 So in this section, as we get into our Bible study tonight, we're, our Paul is trans, transitioning from a very heavy theological study on the deity of Christ, just to give you a little bit of context. He's talking about having the mind of Christ and how having the mind of Christ leads to living a life like Christ. And so practically now to step into this role as a follower of Jesus, now that you know what's expected of you, how you're to think and how that translates into actions, he is going to in essence say, you need to stand on your own two spiritual feet. And so this message that I've entitled, stand on your own two feet is going to be, I think, one of the most important messages I have ever given in my entire life. And I mean this very seriously because, you know, when I was growing up, I grew up at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Pastor Chuck Smith, whom you may have heard of or listened to or know of, was my pastor. Just this month we remembered, you know, the six years since he had passed away. I can't believe it's been that long already. October 3rd of this month, October, was six years. And I remember hearing Pastor Chuck say things like, you know, they're trying to tell me that I can't teach the Bible. You know, and if we do teach the Bible, then we're going to land up in prison. You know, and I remember hearing him say that, you know, periodically as he would teach through the Bible, he would say, you know, there's this new legislature that's being presented or, you know, there's this new attack on churches. You know, and so now fast forward, you know, into 2019 and you hear the kind of things that are being debated. You hear the kind of attacks that are coming against the church. I would encourage you highly to pray for your pastor and to do whatever you can to support him. And especially knowing that he is true to teaching you God's word, there may be a time that comes, God forbid, that Pastor David is in jail somewhere for teaching you the Bible. And I hope that you don't forget about him. And I hope that you send him every care package that he needs and that you really take care of him and that you even send him extra stuff because I'll need taking care of two and I'll be in there with him as well. Teaching the word of God is something that is under attack. And tonight's message, Paul in context, he is writing to a church, to a group of people that need to have their own relationship with the Lord. You'll get to the point in your own relationship with God where it becomes incumbent upon you to step up and to take the lead. And so point number one tonight is this, work out your relationship with God. Work out your relationship with God. Now, it may be great that the pastor of your church does what he's supposed to be doing. It's also great when the elders and the leadership in the church are doing what they're supposed to be doing as well. But what's even better than all of that is when the regular every day Christian is doing what they're supposed to be doing on top of all of that. See, every follower of Jesus needs to have their own personal relationship with Jesus. Now, you might say upon hearing what I just mentioned, man, that's probably one of the most basic things I have ever heard. We are Calvary Chapel Chino Valley. Of course, we know that you need to have your own relationship with Jesus. But I'm going to ask you, do you actually understand what I'm saying? Are you able to do what is necessary if all the people that you have looked up to as spiritual role models and examples, those that you have relied upon for spiritual instruction and encouragement go away? Are you able to do what you're supposed to do if they're no longer there? You know, recently on, you know, the blog, social media, Christian circles, there's been a lot of hoo-ha about certain prominent Christian leaders that are no longer Christians. You know, in the 90s, you know, in 2000s, you know, early 2000s, and then through, you know, it seems through that decade as well that there was that book that was written by Joshua Harris. Why Kiss Dating Goodbye? And, you know, a whole group of the church, you know, went after that. And then recently he came out as, you know, now divorcing his wife and not following Jesus. And there was a big turning away, you know, at least online from what you've seen, how people's faith has been, you know, has been rocked and people walking away from the Lord, you know, prominent worship leaders saying, you know, I no longer believe in Jesus Christ as being God's son or that Christianity is what you need to, you know, to believe in in order to or to adhere to in order to go to heaven. And so all of a sudden people like, no way. And then they stumble and they fall. You know, what are we like? Are we the type of Christian that might be similar to the high school kid whose parents go out of town and the first weekend away, they're out of town, they throw the party, they're not supposed to be throwing. Hey, you know, Pastor David's not here or this leader's not there. And, you know, my, my mentor is no longer, you know, checking in on me or whatever it might be. Maybe we're like the new college student that kind of floated through church and youth group and is no longer under the roof of his parents and walks away from the Lord. Could we be like the professionals that get sucked into doing the same kinds of things that are non-Christian co-workers are involved with because it's all part of our quote unquote corporate culture. And so I've watered down my relationship with the Lord. I can tell you tonight that honestly, God is not looking for people to go through the motions, but rather he is looking for people to have hearts that are loyal to him. And so sub point under point number one, working out your own relationship with the Lord, letter A is this, you cannot have a relationship with God vicariously through your church leaders. Let me say that one more time. You cannot have a relationship with God vicariously through your church leaders. See, there are Christians today in church that are so dependent on their spiritual role models that they forget that they're responsible for themselves. And when somebody is not taking ownership for their own relationship with the Lord, it's very common for them to become disillusioned. When that person of influence may show that they're not perfect or they have a sinful nature like everybody else. And that's why you will see people that walk away from the Lord and from the church because they saw somebody that was considered a leader and they were not as impervious to sin as they had previously believed them to be. And so someone makes a mistake. It doesn't even have to be a major falling, but it's something that causes our flesh to say, aha, I knew it. I knew it. Just another person that doesn't practice what they preach. Our flesh cries out that there's no one that I can trust. The church is full of hypocrites and there's no way that I can even look at them again. Listen, what you're really saying was actually recorded way before you were even alive in Romans 310 where it says, there is none righteous, no, not one, no, not one. And because somebody makes a mistake, that doesn't mean that you're excused to make your own. Like, hey, they did this, so I'm out. Forget it. So I'm going to go off and live whatever way that I would like to because they blew it or they no longer are following Jesus or they're no longer pastoring or they're no longer leading. So I'm out as well. Because if you were to do that, all you are really showing is a lack of a personal relationship with the Lord. And so I have to ask you this rhetorically is that is this is your relationship with Jesus contingent upon someone or something other than Jesus? You have to ask yourself that honestly, because what's happening throughout the church in the world is there is a great falling away. There is a great falling away. And see the time is now for Christians to stand on their own two spiritual feet, their own two feet, meaning that it doesn't matter what they decide to do, you have decided to follow Jesus. Back in Philippians chapter one in verse 27, it says this, and I'll read it to you from the new living translation, though we'll be studying through the new King James tonight from the NLT. It says above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ. And then Paul writes, then whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you're standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the good news. In the new King James version, it says, let your conduct, let your conduct. Really, it just talks about behave as a citizen, recognize the laws. You might think, well, behave as a citizen of what country and recognize the laws of, you know, of what authority. Listen to what Ephesians 2 19 says, it says, now therefore, as the church, as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. That's you. Through faith in Jesus, you're no longer alienated from the people of God. You're no longer estranged from the rights that a citizen of the kingdom of God is granted through faith in Jesus. That's you. And because you're no longer apart from Christ, you are no longer excluded from the blessings of God's promises to his people. You're no longer strangers to the people of God because you're now family. You're one in Christ. So all of these benefits that come through a personal relationship with Jesus, how many of those things that I just mentioned are connected to someone else's relationship with the Lord? Let me just give you the answer. I know the suspense is killing you. None, none of those things that apply to you because of your faith have to do with anyone else, anyone else. And so as the church, maybe we would just say, since you're a member of the kingdom of heaven, live like one, show the world around you that you've been saved through faith in Jesus. Show the world around you what it's like to be a citizen of the kingdom of God by obeying his commandments. I guess we could just summarize it as this. Let your conduct fit your faith. Let your conduct fit your faith. Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Jesus. When you're by yourself, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. When you're around your non-Christian co-workers, friends and family, let your conduct fit your faith outside of Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Outside your Christian mingle circle, outside the gaze of your pastor. Oh, he's watching. So I better, you know, tighten it up. Jesus is always watching and he sees all things. And so in verse 12 of Philippians 2, Paul writes and says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You know, backstage, we're discussing families and talking about raising children. And Paul here is the spiritual father for these Christians in the city of Philippi. He left those kids, those spiritual children, defend for themselves. And he loves them and he cares about them. And like any good father, he desires his children to be able to succeed in life, but not just life in general. Most importantly, spiritual life. And Paul is he's writing. He's not condescending, but rather he's humble in his treatment of those that he was entrusted with spiritual care for. And it's a, it's a beautiful picture of a dad that loves his kids. Those that are in his church, he looks at as his sons and daughters, his spiritual children, and he's not power tripping. He's not condescending. I remember years ago, I used to live on the island of Maui, you know, when I was suffering for the Lord in the old days. And I remember I worked at this restaurant and clothing retail store called Tommy Bahamas, and Tommy Bahamas was known at that point for, you know, long, you know, silk kind of Hawaiian shirts and massively baggy silk pants, you know, that had like triple pleats and cuffs, you know, at the bottom and you'd wear them with sandals. And, you know, I never dressed like that, except when I worked there and they gave us a clothing allowance and said, Hey, you need to wear the product you're going to be selling. And I remember one evening in particular, this this couple came in, the very unique couple, because this girl was probably, let's see, how old was I? I was about 24, 23, yeah, I was about 23. And I'm working here, working at the retail store on this particular evening. This girl comes in, she's about my age, and she was with her husband that was about 65, and she comes walking in and they're looking at the sandals and the shoes and the clothes. And I'm standing maybe about two feet from her, just, you know, waiting to see if they needed any help. For those of you that have ever worked in retail, you know how it goes. And so I remember her very distinctly looking over at me and then looking at, you know, her guy that either she was married to or dating at the time, and she picks up the shoe and says, well, if you like this and then motions to me and says, why don't you have the boy go get it for you? And your response was exactly my response. And I was like, the boy go get it for you. And so I quickly did as any good sales associate went and got one of my co-workers and said, she needs help over there. And I couldn't believe it. I never felt so condescended upon it, you know, at that particular point in my life. And I will never forget that. I'm like, the boy, go get your sandal. Are you kidding me? What Paul is getting at here and what he's writing, you got to understand, though he had the spiritual authority, he was addressing them as his children, as somebody that he cared for. You know, often in the world, you'll think of, hey, if you're the boss, you communicate in such a way that you let them know you're the boss. But when it comes to church life and especially with Paul, it's important for us to understand how he's addressing his spiritual kids. What he's getting at here, he's connecting the mind of Christ. Remember, we talked about this to the action of Christ, which namely comes through obedience, obedience to the Lord. And that personal commitment to obey the Lord must be adhered to in Paul's presence. Like, hey, while I'm there, it's great that you're obeying, but even more so obey the Lord when I'm not there. When I'm not checking in, when I'm no longer holding your hand through the spiritual truths of the scripture, please, would you be able to stand on your own two spiritual feet? And this is where we're at today. It cannot be that we as the church want to live our lives in such a way that is obedient to the Lord because our Christian friends are watching. I mean, how many times has it been that way? And it's so annoying, like, oh, man, like, if I don't show up to church, I'll never hear the end of it from mom. Or, you know, if I don't show up to church or don't go to this Bible study or whatever, they're going to hound me until, you know, I am like, OK, I confess or whatever it might be. See, when we're with our non-Christian friends, we may live completely different than we do around our Christian friends and family. I mean, and now it seems with social media, there's always someone watching, always somebody trolling an account. Not too much is done in secret today. It's amazing, even being a pastor and you look through, you know, how they have those equations for who should show up in your news feed, even people that you don't follow and they don't follow you, but they're like a friend of a friend of your neighbor's friend who lives around the corner from your aunt. And I don't know how that works out, but they figure it out. And the next thing you know, you're like, oh, I think they go to my church. I think they attend my church. Oh, my goodness, it is her or whatever it might be. And it pops up in your news feed. I mean, I know some of you might be putting your settings to private right now as we speak for random reasons. But it's amazing how everything's open. Somebody always sees, somebody always finds out. And you might try to hide it and you might try to be, you know, duplicitous and that with my church group of people, I know how to dot my eyes, cross my T's. And then when I'm with my non-church people, then I just cut it up and we do whatever that we, what we want or whatever it might be. Listen, you can't live that life for too long. You know, I know we've had some Chuck isms tonight in stories, but it's like he used to call those people mugwumps. You said your mugs on one side of the fence and your wumps on the other side of the fence, and it's not a pleasant place to be. Can't have one foot in and one foot out. So church. And let's just take it as specific as we can get it. You cannot have a relationship with Jesus vicariously through pastor David Rosales or any of the other amazing pastors and leaders that are on staff or volunteer at this church. Letter B is this, you cannot have a relationship with God that changes with your company. Now, I remember years ago, there was this young pastor that was single and he was looking to get married. And maybe you're here tonight and you're single and you're looking to get married one day and you can relate to this. But this guy, he had a terrible time trying to find a girl because as a pastor, you know, there's just a whole bunch of different things that you have to deal with. And there's a lot of pressure and there's a lot of people watching and there's a lot of, you know, responsibility and to try to find somebody that could share that and understand it and get it was very, very difficult for him to find somebody that could. And the story goes on that there is these girls that would pretend to walk with the Lord. They would show up to the Bible studies because they were hoping, you know, maybe they could be in a relationship with this guy. You know, one in particular, you know, called him in the middle of the night as she was drunk and dancing on a table. And it was amazing how her relationship with God would change with the company she was keeping. You know, and I can't tell you the joy that that young pastor felt when he met a girl who didn't need his relationship with the Lord for her to have her own relationship with the Lord all on her own. And I can tell you that I've been blessed by my wife's walk with the Lord since I was that young pastor and met my wife. And as I head into my seasoned or more seasoned years of ministry, what a blessing it is to know that my wife Ruth stands on her own two spiritual feet and she didn't need me to have her own relationship with God. So when he writes in his presence and in his absence, he's speaking of godly character, this moral and ethical and spiritual quality. If your lifestyle, if your lifestyle is different when you're around Christians from what it is like when you're around non-Christians, that's not good. It means that you're fearful of what other people may think. Fearful, you have the fear of man. And now this goes both ways for often, you know, you'll think of the negative, which is I'm afraid of what, you know, my non-Christian friends will think of me if they know that I go to church or that I follow Jesus or I don't wanna have sex until I'm married or I don't drink and party anymore and I'm worried that they're gonna make fun of me that'll exclude me. My coworkers are all into this, I'm not, I'm afraid of what they might think. And so I act differently around them. It also means that I'm afraid of what my Christian friends may think of me when I'm living the sinful life that I want to live. It's interesting, huh? Because some will continue in sin and they will lie and deceive and seek to hide that truth from their Christian friends and family. See what happens is that they're both rooted in fear and both are disingenuous. I would just tell you, if you wanna live in sin, knowing full well that it's sin and it's wrong, then why don't you just own it and take responsibility for your actions instead of hiding it and pretending like you're not doing it? God sees it already. But even better yet, might I advise that if you wanna live for the Lord, then own that and let the Lord honor you for honoring him. But the duplicitous lifestyle has to end. You can't just do what's right when mom and dad are watching. You can't just do what's right when your big sister and big brother in the Lord are checking in on you. It's imperative for each of us, and I believe this even more so than ever before in our nation's history, for us to stand on our own two feet spiritually. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, don't get too crazy tonight, you might have to float me over there. Not as in my presence only, he says in verse 12, but now much more in my absence. And then he says this, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now what is Paul saying here when he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? Well, if you're taking notes or if you just wanna make a mental note on this, the first thing to note is to whom he is speaking. So who is Paul writing to? Paul is writing to Christians in the Philippian church. That is his audience. He is not speaking or writing to non-Christians seeking to earn their way to heaven. Because there are some people, this is important to understand because there are some people that have misinterpreted this passage of scripture to mean that you need to work for your salvation. If Paul were speaking to non-Christians, that would be a very contradictory statement to what the rest of the Bible teaches. He'd be speaking to people without salvation. So if he was not writing to Christians, he'd be speaking to people that were without faith in Jesus, that were without salvation and telling them to work for their salvation. Work for it. Do you realize that every other religion, world religion, every other religion in this world is what is called a works-based religion where you have to earn your way. You have to work for it. You have to work for it. That's why it's called a works-based religion in that you work to obtain salvation. Be a good person. Go on a mission strip. Eat certain foods. And maybe, just maybe, you'll be good enough to go to heaven. Now in college I played basketball. One of the guys on my team was a practicing Muslim and we were just talking over a pre-gain meal one evening and I just said, already tell me about your religion and what you believe. And so he shared with me some of the tenets of what he believed and I asked him, you know, which was kind of like this, catch all, like how do you get to heaven? How do you get to heaven? And he said, well, you have to be a good Muslim and you have to do these certain things and adhere to these certain commandments and this and the other thing. And I said, well, Artie, when do you find out if you're good enough to get to heaven? And he stopped for a second and he said, well, I won't find out if I was good enough to get to heaven until after I'm dead. And I said, well, Artie, I was like, isn't that a little too late to find out if you were good enough to get to heaven? You won't know until you're dead. That's what every other religion tells you. You earn your way, hopefully you'll be good enough, but you know what the sad untold truth is? You're not good enough and you never will be and it's a lie from Satan for people to think that they can earn their salvation or to be good enough. You know, often, you know, being, having a sports background, you know, we'll kind of take these examples of like how we translate our righteousness into God's righteousness. Well, you know, Isaiah says that our righteousness is like filthy rags and you guys have heard that. And so it's like if you would take two columns here and you have your righteousness and then you have God's righteousness, they don't transfer. You know, there's no exchange rate for your good deeds and God's holiness. There's nothing that you can do. That's like saying, hey, I scored 23 points in this basketball game. How many home runs does that equal to? You're like, what? Sorry, we don't have, there are two different sports. You can't, well, hey, you know, I scored two goals. How many touchdowns does that equal to? Sorry, that's a different sport. You don't get a crossover. The only thing that brings you into God's righteousness is faith in Jesus, which is the bridge from your sinful humanity into the righteousness of God. In Ephesians two, verses eight through nine, it says, for by grace you've been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and not of works lest anyone should boast. No one but Jesus offers assurance of salvation before you're dead. So you know, it's not about my good works. It's not about what I've done. It's about what Jesus already did. And so, if my righteousness is described in Isaiah 64 as dirty rags, what is Paul saying, work out your own salvation? Paul does not write that we should work for, but that we should work out. You need to go work out. Has anybody ever told you that? Hey man, you just need to go work out. Have you ever said, hey, you know, hey babe, I just need to go work out? You know, I'm gonna go run some laps or I'm gonna go lift some weights. I'm gonna go work out. I'm gonna go train. You need to go work out. You need to exercise. Now, this phrase, work out. I love, you know, studying the origin stories of certain phrases, right? It's called etymology. This phrase work out comes from boxing culture. Late 1800s, early 1900s that it had the meaning of working through putting out action. Working through putting out action. Work out. You're working through putting out action. So you put in the effort of living your life as if you are saved from your sin. And we must understand very clearly, doctrinally, that the one who is doing the work of saving is not us. It is God. So listen to this. We must work out what God has worked in. God does the work of saving. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And through faith in Jesus, we have salvation planted in us. Now we must work through putting out effort. And this fear of trembling, the fear and trembling speaks to really, I would say on a personal note, our concern for the completion of the working out of our salvation that we're not squandering what God has given us, that we're not wasting it, that we're not compromising. This means that what God has begun in our lives, we don't wanna do anything that would hinder that work. Furthermore, we don't wanna waste our life living after the lust of the flesh. But rather, we wanna give ourselves completely over to the fulfilling of God's work taking place through us. Now, the fear also isn't a fear of going to hell because the believer has nothing to fear of hell. We already know by grace we've been saved through faith. But rather, this is the exercising of our faith through the way we live our life in obedience to the Lord, and that goes all the way back to verse 12. Where Paul writes, not just as in my presence, but in my absence, work out your own salvation. So you work out your relationship with God, and point number two is this, is this will be only our second and final point tonight, is God will work in his relationship with you. So you work it out, he will work it in. In verse 13, it says, for it is God who works, same chapter, Philippians two, who works and you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. We've sang that song for years, no guilt in life, no fear in death. We don't have guilt because God has forgiven us, he's cleansed us. The conviction of the Holy Spirit has brought us to that place of confession and receiving that forgiveness and healing from the Lord. That's the power of Christ working in us. Now listen, we would all be without hope if it was left to us to work into our lives, that which only can come from God. Whether that be salvation or the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the loss of the flesh, we need to realize that comes from the Lord. Now tonight, do you realize that God is working in your life? Some of you be like, uh-uh, no way, not me. Some of you may be here, not under your own free will. You might have been coerced or blackmailed, I don't know why, you're here. And you're like, uh-uh, no listen, God's working in your life. He's working in each of you. He works in your will, which is your desires, and then he works in your actions. He changes our lives so that we're like Jesus and that we're more concerned with fulfilling the will of our Father than fulfilling our own selfish wants and desires. Now, some of us, some of us here tonight, and if you just, you know, play percentages, some of us here tonight, chances are, are very strong willed. Now growing up, you may have been categorized as a strong willed child. Some of you are adults and you're still categorized as a strong willed child. Well listen, those strong willed children, they can be quite the handful when you're trying to raise them to the Lord. And it seems that with each passing day, they're actually just getting closer to meeting Him. It's true. I mean, those strong willed children, they make great leaders though, but they first need to come under the leadership of their parents. Now, I am the oldest of four, and as I mentioned about the Bealer boys right and again, my two younger brothers, all are married and have children. I have a little baby sister who's not a baby anymore and she'd be very mad. I use that word to describe her, but she'll always be my baby sister who's not married yet. But all three of us brothers, we have kids, three kids. And we all had a boy, then a girl, then a boy. And so each of our oldest sons are very strong willed boys. They are the alpha males in their family. And then the, how would I say this? I don't know if it's funny or what, maybe that's a little cruel to say, but when you get all three of them together and they're all used to being the boss, it is quite the handful in our home at Family Gatherings when you have three of the oldest boys get together and like, no, that's what you're doing. No, you do that. No, that's your thing. No, I'm not doing that. I'm the boss, you listen to me, you do it. And we'll laugh before we break it up before things start blowing up in our home, but it's quite the time when we get all three of them together with their brothers and sisters as well. But see God has great plans for his children, the compliant and the strong will to like. But like any of our children, we know that they're not always going to like what we ask them to do. Quite frankly, they may really dislike it and be quite vocal about it. We were laughing backstage about having kids, you know, say, dad, you have no idea what in the world you're talking about. I remember being, you know, right before my buddy and I were going to have our first kids, they're like, we're like in our early or mid 20s. And we said, do you realize that one day, our kids are going to become a certain age where they're going to say, dad, you have no idea what you're talking about. And it's like, we've lived life, we've been around and one day that's going to happen. But so it can be very challenging when you have children that don't want to do what they're supposed to be doing and they're going on and on and on and on and on about why they don't like it. But see, for those of you that are parents, you would agree with me and that we want our children to do what's right, but even more importantly, we want them to want to do what's right, even when we're not pressuring them or telling them that they need to do so. Because that makes it a matter of their heart and character. That's when we can entrust our children with the responsibility to do what is right when they're not in our sight. And so we'll discipline them and we'll take things away from them and we'll make their life extremely difficult so that they might know, so that they might know that, let's just say crime doesn't pay in this household. So in Paul's absence, so picture it, he planted the church, he led people to the Lord, he taught them the truths of salvation. And now he's gone. But he's writing to them. And he's saying in my absence, so in Paul's absence, he's encouraging his spiritual kids to do everything without complaint and without fighting. Complaining, I don't know if you've realized this, makes everything better. No one said that. No one said that. And so it says in verse 14, do all things without complaining and disputing. In verse 15, that you may become blameless and harmless children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. In order to understand this more fully, this phrase crooked and perverse generation is referring to the people of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness. They're described as being, they're described as being those that have corrupted themselves. Those that complained, those that had a blemish, they were a perverse and crooked generation. And Paul's making a contrasting point here in that the fallar of Jesus should not behave the way that Israelites did in complaining and arguing with God. Now, how many of us have ever complained against the Lord for something that may have happened to us or what we've had to endure? You know, the griping, the complaining, those contentious people of Israel were referred to as a crooked and perverse generation. We as the church, I don't know if you've opened your eyes and seen what's happening in our world. We live in the middle of a perverse and crooked generation. The world is at enmity with God and is constantly complaining against him. The world's complaining against God. The world is angry at God. This is not the way that we're supposed to behave ourselves as Christians because what did he say? You are the shining light in the world. So you're the shining light in the world when you're at your hair salon. When you're waiting for your mobile order at Chick-fil-A and it's taking a little bit longer than it's supposed to. You're the shining light in the world when you're waiting behind the slowest person known to man waiting to get their Costco receipt highlighted. Just swipe the stick already, man, come on. When you're waiting for the Lord to answer your prayers for your son or daughter, you're a shining light in the world. When you're uncomfortable in your current place in life, you're a shining light in the world. When your sin is being dealt with by the Lord and he is chasing you because he loves you, don't harden your heart. Because one of the ways as the church we let our lights shine is by not complaining and not being argumentative. Paul tells us that the path to even being blameless and harmless and without fault begins without complaining and without disputing. But not only that, it stokes the fire of the light of Christ shining in the middle of the perverse and crooked world. Listen, there are too many Christians that are in the church that are fighting with each other. There are too many members of the same household that are complaining and arguing with each other. Jesus said in Matthew 5, 14 and 16, he said to his disciples, he said, you are the light of the world. You are a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hidden. So let your lights so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Now I have to tell you, just to be fully transparent with you, I have to admit that I've had my times of complaining and fighting with the Lord. If you've never noticed this before, I hope you can file this away that complaining leads to fighting. Complaining leads to hardening your heart toward the one you're complaining about. No, they did this and I can't stand that or why would God do this? How could he do? I thought he loved me or whatever it might be and see our flesh, our sinful nature wants to raise itself up against God, raise itself up against the Lord's will. Maybe like a teenager who's posturing himself against his parent who he disagrees with when he thinks he's a grown man or a grown woman now. And I don't have to listen to anything that you are telling me any longer. I'll tell you, there is something about being broken before the Lord. David, King David was in sin, God was dealing with him and he wrote this, for day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. As the church, as a follower of Jesus, we can fight against the Lord. Or we can do as it's recorded of what we should do in 1 Peter 5-6, which says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Some of you here tonight may have the heavy hand of the Lord upon you for one reason or another. Don't ever forget that he's working in your life and that he loves you and he has not given up on you. If you're in sin and need to be corrected, it is because he loves you that he will correct you. It's because you are a son or a daughter that you will be corrected. If the Lord is trying to shield you from something or have you to learn something, humble yourself under his mighty hand. And that same song that David said, my vitality was turned into the drought of summer, he said this, I acknowledged my sin to the Lord and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord and he forgave the iniquity of my sin. Finally, in Philippians 2.16, Paul writes, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. I've been blessed to know your pastor for a number of years. He has encouraged me as an assistant pastor, he has counseled me when I've dealt with things that were so far beyond my expertise, my experience, above my pay grade. You have a pastor that's poured his life into you. And you know, the person that attends church doesn't understand even a fraction of the kind of things that pastors deal with on a daily basis. You have a pastor who loves you. He's not perfect, nor would he ever say he is. But he loves the Lord, he loves his wife, he loves his children, and he loves you. It's very similar to what we're looking at when Paul's writing to this church, this group of people that he loves and he cares about greatly, he poured his life into that church. They were entrusted to him, their spiritual care. And if they were to walk away from their relationship with the Lord, it would be devastating to Paul. He knew the importance of the Philippian church maintaining their obedience to the Lord in his absence. And so I encourage you, Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, stand on your own two spiritual feet. Know what you believe. Hold fast to the word of life. See, the Philippians needed to step up into the place that they were called to be so that they might lead others to the Lord. They would need to hold fast to the words of life. There was a time when even the followers of Jesus turned their back on him and walked away and Jesus looked at his disciples and you remember the story. Do you also wanna go away? And Simon Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. So the words of life are found in God's word. And there will be great rejoicing. There will be great rejoicing when Jesus comes for those that have kept the faith. I've been in ministry for 15 years and over the years I've seen dozens and dozens of people even get married, done weddings, you know, I've stopped counting there, just being able to be in those situations is such a blessing where you can pour into people, you can instruct them in the ways of the Lord, pray through their difficulties, walk them through their trials, but it's so sad when you see the words of life begin to slip through their grasp where they no longer own their own relationship with the Lord. They're no longer in the Word. They're no longer praying with each other. They're no longer going to church. They're no longer serving. They're no longer giving. They're no longer doing what they're supposed to be doing. And then they no longer wanna hear what you have to say regarding the spiritual state because they've decided to do things in the flesh. My heart breaks for people, they've got divorced, their children became collateral damage. The ministries that they were involved with went kaput all because they didn't hold fast to the words of life. It starts with complaining and then arguing and then dying. And so Paul tells them, God is working in his relationship with you. Even as I feel the Lord would wanna encourage you, God is working in his relationship with you. So work out your relationship with him by not complaining about his methods or arguing for Lordship of your own life. So all by yourself, you stand on your own two spiritual feet. If mom and dad are gone, if mentor is gone, big brother or sister are gone, pastor is gone, what are you gonna do? If we cannot maintain our relationship with the Lord unless there is someone else in that relationship, then we don't have the type of relationship with Jesus that we need to have. See the good news, God is working in you and you're willing in your actions. So don't complain and argue with him. We need to shine as a light in a perverse world and you'll work out your faith in the Lord by holding fast to the words of life, by living in obedience to him. And then you too, because I'm looking out here at this audience. I don't know many of you, some of you have had the privilege of meeting, but the Lord needs more people to lead. It might be great, oh, they're doing it. What happens when they're not there? It's you and you may run from it, you may say, oh, you got the wrong guy, you got the wrong guy, no way. We need more of the people that are sitting in the seats at church to step up and be ready to lead. And you too will be that leader that is strong, strong in the Lord and ready to do great things in his name. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord.