When God Changes Your Plans (3)
When God Changes Your Plana • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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When God Changes Your Plans
When God Changes Your Plans
Good morning. I am so glad you chose to joins today.
For all watching online, I want to welcome you also and remind you to like, subscribe, and share.
I wanted to remind you if you are visiting or you have a prayer request, please fill out the connect card in the back of the seats. We would love to know how best to serve and pray for you.
Please open you bibles, tablets, phones or scrolls to Philippians 1
How many of you were ever on any kind of team?
Sports, military, anything.
Have you ever heard , “There is no I in team.”
One of my coaches loved to say that all the time.
I remember one time we were messing around and he yelled at me, Hevener, there is no I in Team.
I responded yes coach but there is a m,e
He told me to run until I threw up.
Some of you are spelling in your head right now.
I learned at an early age Sarcasm was one of my spiritual gifts.
The truth is we accomplish so much more together than we ever do alone. We win more together than alone
Yes I know there are individual sports, but there is still a Team behind you that helped you train and prepare.
This has always been drilled into me.
You don’t win battles without a team.
I remember being in the desert and some guy riding a donkey, and swinging a sword , riding towards us yelling Jihad.
6 Bradley's (which are like small tanks) turned their turrets his direction and he stopped, turned around, and rode away swinging his sword and yelling Jihad.
There are too many battles to face in life to try to do it alone on your donkey.
But it all starts with each of us as individuals and our agendas and perceptions.
Last week I told you how God will finish what He started in us and this church.
This week as we continue our journey together through Philippians, I want to talk about Going from Me to We and how we get there.
Going From Me to We
Going From Me to We
Please stand with me as we open the only words that can change everything.
18 Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Let’s pray
Going From Me to We
Going From Me to We
Last week we saw and heard the God will finish what he began in each of us and in this church.
It is surprising to me how hopeful Paul remained during his time in prison.
I mean something disrupts my day I get stressed.
Paul stayed focused on a truth that we all must grasp.
When our focus is on God, we will trust His outcome.
Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
When our focus is on God, we will trust His outcome.
Paul knew no matter what the outcome would be his deliverance.
That is the definition of hope.
Of all people, followers of Christ should be the most joyful and hopeful.
We don’t lose our joy or hope, we give it away.
“Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present.” -John Maxwell
When our focus is on God, we will trust His outcome.
We must be single minded when it comes to our faith.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
We are called to be singly focused on Christ.
Everything else is peripheral.
What our focus is, is what we live for.
For me to live is ________, and to die is _________.
Fill in the blanks -
live is Money - to die is leave it all behind
live is fame - die to be forgotten
live is power - die to lose it all
The only living hope is Christ.
When we focus on God and trust His outcome.
Our desires and agendas give way to what is best for all
22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
Our desires and agendas give way to what is best for all
Paul is basically saying, I could stick around and probably get beaten, chased out of towns, and deal with all kind of hardships, or be with Christ.
It is like me saying to you, you can either have a root canal, or a fully paid for relaxing vacation wherever you want to go.
Look what Paul chooses:
24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Our desires and agendas give way to what is best for all
Paul knew the “we” was bigger than the “me”
A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We are in it together for each other or we are not in it at all.
Me does very little but we can fight the battle.
We are in a battle and we have an enemy.
An enemy that wants to seperate us, fill us with doubt, and steal our very faith by twisting and perverting it.
How do we fight?
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
Me does very little but we can fight the battle.
The bible is filled with examples of victories, and the majority used the words we, our, us.
In all God was one one who brought victory, but He used a group of people.
What must we do to move forward - 3 final things
We must be consistent and cooperate
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
We must be consistent and cooperate
No sermon, book, conference, or concert will do much
A life lived that consistent with what Christ commands will cahnge everything.
It literally means to behave the way a citizen is to behave.
Phillipi knew this as they were mostly Roman citizens and could lose it.
Unfortuantely Americans abroad do not represent us all well.
How do you represent Christ?
THis is not our home, act like it.
We are also to cooperate with each other
27 I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
We must be consistent and cooperate
Striving together is an athletic term - picture of being on a team togehter
Around 16 times Paul uses the Greek suffix “sun-” which means with or together.
There was no doubt unity was important to Paul as well as everyone playing their part.
We all have jobs here, things only you can do
Whe we are all doing our part together Christ gets the glory and our world is changed.
Finally,
We must be confident.
28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
We must be confident.
We are going to face trials and troubles.
Jesus promised us it would happen
If we weren’t having any pushback I would be worried.
Conflict is a privilege - it means we are pushing back.
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
We must be confident.
We are not in it alone. We grow in conflict.
Closer to God, closer to each other.
We find ourselves in great company.
Going From Me to We
Going From Me to We
You can go on riding your donkey, swing your sword, but you will never win the battle.
We will always do so much more and have greater impact than me.
We have to ask what am I willing to let go or postpone so that we can go farther than we ever thought and bring Christ more glory than we thought possible.
Someone maybe here or watching that filled in those blanks to live is with everyhting but Christ.
How is that going. Hope is available today
FOr the rest of us where ar we making our lives more about me than we?
Let’s pray
