Standing Firm In The Lord (Part 1) Series

Standing Firm In The Lord

#PowerfulPassages

ALRIGHT MGCC…

How are you all doing?

Are you feeling good? (1-7 scale)

And are ready to lean into the living and active, able to equip us fully for any good work, sharper than a double edged sword, Word of God?

OKAY – let’s do this…

It’s 65 AD, and a 60 year old guy is leaning against the cold damp wall of his prison cell. His body weary and worn from all that he had endured during 30+ years of ministry for the Lord. AND - believe me when I tell you, this guy had endured much. He had…

• been in prison frequently,

• been flogged severely,

• been exposed to death again and again.

• Five times he received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

• Three times he was beaten with rods,

• once he was pelted with stones (and presumed dead)

• three times he was shipwrecked,

• He spent a night and a day in the open sea,

• He has been in danger from - rivers, bandits, fellow Jews, Gentiles;

• In danger – in the city, in the country, and in danger from false believers.

• He often went without sleep;

• He had known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food

UNDERSTAND MGCC – all of this and so much more, the Apostle Paul endured for the cause of Christ and the expansion of His church.

QUESTION – what have you endured and sacrificed? What would your list look like?

AND NOW – this Gospel warrior knows that his end is very near. UNDERSTAND – Paul knows that at any moment…

Footsteps will be heard, coming down the dark corridor,

The door to his cell will be opened, and will be led to His death, at the edge of a Roman sword.

Beheaded by the command of the cruel and brutal emperor Nero

SO – Paul pens a letter, a letter to Timothy his true son in the faith Timothy, it would be the last letter that He would ever write.

UNDERSTAND MGCC – the NT book of 2 Timothy is the final words of the apostle Paul.

It’s a powerful book, full of great teaching.

BUT LISTEN – of the 83 verses that make up this letter, there are 3 verses that through the years have both inspired and challenged me.

NOW AS I - read them, I want you try to picture Paul in that prison cell, pen and paper in hand…

AGAIN - body weary and worn after 30 years of going ‘all in’ for Christ and His church!

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. – 2 Timothy 4:6-8

I have fought the good fight,

I have finished the race,

I have kept the faith.

QUESTION… (for those in this room and those listening online).. WHEN - you get to the end of your life (and you will)

WOULD LIKE – to be able to say the very same things?

• I have fought the good fight,

• I have finished the race,

• I have kept the faith.

AND WOULD – you like to say with 100% confidence…

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day

Yeah me too.

Prayer

NOW THIS MORNING – we are kicking our ‘Summer 2021 MSG Series’ called, ‘Powerful Passages.’

AND – what that means, is that for the next couple of months we are going to be diving into what I think, are some of the most powerful passages in the Bible…

AND MGCC – the first passage that we are going to dive into is Philippians chapter 3…

IN A - conversation that I am calling,

‘Standing Firm In The Lord…’

Take a few minutes to greet those around You.

OKAY – let’s begin by doing some quick background work.

The city of Philippi was named after King Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.

It was a prosperous Roman colony, which meant that the citizens of Philippi were also citizens of Rome.

Many of the Philippians were retired military men who had been given land in the area and who in turn served as a military presence in this frontier city.

The fact that Philippi was a Roman colony may explain why there were not enough Jews there to permit the establishment of a synagogue and why Paul does not quote the OT a single in this letter.