Live Free with Josh Howerton - God Is At Work *In You* | Ep. 52 | Tuesday April 18, 2023

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

God is hard at work in your life. He gives you both the desire *and* the power to walk the road of Jesus joyfully. As Pastor Mike continues to teach through Philippians, today’s episode will encourage you to persevere in your walk with God. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey guys, my name is Mike Bro. Thanks for tuning in to the Daily Drive podcast today. We're just doing a little informal five-minute journey

through a little book of the New Testament of the Bible called Philippians. And if you're new to the Bible, man, I'm so excited that you're hanging with us. Because God's word is so fresh and it's alive and it's relevant and I think you'll find it stirring in you in a really good way. Well, if you've been tracking with us, welcome back. It's such a cool book. Only four chapters, but it's so full of rich stuff. It was actually written as a letter to a church in a city called Philippi.

to a group of courageous and compassionate people who are living in very uncertain times. Kind of describes some people I know these days. The theme of this letter is joy. None of a manufactured happiness, not an adrenaline rush, not an emotional hype, not temporary ecstasy, but a deep-seated joy that is constant through the hard times

as well as the good times. And the cool thing is, that actually exists. And it's amazingly available through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now we've already gone through about half the letters So if you want to go back and take a listen, you can't And I'd encourage you to read a few verses every day And just meditate on them, chew on them for a while

Talk to God about what's in this for your soul It's amazing how he speaks uniquely and personally To our situation We just finished this amazing section in chapter 2 In the last episode All about embracing the same kind of radical humility That Jesus chose It's just one of those passages

You just got to download into your heart It's such a great reminder that even though he actually was better than anybody else, Jesus didn't walk through his days with a sense of supremacy or self-importance. He just humbly served. And I just want to hang in a couple of verses in chapter two today. We're down to verse 12. And remember, this is a letter that Paul writes from prison, and he does so with so much gratitude and so much tenderness.

He says this verse 12, dear friends, You've always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I'm away, it's even more important. In other words, don't let my absence make you drift. Kind of like some of you students who have a substitute teacher for the day. The actual teacher isn't around, so you get a tendency to why you need to slack off. Or perhaps you're working remotely these days, and you're pretty much accountable to yourself or working hard.

Paul is saying, listen, doesn't matter whether I'm there or whether I'm not. The Holy Spirit is always with you. He is in you. So work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. And it's not work hard to earn your salvation. No one can do that. That salvation was earned by the one who laid down his life and paid the debt for our sin that our sin had racked up. He took the rap for us so that we could walk free and live forever.

He's saying out of deep gratitude for that reality, work hard. Just keep doing the right thing because this is the new life you've chosen, and it is the best possible way to live. So just trust him and stand in awe of him. Be continually blown away by his grace and his power. Depend upon him. Listen and obey and just joyfully walk his. Road. And I love this promise from verse 13. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. You guys remember those Gatorade commercials. They show these chisel athletes doing their

thing, and they're sweating different flavors of Gatorade. They've got fierce melon coming out their brow. They got lemon lime coming out of their armpits. It's a gross commercial. But then it asked the question, is it in you? Having played sports most of them, life there's just something whenever I see those commercials that says yes yes yes it is in me if I just dig down deep I try harder if I could push through the pain yes it is in me uh it ain't in me anymore that's for sure but he is and he is providing the desire and the power to live the kind of life that makes him smile you know I've shared this particular verse verse 13 with so many of my recovery friends God is working in you giving you both the want to and the how to God is working in you

giving you both the want to and the how-to. He doesn't get you sober and clean and then say, all right, you're on your own now. Call me if you need me. No, he's constantly working in you, giving you the desire, the want to for a new life, the desire to not turn back and walk that old road, but to keep walking the right direction,

the new way, the pathway to freedom. And since just having the want to isn't enough, he also gives you the power it takes to live this new life. Ephesians chapter 1 tells us the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in you. And gang, if God can blow the rock off a tomb and give life back to a dead man, he can certainly help keep you sober and clean for a day. He can help you deal with anger, with lust, with pride, with resentment, over the shame, with bad memories, with comparison games.

When you live knowing that he is in you, giving you both the desire and the power to walk free, it's life change. And so today I pray that you would walk in gratitude and all of that truth today. See you next time. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to have to have to have to be. help get the word out. For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe. Church slash daily drive.