Sermon Notes - Philippians 3:15-4:1 - Rising Sun Baptist Church - August 9, 2026

1.        Open your Bibles to Philippians 3:15.

2.        In life we tend to have more than one option to choose from.

a.        College, trade school, or jump into the work force.

b.       To buy a house or rent.

c.        To get married or stay single.

d.       To buy something or save the money.

e.        To have a second piece of pie or follow your diet.

3.        To go through the narrow gate or the wide one. 

4.        Matthew 7:13-14

a.        To follow Jesus or embrace sin.

5.        To live worthy of the Gospel of Christ or focus on ourselves.

a.        To love God or ignore Him.

b.       To love others or not.

c.        To be a sheep or a goat.

d.       To spend forever with Jesus or in the lake of fire.

6.        We all have choices.

a.        Some are trivial.

b.       Many are not.

7.        As we continue in the letter to the Philippians, choices are to be made.

8.        Philippians 3:15

a.        Therefore… because of what was previously shared.

b.       What we talked about last week.

c.        Paul is encouraging the church to focus on Jesus.

d.       Those of us who are mature Christ followers.

e.        We are to choose Jesus, each and every day.

f.          Surrender to Him and the teachings of His Word.

g.        Choose to let Him work in you.

h.        Let the Holy Spirit guide you.

9.        Remember that the things of this world pale in comparison to what our Jesus is offering us.

a.        Life with Him is better than being famous or influential.

b.       Redemption is worth more than millions of dollars in the bank.

c.        Growing in Godly wisdom is a better option than growing in the knowledge of this world.

10.   The good, better, and best choice is to live for Jesus.

11.   The second half of this verse is interesting, read starting at And…

a.        If for some reason, you do not see Jesus as the best choice.

b.       If you are not choosing to prioritize Him.

c.        Paul is saying that God will reveal the truth to you.

d.       Proverbs 2:6

e.        Proverbs 3:5-7

f.          God is the source of wisdom.

g.        If we are following Him, He will work in us.

h.        James tells us that if we lack wisdom, ask God and He will give it to us. (1:5)

12.   If you are wondering if you should give your full life to God, pray about it.

a.        God will guide you.

b.       He will help you to see that following Him is the best choice.

13.   Philippians 3:16

a.        If you don’t know Jesus you are going to live your life your way.

b.       If you surrendered to Jesus last week, you are a baby Christ follower and are just taking your first steps.

c.        The longer we have followed Jesus.

d.       The more Godly knowledge and wisdom we have received.

e.        The more it is to impact our lives.

f.          Choosing God first.

g.        Loving God with all that we are.

h.        Submitting to the Lord’s will.

i.          Trusting that He will complete a good work in and through us.

14.   As we walk through the sanctification process in our lives.

a.        God will help us.

b.       Romans 12:1-2

c.        As we go to God.

d.       We will be transformed.

e.        Our minds will be renewed.

f.          We will be able to see God’s will for us.

g.        Step by step, God will work in us.

h.        Helping us to draw near to Him.

15.   Philippians 3:17

a.        To be clear, Paul has told us that he is not perfect.

b.       He is not encouraging us to live our lives exactly like his.

c.        He is not saying we should strive to be like other people.

d.       Don’t try to be the same as Billy Graham or this guy up here.

e.        Don’t try to be your rose-colored memory of your saintly great grandmother.

f.          Instead, follow the example of Paul and any others you have known in how they have pursued Jesus.

g.        Remembering how they looked forward to the future that they have with Jesus.

h.        How they dedicated time to draw near to Jesus by talking to Him and learning His Word.

i.          We have some great examples in scripture of faulty humans who sought Jesus.

j.          They learned from Him.

k.        They let the Holy Spirit lead them.

l.          They made a priority of living their lives worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

m.     That is what we are to do.

n.        Pursue Jesus like the examples that came before us.

16.   Philippians 3:18

a.        Be aware that not everyone is following God.

b.       If we turn on the news or look at social media, we will see a lot of people who obviously are not following God.

c.        But there are people where it is much harder to tell.

d.       2 Timothy 4:3-4

e.        False teachers.

f.          Those who teach the prosperity Gospel.

g.        Those who say you need Jesus plus something.

h.        People who say give deeply and you will be healed or receive a financial windfall.

i.          Those who celebrate sin and teach it is ok.

17.   These are not people who know God.

a.        They are not those who are pursuing our Jesus.

b.       These are the goats, and I don’t mean the greatest of all time.

c.        These are those who do not love God.

d.       Those who did not care for those in need.

e.        It includes those who try to steer people aware from Jesus.

f.          They are headed to the lake of fire for all eternity.

18.   Philippians 3:19

a.        Those who reject the Gospel and those who work to lead others away, are headed towards the worst of eternities.

19.   Their god is their stomach… they focus on physical desires.

a.        Food, money, sexual immorality.

b.       Whatever it may be.

c.        Those who are chasing physical pleasures are headed to destruction.

20.   Their glory is in their shame… this is those who want the glory.

a.        They build themselves up.

b.       Increasing their influence.

c.        These are people who are trying to elevate themselves.

d.       Not at the expense of Paul or other Godly leaders.

e.        No, they are lifting themselves up instead of God.

21.   Some of these are those who do things and don’t believe they will be caught.

a.        Sadly, we have seen too many religious leaders fall from grace.

b.       People who should have been pointing others to Jesus, but let pride take over.

22.   Then there is those who are focused on early things…

a.        To be clear, taking care of your family and preparing for retirement are good things.

b.       But, those who trust their paychecks and bank account balances more than they do God.

c.        Those who believe they can earn their own salvation.

d.       Be good enough.

e.        They reject the Gospel message of Jesus.

f.          They elevate themselves and the things that have accumulated over God.

23.   Verse 18 tells us these are the enemies of God.

a.        They have rejected the Father and the one He sent.

b.       They believe they don’t need a Savior.

c.        They are lost.

24.   This comes on the heels of Paul saying that he is pursuing the gift of Jesus.

a.        Even with all he has done, he does not believe he has achieved it.

b.       His goal in life was to know the power of God.

c.        To be found in Christ.

d.       Righteous and redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

25.   There is a stark contrast from those who are pursuing Jesus and those who are pursuing the world.

26.   Philippians 3:20

a.        We are citizens of heaven and such…

b.       Philippians 1:27

c.        We are to pursue Jesus.

d.       Looking forward to the day our Lord will return.

e.        Longing towards the day that we will be with Jesus.

f.          Knowing that we are here for a purpose but looking forward to spending forever with our God.

27.   Philippians 3:21

a.        A time will come.

b.       When our Lord Jesus will return.

c.        When He comes.

d.       We will be transformed.

e.        From a fallen sinful state.

f.          Our bodies that know pain, sickness, and weakness will be replaced.

g.        They will be replaced with bodies similar to Jesus’s resurrected body.

28.   Not because we have earned it.

a.        But because our God has saved us.

b.       Because Jesus has given us everlasting life.

c.        Something that only the Creator and Sustainer of universe, our Lord and Savior Jesus, can do.

29.   Philippians 4:1

a.        Paul loves this church.

b.       They are his brothers and sisters… fellow believers, his family.

c.        He longs to be with them.

30.   Part of the reason he is saying all of this is to get their attention.

a.        Because he ends this section by encouraging them to stand firm.

b.       To stand on what is being taught in this letter.

c.        To live worthy of the gospel.

d.       To remember they are citizens of heaven.

e.        To pursue Jesus with all that they are.

f.          To turn away from those that hate the cross.

g.        To look to the future and the Hope they have forever in Jesus.

31.   A message that I hope resonates with each of you this morning.

a.        The world is an interesting place.

b.       There is a lot that could pull us away from Jesus and His amazing gift.

c.        Which is why we need to stand firm.

d.       Stand on the truth found in Scripture.

e.        Stand on the fact that Jesus died for us.

f.          Stand in knowing that Jesus is the only way to forever with the Father.

g.        Stand knowing that a life spent pursuing Jesus is a wonderful thing.

h.        Stand on what God is doing in our lives.

32.   All of us have a choice to make…

a.        The world or Jesus.

33.   Thoughts for the road:

a.        What change can you make this week to pursue Jesus, looking forward to the future with Him?

b.       Take a look at who or what is influencing your life and faith, are they pointing you to Jesus or somewhere else? Distance yourself if necessary.

c.        List three people you can be praying for this week, those who don’t know Jesus or have wandered away. Pray for God to draw them close.  

34.   Now if you do not know Jesus, He died for you.

a.        We see that Paul had made pursuing Him the priority in his life.

b.       This was because Jesus is God and is offering something that only He can offer.

c.        Salvation.

d.       Redemption.

e.        Freedom.

f.          Righteousness.

g.        A new life.

h.        It all starts with faith in who Jesus is and what He did.

i.          Jesus is God who came to earth out of love for us.

j.          To offer us an amazing gift.

k.        A gift He can give because He died to pay for our sin.

l.          A gift that includes new life through His resurrection from the dead.

m.     A gift of eternal life in the presence of the Father, where Jesus is today.

n.        Are you ready to surrender to Jesus?

o.        If so, I want to encourage you to come forward and pray with me during our next song.

35.   If you are ready to follow Jesus in water baptism or feeling led to join RSBC I would love to talk to you after service.