Brother Moti had an unspoken that he wanted to add to the prayer request there, if you want to add that for Brother Moti and Gracie Godwani. Turn your Bibles to the book of Philippians tonight. We are now at the conclusion. of our verse-by-verse study, kind of a walk through this book of Philippians that we've done. It has turned into 28 messages that have, I would say, you know, at points touched the hymn of heaven with the doctrine and theology that's there from the Apostle Paul. But at the same time, we have that practical aspect, which I tend to lean towards and gravitate towards. And I think people get a tremendous blessing out of the practical side. This heartbeat of this book, you know, is joy and praise and thanking God for his goodness and Paul's gratitude to this church for their expression of love towards him. Ms. Lois has told me time and again how much she has enjoyed this study. She told me this last Sunday that she was very disappointed or sad that this was going to be the end. I'm like, well, Ms. Lois, the book ends. What am I supposed to do? This is the last few verses. And she's like, it's been such a good study. I've so much enjoyed hearing it and being challenged by it. And it's been a joy for me, but I hope that more than just an enjoyment, I hope that it has been a spiritual challenge to us as we've walked through this book and we've learned principles and things to put into practice for our lives. Just verse by verse, even just this chapter, chapter number four, which tonight we're just gonna be looking at the last three verses, but even just in this chapter, we saw first the grit of the Christian in verses one through three, where we see The Apostle Paul tells us to stand fast. And we, of course, as God's people need to stand up and just stand fast. And although there might be hard times, there is good times. And we just need to be faithful through the heart and see God bless in the glorious ways that he does. Then we saw the gentleness of the Christian in verses four through seven. And the idea there where you see says, let your moderation be known unto all men. And that idea of moderation literally has the aspect of the gentleness of a Christian, the spirit that we're supposed to have as Christians. And it's something that people should know about us. We should be known as that type of person having that Christian spirit about us. And then we saw the genius of the Christian in verses eight and nine. that familiar passage of scripture where we commit and take control of our mind to think on these things. And I'll tell you what, you're battling in the Christian life, control your mind and you'll win. The genius of it is the wisdom that's given to us in those few verses about being victorious as a Christian when we purpose in our heart to think on these things. Then we saw the glee of the Christian in verses 10 through 13, familiar verses again on that idea of if you want to have real joy as a Christian, Learn how to be content. It's not it's never is and never has been about how much stuff you have It's about how content you are with what God's given you. And if you just learn to be content, then you learn how to be abound or how to abase, either way. And you're content and you're happy and you have the joy of the Lord and things are looking up no matter what, amen? Because God's still in control. I was talking to Brother Johnson this afternoon and saying, hey, it's gonna be a great weekend, we're gonna have a good time, I appreciate you coming. And he goes, oh, we're gonna have a good time. And I said, amen. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, he says, we're with God's people. We're with God's people. Anytime we're with God's people, it's time to have a good time. It's time to praise and worship and enjoy fellowship with one another. And, you know, that's the joy of the Lord, being content with whatever God has brought in your life. And that's where you want to have that real joy. learn that contentment. And then we saw the giving Christians in verses 14 through 20, where Paul talks to the Christians and tells them, thank you. Thank you so much for your generosity, how you time and again have met our needs. And we have Brother Bill and his wife here that they've traveled in evangelism for many, many years. And of course, the Johnson's missionaries on the foreign field for many years. And time and time again, God had to use God's people to meet their needs. And God does that. And I can't even really equate to it what it would mean to somebody out on the mission field when they're praying and seeking God and needing something met. where Paul was, where he was here and he's in prison and going through it, but he's content and saying, Lord, whatever you have for me, I'm happy and I'm okay. But then God brings this need and what a joy that brings to the heart of a missionary on the field or somebody serving God and seeing that need met. And it's not just the fact that the need's met, but it's the love and the expression of love of God's people that is shown when they send something to meet the need. And God blesses them for it. the giving Christian. I mean, it's amazing. They wanted to partner, participate in the gospel going forward, and it's profitable for us, and it's pleasing to God when we give, when we give, and we praise God for that. This book comes to a close with these few verses tonight, as we would expect any letter written to a church to close. He does it with a hearty goodbye. So this evening's lesson, our last lesson in this book is going to be the goodbye to the Christians, the goodbye. He says goodbye here. Look in Philippians chapter four, follow along as I read verses 20 to 23. He says, now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever, amen. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Amen. To the Philippian people, this letter written, this expression of gratitude, for their love for Paul. We see, first of all, this continued spirit that Paul has, that it's never been about him. All of it, the letter, all of these things, it's never been about him. And I think that's one of the things that we've got messed up today in our society, is it's about us. It's about what we're gonna get out of it, how is it gonna benefit me, how much do I enjoy it? But Paul tells us there in verse number 20, really what it's about is the glory of the Lord. He says, now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. It's about the glory of God. And Paul's ministry and all that he did was about the glory of God. And his letter of instruction, his letter of gratitude, his expression of thanks, all of this was not, hey, listen, look what I'm going through. Hey, look at me, look at what I've accomplished for God. or as we'll see in a minute here, the witness that he was. I mean, he was able to lead some people to Christ and it wasn't about that. He said, it's all glory to God. I recall in recent weeks, somebody came to church here and they were just visiting. They had been here a couple of times and somebody in the foyer was talking to them and the person said something to them and in some measure of a compliment or something like that and they said, hey, glory to God. And this visitor who's not in church much was talking to somebody else and said, why do you guys say that all the time? Like, glory to God or praise God. Like, what does God have to do with it? I mean, he's not, he doesn't, church is not his thing. He's not from church. He's not even saved yet. He doesn't know the Lord is his savior. For him, it's so foreign. the idea of expressing gratitude and praise to God even for what man would look at as their natural ability. We understand, of course, that even our natural ability comes from God. I mean, all of it, any skill that we have is a gift from God. And we understand that, and we say, man, tomorrow morning, that skill could be gone. Something could happen, and I wouldn't be able to walk tomorrow. It's all a gift from God, and so any opportunity we have, we give praise and honor and glory to God, and Paul did that here. He always was pointing people to God, and brethren, we need to do the same. You know, it's comfortable to talk about anything except God out in the public. But what opportunity is that when, you know, somebody says, well, how are you doing today? And you say, well, this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Or, hey, it's a great day. Man, didn't God give us beautiful weather today? And they look at you like you are nuts. Like, what? God, what are you talking about? They say, what did God have to do with it? Well, God created this whole thing. And God is the one that's keeping it all in order. And we give honor and praise to him. And it points people to God and takes the focus off of us, which is where this world likes to put it. Likes to put it on us. We like to put the focus on us and what we can do as individuals. And it's about my enjoyment, my position, my prosperity, my happiness. but we need to get to the place where really it's about Him. And we strive to bring honor and glory to Him. He must increase, and I must decrease. Amen. I hope that we have that spirit that Paul had here where we see it's about the glory of God. Then we see his greeting here to them. He says, salute every saint, verse 21, 22 there. He says, hey, every saint in Christ Jesus. Paul certainly is aware of the fact that his time here on earth could be short. I mean, he's in prison after all. He doesn't know if he's going to be released or he's going to be killed. He's not sure what the outcome is going to be. But he bids them a farewell. And you know, when you know your time's short, what you're saying has a lot more weight. You consider and think about it. Maybe these Christians read this with a whole new level of appreciation for Paul as well. But he salutes all the saints that are in Christ Jesus. You know, in order to be a saint, you don't have to perform a miracle, as some people would like to, you know, award you a sainthood, you know, if you can perform a miracle. Sometime in your life you have to perform a miracle and several other things you have to do. I don't remember what they are. Galena, what do you have to do to be a saint? I don't know. But, you know, to be a saint, you've got to be in Christ. That's all you've got to do to be a saint is to be in Christ. Paul delineates or puts a demarcation line between those that are in Christ and those that aren't in Christ. There is a difference there, and he is greeting those that are in Christ. He is fellowshipping with them because they're in Christ. We know, of course, that because we're in Christ, we have new life. New life in Christ, abundant and free, what glorious shine and what joys are mine, what wondrous blessings I see. My past with its sin and searching and strife, forever gone, there's a bright new dawn, for in Christ I have found new life. That's what Paul's talking about. He says we greet those that are in Christ. Those that know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, he puts a value on that relationship and recognizes it. Today's world is very popular to disregard that delineation. It's very popular and especially in our world where you can jump on YouTube or you can, you know, listen to or watch just about any speaker from anywhere in the world at any time. It's amazing how put together, I mean, you have people sharing the platform. People that profess to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and they would say, I'm in Christ, and they would share the platform with somebody that professes spirituality, but denies the virgin birth, denies the shed blood of Christ, denies the fact that Christ is a propitiation for our sin. Those that don't pray to God, they pray to Mary. And they stand there together as if they're all the same. But you have somebody who's not in Christ by their own profession and somebody that is. The Bible still teaches ecclesiastical separation. And our goal, obviously, should be in desire to win them to Christ, to bring them to Christ, But what is their motivation to come to Christ if we stand on their platform and we say, I mean, they'll even stand with people that profess spirituality, and the spirituality is some form of Eastern mysticism. That's how they seek God. And, well, everybody serves God in their own way, not according to the Bible. And we've got to be careful that we recognize that delineation, that there is a difference. Just because somebody says something spiritual or leans towards that inner peace, are they in Christ Jesus? That's the difference between heaven and hell. That is the demarcation line. And Paul acknowledges it here, even in his farewell and his greeting to them. There may be a lot that are spiritual, but are they in Christ? Paul's common bond with those, with them, were those that were believers. The Bible says in Jeremiah 10, verse number two, thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen. In Colossians 2.8, he says, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. You see, there's other philosophies out there. There's other beliefs out there. And we've got to be careful that we don't just say, oh, everything's fine. I mean, if you're in math class and one teacher over here says, hey, two plus two can be five. That's fine. That's OK. And then the other teacher over here is saying, no, no, two plus two is four. It's always been four. It's always going to be four. You can't just make it five. That doesn't work. So one or the other has to be right, right? There has to be somebody that's wrong. And in today's lovey-dovey, everybody hold hands and stand around and sing kumbaya, is just, somebody's gotta be wrong, okay? Either they know the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior or they don't. And that's the line. And we need to recognize it. And there's a purpose. There's a reason we try and bring them to the saving knowledge of Christ. But if we look at him and say, hey, we love you and everybody's equal, we're all the same and we're all headed the same direction. He looks at his life and says, hey, I'm fine. But what he believes doesn't line up with the scriptures. He salutes them, all the brethren. He talks about those that are there even in the house where he's a prisoner. And I can't help but think about the impact that Paul had where he was at. He was able to witness and reach people even though he was in prison. He was ministering and serving where he was at. I praise God for that. Paul just did the work of the ministry no matter what the circumstances were in his life. I'm concerned today at how little it takes to get us to stop. And I'm not just talking about quit altogether. I'm not saying you're going to quit and get out of church. I'm just talking about how easily we say, oh, yeah, no, I can't be there. Oh, no, I can't do that this week. I mean, well, I had a flat tire. Oh, I can't do it because I'm sick. Oh, I can't do it because my kids are sick. Oh, I can't do it because the water heater overflowed. Oh, I can't do it because the roof's leaking. Oh, I can't do it because, listen, all those are valid excuses. Are they not? I didn't mention anything that wasn't, somebody would look at it and say, yeah, I mean, you can't do that, you're sick. But why is there an excuse every week? Why is there an excuse continually? You know what? If you're looking for an excuse, you're gonna find one. Always, it doesn't matter. There's always gonna be something in life that's not convenient to serve God, to do what God wants, whether we're talking about being in choir or we're talking about going out on John and Romans distribution, like, oh, I was gonna do that, but something always comes up on Saturday. I know, it does for me too. I gotta preach on Sunday. I got that's hanging over my head the whole time. I'm out hanging John and Romans in my mind I'm thinking about my Sunday's message and and what direction the Lord wants me to go and and and Thinking over musing upon those things and I'm like, I got to get back to the office What I'm saying is you want an excuse and you know, it doesn't matter what it is. You'll find an excuse and You know what? Every excuse you've ever offered has been a good one. I And if anybody challenges your excuse, certainly you aren't going to be happy with that. Well, this is a good excuse. It's never gonna get easier, friend. It's always gonna be hard. There's always gonna be things that come up. And sometimes they do come up. But if you live your life making excuses and you find yourself missing ministries and missing responsibilities and not being able to go serve God because different things, listen, only one life shall soon be passed and only what's done for Christ will last. Many things that we're investing our time in are temporal. They're all gonna pass away. I mean, the car that you're investing time and energy in is gonna end up broken down and in a junkyard somewhere. But anything you do for Christ lasts for an eternity. And Paul was serving Christ where he was at, in prison. I'm in prison, that's okay. Hey, jailer, you got a minute? I'll tell you about somebody I know. Yeah, his name's Jesus. You know what he did to me? Let me tell you my story. I was riding a donkey and going down the road one day, and I saw the light. Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He is the light of the world. And he changed my life. And he was a witness wherever he was at. You know, we're always gonna be in a hurry. I'm as guilty as anybody in here because I am project-driven. I am goal-oriented. But sometimes we need to pause, say, can I give you something? Can I tell you about the Lord? You got just a minute? And in your mind, you're thinking, I don't have a minute. Why am I doing this? I need to get home. There's somebody waiting. But we need to impact people where we're at, or we're missing the opportunities that God brings our way. Every excuse is a valid one. But we gotta stop giving excuses and just start making a difference. That's what Paul did where he was at. He said, these saints, these saints that have come to Christ, here in my prison, they're saying hello to you. And they're thankful. You see, Lastly, that it's the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in verse number 23, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. This letter that Paul wrote to them, it began with grace and it ends with grace. In chapter one, verse number two, he says, grace be unto you and peace from our God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Christian life begins with grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and then not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The Christian life begins with grace, and you know what? It's gonna end with grace. It's the grace of God working in your life that allows you to live above our circumstances. Where Paul here in prison, he could say, listen, I can endure this because of the grace of God. He said, I remember back there where I had a thorn in the flesh and I begged God to take it away, but God came to me and he taught me a valuable lesson. He taught me that my grace is sufficient for thee. And I've learned that, that God's grace is sufficient. And so Christians, I want to tell you about that grace. And as I began the letter and exhorted you to experience the grace of God, here again, I'm closing the letter and I'm saying my prayer for you is that you will have the grace of God abundant and full in your life. It's through the application of grace that we learn to go through any type of persecution, any trial, any test, where we learn that God's grace is sufficient. and it will sustain us. So Paul bids his dear friends one last fond farewell, and he sets for them an example until the very end of one that was content and committed to Christ. I hope to be able to do the same. I heard this last week, very sad, that somebody else I knew serving God in the ministry has come under some allegations, had to step down from the ministry. Beloved, Satan's real, and he's trying to destroy every Christian that he can. We've got to stay on track with God. And I hope to, as Paul did, finish my course. I hope to be able to get all the way to the end and say, well, I've done what you commanded me to do. I'll tell you what, it scares me to death, just the reproach on the name of Christ. Boy, the world rejoices in it, don't they? They see any question that they could point at and say, see, look at him, see. I hope that nobody here that Satan doesn't do that to any one of us. I hope we're able to stay true to the end, as Paul did. None of us are, hey, let him that thinketh he standeth, take he, lest he fall. So none of us have arrived, none of us are beyond that place, none of us said, oh, I'm good. No, we've gotta keep that focus right. Keep experiencing the grace of God and let it carry us through. As Paul said goodbye to them, He said, as we're parting our ways, let's give praise to God. Let's show love to the brethren. And let's pray for God's grace to be powerful and real in our lives. Would you stand with me for just a moment with your heads bowed and eyes closed. I'm gonna ask the pianist to come and play a moment of invitation before our prayer time. God spoke to your heart. Have you been experiencing the grace of God as he wants you to? Have you realized the sufficiency of that? allowing it to carry you through or have you been complaining? Are you giving honor and glory to God as God would have? Pointing people to Him? Serving God no matter where you're at?