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
in just a moment we'll join pastor and
best-selling author warren rearsby
for an encouraging message from god's
word but first
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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
