Side by Side Value

This week we celebrated Titus’ birthday… and one of our traditions… like many of you… is to take him to spend his wooden tokens at Goods... because they are worth double on his birthday.

And that’s always an interesting exercise because you give a kid $10 worth of tokens and he thinks he can buy the whole store... but he quickly learns that he has to make some value calls.

Does he want to spend his tokens on little trinkets that will get lost or break 10 minutes after he gets home...

Or does he want to get a small Lego set that he can build…

Or does he buy a game that we can play together...

I mean, these are the real hard decisions of life, right?!?!

But of course, you know me… I’m not one to let him waste his tokens… I’m going to help him get the most out of these things… I’m going to use this as a teachable moment on the VALUE of what lasts!

And so we spent quite a bit of time deliberating and he got a small Lego car and a stuffed animal Chase from Paw Patrol and he was quite happy and so was I...

But even at age 6, we need to understand: It is CRITICAL that we learn how to make value decisions… And if we are off in our values… we will FORSAKE that which is really precious.

You see, we are all a lot more like a 6 year old spending his Good’s tokens than we might think...

We all steward a certain amount of years… a certain amount of time in a week… a certain amount of money… a certain amount of relationships… and we do it by making VALUE choices.

The problem is, we all are blinded by our sin to see what is truly valuable… we all are tempted to buy into the false value systems of this world and spend our lives accordingly.

We are tempted to spend our time on what we THINK will make us successful...

We are tempted to spend our money on what will make us FEEL safe and secure and in control.

We are tempted to only have relationships with those who are EXACTLY like us… because that’s what’s fun and comfortable..

And because our flesh BLINDS us to what is truly valuable, we need our Heavenly Father to direct us to what HE KNOWS is truly valuable.

I believe our Father wants to do that today through his word in the book of Philippians...

We’ve been working through Philippians in a sermon series called “Side-By-Side for the Gospel”

Our goal has to been to partner together in the pursuit of KNOWING and proclaiming Jesus.

If we are going to stand side by side… then we need a common value system.

We need to identify false value systems that lure believers and churches away from God’s values…

and we need to embrace the value of knowing Jesus.

As a result of hearing God’s word today, I pray that we would ALL…

Big Idea: Reject the false value systems that keep you from the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.

Your Bibles are open to Philippians 3...

We are right around the half-way point of the letter…

Paul has just finished commending Epaphroditus as the carrier of this letter...

He also told them about how he plans to send Timothy a little after Epaphroditus to see how they are conforming their lives to this word…

You know God actually expects CHANGE in our lives and in our church as a result of hearing his word, right?

And as Paul told them about his plans, he also set up both of those men stand as examples of what it looks like to stand side by side for the gospel...

So it seems like he’s just about ready to wrap things up… especially when he uses the word “Finally” in 3:1.

But this word “Finally” isn’t exactly what we think of when we hear the word finally.

It’s not like, “This is the last thing that I want to say.”

It’s more like, “This is the rest of what I want to say.”

Kind of like when you hear a preacher say, “In conclusion,” you can’t always trust that you are done in the next 2 minutes… he might have 15 more minutes of talking points.

Chapter 3:1 starts the next section which we could call “remaining concerns.”

And we will study this last section until the 3rd week in November.

And today, we are going to look at 3:1-11 to see the value systems that stand in the way of the SURPASSING value of knowing Jesus.

Read Phil. 3:1-11

Today we will see three value systems that keep us from knowing Jesus… and three reasons why knowing Jesus is EXCEEDINGLY better....

The first value system that stands in the way is this…

Value System 1: Destructive External Conformity (v. 2)

Look at verse 1 again: “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

Explain: What we see here is that the Philippian church faced a very serious threat to their joy in Christ… namely those who would seek to move their trust FROM Jesus to their own external conformity.

You see, because Christianity was born out of Judaism, there were groups of Jews who embraced Jesus as the Messiah, but thought that if Gentiles (non-Jews) wanted to become part of the church, they should get circumcised.

In other words, they wanted to keep the church Jewish… kind of a two-tier thing with the REAL Jews in charge.

The argument here was about who was in and who was out… based upon external signs.

You might hear these people called “the Circumcision Party” or “the Judaizers” in other parts of the Bible.

They wanted Gentile converts to take on the sign of the covenant that God made with Old Testament Israel, which was circumcision.

They wanted to keep their status in the old order of things rather than recognizing that God was doing a whole new thing in Jesus.

Paul has some more... choice words to call these guys than just “Judaizers”...

We’ll come back to v. 1 in a second, but look at v. 2: He says, “Look out for the dogs.”

That’s a pretty harsh slam in this context.

What is ironic is that the Judaizers would have called the Gentiles “the dogs.”

Dogs were some of the least respected animals at this time... think “mangy street mutt.”

Paul is saying, “Look out for those who think they are superior by their external signs… really they are as good as pagans because their trust is not in Jesus, but in themselves.”

Paul then calls them “the evil doers.”

Again, this would have been how Judaizers thought about Gentiles.

They would have thought… “We are the righteous ones because WE belong to Israel… we just needed Jesus to come validate what we were already doing… and show all those ‘evildoers’ how righteous we are.”

And Paul says, “Wrong. You are doing evil because you are heaping up burdens on those who would come to God through Jesus.”

Paul then calls them “the mutilation” or as the ESV puts it, “those who mutilate the flesh.”

This would have been DEEPLY offensive because Gentiles were the ones who mutilated the flesh in their pagan rituals.

Jews were FORBIDDEN to mutilate the flesh.

And here, Paul is playing on words because the word for “circumcision” implies to cut the flesh carefully… the word for mutilation means to “cut the flesh into pieces.”

And by insisting on physically cutting the flesh, they were cutting Christ's church into pieces all over the Roman empire.

Paul isn’t pulling any punches. He wants to make it crystal clear saying it 3 times: LOOK OUT for these guys!

They APPEAR to love God… but PAY ATTENTION… they are teaching external conformity to the law… and in doing so, they are undermining the gospel...

He has ZERO TOLERANCE for that kind of teaching in the church.

Notice at the end of verse 1… Paul says that their SAFETY is at stake. This is their security of faith in the gospel.

This brand of teaching undermines the sufficiency of Jesus in our lives… and MUTILATES not just the bodies of Gentile believers… it MUTILATES the body of Christ!

It will dice up any efforts of standing side by side for the gospel because it will undermine the very gospel that unites us.

We cannot understate how HOT ANGRY this makes Paul… how much this boils his blood.

And if we aren’t careful, we can fall into this same kinds of value systems...

Many of you have grown up in church cultures where people’s acceptance was based upon external conformity to a pre-determined set of external signs...

Rules about what clothes you wore or what color car you drove or what radio station you listened to were more important than the gospel going forward together.

And people were kept out or looked down upon if they didn’t conform… or if they did conform, a lot of times the external appearance hid a lot of skeletons in the closet.

And many of you have seen first-hand the PAIN and destruction caused by the value system of external conformity.

But we all have to be careful… because we are all prone to this… looking at the surface rather than at the heart.

I remember an unbeliever coming to our church asking me if he would be have to change his clothing style to become a Christian because John Cheek and Mike Boos and Titus McGrath and myself all wore a similar style of clothes. And I had to convince him that that was just coincidence based on preference...

Listen... we are ALL prone to make surface level judgments...

We are OFTEN prone to think that we must be promoting the gospel if we can get everyone to make the same surface-level changes.

If we can just get people to “show up” at certain programs… then their attendance must mean we are doing something right.

If we can just make sure every person is performing some ministry task… if their heart is in it or not... then we must be making disciples.

If we can just get people to make the same choices about… you name it… standards of dress… entertainment choices… political choices... schooling choices… then we MUST be united.

But if those EXTERNAL SIGNS are what define our church community… if those performance-based assessments drive us to accept some people and reject others... then we will actually CORRUPT our unity… and CRIPPLE our witness.

That’s why we must REJECT the false value system of Painful External Conformity in favor of...

The Value of Knowing Jesus: [which produces] Joyful Heart-Level Fellowship (v. 1, 3)

Knowing Jesus must be the central value of our church… and THAT will produce joyful heart-level fellowship.

Explain: Follow Paul’s logic here… he says in verse 1: “Finally REJOICE in the Lord.”

So what does he want for them? JOY in Jesus.

And to arrive at that joy, he says, “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” What are the same things?

Well… they would be the things that he’s about to write to them that he’s already addressed with them at some point in the past…

They are the values that help them maintain joy and unity when false teachers would threaten to divide them.

There is something threatening the SAFETY of their joy and unity in the Faith: Specifically the dogs. The evildoers. The mutilation of the flesh.

So what does Paul REMIND them of... that will keep them moving forward together in JOY???

Verse 3 - “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—” (Philippians 3:3, ESV)

He’s saying, “They want you to take on the external mark of circumcision to become part of God’s people… they want to rob your joy by making you think that you are second rate in God’s family because you aren’t a Jew...

But know that WE ALREADY ARE the real circumcision… WE ARE those who have experienced the internal transformation of our hearts.”

He addresses this issue of circumcision a lot in his letters because it was a consistent problem in the early church. The Judaizers wanted external conformity regardless of what was going on in the heart.

So to the Romans Paul wrote: “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” (Romans 2:28–29, ESV)

God sees what is in the heart.

God decides who are part of his people and who are not.

And he is creating a new people in Jesus in the church age who are not required to take the external sign of circumcision because he’s cutting something new into their hearts.

To the Colossians, Paul warned of the Judaizers’ values saying: “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 2:23–3:2, ESV)

In other words… don’t deal with sin on a surface level. Don’t define your community by external conformity. Seek heart-level fellowship around the throne of Christ.

Paul’s consistent message was this: Jesus freed you from destructive external conformity… he saved you with REAL heart-level transformation… THAT is what makes us a church.

He gave US the Holy Spirit TOGETHER so that we would SERVE and WORSHIP JESUS as the supreme Lord.

He took away ALL reason to boast… because our external conformity doesn’t mean anything… only JESUS gives us fellowship with one another and with God!

We have NO confidence in the flesh.... Our only boast is in Christ.

The church needs to be reminded of the superiority of Christ to do what they could never do in their flesh.

It was no problem to Paul to remind them of these things because he knew it would result in their joy and keep their fellowship SAFE from false teaching.

Apply: We need to hear the same truth again and again… that it is Jesus alone who makes us a church.

We need to be reminded that it is his work in our hearts through the Spirit that sets us apart as his people.

We need to point one another back to the gospel REGULARLY… because we are so tempted to fall into the trap of external conformity.

Remember… that’s one of our goals for the fall… that we would get back into the habit of holding fast to the GOSPEL through regular gospel community.

This is WHY we need to check in with one another and get down to a heart level and address what’s going on there.

This is ALSO WHY we need things like communion… in a repetitive nature.

Communion reminds us that it wasn’t the mutilation of OUR flesh that made us God’s people… it was HIS body that was broken FOR us… HIS blood that was shed to make us a new covenant people.

We must REJECT the value of destructive external conformity… because JESUS provides something so much better: joyful heart-level fellowship.

Now that Paul has called out this false value system, he is going to use himself as an example of how to apply this. Look at v. 4:

“We put no confidence in the flesh… though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:4–7, ESV)

We see how easily the value of painful external conformity could lead to this second value system:

Value System 2: Self-Righteous Confidence (v. 4-6)

Explain: Paul is saying, “If these Judaizers REALLY want to play the game, they would meet their match in the master of self-confidence… my pre-converted self”

Personally, I think the reason these guys make Paul so outraged is because he used to be just like them. He did everything by their book.

He was circumcised on the eighth day… in the tradition of Abraham’s household.

He was of the house of Israel… he didn’t spend a day of his life as a Gentile.

He was of the tribe of Benjamin… he could trace his lineage all the way back to the tribe Moses called “the beloved of the Lord.”

He was a Hebrew of Hebrews… if someone wanted to find some dirt on him… good luck!

He was a Pharisee… he had been part of the strictest of Hebrew sects.

He was a persecutor of the church… he was so zealous for the Jewish law that he didn’t think ANY Gentiles should be considered God’s people… in fact, even JESUS was too unorthodox for him… and so he was willing to torture and murder Christ-followers out of commitment to God.

He kept the law of that the Judaizers held so dear better than anyone.

And he says in v. 4… all of this COULD have led him to self-righteous confidence.

He had every reason to think he was a good and godly person.

I think that we see this kind of self-righteous confidence all over the place in our Solanco culture...

If you walk up to any person on the street and ask, “Do you believe you are going to heaven?” 9 times out of 10 they will say yes.

And if you ask them WHY they believe that, maybe 8 times out of 10 they will answer something like, “Because I try to be a good person.”

Even professing Christians will sometimes answer that way!

That may come with some explanation about what they do, “I try to be nice to people.” or something they DON’T do… “I don’t do drugs… I’m not a murderer.”

Maybe their reason is based on a relationship they have… my family gave a ton of money to that church over there.

Let me tell you… I just experienced it again this week… People in this area LOVE to throw around their family name, especially in relationship to church.

It is SO tempting to base on our confidence on our own ability to perform… or another person’s ability to perform on our behalf.

And that value system will inevitably keep you from the value of knowing Jesus.

Paul says in v. 7 - “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—” (Philippians 3:7–9, ESV)

Paul says that we must REJECT Self-Righteous Confidence to find the...

The Value of Knowing Jesus: [which gives us] Christ-Righteous Confidence (v. 7-9)

Explain: When Paul says, “Whatever GAIN I had I counted as loss...

That word “loss” means “it was a DISADVANTAGE to me.”

He’s saying that his confidence in those things put him at a DISADVANTAGE to seeing the surpassing value of Christ.

And he had to COUNT THEM as a disadvantage… he had to REJECT that false value system… if he was going to truly see the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, his lord.

I’m convinced that there is nothing that will stand in the way of the work of the gospel in someone’s life than the thought, “I’m a pretty good person.”

Paul says that he had to suffer the loss of the things that gave him confidence (understand, he’s saying that it was painful for him to reject all that he relied upon)…

He says he had to COUNT them as RUBBISH… that word means “dungheap...” but it’s probably closer to the harsher word that I should’t say in church.

Not only that, this vulgar word was used to describe the filthy scraps that were only good to be thrown to the street dogs… this is a shot at the Judaizers again

He had to COUNT his self-righteousness as A DUNGHEAP… REFUSE and FILTH... in order that he may gain Christ and be found in him.

WHY? Because self-righteousness is a BLOCKADE to putting ALL our confidence in the righteousness of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

If I rely... even a little bit... on who I am or what I’ve done...

If I rely on who my daddy was or my family name...

Then I can’t see that my only hope and confidence is found in Christ alone.

Paul says, “In counting those things as rubbish, I came to see that my righteousness before God is not my own ability to keep the law… rather, it is CHRIST’S ability to keep the law on my behalf...

My righteousness comes through FAITH in Christ… it is a YIELDING and a SURRENDERING to the work of GOD... FOR me... and IN me... and THROUGH me...

And that is FAR more valuable than anything I could do or be on my own.

Remember the good news of Jesus…

That Jesus came and he lived the perfect life that we could never live. He fulfilled God’s law far more perfectly than Paul EVER could have done in his self-righteousness.

And Jesus took his perfect life and sacrificed it on the cross to pay for our sin…

His blood covered our sin and cleansed us from all unrighteousness...

Jesus died… he was buried… and on the third day he rose from the grave!

The Bible says that Jesus was RAISED for our justification… that he was raised so that we, as sinners, could be counted RIGHTEOUS before God.

God accepted his payment for our sin… he counts Christ’s righteousness to us through faith… and the resurrection is proof.

And it is ONLY through trusting Jesus as our Savior and Lord that we can be made right with God.

How FREEING is it to know that my righteousness is not dependent upon my own ability to keep the law… but rather it’s dependent on Christ’s work for me and in me?!?!

Now I’m deeply familiar with the next thought… maybe it’s going through some of your heads right now, “So then you are saying that we can live however we want! We can just SAY we believe and trust that Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account and it doesn’t really matter how we live the rest of our lives.”

But that’s not what I’m saying… or what Paul is saying.

He’s saying that both our POSITIONAL righteousness (our standing before God) AND our PRACTICAL righteous deeds… are BOTH FROM GOD.

They are found in KNOWING Christ Jesus our Lord.

Remember chapter 2… it is GOD who works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure… as we live out the OUTWORKING of our salvation.

Both our POSITIONAL and PRACTICAL righteousness are a work of God in our lives as we ACTIVELY put our FAITH in him…

What do the scriptures say again and again… the RIGHTEOUS shall LIVE by FAITH.

We put our trust in God… and we live according to that trust… and RIGHTEOUSNESS is PRODUCED in us.

The law produces nothing. It only shows us where we fall short.

External conformity gets us nowhere… a good resume or pedigree only gets in the way of seeing where our faith must be found: that our only hope in LIFE and in DEATH is Christ alone.

And so practically, what does this look like?

Well, it starts by REJECTING the value system that says, “Look at me… look at my resume… look at my ability... look at my family name… I am capable of producing sufficient righteousness on my own…” {or I SHOULD be capable of producing sufficient righteousness even if I’m struggling to do it… I’ll just try harder.}

We must ACTIVELY REJECT that value system.

Every time I’m tempted to rely on my own ability to overcome sin and “try harder next time”…

Every time I’m tempted to pat myself on the back for doing something good…

I need to say, “That’s a LIE. It is ONLY Christ who can produce righteousness in me. ALL PRAISE to him!”

It means praying… REGULARLY throughout my day, “Father in Heaven… I see your holiness… I see your perfect character… I see your righteousness…

I can’t do it… but I know your Spirit in me can.

So I’m trusting you right now… and I’m asking you to work in me to will… to shape my desires… and to work... give me the power to obey...

and I’m going to take my next steps relying upon your Holy Spirit at work in me.”

That’s the righteousness of God that comes through faith just as much as your positional standing before God.

God answers that prayer… because it’s a prayer of faith.

It’s a prayer that counts our self-righteousness as a disadvantage… but God’s power as the only advantage we need.

You see, knowing Jesus is a never-ending pursuit of God’s power at work in our weakness.

That’s what prompts Paul to say what he says next… look at v. 10: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10–11, ESV)

Now I don’t know about you, but that is a confusing verse to me...

I’m with him when he says he wants to share in the power of Christ’s resurrection…

We all want that right? Resurrection POWER.

POWER is the currency this world runs on.

Even if you don’t THINK you want power (like in the sense of being in charge of someone else)… you probably still do...

Have you ever tried to make sure everything in your situation works just right? That’s a form of power called control.

Have you ever tried to get others to behave the way YOU think they should? That’s a form of power.

So sharing in resurrection power sounds GREAT, right?

But then Paul kind of loses me at what he says next: that I may SHARE in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

Like, I thought suffering came BEFORE resurrection power… And if I have resurrection power, then I shouldn’t have to worry about more suffering.

Anybody with me?

Our confusion with this verse reveals how easy it can be to fall into this last false value system:

Value System 3: Power through Escaping Suffering (v. 10)

Explain: We tend to think that the goal of our lives is to achieve power by escaping weakness and suffering.

So we think that we will be able to follow Jesus better when there are less obstacles in our way… less opposition… less trials...

We think that we will be able to have a better impact for the gospel if we just improve our situation… or get control of some area of our lives.

At the same time, we tend to think that SUFFERING is a sign that God is not at work in our lives or that he is somehow punishing us.

And SO MANY in the church have bought the LIE of the world’s value system that says, “We must AVOID SUFFERING by PURSUING POWER at all cost!!!”

Too many in the church have bought the lie of the smiley preacher on TV that says, “God wants to fulfill your destiny… he wants to give you all kinds of material blessings right now… you just sow that word of faith and it’s going to come back to you… power and abundance and freedom from suffering.”

Tell me how that sounds ANYTHING like Jesus who said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:34–36)

We forget that the path of our Savior walked was the path of suffering.

But we don’t even need to buy into the full Joel Osteen prosperity gospel to fall into this value system of escaping suffering...

How many times do we avoid sharing the gospel with someone because it might make our lives uncomfortable in some way.

How many times do we make choices about our jobs or our parenting or even how we will serve the church based on what will make us feel or look “successful.”

How many times do we hold back from confessing our sins to one another so that we can GROW because it might hurt our reputation…

How many times do we make choices about how to invest our financial resources or our time based on what will make us feel most comfortable... and safe... and in control...

We are deeply influenced by this value system that says power comes from escaping suffering and weakness.

But we see clearly in Paul’s words that...

The Value of Knowing Jesus: [is understanding that true] Power [comes] through Embracing Suffering and Weakness (v. 11)

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10–11, ESV)

Christ’s resurrection power is accessed when we take up our cross daily and follow him...

We come to know Christ most intimately when we live with the mantra, “To Live is CHRIST and to die is GAIN.”

Think about it: Christ lived a life of suffering… his greatest act of power was in destroying our sin by dying on a cross. Living CHRIST means EMBRACING suffering and weakness.

Jesus constantly turned the power systems of this world on their head....

He said the least among you shall be the greatest.

He said that the way to the seat of honor is the by taking to lowest seat at the table.

The Resurrected Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” Therefore, Paul said, “I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses that the power of God may rest upon me!”

Paul LONGED to share in Christ’s sufferings… and was even willing to die… because he knew he would find Christ’s TRUE power there.

Christ’s power comes through embracing suffering and weakness.

And if we are going to stand side by side for the gospel, we need to reject OUTRIGHT the value system of the world that says, “Each of you live for what will give you the most power…

Each of you pursue the most personal success…

Each of you strive for the deepest sense of control and security…

Those things will KILL our willingness to pursue Jesus...

They will KILL our trust in him...

We need to REJECT those instead embrace the power of Christ through our suffering and weakness.

We need to REPENT of our FEAR of weakness and our AVERSION to suffering… and pursue the power of Jesus that comes when we are in the lowest place.

It’s not that we go looking for suffering.... it’s that we pursue JESUS at all cost…

When we stick our neck out there to live explicitly FOR Jesus, trusting the resurrection power, history would tell us that we are going to be the target for a lot of people.

Suffering is the natural by-product of standing side-by-side for the gospel.

But Jesus gives his power to those who suffer for the sake of his ame.

Ultimately, suffering is not the enemy… flesh driven power is.

And so we need to pray, every day, “God lead me in the path of Jesus today.”

It’s a prayer that will take us to places of helping people break free from sin that is destroying their lives...

It’s a prayer that will lead us to serve the vulnerable and the outcast and the weak… so that we can experience Jesus’ care.

It’s a prayer that will inspire a heart of sacrificial generosity… so that we can watch Jesus provide.

It’s a prayer that will probably leave us physically tired, but spiritually full.

It’s a prayer that could result in our physical endangerment… but with the hope of resurrection life.

God lead me in the path of Jesus today.

We CANNOT experience resurrection power if we don’t first die to ourselves… if we don’t pick up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

Where have you been tempted to buy into the value systems of the world?

Through destructive external conformity?

Through self-righteous confidence?

Through seeking power by escaping suffering?

Identify the false value systems… REJECT THEM OUTRIGHT… REPENT OF THEM… and then pursue the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord.

He produces Heart-level fellowship...

We can rock-solid confidence in his perfect righteousness...

He will provide power for his purposes when we are in our weakest, most vulnterable place.

Let’s take some time to pray.