September 6

Kids Ministry in September

The health unit is asking us to not hold a separate kids ministry program. But we’re committed to still ministering to children really well.

Two changes - one, messages will be adapted a bit and two, we will be doing a kids ministry video chat. We’re still nailing down the exact date and time for that video chat, stay tuned on facebook.

Plus for any parents who are bringing their kids to service with us, we want to provide you with a little ‘Worship Kit’ package to help your kid learn more and remember more from the services. We’ll put some materials and resources to help your child take notes or creatively process what they’re hearing, along with a little fidget toy to help with the wiggles, and they get a cute little bag to also bring along anything else you need to bring

If you want to sign your kids up for either the worship kits or the kids ministry video chat, visit parklandchurch.ca/kidsmin

Prayer Meeting

We are going to be moving the prayer meeting BACK into the church. It will be wednesdays at 9am as always. If you aren’t comfortable coming back into the building for prayer, we will still be doing it through video chat as well.

If you are coming, masks are mandatory throughout the time we’re present.

KID START:

I want to start off with a question for you to think about. What are some things you are good at? Let’s hear the answers.

There are some things I am good at. I am good at playing guitar. I am good with computers. I am good at telling jokes. But i’m not perfect at them. And you’re not perfect at the things you do.

Sometimes, I hear a song that I want to learn on guitar and i go ‘I’m going to go teach myself that song!’ and then i try and I try, and even though I’m good at guitar - i’m not good enough to do it as well as I hear it. Have you ever had something like that happen? Maybe you tell a funny joke and nobody laughs. Maybe you try to show off some gymnastics that you’re good at and you fall down. That’s embarrassing, right?

Today, we’re telling a story about somebody named Paul. He was good at a lot of things. He was good at understanding the bible. He was good at talking to people. He was good at starting churches. But he had things happen to him that were hard for him. He got really badly beat up by some people. If you’ve ever hurt yourself bad, you know how hard it is to be happy in pain. Then he got put in jail. He actually got put in jail for telling people about Jesus. It’s hard to go out and start churches if you’re locked in jail. That’s a hard thing to happen to someone.

Paul really wanted to do what God wanted. He wanted to go out and talk to people. He wanted to start churches. And now he was beat up and in jail. That sounds like something that would be embarassing too. But Paul wasn’t embarrassed. He was happy.

So, I’m going to ask you one question ,and I want you to think about it as I do the rest of the sermon here. What is paul happy about during his hard times? I’ll try and use the phrase ‘Paul is happy...’ as a code word for you during the sermon. So listen up.

Unshakable Faith

In the book of Philippians, Paul is in prison

Philippians 1:12-14

Philippians 1:12–14 NIV

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

Paul’s position here. He’s not saying that being in prison has served to help HIM. He’s saying that, the circumstances he finds himself in now are actually serving to advance the gospel. Paul is happy about more people hearing about God.

And he goes beyond that. He says, ‘The chains that I find myself in have served to create MORE confidence in my brothers and sisters’, and that these brothers and sisters are proclaiming the gospel without fear. Paul is happy that more people are talking about God.

Now, the chains Paul is talking about, scholars believe it’s the imprisonment Paul faces at the end of the book of acts. Which means, he’s directly in prison for preaching the gospel. In the book of acts, the sanhedrin are trying to get paul arrested for preaching the gospel, and tell all sorts of lies about him. They are even attempting to kill him. He’s in custody as he is going to appeal his imprisonment before caesar.

So, let’s go through the logical process here.

1) Paul is arrested and repeatedly tried for preaching the gospel, along with enduring threats against his life

2) Paul is imprisoned in Rome awaiting trial

3) Paul and the early believers look at this circumstance - one of their primary teachers and apostles is in prison for preaching this gospel and therefor not really doing his job- and they say to themselves, ‘man, this is a GREAT thing for the gospel’. In fact, it inspires the believers on the outside to preach MORE with LESS fear!

Now, let’s do a reversal here. Let’s say… there’s a global pandemic going on. Hypothetically speaking. Let’s say, government regulations hamper a few things we consider to be essential to the church process. We feel like our concept of what church means is being threatened, and our past experiences feel disconnected from our current circumstances. Things aren’t going the way we want and it’s really hard on us.

What kind of change of heart and emotions would it take for us to boldly proclaim with joy, ‘This will serve to advance the gospel of Christ’.

Today, I want to talk about the idea of ‘Unshakeable Faith’. Now, going into this series, there’s a few assumptions we are going to make.

Our convictions are what see us through shaken times - not our circumstances

Paul says something similar to this later in Philippians 1.

Philippians 1:18-20

Philippians 1:18–20 NIV

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul takes a look at his circumstances, and he says, ‘this isn’t the end of the story’. Even if they lead to his death.

For Paul, he didn’t want to see an easy life. He wanted to see a life that exalted Christ through His body, no matter what that life looked like. And he is deeply convinced of this. That’s why he says, ‘I know that God’s provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ will turn out for my deliverance’. Some other ways to translate that last word is ‘vindication’ or ‘salvation’

And I want to be clear here. He’s not saying, ‘I know that God will bail me out of this’. We’re reading too far into the text there. He’s saying, ‘I know that my suffering, and even my death, if it exalts Christ in my life - It means I won’ Paul is happy that he will spend forever with God in heaven.

Earlier in the chapter, he says that the entire palace guard knows that he’s in prison because of preaching Christ. And in acts, there’s even a story where a jailer and the jailer’s family become followers of Christ through paul’s imprisonment.

So Paul here, he’s saying, ‘It doesn’t matter what happens to me. What matters is who gets to hear about Christ through what’s happening to me. What Christ does through me. And the more I let Christ do that - the more I win.

Paul gives a GREAT saying here, and I want to hover on this verse for a while. We’ll keep moving through Philippians in the coming weeks, but we’re going to continually look back at this idea. and it’s found in chapter 1, vs 21.

Philippians 1:21

Philippians 1:21 NIV

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

So, throughout Philippians, Paul is making two foundational assumptions about how the world works. And I believe we can understand the foundations of Unshakable Faith by really grabbing and holding onto these two truths.

I asked a question earlier - What is paul happy about during his hard times? I said 3.

Paul is happy about more people hearing about God

Paul is happy about more people talking about God

Paul is happy that he will spend forever with God in heaven

Paul wants us to know something. He wants us to know that letting God doing hard things through us is good. Trying to only do easy things for ourselves is not as good. Just like the hard times we talked about before, God can help you do bigger and better things that you can do by yourself. But you need to let Him do it, and you need to trust that He will do it!

So I want you to listen for a second set of code words. This one is , ‘God Wants’… and remember what they are!

First -

We Need to Live for Christ

I’ll expand more on this point next week. But I want to make sure you totally understand what i’m saying here. This isn’t just ‘I’m dedicated to God’s ideals’ or ‘I want to make the choices God wants me to make’. This is saying, ‘I am no longer the person in charge here. My life is Gods’. God wants us to do the things He tells us to do.

It’s the difference between saying, ‘I do something so that I can be generous towards God’ and ‘I do something because my life is God’s, and I need to do what he wants me to do’. There’s nothing wrong with being generous. But when Paul says, ‘to live is Christ’, he’s not just saying some pithy ideology. He’s saying, ‘

My life belongs to Christ

I like to use the marriage example a lot in describing our relationship with God. And we’re tempted to use it here too. Just like our spouses - we belong to our spouse. Except, that picture isn’t complete enough. See, Paul describes the relationship like this:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NIV

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

In marriage, two become one and they are designed to serve each other. But they still exist separately - they still have needs that may not be identical, they still have desires that may not be identical.

In the Christian life, it’s not just, I’m in a relationship with God. We belong to Him. He purchased us with his blood. We are no longer our own. God wants to get to know us, but he also wants us to give ourselves fully to Him, and reconcile our lives not against our own standards or hopes or assumptions, but to take on His life for us fully and completely. To literally say, ‘it doesn’t matter what happens to me - all that matters is God’s kingdom expanding in the world’. God wants to build a church throughout the whole entire world.

And that sounds a little bit defeatist - if not for Paul’s second assumption. We’ve only talked about the first half of the phrase - ‘To live is Christ’. The second part is this: ‘to die is gain’.

When we live fully for Christ, even death itself is gain for us

This is the root of unshakable faith. Because - and here’s the key - when our sense of success or failure depends on anything that happens to us in this life, then we’re placing our faith in something that’s perishing. The bible tells us not to store our treasures up here on earth, not to put our confidence in the flesh. But we just take that to mean, ‘don’t put your confidence in the bad earthly things. but take comfort in the good earthly things!’

Unshakable faith goes beyond that. Unshakable faith isn’t touched by the trials and troubles we will experience, because it’s not about us anymore. It’s about God. If we prosper, that’s more for us to use to expand the kingdom of God. If we suffer, then that’s more opportunity for us to show God’s goodness to others. Every single thing that happens to us, we look back to Christ and we say, ‘Your kingdom come.’ God wants us to always pay attention to Him.

Because, remember, Paul here is saying, ‘even to die under Christ is gain’. And that’s not a bumper sticker. He’s not writing that kicking back in his lazyboy recliner. He’s in chains. He could very well be facing death - he has repeatedly already.

For Paul, suffering was a blip on the radar, because all Paul thought about was expanding God’s kingdom. And anything that happened to him, Paul was convinced, absolutely convinced that God could use it to further his kingdom.

Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God wants to make all the hard times do good inside of us. Paul starts the section of Romans this verse is in with another great line:

Romans 8:18

Romans 8:18 NIV

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Paul is saying here, nothing in life that we could ever go through will even be worth comparing against the glory that we’re moving towards. And he’s also convinced, that there’s no suffering or situation or anything that can happen in all of our lives that God can’t use to continually move us towards that glory.

So, Paul is convinced about two basic, but very powerful truths.

My life is completely for God’s use. And God is always, always victorious.

So we’re going to spend a few weeks and hover on this idea of unshakable faith through the book of Philippians. But I want to leave you here with the WHY.

The entire world is going through a lot right now. And we are facing a lot of challenges and changes to our idea of what church is, what it should be. None of us are returning to a church that looks just like how we left it 6 months ago.

And that’s really, really hard for everyone. And I don’t want to minimize that at all. But I have a deep conviction that God is going to use this time to grow His church. My present suffering doesn’t mean God isn’t doing what He wants. My present suffering is nothing. All that matters is seeing God’s kingdom move. And whatever battle God faces, whatever challenge comes to Him - God always wins.

I have great hope for the future of the Church - both locally and globally. Because, when I see our present suffering - the loss that the church has had to endure throughout the pandemic - I don’t see God’s kingdom losing. I see, another opportunity for God to show how utterly victorious He is. God wants to win all the hard battles - and he will win them.

And let me connect a few dots for you. Paul is in prison here. He’s already said, all the prison guards know I’m here because of Christ. And we’ve talked about how, in Acts, Paul even led a prison guard to Christ - in Acts 16.

And this experience of being in chains greatly motivated the Philippian church. They went out with even more bravery and more boldly proclaimed the gospel. How can that be? How can seeing suffering, seeing Paul thrown in prison, cause people to want to want to proclaim the gospel even more?

So, this story, before Paul converts the jailer, it’s insane. They start with driving a spirit out of a female slave, and were dragged into the public square to face punishment for this. They were stripped and beaten with rods. They were severely flogged, thrown into prison, and put in stocks. Then there’s an earthquake, and Paul has a chance to go free but he doesn’t take it, and this shocks the jailer so much that the jailer falls on his knees trembling before Paul and says, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ And the jailer and his whole household became saved.

The reason seeing Paul in chains is so powerfully impactful to the Philippian church? All the stories I just described happened in Philippi. The prison guard from Acts 16 was a philippian. The church is sitting around, reading this letter out loud, and when they get to the part where Paul talks about how he’s in chains… there’s a previous prison guard of paul’s sitting right there. And they know.

The philippian church started with a series of events that any one of us would have called an unsuccessful life before God. So, when they see persecution, when they see loss and they see Paul in chains again, they don’t lose hope. They gain it. Because they know that God always wins that fight. They have seen it. They are the fruit of what happened when Paul faced persecution and met a single prison guard. And Paul is saying ‘There’s a whole palace of guards here that know I’m here before Christ’. If I was in that room, that would excite me. I’d be nudging the guys beside me going, ‘oh, just wait and see. I’ve seen how this ends before. God is going to move big time.’

So that’s my challenge for everyone here today. When you face trouble, when you face persecution, when you face suffering and loss.

Have a faith that doesn’t stop when the trouble comes

because I guarantee you, i absolutely guarantee you, God is going to win. We’re just deciding if we’re going to let our circumstances count us out, or if we’re going to share in the joy and the privilege of seeing God’s victory play out right before our very eyes.