Stay Focused

Who did God use to lead you to Christ?

Peter - Lost mother and Father, neighbor was a Christian lady with a life long illness. Her spirit greatly impacted Peter mother ultimately leading to her salvation, then to Peter’s salvation.

Put the Gospel First (12-14)

“what has happened to me” - simply his imprisonment or all that he had endured to this point...

2 Corinthians 11:24–27 HCSB

Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing.

2 Corinthians 11:24-

“advance” - blaze a trail, progress in wisdom, progress in maturity.

Because God is sovereign and is advancing His gospel, we should also view circumstances as opportunities to share the gospel… Nothing about your life is an accident… Think again. Where you live is no accident. See your circumstances as God-ordained opportunities.

Paul was imprisoned for the gospel and was still sharing the gospel. Look at vs. 13-14

whole imperial guard (9000 soldiers) (enemies)

everyone else (their families, Romans leaders, vendors who’d sell to the guards, even other prisoners) (strangers)

Others were preaching the gospel as well (brothers)

In all you do individually and all we do as a church, we need to follow the example of Paul, and share the gospel. Whatever we may be doing, that is simply a platform for the gospel.

Love Christ’s glory more than Your Own (15-18)

Two groups were sharing the gospel along with Paul… We see that these folks are impacting Pauls life and ministry.

envious group - Rivalry, sought to cause Him trouble… (Tearing Paul down, jealous of the respect others have… Using his imprisonment to try and discredit him)

good willed group - Love, sincerely supported Paul’s work for which he was imprisoned (Encouraging Paul, supporting him in his ministry, using Paul as an example of who they should desire to be.)

Both of these groups appear to be Christians… So which group are we in?

We need to be careful and avoid envy and jealousy in our lives and even in our church.

We need to be careful to not promote ourselves more than Christ.

We need to be aware that others will be jealous and try to tear us down.

We need to have the same attitude as Paul in vs 18 (NOT EASY)!

vs. 18

Notice the difference between Pauls attitude in verse 18 and Pauls attitude in …

Galatians 1:6–9 HCSB

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to change the good news about the Messiah. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

Whats the difference? The envious group in Philippi were preaching Christ, the ones in Galatia were not. All that mattered to Paul was that the Gospel was being preached.

What are our priorities at NHBC? Is it...

financial sustainability

maintaining what we have

evangelism

Keeping our groups the way we like them

Christ!

Staying Focused… That is: Keeping Christ first, begins in each individuals lives, it starts with your pastors and deacons and spreads through the church and ultimately our community through our engaging the lost and mobilizing to serve the community.

Peter O’Brien went on the college and seminary, earning his PhD. He moved to India where he faithfully served as a missionary until being called to Australia to teach and train pastors and write books and commentaries. All because his neighbor gracious endured her illness while staying focused on the gospel and the glory of the Christ.