I wonder if you'd turn in your Bibles
this morning to Philippians chapter 4, and I'd
like to read some verses there.
Philippians chapter 4, beginning with verse 10.
Philippians 4.10, But I rejoiced in the
Lord greatly, that now at the last your
care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye
were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak in respect of want,
for I have learned in whatsoever state I
am therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased and
I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I am instructed
both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which
strengthens me.
Notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did
communicate with my affliction.
Now ye Philippians know also that in the
beginning of the gospel when I departed from
Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning
giving and receiving, but ye only.
For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and
again unto my necessity.
Not because I desire a gift, but I
desire fruit that may abound to your account.
But I have all and abound.
I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the
things that were sent from you, an odor
of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well
-pleasing to God.
But my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus.
Now unto God and our Father be glory
forever and ever.
Amen.
I'd like to speak to you this morning
on the subject living above the circumstances.
How often in life one man says to
another, how are you?
He says, well, pretty good under the circumstances.
Paul didn't live under the circumstances.
He lived above the circumstances.
Five of Paul's letters are called prison epistles.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 2nd Timothy written on
prison.
But you know the remarkable thing is that
there isn't a smell of prison about any
one of them.
I often put myself in his position and
what I would be like if I were
in prison and writing a letter.
And I'm very frank to confess they'd sound
a lot different than the ones Paul wrote.
And the reason was because he lived above
the circumstances.
In Philippians 4, 11 he speaks of himself
as being content.
How can you be content in prison?
I could imagine that maybe the Lord had
made his first mistake if I were in
prison, you know?
I mean, if Jesus is Lord, if he's
the sovereign of the universe, what am I
doing in prison?
I'm one of his messengers.
Paul never felt that way.
He was content in prison.
Really, the Christian life is a supernatural life,
isn't it?
Something you can't live in the power of
the flesh can only be lived by the
power of the indwelling Spirit of God.
And that's the only way a person could
be content in those circumstances.
He says in verse 12 he knew how
to be abased and how to abound.
It's interesting how people misinterpret a verse like
this.
Paul says, I know how to be abased
and I know how to abound.
When people think of that verse, they think,
oh yes, abased.
That's when he was traveling through Turkey over
the wild rugged mountains and he didn't have
any food.
And abound, well, that's when things were going
good and the money was flowing in and
he was living in high celestial state.
No, no, that wasn't it.
He was abounding in prison.
So how do you know?
Because he says, I have all things and
abound.
Having received of Epaphroditus the things that were
sent by you.
Well, that's an interesting development, isn't it?
So when you come to that verse and
you think of Paul being abased and Paul
abounding, just remember the abounding part of it
was what was taking place when he was
there in prison.
In verse 18 he says that he's satisfied.
That's where he says, I have all things
and abound.
Boy, that's a wonderful thing.
A wonderful thing to be satisfied.
Hmm?
Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain.
I wonder how many content Christians there are
today.
Are you content?
Would you like just a little more?
I went into an Arby's restaurant some time
ago and they were having, I shouldn't mention
Arby's, I should mention McDonald's, shouldn't I?
But I went into Arby's restaurant a little
while ago and they were conducting some kind
of a sweepstake, you know?
And so after I got my sandwich, the
girl, she said, I got my change.
And she said, oh here, I forgot to
give you your sweepstake.
And I said, no thanks, I've got all
the money I want.
She said, you do?
She had never met anybody who had all
the money he wanted.
It's really a commentary on present day life,
isn't it?
Hmm?
Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain.
If you're godly and if you're content, you
have something that money wouldn't buy.
After all, all our riches are treasured up
in Jesus.
The only security we have anyway is the
Lord.
And so it's great to be content and
satisfied with him.
I think it's wonderful to see how Paul
realized that he was in prison by the
will of God.
I wish I could say that when the
circumstances of life are adverse, when everything comes
crowding in upon me.
I wish I could see God's hand in
it, all Paul did.
He realized he was a prisoner by the
will of God.
In Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1, he speaks
of himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
I'll tell you, that's lovely.
Why is it lovely?
Well, because after all, it was the Roman
government that tossed him into prison.
But he wouldn't acknowledge that.
He would dignify his imprisonment by calling himself
a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Verse 1 of chapter 4, he speaks of
himself as being a prisoner of the Lord.
Isn't that great?
A prisoner of the Lord.
And then in chapter 6 of Ephesians verse
20, he calls himself an ambassador of Jesus
Christ.
It's a great thing to be moving on
in the current of God's will and realizing
that nothing can happen to you apart from
the will of God.
And that if something adverse happens to you,
God is going to glorify himself in it.
Ill that God blesses is our good.
And unblessed good is ill.
And all is right that seems most wrong
if it be his goodwill.
And it's true too.
Ill that God blesses is our good.
And unblessed good is ill.
Paul could see that.
He could see God working behind the scenes.
A very wealthy Christian lady was in a
car accident.
And she was rushed to the nearest hospital.
And the next day her relatives caught up
with her.
They came to visit her.
And they saw that the hospital she was
in was a bit substandard.
You know, for a lady of her means.
And so they said, look, we're going to
get you out of here and get you
to a better hospital.
She said, you're going to do nothing of
the sort.
She said, God put me here and I
have a work to do here.
Meaning witnessing to the other people there.
She was living above the circumstances.
Seeing God's hand in it all.
I think it's beautiful in 2 Timothy 2
.9 where Paul is thinking about his imprisonment.
And he says, he was bound, but the
word of God was not bound.
Ah, that's great, isn't it?
Yeah, they might bind the apostle Paul, but
they couldn't bind the word of God.
And it's true, too.
It really is true.
That although God's messengers might seem to suffer
what appear to be setbacks.
The word of God goes on triumphantly.
I was recently in mainland China and was
astounded to learn that the communist government recently
printed a million copies of the Bible.
People say to me, was it a good
version?
Yes, it was a good version.
It was the Bible.
And was it done by the communists?
Yes, it was done by the communist government.
Why would the communist government want to print
a million Bibles?
I don't know.
I know that the sovereign God sometimes makes
men do things that ordinarily they wouldn't do.
Say things they wouldn't say.
Look at how he made Balaam say some
of the most true and beautiful things.
And then if you go over to Poland
or to Hungary or to Yugoslavia.
You'll soon find out that there's an underground
river flowing into Russia and Bulgaria and Romania
and all of those countries.
That underground river of Bibles.
They can't keep the word of God out.
And the more they try, the more it
enters.
The word of God is not bound.
Isn't it great to be sitting in imprisonment
and thinking, well, they can bind me.
They can't bind the word of God.
It's going to get out.
And it will, too.
And the truth of God will triumph in
spite of all man's effort to keep it
in.
I think it's beautiful to see how the
Apostle Paul used his circumstances for the spread
of the Gospel.
Generally speaking, when my circumstances are not so
good.
I think, well, I'll wait till I improve
and then I'll do something for the Lord.
You know, wait till the circumstances improve.
It's not the way.
God isn't so interested in improving my circumstances
as he is in improving me.
He's trying to develop my character in all
of this.
And it's a mistake to wait for circumstances
to...
You know, some people do that.
Some people do that in church life.
They wait for people to pass away.
Things like that.
It's ridiculous, isn't it?
God wants to use us where we are.
Philippians 1, 12 through 14.
Philippians 1, verse 12.
Paul says, I would ye should understand, brethren,
that the things which happened unto me have
fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the
Gospel.
So that my bonds in Christ are manifest
in all the palace.
That is the praetorian guard imagined.
And in all other places that many of
the brethren of the Lord waxing confident by
my bonds are much more bold to speak
the word of God without fear.
Well, that's certainly seeing the rainbow through your
tears, isn't it?
So don't worry about me, brethren.
Don't think.
What a shame that the great apostle Paul
should land in prison.
I'll tell you, we would be a lot
poorer today without these prison epistles, wouldn't we,
huh?
Take those five letters out of the New
Testament and what do you have?
Well, you have a big gap.
That's what you have.
So Paul says, don't worry about that.
God is working.
As a result of my being here, the
whole praetorian guard has heard the Gospel.
Not the whole praetorian guard, Caesar's household, he
says also.
Caesar's household had heard.
Chapter 4, 22.
It says, all the saints salute you, chiefly
they that are of Caesar's household.
We often hear the argument today, you have
to be rich to reach the rich.
You have to be intellectual to reach the
intellectual.
You have to be well-educated to reach
the well-educated.
Paul didn't believe that, did he?
How do you reach Caesar's household?
By going to prison.
It was kind of a reverse twist, isn't
it?
But God's ways are above our ways.
And incidentally, it was probably through his imprisonment
that he contacted Onesimus.
And Onesimus was saved and Paul was able
to send him back to his master.
And that lovely letter Philemon was written as
a result.
So, God is above the scenes.
God is wonderful.
The way he moves the checkers on the
checkerboard, isn't he?
And his purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every
hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste, but
sweet will be the flower.
A very old man, terminally ill, was taken
to the hospital.
You'll think all my illustrations are hospital illustrations.
They're not.
But anyway, a terminally ill man was taken
to the hospital.
And his family came to see him.
And they said, how are you?
And he said, fine.
He said, I've spoken to everyone at this
end of the ward so far.
He wasn't fine.
He was dying, you know.
Another man who was really in the very
last stages of life, they said to him,
how are you?
And he said, almost well.
That's true too, isn't it?
He didn't say almost dead, he said almost
well.
And we'll never be more well than we
pass into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
I think it's wonderful how Paul, in the
adverse circumstances of life, saw illustrations of Bible
truth all about him.
I envy him for this, I really do.
I think it's great when you can go
through life and see illustrations of Bible truth
in everything.
For instance, he was there, and he was
probably manacled to a Roman guard.
And he would study the armor of that
guard.
And he'd say, ah, the armor of a
Christian soldier.
The helmet of salvation.
The breastplate of righteousness.
The sword of the Spirit.
He could make connections between all of those
things.
It's lovely, isn't it?
That turns a prison into a school, and
into a pulpit as well.
Illustrate.
I believe that everything in nature and in
life about us is preaching a sermon, if
only we had eyes to see it.
Jesus said, consider the lilies of the field.
I just thought they were wildflowers.
I thought they were dandelions that you had
to root out of your lawn.
Jesus said, look, don't be, in going through
life, don't be so spiritual that you don't
see object lessons in these things.
Consider the fowls of the air.
It's true.
They teach us spiritual lessons if we'll only
stop and listen to them.
Only stop and observe them.
I like to tell about one day I
was with dear Fred Elliott.
His name has been mentioned to me several
times since I've been here.
Fred Elliott from Portland.
And we were back in LaGrange, Illinois.
We were, we were there at the Sunday
morning service at the assembly.
The assembly was situated at that time right
next to the railroad tracks.
And those were the tracks where the California
Zephyr would go through once a day.
And one day after the meeting, Fred and
I were standing out on the front porch.
And just then, the California Zephyr went through
with a tremendous roar.
I mean, it had two or three diesel
engines.
And it was really going fast.
And of course, it was just deafening.
You couldn't hear yourself think.
So our conversation was interrupted.
And when the train passed, Fred put his
hand on my shoulder and he said, All
I had seen was a train.
But he had seen an object lesson of
the resurrection of Christ, of the power that
raised the Lord Jesus from the dead.
And that's what Paul did, even in prison.
He could make these connections.
When Dr. Barnhouse used to travel with his
family, they made a great deal of money.
His children would try to stick him.
They'd try to name something that he couldn't
get some spiritual connection.
They couldn't do it.
No matter what they would name as they
traveled along, he would bring something from the
Word of God to bear on that subject.
Be a good way to spend the time
when you're traveling.
It's kind of boring.
You see nothing but billboards.
Try to get object lessons of spiritual truth.
Paul did that.
And he saw in the armor of that
Roman guard a picture of the development of
Christian character in the soldier of Christ.
And he gave it to us there in
chapter 6 of Ephesians.
And then Paul had a great spirit.
He was a great man.
And he was happy to see the gospel
preached.
As long as the gospel went out, he
was glad even if some were preaching it
of strife and contention.
Chapter 1, verses 15 through 18.
Philippians chapter 1, verse 15.
He said, some indeed preach Christ even of
envy and strife, and some also of goodwill.
The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely
supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but
the other of love, knowing that I am
set for the defense of the gospel.
What then?
Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in
truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do
rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
Now, I can't understand the mentality of people
who would preach the gospel out of contention.
What does that mean anyway?
You ever stop to ask yourself, what does
that mean?
What was really happening?
Well, all I can think of is, some
people who didn't think too much of the
apostle Paul, they would say, well, praise God,
he's in prison, and we'll get out, and
we'll preach the gospel, and let him feel
badly because he's not out doing it.
Now, I can't understand that mentality.
And I think I could sit in jail
and rankle.
I think all my gastric juices would turn
to sulfuric acid probably.
And Paul didn't.
He said, oh good, they're out there preaching
the gospel.
And God honors his word, and he does
too.
God honors his word, and the message is
always greater than the messenger.
And Paul could be pleased that that was
happening.
And not only so, but he could rejoice
in his imprisonment because others were emboldened by
it to preach the gospel.
Verse 14 says, verse, many of the brethren
in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds,
are much more bold to speak.
The word without fear.
That's good.
If, as a result of my being put
in prison, some others are emboldened to preach
the gospel.
And I can see how that would happen,
can't you?
I mean, people who love the apostle Paul
would say, well, here's our dear brother in
the Lord, and he's not able to get
out there and do it.
Now, we'll step into the breach, and we'll
do it.
Paul says, praise God.
That's a good thing, coming out of this
imprisonment.
Really wonderful.
One of the most remarkable things, of course,
is that Paul was joyful through it all.
He didn't accept his circumstances with meek resignation,
the way most of us would do.
I would think that would be a great
triumph of faith, just to be in prison
and accept it with meek resignation.
He didn't do that.
He was joyful in it all, and urged
the Philippians to be joyful.
Hmm?
You know that joy is the key word
of this whole epistle, the epistle of the
Philippians.
Joy is found six times, and rejoice is
found 12 times in Philippians alone.
Doesn't that touch your heart?
It does mine.
A prison letter.
Joy, the word joy is found six times,
and rejoice is found 12 times.
Um, that's wonderful.
Look, if you're a joyful Christian, I'm sure
the Lord will forgive you.
Hmm?
Nice to see happy Christians, isn't it?
Good advertisement to the world.
And you know, there's a very lovely touch
here in Philippians chapter 1, verse 4, that
I get a real thrill out of.
It says there that Paul prayed with joy.
He prayed with joy.
It says, um, always in every prayer of
mine for you all, making requests with joy.
People think, well, prayer is such a burden,
you know.
And really, I'm sorry to say that many
prayer meetings are pretty dirge-like affairs, aren't
they?
In fact, a woman in Colorado Springs, a
young woman in Colorado Springs said, you mean
you can pray with joy?
And that afternoon, we had a prayer meeting.
We spent an extended time in prayer.
And she came to me after, and she
said, where did the time go?
She had been praying with joy.
Carl and I attend a new little assembly
down in San Lorenzo, California.
I can stand here and honestly say to
you today, our prayer meeting is one of
our most popular meetings.
Every Wednesday night from 7 till 8 o
'clock.
And it's a moving meeting.
It's all prayer.
We don't have ministry at all.
It's all prayer.
Different brother is in charge every month.
He's instructed to make sure that the prayer
meeting moves, that there are no long, dull
pauses, and that the prayer requests are meaningful.
And people look at their watches and say,
where did the time go?
Well, I've been in other types of prayer
meetings where you didn't say that.
A young fella came to me once and
he said, Bill, I love our prayer meeting.
Boy, we must be doing something right when
a young man comes and says, I love
our prayer meeting.
It's the way it can be.
Paul prayed with joy.
There's nothing in the Bible that says that
prayer has to be a sorrowful affair, is
there?
Nothing in the Bible.
Pray with joy.
It makes me think of the man who
went to the doctor.
He was having eye trouble, and the doctor
told him that one of his eyes would
have to be removed, and a glass eye
put in its place.
And he looked at the doctor, he says,
doctor, please put in one with a twinkle
in it.
Isn't that good?
I often think of that.
When I was at Emmaus, after I left
Emmaus, the rumor went around that I, that
I had a glass eye, that I had
been in the war and was shot down
in a bomber, and I had a glass
eye.
Well, a good story is worth repeating.
And I, you know, I always say you
can tell the glass eye, it's the one
with compassion in it.
Well, Paul was joyful, and he urged others
to be joyful.
And not only so, but Paul counted it
a privilege to suffer for the Lord Jesus.
Philippians chapter one, verse twenty-nine, he counted
it a privilege.
He says, for unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on him, but also to suffer for
his sake.
That was not nice.
I was brought up in the stories of
the Christian martyrs.
My mother was a Scottish lady, and she
used to get us by her knee, and
she'd tell us the story of the martyrs.
People say, oh, don't tell children those stories.
They'll develop all sorts of fears, forgetting what
the kids see on television.
No word about that.
But I tell you, I thank God today
for that background.
And men and women who counted it a
privilege to stand true to the Lord Jesus
Christ, even if it cost them, even if
it cost them their lives.
In all of Paul's writings from prison, he
was always thinking more of others than he
was of himself.
I'm sure you've noticed that in the second
chapter of Philippians, the key word is others.
Others.
Jesus thought of others.
He came from the ivory palaces, laid down
his life.
God has highly exalted him and given him
a name that's above every name.
Paul thought more of others than he did
of himself.
Chapter two, he said, Yea, and if I
be offered upon the surface the sacrifice of
your faith, I joy and rejoice with you
all.
Now that sounds like a jumble of holy
words, but what does it mean?
Well, I'll tell you what it means.
Paul is saying in that verse, look, what
you Corinthians, the sacrifice, the offering you're making
to God, that's the important thing.
And if I could just be poured out
as a drink offering over the sacrifice and
offering that you're making, I would rejoice and
you rejoice with me too.
That's what he's saying, really.
And to be poured out as a drink
offering means martyrdom, means to give your life.
Let me repeat that again.
First of all, maybe I should show it
to you.
In the verse Philippians chapter two.
Take me just a minute.
Seventeen, yea, and if I be offered upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I
joy and rejoice with you all.
Paul is saying that that the offering and
the sacrifice they were making, that was the
important thing.
And he would just be glad to be
poured out as a drink offering over it.
What he was doing wasn't really too important
at all.
Others, thinking of others.
Timothy thought of others, chapter two.
Paul says concerning him, I have no man
like minded who will naturally care for your
affairs.
And Epaphroditus, I love that at the end
of chapter two, it's really beautiful.
Epaphroditus had been sick, nigh unto death for
the work of the ministry.
And he was plunged into sorrow.
Why?
Because he was sick.
No, because they had heard about it.
Well, that's not like me.
When I'm sick, I like to get the
old mimeograph going and let the world know,
you know.
Epaphroditus was sorry because they had heard about
it and they would worry about him.
Others, others.
Zord, yes, others.
Let this my motto be, help me to
live for others that I might live like
thee.
Paul's letters were filled with teaching, with exhortation,
with warnings, and with encouragements.
He was always thinking of what would profit
others.
And he desired fruit that would abound to
their account.
I thought of this.
In all of his letters, there's no complaining.
Wow.
No complaining.
How could you write five letters from prison
and never complain once?
He never did.
There was a brother in Chicago years ago,
Jim Humphrey.
I used to say to him, how are
you, brother Jim?
And he'd say, it would be a sin
to complain.
I never forgot that.
That was a good answer, wasn't it?
It would be a sin to complain.
Although there was no complaint.
But listen, dear friends, I want to tell
you something.
Those, when Paul was in prison, there was
nothing very pleasant about it.
When we think of prison, we think of
the United States and we think of the
some prisoners are living in today.
And I mean that sincerely.
I was asked to go down to speak
at a federal correction institution in Pleasanton, I
think within the last two years.
And when I got there, I couldn't decide
whether it looked more like a country club
or a motel.
It was beautiful.
Had the finest facilities.
Well, if you go to Turkey, the prisons
aren't like that.
Some of our young people who've been arrested
in Istanbul have been thrown into a dungeon
cell with 60 common criminals.
No beds, a bench.
If you wanted to sleep and could get
one of the benches, maybe put a little
newspaper over it.
No toilet facilities.
If you wanted a meal, you gave money
to the guards to go out and get
the food for you.
It was rough.
And they took the prisoners, they take the
prisoners out every morning and beat them across
the legs with rubber hoses.
Paul wasn't given the red carpet treatment in
prison.
But there's no complaint, no complaint about the
weather.
No complaint about the cold, about comfort, about
health.
Makes me think of C.T. Studd when
he was out in Africa, living in a
hut in Africa.
And he'd write back to England and he'd
entitled his letter, From Buckingham Palace.
I tell you, that's living above the circumstances,
isn't it?
From Buckingham Palace.
In all of Paul's letters written from prison,
there's not, no frantic appeal for prayer that
he might be released.
That's terrific.
Makes me feel very small.
How do you feel?
He didn't ask them to pray for his
lead.
What did he ask them to pray for?
He asked them to pray for boldness and
utterance.
He didn't want to be intimidated by his
circumstances or by the authorities.
He wanted the gospel to go out with
boldness and with utterance.
Philippians chapter 1, verse 20.
According to my earnest expectation and my hope
that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but
that with all boldness, as always, so also
Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether
it be by life or by death.
I notice also that there's no self-pity
in the letters.
No self-pity.
You know, one of the greatest problems in
life today is introspection and self-pity.
Thinking too much of self.
I tell you, if we as Christians can
only lose ourselves in service for the Lord,
in service for one another, we forget a
lot about our own troubles.
The reason a lot of people are flogging
off to the psychiatrists and psychologists and counselors
is because they're too occupied with self.
No bad-mouthing the Roman authorities.
Oh, I think if I were sitting there
day after day, I could dip my pen
in acid and write a few well-chosen
words about those wretched Romans.
Paul never did.
Not a bad word about them.
Remarkable, isn't it?
Men living in the days when Nero was
in power could teach the Christians to submit
to the powers that be for they're ordained
of God.
Makes me think of dear Corrie ten Boom
and her sister Betsy, when they were in
the concentration camp.
And they were suffering indescribable pain and indignity.
And every so often, Betsy would say to
Corrie, Corrie, when we get out of here,
we've got to do something for these people.
And Corrie naturally assumed that she meant the
fellow prisoners.
She didn't mean the fellow prisoners at all.
She meant the Nazi overlords.
When we get out of here, we've got
to do something for these people.
She was referring to the Nazi persecutors.
And Corrie wrote, and I think this is
beautiful.
She said, and I wondered, not for the
first time, what sort of person she was.
This sister of mine, what kind of a
road she followed while I trudged beside her
on the all-too-solid earth.
In other words, she's saying Betsy was really
living a supernatural life, and I was trudging
beside her on the all-too-solid earth.
I wondered what kind of a person she
was, this sister of mine.
Well, you could say that about the Apostle
Paul, too.
No irritability in his letters.
No irritability.
You know, the times when we tend to
be most irritable are when the going gets
rough.
Maybe it isn't that way with you.
It's that way with me.
When circumstances are adverse, I can get a
bit irritable.
And I can take it out on those
I love the most, too.
That's one of the strange things in life,
isn't it?
That when things are bad, it's the people
you love the most that you take it
out on.
Well, I guess they're handiest.
You got to take it out on somebody,
don't you?
No irritability in Paul's letters at all.
And no shame either.
He said, I'm not ashamed.
He knew why he was there.
He was there because of the testimony of
Jesus.
And he had nothing but praise and worship
for him.
And not alone that, but not afraid of
death.
That comes out so clearly in 2 Timothy
chapter 4.
He said, I fought a good fight, kept
the faith, finished the course.
Henceforth, crown of righteousness.
He knew what lay before, and he could
face death with equanimity.
Uh, only concerned that Christ be glorified.
That Christ might be magnified, whether by life
or by death.
And I believe the Lord was magnified in
his death.
And he went to Rome, put his head
down on the block, and the executioner's sword
came down.
And Paul passed into the presence of the
Lord to hear his Well done, thou good
and faithful servant.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Maybe some of you have come to the
conference and you're discouraged.
I battle discouragement.
You probably think, oh, Carl and Bill, everything
is gloria in excelsis.
Cloud number nine.
All mountaintop experiences.
Don't believe it.
I face discouragement.
Something that's helped me, and it isn't even
a verse of scripture.
Moody once said, I've never known God to
use a discouraged person.
When I tend to get discouraged, I think
of that.
Well, I do want the Lord to use
me, so I better snap out of it.
Some of you might be coming here at
the conference under adverse circumstances.
Things seem to be against you.
Live above the circumstances.
Take page from Paul's letters and live.
Above the circumstances.
We can do it by the power of
the word of God.
We can't do it by our own power
because it's too supernatural.
May the Lord bless his word to us.
I just think of a thing that East
Stanley Jones said once that really has been
a help to me.
He said, when the blows of life come
in, I try to recover within the hour.
Well, I can't recover within the hour.
I might as well be honest with you.
But just that little statement has somehow been
a help to me.
Don't buckle under it.
Try to recover within the hour.
Shall we pray?
Father, we thank you for your faithful servant,
the great Apostle Paul.
We thank you that he was indeed exhibit
A of what you can do, what the
grace of God can do in the life
of a man.
We thank you for the way he lived
above the circumstances.
So often we just crash under them, give
way to them, adopt a fatalistic attitude.
Lord, help us to soar with eagle wings.
We just pray that you will bless your
word to our hearts this morning.
In Jesus name.
Amen.