I Can't Lose - Philippians 1:21

hey it's pastor waller listen thank you so much for joining us for worship today i want to look at philippians and talk about i can't lose you need to understand that when you are in the will of god paul says for me to live is christ and to die is gain i'm in a can't lose situation and so are you come on let's go to worship amen amen i want to invite you to a very familiar passage of scripture found in philippians again we're walking through paul's epistle to his first church philippians 1 21 you find these words for me to live is christ and to die is gain again i want to try that again for me to live is christ and to die is gain and for just a few moments i want to talk to you from the subject i can't lose that's what i want to talk about and i want to encourage you to know that we can't lose i want to talk about i can't lose you know i've been thinking i don't consider myself to be a motivational speaker i'm not in that sort of tim robbins les brown world um the book is kind of sits over in that but i don't find that i'm i'm effective as a motivational speaker and and some of the reason that i don't is is because so much of i'm a gospel preacher not a motivational speaker and so much of what i have to say ultimately is about grace of god i mean as i listen to motivational speaking sometimes you got seven steps to do this and eight steps to do that and how to do this and it's a reflection on what that person has done and the steps the the the positive affirmations and the things that you do to get to where you want to be and if i'll be honest if i'll be honest when i start being reflective of my journey and i've had some successes on the journey i can't pull up a whole lot of pieces that got much to do with me in fact most of what i have to say is trust him do what he says in fact if i'll be real honest and transparent for those of you who are as old as i am and can remember my life's journey has been like it was all commercial there's an old cartoon mr magu y'all remember jay quincy magoo mr magu is funny and so mr magoo was this uh old blind man that uh what made it funny was that he got up and had to do something each day but because he was blind he ended up doing the opposite or doing things that didn't make real much sense but he ultimately got done what he was trying to do so for instance if mr magu would get up in the morning and he was going to go to the bank to get some money to come back home to pay the repair man then mr magu would get up thinking that he's going through the front door but he would go through the back door thinking that he was getting ready to get in a chauffeured car but he ends up getting on a bus thinking that he got to the bank he ends up in front of a gang member and all the while every step of the way mr magu does something that doesn't make much sense but it always works out well you're wondering where i'm going i i find that in my life there have been some times that i've tried to do what the lord says to do but maybe it doesn't work out the way that i thought it was going to work out or i don't do the right thing and god somehow works it out anyhow that's not really that's not really motivational but i need you to know i've come to grips with the fact that in my life i can't lose and this ain't about me today i want you to know that if you are a child of god if you really put your hand in his hands god will take care of you but there is one thing that comes out of that motivational world that i do accept and i do think is relevant what would you do the question is this what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail what would you be doing right now what would you do if money weren't an issue where would you be spending your time that's one of those motivational speaker questions that i think gets at the heart of where your passion where your gift and where your calling is and i think it's relevant for right now i think you need to understand that if you will follow god and do what god has called you to do if you will follow your passion god and and partner with god god will make it so you can't lose i know you need some help with that well let's dig in because that's what paul is telling the philippians paul is writing to the philippians and he's really trying to help them understand don't worry i know i'm in jail and i know i'm about to face nero's chopping block you do remember that at this point he's writing from house arrest and we know in hindsight that ultimately paul is going to be killed and it's it's almost it's it's it's almost an antithetical argument to suggest that he can't lose but what paul is saying is that even though it looks bad for me right now and even though it looks like things are not going to turn out all right i don't want you all to be afraid and i don't want you to get sad because i'm in a can't lose situation he says for me to live is christ and to die is gain he goes on you remember he's already argued that everything that has already happened to me has happened for the furtherance of the gospel it has fallen out to make uh people know who jesus is so all of that worked out fine and even right now as i wait each day to find out if i'm going to live or if i'm going to die i'm in a situation that lets me know if i live i'm going to be all right because he's coming to see me and if i die i'm going to be all right because i'm going to be with him in other words paul says i can't lose and i really want somebody today to get that in your spirit i want you to understand that if you are a child of god you are in a can't lose situation as long as you hold on to god's unchanging hand god is going to work it so that his will gets done in your life that's what i want to talk about and i'm going to get out of your way because first thing comes up i can't lose because god is in control i mean you've got to really be i really believe that i can't lose because god is in control paul is reassuring the philippians that no matter what happens god is writing this script and god's glory will always be for my good remember last week he talked about everything has happened and fallen out for the furtherance of the gospel now when i say i can't lose and when i say that god is in control that means i'm reminding everyone that there's a difference between fate and destiny and as christians we don't teach fate fate is sort of that whatever's going to happen is going to happen fate is not what we teach we teach destiny destiny says god has a will and i have a will and if my will lines up with god's will it's all going to work out for my good can i keep pressing it the reality is there are there's a tension in christian teaching between predestination and free will and often we get stuck there uh because uh with predestination some of us will begin to believe in fate and fate then leads us to sort of this robot theory that does not make judgment make sense i mean think about it this way if we believe in fate then that means god is in control and god does what god does and god makes me do what i do so whatever's going to happen is going to happen and therefore uh but the problem is what sense does judgment make if god made you do everything you've done that's what some of those uh silly persons that uh don't wear masks think that well if i'm gonna catch it i'm just gonna catch it if it's mine to catch i'm gonna catch it no that's fate what we believe is destiny destiny says god has a will and god has a will but he's given you free moral agency and giving you will and the goal of life is for your will to match up with god's will and then when life is over then judgment looks at how you lived your life can i stay there and the goal of life so that i don't lose is that i line my will up with god's will so that whatever god's will is it will be for my good let me see if i can make it plain i intend today to know what the will of god is i mean that's really what it is i don't have three steps to success success is doing what god told you to do i don't know what's going to happen tomorrow but i do know that if i'm in his will everything is going to work out being in his will means knowing his word i think it's more important today that we dig into the word of god every chance you get you need to be in the word of god because god's will is wrapped up in his word but not only that don't just read the bible but spend some time talking to god spend some time in his presence i remember uh old preacher that used to be at this church reverend noah carter when i first came to end some 26 years ago reverend carter would sit in the pulpit next to me and sometimes the lord would move through in worship reverend carter would reign lean over to me and say young preacher if you get close enough to him he'll show you some things in other words god will show you his will and god will help you to line up with his will and if he shows you his will all you got to do is walk in his will and then whatever happens in your life will be for his glory and for your good you gotta learn how to hear the still small voice gotta learn how to understand the gentle nudgings of god and can i come can i come a little closer you know you can get to a place in god where you don't even have to hear his voice you can see some stuff and know where god is can i stay there for a minute let me see if i can make plain you know uh sister waller helps me here uh i've been hanging out with sister now 31 married plus the four before that we got 35 years in and there's some things that i can i can take to the bank on on what she's gonna do what she is coming in the house you know we have uh in in our kitchen there's a little uh window desk if you will and that's where she puts her purse this wall ain't gonna put a purse on the ground she's just not gonna put a purse her purse will never be on the ground should put it in the chair but when purses so if i come in the house if i come in the house uh and and i haven't seen her haven't talked to her i come in the house and see person to chair i know she's in the chair i mean i know she's in the house and all as well but now if her purse is over on the couch if her purse is over on the couch that means she's either on her way out or on her way in and her purse is over on the couch and the keys are out of the purse that means she's on her way out if it's over on the couch and her keys are in the purse that means she just came in and had to do something before she finishes up her landing strategy y'all wondering where i'm going i don't have to hear her voice i don't even have to see her all i have to know is where is the purse and the purse lets me know what her will is her purse lets me know what's about to happen next y'all wonder where i'm going you can get to a place in god where you begin to look around and see some things and you begin to see some of what god is doing and henry blackaby in his book experiencing god says that we as christians just need to begin to look around and when we look around and see some of the handwriting of god on the wall he says that as christians we just dive into what god is doing and god will use it for his glory and use it for our good yeah i think i just said something if you spend some time talking to him he'll show you some things and if you get to the place where god is showing you some things you can understand and you can stand flat foot and said i can't lose as long as i am in god the only thing that matters in my life right now is not who likes me not who's with me not who's on my side what what matters is am i in the will of god and if i'm in the will of god say it with me i can't lose that's what i need you to say right now all you got to ask yourself the question is are you in the will of god and if you are in the will of god whatever happens you can't lose that wasn't enough for you let me dig in because what he describes is how god gets involved he says don't worry about me for me to live is christ now understand he knows that each day one of two things can happen i can either stay alive or nero can kill me but in either situation i'm gonna be all right why because for me to live is christ in other words if i'm alive if i wake up that means he's coming to see about me for me to live is christ that's why when we get up if you wake up tomorrow and there is or if to that and the pandemic is reminding us that you ought not ever take for granted that you woke up and that you woke up healthy and that you woke up in your right mind but if you wake up the first thing that ought to come out of your mouth is this is the day the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it why i don't have to know what's going to happen today i don't have to know what's going on in my life all i have to know is that if he woke me up he's coming to see about me for me to live is christ let me unpack that my my granddaughter corey helps me uh my granddaughter corey lynn she's got some good theology let me see if i can make it plain you know corey she's roughly 16 17 months old now and corey is sleeping through the night amen she sleeps through the night and i thank god for facebook and i thank god for uh facetime because it's like we experience her every day well one of the things she sleeps through the night and and corey is learning uh to wake up and corey has her own language now she's got her own language she's learning some stuff you know because her mother is a delta uh corey can do that that delta oh yeah she does that she does that she she knows how to do that because her mother uh went to auburn university she knows how to do war eagle whoa eagle hey corey can do that she can do delta and she can do the war eagle hey but her father has her name and her father uh she her father his name is corey johnson and her name is corey johnson and they got a whole little call and response thing corey johnson corey johnson well where am i going corey gets up in the morning now and when corey gets up in the morning uh she she has language she doesn't get up crying she doesn't get up crying good theology she gets up and sometimes uh corey will get up and do some self-soothing oh yeah she's in dark but corey will get up and she'll begin or corey can get up and and for a while she'll just do war eagle hey should do that but when corey is ready to get the day going when cory she will and she knows that the watch in her house is is daddy come but i know how to get him in here if i just say corey johnson then i know that he's going to come in that door and if i know that he comes in that door that when he comes in that door i'm going to get picked up and i'm going to be changed and i'm going to be taken to where the food is and i'm going to be taken care of so for a while i can just talk to myself but when i'm ready for something to get started in my life all i got to do is say corey johnson y'all looking at me like i'm crazy when i get up in the morning i i'm like corey i ain't got to get up crying mad that i woke up get up crying afraid of the day i get up and call on a name that is above every name i get up call in the name that i know will come and pick me up who will come and feed me who will come and take care of me can i get closer to you you need to understand that the reason he says for me to live is christ the reason he calls the christ because the christ of god if you will is the one in the pre-incarnate christ the jesus of the gospels and the holy spirit of the epistles is a reminder that when i call him he will be a pillar of cloud in the day he will be a pillar of fire at night he will be the one who gets in the den of the lions with me and shuts the lion's mouth he will be the one that gets in the furnace with me and helps me handle the conditions of the day he will be the one that finds money in the fish in the mouth of a fish when my bills are due he will be the one that heals me he will be the one that fights my battles when i call his name he comes down and he gets in it all you gotta do is call his name i think i just said something you need to learn how to get up in the morning don't get up being mad about your circumstance don't get up being afraid of what's going to happen during the day you need to learn from my granddaughter that if you call his name he'll show up that's that's what i want to talk about i i need to ask you the question what's your morning ritual what do you do in the morning you know when i first started this thing i used to say whenever you get to your devotion is fine just make sure you you spend in day but the the longer i've lived this thing the more i am convinced the first thing you need to do in any given day is get up and have a little talk with jesus you need to get up spend some time in the word you need to get up and call his name because since we know that god is in control i need to check in with him about what's going on today and if i check in with him he doesn't just send me an email he doesn't just send me a memo he sends me himself and says not only am i going to let you know what's going on today but i'm going with you ah oh i wish i could make this thing plain i wish i could make this thing plain my father tells the story my father tells a story about during the time that he was running for the mayor of cleveland he was running for the mayor of cleveland uh and some man had decided he did not like the fact that my father was running for the mayor of cleveland and he decided that he was going to shoot my father he decided that he was going to assassinate him uh and the story is told that uh later on but this man came to shiloh i remember the day he came he came and he came to the altar crying and he came to the altar confessing i do remember that day and then when he confessed he came and said pastor i was wanting to shoot you he says but on the day i followed you around i followed you all over cleveland but i never got a clear shot because of the man that was walking with you i never got a clear shot because i thought that the guy that was with you would either get me or see me my father goes back and realizes in the moment on that day that's before armor bearers that's on that day he wasn't walking with anybody my father said i was by myself the whole time i i wasn't with anybody and the man declared no i saw somebody somebody was with you the entire time that's why i never pulled the trigger you need to know that when you call on the lord the lord will be an angel in your life the lord will walk with you the lord will talk with you the lord will make ways out of no ways if you call it i can't lose you can't lose you can't lose if you call on the name of jesus but there's more in the text because not only i can't lose because god is in control and now not only can i not lose because if i wake up he's coming to be with me here's where we got to wrestle with it because if i don't get up i'm going to be with him oh i think i just said something if i can't lose because if i don't give up get up i'm going to be with him i know that's a morbid third point but can i dig in the point is and the reality is we die we do die so how does paul reconcile i'm in a can't lose situation he says if i wake up and christ comes be with me i win because he's with me and if the inevitable happens and i am killed i win because i'm going to be with him in other words i know it sounds morbid but all of us have to reconcile this reality and that is one day we gonna die uh you know i i love watching martin luther king movies and martin luther king uh and one thing that is consistent in every king movie who whether it's the jeffrey ride king whatever king movie you watch there is a period of time because he writes about it in his book my life with uh coretta uh my life with martin is coretta's book and he writes about it uh in why we can't wait he writes about a moment where he wrestles with the inevitability of his death he writes about how in jail he had to come to grips with the fact that the possibility is things will not go the way he wants them to go and one of the things that happens that makes martin king the prophet that he is is after he comes through his fear of death after he comes through his fear of failure he is able to walk in and become the man that god intends for him to be i think you and i need to recognize that there is an existential and eschatological truth to that for me to live is christ and to die is gain one of the things that i need to believe in i need to fundamentally accept the fact that i'm going to die and i have to get comfortable with the fact that there really is a heaven and a hell can i stop right there what paul is saying on the surface is listen i believe that if this earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved i got another building not made with hands eternal the in in the heavens for me to live as christ and to die is gain in other words to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord can i just stay here and be old pentecostal preacher i believe in heaven i believe that when this body is done god has another place for me and and i believe that it's going to be all right i believe that the bible explains heaven and explains hell but that the biblical explanation is limited by human understanding and that the heaven of the the real heaven is greater than the heaven of the bible and the real hell is worse than the hell of the bible is not about fire or streets of gold heaven is about being in the very presence of god receiving the reward for the work well done in the body seeing my loved ones and being celebrated and being able to celebrate god i believe in heaven i really do but i think you need to understand that what he's also saying is that not only is there an eschatological truth but there's an existential truth in this as well because death is not only cessation of life but death is also a metaphor for failure what happens because i know all of you been wrestling with what i just said you've been wrestling with what if it doesn't work out what if i do lose reverend what if i do get fired what if i do not make it i need to understand that even in what we would call a metaphor for failure that failure in the life of a christian is the womb of success i think i just said something see if i can make it plain and you got to get comfortable got to get comfortable with understanding that you've heard me do this a number of times dr mcclain i told you about with the phd with phenomenology and i told you that he said in our community there is this this uncanny connection with being able to say what i almost did you know what that means that there are a lot of us who would rather live on this side of trying on this side meaning i almost did it but i never tried it so i can live saying what i almost did as opposed to trying it because i'm afraid to fail i wonder am i talking to anybody right now about that let me see if i can make a plane uh you know i i realize in my own life that i've done a similar thing and it's it's how i tell my wrestling story you've heard me you've lived with me for 26 years you've you've heard me talk about how i went to college to wrestle and then uh and the way i tell it is i went to college to wrestle with the 1984 olympics on my mind and that's fair that that's really what was going on back then now if i'd be honest if i'd be honest i don't know if i i would have made the olympic team because generally speaking i mean i was a really good wrestler uh but i don't know generally speaking you know if you're going to make the olympic team you'll at least be a state champion you'll at least be a national champion i i was a really good wrestler but i wasn't a state champion but the way i tell the story is i quit the wrestling team and i quit because of some of the my irresponsible drinking but if i really go back in there and think about it i remember the day that i quit it was when some of the upperclassmen decided to do a five mile run after practice for fun and that's when i first discovered that i could buy 40s at this place called moms and i balanced between whether i wanted to buy 40 but what i realized now as i go back through life it's easier to tell a story about what you almost did without ever testing it than it is to do it and fail that's how too many of us think so so we self-sabotage and then we can live in the what could have would have should've happened y'all looking at me like i'm crazy but you need to understand that if god places it in your life and i found out later on that whatever god tells me to do if i just go head on and do it whatever happens whether it works or does not work come on here whether it works the way i want it to work or it does not work god will take my best efforts and use it for his glory and even if it looks like failure there's something good in the midst of it i know you need help with that because people think that jesus failed i mean everything about power suggests that when he was up on the cross that was a failure in fact one of the thieves on his side said if you want to win this thing why don't you why don't you uh get off this cross and get us off with you if you really want to win this thing why don't you call down those 10 000 angels if you really want to win this thing why don't you cheat but jesus says you don't understand what winning really looks like i could call ten thousand angels but that ain't how i'm gonna win i'm gonna let them win today because in three days i'm getting up and when i get up i'm getting up with all power in my hands you need to understand that death existential death in the life of a christian is not failure i don't know about you but when i look back over my life i made some mistakes and when i look back over my life i realized that i've made some wrong turns but the god that i serve met me at every turn and the god that i serve gave me another chance the god that i serve did not let the failure be the last word in my life and that's why i stopped by to tell you i can't lose in other words he woke me up this morning i can't lose in other words if i give the best of my service god will take my less than enough and make it more than enough i can't lose god knows my heart and god knows your heart so i stopped by to tell you do the best that you can get up and give him glory seek to do god's will step out and give it your best shot god will make ways out of no ways god will fight your battles god will bring it to pass well i'm getting ready to leave y'all but i need you to know that god is not just on my side but god is on the side of those who accept his son god is on the side of those who will give him glory god is on the side of those who will walk with him and those who will talk with him and if god is on your side you can't lose so even if you're in a situation and it feels like you're lost just give it three days and god will get in your grave and make death behave am i right about it is there anybody here that can text your neighbor and say i ain't scared i can't lose i can't lose god has brought me too far to leave me now i can't lose i'm going to be all right well i'm finished with my sermon but i ain't feel this praising when i think of the goodness of jesus and all he's done for me my soul christ hallelujah hallelujah somebody ought to say i can't lose [Applause] you can't lose for me to live is christ if i wake up this morning i'm gonna call him he's gonna come see about me if in trying [Music] by earthly standards i fail god meets me in the grave of my experience and he'll raise me up i wonder am i talking to anybody that's got some failures back there but your failure didn't kill you because you can't lose and one day it will be over one day we gonna lay down for the last time but that's all right if this earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved i've got another building not made with hands eternal in the heavens listen i don't know what today is gonna bring to you here's what i do know you can't lose i am the winner you are a winner you will win it's going to be all right come on pick up your head come on get out of that pity party you know the problem with the pity party is your party but nobody at the party likes you get out of a pity party recognize you can't lose whatever happens god is in it if you hold his hand i want to pray with you right now and i want to challenge you straighten up square your shoulders get ready for the day know that god has got you for me to live is christ to die is gain god i bless you and i thank you i thank you for the promise of your presence in my life i thank you for knowing that whatever happens you will work it out i thank you god that you've reminded me my job in this thing is to seek to know your will to hear your voice to line up my will with your will and you will get glory and it will be for my good now god we're getting ready to get out of here we pray oh god that you go with us and stand by us until we meet again i pray for the person who has made a decision for you today and i pray oh god that you help us to wrap our arms around them that ultimately you would get glory and god we pray that whatever happens this day whatever happens this week we will be supported in the knowledge of knowing you didn't bring us this far to leave us and we can't lose now as we go may the love of god and sweet communion of the holy spirit rest rule and abide with each of us until we meet again we ask it in the matchless marvelous and majestic name of jesus the christ and for his sake we too do pray let every heart say amen amen and amen amen [Music] [Laughter] [Music] foreign

Channel: Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church

Views: 1,370

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: enontab, pastor waller, enon philadelphia, church, Enon Tabernacle, philadelphia, enon

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Length: 38min 19sec (2299 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020