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0:20 All right, welcome back to the Daily Blade. 0:23 We've made our way all the way to Philippians chapter 3. 0:25 We'll be studying this week verses 1 through 11. 0:28 I'm going to read it each day so that as we march through it each day, you'll be more and more familiar with each verse in its context. 0:36 Philippians 3, 1 and following. 0:38 My brothers. 0:39 Well, actually it says, Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. 0:42 To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 0:46 Look out for the dogs. 0:48 Look out for the evildoers. 0:49 Look out for those who mutilate the flesh, for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. 0:58 Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness 1:17 under the law, blameless, but whatever gain I had, I count it as lost for the sake of Christ. 1:22 Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 1:29 For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power 1:48 of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 1:56 Let's drill down on chapter three, verse one. 1:59 Finally, my brothers rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2:05 One of the things that makes me chuckle every time is the word finally. 2:08 You know that Paul is a preacher because he says finally, and then he continues to write as much as he has written so far. 2:15 Such preacher mute. 2:16 Then he says, Finally, my brothers. 2:18 One of the things that he wants the people at the Church of Philippi to know is that church is not merely an organization that you're a part of. 2:25 The church is not a place you attend, but the church is a family that you belong to. 2:31 So all throughout the epistles, he will call the churches that he is writing to family, brothers. 2:37 And a part of the reason I bring this up is I want to ask you this question. 2:41 Are you in the family? 2:42 Like in your local church, are you connected to the body of Christ? 2:46 Are you in the family, or are you merely watching from the sidelines? 2:49 Because if you're watching from the sidelines, you're not doing this thing right. 2:52 Something else I'll point out, maybe you've seen this on the internet, that if your pastor doesn't know your name, you don't have a pastor. 2:59 Well, that just doesn't line up scripturally. 3:02 Um, Paul didn't necessarily know every single person in Philippi. 3:07 It's obvious because surely after he planted the church, rose it up, appointed elders, that they have been leading new people to Christ, and Paul has yet to go and visit them. 3:17 The question isn't, do you know your pastor, as much as are you known in that local church? 3:25 Make sure that happens, that someone is shepherding you. 3:28 And then after he establishes this, that we are a family together, he says, rejoice in the Lord. 3:35 I've told you before, but um oftentimes the book of Philippians is called the book of joy because per capita it has the word joy more than any other book in the Bible. 3:44 And Paul commands us once again to rejoice in the Lord. 3:50 Are you the kind of person that wakes up every day and rejoicing is the first thing on your mind? 3:55 You see, the word means like something good happens that you have joy in. 4:00 God does something good that you have joy in, and to rejoice is to rejoy that thing that you're so grateful to God that he has done, or you're so grateful to God for who he is. 4:13 You see, every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitlement. 4:17 And those two things, gratitude and entitlement, cannot live simultaneously. 4:23 One of the things that I have found very helpful in my life is I have created a gratitude list. 4:27 I've mentioned it to you before, but I'm gonna mention again. 4:30 So for every year that I've been alive, which is 53 years, I write down one thing that I'm thankful to God for. 4:37 Some of these things are very spiritual and theologically thick, like the revelation of his word, my salvation, grace, you know, some of these kind of things, my family. 4:49 Others of them are just they're just subjected to my own preferences. 4:53 The the piney woods of South Georgia, the fact that the Georgia Bulldogs won two national championships back to back, they're dumb stuff, kind of like that. 5:02 But anytime I feel myself not rejoicing, what I'll do is I'll just pick out that list and just read through it again. 5:09 And it's amazing what happens in the human heart when we rejoice in the things that we're grateful for, that our heart begins to peg towards gratitude and away from entitlement. 5:18 And then finally, Paul says to write these things to you is no trouble to me and is safe to you. 5:25 He says to write the same things. 5:28 You see, uh, oftentimes I get accused of just preaching the same thing over and over. 5:32 Well, the reality is that is the model in the New Testament. 5:35 You see, we need reminders because the reality of the grace of God, the reality of the gospel of God just tends to leak. 5:43 And so if it sounds like I repeat a lot on this podcast or in my preaching, it is no trouble to me to preach the gospel over and over and over and over, and it's the best thing for you. 5:57 Amen.