{"id":8132,"date":"2023-09-17T15:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T19:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=8132"},"modified":"2023-09-17T15:06:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-17T19:06:00","slug":"the-joy-of-unusual-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=8132","title":{"rendered":"THE JOY OF UNUSUAL WITNESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter of Joy<\/b><\/h1>\n

(Sermon Series)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0by Rev. Richard Jones<\/b><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE JOY OF UNUSUAL WITNESS<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Philippians 1:12-30<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

PAUL’S CHAINS<\/u>
\n<\/u>Philippians 1:12-14 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13\u00a0 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.
\n14\u00a0 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PAUL’S CRITICS<\/u>
\n<\/u>Philippians 1:15-18 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16\u00a0 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17\u00a0 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18\u00a0 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PAUL’S CONCERN<\/u>
\n<\/u>Philippians 1:19-21 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20\u00a0 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21\u00a0 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 11:24-28 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n24\u00a0 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25\u00a0 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26\u00a0 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27\u00a0 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28\u00a0 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 5:6-9 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7\u00a0 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8\u00a0 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9\u00a0 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PAUL’S CRISIS<\/u>
\n<\/u>Philippians 1:22-26 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23\u00a0 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24\u00a0 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
\n25\u00a0 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26\u00a0 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PAUL’S CONFIDENCE
\n<\/u>Philippians 1:27-30 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n27\u00a0 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28\u00a0 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29\u00a0 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30\u00a0 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.<\/p>\n

John 15:18-20 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0 \u201cIf the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19\u00a0 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20\u00a0 Remember the word that I said to you: \u2018A servant is not greater than his master.\u2019 If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.<\/p>\n

1 Peter 4:12-14 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
\n13\u00a0 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ\u2019s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
\n14\u00a0 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.<\/p>\n

Jude verse 3 (ESV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letter of Joy (Sermon Series) \u00a0by Rev. Richard Jones   THE JOY OF UNUSUAL WITNESS Philippians 1:12-30     PAUL’S CHAINS Philippians 1:12-14 (ESV) 12\u00a0 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-messages","category-sermon-series","category-sermons-by-rev-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8134,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132\/revisions\/8134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}