Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the necessity of maintaining an eternal perspective through the collaboration of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. He encourages believers to support one another in their spiritual journeys, fostering a community driven by love and good works. The sermon highlights that our personal struggles and triumphs are not solely for our benefit but serve to comfort and uplift others, reflecting the transformative power of Christ in our lives. Beach Jr. calls for a shift from self-centered interpretations of our experiences to a focus on how they can contribute to the body of Christ. Ultimately, he urges the congregation to become a dwelling place for the Lord, where His presence can rest and work through them.

When the Holy Spirit and the Word of God work together, things begin to get sorted out in our minds. That's the power of God's heart, the power of the Holy Spirit. We are in desperate need, not only to experience that as we gather together corporately, such as we are this morning, but we're in desperate need for that to happen on a daily basis, as we encourage one another and provoke one another, not provoking to anger, but provoking to godly jealousy and to good works, as we speak into one another's hearts, into one another's lives, through our fellowshipping with one another on the phone and as we get together and share our lives. The result ought always to be an increase of our understanding in our heart of eternal things, of heavenly things, of a perspective that can last in eternity. That ought to be the effects of our fellowship with one another. Doesn't mean we can't have fun and in the summer play baseball or go for hikes, but we ought to always be experiencing this effect in our fellowshipping one with another. And that's how we are built up together as a body and encouraged. As you know, we have come to our last sin in the series, Seven Deadly Sins That Every Christian Should Hate. I want to express thanks to the Lord for his enabling and his grace to communicate these things. I want to thank the Lord for the labor of love that all the members are contributing here as we grow together. There is a lot of things that is going on in the background, a lot of things. Everyone get a bulletin this morning. If not, please get one in the back. These things just don't happen. People are moving by love, not by compulsion, not by a feeling of threat, but members are moving by love. The beautiful tapes that are being produced. How many have gotten a tape? At least one tape so far. One tape. Well, how does that happen? People, members of the body are being moved by that incredible, mysterious word called love. It's a labor of love. It's a labor of love. Isn't it marvelous when our movements are motivated by love, by the love of God? And so, a lot of beautiful things are happening and it's all springing out of love as people are simply responding to the love of God in their hearts and saying, Lord, I just want to love and serve and help and bless. And isn't it marvelous? And this ought to be growing in our lives as we continue to fellowship around the Lord. However, I'm not going to speak on the last sin. For several days now, I share a little bit Friday night. For several days, the Lord dropped something in my heart and remarkably everything, not remarkably, but it's just the way the Lord is. Everything that was shared in testimony and in exhortation just dovetails so wonderfully with what the Lord has put on my heart. And so, the last sin will be reserved for another time when the season is right, when it's the time to share it. And then we will have the seven messages complete and available. And we encourage you, as the Lord would lead, to be sure and search your scriptures and diligently listen and let the Lord minister life to you in a wonderful way. There are a number of, I suppose, exhortations and thoughts in my spirit this morning that I want to share as from the Lord. And I just want to admonish you for the next 30 minutes or so to continue in the posture of listening because when the Lord directs each member of the body, it is always because He is adding to the whole. And so, therefore, how many have been ministered to thus far from all the exhortations? And why have we all been so ministered? Because the Lord is ministering to us through the members and that's how He works. And as we come together, expecting the Lord to meet us, not only on an individual basis through His Holy Spirit, but He meets us through other members of the body. Many times the Lord Jesus dresses up as your brother or your sister and speaks into your life and gives you just what you have need of. You were expecting it to come another way, but the Lord used a brother or a sister. Maybe He used a smile. And so, as we learn to listen to the Lord speak to us through one another, oh, what richness and what blessing comes into our life. And so, therefore, I would encourage you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And I want to share a few thoughts along a very important truth that I believe will be advantageous to us all. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. We've read it many times beginning in verse number 3. Now, I want everyone to please pay attention because you're going to discover that this particular word is very applicable to what you're going through. The truth contained in this section of Scripture is going to address you in a very real way. If you listen to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God now, you're going to hear this and say, wow, Lord, this is a revolutionary thought from Your Word. I'm asking You to work it in me. Now, you watch and see if that doesn't happen. Beginning in verse number 3 of 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Verse number 6 in particular, listen carefully. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. Now, for days now, the Lord has had this scripture in my spirit, and I believe it's a word for us all. And what it is, it's a word that enables us to keep perspective. To keep perspective. In verse number 6, the Holy Spirit through Paul says, And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And then in the latter part, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. Now, listen closely. The things that you are currently going through are not chiefly for your benefit, or exclusively for your benefit. But the things which you are going through are for the sake of others. Now, I want you to see something here that is very important. You're looking at a letter that was written by a man whose name was Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. You're looking at a man who was transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, if the man saw of Tarsus, listen carefully. If the man saw of Tarsus, who was the man that was a very ego-centered religious man, if he was writing this epistle, now, of course, it was him, but Saul of Tarsus was the old man. The man before Jesus Christ got a hold of him, and Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, a bondservant of God, was the new man. Now, if Saul of Tarsus was writing this, he would have a completely different perspective than Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. In Philippians chapter 3. Now, I want you to see this so that you can ask yourself and ask the Holy Spirit, what kind of response am I demonstrating through what I'm currently going through? Is it one that would correspond to the kind of response that Saul of Tarsus would go through, or is it one that would coincide with the kind of response that Paul, an apostle and a bondservant of Jesus Christ would go through? Now, Philippians chapter 3. I want to introduce you to Saul of Tarsus, a man that God had to truly transform in order that he might serve the purpose of God. Beginning in verse number 1. Finally, my brother, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous, or to you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Jesus Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, watch this. For though I might also have confidence in the flesh. Now, he's talking about Saul of Tarsus. He's talking about himself the way he used to be. If any man otherwise, or if any man think that he would, whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Now, this is the profile of Saul. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Now, we're reading about a man here who was entirely addicted to himself. And the things that he went through as Saul of Tarsus were interpreted by him exclusively. How they benefited him. How they made him look before men. How they made him look before his colleagues. How they made him feel in relation to his self-worth. Or his sense of importance. Or his sense of identity. And so therefore, when Saul of Tarsus interpreted his life around about him, he despised and resented whatever was happening that affected him in a way that prevented him from feeling that the things around about him were benefiting his ego. Or benefiting his personal agenda. Or benefiting his religious standing among his religious peers. And so, Saul of Tarsus was entangled in a snare of interpreting everything around about him in relation to how it affected him in a very selfish, self-centered, ego-centered manner. In such a state, we can see how the Lord had to take Saul of Tarsus and transform him into Paul, a bondservant and slave to Jesus Christ. But now, let me show you what happened to Saul of Tarsus when Jesus Christ got a hold of him. Listen carefully. Verse number seven. But that, or but what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Wholly self-centered, relating everything to how it affected him. How he looked in the eyes of men. How he was perceived by his contemporaries. How everything he went through made him feel. How well it aided to his perceived success or failure. Whether it made him look right or wrong in the eyes of men or in the eyes of his contemporaries. That's Saul of Tarsus. But now, Paul says, after the Holy Spirit gets a hold of him, and after the Holy Spirit transforms him, and after the Holy Spirit starts to deal with him and starts to reveal to him Christ, this is what he says. But the things that were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. That is, the things that were once important to me, that is, the things that I perceived at one time were beneficial to my agenda, beneficial to my personal plan, beneficial to getting a bigger ego or a bigger following or a bigger esteem by other people. Those things that I considered gain to me, that is, gain to me is inclusive. It's all inclusive. When Paul says, those things which I considered gain to me, that is an inclusive statement. It involves everything happening in our life that we want to take to our advantage, that we want to use to our advantage. To our advantage. But Paul said, the things that were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things. This is some incredible language here. All things. Loss. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but what? Dung. Refuge. That I may win Christ. Now, I remind you of 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And whether we be afflicted or whether we are comforted, it is for your sake. Let me show you something here and then we're going to go on. The great emancipation, the great release that each one of us need is the release from interpreting our world and the things in our life exclusively to how they relate to us. And be brought into the posture where the Holy Spirit had Paul, where Paul interpreted everything that was happening in his life. Believe you, beloved brothers and sisters, he was speaking here out of experience of imprisonment and persecution and misunderstanding, having gone without. But he was interpreting those things, not as Saul of Tarsus. Oh man God, I sure don't look good in the eyes of all my Pharisee contemporaries. I look like a failure. Oh Lord, I don't even have my own personal horse. Everybody else has a horse and buggy and I have to always rely on other people, Lord. Oh God, I lost my position in the Pharisee Sanhedrin, Lord. Oh God, you see, oh Lord, everything, he's interpreting everything as Saul of Tarsus, how it's affecting his profile in Philippians chapter 3. He liked that profile. He liked that he was a man, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, as far as the law, blameless and perfect. He liked that. He liked that. He liked to feel that he was that kind of a man. But when God got a hold of him, he realized none of that mattered and now he was interpreting everything he was going through, not on a self-pity potty, but he was interpreting it from a eternal perspective. He saw himself no longer belonging to himself. He saw himself as being a vessel in the hands of God and now he saw that the things that were happening to him were for the benefit of others. That is, as he went through things, God would secure more of his son in him and that would affect his influence on other people. And so when Paul suffered, he received comfort from Christ so that when he met suffering people, he could what? Comfort them with the comfort that he himself received when he suffered. If he went without, then he would receive the assurance that God would provide what for? So that when he walked among the saints and they were without, he could come and say with confidence, Oh beloved, don't fear because you serve a God that will provide for you even though you are lacking. How did he know that? Because when he lacked, God provided. And so he was emancipated from interpreting everything that was happening to him from how it affected himself in a sinful ego way and just fell at the feet of God and realized whatever was happening in him was an opportunity for him to come to know a greater revelation of his God so that he can then share that revelation with the people of God. Glory to God. Glory. That's the secret to being free from falling into the vulnerability of being filled with pity, depression, anger, unforgiveness, grumbling, complaining. All of these things happen when we don't like the lot we got. And we don't like the lot we got because we're not interpreting it the way God is wanting to use it in our life, but it's cramping our style. It's cramping our style. It's not letting us get what we think we should have. Where does others come into that whole mindset? Honestly, others are not in that mindset. When we are caught in that old frame of mind, when we're caught in the mindset of reckoning things around us, the way a person does that doesn't have the Spirit of God, people are no longer in the equation because we don't care about anyone else. Even our service, God help me, even our service to other people is tainted with, I did this so now I want something back. We need Romans chapter 12. We need the renewal of the mind. And so I believe the Holy Spirit wants to bring this truth, and you'll find this truth is characteristic in every single saint that you'll ever read about in the Bible or in church history who has ever had a significant contribution into the body of Christ. They were delivered from themselves and they perceived everything that was happening around them as a means to grow closer to their God and to become a greater love servant to the body. Isn't that liberating? Now ask yourself the question as I had asked you to do before I started. How many times are you right now caught in the snare of interpreting your life based on why me? Oh God. Alright. That whole symptom is rooted in a cause. You know we always like to look at symptoms. Let's get to the cause right now by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we succumb to that mindset and we feel resentment, bitterness, hatred, just a grumpy attitude, we get to the root and here's the root. Here's the root. We're looking to lay hold of the life that Jesus said you must lose. He that seeks to save his life will lose it. Let me tell you something. God is not going to orchestrate circumstances in your life in order to save the life that He wants you to lay aside. We think God is going to support what we want. No. You see, Jesus said, Jesus said he that seeks to save his life shall lose it. What is the life that Jesus doesn't want us to save? It's the life of sinful ideas, sinful mentality. It's the life of independence from God. My life. I'll do it my way without God's help. I'll become something in my eyes and in the eyes of others that's unrelated to Christ becoming bigger in my life. Whatever that is, God is not for it. He's against it. You say, well, it sounds cruel. No. It's the exact opposite. That's God's love. And so, therefore, listen. Listen. Ask God now in your own spirit. Ask Him in your own spirit. Lord, have I perceived, have I fallen prey to the idea that what is happening in my life right now, the pressures, the pains, the difficulties, even the prosperity, have I thought, Lord, that it is so that I personally could gain? Have I thought that it's for my good apart from You? If so, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for succumbing to this mindset. Renew my mind from this day forward, Lord, and enable me to see that whatever crucible I'm in, whatever situation I'm in, it is not for my personal benefit, but it is for Your pleasure and the benefit of others. My poverty is for the benefit of others in that I am able to demonstrate before them a contentment that God can give in poverty. My prosperity, if it is not the thing I'm seeking after. Now, this is something I wanted to mention way back when we taught on that sin of love of money. I'll just mention it real quick here. God does not support the desire within His church to become rich. You can wrestle with that. You can find another preacher to tell you the exact opposite, and that's alright if you want to do that. They that will be rich fall into many hurtful and deceitful lusts. God does not support the insatiable desire to want to be wealthy. Now, God may give prosperity to a Christian, but let me tell you something. If God gives it, it's not because that Christian is after it. It's because God chooses to do it for what? For the same principle that's in 2 Corinthians. Whether I suffer, it's for your sake. Whether I'm comforted, it's for your sake. Whether I prosper, it's for your sake. How are you seeing and interpreting your life? If you will, by the Spirit of God, get a hold of this revelation, it will change your life and your outlook. My plans, my goals, my dreams, my desires. Philippians chapter 3. That I might know Him. If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. That I might win Christ. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Here is a picture of a man whose heart was gripped and captured with eternity. God has taken this man Paul and is demonstrating through Paul the kind of heart that he wants for his whole church. That's what he's doing here. Now you see how easy it is to start interpreting your life the wrong way? That's why Paul said, in everything give thanks. You see, you can't give thanks in everything as long as you are holding on to the mindset of everything's got to benefit me because everything's not going to benefit you. So why are you going to thank God for something that's not helping your agenda unless you're free from your agenda? Then you can praise God. You ever wonder why you see somebody rejoicing and you look and say, how can they be rejoicing? If I was in that place, that's the problem. If you were in that place, you wouldn't be perceiving it the way they are. That's why they're rejoicing because they don't have a personal agenda. Their agenda is, Lord, I'm asking you to transform me into the image of your Son and allow my life to contribute to the increase of Christ in the lives of others. Now listen, this comes right down to our, this comes down to where we live. Husbands and wives, help one another on this. Children, help. This is what we need to talk about with each other when we're together fellowshipping. We need to keep this perspective, don't we? Woe is me, Lord. Okay, listen carefully. This mindset opens up an opportunity for us to look into something. It's 12.05, we have a few more, I have a little bit more time than I thought. 12.10, somewhere around there, so another few moments, please. Bear with me, okay? Turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter one. We're gonna dovetail two thoughts here. We're gonna dovetail two thoughts. This mindset prepares us, listen, to fulfill something that is in God's heart. Genesis chapter one. Something that Alan was speaking about during his sharing this morning, something that we talked about on Friday night. Genesis one. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Listen, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. That seems like a very insignificant verse, but it's not, because I have read that the Hebrew text of and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters has very, very clear connotation in its language structure that would represent an eagle hovering, looking earnestly for a place to build her nest. And so here God immediately at the very beginning is unveiling to us the desire of His heart. God is looking for a place that He can call His home. And now the question that I believe He's asking us, the song that we sang, who will hear the cry of my heart? Who will build me a place? Who will build me a house? The question I believe God is asking each one of us this morning individually and as a corporate body is this, will you hear my heart cry and offer yourself as a home where I can come and take up my residence and my lordship, a place of rest. Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8. You see, in order for us to be the home where the Holy Spirit can reveal the full lordship of Jesus Christ, we have to be delivered from that mindset. Because that mindset of I interpret everything how it affects me contradicts the mindset of I do not belong to myself. I belong to the Lord. He lives inside of my life and He is working in my life to accomplish His purposes, not mine. Now listen carefully, Matthew chapter 8, verse 19. And a certain scribe came and said to him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said, The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Now remember, this was in response to a man who said, I'll follow you wherever you'll go. Jesus talked about nests and homes. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. I don't believe Jesus was telling this young man, listen, I don't own a home. Jesus was saying the same thing here that He was saying in Genesis 1. I'm looking for a place where I can lay my head. I'm looking for a place where I can place my headship, my full authority. I'm looking for a home where I can feel entirely at home. Is He finding it in our lives today? Is He finding it in your home today, the home of your heart? Does He know in your life today that you've given Him the rights? The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Nowhere to lay His head. When He comes to your heart, does He find a place? Is it a place that's ever growing for Him? As Alan mentioned earlier, the Lord's ultimate intention is not just to give us a deliverance of this or that, of one sin here and one sin there, although that's important. God's ultimate intention is to find a place, as Colette said, a people who will basically say, Lord, nothing matters but You and You alone. That's where the Lord is leading us. And I encourage each one of you to allow Him to have His way, to allow Him to search your heart, to allow Him to adjust your mindset on how you interpret things that are going on in your life. Pray that He'll deliver us from this selfish perception into a selfless perception. Not how I am gaining personally, but how is the Lord gaining? What's the Lord getting out of this? And that brings us right then to, Lord, I want to become a home in Christ where You can lay Your head, where You can know there's somebody whose heart belongs to me. Father, we thank You and praise You for the abundance of Your love this morning and Your mercy and Your grace. And we thank You, Lord, for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives today. Lord, I'm asking that You'll empower each one of us to respond to that which You have done in us today. Release us, Lord, from everything and anything that holds us, that we might know the embrace of Your love and that we might have a sense of knowing that we have a single heart, that You've given us a single heart that's after You alone. Lord, I'm asking You to make us a company of people as a body where You can find a place to lay Your headship, where each of us are knit together by love, motivated by love, filled with Your beauty. Do this, Lord, we pray. Fill us, Lord, with Your Holy Spirit and Your power to perform Your word. Anyone want special prayer I just sense in my spirit this morning? I would love to pray with you. Others may. If you want special prayer, I would invite you to respond. We don't generally do this, but I just have this in my heart. If you want special prayer, maybe as a family or as a couple, only if the Lord has put it on your heart, respond, come on forward. I want to pray with you. I'm sure a few others would probably join in to pray too. Let's believe the Lord. God has stirred your heart and you just want special prayer. I want to make myself available to pray with you and for you, to believe the Lord, to perform His word. Let's sing this song together as we sit in His presence. Praise the Lord. Thank you. Anybody at all.