Totally Fulfilled R1366

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, and today's message totally fulfilled. As we study God's Word together, know that we're here for you both online at theencouragingword.org, and this phone number, 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now, Dr. Wilton. Well, we're in Philippians chapter 1, and I just want to say this to you. The new normal is our theme for the next several, several weeks. And times are changing. We're living in an interesting day and age. We've got a lot of things to think about, things that are going on in our world today. You know, what are we facing in the United States? There's a lot of yada, yada on television right now, and people going at each other, and we're just giving our world such a wonderful picture of just how sweet we are as American people.

And I mean, we're just ripping each other apart, and I don't know about you. I really believe that the Lord Jesus is the only one who can bring about a difference, can change the hearts of our people. He's the only one who can do that, but I am going to place my absolute confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where I want to be.

I want to be a contributing, very meaningful citizen. We all have our rights, but I want you to know there's nobody like the Lord Jesus Christ who will bring you through safely to the other side, will provide for you everything necessary to live a full and a meaningful life. The new normal. The question is this, how do we present our unchanging God in our rapidly changing world? If the new normal today tells us culturally, ethically, morally that this is the way we can live, if our children are growing up today looking at things, seeing things, hearing things, if our kids today are being railroaded into a world that contradicts everything about all that God does in and through us in the Lord Jesus Christ, how do we as believers hold firm?

How do we press on? I want to show you something in the life of Paul today in this Bible study. I'm about to share with you folks some gold. This is gold. It's gold for me.

Listen carefully. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 18, the second part of verse 18 and following. Yes, I will rejoice, says Paul, for I know that through your prayers and with the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. For if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which shall I choose, life or death? I cannot tell.

I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary because of you, on your account.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue to be with you all for your progress and joy in the faith so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. This is an amazing story. Here's a man, Paul, who I wish I could say just everything was just wonderful in his life.

It wasn't. He was hounded out of one town after another. Do you know there were a lot of people that really didn't like Paul because of his Christian stand? He came under a lot of criticism. If he had been in our day and age, he would have been sued by one person after another who believed they had been wronged by him. But he never stepped down. He pressed on. He remained faithful and God honored him.

Isn't that amazing? He suffered. Do you know, by the way, that he was actually physically beaten up many times? He went hungry. Do you know that he really had an awful income? He had no salary. He lived on the goodness of God's people.

And that's a wonderful thing, but it's a little iffy sometimes. I mean, he was dependent on a people like you and me. So whatever we felt is what he would get. And he sailed on the sea. He was wrecked. He ended up on little islands, people around. I mean, I could go on. And yet this is the same man who says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Paul gives us a picture of a person, no matter what the circumstance of his life, everything that came out of him speaks to total fulfillment. Now watch this. It doesn't matter, although it does, how much our world changes. It doesn't matter who becomes president of the United States. It doesn't matter who gets elected to the Supreme Court. It doesn't matter what the economy does. It doesn't matter whether we make it or whether we don't make it. It doesn't matter whether things are going well or things are not going well. What Paul is trying to tell us is that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he lives in your heart, he will enable you and me to live a totally fulfilled life.

So here's what I'm going to do today. I have, as I prayed over this passage, I said, Lord, give me Paul's keys to total fulfillment. What was it?

What was his big secret? Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with Paul's big secret from Dr. Wilton in just a moment.

But Dr. Wilton insists I interrupt to remind you of this. We stand ready to connect both online at theencouragingword.org, that's theencouragingword.org, and this phone number, 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673. We'd love to pray with you and connect with great resources, especially this month of celebrating our nation about being one nation under God and praying for each other. There's a 40-day series.

Let me let Cheryl give you all the details. The colors of the United States run deep, but nothing like the word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword. Our nation needs prayer more than ever.

God has a very serious message for America. This month, for your gift of any amount of the Encouraging Word broadcast ministry, you will receive Why Nations Crumble and What Happens When God Speaks to a Nation in Dr. Wilton's timely message set One Nation Under God. Plus, you will also receive the bonus book, If My People, a 40-day prayer guide for our nation. This resource set will provide powerful encouragement now and for the days ahead.

You will have a renewed focus on the promise and power of prayer for your family and for our beloved America. Write to us at Post Office Box 2110, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 29304, or call us toll-free at 866-899-WORD, or visit online at theencouragingword.org. Thank you for supporting the Encouraging Word broadcast ministry as we continue to proclaim the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ to a nation in desperate need of biblical truth, direction, and hope.

I do hope you'll give us a call, 866-899-WORD. Now back to today's message with Dr. Wilton. Lord, give me Paul's keys to total fulfillment. What was it?

What was his, what's his big secret? Not too long ago, I had a man that I know who came to see me and he said something like this. He said, Don, he said, I just can never seem to get there.

I wish I had already studied this. This is what I would have told him. And if I was able to do that today, I love you so much. I care about you and I hope that you're listening today.

Here they are. This is coming right out of the text. These five keys were the modus operandus of Paul's life. Number one, this is what he was saying to us. I have continual joy. So continual joy is the first key to Paul's total fulfillment.

Now he says, Yes, I will rejoice. In the opening part of what he's about to say concerning life and death. And total continual joy, now watch this, continual joy means that whether I'm in prison or whether I've lost a lot of money on the stock market or whether I have suffered great grief through the loss of a loved one or whether I have made it or whether I haven't made it or whether I'm going on this road or that road, I am going to live my life in a perpetual continual state of joyfulness, of being happy. And this rides on two very, very important spiritual compulsions. Number one, you have to have the conviction in your heart that this is what Jesus does for you by his Spirit. Now watch this, my friends. Paul said, I have continual joy.

Give me a break. In this life, how can you be perpetually joyful? And please allow me to just say to you, joyfulness is not an outward walk around with a smile on your face all day.

You know there's a lot of people listening right now. You cannot smile. I learned many years ago, Steve and I learned, we've been leading worship together for 35 years. We learned many years ago, don't ever go into church and tell everybody to stand up and smile. That's very unfair.

Do you know that there are some people today worshipping right now and you may be one of them? Your heart is very sore right now. There's a deep hurt there. You can't go up to somebody whose son is going through a major crisis and say, smile.

That's not what he's talking about. This is an inner conviction. Continual joy is inside.

It is a soul spirit thing. And so continual joy derives its source, its root in the fact that Jesus Christ by his spirit does for you and me what we cannot do for ourselves. So the first thing is conviction. The second thing is the determination to live out that conviction. So you've got conviction on one hand and you've got determination to live it out.

Now I'm going to tell you about me, about Don. A lot of you know me pretty well. I really try jolly hard most days to get up in the morning and say, I'm going to be joyful all day. Now do I say that, is that a practical, in my soul spirit, I'm claiming based on my conviction that Christ is living in me and my determination is to let Christ live that out through me. I want somebody to watch me just for a second.

I don't know who you are, but you, everywhere you're turning in life, you've got a gripe, you're fussing, everybody's getting to you. And you know Christ greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world. Turn this around. First key, continual joy. Second key, he said, I have total support. Now all of these, so the first thing is continual joy.

The second is total support. Look what he says in the second part of verse 19. I know that through, number one, your prayers. Number two, the help of the spirit of the living God. So what was Paul's key to being totally fulfilled even while languishing in a prison? Two things, the prayers of fellow believers.

Isn't that fantastic? Do you know that God purposes for our prayers to be partnered together to build one another up in the faith, to provide sustenance and nutrition for one another? That's why we believe in prayer. That's why intercessory prayer is so wonderful. That's why we have such a massive prayer cycle. We've had hundreds of thousands of prayer requests coming from all 50 states through the encouraging word broadcast ministry. They come every week from all over the place. Prayer requests about everything you can possibly imagine.

We meet every week. We take in prayer requests. We ask you to fill out prayer requests on the connect card in our worship services. We take these in, we gather them, we pray together. That's what Paul is saying because somehow God has given to me and to you the privilege of being able to pray for your total fulfillment regardless of what's going on in your life, regardless of what the new normal is, regardless of our changing world. That's an unchanging God. And not only did he speak about total support in terms of prayer, but he spoke about total support in terms of the spirit who dwells in him.

Paul was just saying, you know, it's an amazing thing. I've given my heart to Jesus and when I trusted Jesus as my savior, I received God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit who comes and lives in my life because he's the one who convicts me of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And he fills me and he refines me and he guides me into all truth and he comforts me and he lifts me up and he blesses my heart and he puts a new song upon my heart. He's the one who enables me to press on even when quite frankly I'm somewhat inclined not to want to press on.

Don't kid yourself, my friend. Life can be very cruel and can be very tough. Key number one, continual joy. That's how he was totally fulfilled. Key number two, total support. Key number three, sufficient courage. Here's what he spoke about in this passage. He said in verse 20, it's my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, but that with full courage. I tell you, that little word courage there is a wonderful, wonderful word. We all need courage.

Courage is based upon conviction and it's based upon determination. It comes from the deep and abiding conviction that this battle is not ours but God's. By the way, do you know what Paul said to Timothy in chapter two of Timothy? In second Timothy chapter one, do you know what he said?

This is what he said. God hasn't given you a spirit of fear, but he's given you a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. Do you know how he does that? He does that because the spirit of God who dwells in you, enables you, stirs up the gift in you and gives to you all the courage necessary. Somebody right now, the missing link in your life is spiritual courage. God hasn't given you a spirit of fear. He's given you power. He's given you love.

He's given you a sound mind, the right kind of discipline. In order to be able to stand up and not be ashamed and face the world in which you are living right now. Paul knew something about total fulfillment, I want to know because this is a life that I aspire to.

I want to be fulfilled no matter and I want to be totally fulfilled no matter how old I am, no matter where I am, no matter what I'm doing. Number four, here's the fourth key, fruitful living. Look what he says in verse 22, it's really said quite beautifully. If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor. Now you got to understand, here's Paul and he's looking at it and he's saying, you know what, I'm alive, but I'm going to die. So what do I do?

So why don't we all ask that question? We're all alive. We're all going to die. How can we be totally fulfilled?

Here's what he said. I'm going to be continually joyful. I'm going to be totally supported by prayer and by the Spirit of God. I'm going to be sufficiently courageous, but I'm going to be fruitful in my living while I'm alive. I am going to produce. There's a lot of people who face retirement.

We've got some wonderful retirees in our congregation. I hope that you would hear me saying to you, whatever you do, don't stop being fruitful. Bearing fruit in your living will in and of itself totally fulfill you, let alone bless all those who eat of the fruit of your life.

Don't stop. What he was talking about with fruitful living was predicated on four keys to fruitful living while he was alive. Number one, submission. You have to submit to the Lordship of Christ.

Say, Lord, I'm yours. Number two, determination. You've got to be determined to do what it is you have submitted to God to do. Number three, practice. You've got to get out there and actually carry through the fruitful living that God has given to you.

And number four is measure. You've got to understand how delicious the fruit is that you are producing. You want to be totally fulfilled in life? Live life in absolute devotion and service to the Lord Jesus. I want to say a word to anybody who is part and parcel of this wonderful church at First Baptist in Spartanburg. Are you involved in fruitful living? Do you know how many places and opportunities in just this one place we have to serve in missions, in senior adults, taking care of our little babies, our children, teaching, discipleship, singing in the choir, worship ministries? I tell you, we've got people in our church left and right.

It doesn't matter how big or how small. People who serve tables, these people who stand at the door and welcome us, who pick up after us, people who are always there. Fruitful living, that's what he's saying.

He's saying, listen, whether I live or whether I die, my life's going to count. That's being totally fulfilled. I just want to put this on the table. Now listen to me.

Paul was totally fulfilled. How can this be? I want that. I want some of that. And some of you today are looking at me and looking at yourself more than anything, and you're saying, you know, I just cannot get there. Here's what he did. He said, I have continual joy. That's a decision. I have total support. I have sufficient courage. I have fruitful living.

And there's one more. He said, I have fearless dying. I have fearless dying. Death faces us all. Paul knew that for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You know, I think one of Paul's greatest keys to total fulfillment was fearless dying. You see, he knew that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Do you know Jesus? Our time is gone. I pray you know Jesus.

If not, let us introduce you to him. Let's spend some time talking, praying with you. We can connect keyboard to keyboard at vencouragingword.org. If you'd like, we'd love to talk with you, love to listen at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673, not just now during the broadcast, but 24 hours a day. We would love to connect with you. Until tomorrow, have a blessed Wednesday and join us again for the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. I pray, I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God. I'm inviting you.