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It's indeed a joyous occasion to be together in the house of God, even though we have had all sorts and all manner of weeks among us in this room.

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It's a wonderful thing to come together and give honour and praise and worship to our living God.

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And so before we come around these words given to us by God through the Apostle Paul, let's ask for his help in our midst.

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Father, we are indeed grateful for these wonderful words.

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But we are speechless with the work of the Holy Spirit who has enlightened the eyes of our hearts to know that these words are true.

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We ask this morning as we hear from your Word, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do his work among us

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and that Christ would be glorified in our midst, that you would change us for the sake of Christ and your glory.

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We ask for this in Jesus' name, Amen.

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A couple of years ago, a series of prison letters was published by Alan and Unwin of infamous Sydney gangster Carl Williams.

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Yes, the same Carl Williams who was betrayed by Guyton Grantley in Channel 9's smash hit, Underbelly.

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The letters are mainly correspondence between Carl and his wife Roberta written in the last 18 months of his life.

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Now you can tell that Carl really loved his wife, but in saying that, you can also see that there is such a sense of tragedy between them

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as there is no hope of ever really having a life together because of the life sentence that had been handed down to Carl.

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Reading through his letters, you have an incredible sense of sadness and despair as he writes of sitting there in prison,

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contemplating his life, even admitting that if he could have done his time again, he would have done things differently.

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To say it plainly, Carl was in prison for life and he knew it.

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And these prison letters leave you with a sense of joylessness.

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Now I'm telling you all of this because prison letters in general can be rather depressing to read through,

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but not so with the prison letter that we have before us this morning written by the Apostle Paul.

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That's right, this letter to the Philippians, this book that we find in our Bibles, is actually a prison letter from a pastor to his church.

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And far from being depressing, it's actually one of the most joyous books found in the entire Bible.

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That's because Paul is happy because he knows he's right where God wanted him.

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Now the content of the passage that we had just read out before us by Chester makes most sense if we remember what we had a look at last week,

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particularly verses 9 through 11 in which Paul explained to these dearly beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord of Philippi the details of what he was praying for them.

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Now if you weren't here last week, not to worry, you can have a listen to the sermon via our website, but for now here's a bit of a recap.

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We saw that Paul was incredibly overjoyed every time he remembered these people before the Lord in prayer because to say it painly, he knew that they had God.

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Or better yet, that God had them.

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As Paul puts it, God had started a good work in them.

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And he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were going to endure the persecution that they, both Paul and the Philippians, were going through because they shared in something beyond themselves.

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Namely, the same grace of God that had brought them into a partaking of salvation as found in the good news of Jesus Christ.

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That's why Paul could pray with such joy even while in prison because he knew the gospel and trusted that what God had started, he would finish.

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Or this to say, Paul missed these people terribly, but more than writing a letter to tell them that he missed them and had joy every time he remembered them and to thank them for their help,

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he detailed the prayers that he was praying for them before the throne of grace.

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And as we saw, there were three things that we could take note of, assimilate and apply to our own prayer lives for our own brothers and sisters in the church.

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Three things. The first was that Paul was praying that their love for one another would just keep on growing and growing as they came to understand and comprehend what God had done for them in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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As we saw, a greater knowledge for God will always, always result in a greater love for the brethren.

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And that was something that Paul was praying for and something that we should be praying for as well.

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It's a community of believers that is growing in their knowledge and love for God and one another, which will be most effective in gospel ministry in the context in which they find themselves in.

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Second, Paul was praying that their wisdom to discern would grow all the more because they needed to make some decisions in the situation they found themselves in.

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Again, the Philippians were being persecuted. However, as we'll see in the coming weeks, they had some internal pressures as well.

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And under such pressure, they needed to make decisions which would glorify God. And so Paul prayed that they could discern and make choices that wouldn't mar their purity, especially in the light of the knowledge of knowing that the Lord could come back anytime.

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Third and finally, Paul reminded them that all their hopes, their stature, their blamelessness wasn't achieved by their trying harder and doing better, but by the work of Christ in them.

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That's where Paul pointed these dearly beloved people and by implication us here in this very church.

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All this fruit of righteousness comes only one way and that is through Jesus Christ. And it is all for the praise and glory of God.

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That's what we had a look at last week. Paul had written this letter to tell his dearly beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord that he had joy when he remembered these people and when he remembered them.

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And he had joy when he remembered these people and when he took them to God in prayer, because they were all the people that shared in the grace of God.

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And that grace started something that God was going to finish. Yet with all that going on in the background, with all that wonderful knowledge of what God had done for them in the Lord Jesus, Paul still prays for them.

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And he prays that these beloved people would grow, have wisdom and surrender more to that work of Christ in their lives.

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Which brings us to the text that we have before us this morning and which Paul is going to explain that just because he's locked up and that there's a lot of uncertainties floating around, particularly in the minds of the Philippian church.

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Well the Gospel is in no way locked up. And the Gospel, the saving work of Jesus Christ, the grace of God, well none of that is uncertain.

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And Paul wants them and he wants us to know it. So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, please look with me at verses 12 through to 14.

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Paul writes, Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what's happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel.

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As a result it's become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I'm in chains for Christ.

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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.

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So you can see what Paul is doing here right? He's letting them know how things are going because there must have been so, so many questions in the minds of the Philippians.

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Now I don't know about you but one of the biggest rules that we have in our family is that we always let our significant other know how we are going and if we are safe when travelling.

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I mean when I was touring Europe from one part to another and if I didn't let Haley know where I was, well there was going to be words when I got home and vice versa if I couldn't get hold of her.

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It's a very kind thing to do, it's a very loving thing to do to let your loved ones know how you're going because people who love you at home, they get worried if they don't hear from you.

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Take note of those of you on your pea plates.

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Now think about Paul's situation. The Philippians must have heard the reports of the difficulties that had overtaken their beloved former pastor.

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They must have learned from those travelling through the city of Philippi that he had been arrested, he'd been sent to Rome, he'd suffered shipwreck, he's now imprisoned.

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You can see it in the way that Paul lovingly responds to them saying I want you to know what's happened to me.

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I mean they must have been deeply concerned for their former spiritual shepherd asking questions like is Paul still in chains?

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Has he had that trial yet? Has the verdict been given? Is our mate still alive?

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And this shows such a beautiful deep friendship and bond between pastor and congregation, one that we went into more detail with last week.

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But I also want to point out to you something else going on here and I think it's Paul's main emphasis.

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And it's not on his well-being but actually on questions surrounding the advancement of the Gospel.

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Look back with me if you would at verse 12.

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Paul says now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what's happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel.

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See that? In one sense yes he's letting them know he's okay but in another sense he's answering questions around things like

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won't the Gospel be hindered now that you're in prison Paul?

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Won't the work of an evangelist, the evangelist to Europe be snuffed out now that you're in prison?

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I have to admit I kind of had these thoughts myself when Billy Graham passed away just a few years ago

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and more recently with New York's finest Tim Keller.

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Thoughts of these absolute giants of the faith and under incredible scrutiny, pressure,

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they did such incredible amazing work for the Kingdom of God with their platform.

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And with them gone who's going to step into their shoes?

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I mean it's not on the same level but I was pretty devout to hear that Martin Iles was leaving the ACL to go to America.

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He won't return any of my emails of course.

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God has raised such incredible men and women in this world for the work of the Gospel.

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And when they go for whatever reason we might have these thoughts in ourselves as the church.

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What's next? What's the Lord doing in this?

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Well to that the Apostle Paul has something to say.

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You see with all these questions floating about the Apostle is essentially saying here

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my circumstances may look bad to you but something has come out of all of this.

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That's the advancement of the Gospel.

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And he comforts the church by giving them two examples of how he being in prison has actually served the advancement of the Gospel.

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First thing he points to is that the epicentre of thought, politics, art, religious influence had been penetrated by Paul being in Rome.

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I mean any musician in the world knows that if you want to make it big then there's no way that you're going to be able to do that in Australia.

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If you think about our biggest musical exports like ACDC, Nick Cave, Inexcess, well there's only so many times you can play the Dunsborough Tavern.

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The bands that really influenced the world stage they got out of Australia and either to London or New York pretty quickly

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because it's from those big cities that things could flow downstream so to speak.

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Well at least before the rise of the internet.

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And we see this kind of thought with Paul's ministry.

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He was wanting to get to Rome because Rome had so much influence in the ancient world.

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It was an incredibly powerful and influential city and Paul says guess what?

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By them putting me in a Roman prison it's actually served the mission that I was hoping to do anyway as the Gospel is advancing throughout the whole palace garden.

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So not only did Paul get a free trip from Jerusalem to Rome he's actually had the opportunity to witness along the way to those he's now in contact with.

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Who is he in contact with?

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Well he says it here, the palace guard.

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Now that's important to note because these men, they've got a fancy Latin name behind them, but they're high level soldiers.

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Meaning they were more than likely the same guys that took care of the most influential politicians and maybe even the emperor himself.

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And Paul has a captive audience and he speaks to them about the king of kings.

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It's almost like he's an ambassador for Christ in chains.

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So that's the first thing Paul wants these beloved people to know that even though he's in prison, even though it seems hopeless and Paul is restricted, take comfort my dear friends.

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The Gospel is going forth.

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Paul's chained up.

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The Gospel isn't chained up.

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The second thing he wants them to know is that his imprisonment has actually inspired a plethora of others to become more confident and proclaim the Gospel all the more.

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Now if they started chucking pastors in prison here in Australia, we might think people would actually be more afraid to stand up and say anything about the truth.

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But that's not the case we see here.

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Paul saying that he's being in prison actually inspired others to dare all the more to advance the Gospel throughout Rome.

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And I think that's the case because they could see that Paul being in prison was actually a great thing in that prison guards, probably the most scariest, hardened, biggest blokes in society, kind of like our footy players.

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Well they're coming to Christ as well as others in Caesar's household as we'll see in later weeks.

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And so in light of that, in light of seeing the Gospel working in the hardest of places, it doesn't hinder witness.

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It inspires others to stand up, take the fight because they could see the Gospel ripping through the upper eptulons of Roman society.

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So Paul gives two examples to the Church about how even though he's chained up and in prison, the Gospel isn't being hindered.

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In fact just the opposite, his imprisonment has served the purpose of the greater advancement of the Gospel, both in his personal witnessing and those who have been influenced by his example.

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Let me just say examples are contagious. History testifies to it.

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It testifies it to those around Martin Luther, around John Knox, around George Whitfield, around John Wesley.

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Many knew what they should be doing but when they saw these great men of God and how bold they were in their faith, they too were inspired to share the Gospel.

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Might I say as a way of encouragement, when you speak up for Jesus, in whatever capacity you find yourself doing so, others will be encouraged by your boldness.

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Our example of witnessing to others, our testimony of those being saved and discipled, well it encourages your brothers and sisters in Christ to do the same.

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I've been personally so incredibly encouraged by many testimonies of courage in this very Church.

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And when I say courage, I mean simply opening your mouth, sending that text, writing that letter, sharing or even inviting, saying those words, have you given your life to the Lord?

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There are so many stories in this room of faithful Christians simply being bold enough to share the Gospel in the context in which they find themselves in.

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It's inspiring. It really is.

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And so Paul encourages us this morning with these tremendous words and we know that he isn't just giving us a pep talk but that he really believes that God has him in the right place at the right time because the Gospel is being advanced in ways that he could never have imagined.

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It's like he wrote to the Roman Church years before. We know all things, in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose.

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But as Paul points out here in these next verses before us this morning, not everyone who was out there stepping up to preach the Gospel was motivated for the right reasons.

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Some of them, it seems, were out there as enemies of Paul and didn't like him at all, even preaching Christ out of a sense of rivalry.

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Paul writes, it's true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.

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The latter do so out of love, knowing that I'm put here for the defence of the Gospel.

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The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I'm in chains, verses 15 through to 17.

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If we ever think about what's happening here, Paul might be answering some questions that the Philippians may have had.

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They may have been thinking, we've heard you're in prison, Paul. We've heard that you're there in chains, but we've also heard there's people out there in Rome who are preaching who are totally against you.

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And so Paul is confirming maybe what they've heard. In one sense, Paul, in one sense, some people were inspired by his imprisonment and his Gospel ministry in jail.

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And so out of the right motives, out of love, they step up to the plate and they share the Gospel.

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All the while having those words that Paul wrote to the Roman church, God's sovereign, he works all things for the good of those who love him.

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And so with our dear brother in prison, we know that God is using him there. Amen.

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And so while he's in there, let's step up to the plate, let's do the work on the outside.

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Others, however, others may have been thinking something like this.

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Paul's in prison and you know what? We're going to get as many converts to our ministry as we can. This will discourage him.

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Now notice what Paul isn't saying here. He isn't saying that these are false teachers.

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For all intents and purposes, they were those who were rightly preaching Christ and Him crucified.

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In other words, they were preaching the Gospel, their doctrine was sound.

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Meaning the problem wasn't with their message, but their motivation.

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And those wrong motives were essentially envy.

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In other words, they were out there doing Gospel ministry out of jealousy and were attacking Paul's reputation.

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Maybe casting doubt on his character.

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We're not entirely sure, but maybe they were insinuating that Paul, while he was in prison, because God's not really happy with him.

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If he was really an ambassador for Christ, then he'd be meeting up with those in Parliament House and not in the clink, right?

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Great preachers, great men of God, great women of God.

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They've always had their critics in the church.

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John Calvin was exiled from his pulpit in Switzerland after only two years.

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Jonathan Edwards was voted out of his church after 22 years of ministry.

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And it's said that over 90% of the congregation wanted him out.

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Charles Spurgeon suffered severe depression from the leaders of his own denomination during the downgrade controversy.

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No one who lives for the truth will be without their critics.

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From without and within the church.

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It's part of the parcel.

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Paul says to his apprentice, everyone who wants to live a godly life, Timothy, in Christ Jesus, they're going to be persecuted.

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We don't usually mean to take that from within the church.

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Now we might ask ourselves what causes such division, such envy and jealousy within the people of God.

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Well there's a plethora of reasons.

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But in the context of our passage and with the Greek that sits under our New International Translation of trouble, that word trouble,

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Paul is saying that these people were trying to cause him trouble through heated contention,

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quarrelling about words which were targeted to give him a sense of distress.

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Maybe these people were jealous of Paul's apostolic authority.

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Maybe they were jealous of his towering intellect or gifted speech.

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Maybe it was over his far-reaching influence.

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But whatever it was, they considered Paul to be some sort of threat to their own agendas.

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And the result of this was envy.

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And they somewhat took advantage of Paul being locked up.

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And they work against him.

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Church, let me just say, this kind of trouble can be devastating.

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Not just towards those in ministry but to the spiritual health of God's people, the church.

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In our text this morning, within this context of the Greco-Roman world,

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it had the potential to create divisions in the church and among believers as there was preachers out there in Rome

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working with a sense of jealousy, forcing people to make a decision between supporting the Apostle Paul

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or standing with them in their view of things.

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A horrid situation.

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I don't know about you but for most of us,

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not being able to do anything about your reputation

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and the truth of things because you're confined, chained and restricted,

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will really freak you out.

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But listen to what Paul says here.

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Listen to verse 18.

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He says, what's the matter?

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The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.

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And because of this, I rejoice, yes, and I'll continue to rejoice.

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Hear that church. Paul is essentially saying, I don't care what's said about me.

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I don't care who does it or gets the credit for it because the point is the advancement of the gospel.

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And so here Paul is saying to his dearly beloved in Philippi

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that he's in no way discouraged when Christ is truly preached,

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even when it's out of wrong motives, even when it's out of competition,

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even if it's designed to discourage him.

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To Paul, the gospel is all that he cares about.

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As long as the gospel is truly preached, then Paul rejoices in that.

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To put it simply, the apostle is saying there's a bigger concern than my reputation here.

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And the bigger concern is the promotion, the proclamation of Christ, the advancement of the gospel.

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And so he's saying he's not discouraged when Christ is truly preached.

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In fact, who cares what people think of him?

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Christ is proclaimed and he rejoices.

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Why? Because as far as Paul's concerned, it's not about him.

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It's about Jesus Christ.

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It's not about Paul being first.

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It's about his master and saviour, his Lord, his kingdom being first.

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Incredibly, incredibly challenging.

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Challenging for every one of us to adopt and maintain.

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I mean, do you rejoice in the midst of your suffering?

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Do you care more about your reputation than that of the Lord Jesus Christ?

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It's challenging to think that God has placed us in different circumstances,

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with different trials being brought to bear on us,

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and whatever may be confronting us, that we are to rejoice in the Lord.

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That's our duty as ambassadors of Christ.

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That's our calling.

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That's our privilege in this dark world, to maintain such joy in the midst of persecution.

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Now before you start thinking to yourself, but Michael, you don't know my context.

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You don't know the week I've had, the life that I find myself in.

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Are you expecting me to deny reality and put my head in the sand?

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Well, dear brother, dear sister,

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I want to say just a couple of things to every single one of us in this room this morning, including myself.

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You see, Paul's resilience didn't come from a denial of reality, or by putting his head in the sand.

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No, far from it.

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No, this incredible joyous resilience actually came from wholeheartedly embracing the truth of the reality that each and every Christian partakes in.

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And that is the ministry of the cross of Jesus Christ.

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Look with me at verses 19 through to 20.

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Paul says, for I know that through your prayers, God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

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what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

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I eagerly expect and hope that I will no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage,

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so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.

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Admittedly, so, so much could be said on this.

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I just want to pull out two things.

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First, Paul begins with an indication that he thinks he's going to be released by the prayers of these people.

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And these prayers, he has no doubt, will be effective.

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And as we saw last week, prayer is vitally important.

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It's a vitally important thing that we are to do for each other in the church.

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But after saying that second, he also says whether he's released or not, he knows he's not going to be put to shame,

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because whether he lives or dies, Christ, well, he's going to be exalted either way.

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What does he mean by that?

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Well, basically this.

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Paul is saying whether he's released or executed, whether he lives or dies, he won't be put to shame,

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because no matter what, Christ will be exalted.

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That's his hope.

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And so Paul is saying that he has a hope that nobody on this earth can take away from him.

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He's saying that there is no shame that I can endure in this world that can ultimately shame me,

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as long as Christ is exalted in me, because that's what I'm living for.

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That's what I'm about.

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I'm about glorifying and enjoying God through Jesus Christ forever.

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Whatever shame is attempted to be thrown at me, well, brothers and sisters, it won't ultimately stick,

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because I live for something else. I live for someone else. I live for Christ.

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So whether I live in prison, die at the hands of the Romans, if Christ is exalted in it, I won't be put to shame.

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An incredible, incredible grasp of the cross.

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And this can only come from someone who has denied themselves and embraced the cross of Jesus Christ.

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So let me say, if we're living for the glory and praise of God, the advancement of the gospel in all we are and do,

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then like Paul, who sees the cross for what it is, when life seems to smack us upside the head,

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when that diagnosis comes, when that event happens to catch us completely off guard,

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well, if we have picked up our cross and are living for the exaltation of Christ in all circumstances,

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then our question won't be, Lord, why me?

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Instead, our prayers will be, Lord, I'm looking forward to seeing how you're going to use this mess to advance the gospel

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to those around me and through me.

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Church, if this seems impossible, then we have to remember this.

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We too have the same access to the Spirit of Christ as our apostle had here.

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And that's because we are all partakers in the same gospel and grace of God.

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But in saying that, even though that is right and true, as we've seen again here this morning,

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our prayers for one another in the church, in all circumstances, they're so vitally important.

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So by way of application, do you see the gospel-centric renewing of Paul's mind here?

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Do you see how his mindset can be so transforming for the way that we too approach this life?

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I mean, if we are living for the exaltation of Christ in all that we are and do,

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then like Paul, we too can face anything, knowing that no matter what is thrown us,

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no matter what we're going through, no matter how tough things are,

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no matter what we're going through, no matter how tough things might seem,

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as long as Christ is exalted in the situation, then we'll be filled with joy.

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Because we'll see God at work in and through it all, glorifying his Son to all those around us.

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And might I just say, this is an impossible mentality to achieve on our own.

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So church, that's why we must be praying.

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We must be praying for one another that we have a greater and deeper understanding of the cross.

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Jesus endured our shame so that we would never have to.

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He took our punishment so that we would never be punished.

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He took our death sentence so that we might never feel the eternal sting of death.

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I don't know what you're going through in your life right now,

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but through it all the apostle Paul is saying, our joy doesn't come from our situations.

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It comes from exalting Christ in every situation, whether we live or die.

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Brothers and sisters, none of what we have seen this morning can be achieved by a mere theological understanding,

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but by the Holy Spirit revealing this to be truth,

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by believing, trusting and embracing the gospel.

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It means picking up our cross and being led of the Spirit of Christ in our lives.

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So might we pray as the people of God here in Grace Christian Church

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that we might have a deeper understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ

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and a deeper understanding of God's providence in all of our lives situations.

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Because without the gospel being centre in all of our lives,

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it will indeed be a joyless life. Would you pray with me?

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Father, we began our time by asking that you would exalt Christ in our midst this morning.

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Father, you know the situations of every single person in this room.

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You know the weeks we've had. You know the lives we are living.

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You know what we struggle with. You know our concerns. You know our fears.

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You know our dashed hopes.

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Father, we ask again in our lives, not just in our midst, but in our lives,

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that the Lord Jesus would be held high among us.

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That you would lead us by your grace, your mercy, your love and your tender care

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to the cross to pick it up and to follow the Lord Jesus all the days of our lives.

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Might we be an encouragement to one another and might every time we have our brothers and sisters

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in this church, in the wider body, might we have joy to pray because our prayers are not rooted

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in our circumstances but in the truth of the gospel.

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We ask for this in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.