The Church in Philippi

doing this evening? Jesus says we don't need to worry about the second step, right? He's got that one taken care of. So I'm going to go ahead and open us up with a word of prayer. Go ahead and open us up with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, as we come before you this evening, Lord, I just pray that this music would just soften our hearts to your spirit and to your word. And

I just pray that as we're singing these words, Lord, they wouldn't be words, but they would be just the prayers of our heart and that we would just know that we're standing before you in your name. So this first song, I noticed it wasn't in the computer back there. So I apologize. That means you guys haven't done it or haven't done it in a long while. It's a little bit special to my

heart. My wife and I, Danielle, actually spent two years in India doing some mission work about, shoot, about 10 years ago. We did some mission work and whenever we were over there, I learned this song and it's kind of been special to my heart. It just talks about how we can just get caught up in all of the day-to-day ordinary stuff. And so it's just a prayer, essentially pushing that out and just telling God that you want to see him more,

than any of the stuff that just gets crowded in our lives. It's called Open Up the Sky.

Lord, I just thank you for what you did for us such a long time ago, but what you do for us every single day. And you keep forgiving us and you keep loving us and your grace just covers us. And I thank you for that, Lord. I just pray that we would honor you and glorify you because of that. Lord, I just pray as we open your word, Lord, that your spirit would just speak

to us. To each and every one of us exactly, exactly what you have for us this evening. I just pray that in your name.

Dusty? All right, we're good to go. Hi, everybody. Ryan's doing the family thing tonight. So he asked me to fill in. And those of you that are familiar with how I teach, I have three pages worth of notes and three pages worth of scripture references. And what we're going to do tonight is look at a book that Paul wrote in his relationship to the church at Philippi. And so we're going to be in Acts

chapter 16 to start out with. And then we'll end in Philippians. And those will be the two main books you need to go to because the rest of time I'll be hopping all around the place and you won't be able to keep up with me. So let's open up in some prayer. Father, we just thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you for the way that you take care of us and the way that you guide us.

And we just ask that you draw us closer to you as we spend time in your word and you just be glorified, magnified in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, we'll be in Acts chapter 16 to begin with. Paul founded the church in Philippi on a second missionary journey around 49 A.D. And at the end of chapter 15, when they were getting ready to go on this second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take John

Mark and Paul didn't want to take John Mark. And so he took John Mark and Paul didn't want to take John Mark. He didn't want to take him because he bailed on him the last time that they went out. And so they went in different directions. Barnabas took John Mark and went one direction, went towards Cyprus and Paul and Silas took a different route. And starting down in verse 6 of chapter 16, it says,

and they passed through in Pergian and the Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to do, go into, and the spirit of Jesus did not permit them. And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing

to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel of them. So as they were going, God kept closing the doors for them to minister. And he had a specific place he wanted to go to. And he said, I want to go to Macedonia. And he said, I want to go to Macedonia.

And that's where Philippi is located at. And he sees this vision. So they go ahead and take off and go there. And in verse 11, it says, And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gates to the riverside where we were supposing the Lord to come to us. And he said, I want to go to Macedonia. And he said, I want to go to Macedonia. And he said, I want to go to Macedonia. And he said, I want to go to Macedonia. And he said,

And we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. And the reason they went out by the river is because this was a Roman college. Almost everybody in this town are Gentiles. There's hardly any Jews. They wouldn't have a synagogue because there's fewer than 10 Jewish men. The only way they'd have a synagogue, they'd have to have at least 10 men that were Jewish. And they

didn't have 10 men in that town that were Jewish. So they went out to the river to find people to worship. And a certain woman named Lydia from the city of Tyrethia, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be

faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl, having a spirit of divination, met us, who was bringing her master's much profit for fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, These men are bondservants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to us the way of salvation. And she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was

greatly annoyed and turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very moment. It's interesting that this girl was possessed. She says, These men are bondservants of the tied god who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation what she had to say was actually right it was true and if you look throughout scriptures at any time the demons are speaking in the presence of christ they always have to confess who he is and they and they have to submit to him they don't you know demons are known for lying and all that stuff but whenever it comes to christ they can't in luke chapter 4 except for example his verse 33 it says and there was a man in the synagogue

possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out with a loud voice ha what do you have to do with us jesus of nazareth have you come to destroy us i know who you are the holy one of god and jesus rebuked him saying be quiet and come out of him and when the demon had thrown him down in their midst he came out of him without doing harm any harm to him and in verse 41 it says and demons were also coming out of many crying out saying you are the son of god and rebuking them he would not allow them to speak because they knew him to be the christ here this demon possessed girl's fallen paul saying the right things and it was annoying paul because even though she was saying what was right she was tainting their message because she

was demon possessed she was following along she was weakening it was it was causing problems even though what she said was right and so he cast her demon out of her and i believe she accepted christ at that time i think she got saved it goes on it says but when her masters saw that they their hope of profit was gone they seized paul and silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities and they brought them to the chief magistrates they said these men are throwing our city into confusion being jews and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe being romans and the crowds rose up together against them and the chief magistrates tore the robes off them and proceeded to order

them to be beaten with rods and when they had inflicted many blows of fire upon them they threw them into prison commanding the jailer to guard them guard them securely and he having received such a command threw them into the inner prison fastened their feet in the stocks but about midnight paul and silas being were praying and singing hymns of praise to god and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's chains were unfastened the jailer had been aroused out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open he threw it drew his sword was about to kill himself supposing that the prisoners had escaped

but paul cried out with a loud voice saying do yourself no harm for we are all in here and he called for the lights and rushed in of trembling with fear he fell down before paul and silas and after he brought them out and said sirs what must i do to be saved there i want you to imagine this this scene these the the doors open up these jackals are falling off and none of the prisoners leave all of them stayed there and they've been listening to paul and silas worshiping god and praying and when they had a chance to leave they didn't they chose to stay there in the presence of god and that makes me wonder how many of those people over in jail got saved that night and he uh and then it goes on it says uh...

verse thirty one and they said believe in the lord jesus and you shall be saved you and your household and they spoke the word of the lord to him together with all who were in the house he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds immediately he was baptized he and all of his household and he brought them into his house and set forth before them and rejoiced greatly having believed in god with this whole household now and so they believe now these people made up the the nucleus of the church in Philippi. You had Lydia, who represented the upper class. You had this slave girl who had been freed from being possessed, who represented the lower class.

You had this jailer that represented the middle class. Lydia was a convert to Judaism. She was a Gentile who converted into Judaism. The girl was probably a Greek, and the jailer was probably a Roman. These people had nothing in common with each other. The only thing they had in common with each other was Christ, and that's what was the focus of this church in Philippi. That's what

held them together. It's the same way here. Most of us here don't have anything in common with each other. Some of you are into hunting. Some of you are into quilting. Some of you are into all kinds of stuff. Most of us don't have anything that really puts us into common territory with each other other than Christ. He's the reason that we come here. Now, about five or six years after the

church had been started, Paul went back to Macedonia during his third missionary, it's mentioned in Acts chapter 20, verse 1 through 6. He stayed there for about three months. While there, he visited the church of Philippi again. After Paul's third missionary journey ended, while he was in Jerusalem, he was dragged out of the temple by some Jews, arrested by the commander of the Roman military courts in Acts chapter 21. Paul already knew by the Holy Spirit that he was

going to be going to Rome. He already knew back in Acts chapter 19, verse 21. It says, now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia. After I had been there, I must go to Rome. He knew he was going to Rome before he ever was arrested. He knew about it. But after he was arrested, just like John the Baptist, when after

he said that Jesus was the Lamb of God, and then he said, sent his disciples to find out, are you really the one we need to look for? I think after Paul was arrested, I think he had some doubts because in chapter 23, verse 11, Christ comes to him personally. He says, but on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side. And said, take courage, for as you have solemnly witnessed to me my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also. So he knew that he was going to Rome. In Acts 28, verse 30, Paul ends up in

house arrest for two years between 60 and 62 AD. Paul had two prison experiences in his life. One was in house arrest between 60 and 62, and the other one was in 67 when he got beheaded. And these two prison experiences they had were totally different from one another. In his house arrest, he was accused by the Jews. That's why he was there. It was because of the

Jews. But in 67, he was there because he was being persecuted by the Romans. In the house arrest, he was living in decent conditions. He was renting his own house and had pretty decent conditions. But in the 67, when he was arrested, he was in a regular prison cell. He didn't have all the luxuries that he had the first time. He was changed to a soldier. In Acts 28, 16, it said, and when we were entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with a

soldier who was guarding him. In Philippians 1, 12 through 13, it says, I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole patriarchal guard to everyone else. Paul's house arrest was real close to a four-year-old man. And this fort had the patriarch guard that was established there. That was the highest

group of Roman soldiers that you had. And there was up to 10,000 of these soldiers staying at this fortress. And every four to six hours, these soldiers would rotate, taking turns staying with Paul. And so Paul, every four to six hours, had a new person to share Christ with. And he was there for two years. So he got to share the gospel directly with almost everyone. And he was able to

protect a third of the people that were in that military. And just by just staying in his house, and they kept going. Plus, he had a personal bodyguard because the Jews wanted him dead. And so they were there to protect him. So he had a personal bodyguard, and he got to share with his bodyguard about Christ constantly. And this has got to be, for being in prison, a very high

time for him. But in 2 Timothy, when he wrote that letter, he was in the other prison. And in 2 Timothy 2.9, it says, In other words, he was in a regular cell this time. And in chapter 14, verse 13, it says, When you come, bring the cloak, which I left at Troas, and carpets, and the books, and especially the parchment. He wanted his cloak because he's in a cold cell. It's just a cold, damp cell where

there's not really anybody out. In Acts 28, he receives lots of visitors. But in 2 Timothy, he doesn't hardly have any visitors. In chapter 1, verse 15, it says, In chapter 4, verse 9, it says, For Damasus, having loved his present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus has gone to Maltia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me, my service. But Titchy I have sent

to Ephesus. At my first events, no one supported me, but all deserted me, may it not count against them. So he went from having all kinds of support in this one prison experience to pretty much being by himself in this other one. And we may not ever spend time in prison like he did for our faith, but there's going to be times in our lives where we're going to have a support group around us, but there's also going to be times around us when it's just going to be us and the Lord. There

ain't going to be anybody else around us, but the Lord will be there with us in those times. He trusted that he was going to go to Philippi when he got out, but in 2 Timothy, he knew that he was going to be dying. He said in verse 7, I have fought the fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. He knew that it was about done. In Philippians, when he was in the house arrest,

he was confident that he would be released. He said, for I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provisions of the spirit of Jesus Christ and convinced of this. I know that I shall remain and continue with you all through your progress and join the faith so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. But in jail, this other time, his confidence was in his eternal reward.

He said in chapter 4, verse 7, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

In Philippians chapter 2, verse 17, actually, I read you the wrong one. In 2 Timothy 4, 8 says, in the future there is laid for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me in that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. So he knew that he was going to get a crown when he was gone. He was confident of his reward. But in Philippians 2, 17,

he says, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. In other words, it's hypothetical at this point. He's saying, even if I'm going to be poured out, give my life, God's, you know, I'm going to do that. But in 2 Timothy 4, 6, he says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. So before he was thinking hypothetically,

even if I have to be poured out, in tempity, he's saying, I am being poured out. The time has come. So that's some of the background of his two different prison experiences. And while he was in house arrest for those two years, he wrote four epistles. He wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. And most people believe that Philippians was the last of the four letters that he wrote, which was about

10 to 12 years after he established the church. Now, if the church is going to be poured out, the time that Paul wrote the letter to the church of Philippi, there's two people that were with him. Timothy was with him, and it talks about that in chapter 2. It says, by hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you surely, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. If I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned

for your welfare, for they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth. He served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. Therefore, I hope to send him immediately as soon as I see how things go with me. So Timothy was very close to Paul. They were very close together. He was like a father and son

relationship. And the other person that was with him was a guy named Ephroditus. It talks about him in chapter 2. Just below that, it says, but I thought it necessary to send you to Ephroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your brother. And I thought it necessary to send you to Ephroditus, your messenger and minister to my need, because he was longing for you all and was distressed

because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed, he was sick to the point of death. The God has mercy on him and not on him only, but also me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I have sent him all the more eagerly in order that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. Therefore, receive him in the Lord

with all joy and hold men like him in high regard, because he came close to death for the work of Christ. The God has mercy on him and not on him only, but also me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Now, this letter that he wrote, this letter of Philippians, is one of the most personal letters that Paul has written. Paul used the first person pronoun, I, me, my, myself, close to 100 times in these four chapters. It's one of the most open and personal letters that Paul has written to any of

the churches. He mentions joy and rejoicing no less than 16 times, and yet he's in prison and he's writing to people who are free. And he's telling the people that are free to rejoice while he's in prison. You know, he's already rejoicing. He wrote about Christ, mentions Christ 70 times. And in fact, Christ is the focus of the letter. In chapter one of Philippians, Christ is our life.

In chapter two, Christ is our example. In chapter three, Christ is our hope. In chapter four, Christ is our strength and our source of supply. The church of Philippi used is used as a model church to other letters in the New Testament, particularly in reference to giving. In Romans chapter 15, let me get my notes here straightened out. There it is. They're standing right at me. In Romans 15, 26, he says,

He was writing this letter while he was in Corinth. The churches in Macedonia he's talking about is Thessalonica. Berea and Philippi. And the churches in Achaia were Corinth and Athens. In 2 Corinthians 8, he goes on and says again, Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia. Those same churches I was talking about, Thessalonica, Berea, and Philippi.

That a great ordeal of affliction and their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. Begging us with much atrity for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. And this is not as we have expected, but they gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

In chapter 11, verse 9, it says, And when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone. For when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need. And everything I kept myself from being a burden to you. And I will continue to do that. When that church, it mentions the church of Philippi. Begging us with much atrity for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.

The word participation is the word fellowship. It's the word koinia. And in Acts chapter 2, that koinia means that it's a close bond type of fellowship. They wanted to be close and share it. They wanted to participate in sharing the gospel as much as they could. And we're going to look more at this koinia thing in just a little bit. But the church had a reputation for being a giving church.

Not only a giving church, but it was consistent in its giving. And it was strategic, being a mission-minded church, evidenced by their support for Paul. When this church started back in the 70s, it was decided we wanted to give 10% of whatever came into the church back to God. We wanted to support other ministries with whatever money came in first. So God got the first 10% that came in.

We didn't use it to pay electric bill. We didn't pay for the church stuff. The first 10%. The second 10% went out. And sometimes, Pastor Joe at the time didn't always get a full paycheck because we didn't have the money to pay him. But we were committed to giving the top 10% to God. And God blessed the church. Now today, before Pastor Ryan gets paid or the electric bill gets paid or anything else gets done,

we give 35% of what comes in out to help other ministries that God's using. And God has really blessed this ministry because of us giving back to God. And allowing God to be in control of it all. And you're a part of that. You're a part of, you're like this Church of Philippi. This is a giving church. And that's what Philippi was. The Church of Philippi was also a model church to other churches because of its leadership.

In chapter 1 of Philippians, in the first verse it says, Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were in Philippi, including the overseers. And deacons. Now he could have wrote it to the overseers and deacons, including all the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi. They could have put the leaders first. But he didn't.

He put them last. Because if he put it first, a lot of people would get the idea that the elders and deacons are somehow above all the rest of the people. And that's not the way God intended it to happen in the church. The elders and deacons are to be servants. They're to be examples to the body. They're not to lord over. They're to be servants and just represent Christ, what it is to walk in a Christian life.

And in 1 John, excuse me, 3 John, get my notes straightened out of here again.

In 3 John, verse 1, chapter 1, there's only one chapter, verse 9, it says, I wrote something to the church, but Diophus, who loves the first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds. He does unjustly accusing us with wicked words and not satisfied with this, neither does he himself receive the brethren. And he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.

Here was a church that was probably located somewhere up in the Turkey, where Turkey's at, that John was writing to. And this one guy lorded over the church and had sole control over everything. And he was kicking people out if they didn't agree with him. And that's not the way the church is to function. It's supposed. It's supposed to be functioned by a group of elders, a group of deacons, whose focus is on the Lord, that would allow the Lord to do what he wants to do.

And there's no lording over the people. They're just to be an example, and that's it.

It was also a model of church for understanding its rule and spreading the gospel. In Philippians, chapter 1, verse 3 through 5, it says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. The word participation. Participation, again, is the word koinia, meaning fellowship.

This letter defines the kind of fellowship that we're to maintain in Philippians, chapter 2, in the first five verses. It says, If, therefore, there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness, empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each one of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Having this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's what the agape lifestyle is about. That's what the agape fellowship is about, that type of thing. Now, he's writing this to him because not only were they a church that supported him, and they were close to each other in this koinia-type fellowship, but he was also concerned because you could kind of see him drifting.

And a lot of times when a church first starts, it's on fire, it's excited, things are happening. And then after time, things start cooling down. And pretty soon, you've gotten into just habits. It's Wednesday, it's time to go to church. Sunday, it's time to go to church. And pretty soon, you're asking yourself, Did I really get any out of this spiritually? Am I just going through the motions?

And so he's writing to them to encourage them to keep that koinia fellowship with Christ and with each other alive. In Philippians 4, verse 2, there's a couple there, a couple of women, that are having a disagreement. He says, I urge a Judea and I urge Synthes to live in harmony in the Lord.

If I looked up these women's names in the Strong's Concordance, and Judea in the Strong's Concordance means, fine or prosperous traveling. And the name Synthia in the Strong's Concordance means an accident. So what happens when you get to traveling too fast and you're not paying attention to what you're doing? You have an accident. What happens when your mouth gets to running faster than your brain can filter what you're saying?

There's going to be an accident. Somebody's going to get hurt. And Paul encourages them to live in harmony with each other. He doesn't condemn these women for being, for disagreeing with each other because disagreements are going to happen. Everybody disagrees. That's a part of it. It's what you do with the disagreement and how you handle it that matters. In Romans chapter 14,

I'm going to read it out of the New Living Translation because I think it says it best. But Paul's describing what kind of harmony we need to have as believers. It says, So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For the Scripture says, As surely as I live, says the Lord,

every knee will bend to me and every tongue will confess and praise to God. Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. I know I'm convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat.

But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not accurate. If you eat it, don't let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. Then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is good. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of what you eat or drink, but living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God and others will approve of you too. So then let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. We are to guard the unity, but that does not mean we are to be, you know, be uniform. We're not called to be cookie cutter Christians, all behaving alike, believing alike, acting alike, looking exactly the same.

The best example of this I can show, tell you is when Calvary first started back in the seventies, there was a hairstyle that the women wore that was real popular with the women that were going to church Calvary. And Calvary was just getting started. The people in the town were watching Calvary to see what was happening with this church that was starting. And, one of the rumors around town that got started was if you want to, if you're a woman and you're going to the church, you have to have your hair cut like this.

And because there were so many women in the church that had that hairstyle, they thought that was a part of the ritual that the church had. The women had to have their cut like that, but that's, that's not, that's not the way it works. We're not all going to be exactly the same. God has created each of us to be unique yet to have the mind of Christ in our relationship.

This is what the church of Philippi was known for, but they are in danger of drifting from it. The church at Ephesus was known for the purity of their doctrine and their being full of zeal for ministry. But God had one thing against them. They had left their first love. Their love affair with Christ was missing. The church of Corinth was not looking at, was not lacking in any spiritual gifts.

They had all the gifts going on at the church of Corinth, but they were a divided church, lacking the fellowship in Christ that is essential for the life of the church. The church of Philippi may, may have not been a knowledgeable as knowledgeable at about the Bible as the church in Ephesus. And they may not have many ministries going on as the church of Ephesus, but their relationship with each other and their fellowship with Christ was strong. I don't know if you've ever been involved in ministry very much, but it's very easy when you're involved in ministry to get so wrapped up in the ministry that you don't have time to spend with the Lord because you're so busy just doing ministry stuff.

And God wants your ministry to grow out of your fellowship, with him. He wants you to spend time with him first and whatever it is you do, it grows out of that time you spend with him. The church at Ephesus, they may not have had as many gifts as that as they did, but, but the Holy Spirit was, but they were reunited in Christ. What does it look like to be a church that is functioning in Cornelia according to Philippians?

What does it look like to have a fellowship being in Christ? What does it look like to have a strong spiritual relationship? Well, Paul reveals, the characteristics of this Cornelia fellowship in the first 11 verses of Philippians as he writes to the Philippian church and he describes, each verse describes an aspect of this fellowship, type of fellowship. In verse one, it says, Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.

Paul and Timothy were bondservants. One of the characteristics of a strong church is that people have the heart of a strong church. They are bondservants. That's a must. Paul and Timothy, they're bondservants. What that means by bondservant in the Old Testament is that a slave who just chose to serve their master for the rest of their life after their time of service was over,

and they willfully wanted to serve that master for the rest of their life, they would get a hole punched in their ear, and that would show that they were a servant to that master for the rest of their life. And Timothy and Paul had announced that they were servants of God, bondservants. In other words, they were free-willing, not free-willy, but free-willingly serving Christ. They were bondservants, and that's the attitude we're supposed to have as a church.

We're to be servants to one another. In verse 2 it says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We will experience the peace of God because of the grace of God in our lives. And it's not just when you get saved. The grace of God is how you grow. And as you grow, in the grace of God, His peace will be there with you every step of the way.

You'll get to experience that peace. In verse 3 it says, I thank my God and all my remnant of you. Those whom we are serving will be will be worth remembering. This is a big ouch for me because we have probably over 200 people to go to this church, and I only know that names of a handful. And I'm one of those kind of people that I get to the service just in time for the service to start,

and when it's over, I'm one of the first people out the door. I don't spend time with people like I should. And one of the things that we're praying for that God will do, Ryan shared last Sunday about how he wanted to get everybody on the same page with doing devotionals together. Well, the other thing that we're praying for that the Lord will do, and it's going to have to be the Lord that makes it happen, is that there will be like a network of home Bible studies that will grow out of that as a result, and people will be able to spend time in a koinonia-type fellowship with each other, and develop that bond, and develop that bond, and develop that bond, and develop that bond, with somebody that you can't just do in a church full of 200 people.

In verse 4 and 5, it says, Always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participating in the gospel from the first day until now. We will pray for others with joy with whom we have fellowship. This is another ouch in my life because there will be people that I will pray for. Sometimes the prayer chain thing comes up, and I'll see something, and my heart will just go out to them, and I'll pray for them.

But there's also times when I'll tell people, well, I'll be praying for you, and then I never pray for them. It sounded good, it sounded encouraging, but I don't carry through and actually pray for them. I say, yeah, I'll be praying for you. Or it becomes a duty to pray for people. You know, and he's saying here, I'm praying with you with all joy. It's not something that gradually, yeah, I'm going to pray for you.

He's praying with joy in his heart that he gets to pray for them. And that's that koinonia fellowship. We're to be servants to one another. We're to have that peace of God because we're growing in His grace. We're to be remembering the people that we're actually serving, and we should be filled with joy as we pray for these people. In verse 6, it says, For I am confident in this very thing,

that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. We will be confident because it is God who is doing the work in us, not ourselves. We're not working to you. We're not working to get salvation or whatever. It's just as we surrender our lives to Him and allow Him to work in us. We have the confidence in Him. In verse 7, it says,

For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart since both in my imprisonment, in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. This church of Philippi and Paul had a relationship through good or bad. They were there for each other. In verse 8, it says, For God is my witness how I long for you all with the affections of Christ Jesus.

We will care for one another with the affections of Christ, meaning the inward parts of Christ. Our caring will not be based upon our emotions. It will not be based on natural affections. It will be based on the spiritual anchored in Christ. It's not we're just friends because we have that nick that we just kind of get along with. It's we get along because it's the Holy Spirit that's working in our lives

and drawing us to be that caring relationship. In verse 9, it says, In this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. We will love with the Christ centered, Christ focused love. And when you do that, you're not expecting anything back. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul says, It seems that the more that I love, the less that I'm loved back.

And so when you love with somebody with the love of Christ, Christ is your focus. And he's the one you're serving. You serve them by serving him. And you're not expecting them to give you anything back when you love them with the love of Christ. You just love them with the love of Christ because that's what God told you to do. And you don't expect anything back because a lot of times you're going to get hurt

because people aren't always going to love you back. In verse 10, it says, So that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, we are to be sincere and blameless towards one another, distinguishing and holding the most excellent way to do that. And in verse 11, it says, Having been fulfilled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory. And praise of God, we are to do the things being filled with the fruit of his righteousness, not our own.

You need to understand your position in Christ. You need to understand that he's the one that makes you righteous, and you don't have to try to drum up your righteousness and try to look good for everybody else, because it really doesn't matter when anybody else thinks because everybody else's opinions are going to change all the time. But God's opinion you view is consistent and he loves you. And it's his righteousness that he's given you.

And you have to learn to walk in that righteousness. That he has for you. We want to be a strong fellowship here at Calvary, and we can only do that as we keep Christ first in our own lives individually, and as we keep Christ first collectively in the life of the church. And it's two minutes to late, and I did all right.

All right, well, let's let's close in prayer. And then, like I usually do, I'm just going to hang up here for a little while. If somebody's got something they just want some prayer about. I'll be more than happy to pray with you. So let's close.

Father, we just thank you for so much for your grace in our lives. We thank you for your word. And we ask that you help us to live out your word. Lord, don't let us be hearers of your word. We want to be doers of your word. We can only be doers as we allow you to work in our lives and through us because we can't do it. It's impossible to live the Christian life, and it's only as we surrender our lives to

you and allow you to do it in us. That we can do that. Help us to allow your Holy Spirit to move in our lives. Help us to have the boldness to speak and to open up and share your love with somebody else. We just give you the praise and the glory in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Thank you, guys.