(Through the Bible) Philippians

Okay, let's turn now to Paul's letter to the Philippians, Philippians and chapter 1. We've been trying to see in each letter the main theme of that letter and we could sum up the theme of Philippians in one verse found in chapter 2, verse 5. Have this attitude in yourself which was in Christ Jesus. Having the mind of Christ or having the attitude of Christ, that is the theme of Philippians and everything he writes there basically works towards that goal. There's a lot of emphasis on joy in this letter.

He says in chapter 1, verse 4, always offering prayer with joy in every prayer I pray for you. And towards the end in chapter 4, verse 4 also he says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say unto you rejoice. Now it's very interesting to see that Paul writes about joy so much from a prison.

Philippians was written when Paul was in prison and he's not writing in an easy chair, living comfortably and writing about joy. It's one thing to talk about joy when all your circumstances are easy and comfortable. It's quite another thing to talk about joy when your circumstances are difficult and you're in prison.

And Paul writing about joy in Philippians more than in any other letter shows that it's possible for a Christian to have joy under all circumstances because that is the mind of Christ. That's the attitude of Christ. You remember when Jesus spoke about joy the most in John chapter 15 just a few hours before he was crucified on the last night he said these things have I spoken unto you that your joy may be full.

John chapter 15 and 16. No one can take away your joy. I want to give you my joy.

It's like a man who's going to be hanged tomorrow going around encouraging people today. Say I just want to encourage you fellas I saw joy in my heart and he's going to be hanged tomorrow morning. That would be an amazing Christian testimony.

And that's what we see here in Paul. Paul had the mind of Christ the attitude of Christ and he was also full of joy and those days prisons were much worse than prisons today. They were dark dungeons full of rats and mosquitoes and all types of creeping insects and no beds you just slept on the floor and maybe a little straw and no proper food no light.

And sitting there he was full of joy and writing this fantastic letter. So remember as you read this letter that this is a man living in a deep dungeon for preaching the gospel and he's got no tears for his own problems. He doesn't want any sympathy feeling sorry for me because I'm here struggling for the gospel.

No. Full of joy. So many times you see believers trying to get other people's sympathy because they're having a little difficulty a little trial here.

What a lesson we can get from the apostle writing this letter to the Philippians. He says first of all he doesn't say a word about his sufferings. He says I thank my God and all my remembrance of you.

I can imagine that he wrote that after a whole night of being bitten by mosquitoes and trying to avoid the rats that were crawling around the dungeon floor and the insects and things that were there and he probably didn't even have a lot of warm clothing in the cold in that place wherever he was. We don't know exactly part of the time he was in a house where he was permitted to stay and even there he was a prisoner whether he wrote it there or in a dungeon we don't know but it was certainly not pleasant circumstances and in the midst of that he says I just praise the Lord whenever I think of you Philippian Christians. His joy came not from his circumstances his joy came from the result of his work in Philippi.

Many years earlier he had got a vision saying come to Macedonia and help us he had followed that vision and he had gone there and led people to the Lord who was imprisoned in Philippi and they had seen him praising the Lord there and the Philippian jailer was probably an elder in the church now in Philippi by now and he would have remembered he would have told other people I saw this man rejoicing in the prison in Philippi and now he writes this letter and he thanks God his joy was found in that he had spent his life usefully for the Lord. You know when you come to the end of your life the thing that will bring you joy is the fact that in the days when God gave you health and strength you did not spend it making money you spent it serving the Lord building the church gathering people to be established in his kingdom. Think of it now so that when you come to the end of your life like Paul you can thank God for what's happened there.

Always offering prayer for you Paul was a great prayer warrior he prayed for God's people all the time everywhere he didn't just preach to them he prayed for them a true servant of God not only preaches but prays for his people and he says to them I'm absolutely convinced that what God has begun verse 6 he will complete in the day of Christ. Verse 7 it's right for me to feel like this because I have you in my heart. I told you in another session that if you want to have a prophetic word from God for his people you must have two things in your heart you must have God's word in your heart and you must have God's people in your heart.

If you have God's word in your heart and those people in your heart then God will give you a word for those people. If you've only got God's word and not those people he cannot give you a word for them. If you only have the people in your heart and not God's word again he cannot give you a word for them but if you have God's word and his people on your heart you carry them there he'll always have a word for through you for those people.

So because Paul carried these people in his heart like Aaron had the names of all the twelve tribes over his heart Paul carried certain people he couldn't carry everybody in the world but those whom God had given him responsibility for he carried them on his heart. If ever you serve God and you have to serve people please learn to carry them on your heart and then you'll always even if you speak one sentence it will bless them.

God will give you prophetic words to bless them and so God gave him a prophetic letter here to bless those people the secret was he had those people in his heart and he longed for them verse 8 with the affection of Christ Jesus and he prayed for them that their love would increase and there's one thing I want to point out to you in verse 9 he says when your love increases I know you love one another I'm praying for you that your love will increase in discernment love without discernment can be dangerous your love must increase in discernment so that you approve the things that are excellent above the things that are good there's a proverb in English which says the good is the enemy of the best how do you what is the meaning of that supposing you're going to a shop to buy a pressure cooker

or a tape recorder and you find one say that's so good was that price and you don't look around anymore and you buy it and after you come home somebody tells you do you know that for the same price you could have got another pressure cooker or tape recorder which is at least three or four times better than this you got a good one but the good was the enemy of the best for the same price you could have done a far better one so we don't do evil things we do good things but there's the best things like the other day we spoke about unrighteous righteous and lawful so he says I'm praying that your love will grow in discernment so that you can approve not just the things that are good but the things that are excellent in other words not just a good way to serve the Lord but the best way to

serve the Lord not just a good message to preach but the best message to preach not just a good way to help people but the best way to help people that requires discernment not just a good word to share with a person who's in need but the best word to share with that person who's in need like a doctor says I don't want to just give him a good treatment I want to give him the best treatment but for that the doctor has to love that person if it's the doctor's own relative or son or daughter he'll want the best treatment yeah if it's just some patient from the street say okay I'll give him some good treatment if you love people you'll want to give them the best do you desire to give them the best I often think of people who invite me for a meal how they take so much trouble to prepare the

very best for me and I say Lord when I stand in the pulpit and I give God's Word to people I must do the same as that housewife has taken so much trouble to make the best meal for me I must give the best but for that you must love then he talks about his imprisonment in verse 12 onwards he said don't be discouraged about my imprisonment because my imprisonment has turned out verse 12 for the progress of the gospel Paul believed in Romans 8 28 that everything works for my good how did Paul's imprisonment work for good well let me tell you first of all here is one way in which that imprisonment worked for good for us you know Paul was a man I'll tell you where I learned this later Paul was a man who was always on the go even when he was 60 years old 65 years old he was on the move all the

time and I tell you he wasn't traveling in buses or anything he was walking a lot of places in ships which could be exposed to shipwreck he was always on the go for spreading the gospel he had only one life and he knew it was running out and he said I can't afford to waste my time I've got to reach as many places with the gospel as possible he had such a passion and a longing in his heart but at the same time he had such a close walk with God who had been through so many trials and tests that inwardly he had become such a rich man spiritually but he had not written down most of those things you know in any type of written form parchment or whatever you may use those days they didn't use paper and God knew that this man has got so much wealth there may almost never be another man like this

in Christendom and what he has learned he must put down in writing but how to get this fellow to put down in writing because he never stops for one day anywhere he has no time to write anything he's always on the move so what did God do he allowed Paul to be in prison and because Paul was in prison now he could not travel travel travel he had to sit in the prison he says okay let me spend my time profitably let me write a letter and he wrote to the Philippians and he wrote to some of the other churches and what is the result his life has now become a blessing his being in prison has been a blessing to millions of people for 2,000 years was that imprisonment good or bad tell me that was good I remember many years ago I think it was 15 years ago I had to be admitted in a hospital for a very

small bit of work the doctors had to do on me it was something the Lord could have healed me without going to a hospital and I prayed much but he didn't heal me without hospitalization but he did heal me with hospitalization but when I was in the hospital I said Lord why have you put me in the hospital it was almost the first time and the last time I ever went into a hospital and I said why did you put me here you could have healed me and I could have been busy serving you somewhere here or there instead of lying down in the hospital for so many days and the Lord said to me very clearly I did not put you in hospital to heal you I could have healed you without hospitalization I put you in hospital so that you can just lie down for a little while and listen to what I have to tell you you're

running around so much that I hardly get a chance to talk to you I said oh is that the reason then I'm happy to lie down here as long as you want me to I want to hear you and I lay there and the Lord began to speak to me and as he spoke to me I wrote down all that he was saying and that was one of the actually one of the only articles that I've ever written which I wrote almost as the Lord was speaking to me it's a little tract called God needs men just about six pages it's in one of my books called new wine and new wineskins and it's also in a book called principles of serving God but that's a little tract that I now see God is used around the world in so many places but God gave me that because he put me in a hospital for about a week or ten days I don't remember how long and I see that

sometimes God stops us from doing things by sickness or imprisonment to make us do something we would never do otherwise so learn to give thanks in when God stops you from going around traveling preaching all the time he has a purpose that's one thing the second thing is it says here in verse 13 as I said the first thing is the letter to Philippians and many other letters the second thing he says my imprisonment has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else and later on in the end of the letter chapter 4 verse 22 he says all the Saints greet you especially those of Caesars family how did Caesars family get converted because some of these people these officers and prison guards were getting the gospel because Paul was there I can imagine it must have been

something like that in those days I've heard that prisoners would be chained to one prison guard for because so that the prisoner doesn't run away so here's Paul with a chain on his hand and chained to another Roman soldier for eight hours and what do you think Paul was telling this Roman soldier for eight hours he was telling him about Jesus and the gospel and this fellow cannot escape it's not a one-hour meeting he cannot run away he has to sit and listen to this preacher for eight hours and by the time the eight hours is over the fellow has repented and he's ready to receive Christ in Paul says let's pray and he accepts Jesus as the Savior and now he says my eight-hour shift is over another fellow comes for eight hours this is okay let's start now with this new man and number of people

were getting converted like this and gradually there was a little fellowship inside that Caesars household and Peter said that Paul says these Saints are also greeting me was his imprisonment good or not good he wrote the scriptures he converted people that's not all something more because of my imprisonment verse 14 many more people the believers have got tremendous courage now you know all those timid believers who are all scared to speak to somebody about Christ oh what will happen what will happen now they heard Paul is in prison for the gospel who's going to preach now if Paul is gone we've got to preach and these quiet fellows suddenly became bold and they got a chance to speak and share God's Word and they became bold was Paul's imprisonment good or not it was good but he says

there are some people verse 15 even in those days who were preaching out of jealousy you know even in the church in those days there were people in competition with other people some people who said we never got a chance to preach in this church because Paul would always come and preach now Paul has gone to prison now is my chance to preach and he would get up in the preach with her and get up in the church with the wrong spirit to show that I'm a better preacher than Paul and when Paul heard that but some of these fellows are jealous of you Paul they don't they they don't have 1% of your anointing but they want to show that they are great preachers and they get up in the church and what do you think about that Paul Paul says praise the Lord that's good they're preaching Christ I'm not

bothered with what motive they preach Christ I'm just rejoiced that Christ is being preached he says some people preach Christ verse 17 out of selfish ambition to cause me more pain what what do I do I rejoice again that word joy twice in verse 18 that Christ is proclaimed today I see so many people preaching Christ to make money I rejoice that Christ is being preached even though I know God will one day send them to hell for preaching Christ to make money you can't do preach Christ to make money and go to heaven no preaching Christ for the sake of honor for the sake of money I rejoice that Christ is being preached let them do it with wrong motives God will judge them one day is somebody preaching to show that he's a better preacher than me God bless him let him preach let him preach

Christ there are people who read my articles and books and preach their sermons who are ashamed to admit that they got those truths by reading my books because they're a bit ashamed to admit that praise the Lord let Christ be preached we don't want any honor we don't want anybody to quote us let Christ be preached and let them bless other people and if they want to pretend that that was their own revelation let them do it God will judge them for all that Christ is being preached somebody is blessed that should be your attitude even when somebody you don't like is preaching the gospel praise the Lord brother what does it matter if somebody else is preaching your message or your sermon just rejoice or somebody's doing it as a wrong motive let him do it Christ is being preached somebody's

being blessed he's doing it in a different way from you do it different from your convictions let him do it I don't take collections in my meetings that person takes collections and preaching the gospel never mind that's between him and God Christ is being preached I want to rejoice in everyone who preaches Christ even if he's unconverted here's an unconverted person who goes around distributing tracks praise the Lord somebody may get saved through those tracks somebody may get saved through those Gospels even though the fellow distributed it will finally go to hell it doesn't matter I rejoice that Christ is being preached this should be the attitude of ours don't we don't have to judge them God will judge them all in the final day these fellows who got up in the church then preached out

of jealousy you think God will spare them he really judged them in the final day but Paul rejoiced he did not have a bad spirit towards anyone who was preaching the gospel that's a good example for us and he goes on to say verse 21 for to me to live as Christ to die is gain if I live that means I'll have many more opportunities to serve the Lord but if I die I'll be with Christ and he says I don't know which to choose if I die that's a game to me because I'll be in with the Lord if I live I've got some more years to spread this wonderful gospel to bless others that's also a great joy to me and he says I don't know which to choose should I live or die both are equally good for me but he says in verse 24 I think I should live a little longer for your sake and God allowed him to live for a

few more years for the sake of those believers who still needed to be established for a few more letters that still needed to be written the complete scripture and because I'm convinced of this he sensed in his heart I'm not yet gonna die he knew later on when he told wrote 2nd Timothy now my time is ready to go this is my last letter but here he says I'm convinced yeah I feel in my spirit that God will allow him to live a little longer for your sake and he so he says only please conduct yourself in a manner verse 27 worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I'm in prison or I come to see you I'll always hear this is his burden listen to this that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together see the expressions of unity there one mind one spirit striving

together and not in any way alarmed verse 28 by your enemies because when your enemies attack you and you are not alarmed that is a sign of destruction for them but a sign of salvation for you you remember when Pilate told Jesus don't you know I have power to crucify you Peter's and Jesus said you have no power against me except what my father gives you if Jesus was not alarmed and if a time comes in your life or mine where we have to stand like that before somebody remember the words of Jesus the confession he made before Pontius Pilate you have no power over me except what my heavenly father gave no way alarmed and that testimony is going to be a sign of destruction to your enemies because God has given us two privileges what are those two privileges two degrees we can say verse 29 one

to believe in Christ second to suffer for his sake both go together God has given you the privilege of believing in Jesus God has given you the privilege of suffering for Jesus sake so he's continuing with this theme of unity which he spoke of in verse 27 one spirit one mind and he says in the same thing in verse 2 of chapter 2 be of the same mind same love united in spirit in one purpose you see so many times he speaks about unity at least seven expressions of unity in chapter 1 verse 27 and chapter 2 verse 2 7 times he speaks about unity unity unity unity and then he tells them the secret of this unity how we can be one body like this you must never do anything verse 3 from selfishness or pride do you know the two sins that will remain with us till we die our selfishness and pride dirty

thoughts need not remain with us till we die we can overcome them love of money we can overcome getting offended we can overcome slandering dosseting bitterness unforgiving spirit we can overcome all of these almost totally over a period of time but pride and selfishness are so deeply rooted in us that we can cleanse ourselves these are like two big onions you peel off one layer another layer underneath you peel off that layer there's another layer underneath and I have discovered in my own life that it's so easy to be selfish in the way we live in the way we do things especially in the way we spend money and the way we spend our time selfishness and if you're getting light on it you can cleanse away that selfishness that means one more layer of the onion is taken away your selfishness

becomes a little less and then next month you may do something where you get light on some more selfishness peel it off and gradually you become unselfish and loving and Christ like but it's a very thick onion but if you're not getting any light on your selfishness and you're not peeling it off then you'll remain with this big fat onion of selfishness till the end of your life make sure you keep on peeling off these layers of selfishness as you get more and more light on different areas of your life the other area is spiritual pride see it could be pride of appearance intelligence but those things we usually overcome earlier on in life I hope you have but then comes the dangers of spiritual pride that's another massive onion we sometimes say things and afterwards God shows you that was

because of a little pride in me that he said that and you repent sometimes we give a testimony and after we have given our testimony the Lord says when we go back home there was a little pride in that testimony you didn't give all the glory to give me you gave me 90% of the glory and you took 10% of the glory to yourself Lord forgive me have mercy on me and peel off one more layer of that onion of spiritual pride this is how we become more and more one with each other if you and I are faithful in peeling off this onion of selfishness and spiritual pride gradually you and I will become more and more one with each other and in this connection it says have this mind in you which was in Christ Jesus this attitude verse 5 you know that with one that one verse you can live all your life have

this attitude in you which is in Christ Jesus you don't need any other verse in the Bible for transformation in every situation ask yourself did I have the attitude of Christ here you face another situation somewhere else and you asked yourself did I have the attitude of Christ here did I have the attitude of Christ in the way I conducted myself in the dining hall was I selfish the way I conducted myself you know there's a lot of selfishness in us and matters of food in matters of seeking the most convenient place to stay and making it a little more difficult for other people let them have the difficult the most more inconvenient thing and let me choose the convenient thing let me choose the best bed and the best food and the biggest apple and the biggest slice of cake children are like

that they always grab when we grow older we don't grab like that because we lose our testimony but we're still like that inside we hope nobody will grab that before we grab it there's a lot of selfishness and if we cleanse ourselves have the attitude of Jesus what was the attitude of Jesus when he was in heaven he thought of the poor people on earth who don't have what he has and he said they must have what I have in heaven that's the attitude of Christ you look at other people and you say they don't have what I have I've got forgiveness of sins they don't have it I've got victory over sin those believers don't have it I must give it to them they're suffering with so many difficulties they don't have drinking water they're struggling I must do something to help them even in these

practical things they don't have a blanket at night I must provide for them this is how it must be on a cold night when you cover yourself with a blanket say to the fellow believers you are responsible for all have a blanket that's the spirit of Christ when you eat some good food think the fellow believers in my church do they all have food to eat this is the mind of Christ in heaven he thought a lot of people down there on earth don't have what I have in heaven I must go to them and give it to them that is the attitude of Christ and when he came here that is unselfish consideration for others and then when he came here he humbled himself it says here in verse 6 though he was God he gave up that equality with God and became a servant he humbled himself he came here not only became a man

but became a servant of all men he's have this attitude in you which is in Christ he knew that he can help people only if he serves them not if he's like a Maharaja a king over them that's why he refused to be a you can think that a king can help a lot of people but Jesus showed us it's not a king that helps people it's a servant that helps people that's what Jesus demonstrated by his life that's why he refused to be a director he refused to be a chairman he refused to be a king he said I am and he spent all his life serving serving serving never taking a position or a title the only title he had was son of man what am I son of man an ordinary son of an ordinary man he was God Almighty even on earth but what did he call himself son of man he was a servant a servant his whole mindset was

that of a servant it's not just a question of serving you know the difference between serving and being a servant have you seen these photographs in the paper sometimes the minister is inaugurating the cleanliness campaign by sweeping the road and everybody's taking photographs of the ministers sweeping the road how long does he sweep the road for about 10 seconds and he wants all the photographs to come in the paper the great minister is sweeping the floor is he a servant no he's not anybody's servant he's but for 10 seconds he's serving to get a reputation there's a difference between serving and being a servant serving you can do like that for honor being a servant is an attitude of mine where I always think I am this brother's servant I'll tell you how the Lord taught me the truth of

this in one situation as I told you I spent many years in the military where coming on time was very important if we had a parade at 630 in the morning we had to be there at 625 not at 631 if you came at 631 they teach you such a lesson that for the rest of your life you never come late again so I learned for 11 years in the military to be on time and then I became an elder of a church where I found more than half the people don't come in time for the meeting we'd have a meeting at 930 and they won't come on time this used to disturb me I used to say listen you fellas take your children to school every day at 830 on time but you can't come to God's house at 930 on time because you're afraid of that principle you're not afraid of God and it's true but it's the thing worst part of it was it

disturbed me and then I came to rest when the Lord showed me you're not a master in that church you're a servant the servant must always be on time at the breakfast table master can come whenever they like right or wrong isn't that right master may say breakfast at 830 servant must be there at 825 master may come at 9 o'clock that's up to him and the Lord said to me all these people in your church are masters you are the servant let them come whenever they like you're a servant you come on time and if something needs to be done in the church you do it come on time and do it then I came to rest then I realized it's not serving but being a servant attitude it changed my whole perspective it didn't make me agitated with those people I was agitated earlier because I thought I was the master

and they were the servants and when God changed my mindset and I saw that I'm the servant and they are the masters I stopped being agitated you know a lot of your agitation is because you think you're the master no you're not the master you're a new servant that's what Jesus was so that's a beautiful passage there how Jesus humbled himself and therefore God exalted him the more you humble yourself the more God will exalt you spiritually he's exalt you over sin he'll exalt you over your lusts it doesn't mean he'll exalt you and make you a director I never want to be one in my life I want to be exalted over sin I want to be exalted over the world I want to be exalted over the devil I don't want to be exalted over people are you waiting to be exalted over people forget it seek to be exalted

over sin over the devil over the world that's what I want to be exalted over I want to humble myself so that God exalts me over these wretched things and keeps me always as a servant of people that's how we are called to be and it says here do all things verse 14 without grumbling or disputing there are things in salvation one is what we have to work out verse 12 work out your salvation and the other is verse 13 what God works in see this wonderful characteristic of Christ of humility and unselfish love you can't produce it it says in verse 13 God has to work it inside you and when God works it inside you you work it out in your daily work in your daily life verse 12 so God works in and you work out and then God works some more in and you work some more out God works some more in and you

work some more out the Holy Spirit does something in you and you work it out and day by day you grow in the Lord more and more with the attitude of Christ and we learn thereby to do everything in life verse 14 without grumbling or complaining and then he gives the example of a man called Timothy verse 19 onwards and another man called Epaphroditus verse 25 who had the attitude of Christ which is just mentioned he says I wanted to send Timothy to you I have many co-workers and Timothy but Timothy was the only one whom I could send to you because verse 21 all the others are seeking their own what a sad thing that among all of Paul's co-workers everybody sought their own they were all good people they were born again they were baptized in water baptized in the Holy Spirit they spoke in

tongues they were anointed they could preach they've had a passion for souls but with all these good qualities they sought their own gain some honor some money some comfort something for myself and Paul was a very spiritual man he could discern yeah these are good brothers but they're not all the same quality one man here is outstanding it's the same today among Christian workers in any group of Christian workers you'll have good brothers very good brothers but you may find one is outstanding outstanding in what outstanding in not seeking his own that's what makes a man outstanding even among Paul's workers people sought their own so you think in today's Christian workers people don't seek their own I tell you more than 90% of born-again Christian workers in India today seek their own be

among the 10% like Timothy who do not seek anything for themselves Lord everything for you Lord I don't want anything for myself in my life everything for Christ everything for God that's the man whom God picks up and gives revelation be one like that Timothy was like that and aphrodite is was another like that and he was sick to the point of death serving God but his life radiated the glory of Christ chapter 3 again he speaks about rejoicing verse 1 and he says I want to write the same things again to you Paul was not afraid to write the same things again some preachers are ashamed to preach the same sermon a second time you know they whenever they make a list of their notes they'll always write underneath okay this sermon I are preached in this place and this place and this place in

this place in this place in this place so that when I come back to those places I don't preach the same sermon see these are professional preachers they're always they're not prophets listening to what God is going to say they're saying I must get honored every time I come here I must preach a new sermon they're not in touch with God they're seeking honor but Paul said I'll preach the same thing again to you because you need to hear it I'll write the same things to you was that what I wrote last time well if God led me to write at this time because you need to hear it he says beware of the dogs beware of the evil workers beware of the false circumcision the people who believe in the external circumcision he says we are the true circumcision what is the meaning of circumcision it means no

confidence in the flesh verse 3 and glorying only in Christ cutting off of the flesh we are the true circumcision and he says this matter of confidence in the flesh if anybody thinks he can have confidence in the flesh I more than all of them because these were my qualifications I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees and as to the righteousness were in the law absolutely blameless from my childhood I kept the Ten Commandments I lived an upright life I had all this goodness in me but when I found Christ I knew this is all garbage rubbish by the way this word garbage doesn't did not originate with me it originated with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 somebody asked me one brother why do you always speak about garbage garbage garbage I see because that's what Paul says he says everything is

rubbish compared to Christ he used that expression he says I counted all his rubbish compared to Christ it's all garbage it's all rubbish compared to Jesus Christ have you seen it in your life have you seen that all the money in the world is rubbish compared to Christ have you seen that all the honor that people can give you is all rubbish compared to Christ have you seen all the comfort you can get in your Christian work you manipulate things so that you have a lot of comfort you know it's all rubbish compared to Christ doing God's will being in the place where God wants you to be fulfilling the ministry which God wants you to fulfill I'm not bothered if other Christian workers get honor let them get honor my calling is to get dishonor it's all rubbish this honor and dishonor are you

jealous that somebody gets a better salary than you and he's also serving the Lord you're also serving the Lord he's getting more than you that means you haven't seen it as rubbish otherwise you'd say his garbage bin is a little bigger than my garbage bin he's got more garbage in his garbage bin than I've got in mine oh how sad he's got more garbage is it and you're feeling sad about that you haven't seen it as garbage Paul saw it that's why he was so free oh he's getting more honor than me I did the work and he's getting the honor his garbage bin is bigger than mine this is what's happening in work none of these people have seen the honor of men as garbage none of these people have seen all that money in Christian work as garbage where can they serve the Lord let me tell you my dear

brothers and sisters you can never serve the Lord till you see that everything outside of Jesus Christ is garbage we need money to live on the earth I'm not saying that we don't need it I need money and I receive money and I use it for my life on earth I needed money when my children were being educated I had to educate them I needed money for food I needed money for my children's clothes I needed money for earthly expenses I'm not saying we don't need it but when you're competing with somebody else when you're calculating and you're thinking of money as the main factor in serving the Lord you have completely missed the road that must be secondary you know where the gold is in heaven who can tell me on the roads under your feet where is the gold here on earth on your heads that determines

whether you're ready to go to heaven or not if you can put gold under your feet here you're ready for heaven but if you still got gold on your head like these earthly things brother you're not ready yet you better learn to put gold under your feet that's where they have it in heaven see it as garbage something we walked on yeah we need a road to walk on but we don't put the road on top of our head even under the feet we need money but keep it in its proper place if somebody gives you honor or dishonor it's just the same counted it all garbage he said what is my longing in life my longing life is not to become a famous preacher or to be well-known or to be written about in all the magazines that's all garbage my desire verse 10 is to know Christ the power of his resurrection the fellowship

of his sufferings I haven't attained that all that I want he says in verse 12 I'm not yet perfect in one way I'm not yet perfect I've not yet reached the perfection of Christ but in another way verse 15 I'm already perfect have you understood this many people are afraid of this word perfection because they haven't studied the Bible Paul says in verse 12 I'm not perfect in verse 15 he says I and a few other people are perfect and it's the same word all you Greek scholars can go and check that up it's it's the same word what does it mean that means there is a perfection we can have on earth and there's a perfection we can never have till Jesus comes again the perfection we can have on earth now is a perfect conscience perfect in my conscience every sin confessed everything set right with

God and man every sin known sin cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ every restitution made every debt repaid every apology made my conscience is perfect that's the perfection I can have verse 15 the perfection I cannot have verse 12 is becoming like Christ totally I'm not like Christ Paul was not like Christ nobody is like Christ that will come when we reach when Jesus comes again it's a goal it's like climbing a mountain when I'm born again I'm at zero feet becoming like Christ is 30,000 feet every day I climb maybe I've reached 500 feet and pressing on to perfection but I'm not gonna sit at zero feet all my life this is the Christian life so Paul says think of those people who are with a perfect conscience and make them your example he says follow my example verse 17 follow my example

and others who walk like me because many people don't walk like this they are the enemies verse 18 of the cross of Christ and whose God verse 19 is their stomach you know people whose God is their stomach oh you know whether your God is your stomach one day if the food is not tasty and you get upset with your wife or with the cook or anybody what is your God your God lives on your tongue those taste buds are your God and you bow down you think you're praying for the food you're actually praying for your taste buds I want good food don't make your taste buds your God don't make your stomach your God let Jesus Christ be your God you get good food praise the Lord if one day it's not so good praise the Lord if one day the breakfast is not ready on time and you have to go to work don't get

upset with your wife say well Lord maybe the Lord wanted me to fast today morning so he permitted the breakfast not to be ready maybe I'm a great lover of food and God wants to free me from it always give thanks and go don't make your stomach your God because it says you're such people their mind is set on earthly things but our citizenship verse 20 is in heaven chapter 4 verse 4 rejoice in the Lord always not sometimes not most of the time but all the time this was the verse that challenged me many years ago when I was much younger and I said Lord this verse is not true in my life do you want to be healthy sometimes most of the time or all the time we all want to be healthy all the time do you want to rejoice sometimes most of the time or all the time all the time is it possible yes by

the grace of God yes we must say and if it is not true in your life be honest and say Lord I'm not healthy all the time I'm healthy most of the time but I want to be healthy all the time spiritually healthy anyway I want to rejoice all the time please fill me with the Holy Spirit and teach me that everything in the world is garbage except Christ and I will rejoice all the time it's because you don't consider everything in the world is garbage other than Christ that you have a lot of grumbling and murmuring and complaining rejoice in the Lord always and again I say to you I meant what I said rejoice then it says another thing be anxious for nothing that's another mountain to climb anxiety comes so easily so many things when you don't have enough money to meet your needs the end of the

month when you're married and your children have gone to school and they are two hours late they haven't come back from school you wonder what happened when you're growing older and older and older and no marriage proposal has come anxiety am I going to live like this till I'm 50 so many things can cause anxiety and I'm not saying that we can come to a place where nothing disturbs us but I'm saying we can press on to that place where our faith and confidence in God grows to the place where whenever that anxiety comes we can take it to the Lord in prayer and that lovely song says what a friend we have in Jesus take it to the Lord in prayer oh what peace we often forfeit oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer that's what he says take it to God

in prayer and along with the prayer add a Thanksgiving Thanksgiving means Lord thank you you got my request the letter has arrived the message has reached heaven thank you Lord you'll take care of it learn to thank God and then you may get up without your anxiety sometimes you get up with your anxiety because you didn't learn to give thanks okay learn to set your mind on things that are excellent verse 8 verse 11 and 12 learn to be content with much or little whatever God gives you learn to be content I can do all things verse 13 through Christ who strengthens me I can rejoice always as Christ strengthens me I can come to that life gradually where anxiety disappears from my life because Christ strengthens me I cannot do it on my own but I can do it through Christ who strengthens me and

one last verse verse 19 my God is able to supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus everything we need in life God is able to supply to us not this is not primarily talking about earthly things it's according to his riches in glory in Christ everything I need for my spiritual life in earth overcoming sin a life of joy a life of peace a life anointed life a spirit filled life a useful life in God's kingdom every single thing can become mine if I trust he can make me rich and supply all my need let's pray