Let me set the scene for you. Paul loves to talk about Jesus. Anywhere! Anytime! Anyhow! Jesus. Believe it or not, Paul would get arrested for talking about Jesus and he considered it joyful moment...why? It was still an opportunity to advance the Gospel. See, even though Paul was in chains, the Gospel is never in chains. So Paul is chained to guards according to v.13 and these guards were important people who changed shifts every 6-8 hours...so guess what happened to each guard connected to Paul? Jesus time! Haha. Paul was like, "you might chain me up, but you can't chain up the Gospel, so we are going to talk about it." See, there is no mention of them chaining up his mouth. So let's say, every 6-8 hours a guard is changed. So, in a days time, maybe 4 guards. Do these guys repeat or are there 10 guards? It doesn't matter because at that moment, whoever is chained up to Paul, they are going to hear about his Savior. My message in prison is "get me out of here asap!" Paul used it, since he was there anyways, as a platform to talk about Jesus. Now, today my eyes were opened to the impact of the phrase advancing the Gospel. Now look at Philippians 4:22 - "All God's people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household." Wait, what? How? Well, go back to Philippians 1:12-13. Paul was advancing the Gospel even though he was in chains to roman soldiers...who worked for Caesar! Are you kidding me? And do you know what else happened besides roman guards hearing about Jesus? It gave Paul's brothers and sisters confidence (v.14) to preach Jesus...without fear....ADVANCING THE GOSPEL!!!
So I have to ask myself the question today, have I advance the Gospel today and if not, what is possibly my excuse? I AM NOT IN PRISON, I am a free man! Are you advancing the Gospel today? What is your excuse if you aren't? It is time to rise up! Let's be bold and courageous fearing nothing!
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