Let's just take a moment. Let's don't move too fast. I was praying this morning on the way here. And I just begin to pray out. Lord, you're real. God, you're so real. You're so real. You're so real, Lord. Your presence is so real. Your power is so real. Your grace. Your forgiveness is just a reality of so real. Come on in this moment when you just let the Lord remind you of how real He is. He's not a God that we sing to who's far off. He's not a service we attend on Sundays. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And He's worthy of our praise. He's worthy of our hearts. He's worthy of these moments. Oh, you're worthy. We love you, Jesus. We acknowledge you're here, Jesus. We acknowledge you're here. Father, fill this room in every heart with a fresh revelation. To know you, oh God, to see, for you to reveal yourself to us. We surrender and submit this time to you as the bodies gather today. Thank you that everyone today can know that you're real. You're real. In Jesus' name.
Come on, church, can you say amen? Come on, if he's the king, can you put your hands together? Man. Where more? 95. Come on, do you love Jesus? Well, turn around and give someone a high five. I've guessed mine saying good morning. Good to see you. I should be on.
Well good morning everyone. It's great to see you guys. Great to be at Destiny Life at 9 o'clock. Amen. Just remember, come back next week and there'll be another guy preaching. He's probably better than me. But today we get to hang out. I'm glad to see you guys. Man, I just love the Claremore campus. I want to tell you guys that. I want to remind you today. That God loves this campus and God is working in this campus. There's a lot of great people here. Can I get an amen on that? A lot of people with great purpose and destiny who love Jesus and are committed to the kingdom of God. And there's something special about this campus, this nine o'clock service. And if you look around, it's sitting silent. So um thanks for allowing me to speak to you guys a little bit today. Yesterday was our CCS. Golf tournament, fundraiser. Amen. AD Johnson was trying to raise money for the athletic program. So all the business guys came together, put the golf term together. The people you're looking at right there is your 2026 champions, number one. Look at those guys right there. And to be honest with you, you know, it was a golf scramble, and we didn't use one of my shots, okay. I was not the MVP, but I was the GM, so I do get to share this championship. But I told the guys, I said, you know, the Lord, before I was born and born in my mother's womb, the Lord asked, you know, He says, Do you want to be good at golf or do you want to be good looking? You can't be both. So I'll let you just figure the rest out.
Well, I'm talking to you guys today out of
Philippians 2, and we have been in the book of Philippians for the last few weeks, and what a special book of the Bible. Man, Philippians is one of those books that you can just read and just get ministered to over and over again. You know, it's it's really Paul's only letter where he doesn't really rebuke anybody. You know, I mean, you know, it's it's not there's not a real moral confrontation in the book of Philippians. It's really actually warm and and and and fuzzy, you know. It's like a really good, encouraging book. And Philippi was actually a really special place just for your knowledge when you read the Bible. But Philip Philippi was a Roman colony, it was about eight miles from the sea, and think like Napa Valley. You know, a lot of retirees here, a lot of really successful people who have moved there after war campaigns and and uh and Paul has a church there that he's ministering to, and um and he writes this letter from prison to these guys to really encourage and share with them. Um and and we've heard there's really interesting things about this book that we don't want to go into all of it, but this particular chapter,
chapter two, is really special. Glenn talked about last week. Uh
Verses 1 through 11, and this is really what one of Paul's most beautiful pictures of who Jesus is. Remember how he he you know he he was a humbled himself and he came from heaven and he became a servant and he he gave him himself, he poured himself out. I mean it's really beautiful picture of Jesus. And now Paul's going to kind of turn his attention from like this, you know, portrait of the the beauty of Christ's work and who Jesus is. to encourage them and uh it's a really an encouragement for spiritual growth and so i i like this uh i was happy to really preach this message so let's just read it together and then we'll jump in
Philippians 2:12 starts like this therefore my beloved now remember anytime you see therefore in the bible you have to ask the question what's the therefore therefore right and he's looking back again to jesus to jesus's beauty and his obedience and sacrifice. So he's saying, guys, because of what I just told you, therefore, my beloved, as you have also obeyed. So again, it was Christ's obedience. Now he's saying, hey, I see the same thing in you. You have always obeyed. So now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence. So Paul's really encouraging. How many of you guys have young kids and you're finally leaving them at home by yourselves and you're not paying a babysitter anymore? Can I Child care is a profession. It could be a career. I mean, you could be a multimillionaire if you're doing childcare, right? It's so expensive. But you know, you start leaving your kids at home and telling them things like, Man, hey, this is good. You did good, even when I wasn't here. Paul's saying that. So not only my presence, but also my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, this is interesting. We're going to talk about this today. Working Out. This is a responsibility of the believer to work out our salvation. This isn't about earning salvation, but it's about bringing the fullness of what God has put in you out. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? For it is God. It's God who works in you, both to will and to work. Why? For his good pleasure. Now, again, this is really a passage about sanctification. And there's two, this is kind of big words. There's two like historical views here, two ditches. One is what they call quietism, which means that basically we are passive in God's work to transform us. That we don't have to do anything, that basically is all God's work, and we can just kind of sit back and say, okay, Lord, you do it. I don't have any part in it. Quiet quietism. And then there's pietism, which basically says, hey, it's all on me. I've got to bring the change. I've got to white knuckle it. I've got to overcome my own sin. It's God has put this responsibility on me. And Paul's saying here, it's not either or. It actually is that yes, we do work out our own salvation. We have some personal responsibility, but it's only because that God is working. Y'all see that? So it's not either or. It's God is working and we work. Verse 14: Do all things, and that's interesting. All things, underline it, highlight it, circle it, all things, without grumbling or disputing.
That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world Possibly quoting Philippians 2:15. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. He's pointing back to their forefathers. Remember how I talked about in Deuteronomy? They were a crooked and perverse generation. Why did the children of Israel take so long to make that short journey in the wilderness? Why? Because they did what? Grumbled and complained. So he's kind of doing a throwback here. He's saying, Hey, don't be like your forefathers. Take their example. Don't grumble and complain, right? But actually, so that you could be blameless. And shine as a light in the world. Verse number sixteen, holding fast to the word of life. Come on, if you know that the Bible is all you got, can I get a good amen? It's the only thing we can hang on to. So that
in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain Possibly quoting Philippians 2:16. Paul's talking as a father here. Even if I'm poured out as a drink offering. In other words, he's saying, Hey, this is my example. I'm pouring myself out upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, and I'm glad to rejoice with you all. Joy, joy, joy. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. It's good, right?
Today we're gonna talk about how God works in us and we work out. Can I just pray? So this idea of spiritual growth, I guess we could say, man, are we growing as people? You know, I think in our culture today, there's like a huge you know, we're in like the optimization culture. You know, if you go anywhere on the internet, you know, uh, YouTube, social media, you're gonna find, you know, six ways to do this, three ways to do that, you know, a new strategy, a new plan, a better you. Come on, somebody, some self-care in there, you know, a little bit of Strategy, business sense. We're in a we're in a culture where people are always trying to get better at things. You know, I'm trying to get better at pickleball, amen. Right? You know, the it's the golf player trying to get better at his swing, it's the business person trying to find a new system that's gonna scale his business, it's the young couple trying to stack their funds so that they can buy a new home. Uh it's it's the meathead hitting the gym, you know, working out, you know, trying to put on some muscle. Everyone is trying to grow. I I believe that we we most people have a growth mindset, but the question is. Is are we growing where it matters the most? Okay. You know, most people put a lot of energy trying to get better at the things they do rather than paying attention to who they're becoming. And Paul here is talking about you and I becoming someone, becoming the person that God has called you, being formed in Christ's image. And I guess it really would put us to the point to say, hey, what the real question is, not just are we growing, but are we growing in God? I mean, over the last five years, have you grown in God? Now think about that for a moment, because I know you were saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost in 1988. But in the last five years have you been growing in God? Paul reminds us in Romans that we were predestined to be conformed to his image. In
2 Corinthians 3, he said, it's with an unveiled face that we behold God's glory and that we should be transformed from glory to glory, that there should be this process in our lives continually of getting better and growing in God.
Galatians 4 says that. Paul said, hey man, I'm travail, I'm crying out. Why? So that Christ would be formed in you, the image of God being formed in us. Are we growing in God? I think that's a great question. Because God's people should be growing up. Can I get an amen there? Amen. God's people should be growing up. I mean, all throughout Paul's writings, we see this. Paul says, now that you're saved, begin to
work out your salvation with fear and trembling Possibly quoting Philippians 2:12. It's it's you God didn't just save you from something, He actually saved you for something. And the Father loves you. Listen to me, the Father loves you, and He loves me just enough that He will not leave us in our dysfunction. He won't leave us in our bitterness. He won't leave us in unforgiveness. He won't leave us in sexual sin. He won't leave us in the chaos of our selfishness. Come on, somebody better help me with an amen right there. God loves us too much to leave us where he found us. He is calling us to be more and more like him. Paul charges the church in
Ephesians 4. He says, to grow up into him which is Christ. Peter says it like this: desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow. Amen. Is there a desire in you as a believer to continue growing in God? I know that you're growing, you're hitting the gym three days a week and you're strategizing about your meal plan. And I know that you're passionate about getting your finances in order and getting rid of some of those subscriptions that you don't need so that you can cut your budget right. And I know that you're working hard to, you know, get your business to a place where maybe you can get out of the weeds of it and you can start. You know, managing rather than just working. I know that you're being intentional about growing, but are you intentional about growing in God? There's got to be something in us that says, Man, this thing that God has done in me has got to come out. It's got to grow in me. It's the little leaven, come on, that grows out and changes our whole lives. Amen. But but the sad thing is that some believers are still babies. Isn't that true? You know, when I was growing up, the old Pentecostal preachers used to say that you gotta split the whiskers to get the bottle in. You guys ever heard that before? What in the world? Who did that? All the Cowboys fans. I'm sorry. I don't know how that happened. I see some people out there with really stern faces, some Cowboys fans in the house. Listen, don't worry. Anyway, I don't have anything against the Cowboys. I'm a Game Cox fan. We're not even in the same conference. So I love the Cowboys. But it's true, you know, some people are still babies. I mean, uh they used to say, you know, you've been 11 years old for the 30-second time. Right. Still a baby. Easily offended. Still a consumer. Still complaining. Still self-centered, still self-righteous. Still full of pride, still unable to say you're sorry, still unable to truly own your stuff. Come on, I'm not talking to anybody in here. Just look straight ahead, amen. Some believers are still babies, and it's it's it's not good. Paul chastised the church at Corinth. He said, brothers and sisters, I couldn't even address you as people who live by the Spirit, as people who are still, but as people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ, I gave you milk and not a steak, because you weren't ready for it. And indeed, you're still not ready. Hebrews says it like this: He says, by this time, you should be a teacher. But you still need someone to teach you the simple, most basic truths of God's word. Now, I'm not here to jump on anyone today, but I'm just telling you that there's got to be something in it that says, Man, I don't want to be the same. Always talks about how that he God gave him that revelation that the church needed a new pastor every two years. And I realized that my wife needs a new husband every two years. My kids need a new dad every two years, right? I gotta keep growing and becoming who God has called me to be. There's got to be something in us that says, Man, I don't want to be a baby no more. Some believers still babies, but God is calling us to growth. There is a call for growth.
And you know, I want to honor DLC more so than any other church that I've ever been a part of or ever observed in my uh wow. Twenty-five nineteen ninety-eight is when I went into ministry and all these years of ministry, whatever that number is, more so than any other church I've ever Observe. This is a place. I'm gonna own all the tools, all the little current attendees and graduates. This is a place where you can grow spiritually. And there is that call for growth. When you translate the word work out, it means to bring something to its intended result. You know, God has a great plan for your life. You know, God has He has a version of you that when some of your old friends would see that version, they couldn't even believe it. God has such a great purpose and plan for your life. He does not create anything without purpose. And believe me, he's so intentional and so detailed that he has such a great plan for you and purpose, and spiritual formation, spiritual growth. Is bringing that purpose, that intended result to reality. It doesn't mean that we work for salvation, but we work out what God has already begun within us. Remember what Paul said earlier in Philippians. He says, I'm
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you Possibly quoting Philippians 1:6 is faithful to complete it. Is there anybody in here who's still in process? That God is still working to complete that thing that He started. I remember when we bought our first home, Aaron and I, in 2010, we bought a brand new home. And when we found there's a great prophetic story, one day I'll tell it here of a prophetic word that brought this into reality. But when we walked into the home, it was three quarters of the way done. There was no floors, there's no, you know, it was the walls were there, but but but the bathrooms were installed. And we bought this home, and from the day we moved in. It was five years. And that home was never finished. My wife was continuing to decorate. She's continuing to ask me to change this and change that. I mean, we were always working on that house. We were living in that house and we were working on it. You know that God the Bible says that you're the temple of the Holy Spirit. You're the dwelling of God. How many of you know that God bought you and you were three-quarters of the way done? Some of you guys were only a quarter of the way done. But he's still working, he's living in you and working to bring that home, that dwelling into perfection. Let him work. Let him work. We work, our portion, we work intentionally by sacrifice. See, Paul told Timothy, listen to this. This is all over the New Testament. Train yourself for godliness. In Corinthians, he says, I discipline my body and keep it under control. Hebrews says, Let's
lay aside every weight in the sin Possibly quoting Hebrews 12:1 that clings so close so we can run with endurance. Train, discipline, control, lay aside, run. These are intentional words. This is a personal responsibility in spiritual growth for us to commit ourselves and be intentional to growing in God. Isn't that good? One uh there was a season in my life where I was going, I was doing counseling, and there was this certain thing that I was really trying to work through. And I remember telling the counselor, This is so good. Listen to this. I said, Man, I know that I have work to do. Maybe you can identify with this. I know I have work to do, but I don't even know what the work is. I mean, I gotta put in the work, but I don't know what the work is. And I begin to just tell him all the things that I had done. Well, I've done this and I've done this and I've done this and I've done this, and I'm just, I just don't know what else I can do. And he told me something so good. He says, Ron, the process of overcoming is two sided. On one side, there is the work that we do of discipline, the boundaries, the intentionality. The the you know the training, the the change that you bring forth. But he said there's another side. It's the work of spiritual pursuit. It's the work of running. Because if you get Jesus, things begin to shift. Think about that for a second. The two sided work of overcoming, work of boundaries and discipline, but the work of pursuing Jesus. Where is your work today when it comes to spiritual growth? Is it that you need to re-up on some of the boundaries? You need to put some things in place, or is it that you need to really pursue the Lord in prayer and in his word and in time with God's body and in worship and really pursue getting him close to you? Because the other side is we work intentionally by sacrifice, but we also work willingly by just simply surrendering.
Remember how Paul encouraged the church at Rome. Present your body a living sacrifice. Again in
Romans 6, he says, present yourselves to God. In Luke, Jesus said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, lay his life down, take up his cross. You know, when I was a kid, I used to sing that song. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. Y'all know that's part of it. And I'm gonna give my heart and soul to following him. See, no one can enforce you to embrace spiritual growth. It's a selfish nature, it doesn't die easily, and nobody wakes up one morning fully mature. A tree doesn't become an oak overnight, and a marathon runner isn't made at the starting line. But it's one, it's not one conference, one prayer sermon or book that's going to bring you into spiritual maturity, but it's a process of every day saying, God, my marriage is yours. God, my family is yours. God, my business is yours. God, my money is yours. God, my sexuality is yours. My ambitions are yours. My future is yours. My trauma is yours. All that I am and all that I will ever be is yours, and I surrender it to you. This is the work of spiritual growth. It's a work of intentionality, but also a work of surrender. And I love that Paul doesn't leave us there as we work through the passage. Hey, he says, Hey, you got to work. God's working in you. You got to work it out. But he says, look, there's a source of this growth. And that source is Christ. Verse 13, he says, It's
God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure Possibly quoting Philippians 2:13. We work things out. Out because God is working in us. And Paul doesn't leave it where it sounds like everything depends on us, but he reminds us that it really depends on God. Paul says it's God that works in you in church. Do you understand who Paul is talking about here? Do you do you really did you catch that? That God is working in you. I'm talking about the God who stepped out of nothing and made everything. The one who said, Let there be light, and the sun was put in place. The God who told Abraham to look up into the stars, and that he brought a nation out of an old man, the God who met Moses at a burning bush, the God who brought water out of a rock, the God who shut mouths of lions. I'm talking about the God of the old and the New Testament, the one who made
lame men walk and blind men to see, the God Possibly quoting Matthew 15:31 who was crucified, buried, and was resurrected, the one who calls dead things to life. This is the God who is working on the inside of you. Can I get a good amen? Nine o'clock. The God who brings light out of darkness is the one who's bringing you into fullness. You're not fighting by yourself. You're not trying to change in your own strength. It's actually God working in you. And this is the thing: it's Christian transformation, not self-improvement. It's not try harder to fix yourself. It's the living God saying, I'm gonna place my spirit in you, and I'm gonna begin from the inside out to begin to change every facet and area of your life. I love
Ephesians 3:20. I could never quote it enough. It's to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you could ever think or imagine. What? According to the power that works in you. Can I get an amen? It's that exceeding great power that God is using to change your life, to see spiritual growth happen. Paul said in Corinthians, he says, I labored more than all of them, but it was yet by grace. Do you see the difference here? I want you to see the text. It's God who works in you and we work out. It's not we just laissez-faire, just give it all to God, or that we have to do it ourselves, but it's both there.
Glenn, in his message, he had a great illustration. He said, he talked about being a sailor on the sea with a sailboat. And he said it's the sailor's responsibility to put the mast up, to tighten the ropes down, and to get everything orientated, but the sailor cannot make the wind blow. That's a great illustration, right? This is spiritual growth. We work, but then God works. He works in two areas. Number one is to will. He changes what we want and reshapes our desires. You know, some of us in here, Lisa, you can come up and help me. I'm going to close here soon. Kiss Church always loves me to say, man, we're getting out here early. Let you guys beat the Baptist to breakfast. Come on. He changes our will. You know, there's some things in your life that you're just going to have to begin to pray. God, change my want-to. Change it, Lord. I'm giving it to you. Change it, Lord. You might feel guilty about not wanting to pray or not wanting to serve, not wanting to forgive. Totally get that. Those are real human emotions. There's not one person in here who hasn't wanted to sleep in rather than get up, wanted to not attend when you were on the schedule. Not one person who hasn't had the mind going a million miles an hour when it was time to pray or skip the day reading the Bible. But here's the good news is that even the wanting is something that God works in us. So one of the most honest prayers we can pray is Lord, I don't want to. Make me want to. He works to change our will, and then he works also to work, and that is he empowers us. In other words, he supplies the strength. I'm talking to the person in here who's listening to this message, and the Lord is saying, Hey, you gotta come a little closer. You gotta step up a little bit. Telling you that God wants to give you a fresh desire, but not only is He's gonna give you the power to execute that. It's not passivity or self-reliance. It's just allowing God to work as we work.
Then Paul begins a shift in this passage. And I meditated a lot on this because it's like, man, I, you know, right from the beginning when I started studying this, it's like, man, I just knew. I like that. You know, God works and we work. That's good. Like you get into that last portion of scripture. You're like, man, how can this really, what does this really mean? How does this really speak to the heart of a person at the nine o'clock service in Claremore? And I was thinking about how, you know, Paul is writing. About he he's again he's referencing their forefathers to say, do all things. You know, it's really a it's really a charge, it's really a challenge of our lives. You know, it's not like a specific thing, it's like all things, all things and all things do it without grumbling or complaining. And he starts kind of reaching back into some of that, you know, Old Testament forefather stuff. They were perverse and wicked generation. And I was thinking about the generations. Of God working. I was thinking about my dad. You know, I never had real honest conversations with my dad about his struggles and what you know his sin issues. I never really, I don't know if you've had that privilege with your father, but I never really had that with my father. But these guys, they they knew the shortcomings of their their fathers. And they had they had examples to observe. Paul said, Hey, listen, you know, this is this is you saw how your dad's kind of failed. Don't don't do that. Don't repeat that. Do all things without grumbling or complaining. All these little things, you know, this this idea of like diving in towards God. Having them back yourselves with things that maybe okay. Things that you're really going to do. Do it with that. Because there's really a goal in every generation. He says, it's that you're a light in the world. You're a light in the world. You know, your life is a light unto men. And I think about my life to my wife and what that means to her. My testimony, who I am, what it means to her. It creates a safety for her. It creates a security for her. It creates a sense of being proud and a sense of identity in her as a wife. So I have a responsibility there. I need to be a certain type of man for my wife. I think about my kids. Everett, Stelome, Brayson, and Amelia. I mean, they're looking up to their father. They're looking at me. Daughters are looking at me, saying, Man, what kind of man do I want to marry? My sons are looking up to me, they're saying, Man, what what kind of man should I be or could I be? When I think about all the people in this beautiful church or my employees or people that I work with in the community, I think about who I am. I have to be a light. I mean, there's a reason for my spiritual growth. There's a reason for me to pursue God. There's a reason for me to put boundaries. So that I can be a light. Paul goes, he says, Man, I'm an example to you. I'm pouring myself out like a drink offer. I'm giving everything, I'm sacrificing everything. Now thought about for you, 9 o'clock, Claire Moore. Are there areas of your life that God is challenging you that do all things? That it's time to step up. It's time to press in. It's time because there's people counting on you. And ultimately, it's the light that shows the glory of God, that reflects who God is, the love of the Father, the integrity of our God, the holiness of our God. That's our reason, right? In any area in our life that the Lord puts his light on, that we would step up and say, God, I want to work, but I want you to work in me. There's a challenge today. What area is God calling me to growth? How can I be intentional to work in that area? Where do I need to change my want to? What am I still trying to change in my own strength? What do I need to surrender to his grace? How can I live out what God is working in? Do you feel that today? Yeah. So glad we were working with it. And God bless you guys. Welcome, James, as he comes. Reminded of the scripture that also says,
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ Possibly quoting 2 Peter 3:18. You know, there's a process of growth that we have. For it to be proper, we have to feed ourselves. Amen. Thank you. We want to worship the Lord with our giving this morning as we um Concluding our service today. We do this because we love the Lord, not because that we have to. We want to honor Him with our substance. This is part of our worship of our life. Saying to the Lord, Thank you that you have blessed me with strength. You have blessed me with health. You have blessed me with job that I have. You blessed me with the business that I have. That it is from you. God said, Do not say that your own power has gotten you this well, but it is God who has blessed you. We have several ways to give around here. If you've been here very long, you know those ways that you can give. If you're new or you're just here for today, there's no requirement, of course, on that at all. But we want to give you an opportunity to worship the Lord. Not that we desire a gift. Lord, I thank you for your people today. I thank you that you have blessed us with all spiritual blessings. You've given
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through Him who has called us to glory and virtue Possibly quoting 2 Peter 1:3. Thank you for that today. Pray your blessings on your people as they worship you, as they honor you. With their giving, as they give unto you, bless them in return. We ask, Lord, those who need a job, I pray that you would bring them with the right connections to be able to have that which they can give and worship you with. I pray your blessings on your people. In Jesus' name. Amen. As you prepare your giving, check out these announcements. In our 501 class that begins October 14th, and the require requirements, if I can speak right, the requ prerequisites are that you have completed 101-201. Would you stand with us as we're dismissed? I thank you for your people again. Thank you for your blessings upon all that have given themselves to you. I pray today as we go out that we do so in the fullness of your grace, in your presence of the Holy Spirit.
Make your face to shine upon Possibly quoting Psalm 31:16 us as we walk in your favor. In Jesus' name. Amen. Go in the grace and the peace of the Lord. Amen.
