Amen. So if I were to ask, what is Philippians about? We've all read Philippians, I'm assuming. I'm assuming we've all read through our Bibles at least once, maybe twice, hopefully at least every year, at least once, or are working through it. But what is Philippians about? Who said that? Zoe, it's amazing how your beard didn't move when you said that. It's about God, yes, but tell me something about Philippians. When you think about Philippians, there's so much in Philippians that is very encouraging. And we've all read it, and what happens is we get a little intimidated when somebody starts teaching, and we kind of lose focus, but you've read this letter, right? So what is Philippians about? Encouragement, right? And so, I'm just gonna kind of put this over here, and then we're gonna work through the text that we've been given for tonight. But encouragement, what else is Philippians about? Love. All we need is love. Love, huh? Unity, yes, yes, unity, yes. I said that. Anybody else, come on. Enduring through hardships, right? It's kind of funny that encouragement and endurance kind of go hand-in-hand, and love and unity, all of these things go hand-in-hand. What else is Philippians about? What is, like, if you had to pick your gem in Philippians, like, you're like, What would it be? You don't even have to know the chapter and verse. Just like, what do you think about with Philippians? Knowledge and attitude of Christ. So, what is that called? There's a fancy name for that. It's called the Carmen Christi. Carmen Christi is that second chapter where you see where Christ was and the Son of God and how He took on humanity and so on. That's called the Carmen Christi. For those of you that just all Carmen means in Latin is song. And Christi is a possessive in Latin. So the Carmen Christi is the song of Christ. That is probably the jewel in the crown of this book. It is that, just that hymn. What else do you think about, particularly with people with anxiety? Peace, go ahead on, peace. What do you mean, peace? Okay, peace. And when you're anxious, what does Paul tell you to do? be anxious for nothing but in all things to prayer and supplications, right? And what does Paul tell you? What kind of attitude does he tell you to have? Meditate on what? Whatever is lovely, whatever is good. The reason I'm bringing, I'm going about it in this way is because you know more about that letter than you realize. You just don't have the confidence to step forward and say what you've read, what you know. How many of us, when we've been anxious, have been referred to that fourth chapter of Philippians? How many of us, when we've had conflict, have been referred to that conflict between Eutychia and, I think, Eudokia, I think is her name. I forget the name. And how many of us, when we have been a little prideful, have been referred to that Carmen Christie? Say, hey, you know what, man? You need to be humble. Humility. Yeah, humility. So I'm going to put that over here, because this section that we're looking at, My life verse used to be in this section when I had one, and that is, to live is Christ and to die is gain. To live is Christ and to die is gain. What does that really mean? And what does that look like in your life? Like if you were to say, to live is Christ and to die is gain, what does that mean in your life? Anybody? to be living life or in the presence of the Lord, and to die as Cain is to actually be in the presence of the Lord. So I'm going to kind of tweak your language a little bit here, because when are you not in the presence of the Lord? That's why, for me, that term, I'm backsliding, right? It always kind of sticks in my crawl, because how far do you have to backslide to get the Spirit of God out of you? That's an awful lot of sliding, right? The better term is you're in rebellion. You're in rebellion against God. And once you understand that, and once you understand what is expected of you, then you can start maybe thinking through things a little bit differently. So, to live is Christ, to die is gain. Remember how Paul introduced himself in this letter? How does he introduce himself? A bondservant slave. I don't agree with the way we've softened the word bondservant. And the reason for that is because the way we softened the word doulos, because doulos in this context, in the context of Paul's life, is not bondservitude. It is outright slavery. Paul is a slave of Christ. He is not a bond servant. A bond servant translates in our language as an indentured person. Somebody who has sold himself either for debt or just for a temporary period of service. But Paul didn't do that. Paul did what we talked about previously in Exodus, he loves his master, and he went to the temple, and he put it all through his ear, saying that he was a slave of Christ forever, right? So now let's read this text together. So somebody read just that first section. I've broken it down into verses 12 through 18, and I want to look at that first. So verses 12 through 18, that's one section. And then verses 19 through 26, that's another section. If you were to look at the Greek text, it is divided up in that way. It is actually two sections, just because of the way the grammar kind of goes. But I want us to look at those verses. And I want somebody to, actually, I would like for you guys to take maybe five minutes and read it yourselves. And then I want you, when you look up, let's have a discussion about what you learned from those verses. Our goal, and I just want to be clear here, Jim and I's goal is to teach you how to work through your own Bible. How to read your Bible and get the most that you can out of it. so that one day you can be leading a Bible study. And that's the goal. The goal is to train you, train the trainers. That's the goal. So just read it, and then we'll read it out loud, and then we're going to work through this text together. Somebody read that section, 12 through 18. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel, the former proclaiming Christ out of bribery, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that So I want to read it from, I like sometimes, I do enjoy reading different translations, but this is the Complete Jewish Study Bible. And so it kind of, it's a unique translation and it has, it uses the Jewish words in place, like in place of the English words. And so I'm just going to read it just so that you guys kind of can get that flavor. So now brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped me in advancing the good news. It has become clear to the whole palace and to everyone else that it is because of the Messiah that I am in chains. Also, my being in prison has given most of the brothers in the Lord confidence, so that they have become much more bold in speaking the word of God fearlessly. True, some are proclaiming the Messiah out of jealousy and rivalry. but others are doing it in goodwill. The latter act from love, aware that I am put where I am for defending the good news, while the former announce the Messiah out of selfish ambition, with impure motives, supposing they can stir up trouble for me in prison. But so what? All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah is being proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." What is the main idea of this section? So the Gospel is being furthered. What else is the main idea of this section? even though he is in chains, it doesn't matter that Christ meant it for good. Right. Proclamation of the gospel and also the part where there are people who are preaching in the wrong intent, but it's still being used. So We're going to get back to that, because when we get to the end of this, I have a section on the second page where there's kind of like these overarching themes that you're going to see. And you're going to see these overarching themes in a lot of Paul's letters. So yes, there is, irregardless of whatever the circumstance is, God is what? Sovereign. God is sovereign. And that is really important. I'm going to tie that into a real-world example because of the way it ties in. So in making end-of-life decisions this last week, they were not prepared to do that, the family that I referred to. So the daughters put on the spot, and they're not ready to make these end-of-life decisions. That is an example of where a sovereign God matters, right? Because are you going to die before God calls you? No. No. No. So you act out of the best love interest in your heart, and you trust in a sovereign God. That's the way the sovereignty of God matters in real life, right? You act out of the intent of love, to love God and to love that other individual, and you trust in a sovereign God. There's something I don't understand about that energy concept, is that this day and time, It's human nature for a lot of folks that if someone got put in prison for speaking their mind, it wouldn't embolden others necessarily to do that, to speak their mind. I can see a lot of people in this day and time just retreating back and keeping their mouth shut. But it says that because of, that most of the brethren trust in the Lord because of my prison have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Right. Yes. So you're looking at it from the human perspective, right? But look at Paul's conduct. What is Paul doing in the Praetorium? He's boldly proclaiming Christ. So what are we told in 2 Timothy? What kind of spirit have we been given? Not of timidity, but of courage, boldness, right? Notice that even in Acts 4, when they were arrested, what did they pray for? Boldness. Right? When we see somebody going through something, that is why one of the issues, and let's talk about this just briefly, kind of take a little side trail, because I love bunny trails, and I do, and we will walk through this a little bit. But what is one of the reasons for pain and suffering in the world? And what else? So now what happens, like, check this out, right? So when we were in the Army, when we, when I was in the Army, I don't know where we came from. I must have a mouse in my pocket. So it's been a few decades ago. I've been retired since 2000, 22 years I've been retired, right? And so, but anyways, back then there were three of us, me, myself, and I. But now it's just me. So, but when I was in the Army, I wasn't a Christian till the last part of that, but when somebody got in trouble, like when somebody went to go see the Sergeant Major and they came back a little light in the pants, all we would say is, sucks to be you, right? It really sucks to be you. Better you than me, right? But as Christians, there's something about suffering for God that allows us to truly see the beauty of Christ in us, and the Spirit of God that is in us. hungers to join in that proclamation. So what you're pointing out from a human perspective makes absolutely no sense. But from a supernatural perspective, it makes all sense. Because as you said, Christ promised us suffering. And what else did he say? On that day, don't worry. He's talking about the end of time. But also, I think it carries on through persecution. On that day, don't worry what you're going to say. Because what? The Spirit. And we kind of tend to neglect the Spirit of God a little bit as Baptists because we don't want to be Pentecostal. We don't want to go to that end. We also tend to neglect as Baptists the sovereignty of God because we don't want to be Presbyterians, right? And they both got it wrong because they begin with the letter P. Poor them. We got it right. We begin with the letter B. Believers, right? That's the way it works. It's just an alphabetical thing, man. So, but what we're getting at here is this idea of, as they're watching Paul, The boldness that he has, because when we're talking about the Imperial Guard, we're not talking about just your run-of-the-mill Roman soldier. You're talking about the elite of the elite, and you're talking about these guys are 100% committed to Kaiser Caesar. They're not your normal, you know, street cop, street soldier. They are the elite of the elite. And Paul's boldness to proclaim the Gospel to them. and their understanding why Paul is suffering. They understand, and I love the way that Paul puts it here in verse 13. Somebody read verse 13. So let me ask you this. Who's in prison? Who's the free man in this equation? Paul. The disciple of Christ is the free man. Everybody else is in prison and in bondage to what? Sin. So we can look at this letter a little bit differently. We can look at it from this way. In God's providence, he has brought Paul to the capital of the world at that time, the known power of the world, to proclaim the love of God to those that are in bondage to sin. Isn't that our mission? Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? Aren't we supposed to be proclaiming the love of God to those that are in bondage to sin? Paul is not the prisoner here. The Romans are the prisoners. The non-believers are the prisoners. Paul is confined and limited in his movements, but Paul is free in Christ. So are we. We are free in Christ. It's just a different way to think through things, and that is why seeing Paul act in this bold way, it encourages others to be bold. And that is something that we ought to consider in our lives. And when I brought the idea of suffering, is this idea, when we watch others suffer, when you watch a Christian suffer, and you see them continually turning to God in prayer, in faith, in trust, it changes you, right? because it brings glory to God. And it highlights that the temporal circumstances are not what define a Christian's joy. If we let our joy be defined by temporal circumstances, we are gonna be the most miserable people in the world. Our joy is found in Christ, in the source of all joy. And that's really, really important for us to remember that when we are going through stuff, and we all go through stuff, but when we're going through stuff, we have an audience. And we need to remember to whom we belong and how we should move through things, right? So just kind of thinking through that a little bit. But what else is, what is it that Paul, at the end of this section, what is it that Paul really emphasizes? Look at that last verse in this section, verse 18. Yeah, it doesn't really matter. Others are doing it because they want to, like, Paul, you're in jail, let's just get you a little bit more trouble, take that. Paul is saying, great, bring it on. Because all Paul cares about is the proclamation of Christ. So let me ask us this question. Is that foremost in our minds? Like in your day-to-day life, in your day-to-day activities, when you're parenting or you're working or you're going through the Q course or you're fighting, responding to a fire or responding to a health situation or whatever you're doing, Is that the foremost thought in your brain? Like, how do I proclaim Christ in this moment? If we're honest, it's not even in the top 10. But this letter ought to challenge us, right? Because Paul could have handled that a whole lot different. Paul could have just said, woe is me, poor me. But even in Paul's second imprisonment, what does he tell Timothy to do? Send him the jacket, because he's cold, but send him the scrolls, because he wants to write, he wants to study, he wants to continue to serve Christ. And that's really the idea. The whole point of that section right there is right there, is this right here. But so what? I don't care what they do. All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah, the Christ, Christ is being proclaimed. And that is what Paul is rejoicing in. He rejoices in the proclamation of Christ. And he recognizes that the intent of people isn't always the best, right? How many of us, and I'm just being honest, how many of us have shared the gospel before to win? You get in that argument and you're like, the Bible says, right? You're like, okay, man, bring it, I'm ready. You know, you get your best Christ jiu-jitsu stands on and you're like, and you just throw yourself in there? And how often has that resulted in anything good? You get heated, they get heated. Nothing good comes from that. It is how we approach the topic, right? How do we approach the topic? We approach the topic realizing that it's not just a subject, it is a person. And what we are proclaiming is not a what, but a who. And who we are proclaiming is the king of the universe. And unless he's working in the heart of the individuals that you are proclaiming to, they will not change. It doesn't matter how much elbow grease you put into it. It doesn't matter how much logic you put into it. It doesn't matter how much reasoning you put into it. God is the one that has to change individuals. Now, I'm not saying that we don't bear witness, but I am saying that we prayerfully engage in these things. And the other part of that is this. The best way to witness to people is to live with people, because they watch what you do. They not only watch, they hear what you say, but they're watching how you live. And you don't have to live perfectly. I wish I could live perfectly, but I don't. But you have to live earnestly and honestly in the power and the grace that has been given to you by the Spirit of God. And so when we look at that you see just by reading that you can see that what Paul really cares about is that the Messiah is being proclaimed. Remember when John and I think James came up to Jesus and they said, hey there were some guys over there proclaiming your name. And should we call thunder or lightning or something on them? Should we take them out, Lord? They're not part of us. And Jesus says, if they're not against me, they're for me. You're for Jesus or you're not. And so that's the distinction that Paul is making here. Any questions on that when you look at that? When you look at that, if you look at your handout, I just want you to listen to kind of walk through that together, verses 12 through 18. And I've got the main ideas. I think sometimes when you read passages, you're supposed to track verbs and get the main idea from that. But I think sometimes we limit passages to say they just have one main idea. I think they may have one overarching theme. And then you can find different ways that that's being worked out in the text. If you were to look at this overarching theme here, it's the commitment of Paul to the cause of Christ. Paul is committed to the cause of Christ, right? So I want you to notice, Paul wants his Philippians brethren to know his imprisonment has turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. That's verse 12. His imprisonment is known to be because of his commitment to Christ. and among the imperial gods of Praetorium. And I got a footnote there for you because that word is also used in the Gospels and it's also used in Acts, but it's not referring to the royal guards or the imperial guards, it's referring to the actual governor's palace. So you just need to know that if you see it there, when you learn Greek, when you learn Greek, when you all learn Greek, Yeah, and don't tell me it's a little guy that runs a little Zorba stand. No, no. My desire is to follow you guys. If you can do it, you can do it. You really can. You can learn it. Anyway, so, and going from there. And then I want you to notice something else. Paul's imprisonment has emboldened other believers to proclaim the gospel. Paul recognizes that the motivation for the proclamation may be from envy, strife, discord, contention, from selfish ambition and insincerity, but it can also be from goodwill and from love. And notice the basis of the love, knowing that Paul has been a place in this circumstance for the defense of the gospel. Paul has been placed in this circumstance for the defense of the gospel. Remember what Ananias was told by the Lord, that he must suffer much for me. Right? He's going to suffer a lot for Christ. And Paul's imprisonment has resulted in the proclamation of Christ in every place. Whether from false motives or from truth, Paul's response is to rejoice. You know what I like about that, John, is his confidence that their negative motivations that God can still use it as a means and that's more an encouragement for the people of God. Yes. He's going to use these people who have malicious intent. Go ahead and speak boldly because Yeah. So even think about the high priest in the Gospel of John when he said, it is more expedient for one man to die for the nation. And he didn't know that he was actually prophesying because the Spirit of God was in him. Right? And this was a corrupt dude, man. But he is proclaiming the truth. In other words, the truth of God cannot be suppressed. It will not be suppressed. And that's what I like about this letter, is just, hey man, you do what, I'm thinking Pat Benatar here, hit me with your best shot. You know what I mean? Hit me with your best shot, it doesn't really matter, because we are the champions. We are the champions. All right. So, okay, let's look at this second set of, is somebody else gonna say, you guys are over there laughing about music stuff. You know what's so funny is, Eventually, all my music will go the way of Lawrence Welk. And you guys don't even know who Lawrence Welk is. Yes, that's sad that you do, Casey, that's really sad. The accordion thing and the dancing and all. When you're hearing Guns and Roses in the elevator, you know your day has come. You're like one day closer to death. All right, so let's look at this second set of verses, verses 19 through 26. I want you again to read them yourselves, and then I want you to kind of start thinking about what is it that Paul is really saying here. So let me read it in this translation here, so we can get a little bit of a Jewish flavor for it, and then we'll move on. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that this will work out for my deliverance, because of your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua, the Messiah. It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of, but rather now, as always, the Messiah will be honored by my body, whether it is alive or dead. For to me, life is the Messiah, and death is gain. But if by living on in the body I can do fruitful work, then I don't know which to choose. I am caught in a dilemma. My desire is to go off and be with the Messiah. That is better by far. But because of you, the greater need is to stay on in the body. Yes, I am convinced of this. So I know I will stay on with you in order to help you progress in the faith and have joy in it. Then through my being with you again, you will have even greater reason for boasting about the Messiah, Yeshua." So what is the main idea here? What is going on? What are the main themes that you're following in this? in this section. I like the way you put selfishness, not a word I would have chosen, but I like it because at the end of the day, so I was teaching a Sunday school, no, Tuesday class, it was for the older saints. And when I mean older, I mean they were like in their 70s, right? And I asked, I go, Raise your hand if you want to be with Jesus. Right? Raise your hand if you want to be with Jesus. Go on, raise your hand. None of you? Oh, the rest of you are heathens. You bunch of heathens, man. Like, look at you guys over here. And then I go, right now. Them hands drop so fast. Like, I'll take the next bus. Right? I'm not, like, I want to be with Jesus, but hey, you know what? You can have my seat. Right? For Paul, this is a legit dilemma. He wants to be with Christ. So why would you want to be with Christ? I'm not saying that you're suicidal, and I'm not saying that you're going to help somebody else homicidal be with Christ. So yes, yes, check hands. Look at the hands. Always look at the hands. Eyes cannot hurt you. Hands, hands, hands, hands. Always the hands. But why would you want to be with Christ right now? Huh? You love Him. No more sin. What else? No more pain. No more suffering. No more. Did you notice that all of our answers? It's all about me. I love him. I don't want to hurt. I don't want to suffer. Why was this man born blind? So the glory of God may be manifested. If you ask 9 out of 10 people, and I'm just, well, I shouldn't say that. If you ask people that believe in a rapture, right, why they want to be raptured, it's because they don't want to suffer. Like all them animals coming, whatever that is, whatever, I don't want none of that, right? That's the wrong reason, right? We do things for the glory of God, so that God may be glorified in whatever He has ordained. That's why grumbling is such a bad sin. And how many of you don't grumble? How many of you just grumble a little bit? Just, I mean, not much. Not as much as those people over there. They're really grumblers. You know what I mean? Yeah, smart on your part to point over there. Don't point that way, man. Grumbling is a sin. Why is it a sin? Because you are saying that you know better than God. Whatever the circumstance you find yourself in right now, you're saying, hey, I know better than God. The question that we really need to be asking ourself is God's glory. How is God glorified in the midst of this, right? So even in this class, how is God getting the glory? God's getting the glory because his word is being proclaimed. God's getting the glory because you guys are engaging in thinking and contemplating God. God's getting the glory because you have given up time on a Wednesday afternoon and we're all busy to come and hang out here and study God. God's getting the glory. And that is really the whole point here, I think, when we start looking at what Paul is really about. Paul is really about Christ. If you were to do Paul's heartbeat, it would be like this. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. If you were to do my heartbeat, it'd be, John, John, take your medicine, John. It's about Christ, right? It's about. It's about Christ. It's just my way of joking. Whenever I go to the doctors, they tell me, man, you have your heart rate, your blood pressure of an athlete. Yes, better living through chemicals. I take more pills to keep me alive. My pulse is in the 50s, and when I go to bed, it's probably 39. It's chemistry, man. They're giving you medicine to keep you alive. But think about this for a second. Can you honestly say, with the Apostle Paul, to live is Christ and to die is gain? Can you honestly say that? And if not, why not? It's not that we don't love God. I'm convinced that we love God. It's that we don't encounter with God very often. We encounter with the idea of religion, we encounter with the idea of traditions, but we really have very few encounters with the living God. And maybe that's something that we ought to think about as we are living our lives is, how do I Start having encounters with the living God, because God says that if I seek him earnestly, that he will be found. God says when two or three are gathered in my name, he is in our midst. Right? Why, I'm just gonna ask, why is it that we don't, why is it that we don't have the same attitude like Paul? Just asking. Or maybe some of you do have the same attitude as Paul. And that would be great. Who thinks like Paul, to live is Christ and to die is gain? It doesn't mean you're a lesser Christian. It just means that you're an honest Christian. And so the question is, how do we do that? I've seen enough people transition from this world into the next world. And I've only been at a couple where they were truly, truly ready. to see the Lord. And one of them was James. That was such a beautiful transition. He had terminal cancer, decided not to do anything because he wasn't going to do anything. And his transition into the presence of God was one of the most peaceful transitions I've ever seen. Just as beautiful. You step back and you go like, wow. When I go, I want to go like that. But getting back to the question, Can you honestly say to live is Christ and to die is gain? I'm asking. You guys don't have to answer, but if you want to answer, that's fine. I think that believers would say, yes, that's true. How does that apply in your life, though, is where it gets difficult. Where it gets sticky. Yeah. So the idea is we have the desire but we don't have the application. So how would you apply that in your life? How can you apply that in your life? Think about circumstances in your life. How would you apply that? Mindfulness of Christ. How do we develop that? Reading the Word. How else? Prayer. How else? me like service. I focus too much I think now on the let me learn things and it's like okay now I've got to practice and it's gonna come out okay. You just described, I'm going to create my own term, the Christian tick syndrome. You just become as bloated as a Georgia tick with information, and you don't give it to nobody. You're just a big old Georgia tick, just hanging on, ain't sharing it with nobody. But we are not to be that, because in a sense, we're engorging ourselves. But we are called to, and I want us to not lose sight of what Paul talks about here, For him, if he's going to live, it's going to be profitable. How is it going to be profitable? He's going to be serving the church. So as you're getting greater knowledge, your greater knowledge is for not only your edification and absolutely the glory of God, but God is glorified through that as you're teaching. You're teaching at home. You're leading your wife. You're teaching in church. You're serving. It's not just about knowing pedantic information. It's about applying that information in real life ways, right? What else? So you can go through that, go through reading your work, go through service. Well, how else? This is the most neglected. This is the most neglected, I think. And that is really being involved in one another's lives, right? The benefit of serving God in a particular place for about a decade is that you know people, and people know you. And that is part of being in church. Part of being in church is to be known by somebody, so people know who you are. But the reality is most of us, when we come into church, maybe we come once a week, maybe we'll come twice a week. We come in with all our battle armor on. You have the personality that you put. to the public. And if you ask somebody how they're doing, then usually the answer is, I'm good. Finding you? I think that's the North Carolina thing. Finding you? I don't even know how they do that, but it's the way it works. You may be on the inside broke, like really suffering. Your marriage may be collapsing. Your kids may be doing drugs. Your self-esteem and self-image and the way you think of yourself may be down here, but we don't feel safe enough within the family of Christ to be honest. I mean, you don't have to, you can't be honest with everybody in the church. I'm not saying be dishonest, but you need to be judicious, right? Because not everybody is given for you for that relationship. But if you can't be honest with someone in the service, someone in the service of Christ, in the church, if you can't bear your soul to another brother or sister in Christ, whom you will be with for eternity, what does that say? What does that say? What are we communicating? We're more worried about the glory of men than we are the glory of God. And that's all of us. How many times have you come into church and your world is falling apart and somebody asks you, how are you doing? And you go, I'm good. It's all good. And your world is just imploding. Or somebody comes by you and just touches you on the shoulder like this and you just start weeping and crying because that little act of kindness or whatever. The fellowship of the saints is really one of the most neglected things in the church. Genuine fellowship. It's like coming to church on Sundays to worship. Right? We show up, but we show up with our battle armor on. You have your kit on, right? You're jamming. You're moving through. You're like, hands, hands, hands, hands. Oh, whoa. Back off me, man. Back off me. Oh, you're asking a personal question. Oh. You just move on, right? It ought not be that way. Look at the genuine love that Paul has for these people. When Jim gets to the parts where Epaphras was sick, and there was one word that Paul used in there, the affection, the deep affection in Christ, which is really, it's a word that just doesn't, you can't capture it in English, but what it means is, the blanching, internal affection, internal working, it's such a deep love that he has for them. Because it is rooted in Christ. And so fellowship, reading the Bible, spending time, and I'm gonna say, I'm gonna use the word meditation, but I don't mean it meditation like in the Hindu sense, like, you know, I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking about thinking through the word of God, like taking and chewing on a set of scripture, a set of verses. I, you know, I just sometimes I'll read something, and I think I said it a couple weeks ago, but just reading through Samuel and just God desires obedience, not sacrifice. God wants you to obey. God wants you to listen to him. That is so important. And sometimes we miss that. Sometimes we miss that. I want us to just kind of look through this a little bit more and just to think about this. Notice how Paul goes through this. Paul is confident that this will turn out for his salvation or deliverance. He's not talking about his salvation as far as, you know, being in the presence of the Lord. What he's talking about, he's confident that God's going to see him through this. However that looks, God will see him through this. I want you to think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they were in the furnace. Before they get thrown in there, they go, our God can save us, if He chooses to save us. But if He doesn't choose to save us, we will not bow down. It is that confidence in God. It is that desire to be faithful. And then look at what else. Paul's confidence is that Christ will be exalted. Christ is to be exalted in life or death. Life is to be productive for Christ. The dilemma to live or to die, which is best? You know, for all of us to die right now and to be in the presence of God is, in our minds, best. I never really understood why you can't walk the aisle, you know, I believe in Jesus Christ and then boom, fall dead. It just cuts out the middle part, right? So can you imagine? Well, I probably wouldn't get anybody to go to that church because every time somebody makes a profession of faith, they walk down the aisle, boom, they fall dead. It's over, right? The struggle is over, but that's not the way God does it because it is in our struggles that He is glorified. It is when we are living our worst life that he is high and lifted up. It is the prodigal son had to live his worst life and God gets the glory in that whole parable in the sense that here is a son who squanders everything And his father, as soon as he sees him, just is running to him, kissing him, putting on the best. And isn't that what God does for us? When we were living our worst life, he reached out and changed you. He loved you. He kissed your neck. He put on that white robe, took off that nasty robe you had on. and called you son and daughter." That is the beauty of what Paul is saying. To live is Christ. In other words, if I'm going to live, it's going to be for the progress and the joy of the faith, in order that the Philippians may boast and may abound in Christ Jesus. That's what he wants. He wants their boast to be in Christ Jesus, and he wants them to live in Christ. And so when we finished it out, I just want to go to this last part. What can we learn from this? And I just wrote a couple of things. Confidence. Somebody read verse 12. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me was really served to me. Paul's confidence in a sovereign God. Everything that's happening to me is for the advancement of the gospel. Doesn't matter what that may look like, it's for the advancement of the gospel. Look at number two there. Look at the commitment. Look at verse 18. Somebody read verse 18. What is the result, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in this I rejoice? Christ is being proclaimed. Paul is committed to Christ in the proclamation of the gospel. Paul is committed to die or live in the service of Christ. And then the last thing, I want us not to miss this in this letter, because this letter deals a lot with unity, and that is community. Look at, somebody read verses 24 and 26. But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. Look at that. Paul's sense of just service. If we could get, and this is just John, if we could get 10% of the church to be committed to service like this, our churches would look differently. Our churches would look radically different. Committed to Christ. The beauty of this letter is that we are given a lens to look at the Apostle Paul's confidence in God and his commitment to God and to the Church of God. What a beautiful thing. And it's not for us to feel bad. It's for us to say, oh, I haven't tapped into that. and I ought to. Any questions of what we covered tonight? Comments? I think you should write a book called Your Worst Life Now. Your Worst Life Now. And then I could have ACDC Highway to Hell on it. Yeah! I thought that was the title of your book. I've got so, look, man, I've got this rock and roll theology book up here. And we'll never see the light of day. Thank God. Dude, this is bad. That's why I need Jesus every hour. Lord, I need you. Will somebody close this out in prayer?