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Warren Wiersbe - Where's the Joy? - 1 of 15 | Back to the Bible | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Warren Wiersbe - Where's the Joy? - 1 of 15
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[Music]
welcome to back to the Bible radio
featuring best-selling author an
internationally known Bible teacher
Warren where's being today we begin a
series of studies focusing on the joy
letter of the Bible Paul's letter to the
Philippians there are so many ways you
can study this marvelous letter it was a
personal letter written to thank the
Philippian church for the offering that
they had sent to help to support Paul
while he was a prisoner in Rome it was
also a pastoral letter because Paul had
founded the church all about ten years
before he wrote this letter and the
church was going through some difficulty
there was division there was dissension
in the church and Paul wanted as a
pastor to encourage them in their
spiritual unity there's also a very
practical purpose behind the letter it
focuses on the joy of ministry oh there
are so many beautiful truths in this
letter to encourage us in our ministry
ministry takes place when divine
resources meet human needs through
loving channels to the glory of God
Philippians chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 Paul
and Timothy the servants of Jesus Christ
to all the Saints in Christ Jesus who
are at Philippi with the bishops the
overseers and deacons grace be unto you
and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ rather interesting
that Paul does not introduce himself as
an apostle sometimes in his letters
he'll write Paul an apostle of Jesus
Christ the servant of God but this
letter opens Paul and Timothy the
servants the slaves of Jesus Christ in
other words one of the emphases in this
letter is on service it's on ministry
and you know I think what he's saying to
me in Philippians is this we ought to
have a joyful ministry my preacher
friend is your ministry a joy or a job
my missionary friend is your ministry a
blessing or a burden
a schoolteacher trusty deacon elder
whatever your ministry may be in the
local church and I trust that you have
one is that ministry a source of joy to
you so many times we meet pastors and
missionaries Sunday school teachers who
are just greatly discouraged they've
lost the joy of their ministry and you
know the joy of the Lord is our strength
is it any wonder that we find people
fainting and faltering and falling when
they've lost the joy of their ministry
back in the year 1877 the well-known
preacher Phillips Brooks began to give
the Yale lectures on preaching and this
is what he said quote I cannot help but
bearing witness to the joy of the life
which you anticipate he was speaking of
course to ministerial students its
delight never grows old its interest
never wanes its stimulus is never
exhausted let us rejoice with one
another that in a world where there are
a great many good and happy things for
men to do God has given us the best and
the happiest and made us preachers of
his truth well not every preacher agrees
with that right now some preacher is
saying brother where's but you don't
know what I'm going through well Charles
Spurgeon had this to say in his book and
all-around ministry preaching ought to
be a joy constant preaching should be
constant enjoyment Robert Murray McShane
that saintly presbyterian wrote these
words if ministers only saw the
preciousness of Christ they would not be
able to refrain from clapping their
hands with joy and exclaiming I am a
minister of Christ I am a minister of
Christ I can truly say that I desire no
other honor upon earth than to be
allowed to preach the everlasting gospel
well the joy of ministry now when you
read the letter to the Philippians you
discover that there are four sources of
joy in the ministry and they parallel
the four chapters in Philippians now let
me give you an
overview of Philippians and then we'll
take each chapter a section at a time
now we're not going to go into this book
in great depth we could do this we could
spend months and months and months
studying Philippians what I want to do
during these days is simply give you an
overview of Philippians to help to stir
up within you the joy of ministry I
don't want you to falter or faint I
don't want you to fall or fail I'm
asking the Lord Jesus Christ by His
Spirit to use the word to Kindle in your
heart once again the joy of ministry I
know you get tired we get tired in the
Lord's work we'd better not get tired of
the Lord's work I know there is
opposition there are demands there are
problems physical and emotional and
spiritual and financial but my friend
you're going to discover that in
Philippians God opens up to you all of
the sources of joy in the ministry
chapter 1 the first source of joy in our
ministry the message of our ministry now
what is our message the gospel the
gospel you'll notice in verse 5 he's
thankful for your fellowship in the
gospel down in verse 12 he talks about
the furtherance of the gospel over in
verse 27 he says striving together for
the faith of the gospel the gospel is
the important thing to the Apostle Paul
and the faith of the gospel the
furtherance of the gospel the Fellowship
of the gospel the gospel is important to
the Apostle Paul it's important to you
and me because apart from the gospel we
simply have no message the word gospel
is used nine times in Philippians six
times here in chapter one
now this gospel is the message of the
Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is
mentioned 18 times in this first chapter
and so when you put it all together you
find out Paul is saying this if you want
to have joy in your ministry don't talk
about yourself don't preach yourself tie
everything to the gospel
of Jesus Christ now what is the gospel
the good news that Christ died for our
sins that he was buried that he arose
again the third day all of this is
validated by the scriptures the gospel
is the good news that you don't have to
stay the way you are now if you had one
message to give to the whole world what
would that message be an economic
message and ecological message how would
you help the whole world with one
message that one message is the gospel
and you and I have the joyful privilege
of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ
Paul points out in Chapter 1 that the
gospel relates to three different groups
of people in verses 3 through 11 he
talks about the fellowship of the gospel
relating to God's people we as God's
people must never neglect the gospel now
we have not rejected the gospel or we
wouldn't be saved but we must never
neglect the gospel so in 3 through 11 he
talks about the fellowship of the gospel
and he relates it to God's people then
in verses 12 through 26 he talks about
the furtherance of the gospel and he
relates it to the lost you and I have
the joy of sharing this message with
lost sinners that they might trust Jesus
Christ and be saved now it's a wonderful
thing to have that kind of a message to
preach Jesus Christ you say well I'm
only an usher in our church don't ever
say only an usher because you are the
first people to give visitors a good
welcome to the house of God the first
impression that they get of the church
comes from the usher and you have the
joy of preparing the way for unsaved
people to receive the gospel you sing in
the choir you teach a Sunday School
class you're a visitation worker
whatever your task may be remember this
we relate the gospel to the lost the
furtherance of the gospel then in verses
27 through 30 he talks about the faith
of the gospel as it relates to our
adversaries verse 28 in nothing be
terrified by your adversaries now here
are three different
circles of influence and you and I have
the joy of sharing the message of the
gospel to the inner circle of the saints
the fellowship of the gospel to that
wider circle of the loss the furtherance
of the gospel and even to our
adversaries those who try to oppose us
chapter 1 our first source of joy the
message of our ministry the gospel of
Jesus Christ now in chapter 2 he gives
us the second source of our joy that's
the model for our ministry and who is
the model for our ministry the Lord
Jesus Christ when you read the first
four verses you find Paul hinting to
them that they need to get together in
the church there's division they aren't
like-minded they are not of one Accord
their strife there's vainglory
somebody's trying to be important and be
boss you know sometimes the the churches
is divided because of a pastor who's
dictatorial or perhaps a board or a
deacon or a church member who has to
have his own way her own way but in
chapter 2 Paul says if you want joy in
your ministry let Jesus Christ be the
model for your ministry now he gives us
three conditions that we must meet if
we're going to follow the example of
Jesus Christ verses 1 through 11 we must
submit to the person above us even as
Jesus submitted and became a servant
verses 12 through 16 we must surrender
to the power within us it's God who
works in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure submit to the person
above you surrender to the power within
you and then 17 through 30 serve the
people around you now those three
conditions are difficult to meet but
they're so simple to understand you say
I want joy in my ministry then follow
the example of Jesus Christ what did he
do he submitted to the person above him
he did the Father's will he surrendered
to the power within him the Holy Spirit
of God and he served the people around
him and he did it in such a beautiful
loving way the problem is too
we have too many celebrities and not
enough servants there are too many
pastors and other Church people who want
to be important they want to be leaders
but they don't want to be servants Oh
what we need today our servants who lead
and leaders who serve the message of our
ministry chapter one that gives us joy
the model for our ministry Chapter two
the Lord Jesus Christ chapter 3 now the
motives for our ministry oh this is a
marvelous thing
why are you ministering why do you study
and preach why do you visit why do you
take care of people why are you
ministering well Paul gives us in
Chapter three three very wonderful
motives for our ministry and they'll
bring joy verses 1 through 11 his
righteousness becoming like the Lord
Jesus verses 12 through 13 his reward
gaining that reward that he has for us
the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus
and then verses 17 through 21 his return
looking for Jesus to come again are you
discouraging your ministry today then
what are your motives is your motive to
become like the Lord Jesus his
righteousness that's Philippians 3 1
through 11 is your motive his reward or
the praise of men verses 12 through 16
are you looking for his return verses 17
through 21
now these motives will give you joy in
your ministry you have any other motives
and you're going to be discouraged
downhearted and defeated now we go to
chapter 4 because I can hear somebody
saying well brother where's that's all
very wonderful you talked about the
message of our ministry and the model
for our ministry and the motives for our
ministry but we have financial problems
we have people problems we've got
difficulties in our church that relate
to nitty-gritty things like heating
systems and roofs and and being able to
support missionaries well that takes us
to chapter 4 the joy of the means of our
ministry God takes care of the means for
our ministry now what are these means
well verses 1 2 and
three God's people God's people are a
marvelous means for ministry all I know
they can create problems but they can
also help to solve problems God's people
helping you now look at the people of
God through the heart of love that Jesus
had in chapter four verses one through
three Paul talks about his fellow
workers who were dearly beloved his joy
in his crown is that your attitude
toward people resource number one the
means for our ministry people and then
verses four through nine God's peace oh
you need God's peace within you the
problems are not outside of you my
friend the problems are inside of you
the heart of every problem is the
problem in the heart so we have God's
people beside you verses one two and
three God's peace within you verses four
through nine God's providence around you
verse 10 and then 14 through 18 God in
His Providence is at work around you
God is caring for you then there's God's
power within you verses 11 through 13
and there's God's promise before you
verse 19 my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by
Christ Jesus I want to repeat that now
you're discouraged today and you just
don't know where the next check is going
to come from to pay the bills you don't
know where the next Sunday school
teacher is going to come from you're
wondering why the choir is falling apart
well let's look at these these marvelous
provisions now God's people beside you
verses 1 2 & 3
God's peace within you 4 through 9 God's
providence around you verse 10 and
verses 14 through 18 God's power within
you verses 11 through 13 and then God's
promise before you verse 19 you see God
has all of the means necessary to
provide everything for your ministry all
you've got to do is find out what he
wants you to do remember now you begin
with the message if you're preaching the message
message
he'll provide the means if you're
following the model the Lord Jesus he'll
provide the means if you have the right
motives he'll provide the means but if
our motives are not right God will not
provide I want you to have joy in your
ministry I don't want you to be
discouraged God doesn't want you to be
discouraged perhaps you've read in the
Peanuts comic strip where Linus says
that one day he wants to become a great
doctor but Lucy says you can't be a
doctor you don't love mankind to which
Linus replied I do love mankind as
people I can't stand and sometimes the
people of God are difficult to get along
with and yet here's the Apostle Paul in
chapter 1 verses 3 through 11 explaining
to us the ties that bind us together now
what are they I thank my god upon every
remembrance of you always in every
prayer of mine for you all making
requests with joy for your fellowship in
the gospel from the first day until now
being confident of this very thing that
he who hath begun a good work in you
will perform it complete it until the
day of Jesus Christ the first tie that
was binding the hearts of the
Philippians to the heart of the Apostle
Paul I have you in my mind
he remembered them I thank my god upon
every remembrance of you that means the
whole remembrance now there were some
things about the Philippian church that
when he remembered them could have
brought sorrow for example when he was
at roie's Acts chapter 16 he didn't know
where to go he was waiting waiting
waiting then he had that vision well he
could say I want to forget about that
delay at Troas he had a vision of a man
who said come over and help us and so
Paul and his team went over to Philippi
and they couldn't find that man but they
did find a woman's prayer meeting thank
God for women's prayer meetings a group
of Jewish women and some Gentiles who
were Jewish proselytes or Jewish followers
followers
they're having a prayer meeting by the
river and then that slave girl came
along and created problems for Paul Paul
was thrown into prison he was whipped he
was humiliated now there was division in
the church at Philippi there were some
people who were fighting one another
Paul could have had some memories of
Philippi and that would bring him sorrow
but you know what he says here I thank
God upon every remembrance the whole
thing you know what he's saying he is
saying you've got to see the total
picture now my preacher friend there are
people in your church who are creating
problems for you but you've got to see
the total picture look at them through
the eyes of Jesus Christ and the gospel
Paul said I thank my god upon every
remembrance of you I'm thankful for your
fellowship in the gospel I'm confident
that God is at work in your life maybe
he's not at work like he ought to be
that's not his fault that's your fault
maybe you're not allowing him to do
everything he wants to do but you must
look at people in Jesus Christ chapter
one verse one to all the saints in
Christ Jesus every chapter in
Philippians begins with in Christ
chapter 2 verse 1 if there be any
consolation in Christ chapter 3 verse 1
finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord
in chapter 4 we read verse 1 so stand
fast in the Lord always look at God's
people in Jesus Christ
you know whenever you meet an unsaved
person you can love him because he's
somebody for whom Christ died whenever
you meet a Christian you can love him
he's someone in whom Christ lives Paul
said I have you in my mind I thank my
god upon the whole remembrance of you
missionary friend that person who's
creating a problem for you right now a
hundred years from now you'll look back
and you'll say you know God was taking
care of that God is at work be patient
let's be thankful for the fellowship of
the gospel let's be thankful for the
people of God
I have you in my mind that's the first
tie that binds our hearts together but
in verses 7 and 8 there's a second tie
that binds our hearts together Paul says
I have you in my heart even as it is
right for me to think this of you all I
notice that 9 times he talks about you
all there was division in the church he
wants to include everybody in his
message even as it is right for me to
think this of you all because I have you
in my heart now it's one thing to have
somebody in your mind and quite
something else to have them in your
heart in as much as both in my bonds and
in the defence and confirmation of the
gospel you all are partakers of my grace
for God is my witness how greatly I
longed after you all in the tender
mercies of Jesus Christ Tigh number one
I have you in my mind is there somebody
in your church you're trying to forget
is there somebody in your Christian life
you you don't want to have them in your
memory watch out you'll lose the joy of
ministry secondly I have you in my heart
this was not a normal natural human love
this was a divinely supplied love it was
the love of the Lord Jesus Christ I long
after you all in the tender mercies of
Jesus Christ we are taught of God to
love one another more than that we have
that gift of love in our hearts the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit who is given unto us
we're commanded to love one another
now God doesn't command the heart to
feel a certain way he commands the will
to act a certain way what is Christian
love Christian love is an act of the
will Christian love means I treat you
the way God treats me God is patient
with me so I'll be patient with you God
is kind to me I'll be kind to you and
you should be kind to me God tells me
the truth I should tell you the truth
and do it in love the way God does that
Christian love is not a feeling you say
well there are folks in the church I
don't like that may be true you might
not want to spend a week's vacation with
them or even an evening with
them that doesn't make any difference in
Christian love it's not a matter of
feeling it's a matter of willing let's
be thankful for one another I have you
in my mind I have you in my heart I have
you in my prayer thanks for being a part
of our back to the Bible listening
family it's wonderful to have you with
us each day if you miss part of the
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leading you forward in your relationship
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