Text: Philippians 1:1–27
Topic: Accepting life as it comes by living in the Holy Spirit and trusting God's providential hand.

• To live a "whatever happens" existence is not to resign to cynicism, disillusionment, nihilism, or skepticism; it is to embrace providence, the superintending hand of God that guides us even in the midst of mystery.
• When we can't figure out the "un-figure-out-able"—when we cannot walk through the maze of confusion and find clarity as we go—we know that the hand of God still leads us.
  • Illustration: Providence echoes the sentiment of one of our favorite hymns, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness."

• All of us start out as zeroes. We don't like that.
• This is not nihilism, which speaks of nothingness.
• You may start out a zero, but creation was brought into existence by God, who worked beyond nothingness.
• Nihilo means nothing. Creational ex nihilo means that God created the world out of nothing.
• If God can start off with nothing in nature, he can do the same with our lives.
• God has taken some of us from the basement of being discarded and made something beautiful out of our lives.
• Therefore, we are not nihilists. We believe in a God who can make the impossible possible.
• Paul lived a "whatever happens" kind of life, because he understood where he had come from.
• Philippians 1:1: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus."
• Paul knew that testimonies were greater than titles.
  • Illustration: Smith offers a variety of examples from Scripture (example: Pharaoh had a title, but Moses had a testimony).
• God will take somebody who is sold out for God—somebody who has no recognition, refinement, or polish—and establish that person, making them a great voice for God.
• Philippians 1:1 continues: "To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi."
• Paul says your permanent address is in Christ Jesus.
• Your zip code changes, but your address in Christ is permanent.
• Paul found that out in Acts 16:6–7, when God sent Paul to Troas instead of Bithynia.
• Troas is that little place on the other side of the road—out in the boondocks and nowhere near a main highway.
• Some of us want Philippi, but we don't want to spend any time in Troas. If you're too big for Troas, God can't use you in Philippi.
• The greatest challenge we will face is the struggle not between the good door and the bad door, but between the good door and the best door; God will close some doors—Bithynia and Asia Minor—to get you to pay attention to the right door.
• If only we could just get in rhythm with God and step where he says, "Step," and stop when he says, "Stop."
  • Illustration: You may build cathedrals, large or small. You may build skyscrapers grand and tall. You may conquer all the failures in your past, but only what you do for Christ will last.
• Verse 12: What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
• Paul is the optimal optimist. He knows how to take a minus and make a plus out of it.

• Paul's prison experience has advanced the gospel.
• Philippians 4:22: Paul had a knack for taking a prison and turning it into a pulpit.
  • Illustration: God has used prisons greatly in history (John Bunyon, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr).
• Paul and Silas were in jail in Philippi ten years before the writing of this text, and the Bible says that at midnight they prayed and sang, and they were set free.
• We think that we're the captives, but we are not.
• Quit letting the Devil walk all over you. God has given you the authority of the Word of God, and the Word of God is supreme.
  • Illustration: Howard Thurman explained the black spiritual hymn from Jeremiah 8:22.
• Like Job, I have to say: I know that my Redeemer lives and at the latter day, he shall stand upon the earth.
• Like the apostle Paul, I have to say: I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.        
• We have to stop living an interrogative existence, and we have to live in the exclamation point of God.

• Philippians 1:19: I know that I will continue with your help and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
• "Help" in Greek is the word from which we get our English word "choreography."
• A choreographer arranges the set, designs, and routine of the dance.
• Paul is saying that God, through the Holy Spirit, has choreographed my existence.
• You are a Spirit-filled Christian. Say to God the Spirit, "Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Break me. Melt me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me."
• Paul says he knows he's going to continue with the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ—that what has happened to him will turn out for his deliverance.
• Romans 8:28: When Paul wrote that, he wasn't in Rome. But now, while in a Roman prison, does he still believe that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God?
  • Illustration: Most of us love cake, but we don't like the individual ingredients of cake. But when they're mixed together and baked, we get a cake.
• God takes individual things that may be distasteful and causes them to work together for good, because you love God and you're called according to his purpose.
• Paul says: Whatever happens is going to work out for my deliverance.
• How long can you wait for deliverance?
• In the first two chapters of the Book of Job, God chooses Job to be picked on by the Devil. In chapters 3–37, God says absolutely nothing.
• Can you wait 35 chapters for God to speak?

• In verses 25–26, Paul is certain he will be released, but by verse 27, he's not sure.
• Still, Paul writes: Whatever happens—whether I stay here or not—live a life that honors the gospel.
  • Illustration: Søren Kierkegaard said, "Life has to be lived forward, but it can only be understood backward."
• Sometimes we do not see the hand of God.
• Paul lived a "whatever happens" life not because he believed in fate, but because he knew that God works in mysterious ways.

• Paul lived a "whatever happens" life because he knew there was one who also lived on the edge of whatever happened—his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
  • Illustration: Smith traces the "whatever happens" life of Christ: starting In Gethsemane and on to the Resurrection.

• When I get to glory, I'm going to Blessing Boulevard. When I get to glory, I'm going to Hallelujah Square. When I get to glory, I'm going to Shouting Lane to give him praise for what he's done for me.
• Down here I've had to live with the hitherto, but I'm moving from the hitherto to the henceforth—for henceforth there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me on that day.
• Down here I've had to live with "some more" negatives and sticky situations, but I'm moving from the "some more" to the "no more."
• When I bow, I'm going to bless his name: All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all!