Below is an excerpt of the sermon…

If you have your Bibles, let’s open them, please, to the book of Philippians this morning. Philippians. We’re going to look at a few Scriptures here, and if the pastor cuts up a little bit too much, it’s because I haven’t been out much and sometimes my wife won’t let me out of the house, and so I don’t get out much. And so, sometimes it’s a little bit crazy. Philippians, a little of the background… We’ll do a little teaching on this book and then will bring the message.

And by the way, it is good to have some bus riders back. It’s good to have our buses back. And we have missed you. And we’ve got a great crowd of teenagers here on the property today, and I appreciate them as well. It’s so exciting. I had two teenagers fist bump me (You know, you can’t shake hands. It’s illegal), but they said, “Pastor, it’s good to be back. And I’m so glad that you’re back today.

Philippians. Let’s look at it just for a moment. You may remain seated because we’ll kind of skip around some. But here’s the background Philippians. The city is named after Philip, one of the political leaders there in the area of Greece and Rome and all these places at the time of Paul. So here it is. This church actually started in a jail cell. The apostle Paul, him and one of his coworkers, Silas, they ended up witnessing into a young lady, and she accepted Christ, and the area did not like that. Her life was changed. So, the Bible says they stripped them—the two preachers—and commenced beating their backs. And then they chained them, and they put them in—thrust them in—the lower part of the prison. So now they are beaten, they’re bleeding. They’re humiliated. They’re now chained in the bottom of the prison. And guess what they did at midnight? I know what I’ve been doing, calling my lawyer. I’d have been blogging or texting or on Instagram, posting this on my Instagram: “Look what they did to me.” No, it’s not what they did. They sang and praises to God at midnight. How come? Because Paul and Silas had something on the inside that others didn’t have. They had Jesus Christ as their Savior. And though they were beaten, they didn’t beat the joy out of them and they didn’t beat the salvation out of them. And at midnight God shook that prison cell. The doors busted open. The jailer comes in and says, “What must I do to be saved?” Where had he heard that word? He had heard it probably when Paul and Silas preached. He’d probably heard it as they sang all night long in prison. In other words, he wanted what they had. By the way, if you’re a Christian living the way you ought to, someone wants what you have. They may not say it, but they’re observing and they’re watching and they’re waiting for you to slip up because you’re different than them. And a church was established, the jailer got saved. His whole family accepted the Lord. Paul got them up out of bed, he baptized them all in the river that night. That started the church at Philippi.

Now, at the point we are now, Paul is back in jail again. He just couldn’t get off probation, folks. But he was in jail for preaching because it was illegal. He was saying, “Jesus is the king,” and others said, no, no, no, no, “Caesar is the king.” You couldn’t say anyone was king but Caesar. So now he’s in jail again, and guess what he’s doing? He’s writing a book of the Bible called Philippians back to that church at Philippi. They should have been writing him, he is writing them. And the theme of the book is “Cheer up.” Most people from prison don’t write you and say you need to cheer up. And this is Paul, a supernatural thing.
Notice some of the highlights, if you have it. If not, if you don’t have a Bible, just kind of listen or look up here. Notice he says, Phil. 1:1 “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ…” He said, I’m just a servant. Phil. 1:3, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you…” He is imprisoned, but he’s still thankful. And then we see in verse Phil. 1:10 “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence…” Paul said, I’m in prison, I’m innocent, but it didn’t offend me. I’m still serving the Lord. Then he goes a little further in Phil. 1:12, the last phrase, he said, this: “the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” Paul is saying, because we’re in jail, somebody’s going to get saved. He said, the Gospel is going to be furthered because of this. And then you see the times he mentions Jesus.

There are four words that are mentioned a lot in the book of Philippians. Here they are: Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, resurrection. Then also the word Christ. It’s another name for Jesus. So, the Gospel is mentioned. Paul mentions in a lot. He mentions Christ a lot. Then he mentions the word “joy” a lot. He’s in prison again. He’s chained. He’s saying, “Boy, there’s so much joy in my heart.” And you need to have joy. Then he mentions the word “mind” a lot. That’s the four key words that keep get mentioned in Philippians: “Christ,” the good news, the “gospel,” “joy,” your “mind,” and that’s what he is talking about. You say, “Pastor, I’d be cracked up if I was thrown in jail for preaching the gospel.” And then we see the word “Christ” is mentioned in verse Phil. 1:15, 16, 18, 20, 21. Paul says “For me to live is Christ, and to die, is gain.” Paul said, if they kill me, I’m just going to Heaven. What an outlook! He said, it’s a win-win situation. “I’m in prison, I’m always thinking about Jesus. If they chop my head off, I’ll be seeing Jesus.” Wow!