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Welcome to Bible at the Beach. Today we'll be in Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 through 21.

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I'm so glad that you can join me today.

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Paul writes, I want you to know dear ones what has happened to me is not hindered

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but helped my ministry of preaching the gospel causing it to expand and spread to many people.

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What's important in life is not always our story.

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It's the story that we tell ourselves about our story. A lot of it has to do with

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perspective and

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seeing life from

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50,000 feet really God's view versus getting stuck in the weeds and seeing life

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just based on what's going to happen to you in the next minute the next hour the next day the next week the next month

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versus how life unfolds

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month by month year by year decade by decade.

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This was Paul's perspective. He had an incredible perspective on life and he says listen,

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I'm in prison and you need to understand that what has happened to me has only

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happened for the furtherance of God's mission. You know if we will learn to accept

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difficulty as

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a refining process

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life really opens up.

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Most of us look at difficulty or perceived setbacks or things that don't go the way that we want them to as

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failures and they're not. They're learning opportunities and it's often

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your

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interpretation of difficulty that allows you to have a godly perspective

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about life. Paul was in prison writing his most positive, encouraging and

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inspirational letter. If that isn't all the evidence that you need that

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circumstances don't dictate your peace and your happiness in life. I don't know what else to show you

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in regards to the scripture.

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He says for now the elite Roman guards and government officials overseeing my imprisonment have plainly

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recognized that I'm here because of my love for the anointed one. So

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you'll find yourself in places and spaces that you didn't expect in your life because you're supposed to talk to

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people that you didn't plan to talk to.

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This was Paul's process. Paul was put in front of prison guards and prominent officials

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so that he could share the Lord with them. Maybe

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nobody would have had the opportunity that Paul had and you need to ask yourself in your life who

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are the people that I'm around in my life that I didn't expect to be around?

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Who are the people that are in my path now? A, I never expected to be on this path and B,

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I don't even know what to say. God will give you the words to say and God will often find you in

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unpredictable

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places and spaces because he wants you to represent him well wherever you find yourself.

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He says in verse

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14 and what I'm going through is actually caused many believers to become even more

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courageous in the Lord and to be bold and passionate to preach the word of God all because of my chains.

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So when you have courage and you have a

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bold perspective in spite of your circumstances,

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this is what is infectious.

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Courage is infectious. When people see you face

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life and the difficulty that it's given to you in a bold courageous way, this provides

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the necessary inspiration for other people. You see courage through adversity is a perspective

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that we need in every chapter

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of life that we find ourselves.

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Now verse 15 says it's true that there are some who preach Christ out of competition and controversy

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for they are jealous over the way that God has used me.

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Many others have pure motives. They preach

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with grace and love filling their hearts because they know I've been destined for the purpose of defending the revelation of God. Now Paul's pointing out a lot here.

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You don't have to serve God for 10 minutes to figure out some people view it as a competition. It's not.

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We're not here competing against other believers.

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That's silly. That's immature and that's a very finite way of viewing. By the way, a fellow brother and sister in Christ, we're not in competition

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with each other at all.

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We're simply

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trying to find ourselves faithful

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in the place that God has put us.

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That's the goal of every believer. Are you being faithful in the place that God has put you?

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We often want God to change the place that he's put us so then we can start being faithful. God goes no, no, no. You go first.

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You be faithful in the place that I put you and then I'll determine how

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I want to use you

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in your life. Now Paul dealt with jealousy. I was just texting someone yesterday.

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Dealing with jealousy, dealing with adversity, dealing with opposition.

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There's not a day that goes by in my life I don't deal with jealousy, opposition,

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and

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people that are mean. I just

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ignore it.

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That's all you can do.

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And you stay focused on the life that God's called you to live and be faithful to what you're supposed to do.

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You don't have to respond.

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And you need to know that. It's okay to ignore

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controversy, attacks,

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criticisms,

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people that are mean.

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And what do you what do I mean when I say

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that I ignore it? Well,

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I don't respond and I choose to be kind and loving

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and I don't want to be

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too kind and loving

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to all people in all circumstances. That's what you do.

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Then you stay focused on

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what God's asked you to do. This is what Paul's doing. And Paul, by the way, very astutely says, look at motives

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don't even matter. What matters is that Jesus preached. Are there people that preach

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Christ differently than the way I do it? Of course, of course, and that's okay. That's a beautiful thing.

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There are people that preach in a way that I would never do it because that's not my style. That's not my practice.

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That's not my preference. Listen,

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Jesus and the Bible are the preeminent apex assets of life. Jesus and the Bible.

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Our

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practices and our preferences are secondary. Those are just

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cultural things that we choose. You have to ask yourself the question.

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A. Is Jesus and the Bible the most important things in my life? B.

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Do I have practices and preferences that I like and that I enjoy when it comes to how I live out my faith?

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You should be able to say yes to that. If your practices and preferences of how you

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celebrate Jesus and the Bible in your life aren't exciting, go change them. Do yourself and everyone a favor.

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Go change them. You don't have to propagate

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perspectives and practices that you don't even like. Don't do that.

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Don't do it to yourself and don't do it to the people that you're supposed to help and that you're supposed to minister

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to in your life. You're wasting your time and their time.

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And God has a better plan for you.

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Verse 17, those who preach Christ with ambition and competition are

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insincere. So that's the wrong motive. The wrong motive for ministry is not ambition and competition. Paul's pointing this out.

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They just want to add to the hardships of my imprisonment. Some people,

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when they're going through difficulty, they just want to make life more difficult for those around them.

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He says, yet in spite of all this, I'm overjoyed.

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What doesn't matter as long as Christ is preached? If they preached him with mixed motives or with genuine love,

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the message of Christ is still being preached. So here's Paul with a godly perspective.

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He's even saying motives don't even really matter.

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And I will continue to rejoice because I know that the lavish supply of the spirit of Jesus, the anointed one,

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and your intercession will bring me about my deliverance. Now Paul switches here

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to

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our outlook. It's an abundance outlook.

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Paul goes, look, there's enough of God's love to go around. There's enough of God's grace to go around. We don't

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control the supply of God's love.

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And the supply of his favor. It's unlimited.

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Unlimited. So why would you try to control an asset or a resource

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that has an

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infinite value to it and an infinite supply?

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What a waste of time. There's plenty of God's love to go around, plenty of his grace to go around, plenty of ministry to go around.

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So let's quit competing with him, being ambitious with, and let's just engage in the spirit of God.

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Quit competing with him, being ambitious with, and let's just encourage each other and having a good time the way that God designed us to do it.

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He says,

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no matter what, I'll continue to hope and passionately cling to Christ. That's the goal. We passionately cling to Jesus

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so that

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he will be revealed through me before everyone's eyes. That's the goal of every believer.

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That Christ would be revealed through us and in us and through us to the people that we interacted through the relationships that we have

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in our life. So that I will not be ashamed in my life or death that Christ will be magnified in me.

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My life, my true life is the anointed one and dying

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means gaining more of him. So we live on

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on earth in this life for our life to be an invitation and a demonstration of the love of God, Jesus flowing innocent through us.

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Wow, God's so awesome. Let's pray together. God, give us your eyes. Give us your ears. Give us your heart today.

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In Jesus name. Amen.

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Thanks so much for tuning in. Until next time. Hope you have a beautiful day.