1. Get people to pray for you.
2. Realize and rely on the presence of Christ to help you.
3. Eagerly expect and hope for God to do something in your life.
4. Purpose to have Christ magnified in you.
How can we magnify Christ? Have Courage and Boldness.
This message originally delivered on March 24, 1991.
1. Get people to pray for you.
2. Realize and rely on the presence of Christ to help you.
3. Eagerly expect and hope for God to do something in your life.
4. Purpose to have Christ magnified in you.
How can we magnify Christ? Have Courage and Boldness.
This message originally delivered on March 24, 1991.
Can you imagine what it would be like to sit down across the table from the Apostle Paul? And to be able to talk to him about your troubles? Be great. If you could sit down with him and say, Paul, what should I do? I'm in trouble. I love the Lord. But I'm in trouble. And if you're in trouble, you cannot leave and I'll just preach to myself this morning. Troubles in interpersonal relationships, troubles, with your health, troubles with finances, business, pressures, decisions about this troubles in your marriage. Spiritual troubles, I know some of you is your pastor, you've told me this, you for a couple of years, you've been in a fog spiritually, you're struggling about struggles with habitual sin. All kinds of struggles, you're in trouble. And if you could sit down with somebody that had an answer, we'd be great. If we could just speak with Paul, he seemed to always have the answers. It would be great to be able to sit down and say, Paul, could you tell me what to do? And you know, something. Paul's middle name was trouble. He was always in trouble. You consider the life of the apostle Paul, there was troubles upon troubles, we could take the list of all of our troubles and stack them up against his and I think his would weigh in the balance is a little heavier than ours. You can read about in the scriptures, constantly, he was in trouble. For instance, and this little passage we're studying here in Philippians. He was in trouble by one thing. He was in chains. He was tied up in chains and in prison when he wrote this letter. Another way in which he was in trouble was he was in trouble by the very people in the church that he was trying to further the cause of Christ. They were saying terrible things about him. They were saying, oh, Paul, you're crazy. They were saying, Paul's no good look at God's judging Paul. That's why he's in prison. And they were pouring out abuse on him. You can read about that. And verses 15 through 18, you probably already did this morning. Also had trouble with his own flesh. I love the apostle Paul, because he struggles with his own flesh. And he says, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? He knew it wasn't you think you're the only one struggling with some kind of sin problem. Paul knew it too. He had that trouble. And then troubles from the devil, you can read the apostles and you hardly find an epistle without mentioning the devil. And he says things like this, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers. He says, we tried to come to you Thessalonians. But the devil stopped us. Satan hinders actually mean stopped us there in the Greek language. And yet, I want you to notice something that is this. And basically, you can just leave those middle lights off the rest of the service, be very easy to work on what to do when you're in trouble. First thing I want you to notice this, you could sit down and say, Paul, what should I do? And here's the second thing I want you to see. Paul had amazing confidence in the midst of trouble. He says in verse 19, liquidy says, I know that through your prayers, and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance is a Greek word, which is not the normal word conozco. It's the word this I know clearly in my mind, that what has happened, will turn out in my deliverance. For my best, we'll talk more about that in a second, all of my trouble will result in something positive. Here he is in prison. And I want to just say at the beginning this, if we come to the Bible this morning, we open it up and we consider what God wants us to do from the scriptures. My friends, you've got to understand the importance of using your mind. You have got to think you got to think clearly I was I was meditating on this point. I was so thankful for a professor back at Cedarville college that he did one thing for me that no other person ever did. God used him to teach me to think and to cause me to realize how important it is that I think biblically, in my mind, and that's the idea of Oita hear the word for No, I know as I think about my troubles, there is something I know for sure. The reason he had confidence is because he knew how to think Did you ever think through it from the very beginning of the Christian life, that your mind is extremely important, for instance, repentance. That's how you become a Christian. You repent. Now that's almost not even heard of today. But that is how you become a Christian. You come to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You know what repentance means to change your mind. You come to the place and you go, Oh, my life the way I'm going, This is wrong. I can't live this way. This is unworthy of what God isn't working in my life and you turn and you make a judgment upon that and you change your mind and say, I'm going to go this way. That's repentance. How about this in sanctification now that you become a Christian by repentance in sanctification, how are you supposed to grow by the renewing of your mind. So the repentance of your mind and the renewing of your mind is what keeps you growing as a Christian. How about this, the Bible clearly teaches that when you face temptation, the number one opportunity you have to defeat temptation is by the use of your mind. People struggling as hell, I don't know how it happened to just did I know how it happened, because I'm a Senator too. And that is this, you start thinking about it, and you keep thinking about it, and you let it run in your mind until it actually has grabbed you like a rope around the neck and has got a hold of you. The initial phases is our thinking process. We're supposed to deal with our sin at the very initial way at the very beginning, knock it out in our thoughts. So Paul says, I know he has tremendous confidence. I absolutely know that notice what what he says that through your prayers and the help given by the Holy Spirit, or the spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. But some of your Bible say salvation International says deliverance, is actually the word translated salvation. And there are two main schools of thought, here's what Paul's talking about. Number one, he says, my deliverance is referring to the fact that he's going to get out of prison. And the second school thought is this, my own spiritual good will be further. In other words, even though other Christians are being critical of me and saying things that God has judged me and the gods doesn't want to use me and that I'm no good and there was jealousy there. I know that God is sovereign. And even in prison, he can further his work in the we've already seen that Paul is concerned that the work of Christ is furthered in verses 15 through 18. He says, Now God will work further his cause in me. Now, one of the fears I had before I started giving you the points of what to do when you're in real trouble is this. I have a tremendous fear. And I will tell you, one of the reasons I lost my voice last fall was because there is such a burden in my heart that people no longer think that the Bible really has the answers that somehow the answers are out there. But it's really a Bible messages for simpletons. I want you to know, something friends, I've done in the past by getting so emotional, that of just about one of my voice out. And one thing that God's trying to teach me is you still aren't getting it. So whether I get real emotional, or whether I just teach you calmly The point is, the answer is here and you have got to understand it. The answer is in God's word. Give me let me ask you this. Are you in trouble, then here's what Paul would tell you to do. He would tell you to do what he himself believed in practice when he was in trouble. That's verses 19 and 20. And by the way, I'm pretty excited. This has worked out perfect. You know what next week is is Easter Sunday. And it's all going to be on the resurrection right here in Philippians. We'll just continue on. But I'm gonna tell you something. Vince Lombardi, the only football coach in the history of the National Football League to win three straight world titles, came into the locker room one day after his team was defeated by another team with a losing record. And they had practice the very next morning instead of rest, like they normally give them. And he walked in, and all the guys were sitting there and he said this, fellas, we're gonna get back to the basics. This is a football. That's what he said, these guys were 1520 years playing football, they knew plays complicated plays like better than they did their own kids names. And he goes back, this is a football. Now I'm gonna tell you something, his belief. And the reason they won three straight titles, and he's a legend. And the Lombardi Trophy is what they give to the Super Bowl winner every year is this. He believed a set of fancy frilly plays that if you block properly, and if you tackle properly, and if you run properly, and pass properly, that you're going to win. And they would even everyone would know the other team would know that here comes an end run to the left side. And yet, they would still gain seven yards on the play. Because if everyone did their job, you couldn't stop them. And the point is, it's getting to the basics now. That's good. I'm gonna tell you, what I'm gonna say is not something deep. But here you go. Let's get back to the basics. In other words, instead of here's a football, here's a Bible. All right. And let's get back to the basics of what happens when you are really in trouble. Point number one I want you to see when you're in real trouble is this. Get people to pray for you? Look at verse 19. What it says, Well, you're in severe trouble. Paul said this. He's in prison. He says, I know that through your prayers. Through your prayers, James 513. Are you ready for this? According to the Scriptures directly, are you in trouble? You should pray. James 513 pray through your prayers the word there for prayers the word for petition, primarily a wanting a need and asking an entreaty. A supplication means this and intense intercession. Get this everybody the greatest theologian that ever lived? The apostle Paul, you realize I'm excluding Christ from that list, in the sense that he he is theology Paul believed with all his heart that the grandness of all the powers we have for helping each other. Is that a prayer? Prayer? Look, we need the Romans in the 15th chapter, just go back a couple of books and look with me to the 15th chapter of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 15. Now, I have the feeling and maybe I'm being too judgmental this morning. But I have the feeling that as soon as I started to talk about this, you're gonna go oh, man, I thought we were really going to get some help for trouble and you're telling us to pray? I need it pray, really honest to goodness pray, have you ever tried it? 1530 look at Paul says in Romans, I urge you brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me, verse 31, Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there so that by God's will, I may come to you, with joy together with you and be refreshed. If you go to Colossians chapter four and verse three, don't turn there. I'll just quote it to you. He says this, pray for us to that God may open the door for our message. If you go to Philemon and verse 22. He says this, prepare a guest room for me because I hope to be restored to you an answer to your prayers. An amazing story in Acts chapter 12. Peter was in prison, just like Paul was in prison. Peter was in severe trouble about to get killed. And it says this in verse five of the 12 Chapter, the Saints were earnestly praying for him. All of a sudden in the sleep, an angel came delivered him out of the center of the cell. And it was miraculous Peter knocks on the door, you remember, I think it was Rhoda opens the door. And she says it's Peter. And they're all gone and can't be Peter. We're praying for him. You know, he's deliverance. And it was Peter, and he was delivered. People often today, with the emphasis on the sovereignty of God, get a little bit mixed up by saying somehow that we don't need to pray, because God will do all that he's supposed to do anyway. Well, I just want you to know that Mordecai, in the book of Esther did not believe that. He understood, for instance, that even though he knew God would deliver his people when he realized that Esther was being elevated to the position of Queen that that might be the means that God was going to employ. And so when it comes to prayer, God is even though I believe me, I don't think I've got this down. But I will tell you this in God's sovereignty, he's absolutely sovereign. He had in that sovereign, he is desirous for us to pray, who clear who wrote the ninth chapter of Romans? Well, the Holy Spirit did, but who through through Paul, clearly teaching that no one can be saved apart from first the work of God in their heart. But I want you to know also is this is the same Paul that keeps saying, pray that the message would go forth clearly and with power, please pray. And he asked these people for prayer, that God would richly help him and would it would lead to his deliverance. While I was on this point, my brother walked into my office as I was writing this point on on Friday, and he put this little thing on but it didn't say anything. He just walked in, dropped it on my desk and walked out. And I looked, and I thought, I'll cut that out and put it right here in my sermon, because this is what it says. Many of us lose confidence in prayer, because we do not realize the answer. We ask for strength, and God gives us difficulties which make us strong, we pray for wisdom, and God sends us problems, the solution for which develops wisdom. We plead for prosperity, and God gives us a brain in the brawn to work. We plead for courage and God gives us dangers to overcome we ask for favors and God gives us opportunities. To grow great treasure is often lost simply by getting people to pray, you know what the Apostle would say? You come to him and you go, Paul, I've got some problems. I love God, I want to obey Him, but me and I've got some troubles. I've got troubles with my family. I've got troubles financially, I've got troubles with this habitual sin, what should I do? The first thing you would say is this, Hey, why don't you do what I do? I get as many people to pray as I possibly can. Secondly, steal from verse 19. Realize and rely on the presence of Christ when He says in verse 19, back in Philippians chapter one now, he says this, I know that through your prayers and get this and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and here we go, you see, this is the balance. Notice the next word there's one key word between verses one and two. Everybody look up here see what it is. It's have balance. Balance between what what am I talking about? Balance between point one and point two? What is this? You need to get people to pray for you and you need yourself to pray if you are in trouble, pray James 513 But at the same time, you need to understand that you can always count upon the fact that God's presence with you and He will help you. You never have to worry, he will help you. The word here for help given or supply given us some of your Bible say is very interesting word it means this, it's it's epi Choros Hegel mind means this to furnish supplies for a musical chorus. Now, you know, there is, here's another word involved when he says this, He will help you the Spirit of Christ will help your supply your needs. It's this. In those days, when there was a big festival, there would be a rich person that would come along and would say, hey, look, we need some dancing and some music, we need to have this to be a real great party here. I'll tell you what, I'll pay for the singers and the dancers. And they would bring in singers and dancers. And it would always be the idea that man they are good, we have generously been provided by so and so. And the point here is this, you will generously be helped by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He will give you just what you need in medical terms. By the way, the word also evolved. It's interesting to see and etymology The development of words, this word also came down the line, medically speaking, referring to the joints and the ligaments with joint which join the two bones together. I was studying this word Friday, during the lunch hour, I ran down to see Jana dove into surgery on her hip. And in the end, I told her about this. I said the very word joints and ligaments that you're talking about is the word for the fact that the help of the Holy Spirit, just as your joint helps you be able to walk and gives you strength. So God's Holy Spirit has promised that he will be there with you, to help you. The praise of God's people, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Listen, the Spirit of Jesus Christ is just another reference to the resurrected, excuse me to the Holy Spirit. Do you understand? I think it was Tony The prayed this morning, that or the Muse special music, who I guess is what it was. We have a Savior that is alive, that his body died, he was buried for three days, he rose again after the third day, after 40 days on earth and a resurrected body, he ascended back to heaven. And though while in heaven, he promised before he left before he died, that he would send the Comforter, the counselor, he would come and be with you. He would help you he would strengthen you he would guide you. We Paul tells us in the interpretation of what Christ said that we need to learn to walk in the Spirit. We need to learn to fellowship with the Spirit, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What is this? The point is realize that God is there to help us I believe with all my heart that between these two points right here is a balance that most Christians entire life go back and forth missing. For instance, I have been so sovereign before in my beliefs and been so strong in my understanding of sovereignty, that I didn't really think there was a need to pray, which is just sheer disobedience to the Scriptures. And there's all those also people and I haven't quite gotten to this point at times, but there are people that say, oh, no, it's all the Holy Spirit, let go and let God you don't have to do anything, God will solve all of your problems. The point is, there's that beautiful blend of a balance of both. And when you are in trouble, you need to pray. Or when you're in trouble, you also need to understand something that is you need to realize that God is there to help you listen, as I wrote this, it strengthened me so much. First off, did you ever consider the message of the New Testament concerning the health of the presence of Christ? Number one, he is alive. He indwells the believer, he is in you, the Scripture says, you also realize he said this, I am with you always. Always he's with you. What a promise. The Spirit of Christ is always with you. How about this, I will never leave you or forsake you. That is even put a smile on your face. We are being joyful. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Think about this. The first member of our church ever to die last night at six o'clock went to be with the Lord. And I'm gonna tell you as he was laying there in that body, the Lord was with him. And the second his spirit left that body he all of a sudden could see the Lord and he was with the Lord. And he's now in a whole other life and his one man said this morning boy, what a sermon he could preach if he can come back just for a few minutes in the service this morning. He what? Because he's with us. Philippians in the fourth chapter, look what he says in the fourth chapter. He says verse four, rejoice the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your verse five let your gentleness be evident to all the Lord is near. Don't be anxious about anything the Lord's near. Pray to him. Talk to him rejoice in him. Hey, Paul is in prison and he's saying this. It's not just getting by. I'm rejoicing. I'm thrilled. My problems coming. I'm gonna tell you something. There's a God who is near there's a God who loves me. And so Nope, we need to realize the trust in Him. The indwelling Christ, remember this, you've all seen the I don't usually go for those things that you hang on your walls, but you've all seen those things that you hang on the walls but footprints. And you see one set, you see two sets of footprints and then all sudden one set of footprints and there's a poem that goes footprints, you know, I was walking in the store. That's, that's right here. This is this is the point. This is footprints. You know, the home goes, home goes, Lord, right, I started noticing as I was watching the footprints in my life, all of a sudden, you were with me until we got to the real difficult times and the real difficult times. I turn around. I said, hey, thanks a lot, man. And the story is days where there's one set of footprints. And then there's the poem goes, this is my paraphrase of the poem, by the way, as much as the poem goes, what does he say? He says, The Lord says, hey, that's because I was carrying you. Your dummy they didn't say that. That's again, my translation I was carrying you. You notice the footprints are a little deeper there. Because I was carrying you the strength of living in communion with Him. Every time I talked about being burned out every time I felt feel sorry for myself, we need to go back and drink rivers of living water is the presence of the living Christ in us all what should I do? Pray? Believe me. God is with you. Don't you think God's love you? You think I don't feel God's love me here? I'm in prison. Paul would say God hasn't left you. Yeah, I know. You're struggling. I know. It seems dark. But he's never will leave you He's faithful. He is doggedly faithful to his covenant. He's, he's with you. Hi. I'm so thankful for that friends, aren't you? He doesn't leave us in trouble. He's carrying us in trouble. Thirdly, Paul, what should I do? Well, we tell you something else. Have expected hope we could verse 20. He says this. Back in Philippians. One, he says I eagerly expect and hope. Now this is gonna make me sound like a real genius. Greek wise. There's the rule called the Granville sharp rule. Everyone say amen. When I say that, amen. Amen. Amen. Y'all know about that rule. The Granville sharp rule just says if there's one article, and then the two words connected with the word Chi in between, that those two words refer to the same thing, okay? That's what's being said here at verse 20. I eagerly expect and hope in other words that goes together, eagerly expecting and hoping now, get this because he prayed into why in trouble and because you realize the presence of Christ. Here's what I want you to see friends, it's not that you just get by your troubles. There is an expected hope, without the resurrected Lord, without the living Word of God at work in your life, there is no hope. And you might as well look at your troubles with just dismissiveness and hatred and curse them. Because, hey, you're just out there trying to survive. And if you're uncomfortable, then you have to fight face it. But here is the attitude of a believer and Paul would say, look, have expected no, because here's what Paul would tell you. Listen, are you in trouble? be praying, are you in trouble? Remember the presence of Christ. But if you're in trouble, eagerly expect something, hoping something what? God will never waste your troubles. There is a living God, who every trouble that brings into your life, every sorrow that comes your way, every nitty gritty little detail of disappointment that enters your life, every ounce of pressure that's upon your back right now. Is there because a God who loves you wants to do something in your life and Paul is sitting there in prison and just imagine Paul in prison chained up these guys sitting there. And then he's getting all the news reports around Rome, that the other Christian preachers are saying what a loser he is and look at God's not using him and they're heaping abuse on the preaching Christ trying to hurt him with that purpose. You know what Paul said? You think Paul went there is a man I love those guys know that heard him. He was just like you and me a man of like passions, but as he was there, and as those pressures came into his life, you know what he said? I cannot wait to see what God's gonna do. Work and expected hope. I hope I don't worry. I have to just work like a dog to understand the Greek language Believe me, I am not a great Greek scholar. But I can tell you that this word brought a lot of joy to my heart. Let me tell you to you, it's three different words. It's from the word from a Paul Cara, the word head and the word Dokey on which is to watch and you know what it means. It means to do this. It means to crane, the neck to turn the neck and to stretch and to look with expectancy. It gives you an illustration. You remember the 500 and that parade lap and you're standing there and you're looking at the I said, right, the main straightaway one year when it was on a Saturday was another Sunday. Anyway, I sat there You know what I did, I sat there like this, everyone's watching you watch the cars go run for less time and all of a sudden, you get ready, here's the great lap that the car is gonna be pulling in and all the glamour, everyone's standing on the feet, and you got your head turn, and you're looking as far as you can't turn to pick up the first sign of it with expectancy, it means this, you're in trouble and you're looking and all of a sudden, you see the figure of a familiar friend coming to help you. And the idea is to stretch to crane, the neck to look with expectancy, strained expectancy, as if looking for someone who's going to come and help you to watch to look out eagerly. He's He's eagerly expecting and hoping. I always use the same illustration. But I can remember standing at the line in college basketball with the game on the line and having the ball in my hands and realizing I really needed to make these shots and praying and everything you know how you do that is I always like that, especially to Christian schools pray you got the one group of cheerleaders praying for victory, and the other troopers really is praying for victory. You always wonder what God's doing up there? Oh, no, what should I do? You know, I'm just getting to your standard line. And when you say this, I hope, I hope it means this, I hope I'm going to make it and I shot 78% from the line, which is just maybe just barely above average. But you know what that is? That's hope, 22% of the time, it's 70. But that's not what hope means to the Greek mind, to the Greek mind, what talks about the hope of eternal life, it doesn't mean hope, like I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope it means this absolute confident expectation. So with a strange look on his neck is what God's gonna do. In other words, as these troubles come, here's what you should do. Start working to see what God's gonna do in your life. And hope, realize this confidently hope that he's not gonna waste your troubles. Those troubles are for a purpose. You see, when you understand this, you can count it all joy, when you fall into various trials. Because God will not wasted, don't just get by your troubles get big get by with eagerness. Now, this next point, I will tell you is important. Does this have a proper fear of failure, but I want you to notice what I came back and did, I came back and wrote in here, which you probably can't see if you're back there very far, have a proper fear, a proper lack of fear of failure. And actually, I will just tell you this. Up until Saturday morning, as I worked through this text and worked on the Greek, I thought it was this attitude of not being ashamed. See, when he says nothing that will be ashamed. I thought it had to do with Paul saying, Oh, I'm a little scared, I might fail. And I thought that's pretty good. That's sort of the balance between loving God and the fear of God and that type of balance. But I totally missed the point, I will tell you, I just figured it out Saturday morning. The point is not that he thought he was going to fail. But the point is this, he had such an expected hope. He was so confident that God would not waste his failures, that he had the proper lack of fear of failure. And that as he said, this, I know not one sorrow will be wasted. I know that this will not disappoint me, the word ashamed, actually is the word, to be disappointed, to be confounded, to be confused, to be having a feeling of shame. But in regards to Paul being in prison, it had nothing to do with him saying, oh, you know, I hope I don't fail. It has to do with this. I am so confident that God has got me here for a purpose, and that God is working in me and through me and using me. I am so confident that God loves me. Yes, me, the chief of sinners, as Paul would say, that I can tell you I have the proper lack of feelings. That fear of failure it has to do just ties right in with this expected hope. It will not be that God's going to waste these no way this trouble will be wasted. The fourth the message of Christ will be further and God is working in ministry in and through me. The last thing Paul might tell you to do, then is this purpose to have Christ magnified in you. Liquid, he says in verse 20, I eagerly expect and I hope that I will, in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. Paul, I'm in trouble. What should I do? Have you prayed and you got to others to pray? Yeah. Okay. Do you realize that the presence of Christ is there to help you and He will never let you go beyond. He may get you to the place where you really need to see how much you need him because he's never going to let you go. He's always going to help you. Yeah, okay. Okay. Do you have an expected hope? Do you realize that there is no way you're going to be disappointed? Do you have a proper lack of fear of failure, that no matter what your troubles aren't, you will never lose? Because God is the one that's going to bring a victory for you. Yeah, you may look like to the world you're losing. It did, didn't it? Then the world think Paul was a loser? Didn't even the immature Christians of that day think that Paul was a loser? They did. But Paul said I don't care what anyone says or what anyone thinks. But I want you to know God's gonna do this. I have a hope that I will not fail. And then there is one goal of policy this and make sure this is your goal. Are you Trouble. Are you having troubles? They make sure this magnify Christ in your body magnify Christ. The word magnify comes from the word mega, you get mega trends. It's the idea of great. I believe it was Warren, where's the who said this? The way a Christian magnifies Christ guess how he does it? The Christian is like a microscope. Christ in the eyes of the world is very small. But the microscope, you look through it and he becomes large. And as people see us, a Christ that is small and insignificant, it doesn't really matter suddenly becomes important. He also said a Christian is like a telescope. you magnify Christ that way. You Christ seems far away. God seems uninvolved, you know from a distance. But instead of being far away, the truth is a Christian who magnifies Christ brings that which is far very near, just like says the Lord is near the Lord is close. Even Christians day in trouble, think of God being far and uncaring. But the Christian who is growing says no, God is involved in every detail of my life. I know this is important. And so we magnify Him. And it's so refreshing to see that his emphasis was not on the comfort level that he was in, but on the magnification of Christ. He would say to you, Hey, don't try to get out of this. Because what's one of the things we do when we're in trouble? Get out there. I want to shake this trouble off me. I want to get every little detail of it off me. I want to feel good. No, no, don't make that your goal. Make your goal, the magnification of Jesus Christ. Make your goal the fact that this now people can see if I'm truly sincere and my Christian walk up. If you win the lottery, you're going to praise God, certainly. I'm not playing I hope you aren't. But if you do, aren't you going to be happy? Let's say so let's say let's say someone gives you a ticket. And you win. And you even said, no, no, I don't want to I don't want to go no, no, no, they force them. They stick it in your pocket. And then all sudden you realize you pull the numbers I just want$50 million, you raise the Lord, I'm happy. Who wouldn't do that the most atheistic pagan can say Praise the Lord, then. But when you're in trouble, and you say I want to magnify Christ, what Christ be seen in me. I don't want to exalt people. But you know, we've got some people like that in our church that are in trouble and they magnify Christ. You know, that. Talk about people like this, that you see them. I was noticing Jana, you know, her fingers or or, you know, swollen and big and she's having knee surgeries and magic joints being replaced. And yet you talk to her and spend time talking with her Friday and there is a joy in her heart and a hunger for God. And her prayer is that the people of the hospital would think highly of her and that you'd be a good testimony during this time. What is that? That's magnifying Christ. That's what it is. It's saying, I want now in the midst of my trouble to magnify Christ. But just so you don't aren't left today, with some type of nebulous feeling about how you can magnify Christ. Let me just ask you according to this passage, how can Christ be magnified? In other words, I say Let's magnify Christ. Okay, Let's magnify Christ. Well, how can you? Well, I close with this, then listen. You can magnify Christ by boldness. It's translated courage, sufficient courage in verse 20, that I will no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage, the actual word there is boldness. And it refers to total freedom of speech before God friends and foes. Remember, God has not given us the spirit of fear. And one way that Paul magnified Christ was by being bold. He said, Are you in trouble? Hey, remember, if you're got this expectancy, that God's gonna do something and you're creating the neck and you're looking with hope, and you also want to tell people hey, I believe God's gonna do the things I see his hand at work. He was bold in his witness. Something else is this consistency he says as liquid it says in verse 20, I eagerly expected hope that I will no way be ashamed will have sufficient courage so that now as always, and that the very interesting phrase there now as in other words, now in trouble as are always desire, I want to magnify Christ consistent. What do you like best about the mailman? That he's consistent. What do you like best about The Paperboy? That he's consistent. And one thing is this consistency, we want to not have ups and downs, which we all have, but the goal is to be consistent. Notice something else he says. He says, by the Holy Spirit, you magnify Christ by the Holy Spirit. And notice it's I've never seen this before. I've never seen that every single commentary that I read made this point i It must be important. So I'm gonna tell to you. It says this. The Christ will be magnified I in my body, he does not say I will magnify Christ, but he says in the passive, Christ will be magnified. And the point is, it's gonna have to be by the Holy Spirit, Paul again realized his frailty that the Holy Spirit was going to be the one that was gonna have to magnify Christ through him. And by the way, if you study the teachings of Jesus in the fourth, chapter, John, what's the goal of the Holy Spirit to magnify Christ. And then notice this in your body. And notice this, whether by life and by death, in your body, now I find that to be interesting. The observable feature of human existence is your body, what you do what you say, there can be no glorification of God and your spirit without your body being involved. And you know, that we sort of take it in our desires are a little bit of Gnosticism, that somehow the body is bad. No, the body is, is is, is very important. Why do you think that there's such an emphasis on the resurrection because the body is very important. Listen to some verses concerning the Bible quickly. Second Corinthians 14, we always carry around in our body, the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be revealed in our body. First Corinthians 620, to actually 15 through 20, your bodies are members of Christ, your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore glorify God in your body. If you sin, sexually, in your body, you're actually sending in a deeper way than normal because you're sinning against your innermost being. You see, there wasn't a thought, in Paul's mind that the body was somehow separate that there was this, you know, you're three or four different people. What you do, the real person is you in your body, not something external demand that is not the body, but the soma is what man is what you do in your body. So the Scripture is going to say, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Romans 12 wanted to present your body as a living sacrifice. First Corinthians 927, I pull my body and bring it into subjection. That's why preach to others, I myself would be disqualified. Through your body alone, others will see how you have peace and power in your master living or dying through the words of your lips and looks of your face. Christ will be seen in your body and whether by life or death, that is so interesting. You know, how he died, he wanted to make up Christ if they were going to kill him. He wanted it to be, they knew he was there for cause the cause of Christ he was there in chains. They want Him to, he wants to die. He wants to live whatever in the passage. We'll pick up on it next week, whatever. I want Christ to be magnified my body. No, we've talked about trouble. We tell you this include conclusion. The greatest trouble of all is to mishandled trouble. Know that people who quit people who become bitter people who become hateful people who live out a life of self pity. I've sat across the desk and they say who works for others it just doesn't work for me. And I'll even be joyful. It's so happy in life inside obviously I gotta tell you about an answer to prayer. I never get those I've actually had people tell me that coveting lasting you know what all those are ways you mishandled trouble some of these statements could come to you this week. How are you going to handle them? Dr. Brown would like to discuss your X rays X rays with you right away. class for your students here today. Get out a clean piece of paper it's time for a test a pop test pop quiz. You're in trouble please default Patricof as best as you gotta go get my parents to start praying we've been on the wrong road for an hour but better start looking at the map honey the alarm didn't go off. It's almost noon Hello, I'm calling from the bank regarding your checking account. Honey, the doctor heard three heartbeats today this is all for officer Franklin. We have your son down at the station he's under arrest. The carburetor isn't the problem ma'am. It's it's your entire engine. Sweetie that wasn't leftover steel was Alpo Did you know that the bathroom scales are 12 pounds like listen when you have trouble of any sort that comes into your life, get others to pray. Rejoice that God will not leave you but we'll help you through it. expect and hope that God's going to do something in your life through it and don't have a defeatist attitude that Oh, poor me realize that you will not fail as a promise you are I hate those kinds of sermons. You're a victor, you're a winner. I hate those but the truth is you are. Do all that you can to magnify Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, would you help us to learn how to handle trouble. It is so easy to talk about it here on Sunday morning. But help us use our minds to practice what we know is true. To learn what it means to magnify Christ in our body, teach his father the importance of prayer dependency on the Holy Spirit and in the wonderful truth that you are sovereign and so we can expect and hope that will not fail us but you will always use our purpose. Thank you this this gives such a clear perspective on life so much hope. We thank you for this Jesus name. Amen.