Living For Christ — Philippians 1

0:00 Beautiful blue sky there. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we come before you. We thank you that you love us. Lord, we thank you that you're in control.

0:07 We thank you that we have more than 10,000 reasons to praise your name, lord. We probably can't think of em all but if we sit and meditate long enough, we'll identify those. And you're... It is beyond our ability to, comprehend what you've done, Lord. It's amazing.

0:30 Thank you so much. Pray in Jesus name. So the only reason I knew that... What time is it now? Five minutes.

0:38 Okay, still. The only reason I knew that the Equinox was at 11:33 today is because as I sat down I realized, Oh, I'm wearing a tan suit. Hopefully the fast anisias aren't going to point me out because in all actuality you shouldn't be wearing a tan suit until the first day of spring. But today is the first day of spring, so I guess I'm okay, right? All right.

0:59 Okay, good. So here's what we're going to do today. This is where we've been, right? Jesus Christ and our motivation to serve Him pertaining to the body life. Jesus Christ and our motivation to serve Him in our body life.

1:15 Today I'm going talk about our motivation to serve Him. That's where I'm going to be. So I know we've been focusing on Christ and when we're focusing on Christ we talked about... First of all we had John Woodhams talked about Christ as a servant. We had Andy Hilton talk about Christ's authority.

1:32 Ray last week talked about Christ's character. We had Ron talked about justification, sanctification and salvation through Jesus Christ. Right? So so that's where we're at, right? We we have a plan.

1:46 We have a process in place. The idea is who is Christ? What do we need to do to follow him in body life? What is what do you need to do here at Westlake Bible Fellowship and in your life to serve god. Alright.

2:00 So, when we take a look at this, you you you kind of cock your head for a second, right? Servant, authority, character. You you cannot be a servant that has authority unless you're a person of character. That's the way I look at it. Alright?

2:19 Servant, Christ as a servant, Christ as authority, and the character Character of Christ. Whenever I think of Serve or Servant, I always think of this acronym. You've heard me say it before. I'm going to say it again because I don't think you could hear it enough. Serve.

2:34 S E R V E. The S stands for selfless. So when you serve, you're not thinking of the other person more. You're thinking of yourself less. The E is energized.

2:50 When we serve, we energize. So, on Friday this week, I had a six hour workshop with about 50 high school teachers. And I used this. I talked to them about this. And I said, the E stands for energy.

3:05 When you serve, you energize. And you know what? They were nodding their heads. They understood that when you serve, you become energized. It gives us motivation.

3:16 It helps us to engage. We have a desire. Think about it. The last time you served somebody, it changes your focus. It changes your vision.

3:26 It changes the way you look at things. All right. So it energizes. The most important thing, according to Bob Markovich, that happens when you serve is you build relationships. There is nothing more important in our lives than relationships.

3:45 Okay? Being alone, being lonely has the same health side effects as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Relationships are important. We were created for relationships. Christ had a relationship with us.

4:08 Christ took on the form of man as a servant, so that he could build a relationship with us. So when we think about it from that standpoint, the best way for us to build a relationship with God is to have a relationship with God who is in the form of man. Even though you and I haven't had one on one contact with him physically, we have spiritually, we can still appreciate it and appreciate that relationship because of what we know about him. All right. So serving builds relationships.

4:47 V, right? The V stands for value. We never would have known how much Christ values us, or we know more about how Christ values us by the fact that He came down to earth to serve and to die, to be buried, to be raised from the dead, and to ascend. We know the value that we have because this is what He did for us. Somebody taught me this acronym, Deborah.

5:23 Died. Alright. So dead. D E. Alright.

5:27 Buried. Resurrected, ascended, Deborah. Okay. So, when we serve somebody, we show them that they have value. And the E stands for whatever you want, either eternal or everlasting.

5:46 Whatever word you want to use there. Because that relationship that we build, we will fill forever. Okay? The being reminded is going to happen for a long time. So that's, anyhow, is my quick, you know, going back over what...

6:20 So Paul and I got to know each other over the last month or so. And I am more impressed today with with the Apostle Paul than than I've ever been in my life. So so let me ask you this question. Because this is what's important. What on earth are you here for?

6:42 What on earth are you here for? What on earth are you here for? The Sunday school answer is, to quote Irenaeus, Man being fully alive is the glory of God. Okay. Sunday school answer.

7:00 Westminster Shorter Catechism. Right? Man, the existence of man is to glorify God and to love him forever. Okay. That is the Sunday school answer.

7:12 But I'm asking you, what are you here for? What are you here for? On Friday I got the chance to meet somebody and I said, Where are you from? Where are you from? Very good open ended question.

7:26 I've been learning a lot about how to ask questions. And he said, Well I assume you mean where am I? Where was I born? Where was I raised? Didn't say anything.

7:35 I just let him continue. So I'm asking you, what on earth are you here for? Have you identified the reason why you are here? If we truly believe that God came in the in the form of man to serve us, to be the authority so that we could see his character, should we not be looking to understand what on earth am I here for. We'd be doing ourselves a huge disservice if we didn't look at that.

8:13 We got a half an hour left today And I could say, what you need to do is take time right now and figure that out. What on earth are you here for? And I think that we would end the day appropriately. Because we need to know. If we take a look at what Christ did for us, if we take a look at the last four weeks about Christ that we've learned, should not we be motivated to do what God calls us to do?

8:50 Easy question. Hard answer. Okay. So what on earth are you here for? So, let me let me do this.

9:03 So, I'm I'm going to I'm I'm going to jump again, right? We're going go to Philippians. We're to start. Here's where we're going to start. This is not where we're going to end up but this is where we're to start.

9:11 We're going go to Philippians chapter one. We're going to go to verse 21. But before we do that, I'm going to go here. Now, I can't remember in my mind how I process this, but we're gonna... What am I here for?

9:33 Okay. So, yeah, so let give you a story. About three years ago, I had a conversation with somebody, and they said, Bob, how are you doing? And I said, you know what? Through most of my life, I wish that I I I've been through so much in my life.

9:52 And for a large portion of my life, I was ready to go to be with the Lord. I wanted the Lord to come and take me. Right? I've been through good times. I've been through bad times.

10:01 Sure, the good things I want to stick around. Of course, when I proposed to my wife, wanted to at least make it to the the marriage. Okay. I think you know what I mean. What's that?

10:19 What did you say? Anyhow, and I said to this person, again, this was about three years ago and I and I said, you know, probably for the first time in my life, I'm not ready to go. I'm not ready to go because I think that there's a plan for me. I think that the lord has me on the track and there is a plan. So, let's go to Philippians.

10:48 I said, right? And and and that that brother, in my opinion, scolded me a little bit about that. And said, well, no, you should be looking. You should be looking toward your your time with Christ. And I I don't disagree with that.

11:07 But I love I love how Paul puts it here. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me. Pause. Let's go to Matthew 13.

11:26 Matthew 13. And we're going to start with verse eight. Matthew 13 verse eight. Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop. Some 100, some 60, and some 30 times what was sown.

11:47 Raise your hand if you have ears. Raise your hand if you have ears. Okay, you're supposed to hear that. Right? Anyone who has ears should listen.

12:01 Okay? So, Paul had that focus that he wanted to produce probably 100 times. Do you want to produce 100 times? Do you want to produce 60 times? Do you want to produce 30 times?

12:15 What on earth are you here for? Okay. Going back. So fruitful work. And I don't know which one I should choose.

12:28 So here's Paul admitting, I don't know which one I should choose. I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. He knew what his purpose was. He knew what he was here on earth for.

12:42 Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith so that because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ, Jesus may abound. He's serving them. Okay? Just one thing. As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ, then whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents.

13:56 It's not an easy life. Okay. Now what we're going do is we're going to jump to the next slide here. So what I'm going introduce you to is I'm going to introduce you to something called the Johari Window. Now the thing with the Johari Window, what this does is it gives us awareness to ourselves.

14:14 Okay? Has anybody other than Andy heard of the Johari Window before? Okay. So, We got a couple here. So the Johari Window, what the Johari Window does is it helps us create awareness.

14:29 That's exactly what it does. It helps us create awareness. So if we look at this window, you see at the top it says, Known to self, not known to self. On the left hand side it says, Known to others, not known to others. So known to self, known to others, this is called the arena.

14:46 This is where a relationship is built. You know me, I know you. That is the arena. Then we take a look at the known to self and not known to others. This is the facade.

14:58 These are things that we keep hidden that nobody else knows about. You know how it is. Hey, how you doing Bob? I'm doing awesome. And under your breath you're saying how miserable life is, how painful it is, how much you don't want to be around here anymore, how much you don't want to come here and be with the people that are here.

15:15 It goes on. We know it. I've been there. You know it. People have talked with me about it.

15:20 That's the facade. We're not talking about the facade today. And then we also have the blind spots. The blind spot, if you if you want to have a serious discussion about your life, sit down with somebody that you love and have them expose you to your blind spots. I'll never forget the day that my wife who listens in on my phone calls came to me.

15:45 I'll paint the picture. I just got out of the shower. Had a towel around me. I walk into the bedroom and she said, I want to talk to you about your blind spots. I'm like, oh, here it comes.

16:00 And my wife showed me some of the blind spots that she was aware of. Because believe me, there's more than what she was just aware of. We're going to spend some time in Florida this week. We have some friends coming in. And they're a group, a company that I coach up in Buffalo.

16:22 And we're in the car and Amy, Amy Palmer, for those that know her, she goes, Bob, I want to talk to you about your blind spots. Because of course I talked with her about her blind spots and she was right on. So if you really want to know, sit down with somebody that you love. Make sure that there's nothing around that you could throw. Okay?

16:40 Because this is a painful process understanding what our blind spots are. If you look at this, this is not the way that Andy Morris and I spent a lot of time talking about this Johari window. Originally it looked like a window pane. So it looked just like this over here. Right?

17:03 There were four boxes. Each box was identical size. And I think Andy's the one who brought it up. And he said, why what you know and what you don't know is the same size? And I think you're going to think along with me.

17:17 No. What we don't know is so much greater. Right? So I made some changes and opened up the blind spot and opened up the unknown. And put parenthesis around the blind spot because there's only so much that anybody is ever going to know about me that I don't know about me.

17:34 Right? But here's the important thing, the unknown. The unknown. The important thing to do is to understand the unknown. What don't I know about me?

17:47 What don't you know about me? The fact that it is an unknown. So let's take a look at a couple of Bible characters in history. Joseph was sold into slavery. What was going to happen was unknown.

18:08 Alright? Could be good. Could be bad. Unknown. Moses at the Red Sea.

18:18 Unknown. Could be good. Could be bad. Unknown. The apostles after Christ's crucifixion.

18:30 Unknown. Could be good. Could be bad. It is unknown. So the only thing that we know for sure is that right now we exist, here we are.

18:42 I... It could be that I don't even finish my next word, boom, and the the the Trump blares and the dead in Christ shall rise. We don't... There's so much unknown. Right?

18:53 We don't... There's so much we do not know. It is it is unknown to us. When when things pop up that are unknown, it leads to emotional, emotional thought. Fear, doubt, shame, anger, sadness, anxiety, guilt, loneliness, frustration, shame, rage, apathy, disappointment, aggression.

19:17 I would list more, but I can't. Cause I can't breathe, breathing. Alright? What happens when we step into the unknown? We become emotional.

19:28 Right? We become emotional. Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk through a story because I think we've got a great story in the book of Acts that illustrates this whole idea of what am I here for. And notice, if you read behind me, says... This is the verse that I want you to keep in your mind.

19:52 I am able to do all things through Christ, through Him who strengthens me. I am able to do all things. I am able to do all things. I am able to do all things. Not some things.

20:07 Not all things but. Not only if you're not frightened. I am able to do all things. Do you have a relationship or are you on a path with the savior of the world where you can save this? Because I can't.

20:22 So if you can, let me know. I have a lot to learn. I have fears. I have struggles. I have all kinds of issues.

20:40 The road to Damascus. So this is a journey. Right? All of us are in a journey. Where we are today and where we are tomorrow are going to be two different things because it is a journey.

20:52 We have a path. We're following the path. We're in a journey. We're moving forward. This is Paul's journey.

20:59 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest. So, as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, what exactly does that mean? So what I did is I thought, what would John Woodhams do? And I know that there's a Greek word out there that I need to know.

21:28 And there is a Greek word out there. And I can't speak Greek. But I have a app that does. What's that? A helper.

21:45 That's right. Here it is. Strong's G 17 09. Impneo. Impneo.

21:54 This word is used once. Once in the New Testament. One time, empneo is used. But what exactly does it say? And this is what it says.

22:18 Threatenings and slaughter were, so to speak, the element from which he drew his breath. I'm gonna read it again. Threatenings and slaughter were, so to speak, the elements from which he drew his breath. Alright? We talk about, what's your why?

22:42 Gets you out of the morning? Out of bed in the morning? What got Paul out of bed in the morning? To murder, kill, and threaten people of the way. He had a clear focus.

22:56 He had a clear desire. He had a clear track to run on. He knew what he was going to do every day. His purpose was to get rid of Christians. Once I figured this out, I thought to myself, that's why the Lord wanted Paul.

23:16 That's why the Lord wanted Paul. Because he had a clear focus. Now, take this clear focus which is against the way. Right? That's what they called Christians in the early day.

23:27 That is against the way, and we put that person on track that he is for the way, and we understand why Christ called him to go to the Gentiles. That was his purpose. Right? So let's continue. So verse two.

23:47 He the and requested letters him to went high the synagogue in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, there we go, there's the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. That was what he was doing. Got up in the morning. I'm going to get this. We're going to go do it.

24:09 We're going to get rid of these people of the Way. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? This was the response and this is important. Paul's response was, Who are you, Lord?

24:31 Saul. I'm sorry. He's Saul at this time. His response is, Who are you, Lord? Didn't have any idea who it was.

24:40 No idea. Who are you, Lord? Had enough inner gusto to understand that the person's greater than Him. So it must be somebody important. Who are you, Lord?

24:54 That's important. I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting, he replied. But get up and go to the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sounds but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.

25:22 So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. So here's Paul, Saul, gets up in the morning, goes and gets letters. He wants to persecute the way. He goes on and he full of venom and he is full of anger. And it's the reason why he gets out of bed every morning and then boom, all of a sudden he's knocked down, he's blinded.

25:48 Who are you, Lord? The way that he got up in the morning is totally different than where he is right now. The great unknown. The great unknown. Why did this happen?

26:02 What is going on? We go to verse nine. He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink. He was unable to see for three days. Now, that doesn't mean he couldn't eat or drink.

26:22 That means that there wasn't any food for him to eat or drink. He made a decision. He was not going to eat or drink. He needed to put himself in a spot that was going to clear his head, that was going to clear his mind to try to understand what was going on because of the unknown. The unknown.

26:44 Because of the unknown. Now let's talk about Ananias for a second here. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. What was Ananias' response?

27:02 Here I am, Lord. I am here. So Ananias recognized the voice of the Lord. Ananias recognized who was calling him. Here I am, Lord, he replied.

27:16 And he was told, Get up and go to the street called Straight. The Lord said to him, To the house of Judas and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he was praying there. In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Imagine the unknown in Ananias. Right?

27:53 Imagine it because he says, I have heard from many people about this man how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has the authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name. So imagine what Ananias was going through. Imagine the emotions that he was going through. Imagine how frightened he was.

28:20 He was asked to do something that made him extremely uncomfortable. Think of it in your life. What would you do if you were called, you felt called by god to go out and do something to somebody that was a persecutor of Christians? It is the unknown. Would you have the faith to do it?

28:39 Would you have the desire to do it? Would you shriek, step back, and say, no, I'm not going to do that. What would you do? Why are you here? This is what Ananias was called to do.

29:00 But the Lord said to him, go, for this man is the... Is... For this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to the Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Right?

29:19 Paul suffered a lot, didn't he? Paul suffered a heck of a lot more than I have. Now, what did Ananias do? Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, brother Saul, imagine the fear still that was gripping him because he's a human being.

29:37 Certainly, he was filled with the Holy Spirit but even if you or I are filled with the Holy Spirit, sometimes Phil's fear still still dominates at least with me it does. The lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road, you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy spirit. At once, something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained the sight and he got up and was baptized And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. Verse 20, immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, He is the Son of God.

30:25 Immediately. Immediately. He started doing it. All who heard him were astounded and said, isn't this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests? They knew Saul was coming.

30:48 They knew he was on his way. They knew what he was coming to do. But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. So imagine Paul, imagine what he felt. Again, he was filled with the spirit.

31:06 He was called to do these things, but he still had to step out and do them. After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him. I mean, listen, I mean, you you know what? If if if I were, if I had the ability to make a movie, this would be a thriller and people would watch it. And they couldn't believe that this actually happened.

31:35 Right? I mean, this is amazing only by God. But Saul learned of their plot, so they were watching the gates day and night intending to to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. There's an emotion.

32:01 Since they did not believe he was a disciple. Imagine that. He's coming here to kill us. This whole thing that we've heard about isn't true. It's a facade so that he could come and kill us.

32:17 I mean, think about this. Think about the emotions. Think about everything that was involved. Think about Saul who had to be fearful of his life. Think think...

32:46 Could be good, could be bad. Could be good, could be bad. Barnabas, however, took him... Good for Barnabas, took him in and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him and how in Damascus, he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

33:15 He conversed and debated with them, with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the brothers found out, they took him to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So, we can take a look at the story of Paul and understand why he wrote this. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me. The experiences that he had, the desire that he had, you know, in in three days, his entire view on life changed and he lived life after his after his conversion as boldly as he lived it before his conversion.

34:19 The question is, are you living your life boldly? Are you doing what god has called you to do? Do you know what god has called you to do? And again, there is unknown but it's a journey. Just like Saul had a journey to Damascus, we have a journey we will be looking to do.

34:38 Again, there's so much we don't know. We will be looking. We should be looking. I beg you to look to do what Christ is calling you to do until the day you die. Until the day you die.

34:58 In case you didn't hear me, until the day you die. Nothing that Paul said, I know both how to have a little and I know how to have a lot. And I sat and thought about that. You know, was a time in our life, my my family life, we had a lot. We had a lot.

35:37 Can honestly say I wasn't living my life for Christ even though I knew him at that time. Paul knew Paul says here, I know how, I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. You know, if you set out on a path where you're focused on doing what Christ has called you to do, maybe good, maybe bad for you. But in the end, it's great for the gospel, it's great for God, and you will be greatly blessed as a result.

37:00 And the author is Will Allen. Will, by the way, is a female. But this is this is the poem. An old man going a lone highway came at the evening cold and gray to a chasm vast and deep and wide through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim, the sullen stream had no fear for him, but he turned when safe on the other side and built a bridge to span the tide.

37:39 Old man, said a fellow pilgrim near, you are wasting strength with building here. Your journey will end with the ending day. You will never again pass this way. You've crossed the chasm deep and wide. Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?

37:58 The builder lifted his old gray head. Good friend, in the path I have come, he said, there followeth after me today, a youth whose feet must pass this way. This chasm that has been naught to me to that fair haired youth may a pitfall be. He too must cross in twilight dim. Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.

38:37 I am building this bridge for him. Why are you here? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you and just thank you that you love us, Lord. Help us to garner a couple of bits from this message today, Lord, that may glorify and edify you.

38:59 Pray in Jesus name, amen.