Christ is proclaimed

OK, can I get someone to read Philippians chapter 1 verses 15 through 20? Philippians chapter 1 verses 15 through 20. Actually, let's make it 14 through 20. Excuse me. I wouldn't mind doing that. Because of my change, most of the brothers in the lowest have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether for false motives or true, Christ is preached.

And because of this, I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now and always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Thanks, Inger.

We started last week looking at verses In fact, let's just go, I'm just going to jump ahead here to this slide. Looking at the verses 15 through 17 and talking about preaching Christ and the motivation for doing that. And from the previous verse, the people he's talking about here are believers, they're brethren. Look back what Ingrid read in verse 14, they're brethren. And he says in verse 15, some preach Christ. If you notice one thing I tried to indicate here, Preach Christ is in verse 15. Preach Christ, do it. Preach Christ out of love. Preach Christ is in all those three verses, but the motivation for preaching Christ is different. I call them the some negatives and the some positives. The some negatives are doing it out of their own nature, out of Adam. The ones out of goodwill are doing it out of Christ, the life of Christ. So we have some.

But Paul's amazingly, while that's not the best, he's excited that Christ is being preached. And that's just what's so incredible. And it goes all the way through here. That message just comes through over and over again. He's excited. He says, you know, I'm in chains, but the gospel is going out to people that never would have heard it before. And hey, some of these people, their motives are not good. Some of them have it in for me. Down here, they're trying to cause me distress. That's the idea of pressure. They're trying to press me in. in my imprisonment? But what then? In every way, Christ is proclaimed." So he's just so excited about that.

So last week, in some detail, we went over verses 15 through 17. And you'll get a chance to hear that in the main service here, since Vern's not going to be speaking. You'll get to hear 15 through 17. If you didn't hear it last week, you'll hear it this week. But we're going to jump into starting it in verse 18.

So he's going to basically say there were some that I put the red, envy and strife, for the negatives, the blue is goodwill, for the positives, goodwill out of love, pure motives, versus envy, strife, and selfish ambitions. And that idea kind of carries into these verses here, so let's just kind of move into that. So we start off with, what then? And actually this is an idiom. Does anybody, if anybody remembers, there may be some, I kind of jumbled around, I apologize. Okay, we'll take both.

Actually what's happening is we're going to be doing these in the main service too. Another little thing, Vern lost his voice, so I'm doing this message twice. You get the privilege of hearing this twice. If you don't get it the first time, you get it the second time.

So does anybody, there's this expression, what then? And it's called an idiom. Does anybody remember from their English class what an idiom is? And I'm not trying to put you on the spot. Just curious. Anybody remembers what an idiom is? I'll give an example of an idiom. Go ahead. I was going to say it's an expression that is unique to a certain environment. OK, I'll give an example. It's raining cats and dogs. Now, in and of itself, raining cats and dogs. Is it really raining cats and dogs? No. But that expression means it's really raining. I mean, it's coming down heavy.

So that's called an idiom. So this is an idiom, what then? And actually, what then appears, Paul uses it a bunch of times. And actually, if you look through scriptures, a bunch of times. So I find it's kind of good to see a few of the usages of that. So let's look at some of these. Romans chapter 3. And if someone gets there, could they read verses 1, 2, and 3? Romans chapter 3, 1, 2, and 3.

What advantage, then, hath the Jew? For what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them is committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

OK, thank you. So actually, the Amplified Bible renders that what then, but what does it matter, which I think in some cases fits and some cases doesn't fit. What's nice is today you can do searches, computer searches. It makes life so easy. So I can find maybe like 20 occurrences of what then in the New Testament. And it's approximately the same Greek words. So this definition of that idiom fits, but what does it matter? So in this case, let's see, does what does it matter fit with what was just read?

He's saying here that what advantage have the Jews? What benefit of circumcision? Great in every way. First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God. We say, but what does it matter if some did not believe? their unbelief. So it seemed like it might fit there. So I found in looking through these, sometimes the definition here fit. And I think more this definition kind of fit this circumstances. So if you put up an R verse, it says, but what does it matter? Only in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed. So it kind of fits. So we don't have to go through the rest of those. But there's a couple other ones there that Paul did that I thought were, you look at those on your own. Then the second part, the first two phrases here, you have to kind of decode, if you will. But what does it matter? And actually, I lost the amplified. Oh, there it is down there. Only in every way. The amplified has this, so long as in either way. That didn't actually help me a whole lot.

So you say, what then, so long as in either way, whether in pretense or in truth. That might be helpful. I found that Another possibility was in either manner, only that in either manner, whether in pretense or in truth. So the bottom line is that this little first phrase here kind of sets the stage. Paul says, you know, it doesn't matter. In either way, if they do it with pretensive motives or truthful motives, Christ is proclaimed, I'm going to rejoice. So that's kind of the intro there, but I think it was kind of cool to, I found it kind of interesting to go through and look at those words and kind of try to sort them out, so to speak. And so hopefully that was helpful.

And I have the Amplify. I looked at, we had some translations for that and they were okay, but I thought the Amplify was a little bit better. So any thoughts or comments on that? We're just going to kind of march along here. Okay, good. So now the next phrase, whether in pretense or in truth. So in the previous verses, we saw this contrast. It was strife and envy versus goodwill.

So now he's going to say, he's making another shot at this. He's going to say, OK, these folks, they're preaching the gospel. They're believers. And these believers, they're not operating out of Christ. They're operating out of their sinful nature. He says, some they do out of pretense. whether in pretense, and pretense is this word, an outward show or appearance to put forth to cover one's real intent. And I think we've all seen that people pretend to be something they're not. So it's kind of sad that believers were pretending in presenting the gospel to be something they're not. And it seems like we talked last week that there may have been some envy of Paul. Paul was kind of at the forefront, if you will, And people were envious of that. Even believers were envious of that.

Well, I can be just as good as Paul. I know the gospel. I can preach it. Why can't I be first? Choose me. Kids do. So anyway, in pretense, I tried a couple of verses here. Let's just look at maybe just one or two. The best one actually is in, let's look in Mark. Could someone read Mark 12, verses 38 through 40?

And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go and long clothing, and love salutations in the market-places, and the chiefs in the synagogues, and the local men's rooms at feast. which devour widows' houses, and for a pretense to make long prayers.

These shall receive greater damnation. They do all this other stuff, but they have this long prayer. They must be godly. This prayer is so long. I mean, hey, length counts, right? I can spread this out. So that's the idea of this word. Not a very attractive word. So Paul, he's saying, some do it out of pretense. They're trying to pretend something, and they really shouldn't be doing that. But then he says, some do it out of truth.

And truth, as you might guess, I mean, 110 times the New Testament is used. It's used a tremendous amount. And think about it. The very definition of truth is the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way and the truth. I am the singular truth. There is really no truth outside of Christ. So for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this says that they're doing it out of truth. They're doing it out of Christ's life. So that's just a wonderful, wonderful statement. He says some are doing it out of truth, out of Christ's life. And I offered some places to look up there. And I don't think there's any that are really, let's see, there's one that I wanted to highlight.

Actually, what I found was that, let's look at Ephesians 5. So I'm going to look at Ephesians 5, 7 through 9. I found that that characteristic of the believer is grouped with other things as well. So it really points out that this is really a life that comes from Christ, Ephesians 5. Verses 7 through 9.

Therefore do not be partakers with it, for you are formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. So what I found is in several of these verses that truth as a characteristic of the believer's life is grouped with other characteristics, righteousness, goodness. So those are characteristics of a life, a life that is abiding in Christ and preaching and proclaiming Christ.

So now we're going to kind of move on with those two kind of contrasts, in pretense and truth. And now Christ is proclaimed, and in this I will rejoice. In this I rejoice. So Christ is proclaimed. Last week there was a You'll see two words in scripture preached and proclaimed, and they're virtually synonyms.

And there's at least two Greek words that are mentioned, but they're pretty much synonyms. This is a word we didn't mention last week, katangelio, to tell, to declare, openly, aloud. And this is a word that we see it in the Lord's table. Proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This word is used. But the preach word and the proclaim word are virtually synonymous.

So basically, he's saying Christ is being proclaimed, declared. And an interesting verse here that shows how this is used is in Acts 17. Acts 17. And could someone read verses 1, 2, and 3? Now, when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

And according to Paul's question, he went to them, and the three sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. And the word proclaiming in that verse is the same one in Catangelio. to declare, to proclaim openly. So that was Paul's custom. He proclaimed Christ, and he did it in truth, out of the life that is walking with Christ. And so he says, yes, actually, I didn't have the underline, but anyway.

Yes, I will rejoice. Be glad, expressing joy. Okay, so this is a question that kind of, a little bit of a trick question. So, they're kind of, Paul's rejoicing in this situation, But the question I'm asking is, what are we to rejoice in as a Christian? I made lots of money. Not that. What from scripture comes to your mind when it says rejoice?

What do you think follows that? I'm looking for a phrase. I'm trying to help you here. As Bob said, try to guess what Bob is trying to think here. I don't want to do that. And Bob doesn't either. But I'm trying to get you to see, okay, he's rejoicing in this particular situation.

But as Christians, we're told to rejoice in the Lord. Amen. Okay, well, thank you. And actually, what we're going to find, what's cool is, this is one of the key words in Philippians, rejoice. It's seven times. And actually, let's just take a little survey here just real quick. And Wayne gets a gold star. At the end of the class, I'll give you a gold star.

So if you look in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 1 it says finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same thing again is no trouble to me and it is a safeguard for you so we'll see that that Paul does this in Philippians quite he will say rejoice in the Lord and he'll add something else rejoice in the Lord so I think what he's saying is You know, things may be happening, like Ingrid's talking about her mom, and it's been a long road there, I know. So, what I think what he's telling us is, hey, you know, I can be trusted. You can rejoice in me, no matter what it looks like.

And Paul's going to absolutely say that. He's going to say, by life and by death. It doesn't matter. He says, you know, I could live or die, but it does not matter. And that's the focus. Not that I'm saying, That's easy. I'm just saying that's where he wants to sit. Be looking at him and he says, you know, it's okay, I'll take care of it. I was going to mention, Lindy isn't here, but I'm in the main service. I remember our dear brother Hal, he would come and talk with us sometimes. Actually, it's not just Bonnie and I he'd talk with us sometimes.

He would say, you know, what he liked to do, and I think it drove his kids crazy, he said, situation would occur something quote bad happened he'd say well what's the worst that can happen as a result of that go take that to its ultimate end what's the worst thing that can happen well many times the worst thing that happened is that you die and go be with the Lord I mean that or you you know you lose your job you don't want it whatever it is so he says you know take it to its end and I think Paul we're gonna see Paul's gonna say You know, it's, Lord, I'm going to rejoice in you.

He says, I'm rejoicing in this pretense, you know, people, Gospels being preached, and I'm rejoicing in that. But, you know, we can rejoice in the Lord, what He has in mind, His plan. And our plans sometimes we think, I thought it was going to work out this way, but the Lord is going to work out that way. And it's totally different. And many times those are not easy things, but He wants our focus to be on Him. So I think that's really, and we'll see that as we go through Philippians, that rejoicing in the Lord is kind of the key idea there.

The last part of 18 fits in with the first part of 19, so I just put them together. Yes, I will rejoice. We just talked about that. He's rejoicing in the Lord that the gospel is being preached. For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance. Actually, I may have misspoken here. I will rejoice. Actually, I kind of messed up here. Let me backtrack and just say this again.

He rejoices in here twice. This is what I'm trying to point out. He says, and I rejoice in this. Here he's rejoicing in the context that Christ is proclaimed. The first I rejoice is that Christ is proclaimed. But then he comes back and says, yes, and I will rejoice. So he kind of changes gears here a little bit. And I found some kind of said, well, it's the same thing. But I didn't really think so.

Did I ask that question? Yeah, OK, here's my question. I'll talk about the no part. What do you think the second, I will rejoice, for I know that this, So what's the... he's rejoicing in... his first rejoice was in that Christ is being proclaimed. What is this referring to, do you think? And maybe I've totally confused you here. Hopefully not. Is it the same thing, or is he maybe focusing on something different here?

It does seem like it's the future. I mean, why would he say, and then, are my version, yea, what is it? And I hear him therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Right, exactly. It's almost like it is a future thing. I believe it's a future thing. He's looking to the future. I'm going to basically continue to rejoice. And what I think is that this refers to his whole situation. No matter what. Exactly. He's saying, you know, I'm in prison here. I'm chained to this guard.

And, you know, I don't know. I really don't know what's going to happen. But I know that I know it's going to turn out, he's going to say, it's going to turn out for my deliverance. We're going to find out how Paul defines deliverance. We might not define it that the same way, but we're thinking, boy, I'm out of there. I'm out of jail. I'm on the road, baby. Is that how he's defining? Not quite. Anyway, so I think you're right.

I think this focuses on his entire situation, that he's in prison. And whereas the first of this was, I rejoice in that Christ has proclaimed this, I rejoice in my situation. And no one can do that by abiding in Christ, by trusting Christ, trusting in the Lord. Any thoughts on that? I keep thinking of Paul having been with Christ in the wilderness, having been taught directly from Christ.

Exactly. And to know him that intimately, We can know him that same way. Absolutely. I think that's because Paul knew him so well. He trusted him. He knew the mind of Christ. He knew how Christ thought or how God thinks. And that's what we're more than encouraged. We're told the Lord wants us to think like he thinks. We have the mind of Christ. Think like he thinks. Look at the big picture.

God has a purpose in all things. It's not a random, okay, so-and-so gets this, it's like a dart board, you get that. Gail gets this, and Bonnie gets that. It's not that way at all. We have a loving Heavenly Father who cares for us, and many times He brings difficulties for our benefit. We not like that approach. We like to have a different approach, but He does that. We'll turn out.

This is kind of interesting. It's a word that means to come or go out of the ship, to embark or disembark. So if you're cruising people like we are, you embark on the ship when you disembark. So that's the original part of the word. And so it will turn out. And actually, some of these verses kind of point that out. I'm not going to take the time to look at those. But it is interesting.

I do want to read one, but let's look at the Luke one. Luke 21, and let's read, how about 10 to 13. And this is kind of a bad situation that will turn out for, you know, so I'm going to be willing to read Luke 21, 10 to 13. that he unto them nations shall rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in various places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful fights, and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers. For my name's sake, and it shall turn to you for a testimony. Okay, that's interesting. You have turn to you. Actually, mine says it will lead to an opportunity. It's our word here, turnout. We'll turn out for an opportunity.

This is God's thinking, right? You think, Lord, you think differently than I think. That doesn't sound like any fun at all. That sounds terrible. But he says, no, it's only for an opportunity. So that's interesting. His ways are not our ways. So I thought that was kind of cool. That kind of shows the idea that Paul is recognizing God at work here.

Turn out for my deliverance. Now let's talk about deliverance. Deliverance is a word that we have for soteria, salvation, perseverance. If you look through, and there's another one of these words, there's just tons of occurrences in the New Testament. You can divide them up into different categories. Some are for the deliverance of the nations. Some are for personal deliverance. And Paul, I think, is looking at this as a personal deliverance, not looking for so much focus on his salvation and the Lord. And then there's the ones that are salvation, our salvation.

So let's look at the Acts one here, Acts 27. X-27 versus 31-34. Today is the 14th day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. Therefore, I encourage you to take some food for this is for your preservation, for not the hair from the head of any of you should perish.

The word preservation that Wayne read is a word satyria, so that's a personal So I think Paul's looking at this, and his view is so tied in with the Lord's plan. He sees that as his personal deliverance. We might not say by life or by death. We might say, that doesn't sound like I'm pretty... He looks at that as a personal, not speaking of salvation, but personal deliverance. The Lord is personally going to deliver him from this situation. And it's basically through two aspects. through your prayers, that's the first one, and secondly, through the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. So through your prayers.

So I was going to ask you, how can Paul, and I've actually may have already answered this question, how can Paul be so sure of God's will here? I mean, he's saying, or may I didn't actually state the question exactly right. May better. What is Paul's view here? I mean, he says, this is for my deliverance. I've kind of already alluded to this. What deliverance does he see in this? I'm not sure I'm still asking exactly right. But some might say, well, how can he? It sounds like he's awfully sure. Some would take this and say, well, my deliverance.

Well, it sounds like God's going to unlock the door. There's going to be an earthquake. He's going to unlock it. And Paul's going to walk out the door. But Paul doesn't see it that way. but he still uses for my deliverance, which I thought was kind of interesting. I thought he mentioned either life or death, so I thought it was going to be delivered, either physically or in death. Right. Okay. And I think that's why we've been talking all around this idea. So I think that's right. That's what he's saying here. He looks at the long picture.

We may not think of death as being a deliverance. We may not think of that as being death, but we should. Because we don't, we're not in control. He's in control. Well, he said for me to live as Christ and die as Gabriel. I know. Well, actually, Wayne, we're going to get, that's the worst we're going to come up to. That's the finale here. Chuck, you took, you spoiled my thunder here, Wayne. Okay.

And the second part is the, provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ. So it's basically saying here that the bountiful supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. And let's see. I want to look at that Ephesians one there. We can skip that one. So my question is, what is the spirit of Jesus Christ? And it shouldn't be hard. Well, why don't you hold that? Don't answer the question.

And we'll read another verse. And then you can answer it after we read the verse. Actually, it's in Philippians. Let's look at Philippians 3.3.

Could someone read Philippians 3.3?

For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, mine says, in the spirit of God. So, how'd yours read, Margaret? Was it the spirit of God or was it the spirit? Okay. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. Okay, so yours is loaded. Okay, so I guess the question is, we may see spirit of Christ, spirit of God. So what's that referring to?

At first I thought it was more complicated than it is. I don't think this is complicated. That's a gentle hint. That's why I think so. I asked Bonnie, she was walking around the house, I said, well, Bonnie, here's something for tomorrow. What's the spirit of Christ? Of course, she answered it right. I didn't tell her she did. I said, wait till tomorrow. I'm hard, isn't that terrible? I did take her to a nice Valentine's Day lunch, though, to make up for it. A little bit late, but hey.

Alright, so verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and hope. So he says, I know it will turn out for my deliverance and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation Some of these words are just outstanding. This is the idea of a compound word. It's a strained expectancy, a longing.

It's to kind of watch with an outstretched head. It's like you're looking. Are they coming yet? Are they coming yet? It's that idea. It's kind of cool. So he's expecting the Lord. The Lord's going to do something here. I just can't wait. Is he coming yet? Is he there yet? Let's see, I don't want to look at any of those. Actually, 8.19 is the anxious longing, creating an anxious longing, which is kind of another translation of that. And then basically says, according to my earnest expectation and hope.

So, you guys are good here, I know. You guys have this all down. This is the question we ask all the time. So, what is the meaning of hope in the New Testament? Now, and Hal drilled this into you, I mean, I heard him drill it into you, you know, before I ever came to Holly Hills. Exactly. You know, is it? Oh, I hope it's, Donna. I like that. I like that.

That's good. Absolutely. I would say absolute certainty. Absolute certainty. So hope it. So Paul's saying, I'm strained to look for it. And it's a certainty. It's going to happen. I don't have to worry about that. It's going to happen. So I think that's just so cool. That I will not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness and so on. So it seems like he kind of brings in this idea of being put to shame. He's not going to be put to shame.

And if you remember back and kind of compare that with, let's go back to verse 10 in Philippians 1.10. And 110 says, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. So Paul, in his writing in Philippians, is focused on that there will not be any, I'll be blameless, I will have walked with the Lord, and there won't be shame involved here. But what's interesting here is that I will not be put to shame is a future thing, but it is in the passive voice. God, as he walks with Christ, there is no shame involved.

Even though I was in prison for Christ, there might be some shame associated with that. People might think, well, why are you in prison? You shouldn't be in prison. Prison is for prisoners, and prisoners do prison things. They're not good. Bad things.

So anyway, he says, I will not be put to shame. And it's in the tense that says, God's not going to allow it to happen. If this is God's will and God's plan, There'll be no shame involved. That's what he's kind of saying, I think. That was just kind of cool. Put to shame, made ashamed. Boldness, so he can be bold about it.

And then lastly, Christ, even now and always, will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. So here's kind of the, so Christ will be exalted. And what's interesting here, this is, This is another future tense, will be, in the future. But this is in the passive voice. And it's kind of hard to even say it right.

He's saying that God's plan is for Christ to be exalted. And that's his plan. And really, that's a good work he's planned for Paul. So Paul, you don't have to try to make this happen. It's going to happen. And Paul recognizes that. So that's what he's saying.

Christ will be exalted in my body now. and always, and then he'll be magnified through life or through death. So no matter how it works out, and then, Wayne, would you read verse 21? You get your gold star back. So I think it's just some cool verses. His view is so like the Lord. He views that.

I'm being delivered. And we would say, Paul, you're not being delivered. They may chop your head off. That's being delivered? It's just a different view. So I think that's where the Lord wants us. Whatever it is, whether it's what we consider a small trial or a big trial, Lord, your will is going to be accomplished. My job is to trust you and to walk by faith. That's all you ask me. You don't ask me to figure it out. Any last thoughts or comments? I agree with you. Well, he says, I guess the question would be, if they present the gospel message, and a lot of times they don't. See, that's part of the problem.

It's bad enough that they have other stuff, all this shenanigans going on, but if they fail to present the gospel message, that's even another. Paul, as far as we can say, he says they're proclaiming the gospel. The gospel is being proclaimed. They've got bad motives, they're doing all kinds of stuff, they're envying strife. But they preach the gospel. So the question we ask of the TV evangelists, are they presenting the gospel? And many times they're not, which makes it even sadder.

Here they are spending all this money, and they're not giving the gospel out. They're giving some other gospel. Paul's come to address that in his other writings. But you know, too, I know I've talked to people who've listened to them, and they didn't hear the gospel there, but it kind of sent them to the Lord. I know what you're saying. They instilled some kind of curiosity that the Lord then used for the person then to go to the Lord, or pick up a Bible, and want to know what it says.

So you never know. Well, I had an experience with my mom. My mom, she wasn't a believer, and we were overseas in England. And I became a believer at that point. So I wrote her and sent her tapes and all kinds of stuff. She started watching Jimmy Swaggart on TV. And actually, she said that's how she came to the Lord, through Jimmy Swaggart.

So I am thankful for that. So some of the characters throughout scripture. So anyway. Yeah. So, I don't know, I mean, I think that's a good point, Margaret, even if they mess up the gospel. But somehow, if there's some truth going out from that, if the Lord can use it, you know, that's wonderful. The Lord knows. It's going to be put on their hearts to find the information.

I was struck today, and I know I've heard it before, but today it kind of gripped me that the meaning of the word hope, I usually tend to think of it, well you said absolute certainty, but I usually tend to think of it as an unshakable confidence. But if I think carefully about that, unshakable confidence really relies in me. That's a good point. Whereas if you say it's an absolute certainty...

It puts it over in God. Exactly. Amen. That's good. That's where he should be. It's in his court. He's going to make it happen. And you can see that's where Paul's coming from. It's going to turn out, and it's going to happen. I'm just trusting what he's going to do.

No, that's good. Actually, if you're talking to someone like an unbeliever or a new believer, it really, bottom line, doesn't matter whether I have confidence or not. I know. It does matter. Exactly. And you have confidence that he's going to carry out his work and them. That's part of faith. Exactly. told us that it's true.

All right, so you heard this part. You're going to get to hear this sort of again. I appreciate your prayers. And so let's pray. Dear Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have, Father. Thank you for your wonderful message in Paul's life, how he was confident in your plans, and you're working things out for your purposes, Father. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.