Shabbat shalom. Please turn to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1 is the study today and specifically from verse 12 to verse 26. Please follow me. But I would ye should understand brethren that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel so that my bond in Mashiach are manifest in all the palace and in all other places 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 Messiah Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached, Christ, Mashiach, of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.

What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 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. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, it is the fruit of my labor, yet what I shall choose I want not.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Messiah, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Today, brothers and sisters, we are going to move on in our ministry about the writings that the Apostle Paul wrote to these beloved brothers and sisters in the city of Philippi. Now imagine, as I mentioned that before, Shaul Paul is in prison in Rome.

He's writing to a local assembly, local church, that the believers there have been exposed to the gospel because he came to Philippi, the first city in Europe, and there he presented Yeshua the Messiah to many, including the Philippian jailer, including Lydia, this Jewish woman, and many others that came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Well, now he's continuing on, and you can see Paul's suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and for the gospel's sake. You know, you and I must say that we don't like so much to suffer persecution. In fact, to be persecuted for the name of Yeshua is often foreign to us.

We hear about those missionaries far and wide that suffer for the name of Yeshua in many countries. In Muslim, communist countries, even among our own nation, in the land of Israel. Those who believe in Yeshua the Messiah suffer for the name of Yeshua. Suffer because of the sake of the gospel. But here's a man, specifically Shaul Paul, who really lived his entire life devoted for the person of the Lord as servant. And here you can see that his life was centered in the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And so you can see that he really suffered, not only by others that were without, but even from professing believers.

God had in mind that Paul will somehow arrive to Rome. In fact, even Paul himself mentioned that he is intending to go to the city of Rome. But he never knew how he is going to arrive there. He perhaps thought that he is going to arrive in a normal way traveling by ship and arriving to the city of Rome and then to present the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, to the city of Rome. Why? Because Rome you have the Caesars. In Rome you have all the wise men of the world. In Rome you have all those that had power in this world. Rome was the city where the Caesar were situated.

And he gave instruction to the all then known world from the city of Rome. But Shaul Paul never knew that he's going to get to Rome in such a way. How did he get to Rome? He got to Rome, if you remember, that in chapter 21 of the book of Acts, many in which have arrived to Rome is by being captured in the city of Jerusalem. In the very temple that he had gone to share God's word. There, you remember, the Jewish leaders of Israel told everyone else, here is this man that is causing all sort of havoc around the nations of the world, and here is this Jewish man that have caused so much problems in the name of Jesus the Messiah.

So they captured him, they took him to Antonia's fortress, and then from there they began to travel all the way to the city of Rome. On the way he stopped in Caesarea, he was there for two years in prison, until finally he arrived to Rome after a shipwreck in Acts chapter 27. And when he arrived to Rome, they placed him in a separate home. There they held him until he's going to meet Caesar. And while he's sitting there, he's writing the book of Ephesians. He's writing the book of Philippians. He's writing the book of Colossians. And he's writing the book of Philemon. He's writing letters to the local assemblies in various areas.

And here I want you to notice that in verses 12, 13, and 14 of Philippians chapter 1, we find his imprisonment. Here we find out, notice what it says in verse 12. The apostle is now writing and he's saying to the brothers and sisters in Philippi, But I would that ye would understand, Philippian brothers and sisters, brethren, that the things that befallen unto me, which happen unto me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. He's saying to them, brothers and sisters, I'm here at Rome in prison, and it seemed to be that I'm really bound there, and the gospel cannot grow because I'm in prison. And he's saying to them, listen, I want you to understand that God in his wisdom allowed me to be in prison.

And even through this experience of being in jail, in prison, the gospel is spreading. The word of God is spreading. You know, sometimes we think that when we are limited with certain areas and maybe even in health and sometimes financially. And sometimes because of problems that we have in our lives, maybe Job situation and all sort of problems that we have in our life, we think that, oh, the gospel cannot grow because I'm limited, limited in time, in finances, in abilities, because I'm now unable to do so. If I would have been freer and if I had more means, the gospel could have spread further and further and further.

And the Apostle Paul says, no, brothers and sisters, whatever happened to me, all the things which happened unto me, in other words, this being in prison in Rome, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. The gospel moved forward and the things that happened to me only brought about additional opportunity for the preaching of the gospel. You remember the verse that we all oftentimes quote in Romans 8 and verse 28, For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Well, God purposed that Shaul Paul will go to Rome, being captured in Jerusalem, take him to Caesarea, ultimately to Rome, being there in prison, and yet God intended that the message of the gospel will go further and further even through this experience in the Apostle Paul's life.

And just let me remind you, what is the gospel? In Hebrew we call it Besorah. The Besorah, the gospel, is that the Messiah died for our sins according to the Scripture. And that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day. This is the gospel so Paul is saying I wanted so much to share this gospel with the people of Rome that even though I'm in prison whatever happened to me happened actually fallen rather to the furtherance of the message of the gospel is being proclaimed and now notice what he does here in verse 13 he says look the imprisonment of Paul reached even to the palace of Caesar you see if Paul would have not been captured and requesting from the leaders at that time in Kesaria to stand before Caesar he would not been in that area right now and here we find him now he's preparing himself for the court session where he's going to stand before caesar and so in verse 13 he said so that my bonds philippian 1 verse 13 my bonds in the Messiah are manifest in all the palace and in all other places now imagine he was in Rome tied by two chains to a Roman soldier and every few hours every six hours another soldier was bound to him.

Was chained to him and so he will not run away what you can think you're going to do he's sharing the gospel he's telling this soldier hey listen do you know i want to tell you about the Mashiach the promised Messiah of Israel that he's now a Savior of all sinners among the people of the world look i want to tell you about him and the person could not get away because he had to be six hours bound to him and then he changed he says listen this guy something is wrong with him And for six hours, he was just talking to me about this man by the name of Jesus.

The next one coming, he beginning with him as well. And then he goes, the third one coming, and the fourth one coming. 24 hours, he was chained to soldiers. And they went to the palace. And they were sharing this with others. And in the meanwhile, it didn't take too long when they were talking about this man, This Jewish, Hebrew, Israeli man who is in bonds. And now he's sharing the gospel. And in all the palace, all Caesar's court, everyone heard about the person of our Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah. If you turn to Philippians chapter 4 and verse 22 for a moment, he says, all the saints salute you chiefly, they that are in Caesar's household.

Now, how is it possible in Caesar's household, there are some of them who became believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And they are now greeting the Philippian brothers and sisters. Well, how they became believers? He shared the gospel. And you know, there is a great lesson for us here. When you sometimes discourage and you wonder, well, how can I be used by the Lord? How can I share the gospel? You don't need to wait to stand behind a pulpit or to stand somewhere in a public place or to preach it on the radio or on the television. You can do it at your own area, at home, at school, at play.

Whenever situation, when we meet people in our life, every day of our life, we can talk to people about the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. That's what Paul did when he was here in prison. The imprisonment of Paul reached beyond him, even to the palace of Caesar. The gospel was moving forward. God is intending for the message of the gospel to go forward. And you and I, 2,000 years later, benefited for the ministry that Paul had done some many, many years ago. Well, you notice now, in verse 14, this imprisonment of Shaul Paul in the city of Rome, not only that the gospel was spreading because he did so, but look what happened.

In verse 14, other brothers became more bold in sharing the gospel. It says in verse 14, many of the brethren, So, him being in prison, sharing the word of God with everybody that was around him, only encouraged other believers to say, Well, if Paul can do so when he is in prison, why cannot I do so? When I'm free, and I'm at liberty, and I can move from place to place, I'm going to share the message of the gospel. You know, brothers and sisters, oftentimes we don't share the word of God because we are afraid of consequences. Sometimes we feel like, boy, what's going to happen if I'm going to tell people that I'm a believer in Jesus, in Yeshua?

I'm going to lose my friend, lose my family. I'm going to lose a relationship at work. They would not like me anymore. What shall I do? Should I share or should I not share? And we have to admit that at the time we have this natural fear not to share the message of the gospel. But Shaul Paul is encouraging the Philippians. He says, brothers and sisters of the city of Philippi, listen, I'm telling you that even though I'm in prison because I believe that Yeshua, Jesus, is the Messiah, I am telling you the gospel is continuing on. And it's like a snowball when you share a word and it's rolling and it's rolling and it's rolling.

Others hear about it and the Spirit of God working in the hearts of individuals and leading people to the knowledge of the Savior. You know, sometimes we sing, it only takes a spark to get a fire going. We only need to have this spark in the power of the Spirit of God to share the message. And then others will come. Romans chapter 10 verse 17 says, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so brothers and sisters, let us share the message of the gospel, because God is able to lead people to the knowledge of the Savior. But here he continues, and this is rather said, Because in verses 15, 16, and 17, you find out that Paul had those who opposed him, those who actually gave him a hard time, who grieved him.

Those who wanted to, you might say, adding to his affliction, adding to his trials and problems that he had. And those are professing Christians, professing believers. He says in verses 15, 16, and 17, He's speaking about some who preach the message, but they don't preach it out of sincere love for the Lord. Look at this. It says in verse 15, Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached the Messiah 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. Now this is rather said, beloved brothers and sisters, and you know we learn here why even those who are Bible teachers and spiritual leaders, there are so many conflicts that are existing even among the people of God, believers.

We have accepted the Lord into our lives. We have realized what He has done for us. But we still haven't subjected this sin nature that we have. We haven't really mortified it, put it to death, to put it where it belongs. When pride rises and ego is rising, then all of a sudden we are not satisfied with what the Lord has done for us and we want to take prominent place. We all of a sudden want to glorify ourselves. We are pushing our way through and look what happened. Here we have some who preach the Messiah, but they did it out of envy and out of strife.

In other words, they envied the position that God had given to Shaul Paul. And they were not satisfied with the place that God had given to them in the body of Messiah. And because of this, they were preaching, seeking to gain disciples after them. And by doing so, they are actually harming the work of the Lord. We sometimes don't realize that for us as believers how important not to preach the Messiah envying one another or envying somebody else's ministry or somebody else's work. Turn to James chapter 3 and verse 16. Yaakov wrote this to the brothers and sisters in the ministry that he had. He said to them, for where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

You see, brothers and sisters, wherever there is envy, wherever there is strife, there is confusion and there is evil work. It doesn't benefit the people of God. It doesn't help the ministry of the gospel. It doesn't honor the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. In other words, the lesson here is that every one of us, every servant of the Lord, to actually ask himself am i doing it for my glory am i preaching the message in order to get some disciples after me or my motive is to glorify the Lord Jesus the Messiah to set him before the flock the people of God and so here we find out that there was envy and there was strife some preach the Messiah even out of envy and out of strife turn to roberth chapter 14 and verse 29 and 30 king Solomon wrote many years ago he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. You know, envy, in Hebrew we say, lekanot, or kinah, is a terrible thing, beloved brothers and sisters. It was Cain who killed his brother Abel, Hevel, because he was jealous and envious over what he was received by the Lord. And envy causes strife among the people of God. And Apostle Paul was saying while he's in prison, other people out of envy were preaching the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, but it was not done out of love for the Lord and love for the gospel and love for souls, but it was done out of envy.

And yet it is something that was extremely harming, the presentation of the gospel and the growth of the people of God. Then he continued, notice, and I'm going to jump over 15b, because I'm going to remark about this again. But in verse 16, he says, The one preached the Messiah, preached Christ, verse 16, of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. Now imagine, here is this man sitting in prison in Rome, and others are preaching the person of the Messiah, Christ, but out of contention, not really sincerely. And listen to the second half of verse 16, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. In other words, when they were preaching the message, people were following after them, and they're probably saying, Who is this, Paul?

What's so special about Paul? Oh no, he's just another man. You know, let's not listen to what he has to say, listen to what I have to say. And by doing so, they were supposing to add affliction to the Apostle Paul and even the fact that he was in prison for the sake of the gospel. It is a terrible thing when you really think about that. How it is so easy to put somebody else down and to elevate oneself. It's so easy for us. You see, Peter said, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time. God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.

And here what we see, there are those who are preaching the person of the Lord, the Messiah, but they were doing it out of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to the Apostle Paul, who was already afflicted in prison. It tells us that this old nature, as long as we are alive, it's still active. And the only way to help us not to allow this sin nature to be active is by looking to the Lord, by asking for the Lord to help us to mortify the way we speak, the way we say things, and how we say things. We all need the Lord's help in this, and Paul Shaul experienced this in his life.

The word contention is putting oneself forward. It's actually a very strong word. In Hebrew, it's called riv, to fight, to argue. And in Greek, it's E-R-I-T-H-B-I-A, erythea, which simply means to contend, to be always fighting and arguing. And here, the Apostle Paul pointing to those that have done so. You know, brothers and sisters, I'm thinking there were various men in Old Testament time who sought just to glorify the Lord, and they didn't want to go through contention, that they were willing to give everything just so there will be no fighting among the people of God. I'm going to read about them in a moment. But then you notice in verse 15b, now I'm going back to 15b and then to verse 17, he's speaking about others and praise God for the others.

Because according to verse 15b, some also out of goodwill. And then verse 17, those others out of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. Brothers and sisters in Philippi, there are this group that preach the Messiah not sincerely, out of contention, out of strife and envy, but they are the others. And they are preaching the person of the Messiah out of good will. They are preaching the person of the Messiah out of love for the Lord, and love for the message of the gospel, and love for mankind. And this is so beautiful to see. When we share the gospel, not in order to get disciples after us, or not in order to afflict someone else, but to share the message of the gospel for the benefit of people who will hear the message, come to faith in the Messiah, and acknowledge Him as their Lord and as their Savior.

And so he's looking at the negative, but he brings us back into the positive. The others preach the Messiah out of love and out of goodwill. Why do we preach the message of the Messiah? Because we are to love mankind, that men need to hear that message. We are to love the Lord and to serve the Lord. That's the only reason that we preach the message of the gospel. And so beautiful to see that even though the Apostle Paul was in prison, He had opposers, those who oppose him, but there were those who were preaching the gospel in sincerity and in truth. Now, from verse 18 to verse 21, now Paul's reaction to those who oppose him.

You know, it's so easily for us to react. If somebody preached a message in order to cause affliction to the Apostle Paul, he could react in a very aggressive way and to have his opinion. And yet, notice what he does. And so precious to see the servant of the Lord here. Verse 18 and 19, he's so thankful that the Messiah, that Christ is being presented. And that's why he says, what then? Verse 18, nevertheless or notwithstanding, he says, In every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice. Yeah, and I will rejoice. Look at the reaction of the Apostle Paul. What he cared for, that even though they thought out of envy and strife they were preaching the message of the gospel, Paul is saying that's fine.

As far as I'm concerned, as long that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is being preached, For him, it was valuable. The Messiah is preached, and he is glorified. It doesn't matter how it will affect Paul. Nevertheless, the gospel is being preached. And notice in verse 19, For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus, the Messiah. In other words, even though I'm going through these experiences, I'm assuring you that that will ultimately turn about to my salvation. He doesn't mean eternal salvation here, but he means that he will be delivered out from the prison ultimately, and he will continue eventually to share the message of the gospel.

And so, brothers and sisters, there is a lesson for us here from the attitude of the Apostle Paul. What did we learn? Two things I want to highlight here in verses 18 and 19. The first thing is do not seek to be the greatest among the people of God. Turn to Luke 22. The disciples were together there in chapter 22. And notice what it says there in anticipation of the suffering of the Lord on the tree when he is going to die. The disciples in chapter 22 and verse 24, look what it says. And there was also a strife among them. This is among the disciples. Which of them should be accounted to be the greatest?

Now the Lord is sitting with them in the upper room. He is anticipating to go to the tree, to go to the cross, to become the redeeming of mankind. He is anticipating to suffer the suffering such as he has never, no one ever suffered before to bear the sin of this world in his body on the cross, on the tree. And what the disciples do? They are discussing among themselves, there is strife among themselves, which of them should be the greatest. Can you imagine? They took the time to have this discussion who of them is going to be the greatest disciple of the Lord Jesus the Messiah terrible when you think about it terrible to think about it and sometimes when we see it in ourselves seeking to be prominent seeking to force one way forward we have to realize wait a minute is it something that I'm doing because I'm pushing my way into it or is it's something that the Lord placed me in a place of leadership perhaps or in a prominent place you might say no one need to force himself it is the Lord is the one that placed one in a position such as this but secondly we learn from verse 18 and 19 the importance of not being proud you know pride come before a fall pride only lead to destruction, pride of our hearts is not something that the Lord is pleased with, we can read in Proverbs 13 and in James chapter 4 that God resists the proud but he gives grace unto the humble James chapter 4 and verse 6, 1 Peter.

5 verses 5 and 6 also point to the fact that God is the one in due time will exalt the humble, the one who humbles himself. And so the Apostle Paul is saying the important thing is that the Messiah is preached and I rejoice, he said, even though they do so out of envy, out of strife, out of seeking to inflict upon me more affliction, even if I am in prison, he says, I rejoice. I am thankful because the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is being presented to the world around. So now we continue on. And if he writes to them and he's saying, according, notice at verse 20 and verse 21, we can see the objective, Paul's objective, was not to compete with anyone.

He doesn't want to compete with anyone. But he wanted that Yeshua will be magnified. He wanted the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, will be magnified. And that's why he said, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now, Christ, the Messiah, shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or whether it be by death. The important thing for the Apostle Paul was the exaltation of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And Paul really reminds us, you see, again, to remind you, he did not have any New Testament writing in his hands.

He only had the Tanakh. And perhaps he was reading the biblical accounting of the history of our forefathers. You remember, for example, in the life of Abraham, he took with him Lot. And there was a strife among the people of Lot and the people of Abraham. And Abraham said to Lot, listen, let's not fight. We are brethren. If you're going to go to the right, I'm going to go to the left. If you're going to go to the left, I'm going to go to the right. Just choose whatever you want. I don't want to argue with you. I don't want to fight with you. Wonderful lesson.

What about Moshe, Moses? When Moses was leading our people, Israel, his own sister, Miriam, and his own brother came, rose up against him. And they say to Moshe, who made you? Who gave you? Are you the only one that's going to lead the nation of Israel? And you remember, God heard that. And God stroke Miriam with leprosy. And yet Aaron, his brother, came to him and said, Pray for her that she will not be judged like this by God. And Moses, instead of saying, Ah, she deserved that. You know what he said? He went to the Lord and he cried on behalf of his own sister.

What a beautiful example. And the Bible says in that very chapter, in Numbers chapter 12, that Moses was the meekest man on earth. What an example. He was the leader, the lawgiver. And yet he was a humble man. What about David? Malkinu, David the king. When David had an opportunity to take the kingdom from King Shaul, who pursued after him, then David had to run and hide himself in caves. We read in the Scripture, in 1 Samuel chapter 24, He could have taken the life of Shaul. And you remember, he cut a little part of his skirt. And he says to him here, I could have taken your life away, but I didn't.

I did not force my way to become the king, even though God have anointed him already to become the king of our nation, Israel. What a lesson to learn, beloved brothers and sisters, from Abraham, from Moshe, from David, and from Shaul Paul here in this chapter. He was ready to exalt the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, instead of forcing his way and trying to justify himself. And so verse 20, the important, the object of Shaul Paul, that is the Messiah, will be magnified. You see, the only way that men can be satisfied in our own souls is when the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is exalted and presented before us.

All the conflict, all the parties, all the fighting and the envying never help the people of God. It's only discourage them and the flock is scattered. In Numbers chapter 27, Moses, before he was going to go on Mount Nebo to die there, he beseeched God that he will raise a shepherd among the people of Israel to lead our people to the promised land. What a lesson we can learn from these men of God and women of God the godly women like Dvorah who was judging among the people of Israel seeking the glory of the God of Israel and like many godly women in the church age in which we live in today who have been faithful to present the Lord and not themselves here is the Apostle Paul what a great example we see And sometimes, brothers and sisters, what causes us to elevate ourselves and not to be humble before the Lord is because our affection for the Lord has been set aside.

When our love for the Lord is not on an ongoing basis, we begin to pride ourselves because our place and our position and the name that we made for ourselves. Even we can do God's work without affection and love for the Lord we become like robots let me read you a verse in Revelation chapter 2 the glorified Messiah writing the letter to the church of the Ephesians and he's saying to them in verse 1 and to the angel of the church of Ephesus write these things says he that holds the seven stars in his right hand And He walk us in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

I know your works. You see, they were doing a lot of good works. I know your labor. They were working hard. I know your patience. They must have been patient with all kind of situations that exist. And He said, I know that you cannot bear them which are evil. And you have tried them which say that they are apostles and are not. And have found them liars. You stood for the truth. But then notice what He says in verse 3 and 4. You have bore and been patient for my name's sake and you have labored and has not fainted. Nevertheless, verse 4, I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love.

You see, the Ephesians church, the assembly at Ephesus, were a very ongoing, motivated local church, local assembly. They were serving, they were working, they had all kind of activity, but something was missing there. And they have left their first love that they had for our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And that is something that is so dangerous. You see, here those brethren, apparently, they were preaching the Messiah, preached the gospel. They were doing many good things for the name of the Messiah, but underneath there was a motive that was not right. And they were supposing to add affliction to the bonds, to the fact that the apostle Paul was in prison.

And then what? The Lord said to the church of Ephesus, I have something against you. You have left. Not you have lost, but you have left. You can come back. But you have left your first love. And that's the danger that has happened in the ministry. And you and I are in the same danger. Our love for the Lord can grow cold. We can go through the routine, go to meetings, read my Bible, do some church activity or congregation or assembly activity, but yet our hearts are often not there and pride rises and there is conflict and there is all sort of envy and strife and then contention among the people of God which ultimately does not help for spiritual growth.

And we need to watch that in our very own heart, in our very own conscience. May the Lord help us with this. And so now verse 21, and now notice the entire motive of the life of the Apostle Paul. He says this very interesting statement, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Ha-Mashiach hu-chayai, he said here. My whole life is the Messiah, the person of our Lord Jesus. This is the motive. This is why I do what I do, because the Messiah is my life. In Galatians 2, in verse 20, the Apostle Paul said, The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself for me.

Let us never forget, beloved brothers and sisters, wherever we are, never forget the love of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah for us. Remember, if we're going to lose everything here in this world, one thing we will never lose is our eternal salvation because of what Yeshua has done for us. We might lose friends. We might lose family members. We might lose people that object to our faith in the Messiah. And if those kind of people who oppose us because we believe in the Redeemer, well, who needs these kind of friends in our lives? Because the Lord Yeshua said, If any man loves mothers and fathers more than me, he is not worthy of me.

The Lord Jesus wants us to set our affection upon him to realize the price that he paid. And you notice he says, For me to live is the Messiah, but he doesn't stop there, because in the second half of verse 21 he said, to die is gain what does he mean but to die is gain well you know what's going to happen for a person that have died a believer and have gone to be with the Lord do you know brothers and sisters according to the Bible according to the word of God when we are going to be absent from the body present with the Lord we are never going to suffer anymore you will never have those who Object to your faith in the Messiah.

We will never sin anymore. Revelation chapter 21 and verse 22, we are going to go into the land of no more. It says here, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain. Chapter 22, He continued to build upon this, And there he's telling us we're going to see his face. There will be no more night. We're going to be in the land of no more. It is far better. That's why Paul is saying in Philippians chapter 1 verse 21, For me to live now is the Messiah, is Christ. But if I die, it's only again.

You know, death becomes a servant. Death becomes a servant to the believer to assure us from absent from the body and present with Yeshua, the Messiah. Never anymore to suffer the pain, the sorrow, the trials that we experience. We are groaning here in this world, according to Romans chapter 8. But there is a day coming where we will groan no more. But now verse 22 to verse 26, Paul preference in service. Look what he preferred, the Apostle Paul. And here he is writing from the prison, from jail. And he says in verse 22, he didn't know what to choose, what to do. He says in verse 22, but if I live in the body, that is in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor.

Yet what I shall choose, I do not know. In other words, he said, if I live and I continue to live here in the body, in the flesh, On the one hand, he wanted to remain here. On the other hand, he wanted to be with Yeshua, the Messiah. Well, what to choose? What is better? Well, he continued, in verse 23 and verse 24, he was torn between those two things. In verse 23, desiring to be with the Messiah. In verse 24, remaining here alive with the believers. You see, what to do? And so you notice, it says in verse 23, it says, for I am in a strait, I am torn, I am in a difficulty between the two.

Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, with the Mashiach, which is far better, nevertheless to abide in the body, in the flesh, it is more needful for you. I don't know what to do. He's saying, really, I want to go to be with Yeshua, with my Messiah, the one who loved me and gave himself for me. It is far better. You know, sometimes when we go to a funeral service of a believer, naturally speaking, because we are here in the body, we are here in this world, we think, oh, you know, oh boy, you know, it's so sad that he or she passed away.

But according to the Bible, according to God's word, to be in the presence of the is far better not according to our feelings but according to God's instruction in the word of God it is far better it's far greater to be with the Lord where we can look upon his face never anymore to have this sin nature to trouble us with this body we have committed all sort of sins with this body we have hurt so many people with our mouth and with our ears and with our eyes and with our thoughts and where we went and what we did. We have sinned so much with this body of ours and the old sinful nature that we have.

Man loves darkness rather than light, the Bible teaches us in John chapter 3. So to be with the Lord means that we're going to cease from harming ourselves and others and the Lord. But Paul continues and he says here in verse 24, even though it is far better to be with Yeshua, the Messiah, he says to have nevertheless to abide in the flesh. He meant in the body here. He said it is far more, it is needful for you, Philippians. If I'm still remaining here alive, I can minister unto you, dear brothers and sisters of the Philippians. And then he continued in verse 25 and 26. Paul had confidence that he will remain still alive to minister to the Lord.

And so we read, And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you for your furtherance and joy of faith. I have confidence that I will remain alive, so I will help you to grow spiritually for your furtherance. So you will go further in your life for the Lord and for your joy of faith. And finally, he concludes in verse 26, he wanted that the brethren will rejoice abundantly in the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And he says that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus the Messiah for me by my coming to you again. Notice he was anticipating to go again to the Philippians.

Even though he was in prison now, He has established a local assembly earlier in chapter 16 of Acts. He has visited them at least once later on. But now he is in prison. He hopes to go to meet them again and to be with them so they will grow spiritually and have joy of faith in their life. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, Paul suffered for the name of the Gospel, for the name of the Lord Jesus the Messiah's sake. And so others supposed to inflict upon him sorrows, yet he had allowed this to happen and committed himself to the Lord and became a great example of the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

And so we thank the Lord for this portion and we trust that the Lord will help us to learn from the Apostle Paul. And when you go through trials, Ask yourself the question, Lord, what do you teach me? We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to God's purpose.