8.23.26 | Sam Fischer

Sugar Plain Friends Chruch: Turn with me in your Bibles Philippians chapter one. This passage will be familiar to those of you in the Bible study. So maybe you can fact check me on some of my things. I'm gonna go ahead and give the point of the sermon right out the front so we can know what it is. Preach Christ no matter where you are. Preach Christ no matter where you are. And as we read this, you'll see very clearly how we get this truth. Philippians 1 12 through 14. Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of these chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel. Paul, as many of you know, is clear from his passage. He's in prison right now. He's in prison in Rome. And he's close enough to the palace that he's able to minister to the palace guards. He's possibly in Caesar's palace right now, in some sort of prison there, awaiting trial. You remember from Acts, this is kind of the chronological from the path of when he appealed to Caesar and Caesarea Philippi. He appealed to Caesar, and then he took the ships, the various shipwrecks, and his and now he's in Rome. And he's awaiting trial to go before Caesar, who was the emperor He's awaiting trial there. And while he's there, he's not wasting any time. He's not seeing this as, well, now I just gotta wait for the thing I was supposed to do. And he's just sitting there. He's gonna be there a long time. A prisoner typically that appealed to Caesar is going to spend months traveling to Rome, depending on how far they were. And he was in he was over in Caesarea when he started his journey. And if you know geography, which I wish you'd picture. Let's just say it's pretty much like going from New York to Florida, close to that distance. But he had to do that mostly by boat. And it was very, very slow. This was multi month journey. And he even had to wait for a few months for the weather to turn well at one point. But it took a large amount of time to get there. And then once he was there, it typically took three to five years before he could even see Caesar. Before he would even have an audience. And all of that for Caesar to make a decision within ten minutes. That was the process. That was what Paul was waiting for. But he did not abandon every his entire mission for that ten minutes. I'm being exaggerating. I don't know if it was ten minutes or not, but it was very short. You read the scripture when he actually is before Caesar, it's maybe a few verses long when he gives a speech and then Caesar delineates and just gives his verdict. And he leaves. It's a very short time, but he doesn't abandon everything to reach that spot. Along the way, he's preaching the whole time. He's ministering the whole time. As we remember in Caesarea Philippi, he spent time with Felix. He spent time with the judges that were over him that he appealed to, and he ministered to them. He spent time with the men around him, the guards that were sent to hold him. He preached to them and he had talks with them. And as he was on the boat he ministered to the prisoners, to the guards there too, so much so that he got quite a reputation as one prisoner that could be respected. Actually the the head guard on the boat that he was at the first boat. Respected him so much that he asked them to pray for them, to lead them in prayer and fast so that they could be spared. And it was through Paul's command that they didn't kill any of the prisoners. So the the head guard respected him because of what he was doing, with preaching to him and giving him truth. And as he traveled along, Paul did not end his preaching once he reached Rome. But when he was under arrest, they had to station guards with him and in the palace. He would speak to those who advis everybody to talk to those. He preached Christ no matter where he was at. did not end this. And it was also s amazing that as he says here, the whole palace guard and everyone else that I'm in change with Christ. He's preaching to those that walk beside Caesar. He's preaching to all of these Romans who are most hated by his people. Almost the whole Roman world that wasn't Roman hated Romans because of what they did. If you're not Rom I you hate because you ain't right? That's at least the mentality of many people there that's supposed to be true. But The Jews hated the Romans because they taxed them, because they set classes over them, they abused them, they put government over the priesthood and everything else. They corrupted the priesthood through the Sadducees. They the Jews hated them, and as Paul is a Jew, he didn't let that stop him, his bias, stop him from preaching. Even though he was in a situation which normally someone would be spiding those that in the prison. Be cursing them, would be praying for God to punish them. He took this time to talk to them, he took this time to preach. So much so. It doesn't say necessarily that they got were converted right there because of it. But because of his preaching he says, Now the whole pals garden to everyone that I am in chains for Christ. This kinda tells maybe that he told them his story. He told them why he's there. I mean, if he's in prison, that's a common question, what are you in for? House guards and maybe some of the other prisoners asked him, What are you in for? And he says, I'm here because I preach the name of Christ. And they're like, Who's Christ? Let me tell you. Preach Christ no matter where you're at. As we see through this passage, one of the first truth of why you should do it, things that you should consider, maybe this happens to give you an opportunity to preach. In many respects this did happen to Paul. He didn't intend to be put in prison. He did make decisions that led him to Caesar, but he didn't intend for the Romans to arrest him. He didn't ask for that. But he didn't stop them. He didn't reject it. But when something happens to us, do we see it as an opportunity to preach? Do we see this as an opportunity to share our story about Christ? Paul did, Paul saw this as an opportunity to do so. He actually made this his entire purpose. He says also in Philippians, for to me to live is Christ, and to die in his king. In chains, of course, is for Christ, because everywhere that he is alive, he is doing it for Christ. If he is alive, it is for Christ. Would may have happened to give you this opportunity. Sometimes not as you can't really have to use words. I remember the martyr, we call him a martyr, he didn't necessarily die, but he was a Jews for many, many years. Richard Wernbrand in the nineteen forties. He was a the he's the founder now of the Voice of the Martyrs Ministries, if you know that. But his story, he was a Romanian mission he was a Romanian Presbyterian pastor in Romania after World War Two, when communism had taken over throughout Romania and Christianity was outlawed because it spoke against the government. It spoke against what communism was doing, how it was abusing people. I was putting people in prison without trial and it's injustice. And of course he spoke against it. He was a little bit out there. He would go to multi church groups. The Orthodox Church had given in to communism at that time and had affirmed it and said, We will respect the church. We will respect communism. But he and his Presbyterians, many of them pulled out of the country, but he didn't. He went to the church meeting that they had with the government about making them sign oaths that said they wouldn't talk against the government. And he stood up and he said that if all of you were Christians, you would speak out against this. And that this is wrong. And of course the government put him on a watch list, looking for him to slip up for a reason to put him in prison. And eventually they manufactured something. And he was sent to prison. And not just that, he was put on trial. They drugged him before the trial. So that when he gave testimony, he would confess to it. And after that he was sent to a camp and he was kept in prison. time he was sent to cop solitary confinement. How could he preach to people? He was not allowed to talk to the guards. But what he would do to find opportunities to preach is he found that the walls he could knock on them with a rock and communicate to his neighbors. And he found a system that he would communicate with them with. Whether it was Morse code or something else, it depended on what he figured out. But he would talk to them and then when the guards had figured out they would rotate a new person in and he would do it all over again. and would talk to them and he recounted his book. But through that he did lead one person to salvation through tapping on a wall. He led them through saying that I give my life to Christ. This story reminds me so much of Paul being able to preach even locked in solitary. That he would find a way to talk about Christ no matter what. continue Richard Lombrand's story in a little bit. But you also want to look at that call in this passage we see it may allow you to reach people who never situations that happen. could bring you to people that you've never interact with if you didn't I think about one of my professors at college that would talk about how he everywhere he would go, he'd go from point A to point C, at everywhere he traveled, because he was allowing God to enter to intervene at point B. He saw traveling as a way to minister to people that he never would talk to otherwise. Everywhere he stopped, he considered God's point B, that he would talk to someone, that he would allow God, and if anything happened along the way, he knew that that was. He was kind of an eccentric person in this, in that he would praise and thanks God for breaking down on the road because he'd be able to get the talk to the tow person, person who'd bring the tow truck. But anyone who'd stop along the way, good Samaritan would stop, he could talk to them about Christ. He saw every opportunity traveling. He did travel a lot, I'll say that. He wasn't the one that just decided to go and drive four hundred miles every day. But he saw traveling as a way to meet people who never would have otherwise. He wouldn't stop to go to the bathroom, he wouldn't stop for food, wouldn't stop to minister, and then you would get He was a man who saw everything that he did as opportunities to meet people that God is leading in. And before every journey he would he actually, I don't know about this, but he said, I don't pray for traveling mercies. I don't believe in traveling mercies. I pray for God to break the car down if I need to break down. Maybe put me in an accident so I can talk to the people there. He was a little bit eccentric on this. I'll say we should pray for that. But before he would leave, he would not always pray for God to make a s easy, safe journey. He wouldn't pray for that. He would pray for God to work as his point being. Prepare him to be ready for that. We can reach people he never could have otherwise. I think about also in my own Reach people I never could have other. As many of you know I do work a second job and that helps supplement. what we need our needs and help supplement those things. But I meet Make relationships. And it is one of the most fulfilling things that I do is being able to work somewhere that's not in the church with people that may not be Christians and may have never even gone to church before. And I get to talk with them, to hear their story, to tell my story, inter interact with them over a long time because I'm working there and committed. And I do good work. I think this is why God tells us to do good work. Because our workplaces are places of worship too. And by doing good work it is a witness to those around us. It helps us to keep in good standing with others. I think my witness would be harmed if I was in bad reputation with my boss. If I was in bad reputation with my coworkers, it would be difficult to talk about. But focusing on doing good work, but also looking for opportunities to talk with people has allowed me to build relationships I never thought I could ever get. I have found that working along with people is one of the best ways to get to know them. Maybe that's just me being a man, but working along with them is one of the best ways to get to know them. As you're working on something together and prove that you can talk. Hear their story, tell your story. Through the job that I was doing I was able to talk to one woman who's is a Christian and she doesn't go to church. She goes to church anyway, I'll say that. But I was talking to her about homeliness and talking to her about these things, and she was expressing that she has trouble in her Christian world because she never knows if she's doing right. She never knows if she's good enough. able to tell her about what God means and talk to her about how you can be sanctified. I pray that God was able to minister Shorting. Table. Scriptures of what God means by be holy and what he expects of us and what he means by we are to be without sin and what it means There's opportunities through our work. I'm sure many of you work in secular environments. that just means not a change. And then if you work outside the church, what are the people that you interact with? Mainly coworkers, if you're working maybe the back of the house, mainly coworkers or your boss, you work with customers. I know it's a little bit more complicated talking to customers. section. those opportunities. I also am a big proponent of not rushing when it comes to evangelism. I know there are some teachers out there that I I've studied them and come under their teaching before that teach that every interaction should talk about Christ. I don't necessarily believe believe that Christ can be present even without saying his name in the conversation. I believe relationship over time is what builds the trust to bring up that conversation. And so make sure every interaction Building relationship. It's not a Christian mentality to burn bridges. What I mean is ending relationship. Do I want to nuance that and say that there are some But if they choose to act in a way that that forces me to do something, that's different. But don't burn bridges. I think about sometimes leaving workplaces. I've known some friends that when they leave a workplace, they just throw everything at me, like, I'm never coming back here again. And so maybe they don't do a good job for their last week. Maybe they say what they always wanted to say to their boss. Maybe they write a letter that they probably shouldn't have written, but something, but they burned that bridge. They're never getting that job again. They're never going back. Whether or not you plan to go back, I don't think it's right as a Christian to burn bridges again. leave every relationship open. I think of my my own mother. She is the most wonderful person in building relationships I've ever met. I don't know how she does it, how she can remember names and people from thirty years ago that she meets and still has relationships with and can ask favors of. I'm not even joking. Recently it was on Facebook, but someone was asking for help through my college about looking for a job opportunity in a school that my mom had sent my brother to for a year that she knew the superintendent of personally and that was still working there and was able to connect the person to the superintendent and then they now had a familiar connection. She's able to build those relationships and keep them forever. I don't know how. But she's a person that I look to about how someone that can live at peace with everyone. And even if she doesn't say Christ in every conversation that she has with these people, these relationships they build over time and they lead to something great. I don't know how she does it. Maybe you can ask her. She builds connections and she uses those connections for the work of Christ. And it becomes a testimony to other people. Preach Christ no matter where you are, because you also may encourage others who preach like you. As Paul says, Because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and bear all. We're privileged to not live in the same situation that Paul and the other disciples and believers were in, which is where if they preach too much, maybe the Romans might come and knock them down, or maybe the Jewish ruling We're not in that situation, but we definitely have some boundaries. We have to navigate. Well, we do want a balance between respecting authorities but also obeying Christ. I think I find the most real job or a place that's paid for by the government. religion or politics or anything like that. Any of the hot topics not supposed to talk about. But it's different. Because your employer and the government is both telling you that this is not a topic you can have at work, you can have it at home, you can have it in personal relationships. Like they've gone before, you don't burn bridges, you keep them over time. You're probably not going to work there forever. You can respect the workplace, what your employer expects, and you can respect the government, but you build relationships that supersede the workplace, that goes above the government. go outside of their realm of influence. I would say In my own work that I do, I build relationships and I try to invite them I invite them to another place or they invite me sometimes and I go to their place. It is there that it's a better place to talk about it. Maybe not always at work is given the opportunity to maybe you work in a school but you're not allowed to talk about religion in any specific way unless maybe someone asks you You work in a police station or a fire department or something. Yeah, but there are many places to where firefighters or paramedics are not allowed to talk about religion when someone's Wherever you're working, you have to balance between respecting the God given authority there. But I would say the better answer is not whether you do it or not, but finding a way that you can while still respecting it. Find a way around. If there's no way that's where we disobey. But if there is a way, that's the place we should go. But most importantly, why should you preach Christ no matter where you're at? Because it can change your relationship with Christ. Going back to the story about Richard Wembrand, Well, he was very strong in his preaching against the government and his he got punished for it and he was split up from his family. He didn't know what happened to his wife and his children after his wife. He received no communication after that. They didn't know what happened to him, because he was taken by the secret police. They didn't know he was taken until he was gone. But while he was there, he did have a strong relationship with the Lord, but his It was put under fire. There are many points to where he recounts times that they tried to convert him to atheism. They were trying to brainwash him, trying to make him sin so that he would give up his religion. But through that, he recounts times in solitary confinement where he would go days and days and days without talking to a single person, where he would go days without eating, and have to drink and eat a little bit of disgusted food. Then he would recount those times that he would spend all day singing. And how that God aims at his prayers. And he recounts in his book Yeah, I'm quick book, but the most powerful thing in this whole book the poison talked about how Christ came to him in a vision. And encouraged him and helped him. He's received peace in his soul. He thought he was gonna die. He thought he was gonna die right there. Christ told him that he had more work to do. He wanted, he asked to die at that point. He asked God to take it so that he could be released from it. But God gave him the strength that he needed to keep going, to restore his faith. And he recounts, he said, even says in his book that looking back now, this is maybe not theologically right, but he wrote a song that expressed his emotions that John, I wish I. song with me. But it was essentially, he said it was a love song of Christ, that he gave his heart completely to the love of Christ. He was so filled He said that it was almost like the walls fell down in that prison and light came in and I was walking there which is this powerful, wonderful place. While we may not expect to have an experience like that, I do believe that Christ does show his love to us when we choose to preach with that. When we choose to bring his name into the conversation. Have you ever felt the approval of Christ? Felt the love of Christ. That's time that I was ministering to people, I was doing a little bit of poll event evangelism, which is essentially where you just talk to people on the street. Strike up a conversation and talk to them about Christ. It's not for everyone, but some people have the personality to do it. I don't think that do that I try. But I remember walking up to this one girl, I didn't want to talk to her because she was about my age. I didn't want to talk to her at all. She was about my age and I thought she was gonna think I'm hitting on her if I go up and talk to her. And so I avoided it and then I walked away and then the Holy Spirit said, You need to talk to her. Well he didn't say anything exactly like that, but I just felt like if I didn't talk to her I'd be sinning. I just knew that I had to. So I turned back around and I'm like, this is kind of me wrong. I'm just gonna do what I need to do in need. And so I walked up and I started talking to her. I had this little pitch that I had designed, you know, for cold evangelism, which was essentially like you'll you wanna you're take a survey and I would do a survey about the Ten Commandments and I would say The Ten Commandments can you recite? And then I would say, and then I would ask them some survey questions like, Why do you think God gave these? What do you think they mean? And what I would also ask, Do you think you've broken any of these? Would you say that sin? What would happen to anyone who sinned? And essentially walk them through, like, what do you think God should do to people? And many of them did grow up in a Christian environment. down what they would say and I'd say what would be the only way to get out of it and they said, Well maybe they'd say to go out of pride and they'd say, I don't know and I would go pitch. But this one girl that I was talking to, she went through and I asked her if she has broken any of these. She said yes. And then I asked her what should happen to the person who breaks these, and they said that she'd be punished. And I said, Do you think there's any answer for those that are being punished? And she said, Yes, I need Christ. And I and then I said, Did you know that in God's word? He said that he's standing at the At the door of your heart waiting for you to answer. And if you know today that you have sinned, he's giving you the opportunity right now to answer. And then I without he said that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And if you confess with your mouth, you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. That's what he says. He gives you that promise. Now do you want to be saved today? Right there, she says, Yes, I do. And at that point I noticed that I was trying not to look at her the whole time, that I was not wanting to be there. But though the first time I was like, What did she say? And I looked at her and she's crying. Both eyes, tears all the way down her face. This is real. At that moment I realised that why God wanted And so I let her, and quite a pitiful sinner's prayer and say that, I was quite nervous. But I let her along in that, calling upon the promises of God. her email, it's a little bit nicer. And I gave her a Bible that I had with me. And I told her that she needs to tell someone about this. Call someone that she knows is Christian. Tell them about the decision she doesn't make. Call her pastor if she knows one. Call someone Try to get connected to a church or a pastor in certain way Think of how then I walked away from that moment. Walked away from it thinking God the movie was such a final one of these such I didn't want to I went up to her only out of obedience for your life. thinking how the regular diesel would use something so unworthy to do this. Assurance in love through that. It was kind of a moment where I'm like, Why would God even do this? But he was telling I had done right. He loved me. And he was thankful. Because I did what God told me to do in that moment. Now I She called anyone. That it changed my relationship. It changed it because it gave me the assurance that when I do God's will That he shows his love, and that even if I'm doing it unwillingly, God can still be pleasing. So maybe in a smaller sense much smaller sense, I felt what Richard Wernbrand felt with this level. seeing how he can work even through someone like me to kinda have that assurance that God isn't. But also the assurance that Christ is pleased. We remember go back to the main scripture, preach Christ We don't know. We pitch price because have given us the opportunity to. We can reach people we never could have before, and we can encourage others to preach like Also sometimes I believe I've gotten Has to be changed. He was changing something in my heart. Give me an assurance that I needed to preach more boldly. To give me that assurance of my calling. regardless of what it is, preach Christ anymore will want. So I encourage you. See those people, maybe your point B that God is leading. While we may not have it as severe as Richard Wernbrand, perhaps find those lanes that you've been placed in unfortunate circumstances to kind of sleep. Praise one thing. Your Holy Spirit guides us in the truth. Father, we pray that you would give us the boldness like Paul had, that we can preach to those next to us, to the fellow prisoners, to the guards over us, that we can preach straight to the government, the highest authority in our land. That we can have the boldness to find the ways in our own situations to preach to those next us. That are working with We pray not only that you can enable us to do it and see those opportunities, but Father, we pray for your love to be poured out on us to give us the assurance Jesus, we ask that we would be changed by him. That our relationship would need to grow deeper. We thank you for how you're working on Where did go from this place? They ignored a word that says to be your witnesses in all nations.