This message explores how believers can find joy in ministry by focusing on the furtherance of the Gospel, even amidst personal difficulties, using the Apostle Paul's experiences as a model.
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welcome to back to the bible radio
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best-selling author warren rearsby
for an encouraging message from god's
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are you rejoicing in your ministry today
i don't know what your ministry is but
are you rejoicing in it are you enjoying
your ministry or enduring your ministry
well the lord jesus knows because he can
see your heart and you know
and before long everybody will know
because we cannot hide it in philippians
we're looking at the joy of ministry and
in chapter one we're focusing on the joy
of the message
of our ministry jesus christ and the gospel
gospel
and paul applies this gospel to three
different groups of people
the inner circle of the saints verses
three through eleven the fellowship
in the gospel verse five he gives thanks
with joy for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day
until now then in verse 12
down through verse 26 he talks about the
furtherance of the gospel
but i would you should understand
brethren that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out rather unto the
furtherance of the gospel
now he's applying the gospel not to the
believers but to the unbelievers
chapter 1 verses 12 through 26
then in verse 27 down through verse 30
he'll be talking about how the gospel
applies to our
adversaries those who oppose the work of
the lord
you see if you go through life thinking
only about yourself you're going to be miserable
miserable
but if you go through life ministering
because you are concerned about christ
and the gospel then you are going to be
happy you're going to have joy
we have the most joyful message in all
the world to present
good tidings of great joy which shall be unto
unto
all people for jesus christ the savior
has died for the sins of the world the
father sent the son to be the savior of
the world
now is that why you're living are you
living to get this
message out now if you are you'll be a
happy person
if you have a single mind for christ
and the gospel then you're going to have
christian joy
you're going to relate as you should to
god's people
and you're going to relate as you should
to the unsaved
paul's great desire was to preach the
gospel at rome
when he wrote the letter to the romans
he said so in chapter 1 verse 15
that he had a great desire to come to
rome to preach the gospel well he did
come to rome but not as a preacher but
as a prisoner
you remember in acts chapter 27 you have
that awful shipwreck described and paul finally
finally
does arrive at rome and then some
difficulties appear
even in rome he has some needs
the philippian church sent him some
material help
to assist him in his ministry that's why
he wrote this letter
that we call philippians well i should
have you
understand he wrote to them that the
things which happened unto me
have fallen out they have worked out
rather unto the furtherance of
the gospel this word furtherance means
pioneer advance
it means to move forward in spite of
obstructions and difficulties
it's the word that was used for that
part of the army that went on ahead
cleared away all the debris got rid of
all that was standing in the way of the
march of the army you know the devil
puts roadblocks in our way
right now you may say well brother
wiersby i'm facing that roadblock
here we are in our church or our mission
station or our
sunday school class or our home and
we're trying to move
forward and serve the lord and right
away we've hit a roadblock we've hit a
blank wall we're on a dead-end street oh
no you're not
when you're living to promote christ and
the gospel to spread the good news of
the gospel
there is no such thing as a dead-end
street or a wall
or a roadblock along your path
you see god wants us to take the gospel
out into new territories that's the
problem in so many churches we keep
sowing the same seed on the same soil we
keep fishing in the same pond
but god wants us to take the gospel into
new territory
furtherance pioneer advance god is
saying let's
move into some new territory are there
areas in your
town or city that have never been
touched by the gospel
how are you going to get the gospel in
there well the apostle paul
had three very wonderful tools that god
gave him
to get the gospel out to areas where
it had never reached verses 12 through
14 his
chains so that my bonds in
christ are manifest and people are
talking about this
my chains because of his chains christ
was known verses 12 through 14.
then verses 15 through 19 his critics
oh paul had some critics there in the
city of rome there were some who were
not preaching the way they should
preach they were preaching out of
contention and division and dissension
but paul tells us in verses 15 through 19
19
that because of his critics christ is
preached notice now because of my chains
christ is known because of my critics
christ is
preached and verses 20 through 26
because of my crisis christ is magnified
what was his crisis he might be killed
he says for to me to live is christ to
die is gain
his great concern was not just to spare
his life but to use his life
now get a hold of these three tools his
chains christ is known
verses 12 through 14. his critics
christ is preached verses 15 through 19.
his crisis he might be killed christ
is magnified verses 20 through
26. now today let's look at these first
tools his chains and his critics
and let's find out how you and i in
spite of the
obstacles the problems the difficulties
that we face
can promote the gospel spread the gospel
get the word of god out where it has not
reached before verses 12 through 14
he talks about his chains but i would
you should understand brethren that the things
things
which happened unto me have fallen out
rather under the furtherance of the gospel
gospel
so that my bonds in christ are manifest
in all the palace
and in all other places and many of the
brethren in the lord becoming confident
by my bonds are much more bold to speak
the word
without fear paul was chained to a roman
soldier and they probably changed that
guard about oh every six hours or so
now paul is telling us that when he was
chained to this roman soldier
it gave him opportunity to witness
imagine being chained to the apostle paul
paul
who said pray without ceasing imagine
being chained to the apostle paul who wrote
wrote
the love of christ constrains me that
poor soldier had to listen to the gospel
had to listen to paul dictating letters
praying and of course witnessing god
uses strange
tools doesn't he he used moses rod he
used gideon's pictures
he used david's slang he used the little boy's
boy's
loaves and fish and he used paul's
chains now paul did not consider himself
chained by rome he said my bonds in
christ by the way
all of us have chains of one kind or
another you're listening to me today and
you say oh i'm chained to my home i have
these little children to take care of
or i'm chained in my job oh how i wish i
could do more
for the lord or i'm chained by some
handicap you might be in bed
you might be flat on your back right now
and you say oh why has the lord
permitted me to be chained would you
notice now
the apostle paul said these chains are accomplishing
accomplishing
wonderful things for the gospel now if
you're thinking only about your own comfort
comfort
and your own concern then chains are a problem
problem
but if you're thinking about spreading
the gospel then chains become an opportunity
opportunity
number one those chains gave him contact with
with
the lost number two those chains gave
courage to the saved contact with the
lost here were these roman soldiers and
he's talking here about the elite
praetorian guard he's talking about
those 9
000 elite soldiers that were the
guardians of the emperor
in rome now if paul had come to rome
and tried to get an invitation to preach
to this crowd in their barracks
they would never have let him in but now
one by one
these soldiers were hearing the gospel
because they were chained
to the apostle paul you say here i am in
a hospital bed i'm chained i can't get out
out
oh what an opportunity it will give to
you to share the gospel
in love and in patience
i had a friend who was in the hospital
for surgery
and as the nurses and doctors came in
and out of his room he witnessed to them
and before he left that hospital he had
the joy of seeing a couple of those nurses
nurses
come to jesus christ in fact the nurses
were warning each other
watch out when you go into that room
there's a preacher in there but he was
using that opportunity
to win people to jesus christ the
apostle paul was chained
to a roman soldier 24 hours a day four
different soldiers every day
and over the space of those months and years
years
paul was witnessing to them and many of
them found christ as their savior
i remember being called to rush to the
hospital to see one of our men i was
pastoring a church at the time
one of our men had been rushed to the
hospital and they didn't know what was
wrong with him and
they called me up and said pastor you
come right now and i got in the car and
drove down to the hospital and
i went into the ward where they had uh
put my friend
and there he was quite ill and i talked
with him and we prayed together and i
thought to myself why would this godly
man be in the hospital
as i was leaving the ward a woman
stopped me and said oh brother where's
me i'm glad you're here
my husband was rushed in i haven't had a
chance to call you
he's dying would you come to see him and
before i left that ward
i had the privilege of leading that man
to jesus christ
the next day the other fellow was
released that ever didn't know what was
wrong with him i know why he was in that hospital
hospital
to get that preacher down there to lead
that dying man to jesus christ
now my friend you have chains you are
chained to your children to your home to
your job
to your wheelchair you say i can't serve
the lord
you can have the joy of ministry if
you'll just let god use those chains
now in verses 15 through 19 paul had his critics
critics
we all have our critics i receive mail
from people who
criticize some of the things we say and
do or we don't say and do
and i've been a pastor of three
different churches i know what criticism
is like
i don't mind honest loving criticism it
can help me but all that malicious
divisive criticism
that really hurts paul talks about that
in verses 15 through 19.
some indeed preach christ even of envy
and strife and some also of good will
the one preached christ of contention rivalry
rivalry
a competition not sincerely supposing to
add affliction to my bonds
but the other of love knowing that i am
set for the defense of the gospel that
word set means i'm on duty
i'm not a prisoner i'm a soldier i'm on
duty here to
defend the gospel what then notwithstanding
notwithstanding
in every way whether in pretense or in
truth christ
is preached and in that i do rejoice
yea and i will rejoice for i know that
this shall turn to my salvation
meaning deliverance from prison through
your prayer
and the supply of the spirit of jesus christ
christ
you see in rome the church was divided
there was a three-way division here
with regard to the apostle paul number
one there was a small group of people
who were silent they weren't saying
anything they said we don't want to get involved
involved
then the majority was speaking out and
witnessing for the lord
but the majority was divided into two groups
groups
there was one group that was out to
sincerely preach the gospel and win
people to christ the other group was
preaching the gospel
to create problems for paul isn't it too bad
bad
we have competition and abrasion in the
work of the lord
isn't it too bad that that there are
those who are standing
away from us and criticizing isn't it
too bad
that there are people who can actually
preach gospel sermons but do it in such
a spirit
that they create dissension and division
now how should we respond to this paul
had to respond to his critics
and what they were doing was cutting
much deeper than his chains were cutting
they were insincere they were using the
gospel to further their
own desires and their own purposes they
were using it in a political sense
and they were hurting others they were
unloving they were making it hard on paul
paul
are you making it difficult for other
people to minister i have a friend who
prays every day lord help me today not
to add to anybody's burdens
that's a good prayer they were divisive
they probably envied paul and they were
out trying to cause contention
now here were these three groups of
people the silent
minority the majority witnessing for christ
christ
part of them out of love for paul part
of them
trying to create problems for paul and
what did paul do he said i'm just glad
they're preaching the gospel
you know there are some servants of god
whose methods i disagree with
their motives i sometimes question i
don't want to judge them only god knows
their heart
but you know i'm glad that they're
preaching christ i'm glad that somehow
through their voice through their lives
christ is being preached
we don't always agree on everything but
we do agree on the gospel
they were really only hurting themselves
paul was out trying to establish the gospel
gospel
so that these people could continue to
minister you'd think that they would
have encouraged paul
how did paul handle his critics he
prayed verse 19
i know that this shall turn to my
salvation through your prayer
and the supply of the spirit of jesus christ
christ
god provides through the holy spirit in
prayer all that we need
to put up with our critics now you may
be being criticized right now
right now preacher friend you may be
going through a rough time the board may
have turned the heat on i don't know or
perhaps it's the other way around
perhaps you're a church member and all
your preacher does is get into the
pulpit and criticize you well
i want you to know this god can use even
our critics
even those who are creating problems for
us to further the gospel
you see if you and i are concerned about
the furtherance of the gospel
we aren't going to worry about our
chains we're going to use those chains
to get contact with the lost
and to give courage to other people to witness
witness
we aren't going to worry about our
critics we're going to let god take care
of them we're going to pray
and do the job god wants us to do and
we're going to preach christ and we're
going to rejoice
that others are preaching jesus christ
now in verses 20 through 26 the apostle
paul deals with the third
tool that god used to advance the gospel
namely his
crisis what was his crisis there was the
possibility that he might die
you see paul was in rome technically to
defend the gospel of jesus christ
in the early stages of the church
the roman empire looked upon
christianity as
another kind of judaism now the jewish
religion was an accepted approved
religion in the roman empire
the romans did not persecute the jews
because they were not bowing down to caesar
caesar
well the first christians were jewish
people and many of the first churches
were came out of synagogues
and the jewish believers used to meet in
the temple
and so in the early stages of christianity
christianity
the roman empire looked upon the
christian church as
one other group in judaism
then when the jews began to persecute
the christians
the romans woke up to the fact that
there was a difference
and they found out that the christian
faith was not
judaism continued rather it was the fulfillment
fulfillment
of judaism now this meant that the
christian faith was on trial
and paul was in rome hoping to be able
to get for the church
the same kind of recognition that
judaism had
in other words he wanted the roman
empire to accept the christian
faith because the christians could not
stand at an
altar dedicated to a pagan god and say
caesar is lord their confession was
jesus christ is lord and paul was
willing to
lay down his life if necessary
in order to give recognition to the
church throughout the roman empire
and so this is his crisis verses 20
through 26
of philippians 1. according to my
earnest expectation and my hope
that in nothing i shall be ashamed but
that with all
boldness as always so now also
christ shall be magnified in my body
whether it be by life or by death
for to me to live as christ and to die
is gain
but if i live in the flesh that is in my
human body
this is the fruit of my labor yet what i shall
shall
choose i know not for i am in a strait
between two
having a desire to depart and to be with
christ which is
far better nevertheless to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you
and having this confidence i know that i
shall abide
and continue with you all for your
furtherance and joy of faith
that your rejoicing may be more abundant
in jesus christ for me
by my coming to you again
now there was a possibility that paul
might die
there had been a preliminary trial and
paul had apparently come off
from that trial in pretty good condition uh
uh
they must have made some decisions in
his favor now there was going to be another
another
trial and paul is facing this with great boldness
boldness
his great concern christ is magnified
notice the sequence now in the
furtherance of the gospel
god used his chains christ is known
god used his critics christ is preached
and god used his crisis christ
is magnified now we have two instruments
today that magnify we have telescopes
and we have microscopes
a telescope is an instrument that takes distant
distant
things and brings them close a
microscope is an instrument that takes
little things and makes them look big
when the world looks at jesus christ he
seems very far away
you stop the average person on the
street and you say excuse me ma'am
excuse me sir
um where do you think jesus is oh yeah
jesus well he was a character in history
some 2000 years ago wasn't he born in bethlehem
bethlehem
as far as the average person is
concerned jesus christ is very
far away now you and i are to be god's
telescopes to bring him
near and as far as the world is
concerned jesus christ is very small
who is jesus christ compared to some great
great
athletic star or some great movie star
or some politician
the average person in the world today
would not think about jesus christ let
alone mention his name unless it be in vain
vain
you and i are to be god's microscopes to make
make
jesus christ very big you see paul said
i am not in rome to make paul
big i'm not here to magnify paul
now if you're out to magnify yourself
you'll have no joy in your ministry
you may have praise you may have a fan
club but you won't have any joy
if you want joy in your ministry you
make christ known
and you preach christ and you magnify
christ well the test of our lives is
philippians 1 21
for to me to live is what for me to live
his money to die is to lose it all
for me to live is to build a kingdom to
die is to be forgotten
for to me to live his power or fame to die
die
is to lose every bit of it but when you
can say for to me to live is christ
then you can say to die is gain
yes god is able to use a crisis to
magnify jesus
christ you may be in a crisis today just
say with paul
i want christ to be magnified whether
it's by life or by death
i want him to receive all of the glory
we're glad you joined us today if you
missed part of the program or you'd like
to listen again
just come to backtothebible.org so be
sure to come back again
for more wisdom from god's word back to
the bible
leading you forward in your relationship
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