Introduction: The mind in Philippians

Now thank you all for being with us and before opening the Word of God we'll speak to God in prayer. Our Father we bow together in thy presence. We've been reminded of the glories that shine in thy word.

Beyond the Word of God there is the God of the Word. We would like to know thee better, like to appreciate more divine truth and divine ways and so we commit ourselves to thee. Again we give thanks to thee for thy Son.

We thank thee that into the history of this world, into time stepped the timeless eternal Son and he moved here to reveal thee in all of the fullness and all the perfection of thy person. And we thank thee for the great work of Calvary that has told out eternally and with tremendous finality all that is in the heart of our Father. And so we bow together to thank thee for the Lord Jesus.

We are gathered now to look at the Word of God and we trust we have all come with a spirit that is open to instruction and to correction and to guidance. We look to thee. Give help as the Word of God has opened.

Grant help for those that would listen as well despite the weather that we may have profit from the Word of God. Individuals and families and assemblies all alike taking away from this weekend something that will help and will be a strength and will be a guide for them in their lives for thee. We commit ourselves now in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. I'm going to ask you to turn first to Acts chapter 16 verse number 6. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not, and they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samathracea, and next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.

And we were in that city abiding certain days. Then what follows is well known, there is the conversion of Lydia, verse number 14, and there is the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination in verse 16, and then there is the well-known incident of Paul and Silas in the prison, the earthquake and the jailer and his conversion. Now we'll turn to Philippians and chapter number 1. The epistle of Paul to the Philippians and chapter number 1. Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always, in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy. Verse number 8, for God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. In this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.

Down the chapter, verse 27, only let your conversation, your manner of life, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. Now that will probably be enough for us to read, just as a general introduction to what is before us for the weekend. What we would like to look at through the meetings that follow are themes that are found in the Epistle of Philippians, and I think you have those in your outline, and we'll be looking at the guarded minds, be looking at a gospel mind, be looking at a godly mind, be looking at a garrisoned mind, be looking at a goal- oriented mind, be looking at a gentle mind as we survey these different themes in the epistle.

But my purpose is just to lay a foundation for what is going to follow as we consider the teaching of this epistle. So I want you to think, first of all, of the planting of this assembly. This assembly had a beginning and it was planted, and we read of that beginning back in Acts chapter 16 as Paul was guided by the Spirit to come to the city of Philippi.

So I want you to think, first of all, of the culture into which the gospel came. Think of the city of Philippi and some of the things that will have a bearing upon what is going to follow. First of all, Philippi was designated as a Roman colony.

We read that, and if you need a little bit of history and a little bit of a background, you may recall that Octavius defeated Anthony and Cleopatra BC 31, and the city was given what's called Italic rights, meaning they were made Roman citizens so that Philippi was a colony of Rome. And they were patterning their lives after, not Greece, but after Rome. They were a little colony of Rome in the land of Macedonia, the land of Greece.

We'll see how that bears upon it. It was a city marked by devotion as a result to its emperor, to the Caesars, and it was with great anticipation they would wait for the arrival of a royal visit from their emperor, whom they had great respect for. There was also a deployment of soldiers.

You will perhaps know, if you've read any of history, that one of the great blessings, if you can call it, of Roman occupation was what was called the Pax Romana, that if Rome conquered your country, you were guaranteed peace. Rome would station a garrison of soldiers there, and any possibility of disturbance, the garrison of soldiers would rush to your aid and assure your safety and your peace. Now, you actually have that in the, if you remember, in the book of the Acts, when there was a riot at Paul's proclamation before the Sanhedrin, and they were about to tear him apart, the Roman soldiers rushed to the scene to ensure peace and to put down all disturbance and so on.

So, the peace that was assured as a result of it being a Roman colony. There was also the dignity of Roman citizenship. Now, I just want you to think of this for just a moment because it's something we may not automatically connect.

You recall that it was illegal, except under the most rare of circumstances, illegal for a Roman citizen to be crucified. Paul was a Roman and therefore was beheaded, not crucified. So that when we come to chapter 2 and read words such as these, who became obedient unto death, even, even across death, when that letter was read to the Philippian assembly, you would see eyes looking around the room and every one of them acknowledging, we will never know what that is like.

They can never crucify us, but he went as far as across death for us. So, you can begin to see how the background will give such a tremendous insight into the letter that Paul has written to these believers. And then, of course, another thing that was well known in the Roman army was the Roman phalanx, the unified front that the army presented to its enemy, the interlocking of shields one with another, so there was always a unified defense.

And we will look at how Paul speaks, our brother Crawford will ably take up for us the subject of the gospel, and we will consider something of the defense of the gospel and their activity in the gospel and how that was so significant. So, so much then for the culture, the background into which the gospel came at Philippi. Think of the commencement of the assembly and think of what marked it.

There was, first of all, Spirit-directed gospel work. We read in Acts 16 of how the Spirit forbade them, and the Spirit suffered them not, and finally a door is opened. Now, I'm not sure your view of Acts 16 and the particular vision and someone praying, come over and help us, it seems to me from the wording that is used that in his dream Paul saw a man saying, come over and help us.

And that man was Luke. And whether it was the next day or the next week, there's a knock on Paul's door and the man is standing there and his name is Luke, because immediately it says that we, we went. Now, perhaps there'll be time later, one of different perhaps Mr. Crawford or myself, to notice the influence of Luke upon the assembly at Philippi, but Luke was instrumental in the exercise for Philippi as well as the well-being of the assembly and its gospel zeal.

So there was Spirit-directed gospel activity. Second thing was there was supplication. There are four prayers in Acts chapter 16 linked with the commencement of the assembly.

There's Luke's praying. There was the place where prayer was wont to be made where Paul resorted. We could read as well there of the prayer of Paul and Silas in imprisoned.

And there's one other that's just slipping my mind, but there are four supplications that are mentioned in Acts chapter 16 that form the background for the gospel work. And so we are reminded of the tremendous value, not just of Spirit-directed gospel activity, but of Spirit-saturated prayer for the work of the gospel, for the furtherance of the gospel, for the well-being of the assembly. The third thing that was part of the commencement of this assembly was suffering and joy.

So that when Paul is writing in this epistle about suffering and joy, at least, if no one else, at least the jailer and his family could think. Paul knows what he's talking about. I can remember the night I put stripes on his back that most men would have cursed and sworn and vowed revenge, and instead of that, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises.

I can remember Paul suffering, and yet I can remember as he suffered, he was full of joy. So they would remember when Paul is speaking about rejoicing and joy, which, of course, as you well know, is found perhaps, what is it, 16 times in the epistle. It's an epistle all about joy and all about rejoicing despite different circumstances.

Paul had lived that. Paul had modeled that to these people and certainly became the soil in which the gospel and which the truth of God had taken root in the city of Philippi. Sisters were also prominent, weren't they? There was Lydia, there was the damsel, there was the family of the jailer, and so women were very prominent when you come to the assembly at Philippi, and we'll look at how that will also be seen in chapter 4 as Paul will address some issues there.

And then, of course, there was satanic opposition that was seen in the damsel possessed with a demon and the men who made gain of her. So that was something of the planting of the assembly. It is a model for us of how assemblies were planted and how assemblies should be planted.

Gospel work, prayer, labor, teaching the truth of God, and believers gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. The planting of the assembly. But now as we come to this epistle, 10 or 11 years have passed, and I want you to think now of the progress of the assembly, the progress of this assembly as we'll look at it in the letter that is before us.

I have called Corinth the correct assembly, the correct assembly. As you go through your New Testament letters and look at different churches, you will see that some were marked by being carnal, some were compromising, some were competitive, some were in conflict, some were confused, but Philippi was the correct assembly. They were correct governmentally.

Now what that means is he speaks about to the saints in Christ Jesus with the bishops and with the deacons. So there was a plurality of elders. That's New Testament teaching.

If we look at Acts chapter 20 when he calls for the elders of the church at Ephesus, if we looked at 1 Peter chapter 5, if we looked at Titus chapter 1, a plurality of elders, not just one man in charge of an assembly, but there was a plurality of elders. There was also the activity of servants. He speaks of the deacons.

He speaks of those who are active in service for God, and there were those who were active serving God in a public way relative to the assembly. But I want you to think especially, not just, not just of the plurality of elders or of the activity of deacons, but I want you to think of the priority of the saints. Now if I were to tell you that one reason this epistle was written was for Paul to thank the assembly for their gift of fellowship, and we'll see that in chapter 4, you would have thought he might have written to the deacons first, or that he might have written to the elders first.

But Paul says, I am writing first of all to all the saints at Philippi, along with the bishops and the deacons. Now what's the significance of that? The significance of that is just this, that someday bishops will be no more, and someday deacons will be no more, but the saints will always be. The big thing in God's mind are not the overseers.

The big thing in God's mind is the saints, the assembly. So get it right. The assembly is not there for those who lead.

Someone has said if you're a leader and you have nobody to lead, you're not a leader. The big thing is the saints. And so Paul says, what really occupies main interest may are the saints, and along with them, those who serve them as bishops, and those who represent them as deacons.

So we must always keep in mind the priority of the saints, the assembly. But one other thing that I think helps us to underline why this assembly was correct, not just the plurality of leaders, and not just the activity of servants, and not just the priority of the saints, but the autonomy of the local assembly. Now that's a word that has been abused and misused, but the autonomy means that when Paul was writing because there was a problem he is going to get to in chapter 4, he doesn't write to the assembly in Thessalonica and tell them to correct Philippi.

And he doesn't write all the way up to Achaia and tell Corinth, Corinth, you know what it is to solve problems, you've solved problems in your assembly. Now would you come down and help these people just get things right? The problem of Philippi was to be dealt with by Philippi. There was no higher authority.

Those of you who have read Mr. Crawford's excellent book on Gathered to His Name will know that there is no court of appeal beyond the oversight, the government of a local assembly. Rather than patting ourselves on the back, look at how great we are. It is a cause for tremendous exercise to think that we are responsible for ultimate decision-making and discerning of the mind of God when it comes to a local testimony and to issues that arise.

So there is then the teaching of the autonomy of the local assembly. Here is an assembly that was correct governmentally. Now without taking from our brother Crawford's next message, I want to mention as well, just in passing, that they were correct evangelically.

It was an assembly that was active in the gospel. They were gospel-minded, and as I mentioned, very, very likely Luke was responsible for maintaining their burden, their prayer, their concern, their communication with the Apostle Paul. And let me just say in passing, there is no telling the value of the exercise of one person for the gospel in your assembly.

It can be a sister, a teacher, a nurse, a mother in the community. It can be one of the brethren who visits and who has contacts. One gospel-minded person willing to do all they can to further the gospel, no telling what it could lead to.

And we see that with Luke and his influence upon the assembly. There was prayer, there was practical support, there was the sending of Epaphroditus, all of those things, as well as their own responsibility in assembly chapter 1, chapter 2, holding forth the word of life, and so on. We'll look at that as time allows and consider it.

They were correct evangelically, active in the gospel, and again, can we underline that assemblies that cease, cease gospel activity and burden. Cease. It's just that simple.

Cease furthering the gospel and you will cease. It's just logical. You know, you can't just depend upon the fact that families have children, thank God for children, and thank God that many of our children get saved, but God intends us to be moving out and reaching out with the gospel and keeping at the gospel as much as we possibly can.

They were correct spiritually. As you read this letter, it wasn't like it was in Galatia where there was legality. No legality as there was in Galatia.

There was no carnality as there was at Corinth. There was no need to correct dealings of immorality and all of that. No carnality.

There was no laxity as there was in Thessalonica where there were men that were just sitting back and doing nothing and saying, well, let the other Christians work. We're going to heaven. The Lord is coming.

Just cruise. There was no rivalry as there was in Colossae with false gods and angels competing with Christ for places of affection and places of prominence. No inconsistency as there was that Paul had to address in the Roman epistle, and there was no blasphemy as he had to deal with in 1 Timothy chapter 1 at Ephesus, and no dishonesty that he found at Crete when he had to charge Titus that they be not evil beasts, lazy gluttons, and so on, and liars.

So it was correct spiritually. It was correct doctrinally. It was correct doctrinally.

No wrong doctrine to be corrected here. He doesn't have to get into the problems that he dealt with in Galatia. He doesn't have to get into the problems he had to deal with in his letter to the Colossians.

He doesn't have to deal with issues such as he had to deal with at Crete in his epistle to Titus. Doctrinally, this assembly is sound and correct and on the right rails. It was an assembly that was correct morally.

There's no moral evil, is there? There's no issues that he has to address relative to their morals and their behavior and their lives. He's able to commend them. He's able to speak so highly of them, had remembrance of them, and he could thank God upon every remembrance of them as he could think of them and as he could pray for them.

And he knew that they were in his heart as well as he was in their hearts. It is interesting that there are only two assemblies, if I'm correct. You could correct me if I'm wrong.

Only two assemblies or two letters in which Paul does not ask assemblies to pray for him. And those two assembly... well, the Galatian epistle was likely to more than one assembly, the Galatian letter and the Philippian letter. Now, Galatia, I would take it, he didn't ask for prayer because they were not in a condition to pray.

Philippi, he didn't have to ask for prayer. He knew, he knew that they were following his every movement prayerfully and in full fellowship with what he was doing. So here was an assembly, correct governmentally, evangelically, spiritually, doctrinally, morally, materially.

Here was an assembly that had a right view of material things. They were burdened to make sure that what they had of their financial means would be used for furthering the gospel. And so they sent unto him once and again, and they were marked by a burden, an exercise to share in the work of the gospel by material sharing of their possessions.

That's a reminder to us as well, as materialism has unfortunately become such a strong, overwhelming, almost tsunami-type tidal wave overcoming most of us in terms of our values and our priorities. Here was an assembly that was right materially. But it was an assembly as well that was right emotionally.

And what I mean by that is, as we'll see, and really some of it will be Paul, some of it will be the assembly, they faced the full gamut, the full gamut of potential emotional reactions to different things. Let me just go through these very, very quickly with you as it will form the background of much of what we have to say. You will notice the potential things that Paul faced.

For example, in chapter 1, Paul was faced with the potential of bitterness, the potential of anger, the potential of discouragement. All of that we will see in chapter 1. The Philippians were faced with the potential of fear and terror in chapter 1. Nothing terrorizes the idea by your enemies, as you could speak of. So chapter 1 has all of that involved in it.

In chapter 2, there is the possibility of rivalry and contention. As we go through it, we'll see the danger of pride and we'll see the danger of disunity and of anxiety and of competitiveness and contention in chapter 4. Very real human emotions. And we will see how the Spirit of God will address each and every one of those through the Word of God and by a presentation of the person of Christ.

But just to highlight for you the importance of the mind as it is seen in this epistle. You are either right now, or you will very soon be what you think. What you think is what you will be or become.

You can't divorce it. You can't live in two worlds. You can't think one way and live another because that's what's expected.

And so what he is doing in this epistle is reminding us of how important your mind and my mind is and what he is going to do, the ultimate. And if we miss this, we will have missed what the whole weekend is about. The ultimate is this, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Now I am not against counseling and I am not against some measure of sane Christian counseling, but Paul doesn't tell the Philippians to lie down on a couch and let him psychoanalyze them. He tells them, here's how Christ thinks and here's how I want each of you to think. It's amazing, isn't it, to think that while I do not know what is in your mind right now, and that's a mercy because it may not be flattering, I don't know what's in your mind right now.

I know what is in the mind of Christ. That's an amazing thing, that we actually sitting here, we cannot read each other's minds, but there has been revealed to us exactly what Christ thinks and how he thinks. That will be the subject of chapter 2 as God allows.

So the planting of the assembly, the progress of the assembly, let me just touch on Paul's prayer for the assembly. Now we don't have time, this is an entire week of ministry, so we'll have to just mention this and leave it, but it will be valuable for young men, young women, young Christians, if you were to take Paul's prison epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and just take from those letters his prayers and look at them. Paul is praying from prison.

He is chained to four soldiers, and in Ephesians he tells us, for this cause I bow my knee. So you can just envision, if you've got a bit of imagination, Paul's there with four Roman soldiers chained to him, and he would say, men, would you mind if I just get down and pray? And they would look at him, wonder, what's he doing? A prisoner? Just praying for others? That was Paul, in prison, praying. And if you were just to look at his four prison prayers, well actually there's five, if you looked at his prison prayers, you would find tremendous truth and tremendous value in what Paul is praying for.

But let me just quickly mention here in Philippians chapter 1, four things he is praying for, that their love might abound, that they might discern things that are more excellent, if you'll allow me just to give that as a translation of that, that you may approve things that are excellent, discern things that really matter, that you may be sincere and without offense, number three, and number four, being filled with the fruits of righteousness. So here's an assembly that is correct, here's an assembly that has their act together, and yet Paul says, I am praying for the furtherance of your love, that's vital, he says. I'm praying as well for the fullness of your light, that you might be able to appreciate what really matters in life.

I am praying as well for the faithfulness of your loyalty to Christ, sincere and without offense. And I am praying for the fruitfulness of your lives, being filled with the fruits of righteousness. Christianity is not about what you don't do, got that? Christianity is not about what doesn't characterize you.

Paul says it's not just the absence of sin, not just the absence of vice, I want you filled with the fruits of righteousness. Christianity is all about positive Christian living, all about fruitfulness, which Paul refers to here as fruits of righteousness. Okay, let me stop and let's just have a reality check for just a minute.

When you're praying, you pray for people's health, so-and-so's sick, hope they get better. So-and-so is out of work, Lord help them get a job. I am amazed that Paul rarely, rarely prays for things like that.

Paul is praying for the spiritual well-being, the spiritual lives of others. All of his prayers are filled with expressions relative to the spiritual welfare of believers. Now, there's nothing wrong, if I get sick, please pray for me, okay? Don't say, oh, he doesn't, yeah.

If I get sick, pray for me. But I'd far rather, far rather that if you're going to pray for me, you would pray for my spiritual well-being, that I might grow in my love, that I might increase in my light, that I might be faithful in my loyalty, and that I might be more fruitful in my life for God. That's what Paul is anxious about, Paul is concerned about.

Now, that should be, that should be the norm for every overseer in God's assembly, that day by day you go down the list of everyone in the assembly, and this is the kind of thing you pray for. That's almost mandated, but it would be a good exercise as well for every believer. And maybe your assembly is too large to pray for everyone.

Why not just pick out every day a different person? Just pick out a different person every day and make it a matter of prayer that their spiritual life would be enhanced, that their spiritual growth would be increased. Yes, if they're out of work, it's necessary that they work, and if they're sick, long that God would raise them up. But in that sickness, pray that they'll know God in a better way, that it actually can be used for their spiritual welfare as well.

And so Paul here is praying for them and is very practical in his prayer life for them. And so we are reminded then of the tremendous value of prayer for assembly testimony. I should have mentioned, so let me mention it here, and it goes back again to the background into which the word of God came and the background of the planting of this assembly.

We mentioned what was characteristic or what was the pride of Rome in its tremendous military might and power in that day. There certainly were a number of things that Rome prided itself on. We've mentioned the Pax Romana, the peace that Rome guaranteed to every nation it conquered.

But Rome also was marked by power, ruthless, unbridled, uncompromising power. That was Rome. And of course, if you think of the Roman epistle, that's why Paul speaks about power so often.

Time and again, Paul speaks about the power of God, because these were people used to power. So there was the power of Rome. There was the peace that Rome brought.

There was the pride of Rome. Rome was a proud nation. And there was also the prosperity, the wealth that marked Rome.

As a result of conquering nations, it amassed for itself a tremendous fortune. How does that relate to the Philippian epistle? Paul says, you have, you have a wealthy father. And he says, my God will supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

And here he is praying that they will know something of divine power in their lives, leading to fruitfulness, leading to growth, leading to lives that are pleasing to God, which are by Jesus Christ, he says at the end of verse unto the glory and the praise of God, his prayer for the assembly. So now let me just, before I come to my last point or two, let me just bring a couple of things together and then hopefully call your attention to one other thing. Here was an assembly that was planted by God.

Here is an assembly that had made progress for God, correct in every way. Here was an assembly that was prayed for by the apostle Paul, and they were in his heart. And upon every remembrance, he would bow his knees in thanksgiving and pray for these things.

So they had everything going for them, planted properly, progressing properly, prayed for by the apostle Paul. And yet, as we come to this letter, we will find that this assembly is in grave danger. And I'll have to use the word of being lost.

Now, I can't think of a better word than lost, so you'll forgive me, because he's going to speak in chapter two about the salvation of the assembly, about the assembly needing to be saved from tragedy, from division, from disunity, from a bitter spirit developing. And Paul could see a root. Now, whether Paul wrote Hebrews or someone else, we'll not get there today, but Paul could see a root of bitterness that could spring up, that could lead to the defilement of the assembly.

The unity of this assembly was crucial for the furtherance of the gospel. The unity of this assembly was crucial for upholding the truth of God in the community in which they lived. The unity of this assembly was vital for maintaining testimony and bringing glory to God.

And the unity of this assembly was being threatened despite everything else being right. There was one small cancer working, and Paul is going to address it with the consummate skill of a spiritual surgeon, as he will address it in chapter four. But just to underline, just as unity was so crucial for Philippi, unity is crucial for every assembly in Wisconsin, every assembly in Iowa, every assembly in New Jersey.

Division, a lack of unity will spell disaster. Now, please do not think that unity means uniformity. There is room, and I would say it is the will of God that there be a variety of personalities, a variety of exercises, a variety of interests of all in God's assembly.

There is not uniformity. We do not all have to dress the same, look the same, but unity is the result of having unified goals and interests and burdens and exercises that we all work towards together. And so here then was the great peril that this assembly faced.

Let me just mention one other thing, and that is what I would call the power of this assembly. Where was this assembly going to find the power that it needed? Well, let me talk to you about the servant Paul and the assembly. What was Paul's relationship to this assembly? Well, in chapter one, he urges them to be steadfast.

He's an encouragement to them, steadfast, and it's all of their conflict. In chapter two, he's not now just encouraging, he's exhorting the need for being selfless like Christ. In chapter three, what he is going to be, he's going to be the standard for spiritual life.

He is going to be the one that is striving for the goal, and he is going to encourage them to follow him. So a leader needs to be not just someone who encourages, not just someone who exhorts, someone who's an example. That's what Paul was as an example to this assembly.

And in chapter four, he is the man who was able to come along and remind them of the tremendous security they had in Christ, that all that they needed was found in Christ. Tremendous blessing that this man was as a servant to the assembly. But at the assembly itself, in chapter one, they are learning their confidence in the gospel.

No need to fall back and to retreat. No need to feel as though this is not the right time and the opposition is too strong. No, no.

They're moving forward with the gospel with one mind striving together, nothing terrified by their enemies, moving forward with the gospel, confident in the gospel, its power, and God's ability to use it. And I think we need that. In 2009, we have come into what's called the post-modern age, where for the most part, in most circles, God is no longer relevant.

If you're still living in that time-warped zone, back maybe a hundred years ago, and you need God to live with, fine, we're tolerant, we'll put up with that. But please, you know, we're beyond that. We're beyond that.

There is a... I'm not sure if you're aware of this, maybe I shouldn't mention it. There are buses in London, London, England, not here. There are buses in London, England, that have advertisements on the side, paid for by the British Atheism Society.

And they read something like this. I may not have it word for word. There probably is no God.

Stop worrying and enjoy the rest of your life. There probably is no God. Stop worrying.

Just enjoy the rest of your life. I think for most of us, if there were no God, we would start worrying. If this life is all there is, if this mindless, senseless world, with all of its grief, tragedy, and sorrow, if this is all there is, I would start worrying.

If I didn't think that everything was under the control of an all-wise, all-powerful God, I don't know if I could get up tomorrow. Thank God. But that's the kind of world we're living in, where now blatantly advertised on the sides of public conveyances, just there is no God.

Stop worrying. Now, that may not be advertised yet on buses in Madison and La Crosse, but it's in the minds of many, many people. That's the world that we now have the gospel to present to.

And we may begin to think, what's the use? Compromise? Drawback? Paul says, move forward. Confidence in the gospel. Chapter 2, Christlike character.

That is what is going to preserve assemblies for God, Christlike character. Chapter 3, consistent living. Chapter 4, commitment and consecration that Paul himself mirrors in that chapter.

So we have looked briefly and hurriedly, just in the way of an introduction, at the planting of this assembly. We have looked somewhat at the progress of the assembly. We have seen something of Paul's prayer for the assembly.

We have seen something of the power for the assembly. And we have looked together at the peril that this assembly faced. So with God's help, and hopefully we can build upon that, we will look to God for his further blessing upon his word as the day progresses.

Our Father, we bow together in thy presence and are thankful for the word of God. We thank thee for the richness of the volume we have in our hands. We think of how it can meet every need.

We marvel to think that a book written almost over 2,000 years ago is still so relevant and can still meet the issues that we face today in the world in which we live. We would only cry to thee for ability to take from thy word and to present it to thy people as we ought, and help to receive it as we ought as well. Thank thee for all who have come.

Remember others still traveling. Grant thy good hand with us now as the weekend progresses. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.