Philippians (Lesson 4)

Joy sounds easy to talk about until you put it in a prison cell. We’re studying Philippians, a letter built around joy and rejoicing, yet written by the apostle Paul while he’s bound. That tension forces a real question: what kind of faith produces peace and grace strong enough to share with others when life hurts? We trace Paul’s confidence in God’s promises and why “pressing toward the mark” keeps a believer steady when trials, trouble, and hard circumstances pile up. 

We also slow down in Philippians 2 to talk about the mindset that makes joy possible. The “mind of Christ” is a complete reset from the natural way we think, where everything turns into “what’s in it for me.” We challenge self-centered prayers, strife, and vainglory, and we talk about what a healthy church looks like when leaders take the servant’s place and when believers learn to esteem others. Real Christian fellowship does not form around personalities, programs, or preferences, but around a shared commitment to further the gospel of Jesus Christ together. 

Then we go back to Acts 16 to relive the “from the first day until now” story: Lydia by the riverside, the beating and imprisonment of Paul and Silas, and the midnight singing that leads to an earthquake and a terrified jailer asking, “What must I do to be saved?” The answer is clear and life-changing: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” If you want biblical encouragement, practical Christian living, and a gospel-centered picture of unity across differences, listen through and share it with a friend. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what part of the message challenged your mindset most.

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Transcript

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Welcome And Philippians Overview

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All right, now thank you so very much for that tiny word of introduction. Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in today. I'm Brother James, and I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And I welcome you to another edition of the Preaching the Cross Radio Broadcast. We began three programs ago studying the Bible book of Philippians, and it might surprise you to know that we've not gotten out of verse number one just yet. I'll tell you the Bible is a loaded book. It's absolutely filled with truth to bless our hearts, change our lives, guide our footsteps, lead us in the way that we ought to go, the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. If you've not been with us, we have seen that this book centers around the idea of joy and rejoicing, and that this book has to do with liberty and freedom that is ours in Jesus Christ. Key words in the book being the mind and the gospel, mind and gospel. We have seen from chapter one that the believer three times is told that he and she might be confident in God because of the great promises of God. And then we were considering on the last broadcast when time ran out the remarkable truth that the man the Holy Spirit used to write this book about joy and rejoicing was writing from a prison cell, and considered it to be better to be a servant of Jesus Christ in a prison house than to be free from Jesus and from prison and be bound in sin. Remarkable, is it not? Now the scripture says that the apostle Paul was pressing toward the mark. We are admonished in Philippians to press toward the mark. And what kept this man joyful in all of his trials and troubles and circumstances, and what will keep you, keep me joyful in all our trials, troubles, and circumstances, will be pressing toward that mark, the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. Hebrews twelve says it this way in verse number two, looking unto Jesus, the altar and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Now think about it, Jesus was hanging there on a cross, dying, and right in front of his face was something that brought him joy. How could he find joy in the cross upon which he was crucified? Because he wasn't thinking about himself, he was thinking about what he was going to provide for me, for you, as a result of that crucifixion. That's what Philippians is all about.

Joy While Pressing Toward The Mark

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Look at chapter two, Philippians chapter two. And this servant idea and this joyful servant idea is born out once again. Verse number one. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now we're talking about a mindset here, the type of mind that should be in us. My entire life from birth as a as a natural man in a body of flesh, my mindset from birth is what's in it for me. I like you as long as you like me. I'm good to you as long as you're good to me. I'll treat you right as long as you treat me right. I'll be nice to you as long as you're nice to me. That's how people think. We don't even have to be taught to think that way. It comes naturally. A man says, I'll be good to my wife if she treats me the way I want to be treated. A child says I'll be good to my mom and dad if they treat me the way I want to be treated. I'll keep going to church as long as everything there goes my way. That's how we thought our whole life. Then God said, I want to give you a thinking transplant. I want to take out your way of thinking and put in Jesus' way of thinking. He put you first. That's why you love him. It's remarkable. And so when we come to Philippians 1, and and the apostle Paul is writing, the Holy Spirit directing is writing to the saints first, and then the bishops and the deacons. No true bishop, no no right-hearted deacon is offended in the least, that the saints as a whole are placed ahead

The Mind Of Christ And Others

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of those who have the oversight of the church because the overseer has taken the servant's place and is not in it for self, but is doing what he's doing for others. That, my friend, is biblical Christianity, and we certainly need more of it. Okay, verse two. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm not as close to the bark as Paul was. If I was in jail eating the food prisoners were given in a Roman jail in 50 AD, I'd be writing and saying, Would y'all pray that I can have some grace and have some peace? I doubt I would have enough for me and then enough left over to send it to you in a letter. I'd be I'd be said, please pray for me. I'm really having a bad time here in this jail. I need your prayers. I would be. You say, How do you know? Well I I get just a little bit sick and feeling bad, and it's it seems that such an attitude sets in all at once. I tell you that finish line's a long way off for me. But Paul's sitting there in that jail, and he's got enough grace to send them the extra. He's got enough peace to send them the leftovers. That's pretty good. The Bible says in verse two, Grace be unto you in peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it comes from. Verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy for your fellowship of the gospel from the first day until now. Now look at these words that he uses to describe his brothers and sisters. Notice first of all, in verse 1, they are in Christ Jesus. They are at Philippi. Now, just because they lived in Philippi and went to church in Philippi, that didn't make them saints, that didn't make them children of God. Being in Christ made them all that they were. And so when Paul writes to them, he thanks God for them, verse three. He has joy when praying for them, verse number four. He considers it a blessing to be in fellowship with them, verse five. Do you want to be in the best church on earth? Get in one where people aren't trying to straighten out their brethren, but where they are thankful that they have brethren. Get in one where people aren't telling one another nasty things about one another, but where people go to the Lord in prayer and are rejoicing and joyful as they pray for others. Now that's that's that's the kind of church we all want to be a part of. I I hope I pray that's what I want. If you're part of that gossip crowd, that backbiting crowd, and that tail bearing crowd, and that self-righteous Pharisee crowd, you probably don't want a church like that, but I I do, I do. And in verse five, it's a fellowship in the gospel. You know why churches go ten different directions and why people sit under the same roof and don't enjoy one another's company? Because some are fellowshipping around a type of schooling, and some are fellowshipping around a type of activity, and some are fellowshipping around the adult Sunday school teacher, and some are fellowshipping around a deacon with a cause, and some are fellowshipping around the pastor, and some are fellowshipping around this and some around that, and if if you got under a roof where everybody there was there for a different reason, you would be congregated together, but you would not necessarily be fellowshipping together. But if you got under a roof where everybody there wanted to further the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and was glad to do whatever they could do to that end, and was glad to help everyone else do whatever everyone else could do to that end, that would be Christian fellowship. Are you thankful for your brethren? Are you thankful for your sisters in Christ? Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. He wrote a thank you card. The Holy Spirit is using Paul to write a thank you card to the Christians at Philippi, and it said, I just want to thank you for being my brother. I just want to thank you for being my sister. I'm glad we're both in Christ. We take it for granted. But what a blessing, what a joy to be able to fellowship with people that believe the same Bible you believe, serving the same Jesus you serve, singing praise to the same God you praise. What a blessing. You see what he's saying in verse 3? He isn't saying I'm thankful that you did this for me, I'm thankful that you did that for me. He says, I'm thankful for you. Self-centered thank yous. Thank you for making that for me. Thank you for giving that to me. Thank you for stopping that because it offended me. Paul's way beyond that. With all your faults and all your flaws and all your hang ups and stuff you still got left to work out. Thank you

Grace And Peace From God

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for just being part of the body of Christ. That's really good. That's really good. How's your heart, my friend? How's your relationship to the people you attend church with or should be attending church with? Verse 4, always in every prayer of mine for you all. He didn't leave anybody out in this prayer time. He didn't pray for some and not for others. He didn't pray for the ones he liked and not pray for the ones he didn't like, he prayed for them all, making request with joy. Here again he's joyful, he's joyful. Compare his prayers to most prayers. He said in every prayer he prayed, he prayed for them. For them, not about them, for them, not at them, for them, not because of them. Aren't a pretty good percentage of our prayers for us? Don't we spend a lot of time praying for ourselves? God, I need this, God, I want that, God help me with this, God give me that. God straighten him out because he's annoying me. Aren't a lot of our prayers for us? Here this Bible writer said every prayer of mine I make requests for you. That's why he had joy. His life was all about others. It was not about self. That's the key to joy. Verse five. For your fellowship in the gospel, from the first day until now. Okay, now let's let's take a few minutes. I want to go back and find out what does he mean when he says from the first day until now. Well, let's go back to Acts chapter sixteen and verse number one. Acts chapter sixteen and verse number one. We'll we'll skip through this chapter and see the first, the initial relationship between Paul and the Philippians. You ready? Verse one, Jacks 16, one. Then came he to Derby in Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, that's Timothy. Verse three, him would Paul have to go forth with him. So Paul and Timothy go forth. Verse nine. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. So off they went. Verse twelve. And from thence to

Gratitude For Believers Not Benefits

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Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in that city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Alright, so here's a women's prayer meeting by a river on the Sabbath day. Verse 14, and a certain woman named Lydia So it happens that the man of Macedonia was a woman, it was Lydia. She's a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there, and she constrained us. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by sooth saying, the same following Paul and us and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this she did many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates. Verse twenty two. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them, and when they had laid many stripes upon them they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. Okay, their backs are beaten. They're thrown into the jailhouse, their feet are put in stocks. Verse 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. Where are they? They're in a jail in Philippi. You know what they're doing? They're rejoicing. You know what's filling their hearts? Joy. They are praising God. The Bible says in the book of James, is any among you afflicted, let him praise any merry, let him sing psalms, and that's what they're doing. They've just had their backs beaten. They were just thrown in jail. But they are not mourning. They are not complaining. You know what they're doing? They're singing. They're singing. The Bible says that's the evident testimony of a merry heart. What did they have for the aches and pains and agony of their beaten backs? Their aching muscles locked fast in those stocks. Well, Proverbs says, A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. They're taking a little hymn singing medicine and praising the Lord. So the Bible says in verse number twenty five, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. So the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed, and the keeper of the prisoner waking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Now wait, wait. The stocks are loosed, the bonds are broken, the doors are opened, and nobody's leaving. Why not? Well, you read it in Exodus. Whoever these two guys are, whoever they're serving, whatever they've got, we want to stick around and get in on it. We would rather serve their God in these bonds than be loose from these bonds and not find out who they're singing about. Now, Philippians 1 6, being confident of this very thing. Philippians 1 14, men of the brethren of the Lord waxing confident by my bonds. Okay, Acts 16. Paul's confidence in the Lord was infectious. He imparted confidence in the Lord to others by the confidence he had in the Lord. Acts 16 28, Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light. Now they're singing in the dark. It's so dark the jailer can't make his way around the prison house, but they're praising God in all of this trouble. And so the jailer comes, and the Bible says he called for a light, sprang in, came trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas. They humbled themselves. Now they're being exalted. They're running the jail right now. Right now, these two men in stocks are in charge of the prison. Everybody there is waiting for Paul and Silas to tell them what to do. Verse 30. And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was baptized he and all his straight way. Verse 34, believing God. Verse

Fellowship Built On The Gospel

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40. And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and And departed. Now, when Paul says in Philippians 1, from the first, you know what he said? He said, You men and women know the joy of the Lord is greater than bonds. I proved that to you when you first met Jesus. You know the joy of the Lord is greater than darkness. I proved that to you when you first met Jesus. You know the joy of the Lord is greater than jail, it's greater than stripes, it's greater than beating. I proved that to you when I first brought you the gospel. You know, you know that the joy of the Lord is greater than the loss of liberty. And you Philippians know it like nobody else. Because you you saw this in the very days in which your faith was first established. We sang God's praises, and the jailer came to us, saying, What must I do to be saved? Now thank the Lord for the Bible. Look at look at Philippians 1 28. And in nothing, terrified by your adversaries. They lived that at Philippi when they brought the gospel to that city, which is to them an evident token of perd. The enemies thought Paul and and Sinus were the bad guys, but to you of salvation and that of God. How would the Philippians know that God brings salvation to sinners through times of persecution? Well, that's how they got started. That's how they came to know Jesus. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me. How about that? You see, the civil authorities at Philippi thought Paul was the bad guy and they locked him up. But God used that affliction to show the people at Philippi that he was the good guy. So, brethren, when hard times come, when trouble comes, when affliction comes, have joy, rejoice,

Acts 16 And The First Days

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praise the Lord. It's infectious, it spreads, it's attractive. Somebody will come to Jesus. Not because you're having a bad time, everybody has a bad time, but because you have joy and rejoicing in the bad time. And you know the Philippians knew this because that's how they came to God. That's what he could tell them. Isn't that amazing? Now, let me let me try and show you one more thing before we run out of time on the program today. In Galatians 3, 28, the Bible says there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. Do you know who's there at the founding of the church at Philippi? Timothy, half Jew, half Greek. Do you know who's there at the founding of the church at Philippi? Lydia, female. The Philippian jailer, male. Do you know who's there at the founding of the church at Philippi? Jailbirds. Jews, Paul and Silas, Freeman, the Philippian jailer and his family, and yet in that night they become one in Christ Jesus. Fellowship. Consolation in the Spirit in Christ. Who could have put that group of people together and had them fall in love with each other? None but the Holy Spirit of God. No other cause, no other power, no other force, nothing else on the face of the earth but the Lord Jesus Christ could take that group of people and make them one. That, my friend, is what it's all about. That, my friend, is real life-changing Christianity delivered to you by God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit by grace through faith. Praise the Lord. It's an honor to have you listening to the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, and I trust these programs are helpful. I trust they're a blessing. I hope they are a challenge and a joy to your heart. The only way we'll know that is if you write and tell us, and your letters are such a blessing and such an encouragement. Our mailing address is eight seven two Glenwood Road. And that's in D Land, just like it sounds D E L A N D Land, Florida. The zip code number three two seven two zero three two seven two zero. And that mailing address is in the United States of America. Now, you may also contact us or or enjoy many, many posted preaching sermons, and look through our entire catalog of materials at our website, and that's that's real easy to find. It's Jamesnox.com. You just type in my name, put a little period there, and C-O-M, JamesNox.com. That'll get you right to the website, and you can uh spend all the time you want there and be helped and blessed by what you find. Well, we're not sure when this program will be heard again over this radio station, but somebody at the station is, and they're about to let you know when the preaching of the cross radio broadcast will be heard again. I hope and pray that at that time you and a friend that you invite to listen with you will join us. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you, and good day.

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