The Right Perspective Part 3

Everybody, go ahead and invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Oh, Father God, we thank you. Thank you for the day. Lord, thank you for another opportunity, God, just to serve you and to spend some time in your Word. Lord God, I pray that you bless this time, prepare our hearts to receive from you, Lord God, and help us to lift praise to you, God, because you are worthy of all of our praise. We love you and we praise you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Lord God, yes, that is our prayer this morning, God, that we would realize how much we truly need you, Lord God. Amen? Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you'd like.

Yes, Lord God, better is one day in your presence than a thousand elsewhere. Amen?

Oh, Lord God, we just invite your Holy Spirit in this place this morning, God, just to wash through here like a flood. God, come and do something awesome and mighty in this place this morning, Lord God. We invite you. Come and do something awesome and mighty in our hearts this morning.

Lord, heaven break out this morning. Lord's in revival. Lord's ending now. A move of your Spirit. Heaven break out. Come now like you've done it. Would you guys go ahead and stand with me for this last one? The God knows who's generation's portion. Now to do the same, we rest upon all things are possible.

The shepherds will stand the same. God, the same God. You answered prayers back.

God, God, God.

Lord God, we just thank you for who you are. God, we just thank you that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever, Lord God. You are a God who does not change. You are the same. And God, we thank you that we can always depend on you, Lord God. That you are always faithful, Lord. Even when we're not. God, we thank you. And now this morning as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord,

I just pray that you would speak mightily through him in your faithfulness.

Thank you.

You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like, or you guys can go ahead and have some fellowship, I guess. Yes.

Good morning. If you could begin the process of finding your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

I'm just waiting on Glenn.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Glad that you're here this morning. If you would take a look at your bulletin, a handful of things to take note of over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. Take note of those. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a few things to take note of. First of all, Grief Share begins, a new series of it begins March the 5th,

and it will run through May the 28th. All the details are right there. So if that's something you're interested in getting involved in, you can speak with Holly Gage, or can they talk to you too? No, probably not. You're not running it. Okay. Okay. Holly Gage about that. Still have a couple of spots left for the missions trip. You can talk to Jana Lumberd if you're interested.

Fellas, we have a men's breakfast coming up this Saturday, the 17th in the Agape room. So come join us for that. And then there's no college group this evening. Instead, go Chiefs, right? I wanted a big arrowhead right in the middle, and we determined that was probably inappropriate because there may be some unsaved people that are like, okay, we should root for the 49ers.

And we didn't want to offend them. So it is what it is. So there's that. Okay. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Looking at the new American standard just for this portion. If you need a copy of one, there should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 11, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the, reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Jared and the even verses. Psalm 11 for the choir director, a Psalm of David in the Lord. I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain for behold, the wicked bend the bow.

They make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in the darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? What can the righteous do? What can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked and the one who loves violence.

His soul hates upon the wicked. He will rain snares, fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. And if you read verse seven with me for the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright, the upright will behold his face and father. We do praise you for who you are. I praise you for your righteousness and Lord that you have seen fit that if we

will put our faith in you, you bestow that righteousness upon us. And so Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word right now that you would move in our hearts by the power of your Holy spirit. Do the work that only you can do. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter one,

Philippians chapter one, we'll be starting in verse 30. We've been looking in chapter one at a, at a series called having the right perspective because joy comes from having the right perspective. And we've been looking at three different things on the right perspective. The first thing that we looked at was having the right perspective or the right viewpoint on trials.

That trials are not there to destroy us and said trials are there really for two main purposes. They help to spread the gospel because, through our trials, we oftentimes have the opportunity to share our faith and they also increase our focus on Christ because in the midst of trials, it feels like all of the things of the world sort of grow a little dim to us and our focus seems to be improved. Last week, we looked at the second portion, which was the correct perspective on life and death, that our lives are intended to glorify Christ, that the purpose of life is actually Christ himself, knowing him and serving him, that the reality, of death is that it ultimately just ushers us into what God has always intended for us to be.

And that's in his presence always, and that we are to have a heart to serve others. Well, today we come to the third part. The third part is the right perspective on the way that you live. I had originally titled this the right perspective on your citizenship. I'll explain why later, but really, ultimately what I want to get across is the point that we need to have the correct perspective on the way that we live or on our

manner of life. And so we pick up in verse 27 of chapter one, a very short section. We'll take a look at starts this way. It says only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

In no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you. And that too from God for to you, it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict, which you saw in me and now here to be in me, the correct perspective, the right perspective on the, the way that we live. As we look at verses 27 through 30, there are three things he's going to teach us about having the correct perspective on the way that we lived three things to have the right perspective on our manner of life. Number one is that we are to live a life worthy of the gospel.

We are to live a life worthy of the gospel. Notice what it says in verse 27. Only conduct yourselves. In a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Now that word conduct or live your life in the, in the manner of carries with it. The idea of citizenship. So let me put it to you in a really literal way.

What he's saying is live your life as citizens of heaven. Now, Paul will go into more detail about, about our citizenship in chapter three, when he talks about the fact that we are citizens of heaven, but we need to be reminded of something as believers in Jesus Christ, because as believers in Jesus Christ, we have a dual citizenship. You see, we are citizens of earth. We're citizens of the nation that we live in, but we also are citizens of heaven and we are to live with that dual citizenship.

We live the best that we can on this earth, but we remember that this earth is not ultimately, our home, that our citizenship actually is in heaven. And ultimately that leads us to a completely different way of living because that releases much of my hold on this earth. It releases much of my hold on where I am right now, because I realized that my citizenship ultimately is in a completely different place. And so when he says conduct yourself, he's saying live as citizens of heaven.

Well, what does it look to live as a citizen of heaven? It means to live a life. That is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that word worthy is another interesting word. That word worthy literally means to have the same weight as, or to weigh the same as in other words, live a life that is equal to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When held in a measure, when held up to it,

your life should look like the gospel of Jesus Christ. It should, the same as much, it should weigh as much as it should look just like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, you know me, I don't like to just take that at face value. I like to ask questions and you should do the same thing. When you read scripture, you should ask questions. If you don't know what it means,

you should say, I wonder what he means by that. Pray through it, study through it. Think about possibly what that could mean. Why came up with, at least in my opinion, based on what I know in scripture, what it looks like to live a life according to the gospel, because I thought to myself, what is the gospel? What does the gospel look like? Well, there are four things that the gospel does.

Number one, the gospel confronts sin. The gospel confronts sin. I want you to think about something. In the book of Romans that Paul also wrote, he said in Romans chapter one, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first and also the Greek. He introduced his subject matter, in the book of Romans,

which is the gospel. And you know what the first thing he did when presenting the gospel to the Roman people to, in this letter to the Romans was the first thing he did was to address the sin of humanity. He talked about the fact that we all suppress unrighteousness, that we, or that we suppress the righteousness of God in our sin, that we ultimately know what righteousness looks like, which is why most people know the things that they do are wrong, but they suppress it by the way that they live. The first thing that he does is he confronts sin in the life of an individual.

Why? Because if you don't confront the bad news, you cannot understand the good news. Can you imagine if, if, if you show up to a doctor's appointment and the doctor says, I have good news, there's a cure. And he never gave you any backstory. He never gave you any understanding. You're like, great. See ya. Like, I don't care that there's a cure. Why? Because I don't know that I have a disease.

No, instead, what does the doctor do? He sits you down and he says, listen, we need to have a really serious conversation. We've seen something in a test. And what that has revealed is a major problem in your life, a problem that will ultimately take your life if we do nothing. But I have good news for you. There's a cure. Then you kind of go, tell me more,

right? Cause he just gave, you the bad news. Well, the bad news of sin is that you and I have a problem. They won't just take our physical life on this side of eternity. It will take our eternal life forever. And that problem that we have is sin. And the first thing that the gospel does is that the gospel confronts sin in our lives. You know what? The second thing that the gospel does is the gospel requires repentance.

The gospel requires repentance. Do you know how I know that? You know what? The first thing that John the Baptist preached when he, he showed up to prepare the way for Jesus was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus took up the mantle of John the Baptist after John the Baptist prepared the way for him. And Jesus preached his very first message.

Do you know what his first message started with? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. After Jesus was crucified and resurrected and ascended into heaven, his disciples took up the same message of the gospel that John the Baptist had preached and Jesus had preached. And do you know what they said after they healed the two lame, the men who were at the beautiful gate when they said, who did this?

They said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand because you see the gospel requires repentance. Let's go back to the same scenario of you in the doctor's office. If you keep going down the path that you're going with your life and don't take the cure, it will eventually take your life. Instead, what do you need to do? You need to repent. You need to turn from your,

your current course of life, which is not accepting the cure and accept this cure for this disease that you have in your life. They will ultimately take you. And at that point in time, you can have brand new life. You see, too many of us want the gospel without the repentance. Too many people in the world want the gospel without the repentance. They want all of the love that God has to offer with none of the surrender that God requires.

The beautiful thing about the love of God is he says, I love you so much. I won't allow you to continue on a path that will, will ultimately lead you to death. And so the gospel requires repentance. But the third thing that the gospel does is that the gospel bestows mercy and grace. The gospel bestows mercy and grace. You see, once I've been confronted with my sin in my life,

and once I have turned from the sin in my life, the most amazing thing happens. God says, it's all covered. It's all taken care of. I will bestow my mercy upon you. Do you know what mercy, there's a difference between mercy and grace. I love asking, especially kids this question because they don't always fathom the difference between the two, because it's a little bit hard to think about.

But mercy and grace are two different things. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. You see, what you and I deserve is eternal punishment for the sin that we have unleashed into this world. What you and I deserve is, is eternal punishment for the fact that we were ultimately, whether we were there or not, the ones that held the nails that were driven into the hands of, Jesus.

You and I slapped God in the face with the way that we live for years in our lives. And what we deserve is eternal punishment. But God says, even though that's what you deserve, because you have turned from your sin to follow me, I will bestow mercy upon you. I will not give you what you deserve. As a matter of fact, not only will I not give you what you deserve,

I will give you grace, which is receiving that which you do not deserve. See, I will not only withhold my judgment from you, I will pour my righteousness into you. I will make you lovable by giving you the righteousness of Christ. And I will give you everything that you don't deserve. That's what the gospel does for us. And there's a fourth thing that the gospel does.

The gospel gives salvation and brand new life. It gives us salvation and it gives us brand new life. The life that, I now live is no longer my own because I live a brand new life in Christ. Now that's what the gospel does. So let's return to our original question. What does it mean to live a life that is worthy of the gospel? What does it mean to live as citizens of heaven,

living a life that is worthy of the gospel? Well, first of all, it has implications for my own life. I should live a life that constantly confronts sin in my own life. I should not, allow myself to continue on in sin, but I should allow the Holy spirit to confront that sin in my life. I should constantly be repenting of sin when I see it come up in my life.

When I see something that is wrong and I am confronted with it, I must repent from it. I must live allowing God to bestow his mercy and his grace upon me. And I must live a life basking in the new life that Jesus has given me, not according to the old man, but according to the brand new life that I have, been gifted by Jesus Christ. That's how I live a life that's worthy of the gospel in its personal implication.

But do you know, it has outward implications as well. That means that as a believer in Jesus Christ, part of my job as a believer is to confront the world with sin. You know how I know this? Because Jesus said, go out and make disciples. Now, if I'm going to make disciples, there's only one thing I have to do that with. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if I'm to live a life worthy of the gospel, not only do, I confront sin in my own life, but I confront sin in the world and the lives of the people that I see around me, but I don't do it because I want to prove them wrong. I do it because I want to see them be right. This is the big issue we're having in the church right now is that either a, we don't want to confront sin at all, or B, we just want to confront sin to prove people wrong because we're disgusted by their lifestyles. Because we, we think that something they do is so much worse than me.

And what we have to realize is, is that I am poor in spirit. I've been taking two or three different groups through the sermon on the Mount. And I just keep coming back to the fact that that very first line in the sermon on the Mount is actually the key to living the Christian life. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean?

It means to be destitute of any righteousness of my own. You see, if I understand sin in my own, life and I understand who I am as a sinner in need of God's grace, then when I confront sin in the life of someone else, I'm not doing it to prove them wrong. I'm doing it because I've already been proven wrong and I want you to experience the same grace that I've experienced in my life because I know the path that you're on and I don't want to see you on that path. So if I am to live a life worthy of the gospel, not only am I confronting sin in my own life, but I'm confronting a sin in the lives of the people that are around me.

Not only am I repenting in my own life, but I am calling people in their lives to repent. Ryan, people won't like me. Probably not in the beginning. I promise when you call someone to repentance, they're not going to like you at first. I don't care if they're saved or unsaved. They're probably not going to like if you call them to repentance. As a matter of fact,

I'm just going to say this right now. Christians will probably get more angry with you than the people of the world because a Christian living in sin is much more fierce than a person of the world living in sin. Because the Christian living in sin has justified it. And if you tell them that they're wrong, boy, do they come out swinging? And if you tell them they have to repent,

boy, do they come out swinging? You know how I know that? Because I come out swinging. I know it because that's how I am. I don't want to be confronted in my sin. I don't want to be told I'm doing something wrong. I'm a pastor. I don't do things wrong, right? And right now you're like, listen, Pinocchio, you're going to put someone's eye out with that nose,

right? But we have to call people to repentance. But when we call people to repentance, number three, we have to bestow mercy and grace. We have to bestow mercy and grace. Brothers and sisters, if we're to live a life worthy of the gospel, you have to stop holding people sin against them. You have to stop holding people. But what if they keep saying against me?

Well, remember what Jesus said to Peter? Peter goes, Jesus, I think I've got this thing figured out. How many times should I forget? I bet I should forgive somebody seven times of the exact same sin. And Jesus goes, Peter, you're on the right track. You just haven't gone far enough. Try 70 times seven. And they were like, right? Because we as believers are not supposed to forgive.

Right? We as believers are not supposed to hold people sin against them, which is why we're told that love remembers no wrong, right? It keeps no record of wrong. And as believers in Jesus Christ, not only are, if we're to live a life worthy of the gospel, not only are we to live in that salvation and new life, but we are to offer that new life to the people that are around us.

Brothers and sisters, if we are to live our lives with the right perspective, if we are to have the right perspective, if we are to live on our conduct, then we must live a life that is worthy of the gospel. Number two, we are to work together for the gospel. We are to be working together for the gospel. It says in the middle of verse 27, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

Paul says, I want you to live a life worthy of the gospel so that no matter what, whether I'm with you or apart from you, I'm going to hear about something. I'm going to hear that you're working together for the gospel. As a matter of fact, there's three things he says. Number one, that you are just going to be standing firm. That word to stand firm means to stand strong or to stand your ground.

We have to understand something about that. It's not the gospel that we stand in. It's something that we stand in because everything in the world wants to push us back from the gospel. Everything in the world wants to push us away from it. Our flesh wants to push us away from it by saying, oh, my sense, not that big of a deal. You should hold those people sin against them.

All those kinds of things with a push us away from it. Our flesh also wants to tell us, quit, quit making such a big deal about your gospel. Don't don't push your beliefs on everybody else. The world tells us to quit pushing our beliefs on everyone else. And and they try to soften the gospel. Aren't there many ways to God? Aren't there? Aren't there lots of ways to salvation?

Isn't it pretty narrow minded of you to say that Jesus is the only way they try to push us away from the gospel? What we have to do as believers in Jesus Christ is own up to the fact that the gospel is incredibly narrow minded. But it's narrow minded in the most beautiful way possible because it's narrow minded and saying that there's only one way to salvation. Do you know who else I like that's really narrow minded?

Doctors. I like the doctors are narrow minded. You know why? Because they say this is really the only cure that there is. I'm like, but but eating brownies seems like a good cure too, right? I've tried it every single time I go to the doctor. And they're like, I mean, that's the wrong way. So it won't actually do. Wouldn't it be? Wouldn't it be awful if you went to the doctor and you presented your idea to him?

Like, hey, I realize I'm sick with you fill in the blank here. And I know that this is what the medicine says. But but I've come up with my own idea. I've come up with my own plan. And they look at you and they're like, I mean, it doesn't seem like it's going to work, but I can't force you to do it. I can't force you to do the thing that always works. It's kind of what we do to God,

right? It's not just kind of what we do to God. It is what we do to God. Like, hey, I've got a different idea. And God's like, I don't think that's going to work because, well, it's my standard. You haven't met it. Pretty sure that's not going to work for you. It makes us very narrow minded. That's okay. It's okay to be narrow minded about the truth. And we have to stand our ground,

not an anger in love. Stand firm on the gospel. Second thing he tells us to do if we're to work together for the gospel is that we are to be of one mind and one spirit of one mind and one spirit. Now he's talking to the collective church of Philippi, right? He's not just talking to the pastor of the church of Philippi. He's talking to the collective church of Philippi.

So if you will, Epaphroditus just got up and read is reading this letter to a group of people just like you all right here. And he's reading this letter. He's like, I want you to stand firm with one mind. Wait a second. And one spirit. Hold on now. Right now. Here's the fun thing about the body of Christ is that we are all unified. We are not all uniform. I will guarantee there are some questions that I can ask and there would be about three groups of you.

That had different opinions on it. At least maybe there'd be 52 groups of you, which I think is roughly maybe 60 roughly how many people are in this room, right? There could be that many different opinions on it when it comes right down to it. There's one thing that we always have to stay unified on and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to continue with one mind and with one spirit.

Let me tell you what it says in the Amplified Bible. It says with one mind and one spirit, one purpose. You see, how do you bring together a whole bunch of people that are different in everything that they do and think, right? As I look at this room, I know that there are different ideas of fashion. There's different ideas of music. There's different ideas of politics.

There's different ideas of jobs. There's different ideas about whether we should work in person or work remote. There's different ideas about all those kinds of things. And that's okay. There's room in the body of Christ. There's room in the body of Christ for lots of different ideas. As long as when it comes right down to it, we realize that we only have one purpose.

And that's Jesus. That's bringing people to Jesus. He says, I want you to stand firm, to stand strong. And I want you to be of one mind and of one spirit. And I want you to strive together for the gospel. Strive together for the gospel. That phrase, striving together. I wish I could tell you that I planned this. I absolutely did not. But that phrase, strive together in the Greek,

literally means work together as an athletic team. That's what the word means. Isn't that great? Because what's today? It's Sunday. What else is happening today? The Super Bowl is happening today. Right? There are two athletic teams that are about to come together. And the one, I will guarantee you this. I don't know who's going to win the game. I know who I hope is going to win the game.

But I don't know who's going to win the game. But I'll tell you this. The one that plays like a team, they're the one that will win the game. The one that plays the most like a team is the one that will win. I watch a lot of sporting events right now, partly because my daughters play sports, and because I find sports to watch because I just really enjoy it.

And I was telling my daughter this the other day. I said, you know, there's two things that separate good teams from great teams. As a matter of fact, there's two things that are identified in every great sporting team ever, in all of history. Number one, their ability to let go of their mistakes. Number two, their ability to play as a family. Because when they can play as a family,

they trust each other. Nobody bites each other. When something's wrong, they don't say, what did you do wrong? They say, come on, we're going to get it next time. Because they are a family and they support each other. When they make mistakes, they build each other up. When they need held accountable, they're held accountable. But that's what drives them. That's what good teams do.

Do you know what bad teams do? They hold on to all of their mistakes and they don't play together as family. And everybody starts blaming each other when there's problems. And I would tell you this as the church, do you know the best way that we can move forward for the gospel is working together as a family is understanding that we have one purpose. And in that one purpose,

we operate together. We work together as a team. Now, here's the thing about a team. There is no most or least important person on a team. I always use this from the aspect of working for a general contractor. When you work for a general contractor, there's lots of different individuals that make up a crew, right? So within a general contractor, you've got the superintendent,

you have the estimator who gets you the jobs, the superintendent who run the jobs, the project manager who oversees the job. But then you have laborers and carpenters who work on the job. And then you've got your subcontractors that work on the job. And I'll never forget my boss asking all of us one time, he said, who is the most important person on any job site?

Now I'm an overthinker. Okay. Everybody else wrote down their answer and I'm still sitting there going. And they're like, Oh dear God, Ryan, just say who you think it is. I'm like, I gotta have a minute. No one's the most important. And everybody just looked at me and he was like, you're right. Cause everybody plays an important role. Now listen, when I work construction,

I think that was the first time anybody ever looked at me and said, you're right. But it happened, right? I took it because there's no such thing as a most important person because everybody plays a role. And if everybody doesn't play their role, something doesn't get done. And that's the way it is on an athletic team too. Everybody plays. Their role. Everybody does their job.

And if everybody doesn't do their job, you can't win as a team. And that's the way it is in the body of Christ. We are to work together for the gospel. And I would tell you that if we can get a church, if we can get a group of believers in Jesus Christ to have one mind and one spirit, standing firm with one purpose, striving together for the faithful, striving together for the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can change communities that way because everyone's together and you have a single hearted purpose.

And as I was studying for this, it made me think about what is our like a like mission statement, vision statement, if you will, here at Calvary, right? If you're newer here, you may not know this, but our vision statement is reaching in and reaching out. We reach in to build up the body of Jesus Christ. That's what we do when we get together on a Sunday morning.

That's what you do when you get together for a small group. When we get together on Wednesday night, when we have potlucks, when we have baptisms, we reach in to build up the body of Jesus Christ because we realize that a body that is strong, a team that is strong can better advance the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But not only do we reach in, but then hopefully together we reach out and we reach out to the community that is around us. We reach out to the people that are around us.

Do you know how our church keeps growing? You guys keep reproducing. And I don't just mean all the babies that we have, although that's a really funny joke too, but we keep reproducing that way too, right? We're growing the church one baby at a time that way. But you're reproducing in that you're going, hey, you should come to church. Can I tell you about Jesus?

Can I tell you about my relationship with him? And then hopefully when that person comes to church, the body gathers around and we say, hey, you're brand new here. I'm really glad that you're here this morning. How can we reach out to you? How can we love you? And we love on the new people, right? It's a beautiful thing because that's reaching in to build up the body and reaching out to minister to the people that are around us.

Reaching out sometimes means your family. It sometimes means your city. It may mean your state. There's a group that's going down to Guatemala in May, and they're reaching out to go all the way down to Guatemala to do work down there because we are working together for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. Working together for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so if we are to have the right perspective on the way that we live,

number one, we live a life that is worthy of the gospel. Number two, we work together for the gospel. And then number three, we are not afraid of the opponents of the gospel. Notice what it says in verse 28. In no way, are you alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too from God. For to you, it has been granted for Christ's sake,

not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict, which you saw in me, and now here, or what you saw in me, and now here to be in me, not afraid of the opponents of the gospel. He says that you would in no way be, let me make sure I read the word correct here, that in no way you would be alarmed. That word alarmed means to be startled or terrified or intimidated. That in no way would you be startled or terrified or intimidated by your opponents.

That in no way would you be startled or terrified or intimidated by your opponents. And yet brothers and sisters, you have opponents. You have those that are opposed to everything that you believe. And the more that you talk about what you believe, unfortunately, the more they hate you for what you believe. We'll get to how Jesus promised this in just a minute.

But I think the first thing is really important, because he says not to be startled or terrified or intimidated, by your opponents. And I tell you this because I want to remind you of what we talked about last week. Last week, we talked about the fact that if anybody understood fear, it was Paul. So I think it was on Paul's second missionary journey when he was in Corinth, he dealt with a great deal of opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord showed up and

said, don't worry, Paul, don't be afraid. Keep preaching because I have many people in this city. When Paul was arrested in Jerusalem a few years before he wrote this letter, an angel of the Lord showed up to him while he was in a prison cell and said, Paul, don't be afraid. As you've testified for me in Jerusalem, you will also testify of me in Rome. And then while Paul was on his way to Rome

to testify for Jesus, he was in a shipwreck and the Lord showed up to him in a dream. He said, Paul, don't be afraid. The ship may be lost, but no one on the ship will be lost and you will testify for me in Rome. So if anybody knew what it was to be afraid, it was Paul. And up to this point in time in his life, he had known one thing about God. He had known that no matter how

scared he was, God was always faithful and that he should not be fearful in the face of opposition, that he should not be fearful in the face of his opponents. Instead, he should make sure that he was in no way alarmed or intimidated or startled or terrified by his opponents. Now, I think that means a couple of things. Number one, don't be startled. What does it mean to be startled? Be caught off guard, right? This is

kind of who I am. I get really incredibly focused on one thing and I don't pay attention to anything else that's going on around me. I especially do this when I run. Okay. So there I was, right? Tiny dogs are the scariest dogs in the world. Can we all agree with that? They just are because you don't see them coming. And I'm running and I'm bebopping. Apparently I smile when I run

because I'm a freak. Anyway, so I'm just running down the road and I'm caught up in my song. I'm talking to Jesus. I'm in the zone, right? And this little yipper just goes right at me. And I mean, I thought I was going to have a heart attack and I'm like jumping and running, like trying to get my legs. So this dog will not bite my ankles. And I look over and somebody, the guy on the porch is

laughing so hard. Why? Because I wasn't expecting a dog to be running at me. So I was startled by it because it wasn't something that I was expecting or paying attention to. So I think the first reason Paul tells them, don't be startled. Don't be terrified. Don't be intimidated. Don't be alarmed by your opponents is that maybe they're not expecting it. And he wants them to be expecting it. And brothers and sisters, I think one of the biggest things

that you and I have got to start doing is start expecting opponents because it's killing me right now. People in the church are like, oh, and he was mad at me about that. And I'm like, well, yeah, he was. What did you think was going to happen? Right? Like, I just want to sign over my door that says, what did you think was going to happen? Right? Because that's, I feel like I could answer

90% of people's questions that way. When they're like, I did this and this is what happened. I want to be like, what did you think was going to happen? So we shouldn't be startled when the world hates us, when we have opponents, but also we should not be intimidated. We should not allow the fact that we have opponents. To keep us from living out the truth and the love of Jesus Christ, because Paul had learned

over and over and over again, that God is with you. He's with you when everything's great and everyone's on your side and everything's going awesome. And he's with you when everything is against you and everyone hates you and you're fearing for your life. Either way, God's still with you. He says that you would in no way be alarmed by your opponent. And notice what he says next, which is a sign of destruction for them. If you can live a life,

not alarmed by your opponents, that is a sign of destruction for your opponents. Because if they can't hold fear over your head, they have no power over you. That's why that statement that Paul made earlier in the chapter is so important for me to live as Christ and for me to die is gain. You can't hurt a guy like that because when you live that way, it is a sure sign of destruction for your opponents. They're either going to do one of two things. They're either going to give up or

they're going to join you, right? There's this, there's this amazing story about a group of Russian wrestlers that were Christians back in the, back in the, uh, uh, seventies, eighties, when, when communism was really trying to destroy people. And so they took this group of Christian wrestlers and they took them and they put them out in Siberia. Made them stripped down, uh, naked and go stand out in the middle of a frozen lake.

And these wrestlers went out and stood in the middle of this frozen lake naked and they started praising God. And you know what happened? Some of the guards joined them. You know why? Because when you're not alarmed by your opponents, it is sure destruction, a sure sign of destruction for them because they go, if we can't hold fear over them, what do we have to hold over them?

And if they're not scared, why? Maybe I need what they've got. But not only is it a sure sign of destruction for your opponents, but it is a sure sign of salvation for you. Because if you can't be moved by fear, then no one can stop you. If fear won't hold you back, then listen, nothing can hold you back. The biggest thing that holds us back as believers in Jesus Christ

is our fear. Fear of the unknown. You ever notice that? Why don't you share your faith more? Fear of the unknown. Why don't you take a step of faith? Fear of the unknown. Why don't you go deeper in your walk with Jesus Christ? Fear of the unknown. I hear it all the time. But Ryan, if I go deeper in my relationship with Jesus Christ, what if he does fill in the

blank here? It's usually like, give me some kind of a sickness, take away one of my kids, make my life harder. I'm like, first of all, you don't really understand God. Second of all, don't fear the unknown. Because God's already there. God's already in the unknown. And it's not unknown to him. See, if all of a sudden I don't live in fear because I have a God who's bigger than that,

no one can stop me. The world has yet to see what God can do through someone whose life is fully surrendered to him. And so he goes on to say in verse 29, he says, for to you, it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. So let's, let's unpack this verse real quick, because it's pretty interesting verse. He says,

for to you, it has been granted. That word granted means to be graciously bestowed or freely given. So to you, God has graciously bestowed and freely given for Christ's sake, the ability to believe in him. Oh, isn't that true? I think any of us that are believers in Jesus Christ, we look back and we go, that was totally just God. Like I never get the answer, right? And I was like,

Jesus, I need you. And he was like, right answer. And it was completely God. It was God who drew me. It was God who convicted me. It was God who opened my eyes. And I'm just like, oh, it was freely given to me. It was gifted to me by God, this ability to believe in him. Because by God's grace, that's what he does. That's the gospel, right? I hate to harp on the same point, but Paul kind of harps on the same point.

But there's a second thing that's been freely bestowed, graciously bestowed upon us. Did you notice it? It's the next part, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. Lord, take it back, right? I don't, I don't want to be freely given the ability to suffer for your sake. Now that's an interesting way to look at life, isn't it? So he says, for to you,

it has been graciously bestowed upon you for Christ's sake, not only to believe, in him, but also to suffer for his sake. You know what Paul just called suffering in our lives? A gift from God. It's the gift that keeps giving, right? Like how on earth is suffering a gift from God? Because it means you look just like Jesus. I want you to go with me a place in scripture.

I want you to go to the book of John. I want you to go to John chapter 15.

I want you to look at verses 18 through 20. John 15 is Jesus speaking to his disciples, hours before his crucifixion. And this is what Jesus says to his disciples in John chapter 15 verses 18 through 20. He says, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you're not of the world,

but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave. It's not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So what does that mean when you're persecuted? What does it mean when you are suffering for Christ's sake? It means that you look just like Jesus. Go with me one more place. Go to the book

of Acts, Acts chapter five, just a few pages over to your right. I want you to look at verse 41.

Just been arrested, told not to preach the gospel anymore, beaten, and then released. And this was their response in Acts chapter five, verse 41. It says, so they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. Isn't that great? Isn't that a great perspective on these things? A perspective that we struggle

with having. I would have a hard time having this perspective. I'm not mature. Enough in my faith yet, apparently. But I want you to think about what does Jesus's disciples had heard. And I want you to think about the growth that Jesus had brought into the lives of his disciples. Do you remember what Jesus's disciples argued about the most? Do you guys remember that? They mostly argued about who was going to be the greatest in God's kingdom, right?

Who's going to sit on the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in the kingdom. That's what they argued about the most. And yet at the very end, Jesus tells them, Hey, listen, servant's not greater than his master. If they hated me, they're going to hate you. If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. It's okay. If you suffer for my name's sake,

you look just like me. Well, when the first opportunity for suffering, when the first opportunity to be persecuted for the name of Jesus came up, what did the disciples do? Do you remember? They ran because when Jesus was arrested, they all ran. As a matter of fact, not only did they run, but what did Peter do three times? He denied that he even knew Jesus.

To the point where he was cursing over it. And yet not two months later, the disciples are standing there praising God, but they are worthy to suffer shame for his name. What changed? What, what changed in the way that they live their life? Well, one major thing that changed is that they saw that Jesus has victory because they saw Jesus ascend from, from the dead. And they went, oh my gosh, everything he said is true. I want to dedicate

all of myself to him. But you know what the second thing that changed was? They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, the great thing about God is that he continues to do this work in our lives. Now, if you don't know, Luke is the one who wrote the book of Acts. Now, Luke was with Paul when he went to prison this first time. He traveled with him on the ship,

went with him when he went to prison. Who do you think was probably telling Paul some of these stories about the book that he was writing? Luke. Probably told him, remember that time that the, I told you the disciples said that they praised God, that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Interesting that Paul here writes that it has been granted to you,

that it has been freely gifted, graciously bestowed upon you to be able to suffer, for his name. Friends, if we want to have the right perspective on the way that we live our life, we cannot live in fear of our opponents. We must understand that suffering for the name of Jesus is actually the greatest blessing that could be bestowed on our lives because you never look more like Jesus than when you're suffering for his name. I'm not saying you should go out and try to make someone beat on you because you believe in Jesus.

I'm saying don't be startled when it happens. Don't be startled when lawsuits come. There's a Calvary in St. Joe right now that's getting sued because they took a stand for something. Don't be startled when these things happen to you because the world hates us, because we stand for something that they're very opposed to. Instead, we should continue to live with the love and the grace and the joy that comes only from the presence of the Holy Spirit

and our God. In our lives, Paul says back in Philippians, he says, for to you, it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict, which you saw in me and now here to be in me. And so my friends, I take note of one thing and I'll leave you with this. As we have looked at this right perspective, have you noticed one thing being at the center of everything that we've talked about? I don't know if you have. I

thought about this last night as I was doing some work to get ready. I thought that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been in the center of everything that we've talked about when it comes to the right perspective. And so if you feel like your life is out of whack, if you feel like your life is out of order, if you feel like everything in your life is absolutely lost point of view and perspective, I would tell you that you need to come back to one thing and one thing only. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because at the crossroads, there's a gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's the gospel of

the cross of Jesus Christ is where our lives are truly found. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I just pray that you would bless us as we go out from here. Father, I pray for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be upon every person in this room and everyone watching online. And may we be drawn closer in our walks with you. Lord, may our

lives match the claims that we make with our mouths. Father, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Father God, we just thank you, Lord, for your word and for the mighty effect that it has in our lives, Lord God. I pray that as we leave here today, that your Holy Spirit go with us and continue to minister to our hearts, Lord God. We love you and we praise you in your precious and holy name. Amen. God bless you guys.