Ep 78 – Philippians Pt 2

Okay, hi there Tom Harris with Vicki going deeper into the epistle to the Philippians. The single Mind. The submissive mind, the spiritual mind and the secure mind, we’re gonna see why the Gospel is so important. And the Apostle paul was used by God to give us this little beautiful jewel four chapters in this Epistle to the Philippians that deals with how to maintain our focus in the christian life and have the joy of God constantly bubbling up in our soul. Let’s go and check it out with me and my wife Vicki. Well, welcome back to it’s all greek to me and Vicky and I are excited about teaching the Book of Philippians. It’s the epistle to the Philippians, which is in Northern Macedonia, about three hours from Thessaloniki where I was born, uh the Apostle paul wrote this fabulous little gem of an epistle because he was focusing in on the Gospel. And he told us about having a single mind, when you focus in on the Gospel. And we’d like to just give you that chapter division breakdown. Vicky. If you could just give us the single mindedness towards the Gospel in this chapter division in chapter one, it’s full of the word Gospel, the Fellowship of the Gospel. Chapter 11 through 11. The Furtherance of the Gospel, Chapter 1, 12 to 26. And the faith of the Gospel 1, 27 through 30. What’s amazing to me is how uh six times that in this first chapter he uses the word Evangelion or Gospel? Good News. And uh it just loaded in there because I think he’s making an emphasis, you know, do you want to say anything about that? Yeah, the whole the whole purpose of this book is to get us focused on being a sharer of the Gospel, that this is God’s greatest desire for us as his Children to advance the Gospel. And this is the most important message that we have, that we have to somehow be aware of it every day, when we start, when we meet new people, when we’re going to work, whoever we’re around, that we can share the Gospel naturally through our lives, you know what God has done for us. And there are 10 pictures that I that I’ve put together uh in in in a practical way, because a lot of people think you’ve got to be a preacher, you gotta be a theologian, you got to be a teacher. No, the apostle paul miraculously takes these practical images from life and says, this is how you can actually be able to share the Gospel with people. And we’re gonna look at them right now, Vicky and I both are gonna just go right into it. And uh the first one is the fellowship of the Gospel, in view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now. Now, this is an interesting word because participation or kin Ionia, which we’re gonna see right, this second is uh the sharing of something held in common now, sometimes it talks about uh, you know, being together, but other times it talks about sharing your money or sharing your time. And uh you know, in this particular case, he’s talking about really having the focus the single mindedness and being able to share the message of the Gospel, something that each believer has in common with another believer. So even though many times it uses the word in christ, in christ in christ here now he begins to identify these images in reference to the Gospel. You take the second one, the prisoner or defense or confirmation of the bible. The gospel, excuse me. Since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. Yes. So the Apostle paul says now as a prisoner, you know, we’re gonna not only be able to be comrades in sharing the Gospel just like partners or you know, uh witnesses together in this message, but now we’re gonna be actually suffer for what we’re sharing with our words. And he uses the word defense. But I’m just making a focus here on the word, you know, the the confirmation of the Gospel and the imprisonment in the bonds that we hold and these words in greek are vez mus as you see here, go ahead babe, a band of bond chains or imprisonment. And it’s amazing that paul’s attitude was like we had shared, he had joy, he was able to have joy even in the midst of being in a prison, he was always thinking about others, not himself. And that was not a very pleasant prison. I mean, it was like they were beating him, they beat him up. They threw him in there, They were singing, remember they were that they were worthy of being beat up for the cause of the Gospel. And I’ve been to the modern day site that they claimed was that prison, but it was around there somewhere it happened and that and yet in the middle of the night here paul and Silas is singing, you know that they were worthy of being you know, beat up for the gospel of jesus christ. And then he also mentions apology from oppo from here and intelligent reasoning. So all of that in this second Peace and the second image that we included that the 3rd 1 Oh and also voted to I don’t want to forget that vevo vevo sees or confirmation ratifying of what is fully trustworthy. Uh So these are the words in the second group of pictures that we see concerning him being a prisoner, concerning him, being willing to go to prison because of his testimony and and strength of how he witnessed and shared as an apologist, the gospel of jesus christ. You take the third one, a road maker or cutter. My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel and what do we know about this, api is the word and the amazing image, It’s from Perot in front copos to cut to cut or chop down. So he’s making a pathway for us to follow his his relationship and his lifestyle. It’s not just our mouths, but we say, you know God here sees us when we’re not just going like this, he’s watching how we behave in our homes, in in relationships. We are going to be an example. Yeah. And he’s saying, you know the circumstances, although it’s not in the original circumstances there, but he’s saying that the things that had happened to him like getting beat up, going to jail, these were preparing the way to bring the Gospel to a group of people that never would have got it any other way. So here we have a phenomenal principle that look, no matter what the enemy throws at you, no matter what you’re experiencing, what the devil and the demons and your enemies are trying to do, they cannot thwart God’s purpose in your life as a believer, as a faithful surrendered vessel of God who is willing to share the gospel with people who are lost. And so the Apostle paul is taking this opportunity to use an image from the roman uh image of the army going to another place to conquer. He says there was and there actually was a group of engineers that would go in front and cut a roadway through the mountains and be able to so that the rest of the army would follow through. And that’s the image here. Prokop from Pro in front and kowtow to cut. And that’s a beautiful picture. And then the fourth one here is actually the apologist. So go ahead and read that. Also the latter do it out of love knowing that I am appointed for the Defense of the Gospel. Yeah. So there were people that whose motives were unclear. Can you imagine somebody actually getting being involved in church work or religious work or uh you know, and and they don’t really understand the Gospel. They’re not really clear and maybe they understand it, but their motives might not be pure and clean. Is that possible? And yet the Apostle paul says, yes, some people preach, you know, with the wrong motives, he says, and I don’t really care whether it’s the wrong motives or the right motives. As long as the Gospel is preached, you know, and God is gonna use even that to bring glory to his name. The latter do it. He says, out of love, knowing that I’m appointed for the Defense of the Gospel. That was an appointment for the Apostle paul. Sometimes we think we have choices like, well, I don’t want to do that. I know that might be dangerous. And yet God says, look, this is your responsibility, that when you’re in front of that kind of a crowd. So and we have some, you know, uh josh McDowell guys like ravi Zacharias, john macarthur, people who are great apologists that we have known all of our lives, wonderful bible teachers and preachers uh joe stole and warren were to be great apologist when it comes to the Word of God and teachers of the Word of God Apollo, yah, giving an answer from here literally to be able to give an intelligent reasoning for why we believe and then take this one, a citizen only conduct yourselves political right in a manner of the gospel of christ so that whether I come and see you, you know, you’re going to be faithful. Yeah that you’re going to be faithful when no one’s looking, you’re gonna be faithful when people are watching, you’re just gonna be a and what are we gonna be faithful to do? We’re going to be a faithful citizen not only in this life, but our citizenship is in heaven, we’re going to be a faithful christian with letting eternity these values impact me in time, but also letting the laws that I live in and this was a great high ranking to become a political a citizen. And back then you got freedom and a lot of things were given to you. So we have and he uses this word for us, like it’s not a political situation, but he’s saying act like you’re a citizen of heaven, but here it’s interesting, he’s talking about the citizenship on earth here only conduct yourselves polito the word, conduct in a manner worthy of the Gospel of christ. God says that my my life in this world as a citizen of new york or as a citizen of Rome, wherever you are, Thessaloniki, wherever you are as a citizen, the way you live, will it will reflect the gospel you say you believe and preach that’s what he’s saying here. Uh you know, and it’s so important that we not just say, well I’m a citizen of heaven, it doesn’t matter how I live down here. It does. And God says that we are gonna reflect on jesus christ and we’re going to be a bad or a good testimony based on how we behave with with human laws. And and he uses this because he was a roman citizen, pharisee a jew, but a roman citizen. And he was born a roman citizen. And and he uses this because they beat him up. People beat him up without a trial. Now you couldn’t do this, you could not do to a robot citizen. It was a really serious crime to do that. And so the apostle paul is using this now as one of the pictures with the Gospel saying man, I have to act like a proper citizen. It’s pretty powerful I think. And and he, you know the word polito bowman from uh to live as a citizen. Uh and then the picture that we have here that we are citizens of heaven. The practical pictures of the Gospel. The fifth one is a citizen, not only in this world but of Heaven. The sixth one is the athlete and, and all of this Vicky Is in the 1st Chapter. What a wonderful study right? Only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of christ. We just went through that conduct with one spirit. Now look at this single mindedness with one mind striving together, which means together with in athletics for the faith of the Gospel. So now he brings this picture of an athletic event, which is not a single event, like a wrestling match. It’s like, you know, having a relay team working together. It’s just a beautiful picture of how we are to work together as a body and were to be like athletes uh, for the Gospel. Another great picture. I mean every one of these are phenomenal pictures for the Gospel and uh, the words enough level from to strive with and to struggle together. The Gospel is not just for pans is for weaklings for, you know, anemic uh people, it’s, it’s for tough marines, It’s for green Berets, it’s for rangers, it’s for, it’s for the kind of people that are gonna say, I’m gonna be a seal. You know, forgot I’m gonna, I’m willing to suffer pain so that others, my, my teammates, my team, my party is going to be able to get the Gospel out to more people. A beautiful picture here in the first chapter. Now there are other images will continue on that. But anything more to say about that first chapter, Maybe there’s some words that you want to focus and emphasize in some of the verses. What do you think? Um uh huh When I was reading, I went through verse nine and it says and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and discernment and the discernment there is so he says, it’s not just perception of your senses but also have an intellectual awareness and discernment. The understanding. It’s using uh the sub to login and proverbs many times as the understanding of ethical matters and this knowledge affects our senses and emotions and gives you a Biblical discernment and right and wrong. So this is really important. God just doesn’t want us to have intellectual heady knowledge. He wants our emotions and our senses to all be connected. And so that when we have this 100% of this discernment, it’s not only with our mind, it’s with our emotions and feelings. This is biblical discernment knowing the difference between right and wrong and this is what we need. Intellectual, not only cognition but emotional discernment and the truth based on the word of that. That word is which is translated here in Philippians as discernment is biblical discernment which starts with your thinking which is focused on the Gospel, but it affects your emotions and then it comes out in your actions. That’s what Vicki is just describing. Incredible, fantastic uh, word for us to think about being single minded with the Gospel. There are three epistles that are sent to the Macedonian churches to in Thessaloniki, where I was born, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. And the third one is this little epistle, which is part of the uh prison epistles of the Apostle paul, from uh to the the Philippians in philippi, which is about three hours north by car from Thessaloniki, in Macedonia, the northern part of Greece and in my in first Thessalonians one verse five, he writes for our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Just as you know, the kind of men we proved to be among you for your sakes. Now, that’s from Thessalonians. But I want to go to um I want to go to the actual list that I gave you last week from about the Gospel and the various aspects of the Gospel. I want to take the verses and just kind of unpack them and see them because in understanding the Gospel uh where the bible speaks of the Gospel topically, all throughout the new testament. We clearly understand this little epistle to the Philippians when he uses it six times in the first chapter uh in Philippians chapter one. And so let’s look at these places where it’s found like in first the first mention of the Gospel is in Matthew Chapter four, in the new testing verse 23, Jesus was going throughout all of galilee teaching in their synagogues it says and proclaiming the gospel. Now the word proclaim mints to, to preach literally kinetics to, to boldly give it out the Gospel of the Kingdom and he was healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness amongst the people. That is the first mention in the new testament, Jesus himself was preaching the gospel. That is why his apostles went everywhere preaching the Gospel and that is why the Apostle paul as one who came afterwards after the original 12 that is uh and he went preaching the gospel as God told him to do in Matthew chapter nine verse 35 Jesus was going through all the cities and the villages teaching in their synagogue, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. So the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was confirmed by what jesus christ, the miracles that jesus christ was doing And who it was that was speaking it in Matthew chapter 24: verse 14 The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world. It says as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come. What an incredible message that we have to take to all of the nations throughout the world, in in in Mark chapter one and verse one, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus christ the Son of God. This is referred to as the Gospel of Jesus christ, The Son of God in Mark chapter one verse one in Mark chapter 1 14 and 15. Now, after john had been taken into custody, Jesus came into galilee, preaching the Gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel. So, two things here, jesus is saying about this time is referred to as the Gospel of God. He said, repent, mutano. Change your mind about the way you’ve been living. Ask God to forgive you make a turnaround, huh? Repent. Met to think through your life and change your mind about the way you’ve been living. You know, there’s so many areas of our life that we need to actually ask God to forgive us and we change our our mind. Maybe you’ve been a thief, maybe you’ve actually gotten into fights or you’re a drug addict or or you’re an alcoholic or your whatever it is that it is in your life, you’re cheating, you’re a cheater, you’re playing, you’re living in the shadows, you’re not honest with your words, you have to change the bible says meta news, your mind change your mind. This is Mark 1 14 and 15, The Gospel of the Grace of God is referred to in Acts chapter 20 and verse 24. Look what it says here, this is the way it’s set in Greece. But I do in greek. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself. I’m not gonna hold on to my life, paul said, just like jesus said, I’m not gonna hold on to my position uh as God, the Son in eternity. I’m gonna go ahead and sacrifice myself and become a man so that I may finish my course, paul is saying about himself and the Ministry which I received from the Lord jesus to do what to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the Grace of God. It’s also referred to as the Gospel of the power of God for our Gospel. Uh Paul says did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as you know, the kind of men, we prove to be among you for your sakes. What a fabulous verse of scripture to the Thessalonians. It’s also referred to as the the Power of God in romans 1 16. For I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of christ because it is the power not only to the greek, but to the jew first and also to the greek. It’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the jew first, and also to the greek. This Gospel is so incredible. It has grace, it has power, but it also has light for people who are walking in darkness. For people who are confused for people who need to know which way to go in their life. Second Corinthians 44, in whose case the God of this world, that is the devil has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they may might not see the light of the Gospel of the Glory of christ. What is that light of the Gospel? The glory, the doxa Christou of christ the fullness of christ, the weightiness of christ, Who jesus christ really is that he is God in the flesh, Who is the image of God economy to through the very uh likeness or image of God, the person of God in this world. According to 2nd 2nd Corinthians 44 Ephesians 1 13. The Gospel of Truth that refers to it in him. You also after listening to the message of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Not only is it truth, but it’s this truth that jesus christ died was buried and rose again from the dead for you and me. That saves us when we believe in having also believed that says you were sealed Raghida in him with the Holy Spirit Of Promise Ephesians 1 13. These are such magnanimous verses, huge verses and this is about the Gospel of Truth. But it’s also referred to it says because of the hope laid up for you in Heaven of which you previously heard in the Word of the Truth of the Gospel. It’s also referred to as the Gospel of Truth and Colossians, Chapter 1: verse five and then the Gospel of Peace. Having your shod, having in other words, put on your your feet, your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. It refers to it as the Gospel of Peace and you cannot have peace with anyone or even yourself unless you start with having peace with God and then you can have peace with those around you and peace with yourself. It is referred to as the Gospel of Peace and Ephesians 6 15. It’s referred to as the Gospel of Faith in Philippians 1 27. Only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of christ. So that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel to put your faith in this message, the Gospel and then you have it’s referred to as the Gospel of Hope and Peter. Not like I hope so, but something that is solid that you can stand on colossians 1 23 if indeed, you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from your Hope of the Gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation Under Heaven, and of which I paul was made a minister. And then it’s referred to as the Gospel in Divine revelation. Pro Evangelia before the scripture was written Before the Bible was even there God spoke to abraham. He spoke way before 600 years before moses that God was going to uh that God spoke to abraham and told him he was gonna send the messiah and that he was gonna come in the flesh and he was gonna come through Abraham’s seed Galatians 38. The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham saying all the nations will be blessed in you. This is found in genesis chapter 12 and verse three how God specifically spoke to Abraham that he was gonna send the messiah the Savior. It also refers to the Gospel as the Eternal Gospel in Revelation 14 6. It says I saw another angel flying in mid heaven having an eternal Gospel to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. This is the most wonderful message that there is and we need to accept this gospel even as the book of Philippians has unpacked it in the first chapter The six pictures of the Gospel and here we’ve given you this message about how valuable the Gospel is and and the bible says in him, Ephesians, I’ll repeat one of the verses in him. You also after listening to the message of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Having also believed it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise. Do you want God to come inside? If you do, you want the sense the peace of God, Do you want to know that you have been forgiven and saved and changed and transformed? Then you must, when you hear this truth that Jesus died for our sins was buried in a rose again from the dead, you must repent and you must invite God to forgive you, invite jesus to come in your life and cry out, literally say, oh father, God, thank you for loving me. And jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me and taking my sins upon your own body as a sacrifice for my sins. Please forgive me. Come into my heart and save me and change me in jesus name. I hope you contact us. You can write me an email, send it to the program. It’s all greek to me, or you can send it to www city vision dot org and you’ll be able to get ahold of me. God bless you. Until next time