2026-09-10 Philippians 3 Wednesday Part 1

0:00Today is the day you have. Welcome to Today in the Word with Pastor Bob Larson of Calvary Chapel Caldwell. Pastor Bob will be with us in just a few minutes, but first we'd like to let you know that Calvary Chapel is located on the corner of 10th and Everett across from the library in downtown Caldwell. We have two Sunday morning services at 9.30 and 11.30. If you prefer Saturday nights, we have a Saturday night service at 7 p.m. We also have a midweek service Wednesday night at 7 p.m. You can watch Today in the Word on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. on ABC channel 6.1. Join us as we broadcast Calvary Chapel Caldwell's Sunday Morning Church Services. Where Pastor Bob teaches you how to apply the truths in your Bible to your everyday experiences so that you might enjoy a better life. So we're going through Philippians and if you're new here, you know, on Wednesday night we go through the whole Bible, chapter by chapter, book by book, verse by verse. And so we are in Philippians chapter 3 and that's where we're going to pick it up tonight. Well let's pick it up in verse 1, Philippians 3.

1:00It says, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Now I love this because the theme of this book is rejoice and that God wants us to be rejoicing to enjoy life and there's always a reason to rejoice in the heart of a Christian. I mean if you know the Bible, you know the end of the story, you know how it's going to work out. If you know why you were created, what is your purpose here on earth and how's it going to turn out in the end, well then there's things to rejoice about. Now notice he says rejoice in the Lord. He doesn't say rejoice in your circumstance and I think that's important because rejoicing in the Lord and rejoicing in circumstances are very different because our joy doesn't come from circumstances. You know, it's important for us to realize that circumstances change and but as a believer our joy comes from the Lord and remember what Paul is writing this from a prison cell in Rome and yet he's exhorting these people to rejoice and have the joy of the Lord being

2:00in prison. Now I've never been in prison. We have people in our church that have and I'm sure it's not your favorite place to be, right? It's kind of a time out but Paul is in a Roman prison which was much worse than our prisons. They didn't have cable TV in a weight bench and all that stuff. I mean there it was very, very difficult. You know, and so he's saying we need to rejoice, right? And we can rejoice because the Lord is on our side and this book is about recognizing that God wants us to be joyous no matter what the circumstance. And Jesus taught the same thing because Jesus said there in Matthew 631, he said therefore do not worry saying what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear for after all these things the Gentile seat for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. In other words Jesus is saying that you don't want to make the priority of your life just

3:01getting stuff, right? Food and clothes, right? But you want to understand your purpose here on earth and when you seek first that, when you seek first God's plans, his kingdom first, then everything else is going to work out. And I can rejoice knowing that I'm going to follow the Lord and that things are going to work out why because he's on your side, he's going to help you. And now I think it's important for us to think about the idea that without God's word, without the Bible, without these truths that he gives us, I mean this world is a pretty depressing place, right? When you just look at the future of the world, it's pretty crazy, right? The wars in Israel and Iran and those of you who, even if you don't watch the news, you know what's going on, right? Iran says, hey they're fueling the Palestinians, they're giving them millions and millions and we're giving Iran billions and then Russia says, hey if America gets involved with the Israel, I ran thing which then they're going to get involved and then Ukraine, that's

4:02out of the, well at least I don't watch the news that much, but it's not on my iPad when I scroll and so, but Ukraine, you know, last month it was like World War III, you know, Russia is going to attack us if we, you know, whatever, but and all the stuff, crime, the open border, you know, the fentanyl epidemic and depression and suicide and all those things and then the political leaders that are causing all these things. Now if you focused on that all day, then you're going to be bummed out and upset, right? I mean just, I talk about it all the time that you just need to watch the view and then you see that's what's going on, right? Angry women, right? And there's angry about everything. Now what Paul's saying is, I want you to enjoy your life to rejoice not to be angry and as a Christian, I can rejoice in the Lord, not in the circumstances, right? I mean because the circumstances, I just watch our president say the other day and the number one problem in America is white people and so I'm like, oh, anyway, what am I going to do? Right? But here's the thing. I can rejoice in the Lord, right? Because everything in this world, it comes and goes.

5:05And I think it's important for us to be reminded, wealth comes and goes, health comes and goes, relationships come and go, but here's a good news. The Lord never changes, right? He's the same and that's caused for joy to know that he's always with us. He's never going to leave us or forsake us. And Hebrews 138 it says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Right? So his design for life, his plans, his purposes for our lives is not going to change, right? What he tells us to do, how to live, it's the same and it does produce a joy filled life. So Paul reminds them to rejoice, even though he's in prison, verse 1, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same thing to you is not tedious, but for you, it is safe. Now, so he tells them rejoice and now he's saying, hey, and he's referring to verse 2, but when he says that it's not tedious for me to say the same thing to you, he's talking about legalistic teachers who would cause people to be upset because Paul planted the church and

6:12after Paul started the church, then these legalistic teachers came in behind him and said, you know, you're not going to go to heaven just because of what Jesus did on the cross for you, but you also need to be circumcised, right? And so that doesn't seem like an exciting thing for, I mean, how much joy would you have if you came to church tonight and you were a pagan and you weren't circumcised? Like, okay, if you want to go to heaven, you got to get circumcised, where do we do that? I mean, just, right? So, so Paul saying, I need to remind you of this. It's like, well, strange things, right? But he says, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you, it is safe. So Paul saying, I'm writing these things over and over again to rejoice and he says, it's not tedious, but it's for your safety. He said, I'm not trying to bore you with repetition, but it is important for us to note that repetition is a biblical thing, right? And I think CS, I don't know who said it, but repetition is the mother of all learning, right? So repetition, and we need to, as Americans, learn the benefit of repetition and as Christians,

7:14the benefit of repetition, because God's word is repetitious. When you read through the Bible, it's repetitious for a reason and by design. When I first became a Christian, somebody gave me a Bible and I started reading through it and I read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and I thought, are all the books the same in the whole Bible? I mean, it seemed like, you know, like, why are these all the same? And there is a reason for it and you may notice that God repeats himself a lot in the Bible and you say, well, why is that, right? Maybe you come to church and you hear things repeated and you're like, didn't you teach that last week, right? We're just going through the Bible. Why does God repeat things in the Bible? Well, the simple answer is because we forget, right? In 2 Peter 1, he said, for this reason, I will not neglect to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. So Peter said, hey, I'm going to remind you, even though you know the truth and you're establishing the truth, yet I'm going to remind you of it because we forget. Now, not only do we forget, but knowing is not the same as doing, right?

8:16And my favorite illustration is those white square signs on the freeway that have a number on them, like, you know, 55 or 65, who in here doesn't know what that number means, right? Who in here has never gone over that number, right? I mean, knowing something and doing something are two different things. And I think not only does God remind us about, you know, truth that He has for us and that are important for us to live that kind of joy-filled life, but also that we need to be reminded because it's good for us to come to church and think, oh, I know that. And then it's good for the pastor to say, but do you do it? Right? Because Jesus said, the blessing is in what? Knowing or doing? Jesus said, the blessing comes in the doing, right? I can know that I should love my neighbor and shovel this sidewalk from the snow, but I don't get the blessing unless I actually do it, right? And so, so this morning I had a chance and I didn't do it. Well I did make one smath, one path down his sidewalk, but I could have done his whole

9:17driveway and then I would have been really blessed, but I didn't, right? I got a hurry up and get the church, get to work anyway. So repetition, Jude won five, he says, but I want to remind you though you once knew this. And so when you go to church and you read the Bible and when you go to a church like a carriage apple that reads verse by verse and you're going through it and you hear some things repeated to the exact proportion that God knows you need to hear it repeated, then you need to know, oh this is by design, right? And sometimes people come to church and think, well I've heard this before. Well, well, and then what should you say to yourself next? Am I doing it? That's what you need to say. And then, and when the answer is no, then what you should say yourself, I need to hear it again, right? Right? So it goes on and says, I'm not going to, you know, have a problem with repeating things, but he says in verse two, beware of dogs. Now that would be a great plaque for a mailman, right? Verse two, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of mutilation. Now, when he's talking about dogs, he's not talking about your cute little cuck or spaniel.

10:17He's talking about these wild dogs that roamed in packs there in the Middle East and it were disease and if you got bit by one, then it would be, you know, life threatening, right? Because they didn't have st. Luke's there, they didn't have antibiotics and such. So when he says beware of dogs, he's talking about these wild dogs that are dangerous and he's talking about evil people who would come into the church and teach false religion. Now Jesus talked about this, Paul talks about this and all of you need to know that not every church is teaching the Bible, right? That many people, they're false teachers, right? They teach things that the Bible doesn't teach. So Paul is warning them and he's repeating it over and over again to stay away from false teachers and, you know, like you would stay away from a pack of wild dogs, right? So if you were out and you saw a pack of wild dogs, you would be like, let's go pet them, right? Let's go see them. No, you'd be like, hey, go the other way. And so he's saying, that's how you need to be as it relates to false teachers. Now, Paul's talking about those people who taught that Gentiles had to be circumcised

11:20in order to be saved. Now, you know, the Jewish people, they circumcised their children. That was part of the thing in the Old Testament with Abraham, God's covenant with them. But Gentiles weren't circumcised. So at this time in the early church, non-Jewish people were accepting Jesus into their life. And these false teachers came along and said, well, if you really want to go to heaven and you really want to be a follower of Christ, you got to get circumcised. And Paul's saying, that's not true, right? And so Jesus said in John 19th 30, he said, it is finished and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit, right? So salvation, when Jesus died on the cross, was a finished deal. If you receive Jesus, you ask forgiveness of your sins, he forgives you, you're saved, you're going to heaven, right? Salvation is like being pregnant. You either are or you aren't. Now, some people are like, what? Yeah, I mean, you can't be like, I'm kind of saved. Like, are you kind of pregnant? I mean, it's kind of, you know, do you are? You aren't. And once you're saved, you can't get any more saved, right? Now, you can become more like Jesus.

12:20You can be transformed from the inside out. You can become more like Jesus, but you can't become more saved. Now, the false teachers we're teaching, unless you get circumcised, you're not saved. We're going to stop there for a bit of time. Thank you for joining us for today in the words. We'd like to share with you a couple of things that are going on here at Calvary Chapel. Calvary Kids of Caldwell is currently enrolling infants to 12-year-olds. We are a licensed daycare offering infant and toddler care, as well as pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and after-school programs. We provide Christian-based learning programs at affordable rates with flexible options to accommodate most work and pay schedules. We are located in downtown Caldwell and are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call to 08453-9653 to request more information or visit us online at calverycaldwell.com. Calvary Chapel Caldwell would like to invite you to our Saturday night service at 7 p.m. This is an alternative for those who cannot make it to our Sunday morning services. Click us on Facebook at Calvary Chapel Caldwell or check out our website at calverycaldwell.com.

13:26You can watch today in the word on Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. on the CW channel 2.2. Join us as we broadcast Calvary Chapel Caldwell's Sunday Morning Church services. Where Pastor Bob teaches you how to apply the truth in your Bible to your everyday experiences so that you might enjoy a better life. If you would like to listen to Pastor Bob's message today and its entirety, you can visit our YouTube page. This is the search calvary chapel Caldwell and you can see all of the latest messages from Pastor Bob. Make sure to click the notification bell so you know when. We post new content. If you are not currently attending a church and are in the Caldwell area, we'd like to invite you to one of our services. We're located on the corner of 10th and Everett across the street from the library in downtown Caldwell. You can also visit us on the web at calverycaldwell.com. If today in the word has ministered to you and you would like to support this radio outreach ministry, we encourage you to pray for us. You can also partner with us financially. Simply visit calvarycaldwell.com to make a donation. Thank you for joining us for today in the word. May the Lord bless you and may you have a great day.