Real Christian Faith

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me today to Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

What a fantastic study this has been.

Yes.

Yes.

If you do not have an outline, raise your hand.

Bob and Darren will be glad to put one in your hand.

Would like for everyone to have one.

One of the things that I believe strongly in is not just exhorting you, but teaching you and giving you the truths that you can take back with you this week and study during your quiet time.

And the month of July, we take off with our small groups, some of them.

There's some small groups still meeting, the young people and the college and career and uh some others, and that's okay.

Um so, but we look forward to going back to our small groups in August, and we'll be correlating a lot of what uh we're thinking about doing some stuff like even on what I'm preaching, correlating stuff that we'll be teaching in the small groups too, as well as special projects.

We'll be doing um the Financial Peace University again, a startup this fall with David, and we're excited about that.

We believe that God honors us being as close to debt-free as we can be, and ultimately the goal being debt-free.

Can I get an amen?

That God honors that because the borrower is servant to the lender, and we don't want our servitude to anyone but Jesus Christ.

Amen.

And you uh your pastor, our leadership team, is committed to we're not committed to long-term debt, short-term debt, pay it off quick.

Uh that's who we are.

And affordable debt, short-term debt.

And uh, so uh it's just exciting to see that.

But that's part of being a good steward.

In Philippians chapter 2 this morning, we're gonna be looking at what is a real faithful Christian.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

What is a real faithful Christian?

You know, when you get saved, you have a responsibility, and that responsibility is to be who you say you are.

It's to be who you say you are.

Be what you are.

If you say you're Christian, then live like it.

Amen.

If you say you're a Christian, think like it.

Amen.

If you, hey, say you're Christian, have the right attitude.

Have an attitude of a Christian.

And so Paul's dealing with this faithfulness right here in Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 through 18 is the paragraph we're going to be looking at today.

Philippians 2:12–18

And he's saying, now Christ has just set the greatest example for us to be a Christian that you could set.

He gave up all his rights as being part of God the Father, even though we know he still was, but he took on there for those three years the form of a man, and he became a human being, just like me, just like you, and he set aside those prerogatives of the glory, the Shekanah glory, and all that heaven represented, and he came to earth and he became a servant, and then he sacrificially gave his life for all of us.

Can we say an amen?

So he set the example, he became a faithful Christian, and the key to that faithful Christian is he was submissive to God the Father.

The submissive mind, that's the key.

A true Christian has a submissive mind.

And that's what we're going to be looking at.

You know, I was, if you read my blog, I love Mark Twain.

In fact, we were in Virginia City on the other side of Lake Tahoe.

Uh, yeah, I met Ben Cartwright.

And um dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.

Actually, I found out it was all that was filmed in LA.

There really was not a Virginia.

I mean, there is a real Virginia City in Nevada.

I met Bat Masterson in Wyatt Earth, talked to Bat for a while, and uh but but what I really enjoyed was Bat telling us the history of Mark Twain living in Virginia City for five years.

But uh, you know, Mark Twain wrote that, and here's what he said.

He said, few things are harder to put up with, wrote Mark Twain, than the annoyances of a good example.

Perhaps the thing most annoying about a good example is its inability to accomplish the same achievements in our own lives.

Now, I thought for a while, some of my great mentors, Dr.

Jerry Falwell, Dr.

Rice, Dr.

Rollins, some of the greatest men of God that are now in heaven, that I had the privilege of sitting under, Dr.

Woodrow Crow, back to the Bible.

All these, he's he's still alive.

Woody just retired, but but but many of these, Dr.

Adrian Rogers, oh, loved Adrian, and all these men, they were such unbelievable Christian examples for me.

But guess what?

They couldn't live through me.

I couldn't live through them.

In fact, admiration for a great person can inspire us, amen, but it can't enable us.

It can inspire us, but it can't enable us.

And the key to living a Christian faithful life is allowing the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sets the example for us, but then he gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to live that faithful Christian life.

Can I get an amen?

So that's exciting to me.

And we see this here.

It takes more than an example on the outside, it takes the power on the inside to be that Christian that we need to be.

And that is exactly what Paul is talking about here.

He's setting before us the divine pattern, who was Jesus and Himself also, but then he also is telling us that when Jesus gives us that divine pattern, he gives us also that divine power to enable us to live this life.

It's not by imitation, but it's by incarnation.

Can I get an amen?

Not by imitation, but by incarnation that we become that Christian that Christ wants us to be.

Galatians 2.20, he says, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless I live.

Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Amen.

So we see, he tells us how important it is to be all that we can be.

The Christian life is, you know, how many of us have made this statement?

You know, the life, Christian life or the our life is a series of ups and downs.

I've said that.

Have you said that?

We've all said that.

But as I studied this idol, I realized, no, it's not.

Not the true Christian life.

It is not a series of ups and downs.

It's rather a process of ins and outs.

Christ working in you so that you can live out what Christ wants you to be and to accomplish.

It's a process.

It's not ups and downs, it's a process of ins and outs.

Yes, we have problems.

Yes, we'll have difficulties.

Yes, we'll have trials.

Yes, we'll have disappointments.

Yes, we'll have discouragement.

But as long as Christ is working in you, he gives you the victory to overcome as you work out those trials and those tribulations.

He gives you the power.

So it's a process.

It's not a series of ups and downs, it's a process of ins and outs.

Christ working in you so that you can live out his will for you.

Can I get an Amen?

That's good.

That's good.

Amen.

That's it.

And that is what Paul is talking about here.

So let's look at it.

Verse 12.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

God works in us and we work out.

We cultivate that submissive mind by responding to God's divine provisions that He's provided for us so that we can be all that He wants us to be.

So, number one, I want us to look at this.

Three things this morning.

Number one, there is a purpose in each of our lives to achieve.

God has a purpose for me.

God has a purpose for you.

Say this with me, church.

Say this with me.

God has a purpose for me.

Come on.

And you cannot experience the fullness of the joy of the Lord, and that's the whole proposition, that's the whole concept of the book of Philippians, the joy book of the Bible.

For you, and he goes over and over talking about the fullness of the joy in your life, the fullness of Christ in your life.

And when you have that fullness, you have that joy.

I can tell people I can be around a person five minutes, ten minutes at the most, and I can tell, especially Christians, if they have the fullness of the Spirit, the fullness of Christ living in them because they have bubbling joy or joy running out of them.

Every time there is no, hey, you can't, and you know what I've learned?

You can't imitate the fullness of Christ.

Oh, you can for a short period, but if it, hey, that'll go real quick because about the first time that person stops in front of you or runs around or something, and you start griping and grumbling, there's no fullness of joy there.

That's called the flesh.

Amen.

So Paul is dealing with this, and he says, God gives us these provisions.

And notice what he says in verse 12 work out your own salvation.

Now, that now notice what he said.

He said, work out your salvation.

He didn't say work for your salvation.

Okay, come on, come on with me.

Not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to God's mercy, he saved us.

Amen?

For by grace are we saved through faith, not of a self.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.

Now, verse 10's there, and this is where it comes in, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

Now listen to what he says, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Now listen to me.

Don't you miss this?

When you and I get saved, you know, we it's not one of those things.

Kelly Kelly says one of her bucket lists is the big red forest.

And I can see why after I went there, I really wasn't thrilled about going, to be honest with you.

But after I went there, I went, wow, I'm so glad I went.

And but but hey, bucket list.

Listen, salvation is not a bucket list checkoff.

Okay, I'm saved.

Up, check that off.

I'm saved, I'm not going to hell.

Now, I'm gonna go about my own business.

I'm gonna go and live my life like I want to.

Sorry.

No.

When you get saved, you are to get up and get off your blessed backside and go to work for God.

Because he's got a purpose for your life.

He didn't save you, hey, to sit, he saved you to serve.

Amen.

So he's talking about working out your salvation now that you're saved.

God's got a purpose for you, God's got a hey, a vision for you, and it's good.

He has good thoughts of you, he's got a blessed hope for you, and he's ready for you to start accomplishing what he wants you to do right after you get saved.

You said, but I'm a baby.

That's okay.

We got the milk.

Amen.

The milk of the word.

Amen.

That you may grow thereby.

2 Peter 2.

That's it.

So, hey, working out your salvation is fulfilling God's plan for your life.

That's what that means.

And Paul's saying now that, hey, I've been gone 10 years from you.

And you are still working out your plan.

You're still fulfilling what I taught you at the very beginning of the church at Philippi in Acts 16.

You all of you got saved, and now 10 years later, you're still working it out.

You're still being faithful.

See, working out your salvation is basically two things.

One, faithful obedience.

Come on.

If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

If you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

It's just that simple.

Isaiah 1:19 and 20, just that simple.

Isaiah 1:19

So working out your own salvation is faithful obedience to what God tells you to do.

Secondly, it is faithful perseverance to what God's called you to do.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I tell you something?

Satan can't stand it when you get up after you get saved and you start working out your salvation.

He hates it because you become a living testimony to all that God is.

Oh, I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Hey, I once was a sinner, but now I've got joy.

I once was had a bad attitude, but now, hey, I love everybody.

I once wanted everything for me, but now I want to give everything to others.

When all that radically changes, let me tell you, you start becoming an influencer, a light that's set on a hill that cannot be hid.

And Satan said, Whoa, I gotta do something here.

So what does he start doing?

He starts attacking with everything he's got.

And that's where the grumbling and the complaining starts coming.

Hello.

Verse 14, it's right there.

It's right there.

So we see that the importance of working out this salvation.

By the way, one of the reasons it can't be salvation when you look at Philippians 1:1, he's talking to the saints.

Philippians 1:1

They're already saved.

Amen.

Come on now.

I'm just helping you here.

You don't work to get saved.

You get saved to work.

Amen.

Let me vote that.

I'm on you.

Some of you didn't get that.

You don't work to get saved.

Hey, you get saved to work.

Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10.

Amen?

That's the process.

But bang, once you get saved, thank the Lord, now I'm not going to hell.

Now I can get on with my life.

No, no, no, no, no.

Your life has just started.

And guess what?

It's no longer your life.

That's the big difference when you really get saved.

It's no longer your life.

It's his.

I am crude.

Not I say this with me.

Not I.

Not I, but Christ.

It's not my life any longer.

It's his life.

Galatians 2.20.

It's in, but it's exciting.

You know what I've learned?

When I'm serving him, I don't have to worry about a whole lot of things.

Now I do, but when I start worrying, it's me, not him.

I'm in the flesh.

I'm trying to figure it out.

I'm trying to do it.

Anybody else like that?

Say amen with me.

And Lord, if I need you, I'll call.

Instead of waking up, Lord, this is your day.

What do you want me to do?

Lord, I'm going to work.

How can I be a better employee?

Lord, I'm going to work on the lifter.

I'm going to tear those trees down.

Just show me which one, Lord.

But but you go you ask the Lord for what?

Your marching orders.

Instead of, well, hey, I us go-oriented people, man, we get up, we got it all planned out.

And what's the problem with me and Susan together?

She does a list.

I do a list in my head, but we both get up and we're saying, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Lord, what do you want us to do?

Amen.

Lord, what do you want us to do?

Don't let me interrupt what you have for me today.

Don't let me interrupt what you have for me today.

Man, what a prayer that would be.

Amen.

Amen.

Somebody write that down and give it to me after that just came to me.

That's good.

But work out.

Now let me let me show you what that word workout means.

It's a Greek word.

And it's inner ghetto.

Kind of like the ghetto.

Inner ghetto.

And it literally means to work to full completion.

Wow.

It's kind of like a a miner mining for ore in a mine.

He's gonna mine till he gets every ounce of that ore out.

It's kind of like a a farmer.

I love farming.

Oh, I saw something that looks gorgeous.

Great Napa Valley farms and horses.

Oh, just I felt like I was I was wider.

Man, I I was riding a horse too.

It was motorcycle, but I was riding some horses.

But as I was going through there, I thought to myself, what beautiful farmland and gorgeous.

It's kind of like a farmer when he's farming.

When he's picking those grapes, when he's picking those plums we saw, those tomatoes we saw, all this beautiful.

He doesn't let one get away.

He works to completion.

Now watch it.

Oh, Genesis.

When God saves us, he's got a plan for us.

And he, through the power of the Holy Spirit, wants to work in and through us to work out.

Hey, he works in us so we can work out what he has planned for us, and his goal is for us to completely complete it.

Wow.

And there's only one person that can keep you from doing that.

Guess who?

You.

Me.

So if you're saved here this morning, if you're missing the blessings that God has for you, don't you go blame it on me which I'm the best target to shoot at.

It's not me.

It's you.

Hey.

If I'm missing the blessings that God has for your pastor, it's not you.

It's me.

Because I'm not working out what Jesus has worked in with me.

Whoo! That's good.

That's a little deep.

I understand it.

But that's it.

That's it.

And we're gonna look at how he does that.

Because you think, but that's good.

So how do I work it out?

That's a good question.

Well, we're gonna see that.

I'm gonna see that right now.

How do we work out what God is working in?

And here's what his ultimate purpose is.

I want you to see it.

Romans 8, 29.

To be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

There it is.

For he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.

He's already got it planned to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

That's it.

That's his purpose, is to make us like him.

That's why when we got saved, the Holy Spirit took up residence, and now he begins to work in us so we can work out what is in us and who we are and what we're supposed to be.

Did you hear me?

I started out with that.

Be what you are.

He works out.

He works in us so we can work out what we are.

We're Christian.

We're different.

We got the power of God working in us.

That's huge, folks.

That's huge.

And that's what he's saying.

There are problems in life, we know that, but God's gonna work us through those problems.

Now let me say something here.

I I read this illustration.

Cindy was a college student, she came home for spring break, and she when she walked in the door, her parents looked at her and they could tell she was disturbed.

But Cindy waited to supper, and as they sat down to eat supper that night, she said, Mom and Dad, I need to talk to you.

I know you may be upset, but I've got to tell you what God's been doing in my life.

God does not want me to be a nurse like mom.

God wants me to be a journalist.

Her mom looked at her and said, Thank the Lord, Cindy.

We thought it was something a lot worse than that.

We Oh, we want you to be all that God wants you to be, not what we want you to be.

Folks, you can't be anything but what God wants you to be.

And if you're trying to be anything else than what God wants you to be, it's not gonna work and you're gonna be miserable.

I don't care what you and parents, back off.

Just create in your kids, listen, and we tried to do this: create in your kids a thirst and a hunger for the things of God, and then you pray every day, God, you mold them, you mend them, you protect them, Lord, you empower them, and you make them what you want them to be.

And that's the true interpretation of Proverbs 22, 6.

Train up a child in the way he shall go, not in the way you want him to go.

Hello.

Hello.

You don't need to try to live your life through your child.

If you messed up, say, God forgive me and don't let it happen to my kids.

Amen?

Amen to that?

Train up a child in the way he shall go, and he will not depart from it.

That word there in the Hebrew is a pallet.

Create a taste.

We're fixing to have some of the best food you ever.

We got the best restaurant in town on Sundays.

I have people tell me, we come, we don't care about you preaching, we love the eating.

That's okay, but you got to endure the preaching.

Amen.

And by the way, I'm hungry too, so I'll be with you.

But now listen to me.

God wants you to be what he wants you to be.

A.

And then B what you're supposed to be.

Can I get an amen?

That's what he's talking about.

And what a what a what a beautiful example.

We are his verse 10, Ephesians 2.10.

Say it with me.

For we are his workmanship.

Say it again.

We are his workmanship.

Okay?

Got it?

Man, that's good.

That's liberating.

That takes all the pressure off of who you want to be and what you have to accomplish.

You just be what God wants you to be, he'll enable you to be it, and you'll live happily ever after.

Amen.

Some of you look at my, huh?

I don't believe that.

Yes.

I didn't say you'd not have troubles, but remember, it's a process in working in you and you working out.

Amen.

That's right.

It's so important.

That's why I'm so liberated.

I have never been more liberated in all my life.

One, I'm 60 years old.

It does help to grow a little bit.

You know, you can, hey, don't get me wrong.

I love these, I love training young men.

I've been doing it for 22 years.

But something that the young men don't understand.

You know, when I graduated from seminary, I thought I knew it all.

After five years in the ministry, I realized I didn't know anything.

After Sister Fluffyhead and Deacon Potato had eaten my lunch, that they they don't teach you in seminary how to deal with that.

It's called life.

Hello?

Wouldn't it be happy if we all could agree with everything?

No, that wouldn't be life.

That wouldn't be any fun.

It wouldn't be any fun.

And you know why?

Because one of you'd be getting your way all the time.

And that wouldn't be any fun.

That's no fun.

But what we want is to do it God's way.

And what you learn as a young man, you know, it's your, you say, hey God, this is God's way, but in reality, it's your way, and you just headed 100 miles down the freeway until all of a sudden, bam, your tire blows out and you have a wreck.

And then you say, now what do I do?

Do what you should have done before you started doing 100 miles down the road.

Lord, is this what you want me to do?

Give me confirmation, give me counsel.

Go to the elders and receive good godly counsel.

Hello.

The young guys didn't want counsel, and God destroyed their kingdom in the scriptures.

So, okay, do it your way.

So I've learned a little bit by the time of 60.

Hey, slow down a little bit.

And it's hard for me to slow down.

I thought I was going to come to Jesse Westover, and we're just going to slow down.

Lord, have mercy.

Amen.

But this is what God wants for our lives.

And you know, but here's the difference.

When it's God's in it, you're having fun.

It's not a chore, it's not a burden, it's not a drudge.

It's a delight.

It's not a drudge, it's a delight.

Hey, it's not a battle, it's a blessing.

If you're battling and it's a drudge, something's wrong with your walk with God.

Hello, something's wrong.

You need to get your heart right with the Lord.

Then you need to get your heart right with the people that you have disagreement with, and then God restores you, and then you're back on his path, and then you're saying, Whew, man, this is fun.

This is fun.

The joy of the Lord's fun, folks.

It's not a drudge, it's a delight.

It's not a battle, it's a blessing.

So we see the phrase, work out your own salvation.

Really means to fulfilling all that God wants you to do.

Now look, watch.

Look at verse 14 through 16.

Paul contrasts the life.

Now what here's what he does.

Now watch verse 13.

You gotta see verse 13 because this is the second thing.

Not only is there a purpose to achieve, second thing, verse 13, there's a power to receive.

So you can't you can't work out your own salvation without the enablement of God through the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

Now, watch this.

Look at verse 13.

Now, if you've ever if you got a little Pentecostal in you, this will get you excited.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Woo! Now that word worketh, remember I said it's it's the Greek word inner go.

You know what that means?

It means to stir you.

It is God that's stirring you.

It is God that is enabling you.

It is God that is what?

Filling you.

He is stirring.

Have you ever been in a service where you just came to church and you should be every Sunday this way?

Lord, give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive.

Because God, I need a word from you.

But let me tell you, when God starts stirring you and starts energizing you and filling you through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the word of the living God, and he's telling you to do something, you better do it.

You better do it.

Amen.

Do it.

Don't let it, don't, and you know what Satan does when while God's energizing you and he gives you that promise through the teaching and preaching of the word of God, or he gives you that promise in your quiet time, or the way that something to do, and no longer than time you shut your Bible, you've walked out here to eat, or left, then here's what happens.

Satan starts saying, Hmm, you don't have to do that.

Or he'll put it this way you don't have to do that right now, Brian.

Do that later.

That's not what this Greek word inner geo means.

It means that he stirs you, he feels you, and he works you, and he's got a plan for you.

And when he does that, go do it.

Go do it.

Don't hesitate.

That's why we're, that's why God's, you know what?

This just didn't happen.

Two years old is still phenomenal.

Unbelievable.

This just didn't happen overnight.

We started with four of us and less than two years.

Look, why?

God got stirring, not just us four.

Uh, Candy and them are here.

Uh, and she made a statement to me.

She said, you know why we are at the church at Chelsea Westover?

God called us there.

God stirred us, spoke to us while we were visiting here.

That's where we need to be.

Since I've studied this message, I'm praying, God, you know what?

Hey, a lot of preachers get up and say, we just want that body to come.

You know what?

I'm not gonna say that.

You know what I want?

I want the ones that God stirs, energizes, fills with the Spirit of God that's coming to build a church for God and not man.

That's what I'm praying for.

Amen.

That's what I'm praying for.

Then we won't have, oh, we'll have problems, but it won't be inward problems, it'll be outward problems.

We'll be fighting the devil, not each other.

Amen.

And there's enough of that going on.

So what a powerful, look what he says worketh in us.

That stirring of God within the heart.

Woo! God must work in us before he can work through us.

Now, this principle seen throughout the scriptures.

One of my favorites, Moses.

Remember Moses?

Hey, let me say something.

Today, with their younger generation, I say, Do you remember Moses?

You know what they tell me?

This was three years ago.

The last time I taught in the classroom, I taught all freshmen.

I'd have seven, eight hundred in my class.

The last year I taught, I'd ask.

You remember the story of Moses?

A fourth, sometimes more of that seven hundred.

Didn't even know who Moses was.

Hello, I'm telling you, folks, in America, they didn't know who David and Goliath were.

Really?

They really didn't.

Some didn't know who Jesus was.

Amen.

We will not compromise.

We got to bring him back.

Thank God.

For Gary, Christian principals and even still public school.

Hey, he still, they still teach the things of God in his school.

Hello.

In fact, I about fainted when Gary told me every once in a while, if he has to, he can still paddle.

Amen.

Y'all look at me, oh, that's abuse.

No, that's not abuse.

Scripture says you beat the devil out of them.

That's what it says.

Don't look at me like that.

That's what it says.

Not exactly like that.

Well, that's what the words think.

It's his beat.

My granddaddy took it literally.

I turned out okay.

You say, would now wait a minute.

That yeah, it's my granddaddy.

I didn't want to, I didn't do it again.

I didn't want to get another whipping like that.

But boy, did I just hey?

But see, listen, what we've done, we've taken all the moral compass out of our schools and out of our country.

There's no more moral, are you ready, compass, which means we believe in absolutes in the country.

God help us to restore it.

There's a wrong and there's a right.

There always has been, always will be.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, you know, when I was talking about that, I'm talking about loving discipline.

I used to tell Eric every time before I'd have to spank him, this is gonna hurt me more than you.

He never believed that.

He's coming.

You'll see him hopefully in a few weeks.

He's coming in.

But but really God loves you.

You believe God loves you.

Amen.

What does he say in Hebrews 11?

He what?

Chases the ones that he loves.

Amen.

Thank God for the loving discipline God gives to us.

That's why you're gonna read in here in a minute, fear and trembling.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

I was going somewhere with that.

That wasn't a rabbit.

God wants us, now this is not a frightened fear, it's a reverence fear.

But that reverence fear is two things.

One, I know if I sin, I'm gonna pay for it.

Hello, come on, guys.

That I can't get away with it.

There's consequences.

There's forgiveness, but the consequences are still there, folks.

Amen.

So it's that, oh yeah, it's that honor, but it's also that little consequences.

And that's what spanking I grew up under, knowing that if I did wrong, the consequence was a pretty good spanking.

And those consequences detoured me a lot from doing wrong.

Or those hundred suicides on the football field detoured me from cussing on the football field.

See, when I grew, hey, when I played sports and I hadn't to be pretty good, all American, hey, our coaches wouldn't let us cuss.

Praise God.

And and this this language we're listening to on movies and stuff, saying that's been that's the norm, I I'm gonna, I am gonna adamantly disagree.

I didn't grow up under that kind of language.

And my coaches, they never were going around trying to win me to Jesus.

They were teaching me hardcore discipline and treating each other like you want to be treated.

And one thing is you talk nice, you say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am.

Can I help you?

Excuse me.

Instead of F this, F that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That's not true.

Hello.

Now, I know you're gonna walk out here and say, I haven't heard preaching like that in a while.

Well, I can't help that.

I'm preaching the truth.

Anyone that's got a foul mouth, that's that discipline.

Hey, hey, that's not a discipline mouth, that's a garbage mouth.

And that's a pure IQ, if you don't ask me.

Amen.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good, to the use of building up, that it may minister grace unto its hearers.

If you can't do that, if it's not good, if it's not necessary, if it's not building up and not spoken graciously, don't say it.

Don't grumble, don't mumber.

Keep our mouth closed.

My grandmother used to say, zip it.

Granny, she'd say, grip, zip it.

Amen.

We need some of those old timers back.

There's a power to receive.

Woo! Told you I was ready to preach this morning.

Now, how does this work through us?

Here we go.

You gotta look at it.

The power's here, but how do we use it?

The power's here, how do we use it?

Here we go.

Three ways.

Number one, the word, the word of God.

Look at it.

Look at verse 16.

Holding forth the word of life.

Now, I want you to see this verse.

This is power.

Unbelievable.

God gave me this on the airplane, and as I was extrogetically going through it, it just, oh, I'd never seen it like this.

Look at 1 Thessalonians 2.13 in reference to the word of God.

By the way, Luke 4.32 said his word is with power.

Say this with me.

God's word is with power.

Say that with me.

God's word is with power.

So the key is if we're gonna work out that power that's in, how do we do that?

We do it through the obedience to the word of God.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

Doesn't it make sense?

Because his word is with power.

Look at what Paul said to the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 2.13.

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive, now watch, when you receive the word of God, which ye heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God.

Now watch, which effectively worketh, there's that word, enter, also in you that believe.

Three things here.

First of all, it's the word of God.

Number one, we got to appreciate the word of God.

Can I get an amen?

This book is not a man-written book.

You say, no, wait a minute.

42 men wrote it.

They wrote it as God directed their thoughts and their words through the power of God Himself.

2 Timothy 3.16, watch it.

All scripture is given by the inspiration of God.

That means God breathed it.

Okay, that's what it means.

And is profitable for doctrine, that's what's right.

For reproof, that's what's not right.

For correction, that's how to get right.

For instruction in righteousness, that's how to stay right.

Amen.

What's right, what's not right, how to get right, and how to stay right.

Man, that's good.

Why?

Verse 17.

That you and I, here we are, the man and woman of God may be perfect.

Now, that doesn't mean sinless, it means mature.

It means we're more like Christ today than we were yesterday.

Okay?

That's really the best way to say it.

Now watch.

Thoroughly furnished.

What does that mean?

Thoroughly furnished.

It means he's totally enabled us with his power, with his direction, with his promises, to fulfill in us his good works.

We are well prepared, as Susan says, but we are equipped to do what God, remember?

That's stirring.

When God stirs you, he enables you to do it.

To do it.

To do it.

That's what that means.

That's what it means.

Somebody say that's good.

That's practical, but that's powerful.

Amen.

So we've we've got to appropriate the word.

Now, notice the second thing we've got to do.

In fact, we've got to not only appropriate, what did I say?

Appreciate, right.

Number two, appropriate the word.

Now, what does that mean?

The word appropriate means that hey, and this is so good.

Receive it.

The two words, receive it.

That means much more than listening to it.

That means much more than even reading it and studying it.

Now you come in here, you listen to me.

You write it down.

And that's so important.

You attain so much more when you write it down.

Okay?

And then you can go study.

I know a lot of men and women over the years that I've been in the ministry that read the word of God, knew the word of God, even studied the word of God, but they didn't live the word of God.

And they they they would study it for the purpose of guess what?

Arguing the word of God.

Griping, complaining, argumentation.

That's not why you study and read the word of God.

You read the word of God to appropriate it.

To receive God's word means to welcome it in and make it a part of your inner being.

It is what controls your thinking.

Woo! Somebody write that down.

It is what controls your thinking.

Now watch.

Paul said, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

How do you do that?

Have you ever been going along and all of a sudden just have a major bad thought?

I had that recently.

And I I really I did this, Greg, before I knew it.

I went.

I just popped the fire out of my head and said, Well, God.

Get out of there.

Where did that come from?

I knew where it came from.

It came from Satan.

But I won't let it sit there.

And then I started, I quoted that verse I just quoted.

And then I then I quoted that word of a hidden my heart.

Then my not sin against thee.

Then I quoted, um, thy words were found in my beneath them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing in my heart, for I'm come by thy name, O Lord God of Christ.

I just started shooting the word.

But the book of the law shall not depart out from your mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest deserve to do according to all that's written there.

And then shall I make thy way prosperous, then shall you have good success.

It is written, get thee behind me, Satan, Jesus said, three different times on the Mount of Temptation.

So, not only do we appreciate it, we appropriate it.

And then, number three, we apply it.

It only works.

Now, watch the last two words that believe.

It only works in those that really believe it.

Now, here's the now watch this.

Let me explain that.

If I hold this Bible up and 140, 50, 60.

Anyway, if I hold it up, I say, do you believe this book?

You're gonna say, Yeah, I believe it.

Then I'm gonna say, prove it.

I believe it.

You know when you really believe it?

When you do it.

When you live it.

Let me, most of us would say we believe in seat belts.

But do we click it every time?

Most of us would say we believe in healthy eating.

Oh, nah.

Granny, what can I say?

That was the cook that said that.

But do we do it?

Be ye doers of the word.

Now listen, not hears only.

Now watch what it says.

Deceiving your own selves.

James 1 22.

What do you deceive yourselves of?

Fulfillment of God that's working in you so that you can work out what he wants for you.

You miss what God has for you.

You do not fulfill to completion God's perfect will for your life.

Wow.

Wow.

You miss the power, you miss the presence, you miss the protection, you miss the perseverance.

You miss it all.

And we end up carnal.

And guess what?

A carnal Christian is like a lost Christian.

They're always doing 14, mummering and disputing.

You know why they do that?

They're miserable.

And you know why they're miserable?

Why is this good?

Because they're not fulfilling God's purpose in their lives.

That's it.

Guaranteed.

Guaranteed.

Second tool he uses is prayer.

So if we want God's power working in us, we must spend time daily with, hey, oh, by the way, let me, you gotta see this.

2 Corinthians, go back.

120.

Oh, oh.

For all the promises of God, in him are yea, and in him, amen.

See, here's the way it works.

Remember the guy with the withered hand in Matthew 12?

What did he do?

What did God say?

Stretch out your hand.

He didn't heal it until he what?

Obeyed his command.

He stretched it out.

Then God healed him.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

What, hey, what about the nation of Israel?

He said you got to put your foot in the water.

He didn't say split it, he didn't split the water and then they stepped in.

They had to step into the water.

They had to trust God's word.

When we trust God's word, he answers our prayers.

Wow, that's good.

He said, literally, Jesus speaking, John 15, 7, if you abide in me, now watch how these go together, the prayer and word.

If you abide in me, my words abide in you.

You shall ask what it will, and it shall be done.

Wow.

That's what he says.

And this is Miss Elizabeth would say, that's what it says.

And that is so true.

Prayer is so directly linked to the Word of God.

That's why he says in Acts 6.4, we give ourselves continually to prayer.

Now watch.

And to the ministry of the Word.

Now listen to me.

There is no doubt for us to take this church to the next level, and it's going.

We have got to become a praying church.

We are definitely a word church.

That's okay.

Hey, there's no doubt.

Here's our core values.

It's on everything we do, clear biblical truth.

You don't have to worry about that.

You don't have to worry about the vibrant worship.

You don't have to worry about the intimate fellowship.

We've got people fulfilling service in Honduras right now, all over.

On that land yesterday, in this service.

They're working, they're doing things.

We're doing that.

But here's the key.

Hey, the key is where's the power going to come for us to enable that intimate, an intimate fellowship, eating together.

That's part of it.

Mister Stay, we got plenty.

I want to meet you.

Eat with us today.

All that.

But where does the power come?

The power comes through the word and on our knees.

One of the things we've missed, Susan and I would pray as we were praying when we were walking through the forest.

But every Tuesday and Thursday, David and Christy and I, we live right there together.

Tuesday we meet at my house and pray for an hour.

Thursday, we meet at their house and pray for an hour.

Just for the church and you and what God's doing.

And I've invited you, and I'm going to invite a lot of you in the mornings.

Get us a time.

In fact, what we need to do, I'd like to get a list and you dedicate yourself to some time during the day.

Say, Pastor Danny, we're going to pray for the church.

It could be five minutes, it could be at lunchtime, but we're just going to pray for the church to God to bless our church, to God to send us people that are stirred by him to come to this church and to give sacrificially and to give, and when I mean servicely, all just to come because God's called them here, stirred them to be all that God wants them to be.

Now, when we really start becoming a praying church, my house shall be called a house of what?

Katie barred the door.

I've seen this happen.

The reason Liberty University went from 800 students that I happen to be one to a hundred thousand students now, the largest Christian evangelical university in the world is because Jerry Falwell was a prayer warrior.

That's my weakness.

I need accountability to pray.

But that's the key.

I don't have any problem studying book.

But getting away, and you know what?

I'm learning, I'm asking God to teach me to pray, to teach me to pray the scriptures as I'm memorizing and studying.

I'm starting to pray the scriptures.

And then the third tool is suffering.

God's third tool is suffering.

Folks, you gotta suffer.

Philippians 3 10, what did Paul say?

That I might know him and the power of his resurrection.

Then what does he say?

Say it again.

What?

Only three of you said it.

Fellowship of his suffering.

Come on, church.

Fellowship of suffering.

Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier, Jesus Christ.

Can I say something?

If you're not doing, hey, hey, if you're doing something for the Lord, you're gonna be suffering.

You're gonna be attacked.

Hey, all my life, all my life, people that get to know me, they realize one or two things for me, because I really am kind of a black and white guy.

I see it black and white.

Now, over the years I've meddled and I just don't tell you you're wrong.

I lovingly share the truth with you.

I used to I can't help it, you're wrong.

But as I realized I didn't know a whole lot and I hadn't experienced a whole lot of suffering, let me tell you what suffering and do.

The more suffering you do, the more understanding it gives you.

Hello.

Hello?

You really start having mercy.

Because it's only by God's mercy that he takes you through that.

And then you start having mercy to other people.

Even though you know they're wrong, that's okay.

You love them.

Amen.

You love them.

Love them where they are so that God can take them where he wants them to be.

I didn't say compromise.

Love them where they are so God can take them where he wants them to be.

It's the love of God that does that.

Amen.

Not the legalistic sayings of men or the brow beating with the Bible.

Now listen.

Here's what it is.

Suffering brings the glory of God into our lives.

And let me tell you what else suffering does.

It drives you back to the word and prayer.

Now watch.

This is now you're gonna see something, how beautiful this is.

So when you're going through a trial, hey, when you're going through those temptations, when you look like you're down for the last count.

I look at Jerry.

A couple of weeks ago he was in the hospital.

They didn't know if he was gonna make it.

Now he's in church.

Let's give God a hand.

Right there.

Same way with Ivan, our walk in Lazarus.

But what does that do?

It drives you to the Word of God and to prayer.

And when you go to the Word of God and prayer because of the suffering, God enables you through the power that you have now to walk through the valley and be victorious.

Jesus learned, now watch this.

Jesus learned obedience through suffering.

Wow.

Wow.

Well, let me wrap it up.

One other thing.

There is a promise to believe.

And what is that promise?

Verse 16 through 18.

Look at it.

Rejoice.

I love it.

Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I've not run in vain, neither labored in vain.

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and I rejoice with you all.

For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice from the twice.

He repeated it.

Boom, boom, boom.

Wow.

What is he talking about?

Well, what he's saying there is the world's philosophy for joy is aggression.

Fight for all you can and can all you have.

Fight, take it, and then you're gonna be happy.

That is as far from the truth or as big a lie as Satan could give you.

Jesus never raised a weapon.

What did he do?

He gave his life willingly, lovingly.

He sacrificed his life and service for us.

And that's what he's talking about here.

He's saying, here's the key.

Here's the key.

And it's so true.

He's saying the key to this joy is two things sacrifice and service.

That's the joy.

You really get joy when you sacrifice and you serve.

That is so true.

See, but the world says we're to what?

Be served.

We're to work to the point we get to where people are serving us.

That is entirely opposite in what the scripture teaches.

Jesus said, He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Wow.

Isn't that good?

Isn't that hard to do?

Isn't that hard to do?

So here we see.

And I want you to see it in Luke 14, 11.

Jesus overcame these lies with the truth.

Because he surrendered, he was victorious.

Look at what he says.

For whosoever exalts himself shall be brought down.

But he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

And then Jesus said in Beatitudes, Happy are the humble-minded, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Matthew 5, 3.

Well, there's a twofold joy that comes to the person who possesses and practices submissive mind.

Verse 16, a joy hereafter.

Ladies and gentlemen, your suffering will be rewarded.

Your suffering will be rewarded in heaven.

Can I get an amen?

Suffering down here becomes glory up there.

That's the best way to put it.

Suffering down here becomes glory up there.

There's a twofold joy.

In the day of Christ, there will be joy.

Being confident of this very thing that he which begun a good work in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25, 21, Jesus said, enter into the joy of the Lord.

In fact, it was this joy.

Listen this.

This is unbelievable.

It was this joy that sent Christ to the cross.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Wow.

Wow.

And then, guess what?

We don't have to wait.

We don't have to wait.

The second thing, hey, the second joy, we can experience that joy right now.

Right now.

Verse 17, 18.

And it comes through sacrifice and service.

Those are the two key things.

Sacrifice and service.

It takes faith to exercise the submissive mind.

I wrote this to myself.

We must believe that God's promises are true and that they are going to work in our lives just as they worked in Paul's life.

Here it is.

God works in us.

How?

Watch.

Through the word, prayer, and suffering.

So that we can work out God's promise and God's plan for our life.

Wow.

You can't now listen to me.

You can't have God's purpose for your life without those three tools that God uses to work out his purpose in our life.

Can I get an amen?

That's the summation of the whole thing.

Amen.

Is that not good?

They gotta come.

That's what he uses.

But thank God.

Thank God.

So as I close, God works in us, we work out.

The example came from Christ, Christ.

The example came from Christ.

The energy comes from the Holy Spirit.

And then the last thing is hey, the examples of Christ, hey, the energy comes from the Holy Spirit, and the results?

Joy.

For the joy of the Lord is my strength.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.