13
Jul '20
He’s Still Working on Me
13
Jul '20
Philippians 1:6
“Be confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Introduction: One day a little boy was going to Church with his family and he asked, “What’s a Christian? Have I ever seen one?” Have you ever heard the question, if Christianity is a crime, is there enough evidence to convict you? If the truth be known, we are all a WORK in progress…. Under Construction! In his prison epistle written to the Church of Philippi, Paul describes Jesus Christ as the believers WALK (Phil 1:3-5), TALK (Phil 1:12), SIGHT (Phil 3:10), SONG in the NIGHT (Phil 4:4), and MIGHT (Phil 4:13). In other words, it’s not what’s on the OUTSIDE that matters most, but what’s on the INSIDE!
This includes the PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE:
1. The PAST! (Phil 1:6)
“He which hath begun a good work in you.”
• Before the Lord passed by – we were dead in sins, spiritually blinded, hard-hearted, lost and undone
• When the Lord passed by – He reached down His long arm of GRACE, pulled us up out of the sewer of sin, washed us clean, clothed us with His Snow White garments of righteousness, and restored us back into standing, justified, before His throne because of the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.
2. The PRESENT! (Phil 1:6)
“Will perform it”
• He works in (Phil 2:13)
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
{The word “Work” means energize}
• We work out (Phil 2:12)
“Work our your own salvation with fear and trembling”
{As we yield to the power of the “Holy Spirit” by rejecting and refusing the “flesh” – die (Rom 8:13), God releases His life in us and thru us to accomplish His will for His glory}
3. The FUTURE! (Phil 1:6)
“Until the day of Jesus Christ”
• When Jesus comes in the rapture, we will lay aside this robe of clay and take on an immortal, glorified body incapable of sin
• But “until that day” our Lord has given us provision to be overcomers, though not quite in a state of sinless perfection
Conclusion: Have you ever heard of the story of the eagle 🦅 who’s parents died, and consequently he was left to be raised on a farm with a bunch of chickens? Day after day, he pecked at the ground for food – worms, etc. Until one day, he noticed some other eagles flying high in the sky. Immediately, he became aware that his feathers and wings were just like theirs… so he flapped them over and over and eventually he began to fly, like an eagle 🦅, for the first time in his life. He was not meant to peck on the ground like a chicken, but rather to soar in the sky like an eagle! Likewise, we as blood – bought believers were not meant to live in the filth of this world, but rather to rise above that lifestyle because Jesus Christ is in us!
Let’s fly bro… let’s fly sis.
Love y’all,
Dr. Randy Reese