Are You A Joyful Disciple | Elder Rose

You're listening to a message to go from ex Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

And so I want to start by just sharing, you know, baby,

by asking you a first question. All right, okay, So

the question for you this morning, first one is what

gives you great joy? What gives you great joy? Okay?

You can give me your answers, and I always like

it to be interactive, so that I know you're with me.

What gives you great joy? Think about it?

Food?

Of course, right, we're in Clang, so clang must like food,

all right, okay? What else? What else gives you great joy? Family?

I heard family? Someone? What else? Holiday? And you're going

on holiday soon? Or gives you great joy? Okay? Good? Good? Good?

What else? What else? Friends? Yeah? I know we can't

do it. Our friends right made us? You know, social beings?

What else? What else? Maybe from the young people? What

gives you great joy? Young people? Did I hear sports? Football? Football? Football? Okay? Okay? Cool? Cool?

All right? Anything else anything else that gives you great joy?

Hand phone? Did someone say handphone? Okay? Okay, okay, all right,

all right, good? How come no one say god? Okay? Okay,

never mind, okay, you think about those things that gives

you great joy. Right, and at the count of tree later,

I want you to give your greatest shout of excitement

over that very thing that you think gives you great joy.

Lot hea, the it's food or hand phone or holiday? Right, Okay,

let's experiment. Okay, let's experiment. Okay. So think about it

as something football, right, if your team wins, how would

you cheer? Right? Okay? Ready, if you think about something

that gives you great joy, like if you're you know,

going for exams and you get straight a's or you know,

think about that kind of enjoy that you know you

will receive. So I want to think about that and

at the count of tree, you will give you a

great shout. Okay ready are you ready? Okay? One? Two tree? Okay, Okay, great? Great.

I wonder if it's it's kind of the same joy

that you have every time you come to church? Yeah,

God or not? Because you know, the thought that came

to my mind is, actually, why are we here in

church today? I think it's a good question to ask yourself.

You know, why am I here? You ask yourself? Yeah,

because my leader asked me to be here. Because you know,

I belong to this church because you know, it's it's

what I just do on every Sunday, right, And but

I want to bring you great encouragement because you know,

something that the Lord told me was you know, I

think what we need to restore in all our believers

is the joy of the Lord. Amen. Are you joyful

or not? And so what I titled my message for

this morning is are you a joyful disciple? You think

about it? Are you joyful or not? The thought of

coming to worship God excite you? Does it make you

wake up in the morning, like, Yes, today is Sunday.

I get it. Come, you know and be with you know,

people who worship God. Do you get this kind of

feeling and anticipation or is it just like, yeah, it's

just another Sunday, you know, Yeah, and other homes, Yeah,

another prayer service. You know, it's just going through the motions.

And the Lord wanted to remind us that we gotta

have back that joy. You know, that joy is so

important because without joy, Right, what does it become when

you do something? When you do something without joy, what

does it become? It becomes a chore? Right? How many

of you like house chores? Oh, okay, got one brother.

You're very very your family is very blessed to have you. Okay,

what is your favorite house? Chow? Whoa clean the whole house?

And and what what kind of joy does it bring you? Why?

Why is it so joyful to clean the house? Ah? Okay,

so the big joy is not being scolded by his wife. Okay, well,

well the motivation right, it's very okay. It's so important

to understand the motivation, the motivation behind everything that we do. Right,

and so we wanna, yeah, thank you for that. You know,

I love that you love cleaning your house, but I

think it shows me that you love your wife more. Ah.

You see, you see behind every motivation, there is behind

everything that we do. There is a motivation. And I

pray that as we journey along in our walk with

the Lord, that everything that we say is we can

say I do it because I love the Lord. I

do it because I love that I serve because not

because someone asks me to, but because I really really

love the Lord. Amen. Amen, So everything that you do,

so thank you for all those who are serving. You know,

our execute teacher every Sunday, you know, we pray that's

why we keep on saying, the joy of the Lord

is our the joy. You know, without joy, you feel

very tired. Do you feel tired? You feel like everything

is like ah, you know, no energy, brainfall, you know,

things like that. You go to mundane things in life,

work day by because you lost that joy, right, but

when you find back that joy. Wow. Do you know

when you're excited about something, you know, if you're planning.

You know, if our brother there is like, well, I

want to clean the house, right because the joy of

my wise's face, you know, when she comes home like

everything sparkling clean. That joy is the one thing that

keeps us going. Do you know what Hebrew's twelve two says,

Let's go to Hebrews chelk Okay, Let's go with Hebrews

first before I go into the passage that I want

to bring you out to. Are you okay so far?

Let's read Hebrews twelve too. If you have your Bible,

that'll reading from the NLT version because it's yeah, easier

for understanding. Okay. So it says this. Therefore, since we

are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to

the life of faith, Amen, this is a huge crowd

of witnesses to the life of faith. Let us strip

off every way that slows us down, especially the sin

that so easily trips us up, and let us run

with endurance the race God has set before us. We

do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion,

who initiates and perfects our faith, because of the because

of the because of the joy. So Jesus knew something

about joy, because of the joy that was awaiting him.

He endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and now he

is seated in the place of honor beside God's thrown. Wow.

What an encouragement, right. Do you know that as Jesus

was going to the cross, what was he thinking about?

I know some of us are going through our different

cross every day. Every day we bear our cross, we

bear our burdens. You know, it's like, Wow, this situation

that I'm in right now, it's my burden, is my

cross to bear. But Jesus had to bear his cross.

But do you know what kept him going? It was

the joy. It was the joy got Jesus himself was

looking forward to something, the joy that was set before

You see, it's it's quite important for us to understand

that he had not received that joy yet at that point,

there was the joy that was awaiting him. So sometimes,

you know, in our life we think, but I'm not happy. Yeah,

I'm not happy with my circumstances. I'm not happy with

the situation. Yo. You know, I just got my electricity bill.

Did you get your July electricity bill? Yet? They increased

it by like fifty percent? Man, I don't know. So

I got two bills, right, The first bill is like

two hundred plus, which is like my usage. Then they

say because of the new tariffs, it's three hundred and

fifties hundred in the extra. I'm like, what's this? Can

still be joyful? Like what? And this is not one time?

You know, it's gonna be moving forward. Everything's gonna be affected, right,

I think you all know that already. Things like to

go more and more expensive. But okay, it's okay. It's

it's lifelah, right, it's a life that we live right now.

Do we get stressed up about it and say, wow,

you know then I need to go in stress for

more money, I need to work more or can I

just say it's it's okay. You know we sang the

song earlier God is working, He's still working miracles. Can

you still believe that God will provide for you? Or

do you get stressed out and you lose your joy

in the moment it say okay, like God, thank you

for this. You know, I think there is something I'm

looking forward to. So believe us. I'm asking you what

are you looking forward to? What is the thing that

keeps you going in your life of faith? Right? Is

there joy or not? It? Really? Is there joy in

your life? And we want to learn from this example

from of course Jesus, who you know, what was God's

Jesus greatest joy so that you and I can be

with him? That was the joy Jesus joy wasn't like

why I could live in a big house, I don't

have to work anymore? Do you know that Jesus is

still working right now? Many of us right our dream

life is to retire early, to be financially free so

that we don't have to work anywhere. Can I tell

you that it's not God's intention for you and me? Wow?

In God, there is no retirement right. In fact, it's

all the way for Jesus until he brings us home

all the way. Are you ready for that not like, well,

what you mean, I cannot retire. No. As a believer,

you know, you might retire from your work, but as

a child of God, you're always about your father's business.

And until his business is finished, then is the work

is not done yet. And that's why we're all alive

here today. Amen. There's a reason for you to be here.

There is a purpose for you to be here. Amen.

So I want to go to one of my favorite

letters in the New Testament. Now, okay, let me give

you a trivia Bible trivia, right, okay, do you know

which is the first church plan that Apostle Paul planted? Oh? Yeah, correct, Philippi?

Was that a random guess? Are?

Oh?

Okayla hey hello? Open book answer? Okay, open book question?

So you okay answer Philippi. Yes, yes, So this is

one of the earliest church that Paul planted. And of

course when he planted it, he didn't get to visit

it until ten years later. Nine to ten years later. Now,

this this letter is very special because it really speaks

about his heart for this particular church. Okay, and so

and I believe that this is God's word for you

as well, exclaimed. Do you know that God really loves you. Excelang. Okay,

it's only some of you believe it. La. Do you

believe that God really loves this church? And that's why

it's still standing today. God has a plan and a

purpose for this church to be here, and you are

part of God's plan. You know, you being here this morning,

it's no accident, it's not a coincidence. God has designed

it right. And God has this plan for all of us,

and His heart is so big towards exclaiming. You know,

you're never one of the small churches. You're never one

of those. Oh this is this church is always a

lot of problem. It's okay. All the churches got a problem. Okay,

it's not unique to you. Okay, it's not unique to you.

All the churches of God go through challenges for its growth. Amen.

So let's read Paul's Heart and this is the letter

of We'll be reading a lot of Philippians. So I

encourage you to open your Bible if you can, because

I really believe that God's word is more powerful than

my word. So I'm gonna read more of God's word.

So yet you just sink, let us sink into your spirit. Amen. Amen,

all right, Okay, so it starts off with a greeting,

as always, right, every letter has a greeting. And this

letter I'm gonna read from verse one, and this is

the Nalty version. It says, this letter is from Paul

and Timothy. Who is Timothy to Paul his spiritual son. Okay,

Paul didn't have a biological son, but this is his

spiritual son. Okay. Yes, Notice what he says, slaves off Christ,

Jesus slaves. You know, do you consider yourself slaves? Most

of us don't want to be slave? Right, husband's slave

to the wife, never mind clean the house? Okay? Right,

but I'm not slave to anyone. But you know, we

only have won two choice when it comes to this

whole idea of serving and slavery. I give you, I

give you these two options. Okay. Do you want to

be slave to your sin? Or do you want to

be slaved to Jesus Christ. Amen? Sometimes it's very hard

to say, right because when you acknowledge that when I'm

slaved to Jesus Christ, what does the slave do whatever

the master says? Are you ready for that? Are you

ready to do whatever the master says? That's what being

a slave is Wow. Okay, so let's move on. Let's

move on. He says, I am writing to all of

God's holy people in clang who belong to Christ Jesus,

including the eldest and deacons. Oka, I saying, Philippi, I'm

contextualizing the word of God. Okay, you are holy? You know?

Did you see yourself holy? Can you tell your neighbor

you are who? Some of you don't believe you? Look

at your husband you are holy? Holy socks godlah, holy

in the Lord. That's how. That's our identity. Do you

see that our identity in God is that we are

holy people? Doesn't matter what you did last night. Okay,

we are called to be holy and that is you know.

God causes be holy just as I am holy. Amen. Wow. Okay,

what a high calling verse to make God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Amen.

All right, let's go. He says this. You know, when

he writes, every time I think of you, exclaim I

give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make

my requests for all of you with joy, for you

have been you see the word joy. Okay, I make

my requests for all of you with joy, for you

have been my partners in spreading the good news about

Christ from the time you first heard it until now.

And I am certain that God, who began the good

work within you, will continue his work until it is

finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Amen. Amen? Okay,

where was this letter written from? Do you know? Do

you know where where was Paul when he was writing

this letter? You know he's writing this war. I think

of you every time I think of you with joy?

Where was Paul? He was in jail? How many of

you have been the jail before? You don't raise up

your head? Okay, Now what will you be thinking when

you're in jail? No, hope, You're thinking about where's my lawyer?

You're thinking about, Hey, my family, you know, you know,

come visit me. You're thinking I'm wrongly accused. Okay, what

do you know? What was the reason Paul was in

prison for preaching the gospel? Yeah? Yeah? And do you

know at that time in that Roman era, so they

had the Jewish believers, there was one and they were

jealous of Paul because to them, he was preaching a

different way, a different God. Right. But the Jewish people

failed to recognize that Jesus is their savior that they've

been waiting for. In the Old Testament all the time,

the Jewish people were waiting for their savior, and Paul

were just saying, Jesus is the savior that you've been

waiting for. He is the Way, the Truth, and the life.

But they didn't get it right. So he was persecuted

for preaching Christ. And then he's writing from prison. Now.

Prison is not a very very nice place. And I

can't imagine what a Roman prison looked like. He was

in chains and stocks, as some of you can remember

in acts. And I don't know how how happy you

would be, Like what kind of condition or mindset would

you be in that position in jail? How many of

you you know you think about it, if you're in prison,

what is your emotions? You know, what's your mind? At

that point you'll probably be down anything else, You'll be discouraged, angry, Yeah, angry,

I will probably be angry. Said, I don't know if

some of you are going through that right now, that

that can be a prison that you might be in

right now. It's an emotional prison, it's a spiritual prison,

you know, it's a mindset prison. And some always say,

but I'm free today. But you see, if there is

something that is lacking, and that's joy that's lacking you

right now, you might be in some kind of prison.

And today I just want to declare to you that

God wants to set you free from this amen in

Jesus' name. God wants to set us free from joylessness

in our lives because you know, when we allow something

else to rob us of our joy, and that's what

the devil does. You know what the devil that comes

to do to still kill and destroy your joy. If

you have no more joy left in you as a person,

like there's nothing I can look forward to, I have

no more hope. Then I pray that today you were

received by that hope, you will received by that joy

because God wants us to have that joy. And you

see out of this letter that Paul was writing, it

was full of joy. He's really thinking about something else,

you know, he's thinking about someone else's he's happy for

someone else. He's like, I think of you with joy,

and he says, why because you have been my partners.

So let's go to see how can we gather joy?

You know, how can we have joy in our hearts?

Or so? The first one I want to say to

you that joy is possible even when you're in some

kind of prison. You might be stuck in your circumstances,

but I want to tell you that joy is still possible.

Paul was in prison, but he could have joy because

you know what joy is not dictated by what happens externally.

Joy is something that is internal. It's something that comes

forth from you. And that's why you know one of

the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You know, okay, do

you know what is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?

Can you name it to me? Okay? Good, because some

of you know it, but the rest of you please

try to memorize. Okay, if not going self in excess

for a while, because excuse actually teach the children how

to memorize the fruit of the spirit. Right love. Joy.

Second in line, the fruit of the Spirit is joy.

And if you have no joy in your heart, then

we have to ask ourselves, Holy Spirit, are you working

in me? Are you am I bearing fruit of the

spirit or not? If there is no joy in us,

then we have to ask ourselves. I thank God, something

is missing somewhere. I can be doing everything right externally,

but if there's no fruit of the Spirit, then it's

a good time to ask ourselves, really, am I operating

in the spirit? Because can I tell you, friends and family,

that if we have no power of the Holy Spirit,

there is no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit

in our lives, then I really wonder and question what

are we doing in our lives? Are we really really saying?

God has filled me with the Holy Spirit and now

I can outwardly work out my faith and show that

there is fruit in my life. You know, you think

about the last six months. Now we're in July, ready,

no July, second half of the year, first half of

the year. I think we need to ask ourselves, God,

has there been more love in my life? More joy?

Has there been more peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self controul Wow? So many? Right? God has all this,

you know, shown fruitfulness in my life? And if we've

been more angry, more said, more stress, I think we

need to come back before I say God, I really

need you, I really need the Holy Spirit, because on

our own we cannot Friends. Can I tell you that

on our own without the Holy Spirit, you can just

read the word of God. Right. But if you don't

partner with the Holy Spirit, then our lives will never

be transformed. Amen. Do you want to see transformation in

your life? Exclaim? I think all of us want to

grow in the Lord. Right, And so we say, God,

I just need more of you. Would you restore to

me the joy? Restore to me the joy of your salvation? Amen?

So what gives Paul a lot of joy? Is this?

There's three things, all right? So if you go to

the next lit you will see. Firstly, he acknowledged that

the Church of Philippi has been their partner's partnership in

the Gospel. Do you see this word there in verse five?

It says for you have been my partners. What other

translation is that? What other words is there in your Bible?

What other words is used? Fellowship? Right? You see the

word fellowship? Okay, tell me what you understand about fellowship?

What do you understand about fellowship? Food for a young child?

All right? So after this we will have fellowship outside. Okay?

What else? Just now Jason said, doing live together? Okay?

What else? What else being in agreement? Wow, we're going deeper.

Do you believe that fellowship is being in agreement with

one another. Sometimes we like, okay, we can just fellowship.

We can just have tea and coffee and bacute, and

then after that we go our way. It doesn't mean

that we are in agreement. And that is a very

shallow way of looking at the word fellowship. Do you

know the word fellowship In Greek? It means coin onia.

Have you heard of this word before? Coinonia? Right, coydonia.

It comes from this word, and it's used to describe

Siamese twins. You know what Siamese twins are. Yeah, they're

joined together. Okay, joined together? That is considered very close fellowship. Right,

We in such close leanership anyway, So when you're in

close fellowship in one body, do you know what happens

when one part of the twin dies? In assimes twins?

Think about in Assimes twins, you know, usually they join

one part and then they probably have two separate organs,

two hates or whatever. What happens when one part of

the Siamese twin dies, they both die. It's usually like that.

And so you think about it. If we use the

same understanding for the church, when one partner of the

church is hurting the whole church hurts. It's not like, oh,

I don't care that I know this is your problem,

not my problem. You different homes or not my problem.

You know you different family, not my problem. But do

you know that God has needed us together in this coinonia.

This fellowship is not just we're having matan together. No,

this fellowship is a one of the spirit. Holy Spirit

binds us together. And so when one part of the

body hurts, you know, if you you and suddenly you

kick something, your toe hurts, right, and then you say

I actually not the whole body hurts. Do you feel that,

like aah, the pain shoots up right after your brains

and you're like, oh so painful. Then even your hands

start to think because it affects you. The body is

affected when one body. You know, when one part of

the body is hurting, or if one part is rejoicing,

then the whole body rejoices. Right. So that is what partnership.

And the thing about partnership is this, it's it's saying

I have a stick. And that's why in ex church

we don't use members. You're not members of X. You

are partners. Because partner says that I have a steak,

You are a stakeholder. You know when you do business together? Right?

I think some of you are in business together? Do

you know as an employee? Okay, how many of us? Okay,

let me look at you. How many of you are

in employment meaning you work for someone? Can I see

your hands? Okay? So about how how many of you

are in partnership, like in a business with someone? Yeah?

Which one is easier to let go? Employment? Right? You

just resign? Maybe you serve three muths not this bye bye.

But when partners you have already son in your capital,

You've son in your energy. Your effort is really hard

to live. This this oneness, you know, is very hot.

And do you know that we actually partner with God

together in the spreading of the gospel? You are you

have the privilege of partnership. Do you know that? I

see this amazingly? Because right every time you give, you

put money into the offering bag or you transfer funds,

you are partnering with God. Did you see that? You're

by thinking that you're bad? You know? No, no partner's gift.

Partners are the ones who sow and they invests. It's

not members in all employees. What's in it for me?

But with partners, is like, we are in this together

and I will sow and our partner. And so the

joy that comes to Paul is that this church in Philippie.

Do you know that in all of Paul's life as

a missionary, there was only one church that supported him financially,

the Church of Philippi. He didn't he didn't need it,

he didn't want it. But he says, Wow, it shows

me how much you believe in the work. So do

you know that all of us can partner with God

a man in the spreading of the gospel. All of

us have a role to play in this, the partnership

of the gospel. Let's move on, okay. So verse seven

it says this, so it is right that I should

as I do about all of you. So you know

he's poring on his heart. Paul is pouring on his

heart to the church. He's like, Wow, this is how

I feel about you, for you have a special place

in my heart. You share with me the special favor

of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and

confirming the truth of the good News. Wow, do you

know that, as you saw, we are saying, Christ, this

is the money that goes into the work of spreading

the Kingdom of God. Amen. So that's why we say,

you know, if you cannot go for mission strip, if

you cannot be the ones going, then you give because

when you partner that way, you are actually spreading the

gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. Verse it. God knows how

much I love you. Wow, this is Paula. Can you

just catch his heart? Right? I just want you to

catch his heart, he says. God knows how much I

love you and long for you with the tender compassion

of Christ. Jesus, I pray your love will overflow more

and more, and that you will keep on growing in

knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what

really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless

lives until the day of Christ. Written. May you always

be filled with the fruit of your salvation, the righteous

character produced in your life by Jesus Christ. For this

will bring much glory and praise to God. Amen. When

you read this part of it, what is something that

strikes you about it? Look? Look at it? What is

something that jumps at you from the way he's writing.

Remember he's from prison. Okay, he's in prison right now.

Is what do you catch from reading this portion from

verse seven all the way to verse eleven seven eleven?

A lot of love? A lot of love? Yes? What else?

What else? What else are you catching from the way

he's writing this? Too much for you? Is it to

synthesize on this Sunday morning? Do you know what just

jump out at me was the many times he used

the word you? Do you see that? Okay, let's go

through that. How many us do you do? You can

you count? From verse seven to eleven? How many us

can you count? Including yours? Mind? Has twelve? Okay? And

I like what Jess said right that. Yes, it talks

a lot about it's a lot about love. But you

know what is the greatest form of love is when

it's about you and when it's about the other person.

Love is not what I feel. Love is how I

want you to be. Can you see that? Love is

not like, oh, you know today I feel good because

you did this for me because you. Love is an

act for the other person. How I think about you,

how I want you to grow, how I'm serving you.

Can you see Paul's hat there? If you truly say

that I love someone, right, then I think we have

to measure it by saying how much I'm thinking about

the other person. It's never I'm giving you free marriage advice. Okay,

It's never about what's in it for me. It's about

what I can do for you, what I'm thinking for you,

for you, for your good. I'm always thinking about that

other person. And that is what love is. And that's why.

You know in the Bible it says for God loves

the world. Right, But in the same way God loves

the world, you think God was thinking about himself, like wow,

so that I can be great God. God doesn't need that.

When God, when the Bible says God loves the world,

he's constantly thinking for the good of you and me.

Do you know that when Jesus went to the cross

for the joy that was set before him, the joy

was all of us, each one of you sitting here

right now and for your children. That was what was

in Jesus's mind, the joy at this So maybe one

way we can think about the joy in our lives. Right,

it's not how I feel, it's not whether it's convenient

or not, but it's who am I doing this for?

Who am I doing this for? You know, you're watching

the toilet my wife because I love her. You know,

when I'm you're cooking for your kids, when you're teaching them,

you know, when you are reading Bible to them, when

you are going out to work, who are you doing

it for? Really? Right? And you know when you can

begin to shift your perspective, then when you do it

unto the Lord, then it becomes different. Your work has meaning.

Now it's not that, yeah, I'm just doing going to

do some people will sign some papers. It's never that anymore.

It's like, Wow, God, I have I have a reason.

I have a purpose for being where I am right now. Amen,

And it's it's just, you know, I'm thinking about someone else.

I'm praying that the church will grow, and I'm declaring

that excellent will grow. Amen, not just in numbers, but

in quality, quality disciples, Disciples who know what the joy

of the Lord is, Disciples who will really, you know,

wake up happy to serve anything. Lord. What is it

that you want me to do? What is the need

that you have allowed me to see? I'm just gonna

step in and I'm gonna serve you joyfully with smile

on my face, you know, with joy bubbling in my

heart and overflowing. Would you into so God like that

overflowing you know, your worship, your claps, it's like, wow, God,

you're so good. Can we come to that place that

we we know everything that we do is it's just

feel it's it's you know, it's like energy, energy that

carries you like no matter what. Haha. I can love

at the future, I can love at e invoicing, I

can love at GSD. Whatever it is doesn't matter. My

God is so great, My God is amazing. My God

can provide for me. You think this is too hard

for God never to make God really restore to us

this sense you know of excitement. Are you excited at church?

Are you excited because we are living in the last days?

Everything that you see in the Middle East? Whoa, it

gives me goose bumps, you know, because it's pointing to

the closer return of Jesus. Amen. Amen, Wow, Hey, we

were gonna have more joy in our stays. Guys, come on,

don't drag your feet, la. You know, no point dragging

your feet. Why don't you say, God, I choose joy.

I choose joy because joy is from you, Joy is

of the Holy spait. I choose Joe. No matter how

I feel, non it, I can push aside my feelings

and say, today I praise you. You know, whatever sound

that comes to your mind, I give you praise, sing, sing, sing.

That's why singing and worshiping wherever you are. You know

it builds your spirit up. Church. Don't let facts pull

you down. Amen. Whatever you hear, don't let it like

take away rob you of your joy and say God, No,

your word says there is joy in the Lord, and

that's what's gonna keep me going. Amen. Amen, Let's let's

move on. Wow. So God's word is just so encouraging

to us, right, and he wants us to know what

really matters, it says Paul was saying here in verse ten.

I want you to understand what really matters and what

really matters so that you may live pure and blameless

lives until the day of Christ. Written. Amen, let's desire that.

Let's strive. If there's a goal that you want to

have in your spiritual faith, this is it. I will

live pure and blameless life before the Lord. Amen. I

want to live a pure and blameless life before you

got hallelujah, Amen, because this will bring much glory to God. Okay.

And then he goes on to say that he's preaching

and all that. So I want to go through that,

and he says, I mean change because of Christ. Okay,

never mind, So let's move on to the next point.

And I want to say this. You know that preaching

of Christ and promoting the growth of the believers is

what gave Paul his joy. Let's read from verse twenty.

Now chapter one, still, Chapter one, Verse twenty, he says,

for I fully expect, I hope that I will never

be a shame. This is Paul saying that he will

never be a shame. And I pray that we will

never be a shame of our faith in Christ Jesus. Amen, Church.

I pray that we will never be a shame of

our faith in Christ Jesus, but that I will continue

to be boul for Christ as I have been in

the past. And I trust that my life will bring

honor to Christ, whether I live or die. And now

this is the famous verse of Paul that we always

like to quote, and this is from Philippin he says,

for to me, to live is Christ and to die

is Gain. Wow, how many of us can say that?

Right now? I always struggled with this. Sure, boy, Jesus,

you mean to live is all about you and to

die is better? How you of you will be ready

to die today? No? Right, none of us are in

that sense, you know. But I think Paul has come

to this sense of knowing God so much that he says, actually,

it's better if I go baby. So actually you're saying

you don't want to be with Jesus, right, because if

you're not ready to die, No, no, no, In fact,

it's like that, right, if I'm not ready to die.

But when we believe that as believers, when we die,

we are already with Jesus. Do you want that? I

had to answer, right, like, do I want to be

with Jesus? But I have unfinished business here? I still

have unfinished business. And actually, right, we will all have

unfinished business. And but Paul knew that his finished business

was when he's done preaching Christ. Right, So that's why

he says, That's why he can boldly say, but for

for me, living means living for Christ and dying is

even better. Wow. I know this is a hard truth,

and I pray that we will grow to meditate on

this and what it really means. Right, he says, but

if I live, I can do more fruitful work for him.

To leave means I gotta do more work. So bye bye. Friends.

If you're thinking, if I leave Miss, I want to retire,

and Paul is saying no, but if I leave, Miss,

I do more work. If I have more breath today,

if I have twenty more years, thirty more years, it

means I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So

so Paul also, like, you know, like all of us

like in verse verses a verse twenty two, he says,

so I really don't know which is better. He's saying this,

you know, in the an ealthy version. He says, so

I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between

two desires. I long to go and be with Christ,

which will be far better for me, But for your sakes,

it is better that I continue to live. See he

didn't want to continue living. Hello, If you want, you're

gonna be in prison, You're gonna be persecuted all the time.

Do you think you want to live some more? And

I and I spoke this at the previous service, right,

and I say, as you grow older, and you're like, yeah, faster.

First I want to be with Jesus, right, because your

body starts to ay, then got pain here, then here

every ala. I don't know, maybe as you grow towards

the end or later part of your life, you life.

I think being with Jesus is better because you know,

I've seen so much suffering. I've seen so much pain, right,

that it's better to be with Christ. But Paul's mindset was, yes,

it's better to be with Jesus, but for your sake.

Remember who's say for his sake. Many of us want

to be with Jesus just because of ourselves. Right, we

are saying I want to be with Jesus because I

don't want to deal with all this problem, right. I know,

being a church plan coordinator, sometimes Jason is like, aha,

I think it's better to be with Jesus. Don't have

to deal with people problem. Do you know? People problem

is one of the hardest things. It's so challenging. Lah.

But Paul's mindset was, no, I I'm gonna be here

suffering because of you. It's not about himself. He removed

himself from the equation. But he's saying this is for you,

and I pray that the Holy Spirit is the one

that will transform our mindset with this. Do you know

that it's impossible to have this mindset without the Holy

Spirit transforming, because this in a human mindset is crazy.

You see cheesy, La ball see Ella? Why would you

live for other people? You should live for yourself. Do

you know the mantra that sometimes we hear from this

world and its new age is I live for yourself, La,

Just think about yourself. It's all about you, you you

you you right. But in God it's never about us.

And so I think sometimes you have to be careful

with the way we think about things whether really really

we can say we are doing things for God, but really,

at the end of it, the motive behind it is

it for myself. I think we I begin to look

at my heart's desire and I test it always because

you know, the bubble says that the heart is deceitful,

and so it's desires and sometimes, you know, it's easy,

it's easy to go with the floor. It's like, yeah,

you know you should do days, you know, be who

you are and all that. I'm like, Okay, hang on

a moment, I think I want to be who God

wants me to be, not what I want to be

I want to be who God wants me to be.

And that's a difference. That's a big difference, because then

it will really depict how you make your decisions, how

you spend your money, how you spend your time, how

you spend your focus and your attention. It really changes.

If your prayer every day is like God, I want

to be who you want me to be. Wow, then

I think we would have a really strong army in

the Kingdom of God. Amen, ready to take on Klang

for the Lord. Amen, there's a reason why you're here.

You're here to take this city. You know, we're not

here to just play church. You are here to transform Klang,

to transform your neighborhood, to transform your neighbors, to transform

your schools, whatever it is. We are here because there

is a reason. There's a purpose for it. Amen. Amen,

let's move on. Verse twenty five, He says, knowing this,

I am convinced that I will remain alive. Okay, thank

god he was still alive, and thank God we are alive.

He says. I will remain alive so I will continue

to help all of you grow and experience the joy

of your faith. Can you see it? There's a recurring

theme here. Joy Paul is saying, Hey, do you have

joy in your faith or not? Church. If we've lost

the joy, we've lost the faith. If we have lost

our joy, we have lost the faith. Amen. Because they

come together right, joy in the Lord and he says this,

and when I come to you again, you will have

even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because

of what He has done through me. Amen. Amen, let's

move on the second part of this, you know, joy,

because whatever that we do right now, we are partnering

in the gospel of preaching Christ and we can say

that we are all growing. Amen. The longer that you

stay in church and seul together, play together, eat together,

fellowship together, partner together, you will grow in your faith. Amen.

I really believe it. And that's how God wants us

to always be in the fellowship in the coinonia of

the church. Don't ever forget that the church is what

Jesus is coming back for, you know, not individuals, the church,

because you know it says that Jesus will come back

for the Church, which is his bride and he is

the bright groom. So never, never, never, never forget that

the church is what Jesus is coming back for Amen,

and the Church is the body, not one person, but

the body of Christ. Amen. All right. Then it goes

on to say this, above or above or above all

these things that he says, remember you must live as

citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a matter worthy of

the good news about Christ. Wow. Then whether I come

and see you again or only hear about you, I

will know that you are standing together with one and

one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the

good news. Amen. Amen, you stand fast in one spirit.

Do you know? Sometimes what I hear is we fight,

but we are fighting each other. Yeah. If you've been

in church long enough you will recognize that. Yeah, we

all fight, but we are fighting each other instead of

fighting two together. There's a difference. You know. If we

are so busy fighting each other, we won't be able

to fight together for the sake of the Gospel. So

this is a warning church, This is a warning for

us that let us not get caught up in the

internal fights. And can I tell you internal fights are real.

Like any family, you will have fights. It's normal, right,

conflicts because we have all our different needs and our

wanes and our desires we're all so different, and in

families like that, we are fighting against each other. But

God Paul is just reminding us, Hey, guys, you got

why you use so much energy fighting each other? Can

you just stop for a bit? You got energy? You

want to fight other? You go and fight the giants,

la fight for the faith? Why are you fighting each other?

You use energy and you drain yourself out, but with

no fruit. Do you know that when you fight each

other there's no fruit for it. But when you fight

together to advance God's kingdom, there is great harvest. Amen.

There's treasures in heaven that you're storing. Amen. So the

next time you get into a fight, ask yourself, a

am I fighting you? Am I fighting my loved one?

For what? Then let's stop. Let's stop, let's stop. Okay,

let's let's resolve this and really fight what's really really important? Amen? Amen.

Moving on, he says, do not be intimidated in any

way by your enemies. This will be assigned to them

that they are going to be destroyed, but to you

that you are going to be saved, even by God himself.

For you have been given not only the privilege of

trusting Christ, but also in the privilege of suffering from him. Wow,

do you know that when you suffer for Christ, it's

a privilege. Many of us pray, right, God, take away

the suffering. Yes, how many of us pray that? Yeah?

I think some of it. We we We're like, take

away my suffering, take away my pain. But Paul is saying, no,

when you are in your suffering and in your pain,

just say thank you God. How to say thank you God?

How to say thank you God in my suffering, in

the midst of my pain. It's hard. It's hard. I'm

not saying it's easy. But you see, it requires a

shift of our mindset because we say, now, okay, if

I suffer, if I'm persecuted for sharing Christ, it's a privilege.

I counted a privilege to suffer for Christ. We are

in this struggle together. Now, then we move on to

the final part. You know, knowing that Jay, that you

can have joy even in the midst of your presence,

in your prison, that you are together oneness. The oneness

is the unity that Jesus always prayed for for the church.

But do you know that it has not been fulfilled yet?

The prayer that Jesus prayed, let the church be one.

We are not one yet, there's still so much inviting

even today, right, and say so, we are still waiting

for the day when we will all be gethered together

in unity. And unity is something that God is really

really after. Amen. So can we just pray God, can

you always keep us united? We always pray keep our

family united? Right? Can we also pray Lord, keep the

church united, keep us one in you? Amen? And so

this is the attitude that if you really are serious

about being more like Jesus, let's learn about the attitude

of Jesus. Let's go to chapter two. Now, chapter two,

is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ, any comfort

from His love? Are you comforted by God's love? Any

fellowship together in the spirit? And I say this fellowship

is a deeper meaning. Are your hearts tender and compassionate?

Then make me truly joyful by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other,

loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

In men, Church, if you really want to be shocked

and used by the Lord, we have to be one.

If we are all like doing our own things, then

we will not be able to fulfill the call that

God has for us. Now, this is something that I

personally meditate and memorize because I realize that I need

this in my life. Verse three, don't be selfish. Let

nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in

loneliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.

Can you do the friends? Do you do this? I

have to remind myself every day when I work with

people in church office. Okay, some of you know that

I work in the church office and I deal with Christians.

They're all Christians, and I have to practice this every

day because they are all so different. And you know

that we clash because our opinions are different, they are

different ways of doing things. It's normal. It's normal. Right.

Are you surprised that Christian's clasher? Don't be surprised. But

then I remind myself that I am in a position

of servanthood. I'm not there to push my ideas true.

I'm not there to tell this is the better way

of doing things. Of course we have discussion, but I

always employ this that I think of others better than

myself myself, because I know that if I don't do that,

it's very easy for me to get very prideful. It's

very easy for me to say I know better than you,

I have more degrees than you, I have more experience

than you. It's very easy to get into that place.

And Paul is just reminding us. But that doesn't look

like Jesus war right. Did Jesus show all his credentials, like,

look at who am I am? Son of God? Show

show his name card? Right, boom, son of God, miracle worker,

promise keeper, light in the darkness? Can I He didn't

say it's the brain of life, I am the light

of the world. He did eventually, but he didn't do

it to show off, right. He did it to teach

the truth. But many of us we were boomed our

cut right, our name cut. No, this is who I am,

whatever degrees I have, whatever experience I have, you know,

maybe even age I'm older than you. We show that.

But this is the mind of Christ. He says. Don't

be selfish, don't try to impress others, be humble, thinking

of others better than yourselves. Don't look out only for

your own interests, but take an interest in others as well. Church,

do we look out for each other? Do we take

an interest in other people around us. You know, don't

don't just quickly go away after church. Can I encourage

you with that? Get to know someone? If you call

this your church and this is your family, then stay

back mingle with some get to know someone else, be

interested in them so that you can really do life together.

And that's what fellowship is. Right. It goes on to say,

you must have the same attitude of Jesus Christ. This

is verse five, and so this is the mindset of Christ, right,

and this is a beautiful poem. I pray that you

will meditate on this because it's just it's really who

God is, right, and sometimes when you lose your joy.

Can I encourage you to meditate on this. Let's read

this together. Okay, I think we'll read the one that

is on the screen, So let's read this together. Three

two one. Let this mind be in you, which was

also in Christ. Jesus, who being in the form of God,

did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of

a bond servant and in the likeness of men. Let's

move on, and being found in the appearance as a man,

he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death on the cross. Let's move on. Therefore,

God has also has highly exalted him and given him

the name which is above every name. That the name

of Jesus, every nae should bow, of those in heaven,

and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen. We

always pray, you know, we always callte this right. Where

is it from? It's from here right from Philippians. When

Paul was writing this is like, would you have the

mindset of Christ Jesus and everything that you read here

is what everything that will tells you not to do right,

be humble, serve others, not looking to yourself, stripping yourself,

making yourself of no reputation war. How many of us

take pride in our reputation. We do right, like, yeah,

I'm not bad. You know, I've got this, I've got that.

We take pride in our reputation. But Jesus was a

man who gave up his reputation and says, I'm just

here to surf, I'm here to die for you. Wow.

I pray that God will convict us of this mindset.

Would you dare to adopt this mindset or not? Would

you dare to take up this challenge and say, God,

if I really want to see growth in you, then

I'm adopting this attitude of humility, brokenness, silence. Even do

you know that Jesus, as who was led as a

level to the slaughter, he just kept silent. Sometimes, you know,

it might do well for us to just hold on

to what we want to say, because everything you want

to say if you want to prove something like right,

you want to prove that I'm right about something, And

Jesus is like, I don't have to prove anything to you.

I'm here just to fulfill my mission, which is to

serve you, love you, dine across for you. That's it.

I don't need any validation. Sometimes we all live for validation,

you know, Like, oh, but Jesus like, I don't need

any of this. I came to fulfill my purpose what

the Father has given me. Amen, we move on. I'm

going to read from verse twelve on words. It says,

dear friends, you have always followed my instruction when I

was with you, and now that I'm away it is

even more important. Okay, So this is encouragement to us

work hard to show the results of your salvation. I know,

someone us say what I thought, we don't have to

do anything for our salvation. No, yes, you don't have

to do anything to earn your salvation, but we have

a responsibility to work it out. It's different, friends, Yeah,

you have been given the gift of salvation. Now, with

this gift, there is a responsibility, right, just like someone

give you the brand new latest iPhone or whatever. I

don't know what is it that your one. It's a

gift given to you, but you have a responsibility to

use it. Well, are you with me? And so with

our faith, we have a responsibility. We don't say oh yeah,

it's okay, you know I received the gift. I'll meet

with Jesus. That's it. In the life that you have,

this is the time where you exercise your responsibility to

work out your faith. It says, work hard to show

the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence

and fear, for God is working in you, giving you

the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

And I love this because this is so hard to do.

Verse fourteen. Do everything without complaining. Yeah, your smim all right,

where is it coming from? From me? From the word

of God. Do everything, even when you're washing the toilet.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that no one

can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God,

shining like bright lights in the world full of crooked

and perverse people. Hole firmly to the word of Life.

Then on the day of Christ's return, I will be

proud that I did not run the race in vain,

and that my work was not useless. But I will

rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it all

out like a liquid offering to God, just like your

faithful service is an offering to God. And I want

all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice,

and I will share your joy. I am glad and

rejoice with all of you. Can you see that Paul

is rejoicing all the time when he's thinking about the

Church of God. Amen, Hellelojah. And I want to end

with this. I want to end with this. So sometimes

right when we think about this, we're like, oh, but

how how do we do this? How can we really

experience the joy of the Lord, Tell me tell me

how what you know, what has helped you experience the

joy of the Lord. Let me draw from you, fellow Christians,

I am sure you have experienced the joy of the Lord.

Spending time in God presence? Yeah, that's one way. What else?

What else? What else helps you with the joy of

the Lord? Seeing God working in other people and to

be able to do that, what do you need to do?

You've got a fellowship with people, do you know the

only way you will know that God is working is

when you actually sit down with them and hear their stories.

Because faith is the one that produces faith, right when

we hear. You know that faith comes by hearing and

hearing the word of God. And if we don't hear faith,

that's how our own faith dies. Do you see that?

Like sometimes you go like I don't know why my

faith is so Downright, Then you go and grab someone

and say, tell me what God has been working in

your life. Testify to me so that I may be encouraged.

And that's why testimonies are so important. Right, even small thing, God,

I pray for packing, you know, and it was SuperJAM

there and I had to rush, and you gave me parking,

praise the lot, even in the small things, God looks

at us, right and he meets our needs. And so

to be able to encourage your own faith, then really

surround yourself with people of faith. Do you know that

the moment you surround your safe people who are faithless,

you also become faithless. It's so easier, so easy to

lose your faith like that, But try and just surround

and says like, who's the one man of faith? What? Jason?

How do you do this? Man? How do you continue

church planting week by week, year by year, even with

your children and your family and your work and so

many other things. How do you do it? Jason? Let

him share his story of faith? How do you do it? Jason?

He depends on God, and he's saying, okay, God, you

called me to this. It's not my strength, it's not

my capability, it's not my skill. But I'll just obey

and I think many times, right, it's just God give

me enough for today, right, right? Parents. It's never like, well,

you know I have it all planned. I have a

three year growth plan, you know, my strategic planning. Nothing

like that. It's like, God, give me enough for today.

So that I can go home and crash at night

and be seen and alive tomorrow. Enough for today. And

that's why the dependency on God is so important. The

moment you realize that I got it all sorted, I

don't need God anymore, is very dangerous. So I would say,

the challenges that is in your life that makes you

more and more dependent on God. Yes, it's a privilege

because you're getting closer to God, you know. And that's

why I I don't view suffering as negative, you know.

I say this is God's way of allowing us to

get closer to Him. Really really don't think of suffering.

It's got removed my pain and suffering. I say, God,

give me the strength to go through this, Give me

the eyes to see that you are with me. Show

me God that you are in this with me, so

I can depend on you and trust you day by day,

day by day. Amen. And finally, the word of encouragement

in chapter four, Chapter four, Verse four Is saysis and

I will invite Persigilian to be on stage. He says

always always. You know, this is Paul saying to us church, exclaim,

always be full of joy in the in the Lord.

I say it again, rejoice. Okay, Church, after this, are

we better rejoice? You know, really we should rejoice, says rejoice.

Let everyone see that you are considerate in all that

you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon, and that's

why he says. Yeah, don't worry about anything. Don't worry

about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need,

and thank him for all he has done so thankfulness.

Thankfulness is one of the secrets to joy. If you

can begin to be thankful thankful, then the joy will

come back. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds

anything we can understand. His peace will God your hearts

and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now,

dear brothers and sisters, one final thing or this, Paul

cannot finish that. One final thing, One final thing. Fix

your thoughts on what is true, on what's honorable and

right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things

that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into

practice all you learn and receive from me, everything you

heard from me and saw me. Then the God of

Peace will be with you. Amen a man, Church, Can

I invite you to stand? And I want to pray

for all of us. This is a prayer that was

uttered by David, you know David, after he had sinned

with Bathsheba, and the spirit of the Lord left him right.

And this is a prayer that I want to prophetically

pray over you. Exclaim and would you receive this. I'm

gonna read from Psalms fifty one. Psalms fifty one, verse

seven of words it says, purify me from my sins.

Would you lift up your hands and just receive this.

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean,

Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Oh,

give me back my joy again. You have broken me.

Now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins.

Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a

clean heart, O God, renew a loyal spirit within me.

Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take

your holy spirit from me. Lord, restore to me the

joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.

Then I will teach your ways to rebels and they

will return to you. Thank you, Lord, Thank you Lord.

Unseal my lips, Oh Lord, that my mouth way. Praise you. Helleliah.

You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.

You do not want to burn offering. The sacrifice you

desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a

broken and repentant heart. Oh God, look on favor with us.

We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you.

God bless