For The Furtherance of the Gospel | Sunday, March 29, 2020

Hey, Cross Connection Church at home! This Sunday, of course, we are in the midst of our lockdown, so we're not doing services live here at our facility. However, we are so glad that you are able to tune in with us for our live broadcast on Sunday morning.

Before we get into our time of worship and our time in the Word, I have two brief things that I would ask you to do. Maybe you're watching this on your TV, or perhaps you have it on a device. If you could promote this service and share it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or whatever platform you prefer, this would be a really great evangelistic opportunity for you to invite people to watch this service virtually with you. You can simply go online to your chosen platform and share lifeinconnectionlive at lifeinconnection.com to let others know what's going on.

In fact, if you go to the website share.lifeinconnection.com, you'll find that we've already produced a few Instagram-sized images that you can post right now. These images invite people to come to the live broadcast. Just add a message like, "Hey, come watch my service with me at live.lifeinconnection.com," and make sure to use the hashtag #lifeinconnection so that we can join together with those who are participating.

That's the first thing I want you to do: share this service with friends and family on social media. The second thing you can do is, as you're watching with us, one of the things we like to do when we gather together as a church is to connect with one another. Although we can't do that in person right now, you can let us know that we're all watching together as one family. Snap a picture of you, your family, or your friends who are watching this right now. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and again, use the hashtag #lifeinconnection. This way, we get a chance to see you and connect with you as you are connecting with us here at the church.

Once again, thanks for tuning in, and welcome to Cross Connection Church at home. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day. God, we are so grateful that You are beyond time and space, Lord, and You meet us where we're at. We are so grateful to be able to worship You and sing to You, no matter where we are. With that knowledge, Lord, we know that You are more than able to do above...

All that we ask or think, Father, Your promises say that You will never leave or forsake us. So we hold on to those truths as we sing and worship You. We minister to You, Lord; would You minister to us as we encourage ourselves and our faith? In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

God is able; He will never fail. He is all mine. He has done great things. He lifted us up, defeated the grave, and raised to life. Our God is able. In His name, we overcome, for the Lord our God is able.

God is with us; God is on our side. We will make far above all we hope. He has done a great thing. He lifted us up, defeated the grave. Our God is able. In His name, we overcome, for the Lord our God is able.

God is with us. He will go before us; He will never leave us. He will never fail us. He has open arms. People never fail us. He will never fail us.

Lift it up! He defeated the grave and was raised to life. Our God is able. In His name, we overcome, for the Lord our God is able. The Lord God is more than able.

Good morning, Cross Connection Church! This is Pastor Garrett. Thank you for joining us live this morning from wherever you are—your home, couch, or bed. We're glad that you could connect with us this morning.

First, I want to thank all of you who signed up as helpers. Those who have signed up are willing to help grab groceries, pick up anything from the pharmacy, or meet any needs people have in our community. If you would like to sign up to help those in need at Cross Connection Church, you can still sign up at helperlifeinconnection.com.

This brings me to my second point. If you are someone who needs help, do not be afraid to ask for it. We have a ton of great people here at Cross Connection Church who are eager to help you. They would love to run to the grocery store for you, wait in lines for you, and grab you water, milk, or pharmacy items—whatever it is. They can leave it at your door while maintaining the social distancing that is required. We would like to help you, so don't hesitate to sign up and ask for help. You can do that simply at helperlifeinconnection.com.

Secondly, I invite you to subscribe to our weekly emails if you haven't already. Pastor Miles likes to send out these weekly emails.

Encouraging you and updating you on what's going on here at Cross Connection Church, as well as the pandemic around us and across the globe, I want to let you know about the next update. You can sign up at subscribe.lifeinconnection.com.

Next, we invite you to share what you're watching right now live at lifeinconnection.com on your social media. Share it with your friends and family so they can tune in live with us. We would love for you to do that. You can simply post live at lifeinconnection on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Also, would you take a selfie of where you're at right now? Whether you're eating breakfast in bed, watching us live from the couch, or in the living room, we would like to see how you're connecting with Cross Connection Church. When you do that, just use the hashtag #LifeInConnection, and we will be able to see it. It would be great to watch you and see how you are encouraged this morning while watching the service.

Of course, Cross Connection Church is all about prayer. We love to pray for you, and that hasn't changed. Even though we are meeting virtually through your television or phone, we want to be praying actively with and for you. We know this is a tough time. Not only did you have stressors before this pandemic, but now this situation is compounding those challenges, and we know that you need prayer.

So, go ahead and sign up for any prayer requests you have for yourself or for your friends and family. You can do that simply on our website, prayer.lifeinconnection.com, and we will receive it. We have a devoted prayer team that is still praying for you daily, and we would like to continue to do so. Please send in your prayer requests; we would love to pray for you this week.

Next, would you tune in for a special message from our Vice President, Mike Pence? The pastors we spoke to want to thank all the religious leaders from every community of faith in the country for making the hard choice to suspend services and hold online services. Even while those ministries are continuing to support food banks and come alongside the most vulnerable, the chorus of prayers coming from communities of faith around the country is making a difference, as it always has in the life of this nation.

One thing the President and I promise is to remind people that on the weekends when you're not in the pews, it's still a good idea to continue your faith practices.

Donations continue because all the ministries are playing a vital role in our communities, and we encourage your continued support. That was an awesome message from our Vice President, Mike Pence. If you would like to give, if God has put that on your heart, you can do that very easily at giftlifeconnection.com, or you could even just text the amount you would like to give to 84321. I'll have that number right here on your screen.

Now, we're going to go into a song of worship. This is a time to worship the Lord with your giving.

We fully trust in our God, and through His unfailing love, we will not be shaken. We will not be shaken. We will not be shaken.

Though the battle rages, we will stand in the fight. Though the armies rise up against us on both sides, we will not be shaken. We will not be shaken. We will not be shaken.

For in the hour of our darkest days, we will not tremble; we won't be afraid. Hope is rising like the light. My God is for us; He has hope.

We trust in our God, and through His unfailing love, we will not be shaken. We will not be shaken. We will not be shaken.

We will not tremble; we won't be afraid. Hope is rising like the light. Ah, God is for us; He has overcome. We trust in our God, and through His unfailing love, we will not be shaken.

We will not be shaken. We will not be shaken. We trust You, Lord. All those against Him will fall, for our God is stronger. He can do all things. There is no higher name we can call than Jesus, for He is greater.

We trust in our God, and through His unfailing love, we will not be shaken. We will not be shaken. We will not be shaken. No, we won't.

Oh, we will not be shaken. Heavenly Father, we do believe that word, Lord. We will not be moved; we will not be shaken when we rest in the showers of Your wings. We praise You and bless You in Jesus' name. Amen.

Being that we are in the midst of what is effectively a lockdown for all of us nationwide and, in a lot of ways, worldwide, we're obviously doing things a little bit differently here on Sunday mornings. Because things are a little bit different than we normally would be doing them on Sunday, I'm actually going to take a detour away from where we have been studying in the previous weeks through the book of Deuteronomy. We will come back to the book of Deuteronomy, but just for the time being, I think we're going to jump around a little bit to some other texts.

If you are tuning in to Cross Connection Church for the very first time, whether you were invited by a friend or you saw something on social media, we want to welcome you to our broadcast. I'm Pastor Myles, the lead pastor here at Cross Connection Church. As I said, we had been studying through the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, but with all the things that are going on in the world, we're going to take a little bit of a detour.

Last week, we jumped into the New Testament book of Philippians and went to Philippians chapter 4, where we read a really important message about the God of peace and the way that He is able to give us His peace that surpasses all understanding through trying circumstances and difficult times when we find ourselves anxious. I know, in talking with family members, friends, and other people within the church, as well as listening to things that are happening in the news and around the world, that there is a lot of anxiety right now. People are worried not just about the coronavirus, but really about the effects of it upon the economy. People are worried about their jobs, their income, and a lot of different things.

That message in Philippians chapter 4 is, I think, a really appropriate message. If you weren't able to hear it last week, you might want to go to our website, lifeinconnection.com, where you can find the archived message in the media section. I think it might be an encouragement to you. This week, I want to stay again in Philippians, but I want to move from Philippians chapter 4 to Philippians.

Chapter 1

So that's where we're going to be in a couple of minutes. If you have a Bible available, you might want to grab that. If not, you can always get the YouVersion Bible app on your tablet or phone and check that out. We'll be in the book of Philippians in a moment.

Before we get there, I think it's helpful to provide a little background on the text we will be looking at this morning. The book of Philippians was a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote some 2,000 years ago. When he wrote this letter to a church in the ancient city of Philippi, he was basically on lockdown. It is believed by many that he was under house arrest at that time.

You can relate to the Apostle Paul because we have also been locked down in our homes. Not only was Paul in a similar situation to what we find ourselves in right now, but the church he was writing to in the city of Philippi did not have a church building where they gathered every week. They actually met in their homes. So what you are doing right now—gathering for church in your home—is very similar to what the people in the church at Philippi would have been doing 2,000 years ago.

I think we can make a pretty sure bet that if the Apostle Paul had access to Zoom, YouTube Live, or FaceTime, he would have used those technologies to send a message to the church at Philippi, just as we are doing right here, trying to encourage you in the midst of the things you are going through.

Paul was on lockdown; he was under house arrest. The church at Philippi was meeting for church in their homes. We find ourselves in a somewhat similar situation, so we can identify with the Apostle Paul. Right now, you may feel a little bound up at home, unable to go very far. Perhaps you feel like some of your liberties have been taken away, and the liberties we typically enjoy are not there. Your immediate future might feel uncertain.

The Apostle Paul was in a very similar situation 2,000 years ago. As we look at this text in the book of Philippians this morning, I believe there are some encouraging things that God may want to minister to our hearts. There are a few things that I hope we will be able to see together.

First, though we might feel that we are bound up or that we don't have much in the way of liberties right now, it's important to recognize that the Word of God is not bound. God is doing a great work through His church and through His people right now. Even though we're not able to gather together in person, we would love to be able to do that. As soon as we can, we're going to do that. It would be great to be able to gather for Palm Sunday, which is just a week away, and Easter Sunday, which is two weeks away.

We don't know exactly what the future holds; the future is a little uncertain. But though we don't have the liberty that we normally would enjoy, the Word of God is not bound, and God is doing a great work through His church. There are far more churches reaching the world through mediums like this right now online than there were just three weeks ago. In fact, last Sunday, I read a number of articles stating that churches around the world kind of broke the internet. They slowed the entire internet down because so many people were going online to listen to or watch their churches as they were being live-streamed. That's pretty awesome!

We were even a little concerned as we were doing our live stream last week because we were getting some messages that we didn't have the bandwidth we needed to get the message out. However, I think that's actually a good problem. It shows that the church is engaging culture where it is at. So, though we may be bound or chained, the Word of God is not bound.

I think that's one of the things we see in this text. The uncertain and challenging circumstances that we find ourselves in right now can actually turn out for the furtherance of the gospel. That's what Paul learned when he was in prison and under house arrest. Though he was in a position where he couldn't go out and have the liberty he once had, preaching the gospel and planting churches, he found that the circumstances he was in actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

The third thing that I hope we will see as we go through this short passage of Scripture this morning is that in our moments of uncertainty, we need to remember that we have a certain and secure hope in Jesus Christ. Our hope is not in the things of this world, but our hope is in God. As we go through the text, I hope that this will encourage you as we look at these things.

With that in mind, would you take out your Bible or your Bible app? If you are watching on our live stream, over on this side in the chat window, if you click on "Bible," you can find a Bible app.

Over there, open to the New Testament book of Philippians, right near the end of your Bible. Chapter one, I’m actually going to read a pretty significant passage here in Philippians chapter 1. It begins like this:

Verse 1: Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and the deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace.

For God is my witness how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the 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 to the glory and praise of God.

But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. Most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed to the defense of the gospel.

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now.

Also, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Would you pray with me?

Lord, I just give this time that we have together this morning into Your hands. I pray that You would give us wisdom and understanding as we look through the Scriptures together and consider these things this morning. Even though we're not gathered together in the same location, through this technology, You can speak to our hearts by Your Holy Spirit. You don't need us to be in the exact same room, but as we are gathered together in Your name, there You are in the midst of Your church. I pray, God, that You would comfort the hearts of Your church and teach us by Your Holy Spirit. Join us together in worship as we gather around Your Word.

Lord, we pray for those who might be tuning into the broadcast this morning, who may have never heard the book of Philippians taught before or who may have never been in a church building. This might be their first engagement with Cross Connection Church. I pray, God, that You would speak by Your Spirit to people's hearts and draw them to Yourself during this kind of extreme circumstance, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, if you've been a part of Cross Connection Church for any length of time, you've probably heard me quote Philippians before because Philippians happens to be my favorite book in all of the Bible. Pretty much every one of the short four chapters of Philippians contains verses that are memory verses, near and dear to my heart. Several of them we just read in this passage in Philippians chapter 1, verses 1 through 21. My favorite verses in all of Scripture are found in Philippians chapter 2, which we may get into a little bit next week.

This book is just filled with encouragement and joyful hope from the Apostle Paul and from the Lord ultimately. I would encourage you, if you have never read through the book of Philippians, it would probably only take you about 20 minutes to read through the four chapters. Just set aside some time today or this week. You may have some extra time because of everything that's going on, so read through it.

If you have any questions as you're going through Philippians, make sure that you text them to us at 760-814-1223. Pastor Mark and I will answer those on the Questions Podcast this week. Just go to the QuestionsPodcast.com, and you can listen to our answers there. But text your questions if you have anything.

This book, like all of Paul's letters, opens very similarly. As you read through the New Testament, you will find that thirteen of the New Testament books were written by the Apostle Paul. The New Testament is the last third of the Bible, and every single one of Paul's letters begins with the same greeting found in verse 2, where Paul says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." This was a standard greeting of the Apostles in the early church. We see that even John the Apostle and the Apostle Peter use it as well.

I want to greet you with the same thing this morning. Even though there is a distance separating us, just like there was with Paul when he wrote this letter from the city of Rome two thousand years ago to the city of Philippi in the region of Macedonia, he writes to them and says, "May grace and peace be multiplied to you." That would be my prayer for you as well this morning. Through all the things we are going through right now and the stress that seems to be weighing upon people, may God's grace and God's peace be multiplied to you in our Lord Jesus.

Paul goes on to share one of my favorite verses in Philippians chapter 1, verse 3: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Paul expresses gratitude, saying, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." I can tell you that myself, along with the other pastors, staff, elders, and many of those on our prayer team here at the church, have certainly experienced this over the last several weeks. We are thanking the Lord upon every remembrance of you.

I would encourage you to establish or develop the same pattern in your life. It seems that Paul had established a pattern where, when people would randomly come to his mind, he would stop what he was doing and focus prayer in their direction. He would lift them up to the Lord. In another place in the New Testament, in his letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul gives a very small exhortation or command. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17, he says, "Pray without ceasing." This is the exhortation of Scripture that we should pray continuously. One way that you can take a small step toward being a person of prayer is to follow Paul's example.

Who prays consistently, continuously, and without ceasing is encouraged to develop a habit in life. When someone randomly comes to mind, pause for even just three or ten seconds. How long does it really take to lift someone up to the Lord in prayer? Not very long. However, I would suggest that it may not be so random that those people come to your mind.

When Paul says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," I encourage you to develop this new pattern in your life. During this period of time, when someone comes to mind, lift them up to the Lord in prayer. You will be a little bit closer to fulfilling the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:17, which instructs us to pray without ceasing.

In verse 6, as Paul thinks about his friends in the city of Philippi, where he initially established the church, he says, "As I pray for you, I am confident of this very thing: that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." Paul prayed with confidence in the working of God.

This brings me to my first point: we can be confident that God is doing a good work through our prayers. This is such an encouragement to me. We can have a sure and steadfast confidence that God is doing a good work as we lift our prayers to Him.

Am I the only one who has felt a little frustrated over the last couple of weeks because of this lockdown? Maybe you can relate to me. I have to admit that I have felt a little stir-crazy and frustrated. I am one of those people who constantly feels the need to be doing something and accomplishing something. I have a lot of things that I need to get done, and I feel this pressure to be productive.

I'm sure you can relate to me when everything gets put on pause. Our government and many officials are saying, "We want you to stop moving around and stop going to work." For some of you, that is not possible, but school is on hold. My four kids, who normally go to school every single morning this time of year, are at home, and it has really changed the dynamic of everything in our lives.

Household responsibilities have put a lot of the things on my to-do list and calendar on hold. It has been challenging and somewhat frustrating for me. In some ways, I feel a little ineffective. During the lockdown in 2020, this has been a source of stress for me.

However, Paul the Apostle learned an important lesson 2,000 years ago during his own lockdown. This man, who wrote the letter to the Philippians, can be described as an extremely high-capacity leader. If there had been a personality test available 2,000 years ago, he would definitely have been one of those type-A personality people—high-capacity, get-it-done, and very productive.

In the 15 years leading up to his lockdown, Paul traveled around the entire known world of his day, teaching, preaching, and planting churches. He visited every major region and capital city of his time, whether it was Philippi, the capital of Macedonia, Athens, Corinth, or Ephesus, the largest city in Asia Minor. Ultimately, he even made his way to Rome. Everywhere Paul went, he sought to preach the gospel and plant churches, and he was very effective in that mission.

However, about three years before he wrote this letter to the church at Philippi, Paul was arrested for his faith in Christ while preaching the gospel. A group of people opposed his message, leading to his lockdown. In the three years leading up to the writing of this letter, he was confined and unable to travel freely. He did not have the liberty to go from city to city, preaching the gospel and teaching the good news of Jesus.

What amazes me is that some of his most effective, productive, and long-term impactful work was accomplished during this lockdown. Many of Paul's most important letters in the Bible were written while he was confined. These include the letters to the church at Ephesus, the church at Philippi, the church at Colossae, as well as the letters to Timothy and Titus.

were written while Paul was imprisoned. We can be confident that Paul had learned this confidence: that God was doing a good work through prayer in the midst of the things he was going through.

Speaking of prayer, what were the specifics of the prayer that Paul prayed? In Philippians 1:3, he says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests with joy to the Lord for you." He expresses his confidence that God is going to work in them.

What were the specifics of his prayer? If you have your Bible, look at verse 9 in Philippians 1:9. "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ."

Paul prayed a number of things for the church at Philippi, and I would encourage you to read these verses in various English translations. This gives a lot of amplification about what is meant by some of the things Paul is praying for. If you read in the English Standard Version, the New Living Translation, or the New King James Version, you will find that Paul prays five things for the Christians in the city of Philippi.

First, he prays that they would abound in love. That is a great prayer. Jesus, before he was crucified, told his disciples in some of their last conversations that they were to love one another as He had loved them. He said they would be known as His followers by the love they have for one another. Christians are to be known for the way they love one another, the way they love others in the world, and especially for the way they love God.

So, Paul prayed for the church at Philippi, a church he had planted, that they would abound in love. You can be certain that this is one of my prayers for myself, for the people I serve Jesus with here at Cross-Connection Church, and for the church as a whole: that our love would abound.

The second thing he prays for the church at Philippi is that they would grow in understanding and knowledge. As a pastor, that is certainly my prayer for the people I pastor and teach. I not only have the privilege of pastoring and teaching here at Cross-Connection Church, but I have also had the privilege of teaching all over the world at conferences, leadership retreats, and Bible colleges. My constant prayer is that you, the saints, the followers of Christ, would grow in understanding and knowledge.

Jesus would be thoroughly equipped for every good work, and you would grow in knowledge and understanding. His third prayer was that they would come to know what really matters.

I have been thinking lately about some of the good things that are coming out of this crisis that we find ourselves in, where we can't do the things we normally do. Typically, when someone asks me, "Hey Miles, how are you doing?" my typical response is, "I'm busy." I find that a lot of other people answer the same way. When I ask, "How are you doing?" they respond, "Oh, I'm busy. So busy." We feel this pressure to always be busy in our culture, and now, all of a sudden, we're not busy.

All the things that we thought were exceedingly important are now up for examination. People get so bound up in politics, and this is a campaign season, but pretty much all of that has been put on hold. There are no sports to watch on Sunday morning, and maybe you have kids who have been involved in traveling sports; there are no traveling sports. This last week was Major League Baseball's opening day, and it stopped. I just found out that the Summer Olympics are postponed until probably next year.

This is a totally weird time. I don't think there's been anything like this ever in the world, and we are going to be talking about this for a very long time. Should history continue for a long time in the future, they will talk about 2020 and all the things that happened worldwide in that year.

However, this gives us a chance to really think about what is truly important—what really matters. Paul's prayer for the church was that they would come to know what really matters. My prayer for you during this time is that you would do some self-examination and really start to consider what are the things that actually matter.

I read a great article this morning in the Wall Street Journal that suggested this crisis might lead some people to return to faith in Jesus and to return to the church. This is certainly one of my prayers as a pastor. I am praying for God to pour out His Spirit in our day and in our nation through all the things that are happening. It is in times like this that people really start to question meaning, value, and what truly matters.

Paul's prayer was that they would come to know what really matters. The fourth thing he prayed for them was that they would become more pure and more sincere. What a great prayer! There would be a purity developed in the lives of these people—a simplicity, which is another way to think about purity. Not only that they would have purity and simplicity, but also sincerity; the way they interact with people would be without fluff, without fakery, if you will.

Genuine in the way that they interacted with people, Paul prays that their lives would produce the fruits of righteousness. He desires that their lives would show the things that are right before God and before other people. These five things are really good, and if you're ever wondering how you should pray for the people in your life, that might be a good pattern. Simply go through these verses in Philippians chapter 1 and pray for people in this way.

In this passage, Paul prays for them that all these things would be built in their lives ultimately for the glory and praise of God. This brings us to point number two: oftentimes, God's greatest work is that which He accomplishes in us and not that which He accomplishes by us. A lot of times, we think about God's working in the form of what He might use us to do in the world. However, God's greatest work is actually what He is accomplishing in us.

I often find myself wanting to be very productive. I feel that I am a highly productive person, and I get frustrated when things are not getting done. I am not saying that God doesn't want us to accomplish great things in the world, but I believe one of the greatest things that God wants to accomplish is the transformation that He does in us. He changes us more and more into the likeness of His children. Some of the most important things that He wants to do are the things He wants to do in you.

During this time, where we are kind of put on a forced Sabbath, it might be a moment for you to stop and say, "Lord, is there something you want to teach me? Is there something you want to do in me during this period of time?" Mark this really important truth: point number three on your outline is that God's work in us will result in greater glory and praise to His name. The work that God wants to do in you is going to bring Him glory.

What do I mean by that? When God makes you more loving, when He makes you more kind, when He makes you more genuine and sincere, when He makes you more patient or more righteous, He gets the glory for all of those things in your life. These are the things that God wants to develop in us. In another one of Paul's letters, he talks about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23. He mentions things like love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. These are the things that God wants to work in you and in me. He wants these to become a part of our lives, and when these things are a part of our lives, they bring glory to Him.

They point to Him. Where does love, joy, peace, and patience come from? It comes from God. When people see those things in our lives, it brings Him glory and praise.

Paul continues in verse 12 of Philippians chapter 1. He says, "But I want you to know, brethren, that the things that happen to me..." What things? Well, a few years before Paul was writing this letter, he found himself in the city of Jerusalem. As he was there, a riot broke out around him. A whole bunch of people who didn't like him ultimately arrested him. While he was arrested in that whole situation, there was a group of Jewish individuals who couldn't stand him. They had covenanted together and joined in an oath that they would kill him, and they would not eat until they had done so.

The Romans, who had arrested him, heard about this and shipped him down to the coastal city of Caesarea in Israel. There he stayed for a couple of years, waiting on trial and trying to figure out what was going to happen. All of those things seemed like such a distressing, terrible, horrible situation—not ideal. Paul says, "I want you guys to know." No doubt, the people who heard the news about what had happened to Paul in Jerusalem, then in Caesarea, and then in Rome were concerned for him. He says, "I want you to know that all those things have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel."

In verse 13, he explains that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that his chains are in Christ. He is not there for any real crime, only because he is a follower of Jesus. Most of the brethren in the Lord have become confident by my chains and are much more bold to speak the Word of God without fear.

One of my prayers for our church in the midst of this situation is that it would stir us to be a little bit more bold in sharing our faith with other people. That boldness might be as simple as sending this video to another friend or family member or inviting them to come and watch this online with you in the next service. Whatever it may be, my prayer is that God would raise up His church and that we would be a little bit more bold during this period of time.

As Paul was on lockdown, imprisoned, and under house arrest—not in an ideal situation—he understood this important truth: sometimes God's work is furthered more through challenging circumstances than in easygoing times. This can be really hard for us.

I would rather things be easy and not challenging or difficult, but a lot of times the work that God wants to accomplish in and through our lives is furthered more through challenging circumstances. This has certainly been my own observation in my life and the lives of others who are close to me. Sometimes, His work is furthered through challenging circumstances rather than through the easygoing times.

I think it's really important for us to remember, when we find ourselves in challenging circumstances—like you may be going through right now—that God understands what He is doing, even when we do not understand all the details. He knows what He is doing; He is working in the midst of the situations we find ourselves in. Paul had learned to gain perspective. He had learned to step back and see the bigger picture of all the things that were going on, even when that bigger picture included people he knew who were purposefully trying to make things more challenging for him.

If you read verses 15 through 18 of Philippians chapter 1, you will see that there was a group of people who called themselves Christians and were trying to make Paul's time in prison all the more difficult by speaking against him and gossiping. In the midst of that, Paul had learned to gain perspective. He realized that even in that situation, God is able to work. He says, "I can rejoice whether in pretense or truth; Christ is preached, and in that I will even rejoice."

Don't miss this important fact: God is presently working in our challenging circumstances. Whatever challenging circumstance you might find yourself in—maybe it has nothing to do with this lockdown or the coronavirus; it may relate to something in your own personal family or something else entirely—I want you to know, based on what I know of God and what I know of the Scriptures, that God wants to do a work in us.

Being confident of this very thing, that He who began that good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Paul wraps this passage up by saying in Philippians 1, verses 19 through 21, "For I know that this whole situation that I'm in and the prayers that the people at the Church of Philippi are lifting up to the Lord for me will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation."

Expectation, my total anticipation and hope, is that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Those are truly powerful words. For me, to live is Christ; to die is gain. Paul had the right heavenly perspective. If he was going to be here in this world, he was going to live as an ambassador for Jesus, boldly and confidently sharing the gospel with as many people as he possibly could. But if he died, he says that would be gain because he would be with the Lord in heaven.

This brings me to my fifth and final point: the temporary challenges in the life of the Christian are a reminder that eternal glory awaits. Listen, if you're a Christian this morning and you have put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, according to His promise in the Scripture, He has promised that you will be with Him forever in paradise, in a new heaven and a new earth. To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord.

I think, with all the things that are causing us to be a little anxious and stressed during this period of time, this is a really important reminder for Christians. Our hope and our joy are not ultimately in this life. There are a lot of wonderful, joy-producing things that we can experience in this life: our spouses, our kids, our families, and all kinds of wonderful things we can enjoy. But ultimately, our hope and our joy are not in this life.

When we go through challenging circumstances, these challenges can help us to really think about the things that actually matter. The challenges we face in this life are always temporary. Even if they were to last your entire lifetime, they are always temporary, and they remind the Christian of their eternal glory.

In one of Paul's letters, in Romans chapter 8, verse 18, he says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." In another one of his letters, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17, he says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal."

As I close up our time...

Scriptures today encourage us to look at the things that are not seen, to focus on the eternal. We should look beyond all the happenings in Washington, Sacramento, and other places of power, such as the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank. Instead, we must direct our attention to those things that are unseen and eternal.

For the Christian, the person who has put their faith in Jesus Christ and has received the free gift of forgiveness, grace, and salvation, we look forward to eternal glory. With that said, I want to speak for just a moment to those of you who might be tuning in this morning and have not yet put your trust in Jesus Christ. I encourage you, as a follower of Jesus, to believe in Him. Call out to the Lord and simply pray to Him. Prayer is just speaking to God. You can say, "God, would you reveal yourself to me through your Word and by your Holy Spirit? Would you reveal to me the truth of the Gospel?"

What is the truth of the Gospel? It is that Christ, 2,000 years ago, Jesus, the perfect God-man, died on the cross in your place and in my place to bear our sin and shame. He died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, and three days later, on what we celebrate as Easter or Resurrection Sunday, He rose from the dead. After that, He ascended into heaven and sent His disciples, His followers, to go into all the world to preach and proclaim the good news of salvation from sin and death through Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might receive the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I want to encourage you, if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, to consider doing that today. If you would like to do that, I want to lead you in a very simple prayer where you will acknowledge that you are a sinner, confess your belief in Jesus Christ, confess your sins, and ask Him to come into your life and cleanse you from your sins.

So, if that's you and you'd like to do that today, would you pray with me right now where you are? If you're already a believer, you can pray for those who may be hearing this message and have not yet put their faith in Jesus.

Would you pray with me? Dear Jesus, I do ask that you come into my life and forgive me of my sin.

You would help me to follow You by faith and to trust You with my life. Save me from my sin and help me to follow You. In Jesus' name, God, I pray right now for anybody who's listening to our live broadcast or maybe watching this months from now on an archive. We just pray, God, that You would do a great work in our nation and in our world.

There are literally thousands of churches that have never been trying to reach out online, but now are reaching out to our culture. This is really where our culture is today; our culture is online. Most certainly, if the Apostle Paul were alive today, he would be doing Zoom meetings and he would be doing YouTube Live and all these sorts of things.

So, God, we just ask that You would use Your church to share the good news of the gospel with those people who have yet to hear. We ask, God, that You would bring a Great Awakening, not just in the United States, but throughout the whole world. There are people in every place who need to hear the good news of the gospel. We ask, God, that You draw people to Yourself and do a work, because we are confident of this very thing: that You are working in this world and You will be faithful to fulfill and complete that work until the day that You return.

Until You return, would You help Your church to be faithful in following You? We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Where the Word at the beginning was one with God, the most hidden glory in creation is now revealed in You, Christ. What a beautiful name it is! What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful name it is; nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus.

He didn't want heaven without us, so Jesus...

Sin was great, but Your love is greater. What could sever? What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ. Nothing compares to this. What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus.

Death could not hold You. The veil tore before You. Silence the boast of sin and grace. The heavens have read the praise of Your glory, for You have no rival. You have no equal. Now and forever, God, Yours is the kingdom. Yours is the glory. Yours is the name above all names. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is!

Nothing can stand against what a plow for me is. Jesus, what a powerful name! The name of Jesus is powerful.

Once again, I want to thank you for tuning in with us here at Cross Connection at Home. We invite you to join us again next Sunday live at live.lifeinconnection.com. We will be gathering together at 9:00 a.m., live, and again at 10:45, and then one more time at 12:30. You can also find it archived on our YouTube channel at youtube.lifeinconnection.com. Make sure you come and check out all the things that are happening at Cross Connection Church on our website, lifeinconnection.com.

Thank you so much for joining with us today. As we wrap things up, we like to pray and give a benediction to you as a blessing to our church. One more time, would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the work that you are doing. We pray that as we are getting ready in just a couple of weeks to celebrate your death, burial, and resurrection at Easter, it is not a coincidence. It is not an accident. You were not taken by surprise by all of these things that are happening in our world right now.

I pray, God, that you would be doing a work here in the United States of America and around this globe. You are working at this point in time for such a time as this. These things are happening in our world, and we ask, God, that you would move by your church and by your Spirit. Draw people to yourself, for the fields are white unto harvest. I pray that you would raise up laborers who are working in a digital field to reach those who are far from you, that they would come to know you, whether it's on Palm Sunday next week, Easter the week following, or months into the future.

Lord, we lift this up to your hands and pray that you would do a great work through your church. Pour out a blessing upon your church, we pray, in Jesus' name.

Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And the blessing of God the Almighty.

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon and among you and remain upon you always. Amen. God bless you, and thanks again for tuning in.

Listen next week for Palm Sunday; it is going to be something special. We're going to do this live online, and since we're not gathered together here at church, it's our normal rotation in our schedule to partake of communion. We plan to partake of communion together next Sunday.

All you really need to do is, if you happen to go to the store this week, pick up some bread. You can pick up some matzah; most markets in our area have a kosher section where you can find it. Sometimes we even use oyster crackers. I know some people might get upset with that, but you could get those, along with a small container of grape juice. Whatever you have is fine. What we're going to be doing is remembering the body and blood of Jesus next Sunday morning, so tune in with us as we do those things.

God bless you, and have a wonderful week. If there's anything we can do for you, please reach out to us. Call us at the church at 760-489-6255. Leave a message, and we'll get back to you, or send us an email. God bless you, and may the Lord be with you.