Sermon Transcript
Well, we’re going to look at a section of scripture that I think the Apostle Paul would echo those words. So why don’t you take your Bible out and we’re going to look together at Philippians chapter 1. I’m going to be looking at verses 12 to 18. And if you didn’t bring along a Bible, I think you’ll find some of the scriptures there on the message note sheet. You can follow along there or, you know, pull out your phone or whatever you’re going to use this morning.
It is well with my soul. That takes me back to this last year. This last year I had a spiritual director that I met with once a month, and it was connected to the Soul Care Ministry. Some of you may be aware of Soul Care. It’s a ministry now that’s here in this area meeting throughout the year with various pastors.
They usually have 25 people at a time, and I was invited into that group this past year of 25. They’ve now met for the past 7 years, and we actually had a Soul Care alumni retreat on Friday here in Woodside at a beautiful home there. But I was fortunate enough to get in on the waiting list. They said that only 50 could actually come. They had an exact time that you could go online and try to log in, you know, and, and get on the sign-up list, and I missed it, actually.
I was there at the right time, but they said there was a glitch in the system, so I missed it, was put on a waiting list. Long story short, Wednesday they contacted me and said, you’re in, do you want to come? And I absolutely said yes, because the whole day was spent with Eugene Peterson. Now you may recognize Eugene Peterson’s name. He’s the one who translated The Message.
So to sit at his feet, so to speak, and listen to, you know, an 83-year-old man talk about his spiritual journey and answer questions. It was a unique opportunity, to say the least. So I was glad to be there. I was glad to hear more about how the Message translation came to be and just other factors like that and all of that. So it was a part of the Soul Care Ministry, and, and every now and then they do these sorts of things for the alumni.
So I had a great year with them, and that was a nice follow-up as well. I met throughout the year with a guy named Paul, and Paul was a sunny-side kind of guy. You know, he’s the guy that if you’re gonna go to somebody and you want them to encourage you, he’s that kind of guy. You know, he’s always counting his blessings. He’s not dwelling on his disappointments.
He sees things from the bright side. You know, the silver lining, we would say. He’s found the silver lining in things and all of that. And so each month the appointment would essentially be him asking me, what do you want to talk about today, Dave? And so I would, you know, raise some kind of subject and we would spend the hour together processing that matter from a Christian spiritual perspective, especially as it impacted my soul.
And inevitably, I would leave this appointment better than it was when I came in because of the insights that had been gleaned or the thinking that I had done during that time. That was just part of the program. The other part was connected to the studies that you did over the month, and then also the group meeting with the 25 others and 5 other— or 4 other spiritual directors, 5 spiritual directors in all. So it was a fantastic year. But that year is over now, and now we’re into a new year.
And I got to thinking, you know, in a way, I’m just continuing with another Paul. Last year it was that Paul, and this year it’s Paul the Apostle. And Paul the Apostle was the one who wrote the book of Philippians. And Paul the Apostle, obviously under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is speaking to all of us about living this Christian life in this world. So you don’t have to go to Soul Care to benefit.
We can all benefit from what the Scriptures teach us. And last week we kind of got into chapter 1. We looked at the first 10%. We talked about how do you start a conversation with somebody that could be a difficult conversation? The stakes are high.
How do you start a conversation like that? And I hope if you were here last week, you benefited by that. Time that we have together. Well, today we come to another matter that Paul brings up in these opening verses in Philippians, and this matter concerns the hardships that he was facing. If you know anything about Paul, you know he was a person just like us that found himself in situations that were not that good.
There were challenging circumstances. He spent a lot of time in prison. If, you know, he had sent in a resume to a church and wanted the church to consider him as a lead pastor, that would be an interesting conversation to be in on in terms of the search team, how they would look at his resume because of all the prison experiences that would be listed in his resume. You would probably say, you know, I don’t think we want this guy who’s been in prison too much to come and to be our pastor. What’s fascinating is his perspective on his prison experiences.
In part, you see that perspective way early on in his ministry. So, for instance, the reason why he’s writing to the church at Philippi is because he had visited Philippi. And the first time he visited that area was on his second missionary journey. And while he was there, he cast a demon out of a woman, a young woman. And what that did was it upset the business that that woman was in and the people that she was reporting to and the income source that she was to others.
So, it put her out of business, and it eventually led to Paul’s imprisonment with Silas in Philippi. What’s fascinating is to see his response to this prison experience. In Acts chapter 16 and verse 25, he said— or what we find that Luke said about that experience was, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening to them. Now think for a minute.
This isn’t the usual prison experience, right? Somebody gets put into prison, they’re probably griping and complaining. This is not fair. By the way, Paul’s circumstance was not fair. He should have never been in prison.
So here’s Paul in prison now, and his response is to sing and to pray and to praise God. And everybody else in prison is hearing this. You’ve heard of Singin’ in the Rain? This is singing in prison. He, I would say, had a sunny side of life mentality.
He was able to take his circumstances and look at his circumstances through a point of view that all of us could benefit from. 10 years later— let’s just jump ahead 10 years later— 10 years later, The Apostle Paul’s in prison again. He’s not in prison in Philippi. This time he’s in prison in Rome, and that’s where he wrote the book of Philippians from while he was in prison in Rome. And the essence of this story is after he came back from his 3rd missionary journey, he was caught in the temple area.
Ultimately, they said that he had defiled the temple, so they imprisoned him. They took him— they arrested him in Jerusalem. They took him to Caesarea. He was imprisoned there. He spent 2 years in prison in Caesarea.
He faced 3 governors, Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. And after having faced Agrippa in this imprisonment, he ultimately was sent to Rome. He was sent by a ship. Some of us were here last year and we studied these portions of Scripture, especially near the end of the book of Acts. We heard about the shipwreck that he was in on the way to Rome and all the other circumstances that he went through.
He finally got to Rome and he was put into jail. His jail essentially was being chained to a Roman soldier, but he was stuck in prison. He could not do essentially what he wanted to do. He had to do whatever the Romans wanted him to do there in Rome. And he was in prison for 2 years before he wrote this letter.
So Paul’s been in prison now 4 years, and after 4 years he writes this letter. And basically what he wants to do is to let the church at Philippi know how he was doing, because they’re asking questions. So How’s things going for you, Paul? And he tells them. And what we have before us this morning is Paul’s perspective on his prison experience.
What I would encourage us to do this morning as we think about this, as we read this and we consider this just for a couple minutes, is to consider the prison experience you may be in right now. What is it? It literally might not be prison. I mean, you’re here this morning, but it could be a figurative thing. What is that experience, and what’s your point of view right now on that experience?
See, that’s what we see here, what’s of such value from this text— his point of view that can help us in our own prison experience. So let me read the passage for you. Philippians chapter 1, verse 12. Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I’m in chains for Christ.
Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. It’s true— excuse me— it’s true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I’m put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I’m in chains. But what does it matter?
The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached And because of this, I rejoice. Yes, I will continue to rejoice. How’s he doing? Well, big idea, pretty good. Now let me give you just a summary statement.
We’re going to use the summary statement to build our thoughts around to help us draw an application. Okay, the summary statement begins with 2 words: my chains. Do you notice the words chains that are used there at least 3 times? Some of your Bibles say imprisonment, by imprisonment instead of chains. So it depends upon the translation that you have.
But what we know is that Paul is chained to the palace guard, to members of the palace guard. The palace guard in totality, we’re told, was 13,000 to 14,000 soldiers. Now, I don’t know that Paul was chained to 13,000 or 14,000 of them over this 2-year period of time that he’s in Rome, but we just know that he’s chained to one after another. And in some ways you would say, so he was captive. But in reality, if you know the story, uh, I think that the Roman soldier was captive.
They were the captive audience to Paul preaching Christ. In fact, as you can see here, the reason that he was in chains was because he was a messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He talked about Christ to people. He preached Jesus to people. He wanted people to know, and this is the message, that Jesus is the Savior.
So that prophet that was predicted, the Messiah that was predicted, that at that time the culture would have read about it through all of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures we call them, the prophet that was to come, the Messiah that was to come, the apostle Paul believed is Jesus. And we believe that, that Messiah is Jesus, and through Jesus we can have an eternal relationship with God. Our sins have separated us from God. Christ came to pay the penalty for our sin. By grace we’re saved through faith in Jesus alone, not because of what we do.
We receive the gift of life. We’re adopted into God’s family. He preached that message. That was the message, but it put him into chains. They put him into chains for preaching the message.
Now let me just stop again. Have you yet identified your chains right now? They’re probably obviously not literal chains, but maybe it’s some hurt that’s in your life. Maybe it’s suffering that you’re experiencing right now, some kind of pain. You feel trapped.
You feel stuck. Maybe it’s connected to your job. Maybe it’s connected to your health. Maybe it’s connected to your children. Maybe it’s connected to your parents.
Maybe it’s connected to your school. Maybe it’s connected to a relationship. What are your chains? And what’s your perspective on your chains? Paul says, my chains— and I want you to notice this in verse 12— have served to advance the gospel.
My chains have advanced The gospel— there’s a second part of this statement I want you to grasp for a moment. What’s foremost in Paul’s mind in terms of his perspective on his chains is that the gospel is advancing. The word advance here is a word that was used to describe a woodcutter that preceded an army, an entire advancing army. And it was this woodcutter’s responsibility to clear the way for the army to come in. And Paul is saying is that my chains, my imprisonment, are serving to advance the gospel.
The gospel is getting out because I am in chains. And he says in verse 13 that it’s impacting the whole palace guard, so 13,000, 14,000 potentially. And he also says, and everyone else knows about this too. So the gospel is getting out past the palace guard to everybody else that’s in Rome. Now tell me, is that a great result of being in chains?
Absolutely. And he goes on and he says in verse 14, and that’s not all, but because I am in chains, Christians, Christ followers, are witnessing more courageously. They have more courage. They have less fear to talk about Christ as they’ve seen me talking about Christ. They’re now talking about Christ courageously.
I think it’s interesting that Paul is dealing with a subject that we still struggle with to this day, which is timidity, the problem with timidity, the problem with opening up our mouths and talking about somebody that we absolutely love. We believe he is the way to heaven, but we still have a problem talking about that in, you know, courageous ways. In fact, I was having a conversation with somebody this week who said to me, you know, one of the things that God has done is he’s opened up doors for us to have Bible studies. I have one at Apple. I have one at Facebook.
I have one at LinkedIn. And he went through a series of 5 of different, you know, groups here in the area and how they have Bible study at these places. And I said, so tell me a little bit about the study. What’s it like? And he said, well, mostly Christians come.
And I said, what’s it like for them? And he said, you know, the one thing that we come back over and over to again is this whole matter of being a representative for Christ in an overt way. He said, it’s not uncommon for me to hear from those who come to these studies that they don’t want to go public with their faith because they don’t want people to know that they’re a Christ follower.
I said, really? Now, I’m not saying we all have that problem. I’m just saying that to this day we still struggle with the same thing that they were struggling with back then. And so the Apostle Paul is looking at his circumstance, and he’s saying, you know what I’m seeing? I’m seeing that actually me being in chains is advancing the gospel, and now people are more courageous about their faith than they were before I was in chains.
And then he went on and he talks about the kind of people that are talking about the gospel, and it’s fascinating because he divides them into 2 groups. Verse 15, there are those who are talking about the gospel that are preaching from envy and rivalry. What’s the envy and rivalry connected to? Evidently it was connected to, I want to be like the Apostle Paul. I want to do better than the Apostle Paul.
This is something that sometimes churches get into. You’ve probably heard this before as well. You know, we want to be the best church in Silicon Valley. We want people to know about us. Well, where’s that coming from?
Envy and rivalry, sort of this competitive spirit. That’s where there was some kind of motivation there that wasn’t necessarily a godly motivation. It was more of a self-motivation. But then he said, but there are others, verse 15, who are preaching Christ. Do you see it there?
They’re preaching Christ out of goodwill. They’re preaching Christ from pure hearts. And if you look at verse 16, it goes on to say, and these people who are preaching Christ out of goodwill are preaching from love, the love for the gospel, the love, it says here, for the Apostle Paul. So maybe it was an expression of support for the ministry that Paul had, and they’re just carrying on that ministry. But then he jumps back to this other group in verse 17, but he says, but there are some who are preaching with selfish ambition, without sincerity.
And he even goes on to say they’re preaching so as to make things worse for the Apostle Paul, to somehow cause Paul more trouble. So maybe in their preaching it would bring more heat on the Apostle Paul. I don’t know. All we know is that, you know, it’s not a great motive. And then if you look at verse 18, you see the motives contrasted.
They’re actually identified. You might want to circle the words that are used here, or at least underline them or get them in your mind. But there are those who are preaching from false motives. Do you see it? For self-acclaim.
And there are those who are preaching from true motives, from true motives, for God’s acclaim. The point is this: when Paul sees people now courageously preaching the gospel, he sees that not all of them are preaching from the same motives. Some are preaching from false motives, bad motives, and some are preaching from true motives. Some are preaching for themselves and others are preaching for the gospel. But Paul’s response to all of this is, but what does it matter?
What’s most important is that Christ is preached. Now that’s fascinating because so many times we can get stuck on nitpicking. And in this case, the nitpicking would be nitpicking a person’s motives. You see, he could have stopped at this point and said, you know, wait a minute, we gotta, like, correct the motive thing, okay? We’re gonna get the motive thing right in terms of how the gospel’s gonna go out.
We’re gonna focus on that. He could have stopped the epistle and just went over there and kind of dealt with that for a while, but he doesn’t. Instead, what he focuses on, listen, is the message not the motives of the messenger. And if the message is getting out, for Paul, that’s wonderful. If the gospel is advancing, he says, I’m going to rejoice.
I’m happy that the gospel message is getting out there. And yes, it’s getting out there through different kinds of vehicles, but the point is, is that the gospel is moving out through more people in more places, and that makes me happy. Now, there are a lot of interesting applications about this. You can go back to the ’80s and ’90s and you could talk about Willow Creek Community Church, and you could talk about Saddleback Church, you could talk about Bill Hybels, in other words, or you could talk about Rick Warren, and you could say, you know, those guys are suspect because of the approach that they took to leading their churches forward in terms of getting the message of the gospel out. In terms of their approach on Sunday morning to take a seeker bent toward the worship services, so that the worship services on Sunday morning were more about evangelism than they were about edification.
And you could say whatever you want to say about that. You could rag on that fact that that was just from your perspective, that is wrong. A church should not be doing that. And you could have that kind of a mentality. But, you know, when I look at this text right here, I don’t think that’s how Paul would have responded.
I think Paul would have said, hey, listen, if the gospel is getting out there, I’m a happy guy. That’s wonderful. In fact, I’m so happy that it’s doing that now. If it took me getting into chains for the gospel to get out there, I’m good with that. I’m good with that.
You may remember the name D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody’s evangelism methods evidently were suspect to some people, how he went about trying to win people to Christ. He had one particular lady come to him one day, and she was not happy about the approach that he was taking, so she let him know it.
And Moody said, well, you know, I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do this either, but tell me how you do it. She said, I don’t do it. Moody said, well, then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.
Right. I mean, see, the point is, is that the gospel— is the gospel getting out there? And by the way, look closely at this text. Where is the focus? Is the focus on the results?
Is the focus on winning people to Christ? Is that where the focus is here? In other words, is the win here that they’ve come to faith in Jesus and that’s what’s keeping Paul happy? No. Is that the desire?
Is the desire in preaching the gospel to bring people to faith in Jesus? Answer: yes. But could Paul control that? Can you control that? Can I control that?
No. What can we control? We can control whether or not we advance the gospel. We can control that, right? We can say something about Jesus.
When God opens the door, we can talk about Jesus to others. And that’s the focus that Paul is taking here. And he’s saying, listen, if people are talking about Jesus, I’m a happy guy. And there’s the last part of the summary statement then. My chains have advanced the gospel, so I’m rejoicing.
I’m rejoicing. Are you kidding? This is fabulous that I’m here in prison. The gospel is getting out there. People are hearing the message of Jesus Christ.
I’m a happy guy. I’m exhilarated. The word means a number of things. I’m filled with joy and gladness and exaltation and pleasure. He was living— listen, he was living in the present with joy because of his perspective on his present circumstances.
Don’t miss that.
Sometimes we are holding on to what we know about the future to be the key basis of our joy, and the key basis right now at this moment in time of his joy is the perspective that he is taking on his present circumstances, his perspective. In fact, 3 words, I want you to notice these 3 words in verse 18, because of this. What’s the this? The this is my chains, my chains, that this, that have advanced the gospel. And because my chains, that this, have advanced the gospel, I’m rejoicing.
I think of it this way. This, Paul is saying, this did this, so I’m this. So what’s the first this? My chains. My chains did this.
What? Advanced the gospel.
This did this, so I’m this. What? I’m rejoicing.
But the key to rejoicing is to go back to the this and this. The key to the third this is the first and second this. You getting this?
Do you see this? You see, and here’s the application. This is wonderful. He was living with a because of this. Perspective.
He wasn’t just living with a this perspective, he was living with a because of this, or said differently, a had it not been for this, this would not have happened perspective. You see it? That’s what the whole passage is built around. It’s built around a because of this perspective. So let’s talk about that just for a minute.
No, it was Thursday. Thursday night I went to a celebration dinner for Jim Stump. Some of you recognize the name Jim. Jim’s been here a few times. He’s chaplain at Stanford.
He works with the football team, the baseball team, and the tennis team, and he’s done that for 45 years. So this was a celebration of these years of ministry that Jim has had at Stanford. And as they told and retold the story, there was a part of the story that went back to the very beginning before that ever was to happen, when Jim was at a conference in Southern California and he was put into a room with 2 other athletes. He was moving toward chaplaincy at the time. He was put into a room with 2 other athletes.
These 2 athletes were from Stanford. And as a result of what happened with those athletes over those few days, there was a because of this for Jim. Had it not been for this, Jim would not have ended up at Stanford. Now, say it however you want to say it, the providence of God or listening to the voice of God or whatever it was, but it was that this that led to 45 years of discipling athletes helping them come to faith in Jesus Christ and building them up in faith in Christ. See, that’s the kind of perspective Paul is leaning on here in his chains.
He’s leaning on it because of this: he’s able to see the good work that God has done.
A couple weeks ago I just happened to turn on the television to— actually, I think I was going to record a show, and Today Show came up on NBC. And they were doing this piece for, I guess, that week on connection of stories, people’s stories to football. And they were telling this story at that moment of a guy who, because of a football game, his life was changed. It was the story that was connected to the 2007 Dallas Cowboys-Seattle Seahawks playoff football game and something that happened in that game. Actually, it was near the end of the game and there was a snap from center and Tony Romo, the quarterback, botched the snap and the thing played out.
I’m just going to let you see this whole thing, but there is a because of this or had it not been for this that came out of this story. Watch this. I think it’s a great emotional connection this morning. 8:50, we’re back now with our special series Together We Make Football. All season we’re bringing you stories about how the game can also shape lives, and Willie’s got the latest installment.
Hey, Willie. Good morning, guys. The passionate, noisy fans of the Seattle Seahawks are known as the 12th Man. On game days, their stadium is among the loudest places in the world. This morning we’re making a 12th Man cross-country love connection with the help of the 3rd member of the couple’s relationship, the Seattle Seahawks.
There are nearly 70,000 fans at a typical NFL game, each with a unique story. In the kindergarten photo where it’s dresses and sweater vests, I was the kid in the Steve Largent jersey. Loved the Seahawks as a child, and Seahawks were in the playoffs early 2007. And there was that infamous Tony Romo fumbled snap to win the game. Oh, it is fumbled!
This shoestring tackle kept the Seahawks alive in the 2007 playoffs. How crazy is this? Setting up a road game in Chicago near the home of Seattle transplant David Webber. Bought my ticket, wasn’t going to know any Seahawks fans there, so I thought I got to figure out how to connect with them. At the time, there’s this relatively new social networking site called MySpace.
I had the idea I’ll just get on there. Top, front and center was a photo of Sarah. January 9th, 2007. Hey, I’m Dave from Seattle, but I live near Chicago and I’m going to the game this weekend. I just did a browse looking for some Hawks fans, but your profile was the first thing that jumped out at me.
As much as I’m flattered, don’t you find it a slight problem that I’m in Seattle? Just think about it. I think we’d be a pretty perfect match. David went on MySpace to look for Seahawks fans in the Midwest. Instead, he sparked a cross-country internet romance.
He said, maybe we should exchange phone numbers and talk on the phone. And I said, no.
I literally called it an email utopia. I said, let’s not ruin it. Our first date night, the one that we met at the restaurant, having never met in person or even talked on the phone, He sent his first message to me on January 10th, 2007, and we were married on November 10th, 2007.
We have Nolan, who’s going to be turning 4 in just a couple weeks, and then we’re also expecting. Love of the Seahawks initiated our relationship. I continually go back to that unlikely sequence of events. Jordan Babineaux chases him down. Jordan Babineaux comes from behind to save a game-winning touchdown.
David and Sarah were a Jordan Babineaux fingertip away from never meeting, making this meeting extra special. Hey, what’s happening? How are you? I’m Jordan. Did you know that?
This is my wife Sarah. Sarah, how are you? Nice to meet you. Nolan, give Jordan Babineaux a high five. Did you know if it weren’t for Jordan Babineaux, we’d We may never have met.
You may never even come around here.
We’re just another couple fans, but because the way we met involves the Seahawks, we have kind of a special connection to the team.
I just wanted you to see that just to think about the because of this. Sometimes it’s a good because of this. Now, if you were a Dallas fan, you’d see that different, but Who knows how the because of this is going to play out?
I was on a flight earlier this year to Phoenix, or I guess it was down to Tucson, and some of you know that the plane had a problem with its radio system. And so we, as we were going through Los Angeles, ended up sitting in Los Angeles for 4 hours. Waiting for them to fix— get this little radio into the plane, new radio system. And it ended up that it gave us 3 passengers sitting together 4 hours of conversation. Had it not been for a radio, we would have not had the conversation that we had, that at the end of the conversation both of them said, this is one of the best conversations I’ve ever had in my life.
Had it not been for this.
My father died last Sunday morning. Some of you have been processing that with us for the past 5+ years. It’s been a huge challenge for us as a family to watch your father contract the Alzheimer’s disease and then not be there. And you grieve through that whole period of time. And what I found through the period of time was I was looking for the because of, the because of this.
Lord, help me know what is it that you have for us in this so that something happens through this and our understanding of this that serves a higher purpose. Had it not been for this, this would not have happened. And we all got to process that stuff, right? As Dad was at that point when he was still able to talk and he was aware that things were going south, I said to him, Dad, how you doing? And he said, David, I’m just going to trust the Lord.
And I hadn’t really made this connection until later, but that was the number one thing that got us through it. It really was. I can still remember the Lord reminding me of Proverbs 3:5-6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding.
That, that this. And it was that that happened in our lives. Our trust in the Lord grew during this time. Our empathy grew during this time. And if you were to sit down and hear Jerri’s story, my stepmother, you would hear the many opportunities and doors that were opened for her to be a witness for Jesus Christ through this time.
That this.
Our daughter Katie would have loved to have worked here in the Silicon Valley. After she finished her student teaching over in Sunnyvale at a school there, they said, we can’t hire you. They wanted to hire her, but evidently there’s some kind of law or whatever rules in the school system that would not permit a person who had just been trained at the school to be hired at the school. And so they said, so we can’t hire you, which meant she had to go look for a job somewhere else. So in her search, she found a job in Merced, California.
And she contemplated, do I go to Merced, California, or not? Because if I go to Merced, California, I’m probably destined to a life of singleness. That’s what she said. She said, I’m leaving a place where all these guys are, you know, all these singles. This is crazy.
And so she moved there, and lo and behold, she met Bracken, and they got married. And now they have little Paisley. But had it not been for this, this wouldn’t have happened.
See what— see what’s going on here? Paul is saying, these chains, it’s okay. I’m okay with these chains. You know why I’m okay? Because the gospel is advancing.
It’s advancing. It’s a higher perspective. It’s a greater good perspective. So it’s finding the Lord’s greater good in the this. But we’re not going to get through this by just thinking about the this.
We want to connect the this to the because of. And so it’s asking God to give us insight into the because of this, this. I hope that helps. That’s helping me. Thank God for an Apostle Paul.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thanks for this morning and for what you’re wanting to do in our hearts right now.
It’s very possible that the difference between us rejoicing in suffering is a because of this perspective. And so I pray that, that this that we would like to get rid of right now becomes a this that results in rejoicing.
And if we can’t even comprehend how that could be, Lord, show us the greater good. Maybe the greater good is, is just simply trusting you. And if our trust in you grows, then that’s good. We realize that not all the circumstances that we find ourselves in in life are good. Certainly imprisoned unjustly is not good.
But we thank you for the promise that you will even take that which is not good and work it together for good. And we thank you this morning that we can see that working itself out in this passage. And so we pray that in the chain experiences that come into our lives, we might be able to apply what it is that we’ve learned this morning, and it might draw us closer to you, and it might result in a greater perspective on the hardships we face in life. And Lord, we also pray for anybody who’s here today that still is not connected to you through Jesus. We pray that this would be the day of salvation for them, they would say yes to becoming one of your children.
In fact, if that’s your desire, tell God that. Lord, I want to be in your family. I want to spend forever with you. And I thank you that you made it possible through your Son Jesus. And I want to receive him today as my personal Savior.
Tell him that. I want him to be the leader of my life.
I want my motives to honor him.
And if you come by faith to God recognizing your need for a Savior and you ask him to save you, he’s going to save you. And things are going to be different.
Lord, thank you that even today you give us another opportunity to grow in our relationship with you and, and to come to know you as our Savior. So for this time together that we’ve enjoyed this morning, we rejoice and we say thanks. In Jesus’ name, amen. Well, we’ll have our team come back and finish up our service with another song of worship. And let’s just use this again just as a few moments here just to reflect on what God’s doing in our lives and use these words to just express our love to him this morning.
And if after the service we can encourage you, we want to be available to you. So come up, talk to us. We’d love to pray with you. We’d love to do whatever we can to be a help to you this morning, wherever you are right now in your spiritual journey.
