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[0:00] And this is our July study for Philippians, and if everyone has the sheet that we've been distributing now, you'll see that we are actually going to begin with verse 12.

[0:13] I'm going to resist the temptation to go back over this material that we've already covered on the first page, the first 11 verses, and we'll just jump in then with verse 12.

[0:24] But I do want to remind you once again that the theme of the epistle to the Philippians is one of joy, and it has to do with the certainty that we have in Christ.

[0:38] Paul said, I am convinced that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And Philippians is just brimming with all kinds of good news that belongs to those who are in Christ.

[0:51] It is a wonderful little epistle, not very long, but it deals with some very heavy and deep subjects as well. And we are going to see how one of those surfaces right here at the beginning of verse 12.

[1:05] So let's just read the text down through perhaps verse, well, we'll just read through verse 20 anyway.

[1:16] But I'll limit myself to the bold print and reminding you that the bold print that you see at the beginning of each verse is the King James translation.

[1:29] And then there are other translations, as you see them abbreviated under that, that give a slightly different reading. So I'll just start reading in verse 12 where Paul is explaining the situation that I'm sure was difficult for him.

[1:43] And he nonetheless was contending with it. And he wants to explain to the Philippians exactly what's happening and where it's coming from.

[1:55] So in verse 12 he says, But I would you 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 and in all other places.

[2:15] And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife.

[2:31] And we're going to camp on that verse for a little while when we get back to it. And I would like your thoughts regarding this and their motivation and how all of this was working out.

[2:42] So put that on the back burner and we'll be visiting that, spending some time there. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill.

[2:55] The one preach 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.

[3:12] What then? Not withstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice and will rejoice.

[3:25] For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

[3:50] For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. An incredible passage. It contains just a lot of sentiments that really need some exploration, and we are going to attempt to give them some.

[4:07] At the outset, I would simply say that this is an excellent illustration of how things that we frequently perceive to be negative can turn out to be the proverbial blessing in disguise.

[4:24] There's nothing we would have volunteered for, nothing that we would have planned. And when the circumstances come along, if we could, we would reject them. Usually the reason we don't reject them is because we can't.

[4:39] We don't have a choice. But the principle that is involved here is that very often, circumstances, obstacles, difficulties that you and I see, God doesn't see them that way at all.

[4:54] And he has something entirely different in mind. It's the old Romans 8.28 principle, that God does indeed work together things for our good, who are called according to his purpose, those who love God.

[5:08] And when you realize that we live under the authority of a loving, sovereign God, who dispenses all things in accordance with his own will, and in accordance with your best interests, relax.

[5:25] And I don't know how else to put it, but this enables you to roll with the punches, rather than fighting against something all the time.

[5:36] I'm not saying we shouldn't try to improve ourselves. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do what we can to head off difficult circumstances when we see something looming off in the distance.

[5:47] But I am saying that even when adversity and difficulty comes into our life, God has a different perspective for it. And all we can see is the immediate.

[5:58] And Paul is giving himself here as an illustration. He says, I want you to understand something. The things which happened unto me have fallen out, rather, into the furtherance of the gospel.

[6:11] And I am confident what he's talking about, as he is in Rome, when he is writing this letter, these are Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians are sometimes referred to as prison epistles, which I've never been comfortable with that term.

[6:29] They are captivity epistles, maybe is a better word. But I make a distinction between the captivity epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and the prison epistles.

[6:45] And the prison epistles, we would call Timothy, because Paul was in the Mamertine prison when he wrote those letters.

[6:57] And that's when he said, I've fought a good fight, I've kept the faith, finished the course. He knew that was likely going to be his last letter. But when he wrote Philippians, along with Ephesians and Colossians, he was under house arrest in Rome.

[7:12] And the reason he was in Rome was because his countrymen had trumped up charges against him and caused the authorities to come against him. And finally, he was going to be arrested.

[7:25] And then Paul leveled that thing that only a Roman citizen can say, I appeal to Caesar. And because he was a Roman citizen, he was guaranteed a hearing before Caesar.

[7:39] But that meant he was placed in protective custody, and he had a Roman guard handcuffed to his wrist, a different one every six hours.

[7:54] The guard shifted, was in a group of four, and they were six hours with Paul, and they literally had bracelets that connected them so that Paul would not be able to escape and so that nobody could get to him because he was protected by Rome.

[8:10] And you'll recall then, when he was on this huge green ship that was leaving from Alexandria, Egypt, it was probably the largest cargo ship of its time, ran into this tremendous storm, the thing was sunk, they ended up on Malta, and then finally, eventually they got to Rome, and all the while, Paul was a prisoner.

[8:32] So when he's talking about the things that have happened unto me, he's talking about his arrest, the shipwreck, is being attached to this Roman soldier all the time, 24-7, and he is looking at all of those things, putting them together, and saying, you know what?

[8:51] As difficult and as trying as this whole thing might have been, actually, it has turned out to provide an enormous extension of the gospel that otherwise would not have been possible.

[9:04] Do you think Paul would have volunteered for any of this? Of course not. Nobody in their right mind would. But the furtherance of the gospel is in reality the only thing that matters.

[9:18] Because it is this gospel, this good news, that contains the power of God through faith unto salvation.

[9:29] It is this gospel that impacts and changes the eternal destiny of human beings. In light of that, what can you think of that's more important?

[9:43] More abiding. More vital. Nothing I know of. And it is as if Paul is saying, you know what? Nothing matters compared to the dissemination of this gospel.

[9:58] And this is why later in this same chapter, he's going to take the position that he says, so that now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

[10:10] And this Christ is the very core of that gospel. It is this Christ who died for our sins. This is all it is all about.

[10:22] So that my bonds, my chains, if you will, in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.

[10:34] Coney Bear renders it so that my chains have become well known in the name of Christ throughout the whole praetorium and to all the rest.

[10:45] What's the praetorium? The praetorium was the elite guard that was assigned for the protection of the emperor. They were his personal guards.

[10:58] And he is under their authority and Berkeley renders it so that throughout the imperial guard and everywhere else my shackles have become known in union with Christ.

[11:12] I think this simply means that Paul and his being shackled to this Roman guard was a major topic of conversation throughout the whole area and throughout the whole praetorium guard.

[11:26] Because as these men circulated and as they took turns being handcuffed to Paul for six hours at a time what do you think they talked about?

[11:37] Do you think everybody just went silent and everybody dumbied up nobody said anything? No! I mean when you're in a situation like that and you're assigned as a guard to this guy first thing you want to know is hey buddy what did you do?

[11:54] What are you in for? Why am I shackled to you? Where are you going? How did all this happen? What's going on here anyway? You were preaching what? You were talking about who?

[12:06] Jesus of Nazareth who's he? And on and on the conversations went and I think everybody that was chained to Paul the Apostle got a lecture maybe it was one that he was glad to get away from I want to get off of this guy and get back to the barracks and give him to somebody else because I am confident that Paul made the most of his opportunities and yet we cannot see him being heavy handed demanding arrogant or anything like that but I can envision this man as being compassionate straightforward very articulate able to express himself because remember he is coming from a position of having been extremely well educated no doubt spoke we know he spoke Greek and he probably spoke Aramaic and he probably spoke Latin or the Roman language and perhaps other languages as well so this wasn't just some ordinary ne'er-do-well and on top of all of that he was a Roman citizen and you know there would be guards who could be assigned to Paul who themselves might not even be a Roman citizen and here they are shackled to this one who is so in a way he would have a lot to offer them and I suspect that many of them were all ears and he says that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace in other words everybody's talking about this and Moffat translates it throughout the whole of the Praetorian Guard and everywhere else it is recognized that I am in prison on account of my connection with Christ

[14:01] I am confident that these soldiers had never been linked to anybody who had been charged with what Paul had been charged with this was news this was different and they were accustomed to being manacled to criminals and by the way part of this manacling business was not only to assure that the prisoner did not escape but to level an additional responsibility to the guard because under Roman law that existed at the time if you were assigned with guarding a prisoner and the prisoner escaped you were going to serve whatever sentence would have been pronounced upon that prisoner should he have been found guilty and this was a real slick way of avoiding bribery it never happened nobody was ever able to pay off a guard to let him go free because they nipped that in the bud right at the outset 20th century new testament at the bottom of the page says it has even become evident not only to all the imperial guard but to everyone else that it is for christ's sake that i am in chains and do you think for a moment that jesus christ and his cause would be getting this kind of circulation and this kind of publicity if it were not for the fact that paul was there under the conditions in which he was there of course not and many of the brethren in the lord waxing confident of my bonds montgomery says and most of the brothers in the lord made confident in the lord through my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear in other words paul is here being an impetus for them an encouragement to them he is inciting them to further exposure of the gospel and causing more of them to open up and talk about what they know but then he comes to a very curious expression and it's one that i have researched because we went through philippians at grace several years ago spent quite a bit of time in it but i've never really been able to come up with satisfactory answers as to what is really involved here and i would appreciate you applying your gray matter to this and maybe we can pool our ignorance and come up with some ideas the only problem is it would be virtually impossible i suppose to come up with something that we could be absolutely certain of it would just have to be speculation but even the speculation on this is kind of hard to come by because paul is talking about the necessity the importance of teaching and speaking the word giving out the gospel but then he says in verse 15 some indeed preach christ even of envy and strife 20th century new testament says some do proclaim the christ out of jealousy and opposition and the question surfaces how can anybody do that why would anybody do that preach the gospel out of envy jealousy strife taylor says some of course are preaching the good news because they are jealous of the way god has used me that just blows my mind i can't imagine that but then we're not living in the culture and the exact circumstances that paul was facing that he was dealing with on a day to day basis but then on a positive note he says and some also of good will in other words i don't know how else to slice this he is saying two different kinds of people are preaching the gospel one is motivated by negative things and the other is motivated by positive things one has good intentions and good motivation the other has bad intentions and bad motivation how in the world can anybody preach the gospel with a wrong motivation is hard for me to understand and i'll appreciate anything you have to say the one preached christ of contention that is from a spirit of intrigue from motives of rivalry or in a factious spirit or moffat says for their own ends not sincerely not purely not with pure intent but with mixed motives supposing and this is what really throws me supposing to add affliction to my bonds how could they do that how would that work it almost seems as though paul is saying some are preaching the gospel because they think it will contribute to my hurt or my harm how would it how could it why would they i'm at a loss verse 17 says but with proper motivation the other of love that's the only real positive motivation for the proclamation of the gospel knowing that i am set for the defense of the gospel and the word defense here in the greek is the word apologia from which we get the word apology and apologize or apologetic and to be an apologist for the christian faith which paul certainly was it means that you are prepared and able to set forth a reasoned logical coherent defense for the gospel that's the biblical meaning of apology or the defense and it is quite the opposite from the way we use the word apology paul was not saying yes it's true i must confess i'm sorry i'm a christian please forgive me he's not doing that at all what he's doing is making a vigorous defense for the gospel that's the classical meaning of the word apology and to apologize for the gospel doesn't mean to say you're sorry but it means to prevent a defense of it so what then in other words bottom line how does this whole thing shake out not withstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth whether from bad motivation or good motivation christ is preached and that's what makes me rejoice and i will rejoice now if i may just cease right here and slow down a little bit do you have anything that you would like to offer by way of some suggestion or possible motivation of these people as to how they might add additional discomfort to paul by what they were preaching mary mary what do you think well i kind of have an idea that because paul always preached the gospel and preached that it was freedom freedom from sin it was always like a freedom message and it's freedom as in an internal message a spiritual message but the soldiers and everything may not really understand that it has to do with spiritual freedom and they're looking at it as it's a physical freedom so they figure that if they're out preaching you know all this freedom message that paul's telling everyone that they think they're really doing paul harm because paul is actually in bonds but in reality he has that spiritual freedom and that they're not connecting with it it's a spiritual freedom okay well i appreciate that that's a take i had not picked up on that i appreciate that thank you and this is why opening this up to get some ideas from you john and verse 17 it says for they know that god has put me where i am to defend our right to preach the gospel so in other words the right motivation these people know they're preaching for the right motivation they know that the sovereignty of god has put paul there so the converse should be the other people that are preaching for contention they think that what they're doing will change things instead of knowing that god's in control they think they're in control what do you think of that well that that that's a distinct possibility also yeah if we take a mix and put all these things together we can come up with some kind of a consensus but a lot of it is speculation but you try to read between the lines here and see what exactly is it that's going on and through the way they are proclaiming the gospel they expect it somehow to be a repercussion on paul and make his situation even worse obviously there is some jealousy here and somebody wants to get even with paul retaliate harm him in some way through their actions with the gospel carolyn if i was tall and i were in that situation and all this was happening outside and i knew it was happening and it was happening for the wrong reasons i would be wanting to get out there to make some changes you know do something show to the public what these people are against and so that would drive me nuts being in prison knowing that i couldn't get out there to do that the other thing is maybe just like today you know there's a lot on television there's a lot of you know only believe ministries and all this stuff that you see you know they're money makers yeah they are and that would irritate paul to no end too if he thought that you know there was some kind of financial gain or even popularity if nothing else you know making myself look really good because now they're doing that and paul can't do a thing he's tied to yeah i appreciate that and in connection with that when i have seen some of the programs that you talked about on television it's just i just feel like oh man how can they and and you know the thing that really concerns you is that these people are giving a false impression as to what christianity is really all about to millions of people who are watching they are getting a wrong message and they don't know it and the tendency is for them to think the average uneducated viewer and by uneducated i mean unchurched who doesn't really know anything about spiritual values there is a great tendency to just lump all of christendom together and think that well there's a church that's right down on the corner and it probably believes the same thing same stuff you know and it can be a real major turn off and it can cause people to have negative thoughts toward christianity in general well all churches are like that they're all interested in your money you know call this number and make your pledge and all the rest of it and yeah absolutely mike i think this is kind of related to what she was saying that what paul was well known for what he was doing in that area that world and it's not too far of a stretch in my mind to think that someone would say i could do better than that watch this you know and they were yeah well the ego of man is such that he's always eager for a one-upmanship isn't he yeah yeah i can do better parvin obviously paul was preaching grace and the law you know the difference between grace and law was always there was contention there could these people have still been grasping on to more of a legalism yeah well that's that's an interesting thought because later in this epistle paul is going to give some warnings and one of the warnings he's going to say is something to the effect of beware of dogs dogs beware of the concision concision what who are the concision the concision i believe is just another word for the circumcision and that might well have reference to the judaizers these were the same people that plagued him in galatians who came to spy out our gospel you know to deliver us from our freedom and to put us back into bondage and it makes one wonder if these legalists among jews who were in rome and we know there were we know there were a lot of jews in rome because when paul closes out the book of acts he has jews living in rome coming to him in his hard quarters and some they have an all day long bible conference and some become believers and some are not but these people are there in rome and it could be that they are influencing the gospel by adding mosaic works to it such as circumcision and things like that so that if a gentile becomes a believer he has to be circumcised that might come into play too that maybe the people that he is referring to later on in the epistle may be some here who are preaching this christ of contention it is a mingled gospel anytime you add something to the gospel of the grace of god you contaminate it it is a pure grace message or it is not grace at all and that might be involved here

[29:47] I don't know that's a possibility were some people saved through the way they were preaching or not or was it like in acts 13 that the false prophet sorcerer he was trying to turn the deputy from the faith were these people like that or were they actually winning people to the lord or were they that satan was behind all their works I don't know that's a good question I wish I knew I don't know it's just hard to imagine anybody doing what Paul is saying they were doing but obviously they were and obviously he knew it and he is revealing it here any other thoughts well his conclusion to all of this whether negative or positive he is rejoicing over the fact that Christ is being preached in other words

[30:48] Christ is being talked about the name and the person and his work is out there it is a topic of conversation the area because of Paul being there the area was abuzz with this person Jesus of Nazareth someone of whom they had never heard before and he is being introduced into the scene by this man who is in chains I can imagine that this was really big local news and a lot of people were talking about it so whether in pretense or in truth whether with honest motives or dishonest motives Christ is preached and that is a cause for me to rejoice and I will rejoice for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing

[31:48] I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death and when Paul says in verse 19 about this turning to my salvation he isn't talking of spiritual salvation it's not talking about the salvation of his soul obviously not that was already very well intact he is talking about his release or his being set free and others translate it through here Moffat says the outcome of all this I know will be my release and Lamza translates it for I know all these things will ultimately turn out for or turn out for my safety and it is going to turn out for his safety because when Paul had his day in court before the Caesar and was able to plead his case as a

[32:49] Roman citizen given all of the circumstances and the indictment that was leveled against Paul and whatever writing of indictment the Roman officers had with them when they presented that to Caesar I am confident Caesar would have looked at it and looked at Paul being a Roman citizen look over here with what he is charged with and he probably thought something like this why is this man even here why was necessary for him to appeal to me what was going on and then of course when he was explained that the only thing physically speaking that saved Paul's neck when this Roman army officer was going to set Paul free there were there were a whole lot of Jews over there salivating and thinking yeah turn him loose turn him loose we'll take care of him and Paul knew exactly what was going to happen this Roman army officer says well

[33:56] I don't have any valid basis for holding you you're free to go and Paul turns around and he looks at who's waiting for him and they're going come on come on Saul we'll teach you a thing or two Paul turned around and said I appeal to Caesar that was his lifeline he would have been mensamed and he knew it and this Roman officer says you appeal to Caesar yes I am a Roman citizen I exercise my right I appeal to Caesar well this Roman officer's hands are tied there is nothing he can do but to provide him safe escort to Caesar as a Roman citizen that was his soldier's obligation put him in protective custody that kept him away from the clutches of those who wanted to lay hold on him and then Paul is off to Rome and that whole thing all figures into this background and that's the salvation he's talking about he knows when he goes to

[35:01] Caesar and presents his case he's pretty confident he's going to be found innocent and apparently he was because he is set free and then he is able to resume his journeys we do not know exactly what transpired after that because the book of Acts closes there in chapter 28 and doesn't tell us but Paul is continuing there in his hired house and he's set free and he enjoys about maybe two possibly three years of freedom still on missionary journeys proclaiming the gospel then he is re-arrested but under a different Roman emperor and a different regime and this time persecution fires had been kindling and were heating up Christians everywhere were being persecuted this time when Paul is arrested he will be placed in the Mamertine prison in the dungeon there in Rome and from that he will not be released he will be executed and that's what he's talking about when he delivers his farewell song to young

[36:12] Timothy there in 2nd Timothy and the salvation that he's talking about in verse 19 of course has reference to his physical deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation that is my eager outlook and hope and this will fulfill my earnest expectation and hope etc that in nothing I shall be ashamed or disappointed but that with all boldness boldness can be put forth for only one good legitimate reason boldness always is precipitated by a self confidence in your subject matter you know what you're talking about and you know whereof you speak it is the truth and you can express it you know you are on rock solid ground with what you are saying that's what gives you boldness that's what puts spine in the backbone not only knowing but knowing that you know and being able to express it all boldness as always so now also

[37:33] Christ shall be magnified or be made much of through this human body that I have and the trips that I make the travels etc.

[37:44] and my expressions of the gospel and you know something it really doesn't matter if Christ is magnified at the cost of my life or if Christ is magnified and I am able to continue on my losing my life or maintaining my life is not the issue the issue is that Christ is magnified that's the only thing that really matters we are all dispensable none of us is indispensable the only one who is indispensable is the one who deserves to be magnified and that's Christ so far as I'm concerned Paul's saying bottom line for me what living and life is all about is centered on the person of Jesus

[38:47] Christ Moffat says as life means Christ to me that's what living is really all about nothing matters more than elevating this person I've often at funerals used this text in an effort to stimulate people's thinking as to what they are living for and what are you willing to die for you know in essence anything you are not willing to die for is really not worth living for think about that anything that you are not willing to die for isn't worth living for and you can fill in the blank with anything you want the world has its answers for to me to live is what well we know for a lot of people it's money it's gold wealth for some it's health for some it's popularity for some it's position prestige but whatever you put in the blank there for me to live is whatever you would fill in that blank with ask yourself is what

[40:21] I am putting in the blank going to be a gain for me when I die that ought to be the true test of it for to me to live is money and to die is gain if it's money how is it to gain it's to lose everything leave everything behind someone said did you hear old Mr.

[40:49] Gottbuck the other day died really no kidding how much did he leave everything left everything so whatever you fill the blank in with it has to be something that will be gain if you die and if it's popularity or notoriety well they'll talk about you for a little while after you're gone but not long that's not gain either the only thing that you can fill this blank with is what Paul filled it with because when you live for Christ and you die it's just more of Christ it's absent from the body and present with the Lord and it's more of him to die is gain Phillips renders it and if I die I should merely gain more of him Taylor renders it Taylor renders it and dying well that's better yet and indeed it is but these are the only circumstances that I can think of where it's actually better is if

[41:58] Christ is what living is really all about and then he goes on to talk about this dilemma and we'll conclude here because this will involve a new page and I haven't distributed it yet but we'll still have time for a little Q&A Paul says if I live on in the flesh this is the fruit of my labor yet what shall I choose I want not and here he's talking about the dilemma he has between wanting to die I just as soon check out get out of here and go to be with the Lord but you know Paul had a great love for people and when you really love someone the biblical definition of love is that you say and do the thing that is in the best interests of the object that you love that's what true biblical love is and Paul said my love for you is such that even though I would personally prefer to depart and go on ahead

[43:00] I feel that I'm really needed here so I'm willing to stay Mike I guess I don't understand the intensity of the hatred that the Jews had for Paul was all in their minds that much of a threat to their whole oh yeah yeah I think I think he really was and that's an excellent point that you brought up and it needs a little elaboration but I know some of you folks are on a tight schedule and you have other obligations so feel free to peel off if you have to I'd like to open this up a little bit because what you said there is really important and it is very germane to this particularly from the standpoint of the Judaizers because you've got to appreciate where these people are coming from they have been absolutely steeped in saturated with the law of Moses the commandments all this entails this is all they know and now this one who was formerly one of them one of their

[44:08] Pharisees has become a turncoat and what he is teaching actually constitutes a cancer on Judaism it is an infection that is spreading and threatens the very underpinnings of the Mosaic law they just could not countenance that at all they considered Paul formerly Saul of Tarsus the rankest of turncoats traitors rebels this man needs to be taken out and there were those I think it was in Acts 21 or 23 there were those in Acts 21 or 23 who made a vow I think there were 30 of them who made a vow that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul the apostle that's how much they hated him and you know there are people who feel exactly the same way today about those who are not

[45:16] Muslims they see what we propagate as Christianity they see that as anti Muslim and they feel a responsibility to either convert us or kill us one of the two and for many of them it doesn't make any difference which and we're talking about very intense deep feelings and here's the thing this is the problem these feelings are motivated by a sincere ideology these people really believe this whether you're talking about the way Muslims feel or the way the Jews felt against Paul they are really convinced of that and we see this today in ways that it's a lot closer to us when you have someone who is born and reared in one faith and later in life they convert to another faith we've got this with

[46:26] Jews and with Christians we've got it with Protestant and Catholic and if you just put yourself in the position take for instance take for instance a loyal member of the Catholic Church they view very sincerely they view their association with the church and with the priest and with the sacraments as being their key to heaven their ticket to heaven and the only one there is and when somebody especially a loved one walks away from that and embraces something else they not only feel anger and hurt but they also feel great mixed feelings because they view the soul of that loved one as being in great peril they are going to perish they are not in the church they are not in the ark of safety

[47:30] I love these people and I care about them and it angers me that they left and I have great concern for their soul because I see them as being lost forever can you see the kind of internal emotions that this would foster in people with all good intentions very sincere and very deep and it works that way across all faiths I mean it isn't just catholic or protestant but anytime someone views their own position as that vital how would you feel as a believer to give birth to and rear children in the faith and then they go away to university and they come home after a couple of semesters and they say I don't even buy this God stuff anymore and creation and Genesis and all the rest of it we've got this professor at school and he's got a PhD from

[48:31] Harvard and he says thus and so and so and this whole religion thing is just what Karl Mark says it is it's just the opiate of the people and what would you think how would you feel and you know there are parents who go through this there are parents who deal with this so the hatred that was motivating these people to confront Paul the apostle and eliminate him they were convinced Jesus said the night he was betrayed he turned to his apostles and he said fellas the time is going to come when those who would kill you are thinking they are doing God a service and those Jews those 30 Jews who took on that vow to kill the apostle Paul and not eat or drink until they did I am satisfied they were absolutely convinced they were right under the hand of the blessing of

[49:32] God and that God would honor them if they found and killed Paul the apostle I'm convinced they felt that way they saw it as a duty this is what it means to be motivated by an ideology this is what makes militant Islam so dangerous and so threatening it is an ideology these people aren't motivated by money when we put a 50 million dollar price tag on Osama bin Laden think of what the average Arab could do with 50 million dollars and those if you know where he is you turn him in and we'll see that you get the money 50 million dollars doesn't mean anything to those people that's nothing compared to their belief system their ideology that's what's powerful that's what moves people it's just enormous other thoughts or comments anybody well we'll take up the next page then and we'll still be in chapter one but we'll be coming down close to the end and there is a tremendous passage in here that

[50:44] I'm really looking forward to dealing with and it has to do with the subject of prayer and it just completely revolutionized my life with the issue of prayer and I know probably most Christians have some real struggles in the areas of prayer we've all had our share of disappointments and confusion and everything else and that will be upcoming and I'm looking forward to it because it's been such help to me I trust it will be to you as well so let's close with a word of prayer father once again we are mindful that we serve a sovereign God and we certainly wouldn't have it any other way we find such great comfort and confidence in knowing that you really are at the helm of everything that concerns us and we bless you for being the God that you are thank you for the age old truths that have survived from the life of Paul the apostle been made available to us today so that we and millions of other believers throughout the world can profit from them only the

[51:45]  God of heaven could orchestrate and bring this about we're so glad you did thank you for the presence of each one here today in Christ's name amen