Automated Transcript

So good to be with you, so great to be able to be on this program and to be able to deliver this lesson. When we think about this topic, Christ can be magnified in our bodies. What are we looking at? First of all, we look at Paul, I mean, this, this, this verse that we’re going to look at here in just a moment comes from Philippians chapter one,

verse 20, but we look at how Paul got to this point. He wasn’t always one that magnified Christ in his body. He started out against Christ. In fact, trying to get rid of Jesus Christ in the name of Christ. He was as we see him and in first introduced to him at the end of chapter seven and into chapter eight of the book of acts saw he was there kind of as a cheerleader for those that were throwing stones and throwing rocks at Stephen,

he held the coats as the scripture say in chapter eight, we see Saul where he’s made, he’s making havoc against the church he’s going in and he’s dragging people out of their homes and he’s sentencing them to prison. And kind of, again, believing that they die. He’s not magnified Christ in his body yet, but then on the road to Damascus and chapter nine of the book of acts,

we see a change don’t we, we see where he is going to Damascus. He has this letter and this letter is, gives him all this authority to drag more Christians out of their homes and try to destroy this name of Christ. And he meets Christ face to face on this road to Damascus. And there begins his transition from denouncing Christ to magnifying Christ.

And we get to the point here in the book of Philippians, we know that the church is established here. We see it in acts chapter 16. We see all that he does in acts chapter 16 in, in Phillip pie with the Philippian jailer. But then we come to the book of Philippians and we see here in this first verse in verse 19 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. Now, that kind of reminds us of Romans one 16 for, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why for it is the power of God unto salvation.

It is the power he says, then he goes on here, but with all boldness as always. So now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death, we as Christians must have this in our hearts. This is something that we must proclaim daily. That Christ must be magnified in our bodies. And I hope in this lesson,

we can kind of look at some things in some ways that we can do this, how we can magnify Christ in our bodies. Well, Christ can be magnified and we want to center in first on this word magnified. The word magnified means to get glory and praise to deem or declare grey. That is to esteem highly to a stole laude or celebrate and acts chapter five in verse 13,

a form of this word is used. It says yet none of the rest dare joined them, but the people esteemed them highly also in, in acts 10 46 for, they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. And the final reference we’ll look at with this is that this became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all.

And the name of the Lord, Jesus was magnified. It was exalted. Do we exalt the name of Jesus? Do we take the name of Jesus wherever we go. When people look at us and see us, do they see Christ living in us? Or do they see the world living in us? Do we magnify some other aspect other than Christ or other than God in our lives and in our bodies,

if we do, we’ve got to change that. We’ve got to turn that around because we’re living in a world. That’s not getting any closer to God. We’re getting further and further away from God. And so we’ve got to take Jesus and we’ve got to take him to the highways, into the byways and everywhere we go and magnify him. When people look at us,

they must see Jesus Christ. They cannot see the world living in or through us. What about our, in our body? That’s the idea of a physical body Philippians 1 21. We’re getting now into the book of Philippians for, to me to live as Christ and to die is gain. And that word for there’s. Interestingly is a Greek word, which means conjunction use to express cause explanation,

enter in, in fear and inference. I’ll get that word out or continuation. So this word or this going back one step here, Philippians 1 21. We, we love that verse. We go to that verse, but we also have to include verse 20 with this because this verse verse 21 is the connection to verse 20. We see life and death.

We magnify Christ in our bodies through life and death. Well, how does that happen? First of all, life in verse 20 of Olympians, one is he says some by life. I magnify Christ in my body. Well, how is that one? Verse 21. It tells us how to live is Christ. This high magnify Christ in my body verse.

First, Peter 2 21, 4, 2. This you were called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Christ left us a, an example, a way to follow. You know, I remember when I was young and, and I think it was 1978 in Kentucky, there was this huge blizzard. It might’ve been 77, but the,

you remembered the blizzard. In the late seventies, I was, I was probably seven or eight years old and we had some calves in the barn and we had to go out and feed those calves. And my dad, I wanted to go out with him and he said, all right, you got to follow right with me. And as he was stepping that snow,

I would lead from his footprint to his footprint. And that made it easier for me to get from the house out to the barn. Well, this is that same idea. Jesus has left us a pattern. He’s left us an example. We can go step by step. If we follow Christ, then we have an easy spiritual life with him in verse 22,

who committed no sin, nor was the seed found in his mouth verse 23, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him. Who judges righteously. When you think about death, we looked at the life, Jesus or Paul writes in Philippians one 20 or by death life or by death.

We are magnified one verse 21. It tells us the what the, how we are magnified through death at death is gain to die is gain. John Piper wrote this. And I thought this was interesting. He said he wrote Christ is magnified in my death because I experienced death as gain. We live in a world that people are afraid of death. They don’t want to talk about death.

That’s so far away. Oh, I don’t want wanna, I don’t want to. I’m so fearful. But as a Christian, we don’t fear death. We look at death as, as something to look forward to just as Paul said, death is profitable. He’s, you know, in there in Philippians one, he’s kind of in this, in this hard place,

he says, I have the desire to stay, which is needful for you. But I have something that is far better. And that, that far better. He says, he says for I’m hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. We have to look the fact of death as a positive thing for a Christian.

One of the things that my grandmother told me before she passed in 2010, she said, don’t cry for me. Now. That’s hard. She said, don’t cry for me. And I said, well, why don’t you want me to cry for you? Excuse, because I am going to be in paradise. And I want to see you there.

And she was tell that to all their grandchildren. Death is gain. Now I disappointed her. I did cry a little bit and I did the funeral and it was hard, but I missed her. But I’m looking forward to seeing her again. Well, Christ can be magnified in my body. How well through not reviling, going back to first, Peter two verse 23,

he says he was reviled. Jesus was reviled. But what was his response? He did not revile in return. He w he suffered. He did not threaten the word. Revile means to heap abuse. Upon when we look at the life of Christ from Jen, from Matthew, mark, Luke, and John, we see him being reviled or heap abuse upon him,

him many times throughout his life. Even the crucifixion, Matthew chapter 27 in verse 44, there, Jesus is on the cross. And we see this from Matthew, even the robbers who were crucified with him, reviled him with the same thing. And this is interesting. Both of them started out ridiculing Jesus. It kind of seems from the text. But then we see from Luke’s account that it seems like one of them kind of changes his tune,

changes. His mind, comes to Christ says, Lord, remember me? When you come to your kingdom and Jesus response, this might not have been my response. I’m up on the cross and I’m suffering and everybody’s making fun of me. And even the criminals, I’ve done nothing wrong. You got criminals on either side, making fun of me and revile in me.

I don’t know if this, if this would have been my response, but Jesus says a Shirley. I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. What else did Jesus do? When he was on that cross? He said, father, forgive them for, they don’t know what they’re doing. That’s hard when we’re being ridiculed. That’s when it’s so hard.

And we’re being ridiculed by the world when we’re being laughed at, when we’re being persecuted to turn back and say, I forgive you. I love you. I’m concerned about your soul. That’s how we magnify Christ in our bodies. Well, through prayer, we’ve got to talk to God in first Thessalonians, five 17 short verse, powerful verse, pray without ceasing lovers.

Don’t stop. Keep talking to God. There’s got to be communication with God. And also it’s two ways. We see this next step. It says through study of the scriptures. That’s listening to God. And there’s a lot of people out there that say that God is speaking to them, separate and part of the word, but that doesn’t happen. How do we listen to God?

We read his word. That’s him speaking, communication. I mean, I’ve been married for 26 years and she’s supposed to actually be watching as she probably has already fallen asleep by this time. Well, I’m in trouble now, but in 26 years of marriage, I’ve learned that communication means that I listen and I talk communication with my wife means that she listens and she talks communication with God means that I listened to him through his word.

When I read his word, I, I hear him speaking only through his word. And then I speak to him through prayer and we’ve got to do both. We cannot just be reading his word and never talk to God. We can never just be talking to God and never reading his word. We’ve got to do both in second, Timothy, two 15,

be diligent to present your self approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God, rightly nearby. That means to make straight and smooth, to handle a right, that is to teach the truth correctly and directly you can’t teach correctly and directly, if you never get into it, nobody can know what the word of God is.

If you’re never into the word of God, because you’re not going to be teaching the word of God. Well through evangelism, this is an essential part of magnifying Christ in our bodies. I want you to look at this verse. This w we quote this and preachers quoted every Sunday and that’s, that’s important. It says, Jesus says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

But I want to break down this verse, the word go. The word go literally means to transport, moving something from one destination to another. So that’s what Jesus says. You are to take something and we’ll look at that, something, that product, and just a moment, you’re going to take something and transport it to another place. What do we as a transport?

Well, the gospel that’s the product I’m to take the good news that Jesus died on the cross was buried and rose again, and take the message of Christ and transport that from place to place to place. Well, there’s also a deliverance. How do I deliver that through preaching? That’s supplying the gospel. So I take that gospel. I put it into my heart.

I know it. I learn it. It reminds me a lot of, of Ezra seven verse 10. There has Ray. It says that as we’re prepared, as hard as that, that means he got ready, that he, he learned the law. He studied the law, he did the law, and then he taught the statutes and judgments. So we need to learn the gospel.

We need to then do it, but we also need to teach it. That’s the delivering to every person that we can come in contact with about Jesus. When you think about like in acts chapter eight in verse four, when there was that great persecution that arose and the people and the Christians in Jerusalem, they were scattered around and everywhere that they went,

they preach the word that scattering is, is that word. There is similar to what Jesus used in, into, in the parable of the sower that the farmer go forth. And he sows the seed. He scatters that seed around everywhere that he goes, the seed is the word of God. And so in acts chapter eight, verse four, everywhere they went,

they were telling people about Jesus. That’s how you magnify. They would go. I mean, I get this picture of them going into a city says, have you heard about Christ? Nope. Mommy tell you about Jesus. Then they would be maybe kicked out of that. Or they would go on down the road, another place, Hey, have you heard about Jesus Christ?

No. Well, let me tell you about Jesus Christ. That’s what we need to be doing. I watched not too long ago, a YouTube video of this guy, that he was an insurance salesman. And he talked about how that he was sitting down with this lady and she had this cancer, this terminal cancer. And she said that she wasn’t going to live,

but maybe 90 more days. And he was searching for some type of life insurance to help her and her family. And he just couldn’t come up with anything except that maybe a writer too, that would, if she could live two years that maybe then she could get something. And she’s like, no, I’ll never be able to live two years. Well,

the husband’s sitting there and he’s like, I told you, there’s this is useless. And he started to hand me. He said, well, what about life insurance for you? And he said, well, I’m healthy. Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’m going to be able. I mean, I’m, we’re, we’re talking about my wife,

what am I going to do with my kids? I want to have any of this financial support. Well, eventually he was able to convince him to get some life insurance. And he says, in this video that two weeks later he was riding his motorcycle and crashed and died. Two weeks later, she’s still alive. You know, she’s, she’s got terminal cancer,

but then this money came, came in and she’s, she then passes away with cancer. And this money there for the kids. Now, what he said was this is the kicker. He said, from that point on, I treat every time I talk to people, like they’re only gonna live for two. And I thought, well, what if we do that in the church with the gospel?

What if we went from person, person to person and started talking to them and teaching them the gospel? Like they only had a couple of weeks left to live. Wouldn’t that be magnifying Christ in our bodies, but we’re sometimes so ashamed and I’m not just pointing the finger at everyone else. I mean, it’s hard. It’s scary. You go in somewhere and you don’t know anybody and you inviting them to come to services.

I’m going down to this Speedway, this gas station, near the church building. And first few times in there, I’m trying to talk to them about, you know, I’m the preacher down here. And I can just, I mean, I’m, you know, I’m shaking a little nervous, cause I don’t know them, but they’re appreciative. We go door knocking both before COVID the congregation.

When I went there, I thought, you know, I used to think door knocking is not going to be successful. It’s it’s so old. Maybe back in the fifties and this congregation has been doing it for a long time. Why skin that has, and it’s been very successful for them. They go once they used to one Saturday, a month and they would door knock an area for an hour.

And then we have this big, huge map in what we call our telephone room. And it has the city, their streets all around the church building. And they put down when they went to the, on that street and they’d highlight a number when that was a, there was a prospect there. The idea is that they, they got out, they kept going,

we’ve got to keep going and we must keep evangelizing. Well, there’s some things that Christ can not be magnified in my body. And that is if I magnify politics over Christ on, I mean, I know this is might be a touchy thing, but June or Greek, there is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ.

Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr. This, you probably have seen. And I mean, I remember learning this when I was in school back in, but look at their heart. We need to start looking at every single person this way. Every single person in this world has a soul and that soul needs saved every single person. One of the things that I was so impressed,

my wife, when a Sama bin Laden was killed, my wife was kind of disappointed in how the country reacted and how they went and all these cheering and all the celebration. And one thing she said was he’s lost for eternity. He’s lost for eternity. That’s the way we need to look at people. They need saved. They, every single person has a soul.

When we magnify the works of the flesh, you can look at these two passages. We had time, we could dive into those and the Galatians five 19 through 21, the works of the flesh, Romans chapter one verses 16 through 32 verse 32 says those that practice or do these things, not only those who practice those who do these things, but also those who just approve of these things will be deserving of death.

So we’ve got a lot of work to do with that as well. And I don’t have really time to develop this, but I have a section in Lubbock about magnified being an American. You know, I hear more from people and I don’t want to be too critical. And, and just, and understand my heart please. But I hear people talking more about being an American than being a Christian,

more about being I’m an American citizen. I have this right or that right. Or I don’t like this, or I don’t. I’ve heard Christians sometimes say that if they, if they try to take away my guns I’ll stand up. And I’ll really being an American is more important than being a Christian. I’m a Christian that’s first and foremost, I am more about Jesus than I am about the red,

white, and blue. Now don’t get don’t. I mean, I am very patriotic. I mean, that’s my three favorite colors is red, white and blue. And my dad was in the, in, in the Navy during the Vietnam war. He lost his brother in Vietnam. My grandmother used to love to sit around and listen to her. She was in the first waves of the Navy during world war II.

When my great grandfather used to listen to him, talk about being in France during world war one, but what are you going to magnify? What are you going to bring out more than anything else? You being an American or you being a Christian, be a Christian. So this is what we must proclaim Christ will be magnified. Not might not, could not should,

But he will be magnified in my body. Hope that as you go through your life, that you will magnify Jesus above everything else. And that you understand the words that we’ve talked about, the passages of scripture, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation.