in chapter number one and verse number one. The Bible says, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy. for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, insomuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace. For God is my record. How I greatly longed after you in all the bowels of Jesus Christ. After this I pray that your love may abound, get more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that you may approve things that are excellent that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God heavenly Father thank you Lord for your word and thank you for this portion you direct our heart to today as we've tried to study and prepare for the message this week Lord I pray God that you would bless this text use it for thy glory and I pray that Jesus Christ be magnified and all that said and done and what you do we'll thank you and we'll give you glory forward in Jesus name Amen and amen. When we read these verses this morning, there is a theme, there is a thought that is really, I guess in these 11 verses, if there was one verse that kind of cultivated, pulled everything together, it would be verse number 6 where Paul said, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ as I read that verse this week I thought about a song that has been equated to a children's song but really it is a Christian song you know the song he's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. But how loving and patient He must be, cause He's still working on me. I don't know if you know, but this song has verses to it. There really ought to be a sign upon my heart. Don't judge me yet, there's an unfinished part. But I'll be perfect, just according to His plan. fashioned by the Master's loving hand. I love this verse. In the mirror of His Word, reflections that I see makes me wonder why He never gave up on me. But He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray. Remember, He's the potter and I'm the clay. He's still working on me. I'm glad Ephesians 2 says, For by grace are you saved through faith and that knowledge of yourselves. It is the gift of God Not of words, lest any man should boast. Verse 10 though, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. I learned in this verse, we are His possession. He said, for we are His. We are His project. He said for we are His workmanship. He is the pattern. The Bible said He's created in Christ Jesus and He has a plan on two good works and we're to walk that path and He said which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. I got saved by the grace of God. God wasn't done with me. But every day that I live He is working on me. He is fashioning me. He has started. began a good working man Paul said he will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ I want to say I'm glad that positionally I'm perfect in Jesus Christ positionally there is a part of me that is never seen it is the support the Spirit of God but I still have this flesh that'll still have this old nature and that's what God is working on every day of my life I'm reminded in Jeremiah chapter 18 verse 4 when God told Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house and he saw they wrote a work on the wheel and the vessel that the potter made was marred in the hand of the potter. So what did he do? So he made it again. You know what he's doing? He's still working on that piece. You know what? That vessel had hope. You know why? It was in the potter's house. I'm going to tell you there wasn't no hope for that clay outside in the mud somewhere in the dirt in the field somewhere there's no hope for it even though it was marred thank God it was in the potter's house you might be here today and said preacher I've messed up my life my life is marred hey you're in the right place by being in the house of God this vessel had hope it Because not only was it in the potter's house, it was in the potter's hand. Hey, the Bible didn't say that that vessel was flung up against the wall off that potter's wheel. No, it was marred. But where was it marred? It was still in the hand of the potter. And aren't you glad even though we failed, and even though we stumbled, that we've never walked out of his hand. We've never fell out of his hand. He has never forsaken us. We may have forsaken the Lord. We may have walked away from him. thank God we are engraved in his hand I'm glad he had hope is in the potter's house and in the potter's hand but that vessel was in the potter's heart so he made it again he didn't give up he didn't get frustrated and throw it off to the side and say this piece of clay ain't worth working with oh no he just made it again and the songwriter said over and over he molds me and he makes me you know what Because He is still working on me I thought about this, it would be a good title this morning Lord, work on me in 2023 I tell you, if there's anything we need God to do, He needs to work on us How about you? I ain't perfect this morning That ain't a halo on top of your head, there might be some horns popping up somewhere, man I tell you, we need God to work on us Paul talks about in Romans 8 that He fashioned us and conformed us to the image of His Son That is the theme of these 11 verses. And I want to look at him this morning with this thought in mind. He's still working on me. First of all, in verse 1 and 2, I'm just going to walk through these verses this morning. There is the common greeting. He's going to build up to this point. The common greeting. Notice, we note the author in verse 1, Paul. This was Paul's custom as he opens up this epistle by identifying himself. You know, we write letters, we sign our name at the end of it. They've got to wait until the end of the letter to find out who wrote them. I think Paul might have been on to something. Go ahead and tell them who you are when you first start now. That way you can decide if you want to read it or not. But this was Paul's custom. Paul had a great hand and influence in starting the church at Philippi. We can go back to Acts 16, and we won't for the sake of time, but God used Paul because Paul had a burden, and Paul had a burden for souls to preach the gospel and see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But as you read Acts 16, not only did Paul have a burden, but Paul fought some battles. Paul was preaching, and this one girl, we'll say more about her, she got saved, she got rid of those demons that got out of her, and she quit making money for those that owned her. And they got mad and they accused Paul and Silas and they had them locked up and thrown in prison But Paul, even though he had a burden and he had battles, they were believers And that made up the congregation of the church at Philippi There's the author, there's the assistant, he says, and Timotheus Now that word Timotheus, that is the same man Timothy We have 1st and 2nd Timothy in our Bible and Timothy got saved right before Paul walked into Philippi when he was in Derby and Lystra Timothy was a young man and Paul preached the gospel and Timothy was a product of Paul's preaching Paul would later send Timothy back as you read on the book of Philippians to the church at Philippi on his behalf because when Paul writes the book of Philippians he's not sitting at the Marriott Hotel he's not in a good place in fact he's in a Roman prison I'm not trying to be gross or graphic, but get you the picture, the sewage would run through the prison. Paul's chained to a wall. He's also chained to a guard on either side. There's very little light. There's nowhere to lay down. There's no modern conveniences, nothing like that. You understand what I mean by that? Paul's in a bad place. Paul, instead of feeling sorry for himself, says, I want to be a blessing. I want to be encouragement to that little group of believers at Philippi. And I'm going to have Timothy send this letter. There's the author, the assistant. There's the assignment. Here's what Paul said, we're the servants of Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, that's something we're missing in this day and age, is people that just serve. We're living in a day where everybody wants to be served. but not many people want to serve. This word servant here, I preached on before, it is the same word for bond servant. The word servant here means to give one who gives himself up to another's will. In other words, Paul said, I ain't doing what I want to do, I'm doing what God wants to do. But if you ask Paul later, he said, but I want to do what God wants me to do. Amen. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He'll give you the desires of your heart. I don't think that verse means that if you delight yourself in the Lord, He's going to give you a Mercedes. Help me now. I believe if you delight yourself in the Lord, God's going to give you the right desires and the spiritual desires in your heart to do for Him. There is the audience in verse 1, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi. with the bishops and deacons. The term bishop there is just another term for preacher, pastor. Of course, we know what deacons are. But these saints is what caught my eye. If you read Acts 16, and we won't take the time, but maybe later in your Bible study you can look at it, the church at Philippi was a motley crew starting off. I mean, the first convert was Lydia, the seller of purple. She got saved by the riverbank. Then there was that demon-possessed woman that got saved. And then you remember the Philippian jailer? He got saved, him and his wife and all his house. And so that was the start of the Philippian church. But it's no longer Lydia, seller of purple. It's no longer the demon-possessed woman. It's no longer the jailer of Philippi. You know what Paul said? To them precious saints. That word saint there means holy and set apart. It means they're not what they used to be. He's no longer the Philippian jailer. She's no longer that demon-possessed woman. She's no longer Lydia Settler of Purple. Oh, but she's a saint in Jesus Christ. She's a part of the body. She's a part of the church. I'm telling you, there's no other greater organization to be a part of in this world and to be a part of the church of the living God realize that the church is the only thing on earth that's eternal it's the only thing on earth that's eternal the church of the living God then there's his admonishment Paul's just laying the groundwork verse 5 verse 2 grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ ain't that what we got we got saved we got grace and we got peace There's the common greeting, but secondly, Paul's moving on. There's the Christian's gratitude. I thank, verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always and every prayer of mine for you're all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from this day until now. When Paul writes this letter to the church at Philippi, I remind you he's sitting in that Roman prison. There's no light, there's no cot, no facilities, but Paul is thankful. And we sit in $100,000, $200,000 houses, driving $20,000 and $30,000 vehicles. And that doesn't necessarily mean it's a nice vehicle anymore either. It's dangerous. Thanks, Sleepy Joe. Amen. That just means everything's went up. And then we have all these modern conveniences, and we're not thankful so many times. We had the missionary here Wednesday night to Zambia by the Salter. And you remember he was talking in the presentation about how they have that rainy season that comes in and it floods the street. And I asked him while he was eating the meal, I said, now, brother, what about y'all's church? Does y'all's church get flooded real bad? He said, well, no, thankfully, usually the church itself does not get flooded. He said, but our property does flood. And I said, well, brother, how do y'all get to your building to worship? What do y'all do for church? And he kind of looked at me, he said, we just walk through the water. We're not talking about ankle deep water. We're talking about waist deep. We're not talking about clear water. We're talking about filth. But he said they come. They come to church. And I thought, shame on us in America. One of our four cars don't start, we think it's the tribulation period. I mean, and they go to church and they worship God. Paul in this text is thankful. There's the spoken remembrance in verse three. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Now Paul is a great Christian, but Paul's also a human. And let's just be honest, he probably got a little discouraged just sitting in that Roman prison. He's chained to them guards, no light, not much help, not much going on He can't get out and do like he could, but he got to remember the church at Philippi I think he remembered the day Lydia got saved. I think he remembers being down there by that riverbank and talking to her about the Lord. And the Bible said that the Lord opened Lydia's heart. I think Paul remembered that. I think Paul remembered that demon possessed woman falling around and Paul got tired of it and cast that devil out and she got born again. I think Paul remembers that night when they was locked up in prison and their backs had been beaten. But instead of complaining and griping they began to sing and give thanks to God. and pray and God liked what he heard he did the jailhouse rock long before Elvis ever came along and that jailer came in and he said sirs what must I do to be saved I think Paul remembered that and Paul said yeah I'm in a bad place but when I think about what God's done for you and I think about when remember how God saved you I thank my God upon every remembrance of you Dolly Rambo said roll back the curtain of memory now and then Show me where I started from and where I could have been Lord you know I'm human and we humans we forget so remind me remind me dear Lord there's a spoken remembrance but then there is the supplicating request verse 4 he said you're always in every prayer of mine making for you all making requests with joy According to this verse, if I'm reading it correctly, and I believe I am, every time Paul prayed, he said, Lord, thank you for that little group at Philippi. Thank you for the church. He said it always in every prayer of mine. So apparently after Acts 16, Paul never stopped praying for the church at Philippi. As far as we can tell, Paul never even got to go back to Philippi. He's gonna die from this Roman prison. But he said, I'll tell you, every time I bow my head and pray, God brings it to my heart, God brings it to my mind, and I want you to know, from down here in a Roman prison, this preacher's praying for you. There's a special relationship, verse number five. He said, for your fellowship in the gospel, From the first day. What's that first day? Acts 16. He said, I appreciate the fellowship we've had from the very first day until now. Adrian Rogers, I was reading him this week. He said, what does Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common? They both have the same middle name. You'll get that after a while. The, alright. I read that in Adrian Rogers' book, no lie, I'm not lying this time. He made this statement, thus, what does a philosopher have in common with a traveling sales lady, a former fortune teller, and a jailer? They were all a part of the family of God. You know, they all come from different backgrounds. They all come from different places. But Paul said, we have fellowship in the gospel. We have fellowship in Jesus Christ. I'll tell you, all of us today come from a different background. All of us today come from a different place, but we come in here this morning and behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Why do we have that unity? Because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We find the common greeting, the Christian's gratitude. Now he's getting to that sanctification part. There's the confident guarantee in verse 6, 7 and 8. being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Even it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, insomuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace. For God is my record. Do you hear Paul? Do you hear his heart? I greatly long after you in all the bowels of Jesus Christ. Contextually, there's the Almighty's creation being confident in this very thing, verse 6, that He would have begun a good work in you. The word work here means any product, whatever, anything accomplished by hand. Remember? He's the potter on the clay. He said, I'm confident that He, God, the Almighty, the one that began a good work in you, I tell you, if God is doing anything in your life, He started it. We're not self-made men or ladies here today. In fact, if it wasn't for God, we couldn't even breathe. God is the one that gives life. God is the one that gives breath. The Almighty is creation, but then there is the assured completion. He will perform it. He didn't say that He might. He said He will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ. That day of Jesus Christ is the rapture of the church. Whether I'm taken by the grave or I'm taken by the rapture, I'm kind of wanting to go by that second one. Somebody said, are you scared of dying? No, I'm just scared of the way I'm going to die. B.R. Lincoln said, if I knew where I was going to die and when I was going to die, I'd never go there at that time. I'm not afraid of what lies beyond death, though. My hope is secured at Calvary, but I'm just not going to step out in front of a truck. Somebody say amen there. But whether I go by death or by the rapture, He is going to complete that work. Somebody said, what is that completion? I'm going to be like Him. I'm going to tell you what I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to of getting rid of me. Some of y'all are looking forward to getting rid of me too. not in the same context. I'm looking forward to getting rid of this flesh. You realize that one day you'll sin, your last sin, you'll have your last bad thought, you'll have that last thing that grieves the heart of God. I'm glad there's coming a day when that rapture takes place and I get that glorified body. I'll never break the heart of God again. You know why? Because he will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew not Him. Beloved, now we are the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. for we shall see him as he is. Paul said this corruption is going to put on incorruption and this mortal is going to put on immortality. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye therefore steadfast, unmovable, always abiding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know, your labor is not in vain. I'm glad there's coming a day when we'll lay these fleshly tabernacles down This robe of flesh is but a prison Bars of bones hold my soul But the door to hell's gonna open one day And I'm gonna be what He always wanted me to be I'll be like Him No, I'm not gonna be a god, we're not Mormons here today I'm a son of God One day I'll be in his image, conformed to his likeness. Remember, in the book of the Revelation, John bows down to the man's feet and begins to worship him. And that man gets John up and says, no, don't worship me. One man said, if that's in the future, John could have been bound at your feet. Wouldn't it be good? I remember, I've been thinking a lot, and that's dangerous, but I've been thinking a lot over the last few weeks. We'll celebrate 10 years here at the church as pastor in a couple of weeks. I've been thinking about some memories. I remember the Bobby Robertson preaching here one time, and I sure do miss him and appreciate his ministry. But he told a story about this little boy that was poor and homeless and walking down the street, didn't have any shoes. And this man saw that and had compassion on him and took the little boy in a shoe store and bought him a pair of shoes, just a little fella, and bought some socks and gave that boy some shoes. That little boy looked at him and said, Sir, are you Jesus? He said, No, I'm not Jesus. He said, Well, what you did sounds like something that Jesus would have done. And then we got over that story, Brother Bobbie said, Wouldn't it be nice if somebody mistook you for Jesus? the way you lived your life, that you did something that made people remember Jesus and think of Him. Oh, but one day, no, I won't be a little God, nothing like that, but I'll be in His image, I'll be in His likeness. This flesh will be gone, no more sin, no more breaking the heart again. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to that. There's the apostles' confession, look at verse 7. even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, insomuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers of my grace. Listen to his heart, for God is my record, how I greatly long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ. There's two things here. He makes an assumption in verse 7, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all. In other words, he says it's right for me to think and to consider that God is working on you. He said, if you're saved, God is working on you. Can I ask you a question? Is God working on you? Are there areas of your life that God's working on? He said, you can do better here. You don't need to be doing that. I don't have to name what it is. If God's working on you, you know what He's working on you about. And Paul said, it's just naturally right for me to assume that God is working on you. Then there's his affection. Because I have you in my heart, insomuch as both in my bonds and defense and confirmation of the gospel, you're all partakers of my grace. For God is my record. I greatly long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ. He said, I miss you. I miss seeing y'all. I miss fellowshipping with you. I want to get back and worship with you again. Paul will never get that opportunity. But I'll tell you what Philippi knew. Paul loves us. Paul's praying for us. Even though he can't get to us, he loves us. He's praying for us. I love the people of God, don't you? Some people want to run down the church and run down God's people. Sure, there's some bad apples in the bunch, but there's some bad plumbers out there. That'll make all plumbers bad. There's some bad electricians out there. That'll make all electricians bad. There's some bad car salesmen, but that'll make them all bad car salesmen. There's some bad politicians out there. Anyway, but what I'm saying this morning is, yeah, there's bad everywhere. But I'll tell you, God's been better to me, and I've seen enough real in church to make me forget about all the nuts and the weirdos that I've met in church, amen? Somebody said the gospel light will attract some strange bugs. But I'm glad for the church. I'm glad for this congregation of believers. Lastly, there is the continual growth, verse 9 through 11. Remember we're preaching on he's still working on me Paul said he's gonna Paul said he's gonna finish that work but until then verse 9 notice the abounding and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more and knowledge and all judgment God's gonna God's gonna finish that work but until then Paul said uh your love needs to abound more You need abound in love. The Bible says in Romans 5 that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. We're to love. We're to love one another. Jesus said, by this shall all men know you're my disciples, by the love that you have one for another. That ought to be Christian love in this Christian fellowship. But in the context of this phrase where he says, of knowledge and all judgment, John Phillips said, love is not to be mistaken for lust. Nor does love operate without law. I love my wife this morning. But did you know that our love is based on a law? We have a marriage license. Legally, we are married. So our love is based according to the law. So love does not go beyond the law. Love does not destroy the law. Love is established by law. Then watch what he says. Love knows no limits. It knows where to draw the line. While we can love all men, We do not love all that they do. Vance Hadner said, if we love the world the way that Jesus loves the world, we would never love the world the way we're not supposed to love the world. Paul said you're abounding. But then notice the approval in verse number 10, that you may approve all things that are excellent. The word approve means to test, to examine, to recognize as genuine. It talks about in 1 Thessalonians 5, to prove all things. How do you do that? By the Word of God. I say this all the time, church. You base everything you hear by this book. It don't matter if it's a preacher. It don't matter if it's a Sunday school teacher. It don't matter who it is. If it don't line up with the King James Bible, it's not right. Because this is the litmus test. Amen. Some guys think that every time they speak, it's inspired and they say nothing wrong. They're liars. Because at the end of the day, it's what this book says that matters. He said, there's the approval tested by the word of God. Then there's the authenticity, verse 10, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ. The word sincere means pure or unsold. The word offense means having nothing to strike against, not causing to stumble. In other words, Paul says, yeah, God's working on you, ain't he? Well, you need to make sure that you're sincere. and you're not throwing a stumbling block in front of another brother. In other words, he said, make sure you guard your testimony. That whole thing. Well, nobody's perfect. Oh yeah, Jesus is. And I'm to be conformed to his son. So I said, do you believe in sinless perfection? No, I'll never reach sinless perfection in this body. But every day I live, I ought to strive not to sin. I ought to strive not to do wrong. I ought to strive not to break the heart of God. There's the authenticity. Warren Wearsby said there are two great tests to follow as we exercise spiritual discernment. One, as far as should I do this or should I not do this, he said there's two ways to judge that. One, will it make others stumble? And two, would I be ashamed if I was doing it when Jesus came back? That's pretty good. That's a good way to be authentic. We need real Christians in this day. We don't need fake. You know what people say? I ain't going to that church that's full of hypocrites. But they go to Walmart and there's hypocrites there. And they go to Cracker Barrel and there's hypocrites there. I like one preacher said, I'd rather go to church with hypocrites than go to hell with hypocrites. And I know there's hypocrites, but you just don't be one. You be real. You walk with God. You have some authenticity in your life. Lastly, I know I'm done because all the kids are letting me know, amen. They have that clock in them, amen. They just know when 30 minutes is done. Hey, I like it, amen. I like it. Ain't it a blessing we have a church with all these children? I can take you to church where we ain't got no kids. I'm glad we got them. Verse 11, I'm done. Kids, I got the candy bowl. Just hang on with me for 30 seconds. I'm done, all right? Verse 11. being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ under the praise and glory of God. What is this fruit of righteousness? I believe it's a direct correlation with the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. I don't believe, when Jesus said, here is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit in John 15, I don't think he's talking about souls there. I believe the context, he's talking about spirituality. He said, because abide in me. I'll tell you this when I'm done. I told you about it before, but it just fits this message. All about us bearing fruit. He's working on us, right? We ought to bear fruit. Brother Eddie Davis talks about his apple tree. Brother Eddie said his daddy died and he inherited that land. You've heard him tell it, I've told it. He said it was a real nice apple tree. Brother Travis said it had a lot of apples on it, but it was only about that big. And they weren't ripe enough to eat. And he was trying to figure out what to do. He said, one of the older men in my church said, preacher, you need to prune that tree and cut it back. And he said, I mean cut it all the way back. He said, I took my saw and I cut that thing all the way back. He said, it looked horrible. It looked awful. He said, but about the next season come around, he said, I had these big old apples hanging. He said, now I had less apples than before. He said, I had a bunch of little ones before. He said, but I had these great big apples now. He said, I had less apples, but I had more fruit. And he said, I never would have got that had I not cut some things out. Preacher, why is God cutting things out of my life? I'll tell you why. to produce more fruit. Come on, Brother Matthew. He's trying to produce more fruit. Can I take you back to the psalm that I opened up with? There really ought to be a sign upon my heart. Work in progress. Don't judge me yet. There's an unfinished part. But I'll be perfect according to His plan, fashioned by the Master's hand. In the mirror of His Word, I see. In the mirror of His Word, reflections that I see. It makes me wonder. Why, He never gave up on me. But He loves me as I am, and He helps me when I pray. Remember, He's the potter, and I'm the clay. He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth, and Jupiter and Mars. Don't miss this line. But how loving and how patient He must be, because He's still working on me.