Philippians 1:27-28

Good morning, everybody.

Hope you all are well.

Thankful that you are here.

Go ahead.

Grab your copy of God's Word.

This morning we are going to primarily be looking at Philippians chapter 1 verses 27 and 28.

Philippians 1:27

So the city of Philippi itself, it gets its name from Philip of Macedonia,

who some of you may know as the father of Alexander the Great,

who is a very famous historical figure.

The city itself gained notoriety in the ancient world

because of a famous battle that was fought there in 42 B.C.

when the armies of Antony and Octavian defeated the armies of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi.

This battle is significant because after this, the age of the Roman Republic was ended

and from there began the age of the Roman Empire.

After the battle, Philippi became a Roman colony,

which at the time was incredibly significant

because it came with many of the same benefits of being a Roman from Italy,

including Roman citizenship,

which is something that we'll kind of touch on here in a minute,

but at the time would have been a very big deal.

So from there,

we can also see the story of the beginning of the Church of Philippi,

which I think is beneficial for our time this morning in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

If you want to turn to Acts chapter 16, go ahead.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

I'm not going to read it verbatim,

but I'm just going to kind of paraphrase it for the sake of time this morning.

So in Acts chapter 16,

Acts 16 · chapter mention

you find the Apostle Paul seeking to go to Asia to preach the gospel,

but the scripture tells us that the spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go.

So from there, he ends up in the city of Troas,

where in the night he receives his Macedonian call,

which was a vision that he had of a man from Macedonia

urging him to come to Macedonia to help him.

So Paul has this vision and concludes that God has called him to preach the gospel there.

So he immediately goes there in obedience to the Lord.

From the beginning in Acts chapter 16,

Acts 16 · chapter mention

we can see how God built his church in Philippi in ways that only which God can do.

So the first person that we see converted in Philippi is Lydia,

who we are told is a seller of purple goods.

So in Philippi, there were not enough Jews there to constitute a synagogue.

So Paul finds himself down by the river,

rolling up on essentially a women's Bible study,

a prayer meeting.

And this is where we meet Lydia, right?

The Bible tells us that she was a worshiper of God.

And upon hearing Paul's message,

we are told that she becomes a believer and is baptized,

as well as that of her whole household.

From there, Paul spends some time in Philippi.

And the next character that we meet is a slave girl,

who we are told is demon-possessed and has a spirit of divination.

This spirit of divination gives her this ability that brought her masters much gain.

She followed Paul and his companions around the city,

proclaiming,

These men are servants of the Most High God,

who proclaim to you the way of salvation.

So she did this for long enough that,

this cracks me up,

it says,

Paul was greatly annoyed.

So he commands the spirit to leave her in the name of Christ,

to which the spirit does.

But after this happened,

this now creates a problem for the slave girl's masters,

because they now have no way to make money from this.

So they get angry.

They seize Paul and Silas,

and they bring him before the magistrates,

accusing them of doing things that are not lawful.

So the magistrates and the people there,

they attack Paul,

they rip his clothes off,

they beat him with rods,

and then they throw him into prison.

And there we meet our next convert of the Philippian church,

the Philippian jailer.

So the Philippian jailer,

he did not simply just follow the orders that he was given to keep them in the prison,

but he throws them into the inner prison and fastens their feet in stocks.

This would have been something incredibly painful,

incredibly uncomfortable.

And that night,

Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns in prison,

which is cool enough as it is.

But they're singing and they're praying,

and there's a great earthquake.

And this earthquake,

it is to the magnitude that it causes all of the doors in the prison to open.

It causes all of the stocks to become unfastened.

So the jailer wakes up,

and he sees what has happened.

He sees all the doors of the prison open

and assumes that the prisoners have escaped.

Now,

at that time,

the jailer was responsible for ensuring that this did not happen,

and often the punishment for failure in his duty would have been death.

So the jailer,

he grabs his sword.

He's about to go ahead and end his life then and there.

But Paul,

seeing this about to happen,

in verse 28,

he cries out to the jailer.

He says,

Do not harm yourself.

We are all here.

The jailer,

his response to this is,

he falls down before Paul and Silas in fear

and says,

What must I do to be saved?

From there,

they share the gospel with him,

and the jailer,

along with his entire household,

are saved and baptized.

So that's the beginning of the Philippian church.

These are the cast of characters

that we see in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

You have Lydia,

the wealthy seller of purple goods,

the formerly demon-possessed slave girl,

and the overzealous Philippian jailer.

And so these are the people that,

along with others,

that Paul is writing this letter of Philippians to.

Only God can bring these people together.

All right.

Now we'll get into Philippians.

Philippians 1:27

Chapter 1,

verses 27 and 28.

It says,

Only let your manner of life

be worthy of the gospel of Christ,

so that whether I come and see you or am absent,

I may hear of you

that you are standing firm in one spirit,

with one mind striving side by side

for the faith of the gospel,

and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction,

but of your salvation,

and that from God.

So the first thing that I want to take a look at

is verse 27a.

And in this,

we have a command from Paul

that he gives the Philippian church

in extension to us

about how we are called to live.

He says,

Only let your manner of life

be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

So there's a couple things in this text

that I think is really important to define

to understand what Paul is saying.

Some of you in your Bible,

you may have a footnote

after the phrase manner of life,

right?

And it says,

Only behave as citizens worthy.

So the Greek word here for manner of life,

forgive me for this,

I'm from Hog Mountain.

The Greek word here is

Pauli,

Paulit,

you,

you,

me,

again,

from Hog Mountain,

which the word is the same root word

that we get our word politics from.

We see the same word in Philippians 3.20

where Paul says,

But our citizenship is in heaven,

right?

There's not a great English translation to this word,

but it carries the idea of living in accord

with where our citizenship is.

So this is something that would have resonated

with the people of Philippi,

because again,

as we stated before,

their citizenship,

their Roman citizenship,

was something that would have been

incredibly valuable to them.

It would have been something

incredibly important,

right?

So it would have carried weight

and expectation.

There was ways in which Roman citizens

were expected to live.

No different than us here.

If I identified myself as an American citizen

or said that you are an American citizen,

there are some things that would pop up in your mind

that say,

Oh,

well,

this is how an American citizen acts,

right?

The next word I think that is beneficial to define

is the word worthy.

This is something to which we ascribe worth or value to,

and in this case,

the utmost worth or value.

And then the last thing that I think

is important to define here

is the gospel of Christ.

So the word gospel literally means good news,

and even more specifically,

it means the good news

that Christ came to save sinners,

that we were dead in our sins

before a holy and righteous God

with no hope of saving ourselves.

We were separated from God,

that Christ being fully God

humbled himself

by taking on human flesh,

living a perfect and sinless life,

was crucified and died on the cross,

being the perfect sacrifice for sin.

He then rose from the dead,

defeating sin and death,

and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.

And us,

through faith and believing in this gospel,

can receive forgiveness of our sins

and now be justified

or declared righteous by God

and will one day also be raised to live

eternally in the presence of God

in glorified bodies.

That is the gospel.

There is simply no greater news than this.

When we talk about the gospel,

when we think about the gospel,

we should never assume the gospel.

We should ensure that we understand

what the gospel is,

but those two that we are talking to,

that they understand

what it is when we say the gospel.

I like John Piper.

He summarized this passage,

127a,

and he summarized it like this.

He said,

the all-encompassing summary

of the Christian life is,

live as citizens of heaven

with the gospel as the center

of your all-authoritative

heavenly constitution,

showing by your life

that the gospel is worth more to you

than everything else in the world.

So that's the command.

That's the command that Paul has given us here.

So for me,

I read this

and this naturally leads to the question,

well, how in the world do I do that?

Right?

That is a huge order.

How do I live up to it?

Where do I begin?

Fortunately,

Paul does not leave us guessing,

but he follows this

by telling us exactly

what this looks like.

So look at the rest of the passage with me.

It says,

so that whether I come and see you

or am absent,

I may hear of you

that you are standing firm

in one spirit

with one mind,

striving side by side

for the faith of the gospel

and not frightened

in anything by your opponents,

this is a clear sign to them

of their destruction,

but of your salvation

and that from God.

So now let's look

at how we are called

to live out this command.

I have four points

that I want to consider

this morning,

but I'm only going to give you

the first three.

I'm going to go ahead and apologize.

I'm not Nathan,

so there is no alliteration.

Point number one,

stand firm.

Point number two,

strive.

Point number three,

be fearless.

So point number one,

stand firm.

What does it mean

to stand firm?

It means to be resolute

and to not change course.

What is it as Christians

that allows us to do this?

It's our faith.

First Corinthians 16, 13,

be watchful,

stand firm in the faith,

act like men,

be strong.

As believers,

we can ultimately stand firm

because of our unshakable faith

in the gospel of Christ

that Jesus is who he says he is.

That's what allows us

to withstand the forces

of the world.

It is what allows us

to block out the noise

of other people,

encouraging us

to stray from the path

that God has set before us.

Does anybody here

like watching Western movies?

Anybody?

I grew up with them.

I love them.

I used to sit with my dad

on Saturday mornings

and we would watch the Duke,

especially on Christmas.

They would have the Duke marathon.

But generally,

in these movies,

you have a main character

who is always portrayed

as morally good, right?

I would watch this

and I would always root

for this guy.

He would stand in the face

of evil

to protect someone

or something

from the bad guy.

I always respected

these people.

They would do the right thing

no matter what

the consequences were.

And inevitably,

in every single movie,

there's a scene,

usually at the end,

where they have to

stand their ground

in front of incredible odds.

So now,

even with our kids,

Lauren and I,

we love to give them books

with examples

of Christian men

and women like this, right?

Christian men and women

who are standing firm

for a higher purpose

than John Wayne ever was.

They love the story

of Eric Liddell, right?

I'm sure many of you

are aware of Chariots of Fire.

Anybody who ever went

through Clay's house

back in the day,

you've definitely seen

this movie a couple times.

But Eric Liddell,

he refused to compromise

on his convictions, right?

We love these stories.

I put these stories

in my kids' hands.

I want them to emulate

these saints

that have gone before them, right?

So we've talked about

what it means to stand firm

and that it's our faith

that allows us to stand firm.

So how do we continue

to do this as Christians?

How do we as Christians do this?

So I think about

when I was a coach,

we used to tell our players

all the time

that pressure came

when we were not prepared.

So we would spend hours

practicing, doing drills,

watching film,

doing everything

we could possibly do

to put our players

in a position to succeed.

So that way,

no matter what situation

happened in a game,

they've seen it before,

they've done it before,

they're not going to be surprised,

right?

They're prepared.

So for us as Christians,

if we're going to walk

faithfully with Christ

in a manner worthy

of the gospel,

we too must be prepared.

Paul says in Ephesians 6,

Ephesians 6:1

verse 1,

therefore take up

the whole armor of God

that you may be able

to withstand in the evil day

and having done all

to stand firm.

Stand therefore,

having fastened on

the belt of truth

and having put on

the breastplace

of righteousness

and as shoes for your feet,

having put on

the readiness given

by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances,

take up the shield

of faith

with which you can extinguish

all the flaming darts

for the evil one

and take the helmet

of salvation

and the sword of the spirit,

which is the word of God.

So to be able

to stand firm,

we must put on

the whole armor of God.

We are to immerse ourselves

in the truth of God's word

and wrap ourselves in it

as a belt

would have held in

a soldier's tunic

preparing him for battle.

We are to put on

the breastplace

of righteousness

as our obedience

to Christ's commands

and our communion with God

protects us

and our hearts

from the schemes

of the devil.

We are to put on

the shoes of the gospel

of peace,

knowing that we are

supported in our walk

by the peace

that the gospel

of Christ gives us.

We are to take up

the shield of faith

of our,

we are to take up

the shield of faith

in God,

knowing that his word

and promises are true,

extinguishing the flame,

flaming darts

from the evil one,

protecting us

from sin and temptation.

We are to put on

the helmet of salvation,

signifying that we belong

to Christ

and protecting our minds

from doubt.

And finally,

we are to take up

the sword of the spirit,

the word of God,

to fight and defend

against lies

and untruths.

As Christians,

we can stand firm

by being prepared

for attack

and ready to defend.

So take up

the whole armor of God

and be ready

to stand firm

in the faith.

Point number two,

strive.

What does it mean

to strive?

The Greek word here

literally means

to struggle

along with someone.

So we'll get to

the along with someone

part later,

spoiler alert.

But I just want

to talk about for now

what it means

to strive, right?

Striving means

to devote

serious energy

or effort

to something.

We cannot be

inactive and strive.

We cannot be lazy

and strive.

But what are we

to strive for?

It says here

that we are to strive

for the faith

of the gospel

and it can be

a struggle.

Paul,

another great example

in 2 Corinthians 11,

he says,

five times I received

at the hands of the Jews

the forty lashes

less one.

Three times I was

beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

Three times I was

shipwrecked.

A night and a day

I was adrift at sea

on frequent journeys

in danger from rivers,

danger from robbers,

danger from my own people,

danger from Gentiles,

danger in the city,

danger in the wilderness,

danger at sea,

danger from false brothers,

in toil and hardship

through many a sleepless night,

in hunger and thirst,

often without food,

in cold and exposure,

and apart from other things,

there is the daily pressure

on me of my anxiety

for all the churches.

So this is what a life

of struggling,

striving for the faith

of the gospel looks like.

Paul devoted his entire life

after his encounter

with Christ

on the road to Damascus

to proclaiming the good news

of the gospel of Christ,

and it came for him

with a multitude

of hardships.

Now for most of us

here in America,

we are not going to experience

this same level of hardship

that Paul experienced,

but my point

that I'm trying to make

is that we are still

called to labor

regardless if we experience

hardship or persecution

or not.

We should be actively

seeking opportunities

to preach the good news

of Christ

to the lost around us.

All of us,

whether we go to work

every day,

we go to school every day,

if we're a stay-at-home mom,

if we're retired,

we're at the grocery store,

wherever,

we find ourselves

in places

and have opportunities

to be ambassadors

for Christ where we are.

But doing this,

it requires effort.

It takes something from us

to go up to a neighbor

or a co-worker

and engage them

in gospel conversation.

We have to put ourselves

out there.

We have to put our faith

out there.

We may have to overcome

a little bit of anxiety

or a little bit of fear.

It takes effort

and diligence

to train up our kids

in the way they should go.

We may have a couple

sleepless nights

patiently discipling them,

helping them

to work through something

and pointing them

to Christ.

Growing up,

my dad had a big garden.

I'm sure you guys

can probably imagine

where I'm going to

take this analogy to.

But every year,

he would spend

so much time on it.

He would till the soil.

He would fertilize the ground.

He would plant the seeds.

He would water.

He would pull weeds.

He would protect it

from pests

and from birds.

And he did this every day.

He would be sweaty.

He'd have to work.

He'd be sweaty.

I would be out there with him,

sweating right alongside

with him.

And I would be doing it

thinking,

man,

I would rather be playing

video games right now.

Right?

This is not fun.

This is not enjoyable.

This is work.

But when it came time

to harvest

and it came time to eat

and that corn

was on my plate,

I was really thankful

for the work

that went into it.

It was good.

The fruit of the labor

was sweet

and we got to enjoy it.

How much more so

for laboring

for the faith

of the gospel?

If we truly understand

our position

before God

apart from Christ,

that we have been saved

by his grace,

we will love

others enough

to labor for them

to know the same peace

that we experience.

Matthew 9,

36 and 38,

when he,

meaning Jesus,

saw the crowds,

he had compassion

for them

because they were harassed

and helpless

like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said

to his disciples,

the harvest is plentiful,

but the laborers are few.

Therefore,

pray earnestly

to the Lord of the harvest

to send out laborers

into the harvest.

We get to be those laborers.

How cool is that?

Praise God

that he saw fit

to use us.

People who received

his grace

that didn't deserve it

to share that gospel

of grace

with other people.

Then as we labor

and as we pour into

and we invest

and we see this thing,

hopefully we get to see

the fruit of this labor.

We get to see

the spiritually deaf

receive their hearing,

the spiritually blind

receive their sight.

That's an amazing thing.

We get to see that.

So yeah,

we're commanded,

that's part of our call,

to live a life

worthy of the gospel of Christ.

We are called to strive.

So we have stand firm,

we have strive.

Now point three,

be fearless.

What does it mean

to be fearless?

Simply put,

it means to be free from fear.

Simple enough.

Not rocket science.

However,

I'm sure

that even the toughest of us,

the biggest,

the baddest,

the strongest of us,

there's something

that we are afraid of.

So how can we be freed

from that fear?

We can be fearless

because the truth

of the gospel

takes away fear.

Look up a couple verses

in Philippians

to verses 20 through 23.

Paul says,

as it is my eager expectation

and hope that I will not be

at all ashamed,

but that with full courage,

now as always,

Christ will be honored

in my body,

whether by life

or by death.

For to me to live

is Christ

and to die is gain,

not tell.

I'm hard pressed

between the two.

My desire is to part

and be with Christ

for that is far better.

What can you possibly do

to somebody

that has this mentality?

Right?

You can't touch them.

Paul doesn't care

if you kill them.

Right?

His purpose

is to proclaim

the gospel of Christ

because he knows

and we know

as believers

that death brings

eternal communion

with Christ our Savior

and that there's

nothing sweeter.

Right?

Again,

if we are found in Christ,

we will be raised

from the dead

to have eternal life

with the Father.

That's why we can say

to live is Christ

and to die is gain.

Paul,

he's not scared

of prison either.

Earlier in chapter 1,

he actually says

that his imprisonment

has served

to embolden others

to speak the word

without fear.

He sees his own

personal time

in prison

as a service

to share the gospel

throughout the whole

imperial guard

and he's celebrating that.

It sounds like

a wild way to think

in our world today

but as Christians,

this is the way

that we're called

to view our own lives.

Jesus says in Matthew 10,

starting in verse 26,

he says,

So have no fear of them

for nothing is covered

that will not be revealed

or hidden

that will not be known.

What I tell you

in the dark,

say in the light

and what you hear

whispered,

proclaim on the housetops

and do not fear

those who kill the body

but cannot kill the soul.

Rather,

fear him

who can destroy

both soul

and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows

sold for a penny

and not one of them

will fall to the ground

apart from your father?

But even the hairs

of your head

are all numbered.

Fear not,

therefore,

you are of more value

than many sparrows.

So everyone

who acknowledges me

before men,

I also will acknowledge

before my father

who is in heaven.

But whoever denies me

before men,

I also will deny

before my father

who is in heaven.

So for us to live

a manner

and a manner worthy

of where our true

citizenship is,

we are to obey

our king fearlessly.

We can do that

because we know

that he loves us

and cares for us.

He knitted us together

in our mother's womb.

If we do this,

we know that Christ

will acknowledge us

before our father

in heaven

and we will receive

our reward.

Again,

many of us

will not face

this level of persecution.

Most of us

will not simply

run into that.

But if we just,

even for a moment,

consider worst case scenario

and we do face that,

Paul still has something

to say about it.

Verse 28 of Philippians 1,

not frightened

in anything

by your opponents

for this is a clear sign

to them of their destruction

but of your salvation

and that from God.

So even if we face

opposition in the gospel,

it's a sign

of our opponent's destruction

but it is a sign

of our salvation

from God.

Jesus said

that a servant

is not greater

than his master

and our master

suffered the ultimate sacrifice

that we could be set free

from sin

and death

but also from fear

as well.

Paul says

in verse 29

that it has been granted

to us

that we should suffer

for his sake.

It's been granted

to us

that we should suffer

for his sake.

It's implying

that it's a gift

that has been granted

to us.

Why?

Because if we suffer well

it brings God glory

and that's our purpose.

We are here

to glorify

the Lord

our God.

So the fourth point,

I didn't give this one

to you before,

but how is

our manner of life

worthy of the gospel

of Christ?

The last point

I want to make

is that

it is to be in unity

with one another.

So let's look at

our passage again

1.27-28.

Only let

your manner of life

be worthy

of the gospel

of Christ

so that whether

I come to see you

or I'm absent

I may hear of you

that you are standing firm

in one spirit

with one mind

striving side by side

for the faith

of the gospel

and not frightening

anything by your opponents

this is a clear sign

to them of their destruction

but of your salvation

and that from God.

So we can see

that we're called

to stand firm

we can see

that we're called

to strive

and we can see

that we are called

to be fearless

however

all of those commands

are tied together

in Christian unity.

How do we do this?

Paul talks about this as well

a couple verses down

in chapter 2

verses 2-5.

He says

complete my joy

by being of the same mind

having the same love

being in full accord

and of one mind

do nothing

from selfish ambition

or conceit

but in humility

count others

more significant

than yourselves

let each of you

look not only

to his own interests

but also to the interests

of others

have this mind

among yourselves

which is yours

in Christ Jesus.

So this is what

this is a great picture

of what living

in Christian unity

looks like.

The beautiful thing

about this unity

is that we already

have this as Christians.

We have this in Christ.

We have divine fellowship

with one another

through the Holy Spirit.

So how do we live this out?

We already have it.

How do we live this out?

The first thing

it looks like

it looks like

humbling ourselves.

It looks like

looking out

for the interests

of other people

over the interests

of ourselves.

We have the perfect example

of this in this same passage.

We left off in verse 5

if we carried it

verses 6-8

talking about Jesus

who though he was

in the form of God

did not count equality

with God

a thing to be grasped

but emptied himself

by taking the form

of a servant

being born in the likeness

of men

and being found

in human form

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient

to the point of death

even death

on a cross.

There's no greater

picture of humility

that you could possibly find.

You have Jesus

like creator of the world

God

right?

He humbles himself

taking on the human flesh

the form of a servant

then he humbles himself

further

by dying

being the perfect sacrifice

for our sin

being

satisfying that debt

that we could not pay

and doing it

through crucifixion

the most gruesome

possible way

that a person

could be

killed.

Like Christ

we are called

to humble ourselves

for the sake of others

we are called

to genuinely

look out

for the interests

of other people

and Paul exemplifies

Timothy

later in chapter 2

in this same manner

he says

starting in verse 19

I hope in the Lord Jesus

to send Timothy

to you soon

so that I too

may be cheered

by news of you

for I have no one

like him

who will be genuinely

concerned for your welfare

for they all seek

their own interests

not those

of Jesus Christ

but you know

Timothy's proven worth

how as a son

with a father

he has served me

with the gospel

I would love

if my name

if I was in the Bible

that this would

and that's what Paul

says about Timothy

that he was

genuinely concerned

for the Philippians

welfare

not like the others

who were only worried

about their own

interests

so again

this is what we are

called to

but to do this

it requires humility

it requires patience

it requires

bearing with one another

in love

Ephesians 4

1-7

Paul talks about this

as well

he says

I therefore

a prisoner for the Lord

urge you to walk

in a manner

worthy of the calling

to which you have been called

with all humility

and gentleness

with patience

bearing with one another

in love

eager to maintain

the unity of the spirit

and the bond of peace

there is one body

and one spirit

just as you were called

to the one hope

that belongs to your call

one Lord

one faith

one baptism

one God and Father

of all

who is over all

and through all

and in all

but grace was given

to each one of us

according to the measure

of Christ's gift

so all of us

in Christ

we have the same Father

the same Savior

we each receive grace

as it was given to us

in Christ

we are part of one body

and share in the same spirit

we all have the same hope

it's hard to imagine

that as a Christian

I have more in common

with a believer

in another country

from another culture

than I do with

a family member

of mine

that is an unbeliever

but it's true

right

if we remember back

to how

the first couple

people we met

in the Philippian church

the Lydia

the seller of

purple goods

the demon

formerly demon

possessed slave girl

and the overzealous

Philippian jailer

they would have had

very little in common

apart from that bond

that they share

in Christ

right

it is that

common bond

of shared faith

and that spirit

that unifies them

together in Christ

to be a part

of one body

right

we know however

though

that maintaining

this unity

is not always easy

and we actually see

an example of that

in Philippians chapter 4

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

right

later in the chapter

Paul entreats

two women

to agree

in the Lord

he says

these women

labored side by side

with him

for the gospel

he says

that their names

are written

in the book of life

but yet

he still has to tell them

to get along

right

that is not

how I would want

my name

to be in scripture

right

let it be said

of us

that we don't

squabble

and quarrel

amongst ourselves

we are called

to be unified

with one another

just as Christ

is unified

with the Father

last scripture

for the day

from John 17

starting in verse 20

I do not ask

for these only

but also for those

who will believe

in me

through their word

that they may

all be one

just as you

Father

are in me

and I in you

that they also

may be in us

so that the world

may believe

that you have sent me

the glory

that you have given me

I have given to them

that they may be one

even as we are one

I in them

and you in me

that they may become

perfectly one

so that the world

may know

that you sent me

and love them

even as you love

me

so why are we

to be unified

with one another

so that the world

may know

that the Father

sent Christ

and loved his people

even as the Father

has loved Christ

how are we

to show the world

the power of the gospel

if we cannot even

be unified

amongst ourselves

we bring glory

to God

when we show

sacrificial love

and care

for one another

and for when we

humble ourselves

we get opportunities

to do this

every single day

very rarely

is someone called

to be a lone wolf

we are created

to live

in community

with one another

so when we are

when we are

sorry

when we are united

in Christ

we can help

one another

to stand firm

we can labor

together

for the sake

of the kingdom

we can encourage

one another

to be bold

and fearless

and stand

in the face

of opposition

and in doing

these things

we live

in a manner

worthy

of the gospel

of Christ

so I'm going to

close in just a second

but there's just

one thing I wanted

to say

before we do that

and what that is

is I wanted to

commend you all

for the way

that you guys do this

from where I sit

or from where I stand

I am constantly

encouraged by you guys

for the way

in which you

lay down your own

interests

to love other people

my family

personally

has been served

many times

by so many of you all

and I am incredibly

thankful for it

right

so it's

it's beautiful

to see

a group of people

do this

so well

so

my encouragement

to you all

would be

to continue

to press into this

right

continue to bring

glory to God

to show the world

around us

by our actions

that Christ

was sent into the world

to save sinners

right

that Jesus is

who he says he is

if you would

please join me

in prayer

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is

who he is