Confident That God Is Able

But one of the differences we see between Paul’s life and our life is that through all of his experiences, HE HAD GREAT CONFIDENCE IN GOD. We do not always have this confidence.

Honesty compels me to admit that sometimes I can’t help but wonder if God made some big mistakes.

• Sometimes from my view point, it seems He does not take advantage of the opportunities that are available to Him

• Sometimes from my view point, it seems He makes decisions that seem to be the wrong decisions

BUT GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES! We make a mistake when we think that He makes mistakes.

If God made mistakes He could not be God, He would be like us mortals. But isn’t it ironic, we who have made thousands of mistakes in our lifetime, often accuse the perfect God of heaven of making mistakes.

WHEN DO WE DO THIS?

Sometimes when God takes a loved one or a friend from among us in death.

Illus: Dr. Alvin Fleming, known as the old country preacher, told a pastor friend one day, “Brother, see that cemetery out there by our church?” He went on to say, “The other day I was counting how many of those funerals I officiated, and I counted seventy-seven.” Then he said, “Sometimes it seems to me that God made some big mistakes, because I had to take some of the best people in my congregation out there and bury them in that cemetery.” But he also said, “But I must also confess, there are some I was glad to officiate at their funeral and put them out there, and wondered why God left them here on earth as long as He did to make life rough for others.”

There are times we all feel this way. That is, we cannot help but wonder if God is not making some big mistakes sometimes when He takes the best from among us, and it seems he leaves the worst.

But we have to have confidence in God that He is perfect in all His ways, and He does not make mistakes.

Paul had that tremendous confidence in God as he faced the daily difficulties of life. Let us look at the life of Paul closely in this passage of scripture, and perhaps some of this great confidence he had in God will rub off on us.

We can see this CONFIDENCE in-

I. PAUL’S GREETING

Look at Phil. 1:1-2, “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Notice, Paul referred to himself as, “…The servant of Jesus Christ….”

One of the things we mortals enjoy doing is wearing titles that will impress others.

Illus: In the large cities, when you are called to served on jury duty you will have to show up with several hundred other jurors. On the first day they generally have all the jurors go to a large room, and the court clerk calls the roll and asks each jury member to state their NAME and their OCCUPATION.

When they do this, something astounding takes place. Almost every one of the jurors stands up and gives some fancy title when they state their occupation. Such as:

• The garbage collector no longer says he is a garbage collector. He now states that he is a SANITATION ENGINEER.

• The housewife no longer says she is a housewife. She states that she is a DOMESTIC ENGINEER.

The reason people like these titles is because we are a proud people.

Paul could have used his title of an “Apostle”. But notice, he had such CONFIDENCE in the God he served, he felt so comfortable in his skin, he did not feel a need to flaunt his Apostolic title.

He felt comfortable stating that he was a “servant” of the Lord Jesus Christ. PAUL WAS GOD’S SERVANT to GOD’S PEOPLE and he was proud to be just that!

BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT IN ORDER TO SERVE GOD, YOU HAVE TO LOVE PEOPLE?

We don’t have many servants today, because we live in an age when people love themselves instead of loving others.

Before they do anything, they ask, “WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME?” If there is nothing in it for them, they are not willing to do it.

If we are going to be good servants for the Lord, we have to LOVE PEOPLE!

• The best pastor is a pastor who loves His congregation

• The best missionary is a missionary who loves people

• The best evangelist is an evangelist who loves people

• The best Sunday School teacher is a teacher who loves people