heavenly citizenship just something for us to think about?
He goes on to say, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. So here he is reminding them that this is not just something that I want you to understand as far as the concept of the gospel and those kinds of things, even though that's important, what I want to know is that this is changing you, that it is a consistent behavior. It's something that I can check on whether I'm here or whether I hear about you, that I'm going to know and see that you're practicing these things on a consistent level. This is really important because our calling is all about our identity, but our influence is so important by how we do this thing consistently.
And he talks about how we work together in this process.
What are some evidences of us standing firm in the truth? Again, these are just questions for us to pilfer over in our minds. What is the voice that we are using in our surroundings, around the people that we work with, that we, that we spend time with every day? What is the influence that we have on them? He's saying, I want to hear that you are standing firm, walking in the same mindset, in the same spirit, striving side by side. And so he goes on to say, this, that we are to move together. And again, there's a lot that's talked about with regard to unity later in this epistle, too, so we won't get too deep into this, but the idea of being of one spirit, one mind, striving side by side, that striving side by side is an athletic term. It's sum athleo. And that word has an athletic overtone to it. It's the idea of wrestling together for a common cause. It's competing against someone else for the win, for the victory. So it's the idea of pushing, pushing and doing what we can together in tandem. It's kind of like if you've ever been to field day and you've watched those three legged races where they tie two people and their legs together in the middle, and they kind of got their arms around each other and they're running a race, and you know what happens? One who thinks he's really fast will take out too quick, and they'll both end up falling, and it's just hopping up and falling again and again and again because they're not working together. But if you find that tandem of people that understand outside leg, then inside leg, outside inside, then they can move in tandem and be very smooth and they can get the victory. That's the word picture here is we are working together side by side, helping each other along the way, that if we're going to stand firm in the gospel, there's a need for us to do this side by side. And it says in the faith of the gospel. And what that means is my confidence, my trust in what Jesus has done for us. It's absolutely the reality that I've been changed as a result of what Christ has done for me. And that power is something amazing. Paul would later tell the Romans, you know, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for what it is, the power of God unto salvation. So it's our faith, our confidence in that power of the gospel to change people's hearts and lives. And it says with fearlessness. Paul actually says it this way, not frightened in anything by your opponents.
This is a clear sign of them, of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. Let me take you guys and some of you children, some of you, maybe young adults, to a movie called a bug's life.
It happened to be one of Kinsey's favorite growing up. She loved little dot. But it's a story about this colony of ants and them preparing food and having to prepare enough food, not only for themselves, but also the grasshopper chopper, or is that his name? I think of it. Hopper. Hopper was his name. And so they would gather food, and it was. It was kind of oppressive. They were fearful. Every time they, they saw that grasshopper coming in the shadows, they knew it was time to prepare ourselves and to give them the food. And so it's this big to do. And basically, the grasshopper is bullying them, and he's always intimidating them by taking one little ant and putting them on the ground and putting his foot on his head, saying, I can crush you like a little bug.
And as he does that, everybody is fearful of what hopper can do. They're scared of everything.
But then eventually, through a series of circumstances, they get fed up with it, and one little ant stands up to him, and he gets beaten up a little bit.
And what happens is other ants start coming to the rescue, and the next thing you know is there is an army of ants. And if you've ever seen a colony of ants, you know how many there are. And there's one grasshopper standing in front of them, and all of them together as an army. And they know now, because together they can defeat the enemy. And that's sort of what's happening here. Paul is reminding them, if you will have courage, if you will stand up for the truth, what's going to happen is your enemy is going to be blown away with your courage, and it's going to silence your critics.
And this passage in Matthew ten reminds us, don't be afraid of those who really don't have authority over your soul. You may suffer some things here in this life, but keep your allegiance with God.
Reminded of this story. You've probably heard this before, too, of a man named Telemachus. He was a guy in the, I think, fifth century, early fifth century, late third, I mean, late fourth, early fifth century, who left Asia Minor and went over into Rome. And as he was going into Rome, one of the things that he was very intrigued by is he had heard of the brutality and the mass killings that took place in the roman coliseum.
And so he heard that those were made games, and it kind of offended him and hurt his heart. He felt like Jesus had died for all of us so we could all be saved. He did not call us to be murderers and to make sport of those things. And so he went to the coliseum, jumped over the railing, and got onto the arena floor in the midst of two gladiators who were at war with each other. Well, the crowd started booing and all these kinds of things. He says, hey, in the name of Jesus, please stop this. He came to die for you, not for you to kill each other. For that we can be saved together. And people started throwing stones and rocks and everything that they had in their hands at him. And the story goes that either one of those gladiators turned on him and thinking to get a rise out of the crowd, like, thrust him through with his sword or with an axe to the head. But either way, what took place and transpired in that moment is Telemchus in his conviction and in his devotion to God to do the right thing and to speak, speak out about these things. He lost his life. He died right there on the arena floor.
But let me tell you what happened as a result of that.
Never again did they have gladiator wars in the roman coliseum.
Like, his courage, his conviction, spoke so loudly that he would be willing to get out there and risk his life and to say those things, that it caused a hush over the crowd.
And one of the emperors there, honorarius, declared that they would no longer have those games ever again.
Okay, he lost his life.
But again, if our citizenship is in heaven, then those kinds of things diminish our fears.
So we have to have that kind of courage to be that one voice.
Another question for you to consider, is my voice a godly and courageous one? When surrounded by moral deficiency in my environment, in the surroundings that I find myself, what do people recognize in my voice?
What is my representation? What is my citizenship? What can they know about me by the way I carry myself and by the way I live? I think God is reminding us that when we go through these things together, we lose our fear of the things that can. Can hurt us here in this life.
So he goes on to say, for it has been granted to you for the sake of Christ, that you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. Now, I don't know how you read that. I just read it and it's words, but it's almost like Paul is going, hey, now that you've heard all that stuff, join me. This is great. What I've got going on here is so fulfilling. It's so substantive, it's amazing. And he is inviting all of us, all of them and all of us now to engage in the conflict, understand that it's worth every bit of it, that what he's going through is still advancing the gospel. There's all kinds of things that are happening as a result of that. But more importantly is he is finding joy in his heart and serving God and understanding that the suffering that he's going through is a fulfillment of what Jesus said, that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
He grasps it, and so he says, it's been granted to you. That word has a grace overtone meaning, this is the blessing that you receive as being a part of follower of Christ. That seems so bizarre to our mindset because we like things so comfortably. And yet here Paul is reminding them, this is worth the fight. So he says, for the sake of Christ, have full confidence in Jesus. You know, Jesus was very clear when he spoke. He said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except by me.
He also told people, if you don't believe that I am he, meaning the Son of God, you will die in your sins.
And later, when some people were getting frustrated and kind of running off in John, chapter six, there's a part there where Jesus looks at his apostles, are you guys going to leave, too? And Peter says something so amazing. He said, who else do we go to? Who else would we go to? You are the one that have the words of eternal life.
Jesus was the focal point. And I think all of us need to have confidence in that. There's no other way. It is the only way. And in this battle that we face, it is part of it is that confidence that he is who he says he is. But the second thing is perspective in suffering. I already talked about this. First, Peter is a whole letter that's written about christian suffering, about how we can rejoice even in those difficult times. And then finally, for the sake of Christ, be willing to tackle the difficult conversations and the struggles that you find yourself in. Those things are going to help us. Maturity is accelerated when we go through these things together and we're working and pressing forward and standing firm. It gives us the ability to have that growth inside of our heart that helps us feel stronger. So he talks about suffering. Let me give you quick four things that I think suffering does for us.
First thing is it helps us to find humility.
He would say, well, that's not a great thing. Well, maybe sometimes it is.
Whenever we go through a difficult time, one of the things that we can know for sure is that we're no different than anybody else. God tells us that he's not a respecter of persons. I mean, everybody's gonna have those moments where you're going through different trials, and when those things happen, just understand, hey, I'm no better than anybody else. It just allows me to receive what's coming next. The second thing is this. In that process of finding that humility, you also discover a refinement in yourself. You start asking questions, what could I do differently? How can I absorb this? How can I move forward? How can my mindset be better? And in that process, you begin to change behaviors, and you start doing things differently, and it. And it kind of boosts your spirit a little bit. So you find that refinement. But then also, after you've been through these kind of difficulties, what happens is God takes that struggle that you've gone through, and he opens up your eyes to other people who are going through those things. I have seen some of our widows and widowers here reach out to other widows and widowers to help them through their time. Their struggle, their difficulty, became their ministry. And then finally this. When you see all of that happening, when you walk through that humility, you see the refinement. You find yourself being able to minister as others. What happens naturally is you discover on your own the joy of Jesus Christ, of following him and trusting in him. He just lightens that up in your heart.
And then he reminds us to engage in these things.
And that's a very fourth forthwith kind of thing. It's assertive on our part. It means that I am going to take that next step, and I'm going to lay hold of this. I'm going to seize it. So let me give you three takeaways and then an action step for the day.
The first one is we can own our citizenship, and we can find joy in owning that. If we transition our mindset away from the here and now and we look toward heaven, we can lay claim on that, and we can find the joy of that. We talked about this. Suffering makes us stronger. If we have the right perspective and we allow that suffering to refine us, it's going to make us a better christian. And then finally, standing firm silences our critics. Let's have that mindset that we're all working together, side by side, for one cause, and just watch how that builds our confidence, and it silences the critics that are around us.
So I'm inviting all of us to do this. And the first word of this challenge is yours. It's choose.
You have an opportunity to choose how you're gonna move forward in your life.
You can live worthy of the calling, but it first takes place when you recognize what Jesus has done for you. And because we know that we're moved by it and we're shaped by it, and we're called to greater things as we work alongside one another in obeying the gospel, living out the gospel in our lives. Today, this morning, I hope that there's someone who is willing to be that courageous person, that one voice that speaks up and says, I want to be right with God. They need encouragement. They need support. They need love.
Maybe there's someone who needs refinement. I pray, whatever it may be, that you'll find it in your heart to come forward so we can pray for you and work with you and love you and support you in ways that maybe you've not been supportive before. And if you have a need this morning, please come while we stand and sing.
