Philippians Chap. 1 Review

All right, so I kind of was thinking about these reviews and, you know, I thought maybe it'd be fun, at least fun for me, maybe not for you, we'll see, about approaching this in a slightly different way. So what I'm going to do today is I'm going to be posing to the class a series of questions, and I need participation.

And some of it, you can just, if you have your Bibles open, if you want, it's going to be very easy to answer some of these. In other words, maybe a little bit more in the way of interpretation. Okay, let's begin. So the first question is, where does Paul's epistles of the church of Philippi fall among the 13 epistles he wrote in chronological order?

It's in there. That was not the answer I was looking for. It's not at the end, but it's kind of towards the end. The last one. We have 13. I'm asking for a number. 8. 12 or any other answers? None out of obvious ignorance like that one. All right, all right. This is kind of just teasing you a little bit, but everything else will be a little bit more serious.

Okay, so the first set of epistles for those to the church of Thessalonica. So I wanted first and second Thessalonians to put together. So those are two of the 13. Next to the Corinthians, and you know the amazing thing that I think about, if you think about the epistle to the Corinthians, the second epistle, incredibly profound. and actually preceded Romans, which is ultimately a surprise to me, but it's an incredibly, and you guys preached that, Roger, you and Mike just did separately very recently. Tremendous book, but it's an early one. An interesting one, too, it followed after that first epistle to the Church of Florence.

Galatians is next, the beginning of the prison epistles, if you will. What's after Galatians? It's Romans. So he got into law first, and this whole, you know, other gospel aspect, and then he went and preached the solid foundation of Romans, which we're currently preaching from the pulpit. Laman next.

Kind of interesting, a very short book. Kind of interesting how that fell within this whole domain of sequence, collections. Ephesians, Philippians, number 10. I heard one guess at eight and I heard no other numbers. 1 Timothy, Titus, Second Timothy.

And what the neat thing about Second Timothy, here's Paul at the end of his life saying he's the greatest among all sinners. Isn't that incredible? When we think of ourselves and our positional truths, and here Paul is the tremendous example of what the Christian life is all about. And he's seen that he's the greatest among all sinners. It's incredible. Anyway, I thought that was maybe a fun way to get things going. Okay, let's get more serious now. Okay, it's chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, called The Green, okay?

So the first question is, who accompanies Paul in addressing the Philippians? And the second question is, to whom is the epistle addressed? So let's go ahead now and ask the first question. Who accompanies him in this epistle? Timothy. Timothy. Alright, we've done well here. Alright, in Philippians 1, 1 to 2, to whom is this epistle addressed? All saints in Christ Jesus. Number two is the bishops or elders or overseers. And the third is the deacons. Okay, so broad group of people there, right? All the saints, the elders or leaders, and the deacons.

By the way, interrupt at any time. So this is a very open discussion. All right, the greeting is the easiest section of this book. These answers are very straightforward and quick. All right, next section, three through 11. Thanks, thankfulness, and prayer. All right, so here are the questions.

How does Paul remember the body of believers in Philippi? What was the nature of Paul's prayer? What does Paul mean when he's being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ? What's that mean? Number four, how does Paul bond with the church in Philippi? And finally, what are the specifics of Paul's request? So those are the questions. All right, let's look at the first one. Question, how does Paul remember the body of believers in Philip?

Prayer. Prayer is one of his main things, it seems like. What was the answer? Prayer. OK, what else? It goes along with the theme of the whole book, rejoicing. OK, that's good, I think. He's very fond of these people. What was that? He's very fond of these people. Okay. They're participating.

He says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. And so, unfortunately, my animation would get messed up here. So that's the answer. He's thankful for them, joyful and thankful for them in every remembrance. So the next is I also enjoy the fellowship of the gospel. I'm not sure how I just got messed up there. That's really what was the nature of Paul's prayer. So forgive me, the animation got messed up. So the answer to the nature of Paul's prayer was he was joyful, and he was involved and interested in the fellowship that they had in the gospel. Okay, next.

What does Paul mean when he states being confident of this very thing that he has done a good work with you will complete until the day of Jesus Christ? What is that really, really rich verse, isn't it? Think out loud for me. What? He's confident of what? God will complete His work. Okay. So whose work is it? God's work. Okay, that's good. And how long is this going to last? Until Christ's return. Until the rapture. Okay.

Well, Bob, I seem to remember Andrew taught this. I remember it. It seemed like he brought out a neat point about that, which I hadn't... I don't remember what his point was. It's pretty bad. Hopefully. Andrew, are you on today? I don't know who's on, I don't see anybody on the screen. Yeah, that's probably shoveling. Yeah, I'm not sure they got it. Well, they're getting snow. It doesn't look like anybody's on Bob. I don't see anybody. Is that is that a problem with communication? I don't know. I anyway, it's too bad. Maybe I'm here. Oh, okay.

There was something that I remember Andrew pointed out about this. You know, I've taken that verse kind of at face value, but there's another aspect of that which I thought he brought out, which I've probably forgotten. I didn't look back at what Andrew's teaching was. I'm not sure I had that hand up, and maybe I still do, but I said, you know, what God has stated here is that He's going to continue to complete all this until the rapture.

I thought that was correct. But, in fact, the question that comes up here in my mind is, has the work of the Philippian church been completed? It's still going on today. I think so, Bob. They got loud for me a little bit in that regard. Well, the rapture hasn't happened yet, and we've got Philippians as part of the Word of God. So what...

When Paul started that church in Philippians, in Philippi, they actually was probably the... At that time, they were the only church that was supporting him financially. And they didn't have that many, I'm sure they had problems, but not as many problems as we find in the other epistles at other churches. And so there's a fellowship, there's a special fellowship they had with Paul financially, and also in prayer and support.

And luckily, it's included in our canon, and we have it all today. Right. And certainly the application of the work going on at the Church at Philippi is applicable to us today, is it not? I mean, it's incredible how Scripture continues to live. And so when he talks about, until the day of Jesus Christ, that work at the Church at Philippi continues in our churches today. I think it'd be really interesting to have somebody from the Church of Philippi come into our classroom and hear us talking about what started back then, 2,000 years ago.

And I'd like them to teach it rather than me. And normally, when he went from place to place, churches were already established. But this one wasn't. So he was instrumental in establishing the church there with video. So it gives us an idea, too, of church structure and function, doesn't it? And Paul has so many favorable things to say about the church there. There's a lot we can learn from today. So I would contend that the work has not been completed, that Thessalonians and Philippians really was meant to serve both them then and us today. All right, how does Paul bond with the church then?

What's the principle by which he bonds with them? Again, we're in verses three through 11. You can take a look and see what you think. Fellowship. Partnership. And what were they partakers of? Grace. Grace. That's really a good way to get a church founded and matured in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, so you're all partakers with me in grace, so.

All right, last question here. What are the specifics of Paul's request that brings glory to God? I list three things here, all right? No answers. That your love may abound still more, okay? interested in furthering the atmosphere of love within the body there. Secondly, you approve the things that are excellent. And what might those be? What things are excellent in terms of Paul's view of a new church?

Thank you. Knowledge. I'm sorry. Knowledge and discernment. Okay. Good. Other. We think going forward, the rest of the epistle, I think it's. It's identification is about their unity. Okay. or anything that furthers the gospel and everything's founded by the principle of grace and the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, again, what I'm doing is looking at a section of scripture and trying to bring major points here to discuss and review.

The final is that you may be sincere and without offense. Now, are those two contradictory? I mean, being offensive and being sincere, what are your thoughts about that? Well, the gospel is certainly going to offend many times. Well, without offense, do you think he's pointing to sharing the gospel there?

It's within the body, right? No, it's within the body, but I'm saying that... Actually, that word without offense is translated blameless in other translations. Sincere and blameless? It gives a little bit different flavor. I'm a King James guy. Just trying to help you along. Sincere and blameless. Well, without offense, blameless.

Any other thoughts here? And notice the outcome is bringing God glory. I mean, you know, I think that we forget that sometimes. Our whole life is to bring glory to God. That's not a work of the flesh. That's a work of the spirit. There's one thing that is an overview that goes right along. There's an overview that maybe we need to plug into that.

And that would be first that he is, he is so joyful about them, isn't he? All the way through the book. but i thought i brought that up a little earlier yes you did but but there's a second aspect to that is joyful because in this prayer they have been participating and thinking of those things that are of value. And that word thinking here that is introduced here is a secondary theme throughout the book of Philippians. Correct thinking is the product, isn't it, of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives? That's the work that he's going to complete. That he will make us think like he thinks. Right, and verse 4 does succinctly deal with it. Always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy. Right? Right. That certainly is the atmosphere that surrounds you.

But if you look for the word thinking, you'll find more than 11 times. We're going to see that next week in Chapter 2. Thinking is going to be an important part of that. And what's that, Roger? So actually, when he comes, when we get to chapter two next week, he talks about making my joy complete. That word same mind is thinking. It's that word for Neo, thinking. And Roy's right, it's, you know, the thinking, the word thinking is, even though it's translated slightly different, is in this book a lot. Okay. All right, let's move ahead to the next section. Christ is preached, verses 12 through 18. A couple of questions here.

What does Paul state about his imprisonment? And secondly, what is Paul's conclusion about those who preach Christ from envy and strife versus in goodwill? Okay, so pretty straightforward, this question. So what does Paul state about his imprisonment?

God's use it for the furtherance of the gospel. Good, okay, that's point number one, good. It has furthered the gospel, and by the way, even in the palace. Yeah, it's true. It's not only the furtherance abroad and outside the prison bond that he's in, but ultimately in the palace garden. Anything else?

It also encouraged the people in Rome to not be ashamed, but to speak out and share the gospel. Okay, so that's a good second point. Most of the brethren are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Boy, that's a great outcome, isn't it? First of all, that the gospel is shared. Secondly, they're increasing a desire and comfort in sharing the gospel. We can all learn from that, can't we? We share the gospel, hopefully strategically, in a way that's Spirit-led.

In our world, in our nation today, with what's going on as far as how people are thinking of Christians, A lot of us are fearful to speak out just because of the politics of our country. And of course, if you look at other countries, it's even worse. And what keeps us from speaking out?

Fear, certainly. Retaliation. Yeah. It comes down to our own sin nature. You know, I'll share this as my opinion. I think sometimes we do harm to the gospel if we share the wrong way under the wrong circumstances. But we'll look, you know, I think that you may have many examples where the spirit has led, an open door was cracked, and also I was able to share very effectively. More with Jewish people than Gentiles. Remember, to the Jew, Christ is a stumbling block. What is he to the Gentile? Foolishness. Foolishness. And I think the Jew is often willing to carry out the conversation.

Anyway, all that aside, I mean, when we were with our friends from Santiago, Chile on this recent trip, I mean, we shared the Lord with them. Not so bluntly, but in a conversation with Terry and David along the way. So that, I mean, they were asking no questions, but I don't think that we were offensive in the way we shared the gospel.

Anyway, but I think one thing's really important in terms of sharing the gospel, where is our citizenship? You know, heavenly places, right? This is the world system we live in. And when we're ashamed or fearful and sharing the gospel, we gotta realize this is not our world system. That's their world system. We're participants down here, but our citizenship's in heaven.

Yeah, Bob. You mentioned sharing the gospel in the wrong way. I was thinking the other day while I was talking to my neighbor. Gary? Yeah, Greg. I had to write the first letter. You know, our first sharing of the gospel is how people see our lives, of how we react to other people, our own testimony. If we share the gospel verbally and our lives don't depict that, we're doing damage. I don't know if Andrew's on today, I don't see anybody here on the screen, but I mean his dad said repeatedly, and Marvin and I reflect on this constantly, you may be the only Bible people ever read.

And that really has a lot to say for exactly to complement what you said, Bob. Any other thoughts here about this aspect? So the imprisonment here was God's way of ultimately opening up the gospel to many, including the palace guard, in addition to making people feel more comfortable and sharing about the Lord, what he's done in their lives. Second question, what's Paul's conclusion about those who preach Christ from envy and strife versus preaching him in goodwill? He was rejoicing because Christ is preached. Thank you. It's a very, very simple answer from a number of verses.

Despite selfish ambition and not sincerely versus out of love, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. So we have to trust that the gospel being preached in very basic churches and we won't list them by denomination, but I mean, I'll just be open about this. At South Sharon Baptist, I mean, there's no question the gospel was preached day in and day out, but they were preaching getting saved for the unsaved and basically the people that were saved. I mean, the growth of the Lord Jesus Christ was not emphasized.

And by the way, there's always maybe a couple people who walk down to the front who maybe came to the Lord. I mean, we'll leave it to him. But I think here, ultimately is, however Christ is preached, if people are coming to the Lord, that's the beginning of all of our new births, isn't it? We all have a date, or maybe you're raised as a child as a Christian, and ultimately that's what we're talking about here. But no matter how he's preached, although I think we're all a little uncomfortable when he's preached out of envy and strife, but nevertheless, Paul says, and Roy articulated it, it still furthers the gospel. And the gospel includes our daily walk as well.

Experientially, people have problems next door. The good news is, so do we. And how do we handle it? Well, our citizenship is in heaven, and so we look at it differently. We go to our father for that help. rather than the world system for that hell. That's the good news, that God has opened up the avenue of hell to heaven. And isn't that a soft pillow for a tired head, when we look at the world system around us? And our citizenship is not here. It remains in heavenly places. Say, Bob? Yes.

One thing I appreciate since coming to Holly Hills is the fact that the church is for the edifying of the saints. And then we go out into the world with the gospel, but the main purpose of the church is for the believer. Yeah, I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. The three verb tenses of salvation. And Holly Hills assumes salvation for many who are here, and there we're building each other up in Christ.

And that's the fellowship we all share here. It's very special. I think we're all very diligent on that one. All right, let's move ahead. Philippians 1, 19 to 26, to live is Christ. Okay, so here are the questions. What does Paul know through the power of their prayer? I mean, that's the church's prayer. What does he know about the power of their prayer? Why is verse 21 so very special for me to recognize Christ? And three, what are Paul's conclusions about continuing alive in the flesh versus being with the Lord? Okay, let's sequentially deal with this. First question, what does Paul know about the power of the prayer? Well, they're praying for his deliverance.

Good point. Roy's right on. You don't even have the handout. Okay, his deliverance, good. What else? Well, if you just read verse 19, it's right there. That is the purpose of reviewing the chapter, but I'm asking you to review it with me, rather than just telling you what to say. Go ahead, Mark. Paul begins there with, he's confident that their prayer will be for his good. But of course, he continues in the text to explain what that means. And he's confident that he's going to be delivered. Okay, that's good. Second point about his prayer.

Well, doesn't it say, in nothing they shall be ashamed? What does he mean when he acknowledges in nothing will he be ashamed? So that he will have sufficient courage that Christ will be exalted in his life, whether it is by his life or his death. Does that relate to his circumstances, though? I think so. Sure. Whatever happens, you'll have courage. Right.

And probably the most important outcome of the soul inspection is Christ will be magnified in his body, whether it's by life or by death. Is that the order we all think? We may think that part of the time, but it's time to get pretty much oriented to our own selfish ways and to the world system that surrounds us. And Bob, isn't that tied in with God's purpose for Christ being magnified? Of course. In every circumstance of life, Christ is to be magnified. That's God's purpose. Suffering, joy, blessing, not being, you know, persecution, all end in that.

Okay, thank you. All right. I think this is, and I reflected on this, Andrew taught this and did a great job, but I did not turn back to the wisdom that he shared with us, but for me to live with this question, why is this so incredibly important as a single verse? It's a win-win situation. It's a win-win situation, you know. All right, that's good. Whether you live or die.

But think beyond that. I mean, the fact that our life here is in Christ and where we die, we're with the Lord. I mean, that's important and that's simplistic. But what more does this verse stand for? For to me, to live is Christ. Our life is Christ living in us.

Okay, it all has a purpose. All right, I'm going to kind of paraphrase this to the best of my ability, but I think this first perfectly summarized all that happened at Calvert. Our sins have been forgiven, and our position with a new life lived out, not under the law, but in Christ by grace, is a life lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's not mentioned this far, so we know the new life in Christ is just not simply willing to be a better person.

Oh, by the way, that's very Christian. Like walking in his shoes? No, we're talking about a new nature. But this verse is so incredibly conclusive in everything else that Paul has written. It's an incredible verse. And we can use it flippantly and very simplistically, but it really drills down everything we are as believers. Other concepts, other thoughts.

Yeah, Bob. So eternity with Christ does not start when I die. It started when I was born again. And from eternity paths design. Yes. I mean, I'm in eternity with Christ right now. Nothing more needs to be done other than your belief. I'd like to say eternity has already started for the believer. It's there. We're living it now. We don't think about that very often, do we?

I think of Galatians 2.20. It really applies to that, too. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I live. in the flesh. I live by the faith in the Son of God. But how can we do that? Why can't we do this? I mean, Calvary's got everything to do with it, but what happened to Calvin? Again, I'll be very, very redundant. For he hath made him who knew no sin, to be made sin for us, made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

It's all founded in position and identification. And that's, Bob, that's what you're alluding to in terms of growing us all in grace and truth here. That's what we're all about, learning how to live through the power of the Spirit in our new nature, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This isn't buffing up the old man. And being redundant, that's proper thinking, right? That's the way we are to be thinking God's thoughts. That's our life now. We're in Him right now. Isn't that wonderful? Yeah. That was Paul's governing principle. What about the principle? I'm sorry. That was Paul's governing principle.

Absolutely. I think it reflects the entire epistle, but it also reflects all those other epistles. But this one has, I think, a special purpose. I think it's important also to say the other half of that is that Christ is alive in us, each one of our bodies in this room right now. But boy, that seems so ridiculous.

You're trying to share that with even a young believer who has no knowledge of himself or herself being crucified with him and buried in baptism of the death and risen with goodness of life. That's a concept that people Yeah, well I think about the Nicodemus and you know when Christ said you must be born again, it's the same kind of thing. Oh really? I'm going to go back to my mother's womb, that can't happen.

He says we must be born again. So that's the incredible nature of it. We are born again. We do have this life. All right, well we could talk about this verse forever in my opinion, but let's move ahead. What are Paul's conclusions about continuing alive in the flesh? versus being with the lord. Again, as Jim said, either way you win. That's what I thought about that one. It's a winner either way.

But you know, I mean, I reflect on J. Bernard McGee, and you know, he had cancer, I think of the prostate actually, and ultimately went through a series of treatments over many years, but he always said, look, I know when I'm out of here I'm with the Lord, but I'm alive right now, and I kinda wanna be alive, and I think, don't we all reflect on that a little bit? I mean, you know, to go to be with the Lord's all fine and good, but I think I wanna live through the day anyway, you know what I'm saying? So, I mean, think of a theologian and a man of the Lord like J. Bernard, he says, look, You know, I'm here, I got a ministry and all that, but we all want to remain alive, don't we? So it's not that you're contradicting yourself, it's just the confidence we have about absent from the body.

And Paul was looking at the Philippians and saying, it's for your benefit that I remain alive and that your joy might be pulled by my presence with you again. OK, isn't that wonderful? Tremendous. All right, so we need to move along here, although we are almost done. So one of Paul's conclusions is to depart and be with Christ is far better. I mean, although again, it's not a death wish. I mean, just think of our eternity. And as Roger mentioned, we're living eternity right now.

But ultimately to be with a glorified Lord, details are lacking, aren't they? We don't really know what the heavenly experience is all going to be about. And in a sense, I don't know, just maybe my flesh is a little anxious about what's that all going to be like, you know? Margaret says, you can never not be doing something, Bob. Like last night, everybody sat down. I said, I feel like I need to be doing something. She said, absolutely not. Why don't you do nothing for it? You do nothing. Anyway, enough about me.

The second thing is his presence is more needed now, and his fruit will reflect his labor. I mean, in other words, he said, it's better to be with the Lord, but look at what God is doing through me. He doesn't say that in a cocky or self-confident manner. He's saying that in a spirit-led voice. And the third point is, his hope and joy anticipates his return to Philippi. And we reflected on that in the previous section. Any other thoughts here about what his conclusions were about being alive versus being in a womb? All right, coming to the end.

Verses 27 to 30, ascribing and suffering for Christ. Here are the questions, there are two. How will the body of Christ in Philippi be assessed for their conduct? And secondly, what about suffering and conflict? All right, let's return. First question to you. How will the body of Christ in Philippi be assessed for their conduct? And I'm using the term assessed a little bit vaguely, perhaps. Evaluated, measured, whatever. Well, doesn't he feel strongly that he really just wants it to be worthy of, you know, of Christ and their beliefs?

Okay, what are the specifics, Margaret, for that? That they're working together in unity. Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to say the first component of this response is, are they standing fast in one spirit, one mind for the faith and the gospel? So this is the unity which we're called to, and I think we have that here. I think this body of believers at Holy Ghost has that unity of being one spirit, one mind. And a second point is that they're not being frightened by their adversaries. And why is that? Well, dot, dot, dot, it's the proof of their salvation.

I mean, as we think about the work of, the global work of Satan, how it impacts us through the world system and through our own sin nature, these are all adversaries. But yet the proof of our salvation relates more to what Bob said, kind of again, I'll paraphrase, we may be the only Bible people ever read. So how we deal with this really is something that Paul is going to be utilizing or assessing their conduct going forward. And finally, a theme that we deal with only too often here in Scripture is, what about suffering and conflict? What does Paul say about this as he closes the first chapter in this book? Well, he said we're going to have sex. Well, even stronger than that.

He says we've been destined. Yeah, we've been dead. We've been. Let's go to the word. I can't think size destined appointed pointed. Thank you. That's how I was. My house favorite verses, right? You've been appointed to trials. Yeah, there's a verse in Thessalonians that talks about that. That's it. Well, that's kind of like you feel I'm appointed to this office, you know, you're appointed to the office of AMA or whatever it is Well, that's a great a great benefit, you know, and we're appointed to trials for Lord couldn't you point me to something else? From our view, you know, even even knowing the Lord it seems well, that's a That can be a tough one, Lord. You appoint me to a trial.

Wow. That's not something you want to tell an unbeliever right off the bat. The Christian walk of riches and fame, right? Not what we're preaching here. And I'll correct this when I send out the handout when I get back today. But on behalf of Christ, with belief, expect suffering for his sake. It says accept. I've got to correct that. Expect suffering for his sake.

And once we accept that, We shouldn't complain about it. Paul never complained about any of the suffering he went through. As we mature in Christ, we realize that, well, hopefully one day I will realize fully that anything I suffer is for the good. I haven't fully comprehended that yet, and I may not until I get the glory. No, none of us have, but that's certainly something that's written throughout scripture.

All right, and let's close by making a final point. Were they really expected to have the same conflict as Paul had? I mean, in a sense, I dealt with that last group a little bit. No, I mean, they're not going to be in prison, But I think, no, but when one of us suffers, we all suffer with him or her, don't we?

I mean, we're suffering with Jacqueline now, but we can't correct her circumstances and we don't even understand them completely. It's something we are suffering because we love her and the Lord. One of the things is that we're one body. And if part of the body is suffering, we suffer with it. I think that's what Paul intended in this verse. Since he's suffering being in prison, we in fact are suffering with him. And we continue to pray for him being released from prison, which of course did occur.

And finally, I think the analogy you brought up last week, this endurance or this endurance or thinking endurance is if we were an athlete in an athletic competition. I mean, that's kind of the interpretation of the verse is that, you know, ultimately, the athlete who's competitive is suffering generally through strife and pain to try to accomplish an outcome. That's really kind of the mindset that we should have through our suffering, that there is something to accomplish and that's bringing glory to God. All right, well, that's all I have today for this review. So it's a little different, but any thoughts or wisdom? It was a great review. Yeah, great. David, go ahead.

In verse 29, a couple of versions say, it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ to suffer for Him. It's not like we have a choice. same letters in them. Unfortunately, it's not accept suffering, for instance, but expect it. That's exactly what you just said. We should expect suffering. Salvation and suffering have been granted to us. That's the two things that these verses teach. And it's grace given. I think granted has the idea of grace Grace, Kevin. All right. Any other, again, parting thoughts, sir?

You know, really, that's the opposite, if you think about it, of religions. All the religions of the world say, I'll deliver you from everything if you just do X, Y, Z. Here, salvation is offered to us freely without a doing associated with getting it. But accompanying that salvation is being rejected in the world, because it's not your home. So we have the home already, whereas all the other religions say, if you'll just do X, Y, Z, you'll get to a home. Well, most other religions, most in fact, not most, but all other than Biblical Christianity is based on works.

Yeah. And Buddhism, which is really a philosophy, not a religion, is one of ultimately overcoming all these trials and tribulations to prove who you really are, not before God, just from a human perspective. But they don't have the same hope that we have. I don't know. they don't have the same hope that we have. Right, for sure. There's nothing beyond the human existence.

Whereas most other religions have some god in their faith in some way. All right, Wayne, would you close to the prayer, please, this morning? Thank you, my father, for this class and for what we've learned here through your word. And so we thank you for the hope that we have in you. And we thank you for all these things in Jesus name. Amen.