WEST COAST BAPTIST COLLEGE

SERMON ON

PHILIPPIAN CHAPTER ONE

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO DR. NATHAN BIRT

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE

DPT 292

SERMON PREPARATION

BY

Kevin Escalona

LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA

NOVEMBER 19, 2023

Striving Together for the Faith of the Gospel
Philippians 1:27-30

CIT: Paul exhorted the church at Philippi to live a life that is pleasing to God by having

one mind in propagating the gospel.

Declaration: Every believer should have one mind with the church in spreading out the

gospel of Jesus Christ.

Proposition: Christians must live a life that was changed by the power of the gospel and

be able to share to others what they have received.

Purpose: I want every member of the church to realize what Christ has done in their lives

and that they have the responsibility to share the gospel to other through word and

testimony.

Transitional Sentence: In the passage we can see three powerful instructions that can

help us in fulfilling God’s command.

I. HAVE A GOOD CONVERSATION THAT BECOMES OUR

TESTIMONY (v. 35)

Most likely people will get saved if they see Christians living the truth of

God’s Word. We should walk the talk. Many people would never read the four

gospels in their lifetime but they are watching our lives. Like the Apostle Paul

said that we are written epistle (2 Cor. 3:2). Someone has said, “I’d be a

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Christian if it were not for the Christians.” I hope that our lives would not be a

stumbling block for the unbeliever. Our personal testimony and church

testimony should draw them to the saving knowledge of the gospel.

A. Personal Testimony (v. 5a)

The meaning of the word conversation in the original language is way of

life or lifestyle. Our life should reflect the power of the gospel (Rom. 6:1-

4). We cannot continue in sin. If we have repented of our sin and accepted

Christ as personal Lord and Savior it should bring a change in our life (2

Cor. 5:17). The only way we can live a new life is by becoming a child of

God (John 3:5, 1:12). The question is, are you saved? And if you are, do

people see a change in your life?

(Ill. A man who entered a garage will not become a car. And so nobody

who enters church will become a Christian. Only faith in Christ can help

us become sons and daughters of God.)

B. Church Testimony (v.25b)

Paul is saying that even though he was not with the church to lead them,

they should have the same spirit and mind in what is important. Affair

mean “which concern.” They should be concern with the unity of the

church (Eph. 4:11-13). They should stand fast in one spirit (Eph. 4:3), and

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 one mind (Phil. 2:5). And they should strive to spread out the good news

(Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15).

Not only Christians should HAVE A GOOD CONVERSATION THAT

BECOMES OUR TESTIMONY but also HAVE A GOOD COURAGE IN

TIMES OF TESTING.

II. HAVE A GOOD COURAGE IN TIMES OF TESTING (v.28)

Paul was telling the Christians in Ephesus not to be afraid of the works of

Satan. Persecution and affliction will come as believers follow Christ in their

lives. Satan is our adversary, and he wants to destroy us (John 10:10). He

wants to destroy our life and testimony (1 Peter 5:8). But we should not be

afraid of his evil doings because Christ is with us (Romans 8:31, Hebrews

13:6).

(Ill. The story was told about Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary, first

went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of some

cannibal’s islands the ship was becalmed, and it was slowly drifting

shoreward unable to move. The savages were eagerly anticipating a feast. The

captain came to Mr. Taylor and besought him to pray for the help of God. “I

will,” said Taylor. “Provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” The

captain declined to make himself a laughingstock by unfurling in a dead calm.

Taylor said. “I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare

the sails.” The captain agreed to Taylor’s request. While engaged in prayer,

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 there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. “Who is there?” The captain’s

voice responded. “Are you still praying for wind?” “Yes.” “Well,” said the

captain. “you’d better stop praying, for we have more wind than we can

manage.”

Sometimes we would face problems that will try our faith in God, but we

should be going forward and believe that God is with us when we are

doing his will in our lives. The question is, are we doing God’s will for our

lives?

To show the power of the gospel, not only to HAVE A GOOD

CONVERSATION THAT BECOMES OUR TESTIMONY, HAVE A GOOD

COURAGE IN TIMES OF TESTING but thirdly, HAVE A GOOD CAUSE

THAT BRINGS OUR TRIALS.

III. HAVE A GOOD CAUSE THAT BRINGS OUR TIALS (v.29-30)

Paul clearly teaches that both believing and suffering were parts of faithful

Christian living. His readers had likely already faced some persecution and

may have wondered why they had to suffer if they were faithfully living for

God. Paul makes it clear that godliness and suffering often go together. There

are times when we suffer, at the hands of the world, because we are following

the will of God. The world hates the gospel, and it will naturally try to stamp

it out (John 16:1–4). Second Timothy 3:12 says, “Yea, and all that will live

godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

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A. Suffer for Christ (v.29)

The Bible is clear that if we follow Christ, we should be willing to deny

ourselves and take up our cross (Luke 14:26-27). The cross speaks of the

burden that we should be carrying for serving Christ. Maybe our family

will get mad at us because we follow Christ. Our friends may leave us

because of our faith. But no matter what hardships or sufferings come, we

should not turn our back because the cause is greater and that is our Lord

Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:14)

B. Suffer for other Christians (v.30)

Paul ends this chapter with a note regarding his own suffering. He was

arrested in Palestine and appealed to the Roman legal system to escape an

assassination attempt. During his sea voyage to Rome, the ship crashed,

and he and the crew barely escaped. A snake then bit Paul, and he shook it

off into a fire. He was eventually brought to Rome, where he had been

rejected by many Jews, yet had a powerful ministry to Gentiles despite

being under house arrest for two years (Acts 27—28).

Despite all these past sufferings and his ongoing imprisonment, Paul was

still able to preach to many, write letters to encourage believers, and be

used of God to help encourage the spread of the gospel. Suffering is

difficult but is not without purpose. God has used pain, and continues to

use pain, as faced by believers, to accomplish much good.

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 Let us face the battle not only for ourselves but for the good of others. We

live not for the sake of living but to fulfill God’s plan for us. And He

wants to use us so that people will come to know Him (Acts 9:15-16)

Conclusion: In the 1840s, John Geddie left the pastorate of a church in

Canada to take his wife and two small children to the South Sea Islands to

begin a mission work there. After a voyage of more than 20,000 miles, they

arrived in the New Hebrides Islands at Aneityum. The island chain was filled

with cannibals, and more than twenty crew members of a British ship had

been killed and eaten just months before the Geddies arrived on the mission

field.

They faced the difficulty of learning a language that had no written form and

the constant threat of being killed. Slowly at first, a few converts came, and

then soon many more received the Gospel. Geddie continued his ministry

faithfully, including translating the entire Bible into the native language and

planting twenty-five churches. For many of those years, Geddie labored with

little help and little word from home, but God was faithful to His servant. In

the pulpit of the church Geddie pastored for so many years stands a plaque in

his honor which says: “When he landed in 1848, there were no Christians

here, and when he left in 1872 there were no heathen.”

Are you willing to suffer for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the

salvation of the lost?