Stand Firm Together | Jason Gore

Hey, listen, uh, we got a lot to, to push through this week.

We got a lot of work to do, and

so we're gonna jump right in.

Uh, last week we kicked off a short series, uh,

through the book of Philippians, uh,

that's focused on unity.

And we did that for two reasons.

Uh, number one, the world feels more

divided than ever, okay?

Right now what what you do is you just pick a side

and you demonize the other side.

Okay? That's what we see all around us.

And then two, as a church family,

we've recently made a decision

to merge our mobile campus weekend gatherings into our

permanent campuses, uh, our facilities

that we own at Apex and Raleigh.

And, uh, some of you were very excited about that.

I was here at the Raleigh campus this past week,

and it was like a family reunion, man.

There were people celebrating, hugging each other

that hadn't seen each other in years.

And I've heard a similar report

from over at the Apex campus.

But the truth is, uh,

for some folks from our mobile campuses,

like it weighs heavier on them than it does on other people.

And that's for good reason, because, uh, what what

that means is what they built mattered,

and what they're gonna continue

to build matters is we're committed

to staying on mission in those communities.

And I said this last week, as sure

as I'm standing here right now, uh, I believe, uh,

that God is gonna, in his timing,

he's gonna send us back out into those

communities when it's time.

But what we said right now is we are in a season

that we believe God is calling us into unity.

And the quote that we opened with last week was,

if you wanna go fast, go alone.

But if you wanna go far, go together.

And, uh, that's not just good advice.

It's not just a great axiom.

It's actually a principle that we see in scripture.

Uh, and about three months ago,

I experienced this firsthand, myself

and Sam Cannoli, uh,

the worship pastor here at the Raleigh campus, Matt Curtis,

the Fuqua Marina campus pastor,

and then, uh, Jason Collier,

who was one of our elders at the time.

We went on the XAC Extreme Character Challenge.

Uh, these are held all over the country,

and this is where a bunch of guys get together,

a 40 pound backpack, whatever you're gonna need

for 72 hours in the wilderness, up in the mountains

with no technology.

And it's like, good luck.

You don't really know what you're walking into.

And so we went on this thing together,

and I'm telling you outta the four of us, there were times

where one of us might have had a bit more energy than the

other guys, and we could have been in a

position to kind of push ahead.

But the reality is, if you leave other people behind

and then you get separated

and they've got the stuff that you need for camp,

or when it's time to eat, you're kind of outta luck.

And in the same way, um, uh, sometimes, uh,

there's some folks that might be dragging

behind a little bit and, and they need some encouragement.

And I won't mention which one of them it was,

but apparently one of the guys thought that it was proper

to go on this trip with us carrying a 40 pound backpack,

thousands of feet above sea level,

and not tell us that they had asthma.

And so that makes it a little bit harder for other people

to carry a 40 pound backpack, but that's okay.

But my point is, we needed each other.

And if you're gonna go far in life,

you're gonna need other people around you.

Last week in Philippians chapter two,

what Paul reminded us was, was that Unity's not uniformity.

It's not everybody is the same,

but what unity is, is it's oneness.

It's the mind of Christ shaping one heart

and one purpose among his people.

For the sake of the gospel this week, uh,

we're gonna push ahead a couple chapters

to Philippians chapter four.

And Paul's gonna move from the why of Unity, uh, to the how,

like how do we intentionally pursue unity in the midst

of a divisive, uh, and difficult time.

And so I'm just telling you we're, we're gonna like verse

by verse, we're gonna walk through this thing.

And so just to make sure

that at some point we're gonna hit something

that's applicable to all of us, uh,

I wanna start out with a game.

Uh, we're not doing tug of war this week, okay?

Uh, that was last week. So everybody just relax.

So here's how this game works.

Uh, if the answer to one of these five questions

that I ask you is yes, I just want you

to put your hand in the air,

and then I want you to keep it there

until I'm finished asking the questions, all right?

And we're just gonna see if this is gonna speak to anybody.

Number one, is there anyone in the room

who has ever gotten into a fight with a loved one or spouse?

And at some point you've actually forgot

why you were fighting anybody?

Yeah. Okay. Just a, a pro tip.

That probably means it wasn't that important, okay?

But keep your hand on the air.

Uh, number two, have you ever overreacted? No. Keep it up.

I saw you keep it up.

Uh, have you ever overreacted to something small, given

what it was in your level of reaction to that event?

Okay. Alright, we got more of us.

Uh, number three, these are gonna

start to get a little bit more serious.

Ha Have you ever struggled with anxiety, um,

over certain events or things going on in your life,

but you're actually in fact still alive

and have made it through this far?

Okay, number four, again, they're getting heavier.

Have you ever been in a place where you just believe

that man, there's just no way things can get

better in a, in my life.

Okay, we got some people with hands

and feet in the air at this point.

It came up. Last question.

Have you ever gotten so consumed by taking care of,

number one, taking care of yourself that actually led you

to a place of greed as opposed to a place of generosity?

Okay, I think we got everybody. Alright.

So the good news is, Paul had, you can put your hands down,

thank you so much for,

for playing along easier than tug of war.

Uh, the good news is in Philippians chapter four,

Paul has some encouraging words for us that's gonna allow us

to, to see very clear instructions

for standing firm in unity when times get difficult

and they will get difficult.

Uh, we saw last week, uh, while we don't have an enemy

who can't, uh, who can defeat the church,

we do not have an enemy that can defeat the church.

Uh, Christ secured that victory through his death on a cross

and his resurrection, overcoming sin and death,

but he can distract it.

Remember what we said last week? He can isolate.

He can divide, he can create anxiety, he can stir conflict,

he can shift our eyes from the mission that we're supposed

to be focused on to our own personal preferences.

And so this message this week is both a warning

and it's a way forward.

And so here's the theme for this week.

How do we stand firm in the unity of the gospel

in divisive and difficult times?

It could be your family, it could be

your church, it could be society.

And what Paul's gonna do,

he's gonna give us seven commitments to make together

as a church family, commitments

that will actually hold us steady

and help us stand firm in unity regardless

of what's going on around us.

So if you have your Bibles, go ahead

and open up Philippians chapter four.

I'll meet you there in a minute. Quick context.

Paul's not writing to strangers, okay?

He, he's writing to a church that he started.

You can read about that just to see

how the Bible fits together in Acts chapter 16, uh,

Acts 16 · chapter mention

he starts the church at Philippi.

It began when Paul was on a missionary journey.

Uh, the Holy Spirit calls him into Macedonia.

He ends up in this town, Philippi.

He meets a woman by the name of Lydia.

He shares the gospel with her.

God opens her heart, she responds, she receives the gospel.

And uh, it says that her entire household was baptized.

And then she actually says, listen, I'm willing to open my,

open up my home for the church.

And actually the first church ever started in Europe,

happens out of Lydia's house.

Now, years later, Paul's sitting in prison,

he's being held in prison for sharing the gospel.

And he writes a letter to the same church that he started

urging them to stand firm to keep their hearts united

in the mission that God's called them into.

But I want you to know, this is not just a history lesson.

Uh, Paul's giving a blueprint like he knew

what it looked like and

what could happen if a church could stay united.

And then for us is hope.

This is a reminder that God can do far more

through a united church than a divided church

God can do far more

through a united family than a divided family.

And so we're gonna jump in here, verse by verse.

Philippians chapter four, Paul starts out,

and he says this, he says,

therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for my joy

and crown, I'm telling you he loved these people.

He says, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Uh, when Paul says, therefore, he's actually connecting

that back to chapter three.

So this is kind of like a weird divide in

between the chapters and the verses.

If you don't know, like when these letters were written,

they didn't have chapters and verses, these are just for us

to know what we're talking about, uh, when we're studying.

But in chapter three, verse 20, he talks to them about

how they belong to another kingdom.

And so Paul's saying, because you're citizens of heaven,

because you belong to Jesus, he's saying, stand firm.

Now that word stand firm, the word that's used there,

it's actually a military term.

And it's what soldiers did when the enemies

pressed in, okay?

They, they dug their, their heels into the ground.

They refused to retreat.

And Paul's saying, don't drift, don't divide.

He said, don't let circumstances shake your faith.

You see in church family, stand your ground in the gospel.

So here's the application for us outta of this.

Before you can stand firm together,

you've gotta know where you stand.

And so I'm gonna ask you a question.

Where is your identity anchored?

Is it in Christ or is it in comfort?

We gotta know, is it in heaven or is it in headlines?

Like we gotta know what we're chasing after in our lives.

We gotta know what we're standing on.

Paul starts here because he knows everything else

that flows out of this.

When we're pursuing an ability to stand firm in unity

as a church, everything flows out of knowing

where you are in Jesus.

So that's verse one, verse two.

He says, I entreat iia

and I entreat knew I was gonna mess that up,

but you guys can come up here

and try it if you think you can do better.

Um, we don't use that word entreat a lot either,

but I entreat them to agree in the Lord.

Yes. I ask you also true companion help these women

who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together

with Clement and the rest

of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

So Paul gets very specific, okay?

There's two women who in the church who were in conflict.

We don't know what the issue was

that they were arguing over, uh,

but we know it was affecting the entire body.

Now this is what's wild.

Um, like we don't do this in the church today.

And this is, I'm glad that we don't do it for my sake

as well, but Paul wrote this letter, most likely gave it

to a paphitis, which we'll hear about later.

And then he pitis probably brings this letter

to them in Philippi and gets the whole church together

and reads it out loud so they're all sitting in a room

together and it's like, Hey, these two women

says them out loud so we can just be thankful that I,

we don't have to come in here and like, have somebody

and I know what you did Saturday

and then we gotta talk about Wednesday night.

And that time you got mad over.

So, I mean, so we're not gonna do that,

but that's what's happening here.

Okay? Paul calls them out publicly, but he does it lovingly.

It's not canceling them,

he's just calling them back to mission.

That word in treat. Um, it means to appeal lovingly.

It means to, to pastorally engaged.

So he's saying, please, ladies, for the sake of Christ,

for our witness, for for the sake of Christ,

please come together.

Notice he doesn't say, Hey ladies,

you need to agree on everything.

That's not what he says. He within the church,

within a room this size, there are, are going to be people

who have different preferences.

Um, who, who are chasing

after different things in different ways,

value things in different ways.

So he doesn't say agree on everything he

says, agree on the Lord.

Agree on the Lord. The gospel doesn't erase differences.

It, it gives us something greater to unite around.

And then Paul goes on, he says, he invites others to help.

He says, true companion help these women.

Um, unity is a family effort.

And we need to know that it takes brothers

and sisters getting involved and reminding each

other, uh, what's important.

I mean, that's the, the case in the church.

It's not just one person's responsibility to get up on stage

and say, Hey, we gotta be unified.

We've all got a responsibility in this.

And so I wanna ask you a question.

Where have you let a non-essential issue

create division within your family

or within the family of God?

'cause here's the truth, unity isn't about avoiding

conflict, alright?

Conflict can be a very healthy thing.

Unity is not about avoiding conflict,

but it's about pursuing peace through the gospel.

And so if we're gonna stand firm in the gospel

and experience the blessing that comes from unity

that we talked about last week, we've got to commit

to pursuing peace together as a family.

Let's jump into verse four.

He says, rejoice in the Lord always.

How often is always, always, let's try it again.

'cause it's not a trick question. How often is always,

always, always, yeah.

Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again, I will say rejoice.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand. Does that even seem possible?

Rejoicing in the Lord always, always rejoicing.

We gotta know is He's not saying here rejoice

because of your circumstances.

He's saying, rejoice what? Rejoice in the Lord

like the joy that we have.

It's not a feeling based on circumstances that change it.

It's a posture based on Jesus who doesn't change.

Jesus was the same yesterday,

the same today and the same forever.

By the way, it's worth recognizing that,

that Paul is in prison when he writes this.

And he's saying, rejoice always that that means he,

he had a joy based on something bigger than

what was happening to him in life.

And I I want us to understand that this is a decision

that we have to make in our minds, not our feelings.

And we just live in a world right now that says, Hey,

if you feel something, it must be true.

But, but Romans tells us that we have to be transformed

by the renewing of our minds.

We have to make a mental decision to focus on God, who he is

and what he's done for us.

And then he says, let your reasonableness be known.

Um, that word reasonableness, it, it could be translated,

um, your gentleness or your gracious spirit.

And so in the midst of potential, lack of unity,

in the midst of a, a disagreement, he's saying, Hey, let's,

let's make sure people see your gentleness.

Makes let's make sure people see a, a gracious spirit.

Because when we live with joy

and gentleness in the midst of tension

and conflict, what happens is we actually reflect the

character of Christ, the character

of Jesus to a watching world.

And it protects our unity from cynicism,

from criticism, from complaining.

Have you ever tried to complain to somebody

that's just always positive?

That is so annoying.

You are like, no, I wanna be mad right now.

Like, what happened is wrong. You're on my side.

This is like my conversations with my wife.

She overtly positive all, all the time.

But this is the application here, and this is a big one.

Listen to this. A rejoicing in a reasonable church builds

walls against division man when the, when the tension,

when the stuff sneaks in

and the dissension sinks in you, you know what?

Yeah, but isn't it great that, that we have a savior

that went to a cross and paid the price for our sins

and rose from the grave while we,

including you who's mad at somebody else?

We're still a sinner. Like, isn't that good news?

I mean, it just breaks down walls.

Uh, uh, man, if,

if we could really get this stuff in our minds,

if we could really adapt this stuff

and actually live it out, let's jump into,

uh, verse six here.

He says, do not be anxious about anything.

Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer

and supplication with Thanksgiving,

let your request be known to God.

Um, studies show right now that anxiety in stress

or at an all time high, uh, I'm willing

to bet in a room this size that there, there's

a considerable amount, uh, of anxiety.

Uh, uh, if you know anything about my story

and my life for the last seven years, um, I'm telling you,

man, there's been some stuff.

Anxiety has, has been a real thing for me.

Um, and I say the last seven years, really,

the truth be told, you could kind

of zero into the last seven months.

And, and really even the last seven weeks, I, I, I know

what it feels like to go home,

feel like you've gone from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM

and then sit on the couch

and just feel like, like, I want to be present.

I want to emotionally connect. I want to be available.

But it's like you just can't shut it off.

It just won't stop running.

Like I, I know what it's like

to have this tension in your chest

or to, to wake up at three o'clock in the morning and said,

and realize like, well,

that's probably all the sleep I'm gonna get tonight.

Like, I know what that's like,

but I will also say that in God's grace

and mercy, what he's allowed me

to experience when I get it right.

And it's, it's not all the time.

'cause you have to, I'm telling you, you just have

to make a conscious decision.

What I've found is PE peace isn't found in getting

control of your situations.

It's actually found in giving it away.

Peace doesn't come from gripping tighter.

It comes from standing in front

of your loving father and just giving it over.

And sometimes that's easier said than done.

But what I've learned is we can't change our circumstances

to make ourselves more steady.

We can't, um, I think I preached a message before

and I said like, I know there's a lot of people that say,

pick and choose your battles,

but what happens when the battle chooses you?

Like we don't always get the chance

to decide which ba battles that we find ourselves in.

So we can't change our circumstances

to make ourselves more steady or have more peace,

but we can turn to the one who can.

And Paul says, don't fall into the trap

of the enemy who's lying to you, who's trying to get you

to believe that you're in this thing all

by yourself, carrying it by yourself.

He's saying bring it all to God.

And as a church family, right now,

we have found this newfound commitment to prayer.

And I'm telling you, it's awakening

souls and it's changing lives.

And if you've never had the experience

of just sitting down in the presence of God

and saying, God, I don't have much to bring,

and I don't have any answers,

but I'm coming to the one who I believe, does

Lord have your way, Lord, bring me peace.

And so Paul says, don't sit in your anxiety alone.

Bring it to the feet of the God who loves you.

And you get to verse seven, and this is what it says.

This is one of the, this is an incredibly powerful verse.

He says, when you do that,

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

That word guard, again, it's a military image.

It means to station a soldier

around your heart and around your mind.

God's peace. It stands watch over our emotions

and over our thoughts when we pray instead of panic.

And so I, I do wanna say this, I do wanna give a disclaimer.

Uh, I know that clinical anxiety is a real thing, okay?

And so by no means do I want you

to hear your pastor stand up here

and say, Hey, all you gotta do is pray

and have faith, and it's all gonna go away.

Like there are times where we need

to go see a medical doctor.

There are times when we need to go see a therapist.

There are times where medication is the right answer.

But what we see in scripture, which is, which is

what I'm reading to you, the very word of God is showing us

that the answer to an anxious heart is not to strive alone,

but it's to run to a protecting father.

Verse eight, finally, brothers,

you know how we have a tendency sometimes

to just focus on the negative?

You run the negative script over and over and over again,

and it's worst case scenario, worst case scenario.

Listen to what he says. Verse eight, finally, brothers,

whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence,

if there's anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

Paul's saying, um, what you think

actually determines what you become.

Again, the mind is a powerful thing,

but the world is so good at training us

to focus on the negative.

But when our minds get filled with negativity and gossip

and fear, unity fractures, our ability to stand firm

and stand unified, uh, as a family, it begins to fracture.

But when our minds dwell in what's true and what's honorable

and what's praiseworthy, we have this ability to stand firm.

Our unity grows.

That's why the the practice of gratitude, uh, right now is

so popular, even in secular psychology.

It's actually a biblical concept.

Uh, but here's the thing, like in secular psychology, it's,

you know, let's have a time focusing

on gratitude and things.

Let's go to our happy place.

And I'm by no means demeaning that.

But what I'm saying is, um,

that's very different than what Paul is saying.

Paul is saying, no, no, no, no.

Exchange the lie that you're believing

for the truth of God's word.

Like, let's go to places in scripture where we're reminded

that, um, he who began a good work will

be faithful to complete it.

Let's go to a place in scripture where we're reminded

that all things work together

for the good, for those who love him.

These are the things that we've gotta tell

ourselves and remind ourselves.

You get to verse nine and he says, what you have learned

and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things

and the god of peace will be with you.

Simply put, he's saying, Hey, think about all these things,

but don't just think, right?

He's saying, live it out, plain and simple. Live it out.

The application is fill your thoughts with truth

and practice what you know.

Um, there's a lot of Christians that actually know enough,

but they just, we just don't always apply it to our lives.

Know what you know, and live it out.

Don't let bitterness and criticism

and cynicism take root, unity, and peace.

They start in their mind, they start,

it starts in our minds ever before.

It's gonna show up in our relationships.

You get to verses 10 through 20,

and if you're making notes, you can just like

all these kind of run together.

So Paul's gonna kinda give one last picture of

what unity looks like in action.

Uh, and it actually relates to generosity.

And what he, what he's highlighting is when a church stands

together in mission, uh,

generosity actually becomes an outflow.

So you get to verse 10,

and he says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly

that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

So they had a concern for, for him there they're reviving

that you were indeed concerned for me,

but you had no opportunity.

Uh, the Philippians had actually supported Paul's ministry

through, uh, Epaphroditus, who I I mentioned earlier,

given financial help, encouragement, friendship.

And through their generosity, uh,

they actually modeled their unity in the gospel.

You get to verse 11, and he says, not, not that I'm speaking

of being in need for, I have learned in whatever situation

I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low.

I know how to abound in every, in any

and every circumstance, I've learned the secret

of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

Paul says, listen, I've learned contentment.

I'm not dependent on circumstances or on people.

I can be content present, present with you here, uh,

my church family or here in prison.

My contentment is in my relationship with Jesus Christ.

And then he writes, one of the most powerful

but often misused versus in all of scripture,

Philippians four 13.

He says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

And I want you to hear me say, despite

how many times you see that on football players

markers under their eyes

or you see it, this is not about performance.

Paul's writing about endurance.

Paul's writing about resilience.

Paul's writing about what it really means

to stand firm in the midst of whatever we find ourselves in.

Uh, yeah, I'll tell the story. How are we doing on time?

I think we're okay. Alright. Uh, so I was, uh,

it was my senior year, uh, wrestling, uh, at NC State.

Uh, I won an a CC championship go pack.

And, um, I somehow I ended up, uh,

someone gave me a picture

of me up on the podium holding the trophy up in the air in

my NC State gear.

And then the, there's a UNC guy to my right,

little bit lower in the podium, uh, sorry, clay.

And then there's a, uh, a Duke guy a little bit lower than

that on the other side, and then the guy down

in Virginia on the thing.

And I'm like holding it up

and like, the lights are coming down, it's beautiful.

And, um, I saved it until I had kids one day

and now I have kids and showed it to him.

I'm like, yeah, that's cool. I'm

gonna put it back in your closet.

But, um, there were some people that actually wanted one,

believe it or not, like our team chiropractor,

he wanted a picture for his office.

Our, uh, our uh, our strength coach, uh,

wanted a picture for his office.

And I was big into athletes in action.

And so I, uh, am leading bible studies

for, for athletic teams.

And so I thought it was cool.

So I wrote Philippians four 13, I can do all things

through Christ who gives me strength.

That was before like, um, true theological training.

And so, uh, a very inappropriate, inaccurate use

of, of the verse.

In fact, the true application of that verse actually says,

you can still endure even if you don't experience the

comfort or success, uh, that the world throws at you.

It would've been more appropriate for me to write that on

that picture if I would've been down

where the UNC guy got was, or the Duke guy.

So just help you understand,

he's saying this is not about performance.

This is not about achievement. This is about endurance.

And again, in light of the gospel circumstances,

do not define contentment.

Can I just say this though? I don't know.

I just, I just have this sense in my spirit.

We just talked about anxiety

and we kind of sprinted through it

and man, we're covering so much

and trying to get it done in the, the 32 minute window.

But man, I know this is a heavy time.

Um, I know there's people in our church right now

that I know dearly that have parents that are aging

and you're like, man, I, I never, nobody taught me how

to be ready for this season in my life.

And one who's watched a parent die,

who's watched a grandparent die.

I know it can be difficult. There's folks whose

marriage is on the rocks.

Uh, there's folks who thought one direction in college

was supposed to be the track.

And you get in and you're like, man, I don't even know like

what I'm supposed to do, but I'm paying them money.

And you got parents whose kids have gone prodigal

and left to church and left to faith, like, like anxiety

and stress and fear is a real thing.

But I, I want you to hear me remind you of the words

of the Apostle Paul, that in the midst of that,

we can present our requests to our savior,

we can present our request to God,

and we can have confidence that I can do all things

through him who strengthens you.

And I want you to know if you will go to your loving father,

he will give you what you need to endure through.

And here's the, here's the real bottom line of this.

That does not mean that you will see victory in the way

that you wanna see victory, but what it does mean is

through Christ, even if it leads to death,

when we follow our savior on the other side

of death is resurrection.

And so all things do work together.

We can celebrate that all things do work together

for the good, for those who love them.

You gotta get to verse 14.

I know the clock's gonna be ticking.

He says, yet it was time, yet it was kind of you

to share in my trouble, kind of you

to partner with me in ministry.

Verse 15, we're talking about their generosity.

And you, Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning

of the gospel, so when he first started preaching the

gospel, 'cause it was church is relatively new at this

point, when I left Macedonia,

no church entered into partnership with me and giving

and receiving, except you, only, you're the only church

that supported my ministry.

Even in Thessalonika.

You sent me help for my needs once

and again, not that I seek the gift, hang on to this.

I say, not that I seek the gift,

but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit,

I've received full payment

and more I'm well supplied,

having received from a paphitis the gifts that you sent,

a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable

and pleasing to God, he's reminding them, your gift

of generosity was, it was a, is a sacrifice,

and it's acceptable and it's pleasing to God.

But I don't want us to miss. Paul says, I'm thankful

that you gave, and the Lord used it to bless me.

But I I I wanna be clear, I don't seek your generosity

for my own personal benefit.

It's to increase your kingdom impact and blessing.

Remember last week we talked about how, uh,

the Lord commands his blessing on those who are in unity

and, and, and, and living lives of generosity

and being on mission together

as a church family is an aspect of unity.

Th this is why we say at hope, uh,

all the time when we talk about generosity,

when we talk about tithes

and offerings, we try to say regularly,

this is not something that we want from you.

This is something that we want for you.

Because when you give to a church, it's not a charity.

Thi this is an expression of a unified partnership together

as a family in the mission that Jesus has called us into

of sharing the gospel with the world around us.

Our vision here at Hope, it it's

for our communities and all the world.

And no one experienced the love of God

and the life that Jesus came to make available.

That's what we're actually partnering together for.

And so the Philippians didn't just give money,

the Philippians joined in the mission

and their generosity was bearing fruit for all of eternity.

And as Jesus himself did, said in, in Luke chapter 12,

Luke 12:34

verse 34, he says, where your treasure is there,

your heart will be also

Few things Can drive unity at, at a heart level,

like being generous with our resources together

as a church family.

Um, you know, we saw that video at, at the beginning

of the service, uh, the power soccer.

You know, we, we have incredible facilities here at the

Raleigh campus and out in Apex

and um, you know, we rent them out

and we use them for large

organizations and things like that.

But because people give, we're able to pay those mortgages

and then ministries like that,

power soccer, we can just say, you know what?

You got an incredible vision.

You're blessing other people's lives.

Just come in here and use this place for free.

That's what happens when a, when a church comes together.

And then you look at what happens when

of the greatest promises in scripture,

when you get this right, verse 19, he says,

and my God will supply every need of yours according

to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, to our God

and Father, be the glory forever and ever.

When we get the generosity piece right,

when we partner together to support the spreading

of the gospel, God promises then to supply our every need.

Now, please understand this is not a blanket prosperity

gospel verse what this is,

it's a mission partnership promise that God gives to us.

It's not a, uh, a blank check for comfort, okay?

We don't get to ask for a yacht in Jesus' name.

I mean, you can do that, but I'm gonna question your heart a

little bit unless you use it, you know,

for ministry purposes and send me an email.

We can talk about it. But it's a promise of provision

for those that are committed to the mission.

I, I will fight till the day I die

to make sure people understand like there's no such thing

as a prosperity gospel.

But you cannot read the Bible cover

to cover and not understand.

There is a theme of reaping and sowing.

We invest in the kingdom, we see fruit.

Paul saying, as you give sacrificially for the sake

of the gospel, God will provide everything that you need.

So our application for this is unity

and God's provision, it's strengthened

through our generosity.

So I'm gonna ask another hard question for us.

Is your generosity helping the church stand firm

and unity And on mission.

Last two verses. I'm gonna sprint through these,

greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

Tell everybody back there, I said, Hey, love you guys.

Tell everybody I said hello.

The brothers who are with me, they greet you.

Listen to this. All the saints greet you, especially those

of Caesar's household, the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit.

That phrase, those of the Caesar's household, listen

to this, it's incredible.

These were people within the Roman government who had come

to Christ through Paul's imprisonment.

I'm, I'm, I want you to understand there is nothing

that can stop a unified church

that will stand firm in the gospel

and be committed to living the way that God's called us to,

to live even in hardship.

When the church is strong in unity,

the gospel was still advancing.

I mean, can you believe Paul is in prison

in the Roman Empire?

This is the direct opposition to the church.

And as Jesus works things all together for good,

he's in prison leading these people to him.

But it takes a unified church.

So we gotta understand unity in the church.

It will fuel Jesus's mission in the world.

When we stay generous, when we stay united,

when we stay focused, God multiplies our impact.

We Gotta wrap this up. Uh, bring it all together.

How do we stand firm in the unity of the gospel

in divisive and difficult times?

Paul gave us seven commitments to make.

Number one, stay rooted in your identity.

He says, stand firm. Remember who you are in Jesus,

the world's gonna tell you something else.

No, no, no. Stand firm.

Number two, pursue peace, reconcile and agree in the Lord.

If you have somebody in your family

or in this church body that you need to do some business

with, and remind each other, Hey,

our unity in the gospel is bigger than all that mess.

Handle it. Three, choose joy.

Let your gentleness and your joy shape your spirit.

Be that person that somebody complains to

and you just keep being positive.

Number four, pray through anxiety.

We, we need to invite the peace of gods to guard our hearts.

And I know it's so hard in those moments.

I'm a pastor and I wake up the next morning

after being up until three in the morning thinking, why,

why in the world did I not spend time in prayer?

We've gotta go to 'em in prayer.

Number five, guard your mind.

We've gotta fill our mind with what's right and what's pure.

How do we do that? By engaging God through scripture.

We've gotta spend time reading God's word.

Number six, practice generosity.

Commit to practicing, generosity, give

and serve to strengthen the unity

and the mission that we have together around the gospel.

And number seven, live on mission.

We've gotta be committed to living on the mission

that God's called us to

and his partners together in the gospel and what happens.

And my God will supply every need of yours according

to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus,

hoping we live this way, praying, forgiving,

rejoicing, giving the God of peace,

he will be with us And his church will thrive.

So this whole letter, um, we covered basically one

and a half chapters in two weeks.

So, uh, let me encourage you go through

and read all four chapters this week.

But the whole letter's really been about standing firm.

And I'm so careful when I give a sermon

that's on like checklists, seven commitments, seven things

to do because um, at the end of the day,

if you give us a checklist,

we probably ain't gonna get it right.

But this letter's about standing firm,

but we can only do that.

'cause Jesus first stood for us.

Jesus stood firm in the garden, he stood firm on the cross,

and he stood victorious on the empty two.

And so when Paul says, stand firm in the Lord,

what he's really saying is he means stand firm in the Lord

by standing firm on the finished work of Jesus.

Remember we said last week, we don't fight for victory, we,

but we fight from victory.

That's our footing, that's our confidence.

And if you're hearing this message,

if you're in this room right now

and you've never made a decision to give your life to Jesus,

I just want to tell you what are you waiting for?

All this stuff that we talked about

and the blessing that comes from unity.

I I'm not like a, trying to give you a fire

and brimstone message here, but I wanted you to know you.

You don't have the power to experience it in

your life outside of Jesus.

You just don't. The Bible tells us that we're all sinners

and fallen short of the glory of God

and for the forgiveness of sin, there has

to be shedding of blood.

And you're probably like, man, what the heck does that mean?

It just means that you know, in your rebellion that is,

we have not lived the way that we've been created to live.

That separates us from God.

We don't experience the blessing of his relationship.

But you don't have to clean up your act.

You don't have to get seven steps

to work your way back to Jesus.

He knew we couldn't do that.

The Bible says while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us.

So stepping into that relationship

with Jesus is just recognizing No, no, no, Jesus,

I call on your name because I know you went to a cross

to pay the penalty for my sins, and you went into a tomb

and you rose from the grave so that I can have your life.

And if that's you, I just wanna

encourage you, make that decision.

It's the best decision you'll ever make in your life.

Tell somebody that you came with.

If you're at the Apex campus, go to Doug Stride,

the campus pastor over there.

He'd love to talk with you. If you're at the Raleigh campus,

you can come talk to me, talk to Corey Paxton.

But let's get you moving down the road,

growing in your relationship with Jesus,

understanding the life that you're actually created to live.

Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we thank you

that you are our peace and you're our provider.

You have called us to stand firm

not in our strength, but in yours.

I pray that as a church family, you would help us

to pursue peace and that you would help us

to rejoice in you always.

That we would be the ones that could rejoice always,

that we would pray through our worries,

that we would think rightly,

and that we would live lives of generosity for the sake

of the mission that you've called us into.

Father, I pray that you would unite us

as one family standing together in the gospel in difficult

and in divisive times for your glory

and to the hope that we have in you

and for the world around us.

Lord, let us be the church that we talked about last week

that shines bright.

That's a bright light to the world around us

that desperately needs it.

Lord, we love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Everyone said, amen.

Church, let's be that church family together.