Living Above Your Circumstances

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Living Above Your Circumstances</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id618.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="How To Live, Whatever Happens"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"Living Above Your Circumstances," </B><A HREF="http://www.tniv.info/bible/passagesearch.php?passage_request=Philippians 1:1-14&tniv=yes" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.tniv.info/bible/passagesearch"><U><B>Philippians 1:1-14</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, </B><B>June 11, 2006</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.stanbaker.org/audio/Sermon-2006-06-11-Stan_Baker.mp3" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.stanbaker.org/audio/Sermon-20"><U><B>audio</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div>      Few people would mistake a propane gas explosion for a blessing. Yet a Hendersonville, Tennessee couple gave God credit for saving their lives - twice - after an explosion destroyed their home. Jackie and Linda McMurtry were thrown from their bed when gas leaking from a faulty heater ignited into a fireball which then swept through their home. A five-foot wide window just above their heads was also blown from its frame and soot from the fireball covered the walls less than a foot above the bed. Neither of the couple were even singed by the fire, but this wasn't the only miracle. According to fire fighters, the blast itself saved their lives. If the gas hadn't ignited, both might have died of asphyxiation from breathing the gas fumes in their sleep. (Hendersonville Star News, 10/23/2002.)</div> <div>      There are a lot of painful circumstances that we face in our lives. And the line or pathway from pain to blessing is not always so clearly marked. Therefore, our tough times can cause us to be angry, frustrated, bitter, even to question God and his goodness and kindness.</div> <div>      How can we have joy, peace, and thanksgiving even in tough times?</div> <div>      Please turn to <A HREF="http://www.tniv.info/bible/passagesearch.php?passage_request=Philippians 1:1-14&tniv=yes" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.tniv.info/bible/passagesearch"><U>Philippians 1:1-14</U></A>. Acts 16 describes Paul's visit to Philippi. Paul wrote this letter to them from prison, probably in Rome (where he was awaiting trial) between AD 60-62, which would have been his first Roman imprisonment. (He survived this one, only to be executed following his Roman imprisonment later in the decade; but as he wrote Philippians, he was hopeful, but he wasn't sure how it would work out.)</div> <bR> <div> <B>Three observations as Paul introduces his letter to the Philippian Christians.</B></div> <div>      Typically, if we are facing a really tough time, we don't express joy and thanksgiving right at the beginning of our conversations. Paul was in prison, yet notice what he first talks about:</div> <div>      A. He is thankful for their partnership with him in living out and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ (vss. 3-8).</div> <div>      B. He prays for their spiritual growth, and is confident that God will complete his work in them (vss. 6, 9-11).</div> <div>      We often expect God to work <I>in</I> our circumstances, but we don't want him working in <I>us</I>. Author John Boykin wrote, “We can routinely ask God to intervene in our circumstances while hoping He'll keep his nose out of inner things like our spiritual indifference and pride” (Christianity Today, 3-6-95, Reflections; John Boykin, <I>Gospel of Coincidence</I>). God is not merely interested in fixing our circumstances, he is interested in fixing and shaping and molding <I>us</I>, to be like Jesus. This is what Paul prays for.</div> <div>      C. He asserts that God is using his painful circumstances (in prison awaiting trial) to advance the good news of Jesus: 1) people outside the faith are hearing the gospel; and 2) other believers are growing in their confidence to share the good news (vss. 12-14).</div> <div>      J. Allan Peterson wrote, “Circumstances don't make a [person], they reveal [them]. Like teabags, our real strength comes out when we get into hot water” (in <I>The Myth of the Greener Grass</I>). </div> <div>      What do these observations reveal about Paul? What mattered to Paul was serving Christ, spreading his message, and building up believers as growing followers of Jesus. Paul did not have comfort or his freedom; he wasn't surrounded by a loving family; but he was filled with joy, peace, and thanksgiving because the message of God was being spread. </div> <div>      The key to having joy and peace and thanksgiving even in tough times is to value the things God values. If serving God and spreading his message and advancing his agenda matter to us, we too can have joy and peace and thanksgiving, even in tough times, because God can use our painful circumstances to spread his message and develop the spiritual health of his followers.</div> <div>      You may want to ask these kinds of questions: how can this circumstance or trial help me be a witness for Christ? How can it help develop my confidence in </div> <div> God or help me grow spiritually? How can it help me encourage and build up someone else?</div> <div>      God knows what he is doing, even when we are not sure what is going on. Let him be God, let him work out his plan, and let us concern ourselves with serving him and his gospel with joy and passion.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Announcement of my Resignation:</B></div> <div>      God has been at work in our family's life, and we are being called to serve God in a different area of ministry. Staring July 17th, I will be joining the full-time faculty of Davis College, a Bible college in Johnson City, and therefore leaving the pastorate of Berean in early July. God has been leading us towards this possibility for several months, and this past week I received and accepted the invitation to join their team. This move fits with how God has wired me for serving him. I will be focusing on using my gifts for teaching and studying and mentoring students who will be the next generation of Christian servants and leaders.</div> <div>      This may be an awkward time to make such a change, because of the recent changes in our church. The timing just worked out this way. We want to be clear that we are not leaving because of any particular conflict, we are leaving to pursue the next level of God's vision for our lives, and it is a very positive change in ministry environments. We urge you as a church to go forward, to pursue God's plan, his calling and vision for all of you. We love you, and we have been honored to serve alongside you for the last six years.</div> <div>      My prayer for you is Philippians 1:3-11 –  “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.”</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2006, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>