A Vision for the World
Vision January 25, 2026 Philippians 4:10-20 Notes
Today we’re talking about the HARVEST—how God wants us to have His vision for the world. And what is God’s vision for the world? Jesus tells us in Mark 16:15: “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.'”
This is God’s vision for the church. It’s God’s vision for me and for you! The challenge for many of us is not that we disagree with God’s vision, but that we feel overwhelmed by it. We hear the vision, but the world? That’s just too big for our minds to grasp! For others it’s more a matter of feeling disconnected from it.
How do ordinary believers like us move from feeling overwhelmed or disconnected from the mission to experiencing the joy of meaningful partnership in God’s vision for the world? That’s exactly what the apostle Paul helps us see in Philippians 4. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he expressed his joy for their partnership with him for the gospel, viewing their generous support as a spiritual investment that fueled the gospel’s advance and brought glory to Jesus.
Audio
Good morning, church. Something about this just feels special. I like it. I like it; Sunday on a Saturday and you showed up. I'm so proud of all of us today.
All the volunteers, all the people on the worship team, the tech team, the guest services team, the children's team, the coffee team. Both venues are open today. We started calling people Thursday morning and saying, would you help us move from Sunday to Saturday so we don't have to cancel church? And we're recording the service for those who couldn't make it today so we can show it tomorrow. It was on the news, this storm is coming and I’m thinking, okay, I'm going to wait till Saturday morning to make the call.
That's kind of how I was thinking and we'll record the service. But I thought, man, I do not want to record another service for the rest of my life to empty seats. I've already done the whole recording to empty seats. And I thought, well, if we're going to open the doors and record the service, why not open the doors and invite those who would come and look at you, look around.
What a packed house today. We're thankful for you. Well, this is the last sermon in our four part series, “Vision: Seeing Your Place in God's Story.” We'll be in chapter four of Philippians.
Over the past four weeks, we've talked about having a heart for God, getting a vision for who you are in Christ. We've talked about your home, how to have a vision for your home that's based on the relationships that God wants you to form in your life. And we've talked last week about hands, the mission God's called us to, the work he's called us to. And now today we're talking about harvest, how God has called us to have a vision for the world. Indeed, this is what Jesus says in the book of Mark, chapter 16.
He said to his disciples, Mark 16:15 (ESV) And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” So this is God's vision for the church. And we're the church. The church is not the steeple. The church is the people,
right? And so we're the church. And the church doesn't have to meet on Sunday, it can meet on Saturday and it can meet on any day. Wherever the church gathers, there the church is. And wherever you go, you're the church.
And we're to carry the gospel into all the world. That's God's vision for the church. That's God's vision for me. That's God's vision for you. But many today face a challenge.
It's not that we disagree with the vision. If you're here today, I would say as a believer, you're not disagreeing that that's the vision, but you might feel overwhelmed by it, like it's too big. It's a big world, and I'm little. You might be thinking that. How do I get at this? I feel overwhelmed.
It's just too big. Maybe you feel disconnected by the whole idea. I agree with the Great Commission. I recognize that we're supposed to reach the whole world. But it seems like, don't you think it's reserved for just a few?
I mean, how do I fit in? And so you feel a little disconnected to it. And you might even be wondering, do I really know what my contribution is? How does it even matter to God's world vision? And maybe you want to help, but you're not sure.
How do my prayers, how do my offerings, how does my part have to do with the big part? And so you're interested in that. And so that's kind of what we're talking about today as we get into chapter four. The apostle Paul is commending the church at Philippi and rejoicing with them because they want to share in the partnership for the gospel in order to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what he's talking about today.
So let's look at the text today. I think we'll see three essentials for experiencing the joy of gospel partnership in God's vision for the world. So let's dig in. We're looking at Philippians 4:10-20 (ESV) 10 “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me,
but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. 18 I have received full payment, and more.
I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Paul closes that section with a beautiful benediction, doesn't he?
To God be the glory. Well, let's look here in this text for three essentials on how we can experience the joy of gospel partnership and God's vision for the world. Here's the first:
1. By cultivating a concern for gospel saturation.
Paul, notice in verse 10, “rejoiced.” He was rejoicing in what? That they had renewed their concern for him, their care for him. That when Epaphroditus had come to that Roman prison, where prisoners in that day the state did not provide meals for them, did not provide medical attention. All they provided was chains. And so loved ones, people who cared, had to go and bring them food and these kinds of things.
But the church at Philippi, they never forgot Paul. Their concern for him was renewed. And so notice that in verse 10, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.” And so Paul loves these believers at the Church of Philippi.
When I say “gospel saturation,” you might say, well, what does that mean? What are we talking about when we say gospel saturation? It's just another way of saying carrying the gospel to the whole world, but starting in our world, starting in our city, our county. I'm part of a group that we call “Christ Together for Wilson.” We call it “CT4W - Christ together for Wilson.”
It's a group of pastors praying for revival in the city of Wilson. And we're praying for gospel saturation of our city. And the way we say it is like this, “That every man, woman and child would receive repeated opportunities to see, hear and respond to the gospel.” The only way to do that is for you to gather for power like this, gather for encouragement, and then scatter. And as gospel witnesses, going out into your workplaces, your classrooms, your schools, your neighborhoods, and telling people about Jesus so that every man, woman and child has repeated opportunities to see the gospel in action, to hear it and to respond to it.
And this is our vision. And it's not our vision, it's really God's vision that we're trying our best in the power of the Holy Spirit to obey and to follow. He says, I rejoice that you've revived your concern. But indeed, he says, you were indeed concerned for me. In other words, you'd never stopped being concerned for me.
Paul says, I know you were still concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. He doesn't want to accidentally discourage them by saying they forgot him, because they didn't forget Paul. They just lost track of where he was. Perhaps that's what it was.
Or perhaps the last they had heard, he was at such a place, but he's somewhere else. And so they had a hard time keeping up with him because he's always on the move. Or maybe it was because they had hit a season of extreme poverty themselves and they were offering prayer, but they were unable to offer the gift at that point. If we read in 2nd Corinthians 8:2, we can see that the area of Macedonia went through a difficult season. Philippi is in that area of Macedonia; they went through a season of suffering financially.
And so it could have been any of these things. When we say concern, when we talk about concern, it means to be mindful of, to have care for, to take your eyes off of your own situation and to place your concerns on someone else. To pull your eyes and your thinking and your prayers off of your situation. Your laundry list of things that you don't have to be reminded to bring up to God, because it's easy to tell God, God, I need help with this, I need help with that. But to have a concern for your pastors, for your community group, shepherds in our church, other churches in our town that are preaching the gospel, to pray for them and to pray for our missionaries that are around the world, to pray for those that you don't see or think of very often.
But to be that kind of a believer that has a concern, I think the first step is to see it, to open your eyes to it and then opening your eyes to it, to pray for it and then to be moved to give towards it and to cultivate a concern. Now he kind of does a sidebar here. He says, now, look, I know you're taking care of me and you've been reminded of me and you've sent help to me, but I'm writing this to you not because I've lacked contentment, you've supplied a need for me. But he's saying, but really all my needs are met in Christ Jesus. He wants them to understand that what he's celebrating here is not just that they met his needs.
But he's more celebrating and rejoicing in the fact that they care about him no matter what they sent, if it was a little or a lot, he's satisfied because he recognizes this, that all of his needs are met in Christ Jesus. And sometimes he taps the church at Philippi, and sometimes he taps somewhere else. But God is going to take care of Paul. Paul's not worried about how God's going to take care of him.
So here's Paul commending them and rejoicing with them and celebrating their gift, but also teaching them. Because he's the Apostle Paul, he's also teaching them, hey, I want you to be content, just as I'm content. I've learned a secret, he says. I've learned a secret. I've learned how to be content in plenty and in lack.
I've learned how to be content when I've been brought low and when I've abounded, because my contentment is not based on circumstance, but on Christ. I've gotten off the roller coaster of life, up one day and down the next. But no, I'm climbing, climbing, climbing towards the King. And I recognize that all my needs are met in him, and it gives me a constancy of contentment. And he concludes that thought in verse 13.
He says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” I can do most things through Christ, who gives me strength. Is that what he says? No, it's not what he says. He says I can do pretty much everything, all things. You were reading along with me, weren't you?
I can do all things through Christ. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Many of us have that as our life verse. Philippians 4:13.
If you haven't memorized a verse, there's a good one to start with. “I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.” And he's thankful. He's cultivated a concern for gospel saturation himself. And he commends them and rejoices with them that they have the same. Seeing the need is only the beginning.
To cultivate a concern means to open your eyes to the need of the gospel in the world. The gospel is the only thing that will solve the division in our nation today, the division in our world today. Not a political answer, not an economic answer, but an answer that changes human hearts one at a time. We must allow the spirit to turn our sight.
We see it. But to cultivate concern is to turn our sight into compassion. Look at Matthew, chapter 9. This is what Jesus says, Matthew 9:36-38 (ESV) 36 “When he saw the crowds…”
He saw the crowds. He looked at them. He saw the crowds and it moved him to compassion. “.... he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
We've titled this message “The Harvest - To have a vision for God's vision for the world.” And here's Jesus. He saw, he was moved to compassion. He's asking for workers and he's praying.
We can see a lot here in just this short passage. Have you ever been driving down the road and your phone starts making sounds? What we've learned is that it is an Amber Alert. It makes a different sound. If you have a smartphone, it'll do that.
And an Amber Alert can be distressing if you've never heard it before. And you're driving along, you've been seeing cars, you're on the highway, you see them, but you don't really see him. But the Amber Alert flashes up a memo there. And I've got mine stuck on like a magnet thing there in my car. And so I can kind of cut my eyes over there without, you know, losing sight of how I'm driving.
And I'm looking over and all of a sudden it says “silver car,
2016 model.” You know, whatever the name of the model, license plate, “five year old girl last seen wearing…” just all of this coming across. You're driving and all of a sudden, every silver car, you're looking at it differently than you were before because there was an Amber Alert. You saw them, but you didn't see them because you weren't looking for them, but now you are.
And so God wants us to have a spiritual Amber Alert about your neighbor who maybe you've never noticed or you've noticed them and they irritate you.
It might be because they're far from God and they're struggling and hurt people hurt people.
Just kind of that person, that co-worker, the most aggravating co-worker might be the one that God's calling you to see and move your heart to compassion and to begin to pray for them. And then having prayed for them, you begin to love them. And then before you know it, you have an opportunity to talk to them about Jesus. Have you heard God's Amber Alert? Have you seen the crowds harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Seeing and hearing are important steps towards cultivating concern, to be aware of what God's doing in this world.
Have you noticed the growing number of guests visiting our church? There might be first timers here today. You're like, that's a crazy church. They're having Sunday on Saturday.
Let's just go kick the tires and see what this is about. Glad you're here. Thank you for coming next Sunday. We do plan to, and we've been doing this for some time, New to Eastgate, and it's just an opportunity to get to know us better.
A way of welcoming guests so they can meet the pastors and other leaders and kind of help them progress towards making a decision about this being their church home. We've been doing this for a while and, and we've been thinking we'd like to upgrade that. And so today is Vision Sunday. Today is Vision Sunday on Saturday.
And we're coming out with a new way of onboarding and welcoming our people that just started coming. We're calling it, oh, this is great, “The Eastgater.”
Come on. It'll grow on you. Give it a chance. Because if you have decided you are going to be part of Eastgate, you know what that makes you? An Eastgater. Yeah.
Come on, come on, come on. You're going to love it. The more you say it, it'll stick with you. And so this coming Sunday will be our last New to Eastgate. This will replace New to Eastgate.
The first one of our Eastgaters will be in March and we're going to do those on Friday nights. And that way, the pastor will not have just preached two sermons and be completely tanked out. I'll be able to give my best and other team players will too. And we're going to do something a little bit more elaborate and spend a little bit more time with you. There will be more coming on that, but the Eastgater will start in March and we're going to need more concerned volunteers to help us accomplish that.
Another way of trusting and taking care of and being good stewards is the reality that God is trusting us with people that want to hear the gospel and grow in the gospel. So, we want to improve our effort at helping them know us better and know more about us. So that's one thing.This is me preaching this last sermon, but also talking about our vision in our city and in our world.
So the Eastgater is coming. Here's something else I want to ask you. Have you taken notice of the increase in visitors and first time guests? You have, I hope.
Have you noticed that God is trusting us with a church that looks more like our city? Well, what do you think I mean by that? What I mean by that is red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. He's checking us right now to see, okay, you've been praying that you could have a church that looks more like heaven, where every tongue and every tribe, every ethnos will be represented before the throne of God.
And so he's trusting us now with that. Would you pray with me? Would you cultivate a concern that we don't mess up and start talking about politics or talking about something, even joking in some way that is not mindful, not concerned about how God is calling us to represent his kingdom in this world? And I want you to think about, have you crossed the aisle and been welcoming? Now don't be weird about it and just scare people off.
I'm so glad you're here. We've been looking for people like you. Yeah, don't do that.
Please don't do that.
I was talking to one of my, one of my brothers earlier, one of my pastor buddies, Pastor Sherman, he pastors at Mount Moriah Community Church here in Wilson. I said, pray for us about this. And I said, can you give me any advice? This is what he told me. He said, just be normal.
Don't lean in too hard. You know, we're all just people here. And there's only one race, that's the human race. And we're all children of Adam and Eve. And there's one Jesus, I think he was probably brown, and that's okay.
And I don't care about that, but I care about him. Come on, have you noticed that? And I want to cast a vision for that and I want to see that increase and I want us to be aware of how division could infect it. So we're going to have a cultivated concern that prays and sees and has compassion and watches out for what God's doing and welcomes it.
And did you catch in the opening announcements that our Rocky Mount campus is getting ready to make a strategic move and launch a second service? Did you hear that?
So just a year ago, we were able to move them into a new home, a permanent home, a place that was actually built to be a church. We're in a movie theater. I told them, I said, you guys got a real church. What in the world? Well, this is a real church because the church is not the steeple.
The church is the people. And we just happened to get a movie theater and turned it into a church. Because wherever we go, that's where the church is. But they're growing, because we're one church, two campuses, and I celebrate with them. They're a little scared.
Next week, they will launch a second service. The reason they're scared is because they have to stretch. Kind of like we did when we started calling people Thursday morning, saying, is there any way possible you could help us do this on a Saturday instead of a Sunday? And you know what you said? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
And that's what we have to do. Cultivate a concern for gospel saturation. That's the first. Here's the second:
2. By courageously sharing in the work of the gospel.
Courageously sharing in the work of the gospel. We're at verses 14 through 16. He says, “Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.”
Now you don't have any problem. You know this. You don't have any problem getting someone to share your fortune. They find out you just put in a swimming pool in your backyard. You have friends, immediate friends.
You own a beach home. I'd like to know you.
You got a boat over at the lake. I love boats. You don't have to have any problem. There's no problem finding somebody to share your fortune. But, boy, the line is short when you're in trouble.
Even shorter if you've been locked up.
Paul says, “ Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.” Man, that seems an understatement. It was kind of you to share my trouble. You didn't forget me. You didn't forget me.
A lot of people have forgotten Paul. A lot of people have betrayed him. They've left him. They know why he's there. He's not there because he's a criminal.
He's there because of Christ. He preached the gospel and it's not popular. And they've locked him up. It doesn't matter. They don't want to be locked up too.
And they figure if they run from him, they can improve their chances of not joining him there. But not the Philippians. The first church he planted when he first came into Macedonia, when he first left Asia Minor and he came across was there. They've never forgotten him.
They're even willing to share in his trouble. To courageously share in his trouble, he says, in verse 15, “And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel…” What does that mean? I think it really means this: when you first heard the gospel, he's not talking about back at the cross and back when Jesus was raised again.
The gospel story that Jesus died for our sins, he was buried. He was raised on the third day and ascended to the Father. That's the gospel message. He's not talking about its origin. I think here, as he's talking in context here, he's saying, you yourself know that in the beginning, when you got the gospel, I think that's what it means.
”...when I left Macedonia…”which is the larger area that Philippi is located in. Be kind of like saying when I left Wilson, when I left North Carolina. “...no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.” Y' all are special to me.
Y' all believed in the gospel right from the beginning. You just got saved and you started believing to the point where you were giving of yourselves and of your finances and of your talent and your treasure. You are giving.
You're special to me. And even now that I'm in trouble. Boy, those kinds of friends are even more special to us, aren't they? The ones who share in our trouble. Ones who weep with us when we weep, hurt with us when we hurt. That's a short list.
But you've been there from the very beginning. Notice a couple of things. The word partnership. This is a Greek word you should probably know. It's koinonia.
It can be translated fellowship, communion, partnership.
You entered into a partnership with me in giving and receiving. Even in Thessalonica. You sent me help. And pop up a map. I've got too many things here.
I have to see a map. Okay. You see the map? I forgot my pointer. Pretend like it's running.
So you see Philippi; over there's Troas. Troas is what was originally ancient Troy. And he was preaching and teaching in Troy. That's modern day Turkey over there.
And if you look at that little opening where the Aegean Sea flows up into the Black Sea, that's Istanbul. But when he was in Troas, he wanted to go into Asia Minor, but the Lord prevented him.
And he had a vision of a man of Macedonia beckoning him. And he caught a ship from Troas, and he went up to Philippi and he preached the Gospel there. And that's the first church he planted in the area of Greece, of Macedonia. And he planted a church in Philippi, and then he went to a bigger city in Thessalonica, which
was where the governor for Macedonia was. And so just kind of picture it like this.He planted this little church in Philippi, that it'd be kind of like planting one in Wilson.
And then saying he sends back word to the church at Philippi and says, I'm over here trying to plant a church in Raleigh. Could you send money over here and send some help over here to help me plant this church in Raleigh? If the Apostle Paul sent us that letter, we'd be like, there's rich people over there in Raleigh.
They should be sending us help.
And so if you look at it, he says, in verse 16, “Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.” It'd be like, even in Raleigh, even in Washington, D.C. We're from Elm City. We are trying to plant a church in Black Creek.
And you'd want us to help the people over in Greensboro. That's right. 16 “Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.” Not just once, but.
But once and again. You continually did it. You had a heart for getting the gospel out to the whole world. You didn't see cities. You saw the world.
You had a vision for the world because you had God's vision you courageously shared. Even in trouble, even regardless of location, you sent me help time and time again. In second Corinthians 8, Paul talks to them in that letter to the city of Corinth. He actually tells people in the Corinthian city, he brags on the people of Macedonia.
He says, 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 (ESV) 1 “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” He was actually, in a way, shaming the wealthy city of Corinth by comparing them to Elm City. Elm City is supporting all these churches. Now, when I come to take a collection here, don't let me have to tell them you didn't send anything.
That's some strong fundraising Paul was doing down there in Corinth. He was telling them, look at what little Philippi has been doing. They're like a heartbeat of the gospel, sending out people and funds in these bigger cities. That's often true. I've noticed this in history. I've noticed it in my 34 years of ministry.
By the way, this coming Monday, we are 34 years old at Eastgate Church. Now, we had a big plan for tomorrow to celebrate our birthday. We're going to try to do it next Sunday, weather permitting.
We'll see. Come back next Sunday. We'll have a birthday party. But we still wanted to talk about vision. Today we were trying to do both, but God's God and I'm not.
We're following him; we're trying to cast vision today. We'll celebrate our birthday next Sunday if we're able. But this little church is like a lot of little churches. They tend to be the ones that get a hold of a big God.
Sometimes if you think you're big, you don't feel like you need God. But if you know you're little and you've got a big vision from a big God and you're depending on God, and you say things like, I can do all things to Christ, who gives me strength, then you have a different way of thinking about things. I want to be like that. I want our church to be like that.
In the late 1700s, there was a man named William Carey. He's considered today the father of modern missions. He felt called to carry the gospel to India, a place that had no gospel witness at all. It was virtually unknown, and the danger was immense. And as he was leaving his friends and his church, he said to them, “I will go down into the pit if you will hold the rope.”
When we think of the harvest, we often think of the person that goes down in the pit. We think of the church planter, the missionary, the one who goes and begins to have a witness in the Middle East. We have two dear families that our church is connected to in Istanbul that are there carrying the gospel to that Muslim majority country of Turkey. We have a young man and his family, he came to Christ here, was raised up here, baptized, married, he grew up here. We sent him to seminary, and now he's in the Czech Republic, that former USSR country that has become such an atheistic country as a result of those years under the Soviets.
But he's there planting a church and teaching at a seminary from our church, our little church here in Wilson.
We've got a family right now in Pachuca, Mexico. You know them. They were just greeting with us a few months back. They came in on furlough. They're back there again.
That's the Castro family. When you think of missions, you probably think, well, they're going down into the pit for us. But who's holding the rope?
That's us. We're holding the rope. We're supposed to hold the rope. Paul says, basically, hey, Philippi, I've been out here putting it on the line, but you've been holding a rope the whole time. I see you.
I'm thankful for you. You've been amazing to me. Even when I was in trouble, you shared with me. How can you help? Well, some of you need to go.
Some of you will be called and you need to go. Are you talking to me? I might be. That's the Holy Spirit's job. What would stop you? Especially if you're young and maybe especially if you're older and you already have your Social Security check coming in.
You don't even have to raise support. Just hit the road.
I don't think God called you to just golf and fishing, as much fun as that is. Instead, he took some fishermen back there 2,000 years ago and turned them into fishers of men. How about that? What about that?
So let's hold the rope. We need some people to hold the rope. As we launch our new Eastgater, it's going to take more volunteers. Now, don't laugh every time I say Eastgater.
Come on, now. You're going to learn to love it.
And speaking of volunteers, I want to celebrate some changes that we visually are making right now. Here is Jeff Webb. You all know Jeff. He's been faithful as our guest services leader for several years, and he started working with Taj Martin. You all know Taj, and Taj has now taken over Jeff's role. Jeff is moving into our missions role as a lay leader over missions, and he's going to be working with us to help champion that even more.
Local missions, domestic missions, foreign missions. We're asking him to dream with us about how to really connect to that. That's Jeff. But I want you to support Jeff's transition, but also Taj's transition to guest services.
So if you want to get involved volunteering with guest services, helping hold the rope, Taj is your man for that, and so I hope you'll stop and thank them for what they're doing. These are volunteer lay leaders in our church that are really standing it up right now, and we're thankful for them. Maybe you can help us with our second service at Rocky Mount. We still have several people from our Wilson campus that attend our Rocky Mount campus and help with children's ministry and help with guest services, help with the worship team. A lot of our instrumentalists and our vocalists actually rotate between this room, our gathering place next door and Rocky Mount.
So that's three worship venues that we have to support. So a lot of our worship people, I don't know if you know this, that they work here one Sunday, they serve here and then they're serving over there next Sunday and then maybe they're in Rocky Mount. So we celebrate that. We're thankful for it. I want to also mention to you our status on our It's Time generosity initiative.
We pledged last January and February. We had our It's Time initiative announcement and we talked about needing $1.6 million in order (well, actually we said we needed 1.5, but you came back and committed 1.6) to acquire that property in Rocky Mount. In order to increase and strengthen our community engagement in both cities. In order to elevate our ministries.
We talked about how we needed that additional income in order to do it. Now here's where we're at. Year to date, $364,521.63. Okay, praise the Lord. Amen. Right, so that's you holding the rope.
That's you holding the rope. But we want you to stay committed. It's a three-year generosity initiative. And if you're new here and you're just a new member of the church and you're still trying to figure out what that is, go online to our website. You can read about it, get with one of the pastors, find out more about it.
And so you could help us push over the line for that need of our It's Time generosity initiative. Here's another idea of how you could get a concern, a growing concern and also share in missions. We're sending out two mission teams this year, our Uganda team, and that one's pretty much already closed. Those that have identified themselves as going to our next meeting, they've decided they're going. It might not be too late for you, but boy, you'd have to really jump it right now. But the Uganda team is going in June.
But here's what you definitely could do for the Uganda team. You could hold the rope because they're going to be raising support. It's going to cost $3,600 a person to go for that two week trip to Uganda to partner with our partners in Uganda. So that's June, and then in the fall, our Serbia team is going out and they're just starting. Their information meeting,
I think it's next Sunday. So if you want to go to Serbia and minister there. So some of us are going to go, but all of us are going to hold the rope. We're going to pray, we're going to support financially. We want to be the kind of church that does missions.
That leads us to the third essential. Do you see what I'm trying to do here? I'm trying my best to preach Philippians, preach vision at the same time and give you details about what is going on in our church in 2026. I'm so glad you're here. This would have been so hard with empty chairs.
3. By confidently investing in the gospel for God’s glory.
By confidently investing in the gospel for God's glory, we're at verses 17 through 20, 17 “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. 18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” I want you to notice the words credit and glory, credit and glory. “Not that I seek the gift,” Paul says, “but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.”
Another way of translating the word credit is he could have said the fruit that increases to your account. Now what account is he talking about? He's talking about the heavenly account. He's saying, it's not that I'm seeking more from you. I'm thankful for what you've sent, but I'm content.
But what I want to celebrate is your giving and your concern in carrying and holding the rope. You might not know it, but there's a heavenly account that's accumulating. You can't see it, but you're setting aside riches in glory. It's as if we have two accounts. We have an earthly account that we live off of.
You know, we have to have an earthly account in order to buy food and clothing, those kinds of things, and God supplies those needs as well, with what we're doing here. But there's an unseen heavenly account that Paul's referring to. He says, I want to make sure you recognize that what you're doing for me is not just for me, it's for the Lord. And since you're doing it for the Lord, it's accumulating in your heavenly account. Now, they say you can't take it with you.
That's true, but you sure can send it on ahead.
As the man said, “You never see a U haul being pulled by a hearse.” But when you give to God, he takes notice, and it is credited to your account when you give of your time, of your talent and service, and when you give of your treasure, it accrues to your account if you do it cheerfully and you do it for the Lord. He says, 17 “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. 18 I have received full payment,
and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus…” Well, Epaphroditus was a member of the church of Philippi. He's got a cool name. It means lovely.
It's from a Greek area. And so they had all those Greek gods, and so probably they were worshiping Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. So they put it in their son's name. He must have been a pretty boy.
He must have been a pretty baby. They called him Lovely Epaphroditus, lovely. Named after Aphrodite. And so I don't know if he turned out to be a pretty man, probably a pretty baby, but he's beautiful to Paul and he names him here, and they would have known him.
I know you sent Epaphroditus. You sent gifts to me through Epaphroditus. He referred to him back in chapter two of Philippians, if you recall. He says this, Philippians 2:25;30 (ESV) 25 “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need … 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” This is quite a journey from Philippi to Rome.
He nearly died. And I would say that this letter to the church at Philippi was what he hand carried back. Epaphroditus carried money and gifts to Paul. He almost died doing it. And now he's carried it back.
And here he is appearing twice in this little letter, this little four-chapter letter, and I guarantee he's the one who handed it to the preacher there at Philippi. And they read it on Sunday morning, and Epaphroditus probably just lowered his head and everybody's patting him on the back and they said, thank you for helping us hold the rope. Thank you that you went and showed our love and concern for Paul. And he doesn't want them to miss that. That's why I think he names Epaphroditus twice in his little book, his little letter.
And then he uses Old Testament language to describe the gift. If you're not familiar with the Old Testament, you'd miss it. But it's sacrificial language. As if you're offering a sacrifice in the temple and equating what they've done to that. And he says, verse 18, “...having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.”
A fragrant offering rising to the nostrils of the Father. A sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. You don't realize what you've done. You've offered an offering to God by caring for the church planter Paul in his trouble, this is how he talks to them. He helps them understand how high and holy it is.
Some are sent and they're called to go. But just as important are those who are called to stay and pray and hold the rope and give and write letters and go visit when they can, like Epaphroditus does
here. If you ever go on some of these trips. I've had a few that I came back half dead from jet lagged catch something in a third world country. I've had some strange things happen to me through the years, but I always keep going because I catch such fire when I'm on the field.
Seeing God's people out there serving him in often troubled and lonely places. He closes with a benediction. Oh, it's great. Verse 19, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
How much does he own? He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The earth and all the people thereof are his.
Everything is his; he'll supply according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus who has authority to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
He closes with this wonderful benediction. You can keep on giving, you can keep on supporting, because everything you have, he gave you. Just let it flow. In second Corinthians we read, 2 Corinthians 9:8 (ESV) “And God is able to make all grace abound to you,
so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” I like this. It doesn't say having the most sufficiency in some of the things at part of the times. All sufficiency in all things at all times. You may abound in every good work.
You have two bank accounts. One is a balance on earth and one is a balance in eternity. How much are you sending on ahead? As you serve, as you give, as you visit, you're sending on ahead. Can I share some of the heavenly results that have been accounted for under this little church in Wilson and Rocky Mount?
I don't know everything. I only know that which we can number. In 2025, we saw 37 people say yes to Jesus and be obedient to baptism. We saw 93 people decide to join our church family as members. 334 serving on volunteer teams.
330 are in community groups. 236 are doing Life on Life Discipleship, growing in Jesus. 187 children heard the good news and experienced the joy of Christ at our annual Kidzfest. We support 17 mission partners, local, regional and international.
They were empowered. We held the rope while they preached. We raised nearly $12,000 in our benevolence fund this year, providing a lifeline to members and neighbors in the midst of their financial crises. We raised nearly 10,000 this Christmas to send emissions, half of which goes to the International Mission Board.
And a supply of it was sent to the Castros to buy a missions vehicle for the Mexico mission. Recently we joined the Mercy Hill Collaborative which is a network of gospel centered churches that are working together to make disciples and plant churches. We're going to be giving 2% of our annual general fund to plant churches, especially in eastern North Carolina, which by the way is why our name is Eastgate. Because we want to plant churches.
We want to make disciples and plant churches in eastern North Carolina. In conclusion, we can say that as we experience the joy of the harvest, it starts by cultivating a concern for the lost. It grows as we courageously share the burden of the work. And it's sustained as we confidently continue to invest in eternity. For the last four weeks we've been looking at vision.
We've been looking at how we need a changed heart that has a vision that's satisfied in Jesus. A changed home. A new vision for our home and so that our home has become a lighthouse for his grace. That our hands are busy with his purpose and that he wants us to have a heart for the harvest. Next Sunday in Rocky Mount, we'll launch our second service.
Next Sunday, we'll hopefully and prayerfully, if the Lord delays his coming, say happy birthday to Eastgate for 34 years. We'll blow out candles.
I'm ordering some cupcakes.
You can eat them in the lobby. Try not to make crumbs for cleanup sake. I want you to consider its time if you are just now getting on board that you would find out more about it and I want you to help us with the Eastgater. But more than anything, I pray that you will follow Jesus. So this has been a sermon today to conclude this series, but it's also been a vision casting moment of talking about what I see God doing in our church now and what I prayerfully hope we see God doing through our church in 2026. Let's get a vision to be involved in God's story.
Amen. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your people that you would bring out on a Saturday and treat it like it was Sunday.
Lord, I pray for that one that's here today. Maybe it's their first time, maybe they've been coming, but they've never given their life to you. I pray right now for that person that you would give your life to Jesus, believing in your heart that he died for your sins and that he was raised from the grave and that he lives today. You can say that. Lord, I believe that. And saying, lord, forgive me a sinner.
I believe in you as Savior. Would you come into my heart, forgive me and change me and adopt me into your family. I want to follow you all the days of my life as Lord and Savior. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing, he'll save you and make you his own, but I especially pray for that one that God's been calling you to full time ministry. He's been calling you to be a missionary or a church planter.
Or maybe he's been calling you to serve in children's ministry or some other area. Would you say, I'll go if you'll hold the rope. I pray for you today. I pray that we hear of people that are saying, I'm ready to go. I pray that we'll hear people today that say, I'm ready to hold the rope.
We pray it all now in Jesus' name, Amen.
Audio
So great to be here with you this morning. Hey, here's the great news about today is I was planning on preaching this sermon to some empty chairs because I figured, hey, we're gonna have a bad weather event. Who knows? And then we came up with this idea. Well, we'll see who shows up on a Saturday.
So thank you for being here today. This is kind of a treat for me to not have to preach to nobody. It's a lot more fun to do it this way. And so we're gonna be in Philippians today. We're finishing up a series that we started a few weeks ago in the book of Philippians, and we've kind of touched a lot of that book.
And we're finishing up today with a sermon we've entitled Harvest. And the idea here is having a vision for the world, the kind of vision that not only God has for your life and for his creation, but also a vision that impacts you deeply and personally. And so we've already gone through a series here. If you missed any of these, feel free to go check them out. We talked about what it's like to have a vision for your heart, for your home life, for your children, for your workplace and for your family.
So we've talked about heart and hands and home. But this week we're talking about the harvest. And we could go to a lot of different places today to spend some time, but we're going to spend time right here in Philippians 4, and I pray you'll see why. As Paul the Apostle here unpacks this end of this letter, it's really clear to me that he has a heart not only for the world, but also for the people serving alongside him. And so this is the vision that Christ Jesus has for the world.
He makes it clear in many different places of Scripture. I could have gone certainly to the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Here's the second place where we see essentially the great commissions. In Mark 16:15, it says Jesus said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. We've probably heard texts like this in the past.
We probably heard preaching like this in the past where it's, hey, go and tell. Preach the good news, these kinds of words. But it often can feel really challenging, even to me, and probably feels challenging to you that this feels like a huge topic. You're telling me that God has a vision for the world and I have something to do with that. It can be easy to feel kind of disconnected to that reality.
It can feel like, overwhelming, if you will. You hear the words, the world, and you're like, huh? What's that got to do with me? Here I am in little old Rocky Mountain, little old Wilson, little old, you know, Edgecombe County. Wherever you're coming today, some of you coming from Pine Tops, I mean, these are the kind of things you're like, I'm not sure what impact I'm having on the world.
And you can feel somewhat disconnected to this. It can feel too big for our minds to grasp. And you might even be thinking, you know, do I really matter in this global vision that Christ has? What do I have to do with that? And this is why Philippians is going to be such a blessing, I think, to you today and to me as I studied this week, that there's so much of what we're doing that is really part of God's global gospel work.
And you might feel like your prayers and maybe your generosity, maybe your faithfulness, you may not see it all the time, but God is using this, and he doesn't want you to lose joy. And so as we spend some time with this today, I want to help us move from feeling, perhaps disconnected to the vision God has, not only for you, but for his creation. I want you to move past feeling overwhelmed about that to experiencing the joy of a great partnership. The coolest thing we get to do on planet Earth is be a part of what God's up to. This is what he's made us for.
This is what his purpose is for his creation. And this is what's always been baffling to me about the Gospel, is that he doesn't just do it on his own. He decides to let us engage in it and be a part of it. And this is exciting stuff. And so we're going to be in the book of Philippians, chapter four.
We're going to see the Apostle Paul in his letter here to the Philippians, expressing a joy, a deep kind of joy in the partnership that they've shared with him. He has a sense of their generosity and their support in a way that has fueled his advancement. And I just want to remind you at the point where he's writing Philippians, he's in a Roman prison. He's in a. Basically in a situation of house arrest, if you will, where he's having to pay his own way.
This is a crazy thing, like he's having to actually take care of himself, pay for his own lodging and these things, while also being on house arrest. So this is very. A fascinating moment, and it Seems like to me, the whole book of Philippians. Paul is fired up. I don't know how fired up you and I would be if we were, you know, stuck in a situation like this.
But he is showing the joy of the Lord, and he's expressed it here in the way that they've cared for him. We can experience this kind of joy as we partner in the gospel with God's clear vision for the harvest. I pray you'll see the text give three clear essentials of expressing the joy of gospel partnership as we achieve and aim for God's vision in the world. So here we go. Just a handful of verses in Philippians, chapter 4, 10, 20.
Listen to this. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length, you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned Church. This is a crazy thing he's about to say that I hope we would grasp.
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstances. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.
And you, Philippians yourselves, know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except only you. Only even in Thessalonica. You sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more.
I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. A fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God and my God. I pray this over you, church, today. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.
Amen. God bless the reading of his Word. Amen. I pray this is an encouragement to you. It should be.
This is the point Paul is making here, is that he would encourage those who partner in the gospel to go on to continue to keep, to feel encouraged not only by these words, but also by the ministry that they're getting to be a part of, so we can experience the joy of a gospel partnership that we're not every part of what God's doing, but we are a part. We play our role in it. And it begins this way. By cultivating a concern for gospel saturation. Cultivating a concern for gospel saturation.
Now, I would imagine even those of you who have been at our church for several years, who have been a part of our church for a long time, you may not be aware of our church's mission statement. You've heard some of our key statements like this, come as you are and be forever changed by the love of Jesus. That's right. You know that one. That's a good one.
I'm glad you know that. You probably know our heart statements. We exist to make disciples who have a heart for God, a heart for each other, and a heart for our world. You've probably seen this. We've got these out there, in case you forget.
But there's this other one that's kind of under the hood that's driving all of this. And it's this. We desire to saturate eastern North Carolina with gospel centered churches. That's one we don't mention a ton, but it is what's underneath the hood of the way we minister, the way we're constantly hoping and praying and encouraging young men and women to be a part of the mission of God in eastern North Carolina. We have a heart for a place that even among some of our gospel partners in our state, they say, hey, there's kind of a black hole in one part of the state.
And it's east of 95 and north of Highway 40. And this is the very area where you and I find ourselves. Right? This is the nature of this part of eastern North Carolina where there's not a heavy church planting push. This is the place in which we feel God has called us, that we would be a part of helping reach the lost in this black hole of the state.
Reason being is a lot of these churches are literally aging out and dying. They're dying because their people are literally going home. They're going home to Jesus and no one is there to replace them. So this is part of the aim that I have as a minister here at the church. But I'm praying would be part of your aim is that we would be concerned with reaching first our Jerusalem, which is Rocky Mount here, if you're here, or Nash county, but then Judea, our region.
And then, as Acts says, the ends of the earth cultivate a concern for this kind of saturation. Paul begins this little section with a really good word. He says, I rejoiced. There's this feeling that Paul has of great. The word here technically means exceedingly joyful.
What's he rejoicing about that. You guys are concerned about me, you're checking in. I feel revived, in fact, he says, or actually, I am happy to hear that you are revived and you're concerned for me. In fact, he goes on to say in verse 10, you never were not concerned for me, you just didn't have the opportunity to show it. Something's come up perhaps.
I think Paul's in a really. He's in a tough predicament. He's in Rome. This is hundreds of miles away from Philippi, long before there's good means of travel. This is a long journey and they've already sent him help.
We see this name appear in our text today. This name Epaphroditus was a friend and co worker of Paul in the Gospel. They've already been sending him back and forth as kind of a caregiver to Paul. He says, I'm so thankful for you guys that you took. When you had the opportunity, you took it.
Perhaps he's even talking about the idea that this is a place that's in extreme poverty. You can see this in Second Corinthians, chapter eight, that Philippians, Philippi, along with many of the Macedonian churches, we're in a place of Corinthians says extreme poverty. So he's saying, hey, you had no opportunity to really bless me, but what you could do, you did do. I think this is really a helpful piece of information to us. Right here in the city in which we live, we have one of the lowest like per capita incomes in like most of the state.
We have some of the lowest housing in the whole state. This is a place that Paul might would write to and say, hey, I'm proud of you and what you had, you gave. Right? We're kind of like Philippi. That's why this letter has really been encouraging to me.
And he goes on to say something that I think each and every one of us, if we could bottle it, we could sell it for just an incredible amount of money. He says, I have discovered the secret of contentment, man. That would be a valuable item to be able to put on the market right there. Like now, all of a sudden I don't have to buy all this stuff for my comfort. Like the nights where I just, you know, my wife knows this.
Every once in a while I just have to, I want something cold and sweet. I'll tell her, normally ice cream is not available, which is such a bummer. But if I want something cold and sweet, I might settle for some Fruity Pebbles. Y' All. I'm not even gonna lie.
I will settle for a kiddie cereal in a heartbeat, for sure. But I want something cold and sweet. And these are these kind of little creature comforts that all of us enjoy. And I'm not belittling that at all. Hey, have that.
Those are probably good. Maybe not good for you, necessarily. I think probably I need to stop these kinds of activities. They're not helping me long term. But this is Paul saying, hey, I'd be happy to have those things.
It's not like Paul, in this moment, has reached some kind of place of perfection, that he's no longer human. No, he's very human. He recognizes very much that he's in a cold cell, he's in a cold prison. He's in a situation where he can't just do what he wants to do. And yet he says, I recognize this.
That I can live with a lot or I can live with a little. I've done both. I've said this before at church. I think one of the hardest tests is not learning to live with a little, but learning to live with a lot. And some of you are like, hey, sign me up for that.
I'd like to discover that problem. And I'm not saying I've ever had a lot or what people might consider a lot. But I know in at least my lifespan and me and my wife and the way we've done our budget, there have been seasons where we were doing better, and they were uniquely challenging. Are you still generous in those moments? I've always found it a little easier to be generous in the moments where I have nothing.
I'm like, well, I ain't got nothing anyway. So here's what I, you know, just take my last. Take the last crumb out of my pocket. I could care less. I don't know why.
For me, that's a little easier. I get stingier the more I have. That's a problem. Some of you may have experienced that. He says of the Philippian Church and then of himself, I've learned the secret, man.
I want to learn that secret. Don't you church? To have this unique acquaintance with the mystery of the gospel, that in Christ Jesus I have all that I need. I doubt very seriously he's enjoying any of the creature comforts we enjoy. I woke up this morning and took a hot shower.
That's one I'd really miss. You know, he doesn't have that. Probably not eaten. Well, even in the midst of a storm, you can go to the grocery store and find A few things to eat. You won't find any milk or bread.
Everybody's making French toast this weekend. But you can find something to eat. It's crazy. We live in a very amazing place. And in spite of that, I think you would probably not have to look far to find that we're one of the most medicated generations of all human history because of our depression and our anxiety.
And there's reasons for this outside of what I'm about to say, but I think part of it is this. You can give people everything they need. It will not make them content because contentment can't be bought, it can't be purchased. It can, however, according to Paul, be something you receive by the power of the Gospel. This is great news today that when we begin to cultivate a concern for the things of God which he is all about, his mission and ministry on planet Earth, that is what Jesus is about.
When you start to cultivate a concern. I want to be a part of what God is doing in my life, in my neighbor's lives. I want know what it's like to be a part of the mission of God in my generation. Suddenly you begin to get where Paul's at, where you get to bottle this secret contentment. Don't miss this church.
There's a reason he's content. It's in Christ Jesus. I know that, hey, wherever I go, God is with me. And whatever it is he wants me to have or have not, this is a part of his plan. He's not saying, hey, I'm being foolish.
Look, Paul, his whole ministry has been on the sidelines, making 10 little bit of a living in one part of scripture. He even tells them, hey, I tried not to take anything from you so that you wouldn't accuse me of anything. I worked hard on the side so that I wouldn't need from you and all of that. He says, I've learned to be content.
This people, these humble people in Philippi, they saw his need and strengthened him and sent him and concerned themselves with him seeing the need. However, though, is only the beginning. We must allow the Spirit to begin to turn our sight into some real compassion. This is what is said of Jesus in Matthew 9. It says, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. This is one of the most fascinating passages of Scripture. To me, especially lately, just seeing what God has done in our church in 2025, we have seen so many people coming through the doors, hungry and needing the gospel, but also needing friendship. Feeling alone, feeling stuck by some financial or some addiction.
This is the kind of ministry I wanted to be a part of. And it's happening. And I'm experiencing what Jesus is saying here. The harvest is indeed plentiful. The laborers are also few.
And Paul is so encouraged by the ones who showed up with him. It kind of reminds me of this thought every once in a while when I'm driving. I'm sure this happens to you from time to time. You'll be driving somewhere and you're not really paying a whole lot of attention to the cars. You've done it so many times that it's almost like breathing at this point, just kind of going about your business.
And then some alert comes on your phone. You know, maybe you've got your phone on the dash right in here or something like that, or something buzzes and it's an Amber alert, right? Some of you are even like more intense about these kind of things. My wife could have been a private investigator in another life. She just.
Her dad was apparently this way too. I've never seen this in person, but she says growing up, anytime a fire truck passed by, he would just get in behind it and like chase this thing where it was going, which I think is kind of illegal, but I'm not sure. But he just had to know. I mean, it might be the other side of town. I gotta go see what's on fire.
I'm not really that way, but I gotta admit, when those things pop up, something happens to me. All of a sudden I've got a description. Silver sedan.
I'm looking for a silver sedan, y'. All, There's a kid missing, right? I get interested. License plates. Now I'm playing the Alphabet game again, like I was a kid.
Like, I'm looking at license plate, I'm gonna find this thing. We always had a rule, you can't use license plates. Just so y' all know, in the Alphabet game, if you've never played the Alphabet game, you've never truly been bored on a trip. Alright, you've missed out. You iPad generation, man.
I've been bored on a trip, pretending that the water coming down from rain was racing, you know, who's going to get there first, that kind of stuff. But now an Amber alert comes over my phone and all of a sudden I've got my eyes peeled. I was Driving all along. I was looking at the cars all along, and guess what? The cars have not changed.
The stuff around me. Nothing's changed. But guess what has changed? My eyes. My eyes.
This is really what's happening here with what Christ has said and then what Paul is reminding us of here. The needs are great. Yes, the needs. The harvest is plentiful. Absolutely.
The laborers are few. Why? Because they haven't heard God's Amber Alert. You're here, you know, you're going every day, most of you. You're going into workplaces, you're going into grocery stores.
And it can become like breathing. I've got to come in here and get some milk or some broccoli or whatever. I'm just in and out. But until you get the alert, you're not even seeing it. You don't see silver sedans.
This is what's happening to some of you. And I pray would happen to all of you that the Amber alert has come out. God's alert. There are people in desperate need of the gospel. Are you concerned with this?
Do you see it? Do you hear it? That begins to move you a little bit differently. I've said it this way before, and I think I'm right about this, because some people can get a little confused about how exactly prayer works. Like, why is it that I need to pray for my loved ones or pray for my neighbors or pray for my co workers to be saved, Right?
For their salvation. Why should I pray for that? Because after all, doesn't God already want that? Yeah, friend, he absolutely does want that. In fact, scripture is really clear.
He desires that all men be saved. It says plainly, I think, believe that. Second verse or second Peter. Yeah, that's true. Okay, well, if that's true, why do I need to pray for that?
Obviously God knows that.
Okay, you make a compelling argument here. Why should I be? Here's why I think you should be praying for that. Not only because God is, you know, desiring and wants to be in relationship with you. It's bigger than that.
Something begins to change in you and I when we pray. That's the bigger thing that's happening here. When I begin to lift you up in prayer, when I begin to say, hey, Lord, please reach my neighbor, please give me the opportunity to speak well of you to them. Help me to be a light in my workplace. When I pray this way, guess who changes?
Not God. Me. I change. Now suddenly I start seeing my co workers and my neighbors through his eyes. That's what's happened in prayer, is Now I am being changed and God is always, always was ready to use me in this.
But now I'm on Team Jesus. Before, I was just kind of outside of the mission and will of God. These are the kinds of things God is doing constantly in my prayer life. Now I start to view people the way he views them. And I would not have gotten there without an intimate relationship with him.
Have you heard God's alert, His concern for gospel saturation in our city. In your little. Your little cul de sac, perhaps. I wonder at times if the reason I'm in my little cul de sac is for those couple of people right there. That's why he put me there, I think.
Probably so on your little street, perhaps you're right there. That house. That house. If God could see it. That one's shining white with a cross on it.
And he has intended for you to spread in your little street.
You've observed this probably growing number of guests here at our church. Today is, in fact, you may not know this. It's an odd day for us to do it. We were planning to do Vision Sunday, so now it's Vision Saturday. Next week we're going to launch a second service permanently here.
Here's what I know to be true. First service is probably going to look a little bit like this. Feel free to look around the room. I don't mind. It's a little thin in here today.
Why? Because it's Saturday. What are we doing in here? This might be first service next week. People are trying to get acclimated to the new pattern.
9, 15 and 11, 10:30. Church has died. I hope you liked it. 10 years of 10:30 over. I'm gonna miss 10:30.
It was great. Like 11, 9, 15. And here's what I know. It's gonna take a little bit of effort. More for some, less for some.
It's going to take a little bit of like being willing to have some change. That's part of what we're doing also. We're about to start a new ministry we're calling the East Gator. That's cheesy. I love it.
I don't care. I don't care. I didn't come up with it. I just liked it when I heard it. All right.
The East Gator. It's going to be a night about, about every six weeks. We're going to do a nice night over here where we explain to new guests what it means to be East Gator, what it means to be a part of the Eastgate Church. How we serve how we're on mission for gospel saturation. This is what this is going to be about.
We're going to have a nice meal. We're going to be inviting some of you to host tables. We're hoping we can kind of tweak your ear by saying, hey, this is kind of like a date night. We're going to take care of your kids. All you got to do is be nice and eat with people.
We'll see, see if we can get that out of you. Some of you though, we're going to ask to serve, to serve food to people. Some of you we're going to ask to. There might be some of you I asked to sing. Alright, there might be some of that.
I'm looking down here. Unless there's some hidden singing options. Really. Hey, talk to me later. Chris.
Always looking for more male singers especially. But yeah, this is something we're beginning soon. Why? Because we care about the people God is trusting to us. We want them to know what we're about.
We want them to experience the love of Christ and we're going to go out of our way to do it. Most of the ministries we're going to do here will require a little bit more effort by people like me and Josh and other volunteers here. And honestly I'm thankful to do it. This is going to sound kind of extreme but for about 10 years now I've kind of been just doing this as a minister and I'm excited to see what God is doing in his church and in my life. I'm willing to pay a little extra to do that.
And so this is part of what we're doing. So that's the first essential is that you would get this like concern, this deep felt desire for gospel saturation. Here's the second essential. By courageously sharing in the work of the gospel that you would be a part of it. This is what Paul says in verse 14.
He says, it was so kind of you to share my trouble. You didn't have to do it but you did. You shared my trouble. This word is the word sun. Koinonia.
Probably heard the word koinonia before in church. Perhaps it means to fellowship means to have partnership. The sun attachment tells us that it's like intensified. He says you have become like co partners, like co strugglers in the gospel. I'm so thankful for you.
He goes on in 15 to tell us something he's really never said anywhere else in scripture that I'm aware of. He says, hey, when I was journeying in My first missionary journeys for the gospel, there wasn't a whole lot of people that were helping me. So what he says right there in verse 15 and 16, he says, hey, the beginning of the gospel, what he's talking about there is the beginning of my gospel ministry. There was really only one church that took care of me. It was you, Philippi.
It goes on to say, even, in fact, when I went to Thessalonica, you kept supporting me. You can pop up this image for me real quick. This little visual. I don't do a ton of these, but I thought this one might help you a little bit. Philippi to Thessalonica doesn't look like a great distance on that map, but it's over 100 miles.
And that is like nothing for a modern American. We're going to make 100 miles like that. Right. But we're not walking. I guarantee you we'll be struggling with that.
Right. The average person in that day would walk about 20 miles a day. All right. At just a normal pace. So this is like a four to five day journey.
So when Paul says, hey, even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me support, just know that he's saying, hey, you guys took weeks out of your time to walk it here and walk home to make sure I was okay, to make sure I had what I needed. They're taking like in the first century here, here's a. Here's a four to six day short term mission trip that people were taking. And what's even more baffling about that to me is Thessalonica is a big city. It's a more wealthy and prominent city.
It's situated right in the middle of that gulf there, as you saw on that image. And it was the residence of one of the Roman governors. So it's a more prominent place. It would be like us here in Rocky Mount saying, you know what, we need to keep supporting that church planter that's going to Raleigh. Some of you might be like, don't they have stuff in Raleigh?
We don't have a lot of stuff. Right. You might think that many of you might. You wouldn't be abnormal to think that Paul's saying this is what's so extraordinary about their love for me is that in Podunk, Philippi, they kept supporting me when I went to the big city. It's amazing.
You sent me help once. And again he says, In 16, this speaks. It wasn't a one off, it was consistent church. I want you to hear something. There's a reason that God has called you to the place you're in right now, you may have had other aspirations to be in other places.
I'll be honest with you. When I was first getting into this ministry thing, I thought, God, can I get one of two things? I want to see mountains or I want to see coast. Can I get one? He said, no, I'll give you the middle.
You can get to the coast fairly quick. Like. Well, yeah, There's a lot of mosquitoes here, though. Lord. I mean, I don't know.
A lot of gnats and little old Rocky Mount, little old Wilson. Wherever it is that you've come from today, you might feel a sense of smallness. This is not the news to Philippi today. This little town, this little ministry, 2,000 years later, we're reading about them. How cool is that?
Because of their partnership in the Gospel, their letter echoes perhaps throughout all of eternity. How awesome is that? Perhaps God is doing the exact same thing in your little life in this little town. And it is no insignificant thing. It is huge.
Perhaps some of you will have the children that go on to, like, shake up the world because of just your faithful ministry to them. You understand this? Like, some of the work that's going on down that hallway might have the most impact on our generation, way more than what I'm doing. I think that's fascinating, that there's maybe some little kid back there right now that's going to be way better of a preacher than I could ever be be. I pray that.
So that would be awesome. I want that. Would you courageously share in the work of the Gospel? This is the news to Philippi today. This is the news to us.
These Macedonians, they gave not out of a sense of their lack, but out of sense that we know who God is and we know what he's about. 2nd Corinthians 8. I mentioned this earlier. Here's what that looked like, Verse one. It says, we want you to know, brothers.
And he's talking here to the Corinthian Church. We want you to know about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, Philippi being primary to that. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Now, I gotta admit to you, I have no understanding of how extreme poverty could overflow in wealth. That's what he writes.
They said, I ain't got much, but you can have it. I love it. Now, he's not just Talking to him here about financial stuff, and I know that can be often a hot button for people. That's not all he's speaking about here. It is part of it.
He's talking about their willingness to, like, be all in. Their willingness to pray, their willingness to show up in the needs. In the late 1700s, there was this missionary that I read a ton about when I was in seminary, but I bet not many of you have heard a lot about. I hadn't heard a lot about him prior to seminary, but his name's William Carey, and he's often considered kind of the father of modern missions. What's interesting about that is he spent so much of his life in India, and there were very, very few people who came to Christ there.
But he began something that later bore a lot of fruit. And here's what he said. I find this really fascinating. As he's going out on gospel mission, he told his friends, he says, I will go down into the pit if you will hold the rope. This is what it means to be a part, to courageously share in the work of the gospel, is that most of us aren't called to go into the pit.
Most of you in the room are not called necessarily to pastor. That's okay. That's totally what God's up to. He's called you, actually to be very faithful in the work you're doing currently, but to hold the rope. Hold the rope.
Some others are going down into trouble. It could be missionaries we send from our church, and we've sent some, could be church planters that we're aiming at, that we're hoping and praying God will allow us to do so, that the Black Hole of eastern North Carolina would cease to be a thing. How can we hold the rope, you might ask? Well, certainly when we start talking about the East Gator, hey, I want you guys to sign up, right? Help us host tables, help us serve.
That'd be a good first step. Help us launch next week a second service. Maybe. Maybe there's some people in the room today. You're not serving.
Really? That's okay. No shame. Get started. Start doing something.
Hey, I can make coffee. Hey, I can say hi. Hey, I can smile. If you've got a musical gift and you're keeping that to yourself. Hey, let's talk right?
Use these gifts for the Lord. There's some other things we've been doing as a church this year. Some of you are very familiar with this. Others of you. This might be a surprising piece of information.
I don't want you to like get overly worried about this. But we as a church have done a three year campaign called it's time. And if you're new around here, here's what that did. It allowed us to buy this building. It was something we did between our two campuses that allowed us to get into this space.
And among other things, there's probably people in the room right now that the reason you're here is because you saw us somewhere on social media. I bet if I did a hand raise there'd be quite a few of you in the room. I came because I saw an ad or I saw a reel or I saw something like that. Well, you know what, I'm really thankful you're here. It cost us something to acquire that we put not only time but money into that access so that you might be sitting here today.
Very thankful for that. That's part of what we were doing with its time. Also we hired some people. So Josh, raise your hand if you haven't met Josh yet. Before the day's out, meet Josh.
Alright? He's been on board for a couple months now. Faithful. I've been very thankful for him. This morning we got to church and there was an awful smell in the building.
Awful. I think one of us, somebody left something foul the kitchen trash can. Could have been me, probably was me, I don't know. But it was tremendous. And Josh was down.
I was working on something else. I came in there and he's down in the bottom of the trash can mopping something up. Lord help him. So I'm thankful for that. That's part of what it means to be an East Gator by the way, is we serve humbly.
Any one of us could be cleaning a toilet at any moment. That's how we roll, right? I'm thankful for you, Josh. This is part of what we did and we're almost on track as a church between both of our campuses. We committed $1.6 million together, which was astounding to me that we would commit such a thing.
And we're getting close to 400k at this point. So God has been so faithful. But I just want to encourage you, continue to hold the rope. In a few years we're going to have to actually pay our monthly mortgage here. Right now it's time's helping us.
In a few months we're actually going to have to grow up. The 18 year old's going to have to leave the house, right? That's kind of what we're dealing with now. There's another Thing that's coming soon. I know this all feels very not sermony, but this is part of what Vision Sunday is supposed to be about.
We're doing a couple of short term mission trips this year. I tried to say all that with one breath. That was tough. And one of those is happening in June. I don't know if it's too late to still get on board.
That would be a good question I could chase down for you. But if nothing else, in June we're going to Uganda as a church again, serving a ministry there. It's amazing what God is doing there in southern Uganda. I've been on that trip and God just so is using the churches there to reach people. It's fascinating.
But there may still be opportunity for you to go on the trip. That's one thing. But I'm asking that you might hold the rope, that there may be somebody in the church who's going or somebody among our campuses that's on that trip. Perhaps you just want to offer prayer for them for that trip. Perhaps you just want to give them a couple of dollars to make that a little easier.
The trip's not terribly expensive, but it is a flight, so those are always a little pricey. So we're taking another trip later in the year to Serbia and this might be something that interests some of you. We're doing an interest meeting for that soon. And so if you're curious about how the gospel is spreading there in Europe, this would be a really great opportunity for you. Also an opportunity for you to hold the rope.
And so those are a few. Now let's finish this text together. He says these essentials are sharing, having a concern, but lastly, having a confident investment that you would confidently invest in the Gospel of God's glory. The Gospel for God's glory. This text ends in such a fascinating way.
He says in verse 17, hey, I'm thankful for your kindness. I'm thankful that you gave. I'm thankful that you took the journey that you showed up. I needed a hug around my neck. I needed someone to bring me a cloak.
There's another passage of scripture where he says, hey, can somebody just bring me a coat and maybe some of my parchments because I'm bored and I want to read and I'm cold, right? Those are some creature comforts that Paul was longing for. But here he says, hey, I wasn't seeking that you bring me stuff. I wasn't seeking the gift. Here's what I was hoping and praying for, that you would get to be a part of this ministry.
So that. Look at verse 17. He says that it would increase to your credit, that it would go on to your account, that, hey, this was a faithful church. Well, I got to admit to you, it absolutely did. We're still studying it today.
It has been to their credit and forevermore we will know that this humble church was faithful. And he goes on in verse 18 to say, and you sent me back Epaphroditus, which is quite a name. I've never heard anybody in modern day called Epaphroditus. So it's open, right? Those of you having sons, I think it could venture out to be a girl's name, Epaphroditus.
So just. You're free. You're free to use that. It actually comes from a compound word, EPI and Aphrodite. So this dude's name, and it's a dude.
His name means lovely. Not the most masculine name ever, but it kind of sounds masculine when you put it together. Epaphroditus. It literally means devoted to the goddess of love and beauty, or lovely, in his case. He was a lovely dude.
Here in the text, it says earlier in Philippians, the dude nearly died trying to get help to Paul. Philippians, chapter two. Let me read this for you. It says, I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier. He's talking about the war of the gospel.
Not literally war, but this ministry. And he says, and your messenger and minister to my need. He goes on in verse 30 to say, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. This journey he took, this little 100 miles. He got super sick, apparently, on this journey.
It says in the middle of that that he fell ill. He's thankful for this lovely man. He braved some kind of terrible virus and got to him. Anyway, he goes on to tell them something fascinating. He says, you offering was like a fragrant offering, a sacrifice that was acceptable.
He here is using Old Testament language, and I think there's a purpose to it. And as we're coming to a close today, I want you to hear this. That part of us being generous with our time, talent and treasure, part of us being concerned with the Gospel ministry, part of us saying yes to what God is calling to us, not just at this church, but in our city, in our workplace, in our homes. Part of that is that it becomes a fragrant offering, a sacrifice, acceptable and pleasing to God. What did they give?
They gave Some stuff. Paul turns it around and says, no, it's kind of like a sacrifice. One writer on this verse 18 is where I'm at. One writer says that the apostle uses imagery of an Old Testament sacrifice here being offered by the priest at the altar. Now hear this.
Church here is the ultimate purpose and the greatest motivation for our financial giving to gospel ministry. More than meeting the needs of gospel ministers, the highest aim is the pleasure it brings to the Father. This is what Paul has said here. What you really did was pleasing to God. And he closes with these wonderful sentences.
And he's going to supply your every need, not according to your riches, but according to his. I'm thankful for that.
And to God be the glory forever.
I'm hopeful, church, that the many investments I've had in my life, of my time or my strength, or even the times where I was able to give, I'm hopeful that those investments have multiplied. I think one of the coolest investments we ever get to make is the one we first make with our children and then the one that we perhaps get to make with other believers in Christ. We. We do this one on one discipleship stuff around here. And I think if you've never done that with a faithful disciple here at our church, you should try.
You should sign up for that today and say, hey, I'd like to do a. I'd like to go one on one and study the word of God with another believer here at the church. But it's so much fun to see people grow in their faith, to see that investment blossom. I think my kids are going to turn out all right. News is still out on that, but kind of watching how they're shaping, watching my kids becoming musicians who seem to have a heart for worship, seeing them, you know, my little blonde haired one that's back there, who knows what that one's gonna be. But she is an outstanding inviter.
She is an invitational person and I love that. We had. A few weeks ago, we had a couple of teachers from her school come because of, I think primarily her. And we've had other teachers from some other students. Y' all are good inviters too.
But it's just great to see this. Great to see how God is using people, using little ones. And those are the investments I just want to be a part of so desperately. In Second Corinthians 9, it says, God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. I want to see these investments grow.
Now, I want to finish today's sermon with a couple of facts. This is meant to encourage you, and I think it really will. This past year, in 2025, we at both of our campuses saw 37 people get baptized, which is incredible. I think it was 14 or 15 here. I think it was 14 up at our campus, which is 14 more than the year before.
As far as I know. The year before, I think maybe there might have been two or three right in December. So we might have just squeezed a few in December of 24. But we almost went the whole year with none. And we had had some tough years after Covid, where our church was really struggling in a lot of ways.
Fourteen people, some of you are sitting over there, some other people in the room. They got baptized this year. Right? Because of what? Because of what?
Because of the investment of others. Not just me, not even mostly me. The work of God through his people. That's why 37 people, 93 people last year joined our church. It's awesome.
334 people. This is a crazy number. 334 people used their gifts on our volunteer teams last year. Year. That's pretty neat.
It was close to 100 up here. 236 people committed to a deeper spiritual growth through Life on Life discipleship. Those are people that were already currently involved, but we added more to that number. It's a lot of people doing life on life last year at Kids Fest. We're doing that again this year.
By the way, it's January. I'm thankful I don't got to think about it. Well, some people are thinking about it already. Going to put that out there. That's a July event.
Last year, 187 kids heard the gospel at Kids Fest. 60 something up here. One of our better ones. People work really hard for that event. Why?
Well, first, because it's pleasing to God, like a sweet offering, a fragrant offering. But second, because guess what? Eastgate Church, we care about kids. We care about lostness among our little ones. And we're thankful that we get to be a part of it.
We have 17 mission partners right now, both local and international, sharing the gospel because of your work, your prayer, your investment. We know a few of these really well. Nathan Englehart and his wife are, I think, now in country. They were in Korea for a bit. Now I believe they're in Kazakhstan, as far as I know.
I'm not positive on that. But they're making that move. And God's been really showing up. They were once, or Nathan especially was once on stage with us for several years serving in ministry. And some of you have faithfully supported him.
Our church has supported him. And I got to tell you, there's not a lot of believers in where he's at. They're not sure. There's many at all. Apparently they have reindeer there, which is pretty cool.
We got people in Turkey, we've got people in the Czech Republic. We've got people in South America that our church is supporting. We don't think about this enough. William Carey says, I'll go into the pit if you'll hold the rope. We're holding the rope.
We just joined a collaborative this year. You can pop up this image. It's called the Mercy Hill Collaborative. This is a network of gospel centered churches that has a desire to plant, to make disciples and plant more churches. Just so you all know, I'm going to go ahead and give you a heads up.
I'm going to out you right now, Josh. But the plan, at least the current plan, Lord willing, is that in the next few years, Josh would be prepping and planning and preparing to be a church planner. Unless things have changed this week, I think that's the case still. Whether that is with our campus, we don't know. That would be great.
We'd love that. But no matter what, we want to be a part of helping young men like him plan, plant churches in our state or wherever God leads you to go. This is part of what we're doing. This is why we're investing in this ministry, because we want to be a part of helping little towns like the little town of Tarboro. There's a young man in Tarboro now named Jonathan.
I cannot remember his last name right now, but Jonathan was easy for me to remember. Taylor. Taylor. Jonathan Taylor. Thank you, buddy.
He just started a church in Tarboro just a few months ago. And they're in those early years where it's grind. It is a serious work of faith. God is doing these little things. There's a little guy, there's a little church in Zebulun.
Pastor's name is Sam Watson. These are the kinds of things I'm praying about. It's so exciting to see the move of God in these little towns. Oh, it's great in Raleigh and in Charlotte, but I like the little stuff. I like, hey, Tarber, are you kidding me?
Let's plant a church in Pinetops. Ain't but two people in pine tops. You might say, let's do it. Like, I love that this is part of what we're doing here with this collaborative, that we would make disciples and plant churches. So I'm praying today that you would cultivate a concern for the lost that begins to impact first your home, then your workplace, then your church life, then your ministry, that you would courageously share this burden that God has on our lives, that you would invest, whether it's your time, your talent, or your treasure, that you would invest in the kingdom of God.
The move of God. Starting next week, two services here in Rocky Mount. Take the plunge with us. Serve somewhere. Sign up to help us at the next East Gator.
Let's spend some time now in prayer together. I ask. Let's go. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you are first and foremost a good God who loves us, who sent your son Jesus to die for us. This is the vision for the world you had before the foundation of the world, that you would set us free because of the gospel, set us free because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
Thank you for that. First and foremost, we love you because you are good. We love you because you first loved us and you sent your son Jesus as a sacrifice. We thank you for the cross today. We thank you for the resurrection God, if nothing else.
We praise you for these things. And we're asking now, Lord, help us to have a heart for the world like you have. Yeah, we talk about it here as a church. We have a heart for God and a heart for each other and a heart for our world. Help us to truly have that heart that seeks not only to pray for, but to invest in the growth of the gospel in our city, in surrounding areas and around the world, that we would get to see the work of God, that when our missionaries come home, it's not just another report.
We are a part of it. When we hear their words and hear the wonder of what God is doing around the world, we would hear it and go, I was a part of that. I've been praying about that. I've been touching base with them so that they know I still remember them. I text them, I email them.
This is the kind of work we're praying we would do around the world and certainly in our city that people would know we're invested. God, do this in your people. Thank you for your wonderful work of the cross. God, help us now to be the kind of people who are deeply concerned with your vision for your world. I pray, Lord, it would start here.
We're about to do some kind of crazy things here at your church, here in this little little place in Rocky Mountain. Lord, we got plenty of room in this building to just stay with one service. But we're doing this for some other reasons, because we believe first and foremost you've called us to it, that you want us to open up the doors for more people. Open up the doors, in fact, for our own people who have served and served and served and missed church because of their service, God, we want to bless them. So I'm asking, Lord, would you show us favor that people in this room and people who might be listening later, who couldn't be here today, God, that you would move and stir in their hearts to be faithful in ministry, that they would say, yes, I'll take that small step of service so that another person might come and hear the truth of Jesus.
God, would you help your people to be faithful? We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.