Ron Dunn Podcast - Citizenship In Heaven

Episode Date: June 26, 2019

Ron Dunn continues his series "That I May Know Him"

I want you to open your Bibles tonight to again guess what to the book of Philippians and tonight I want to read verses 27 through 30 out of chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 verses 27 through 30. Actually, I think it'd be better if we started earlier or backed up to about verse 22, where Paul says, But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me,

and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus

through my coming to you again. Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, in no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you and that too from God.

For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me. Believers are people of the only. And when that statement is made in the first word of verse 27, only, you cannot overemphasize its importance. Now, the Apostle Paul has been saying that I believe, really, I would prefer to depart and be with Christ, for that's far better. But I know that it's better for you if I stay here so I can continue to minister to you. So I am confident that I will come to you again.

And yet, Paul is not all that confident because he says, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, and you can begin to see that Paul is not all that certain that he's going to remain here. He makes the same kind of statement in verse 12. He says,

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. And it amazes me as I read these words and think upon these words that Paul did not see himself as indispensable. Whether he was there or whether he was absent, he expected these believers to maintain a certain quality of life. And so while Paul feels that he will stay and minister to those,

yet he may not. And that may be good for them because they may lean too heavily upon Paul and gain too much strength from Paul. And perhaps they vicariously may live for the Lord through the apostle Paul. And Paul says, I'm not indispensable. And really he says, it doesn't matter what happens to me. Paul is so unselfish in this and so unassuming.

He said, my concern, as we mentioned the other night, my concern is not whether I am here or I'm gone. My concern is this, only, only that you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And that command is modified by the rest of the passage. Everything else Paul is going to say flows from that one command, that you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Actually, the word conduct yourselves is not the best translation. That word is an unusual word that Paul uses, and it has the idea of citizenship. Actually, Paul is saying,

I want you to live as citizens of heaven. And he uses that reference of citizens, and you'll notice later on in the epistle, he talks about our citizenship is in heaven. Now, I think that's noteworthy because he's writing to the Philippians. Philippi, conquered by the Roman emperor Octavian, made Philippi a Roman colony, which was a tremendous privilege. And so Philippi

was sort of a miniature Rome. They had Roman citizenship. They lived by Roman laws, and they conducted themselves according as Roman citizens ought to conduct themselves. And Rome had a high standard as to how their people should behave and how their people should conduct themselves. If you ever read the history of Rome, you'll find that they were very orderly people and they despised disorderly things and they despised mess and they would despise my office. And so it was such a privilege, a high privilege, to be a citizen of Rome that they conducted themselves.

They lived in Philippi even as though they were citizens of Rome, as they were even though they were not in Rome itself. So Philippi was a little miniature Rome, and those people were Roman citizens even though they did not live in Rome. They were Roman citizens, and even though they did not live in Rome, they lived according to the Roman laws, and even though they did not live in Rome, they lived according to the Roman laws and even though they did not live in Rome, they lived according to the Roman expectations of conduct. And so what Paul is saying is this,

just as Philippi is a miniature Rome in which people live by the Roman laws and conduct themselves by the Roman standards. So the church is a colony of heaven. And our citizenship is in heaven. And we are a miniature heaven. You know, the church ought to be heaven on earth. We are a miniature heaven.

Our citizenship is there, even though we live in Montana or Michigan or Texas or Irving, even though we live here, yet really we have a dual citizenship. We are citizens of this country, but our greatest citizenship is in heaven. And therefore, we need to see ourselves as an outpost of glory

as a colony of heaven and live by the laws of heaven and live by the laws of God and live in accordance with the quality of life that God would expect from us and so that's what Paul is saying and that's the Paul is saying. And that's the main command of this passage. He says, whatever happens to me, whether I'm here or there,

whether I live or whether I die, that is inconsequential. Only this is important. Only this is of concern, that you live as citizens of heaven, so that when people confront you and you confront other people, they'll know that you are from another country. It reminds me of that statement in 1 John. I don't have this marked, so I'm going to see if I can find it. And if I can't, my brother David will help me out. It's in 1 John chapter 3. He says, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us.

Literally, the Greek there reads, from what country is this? And the background is of men who had a local spit and whittle club, and they would sit on the docks, and as the ships came in, they could identify where this person was from, what country this person was from. But once in a while, here was a fellow, and they could not tell where he was from. And they would say, from what country does this fellow come? And that's what John is saying when he says, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. And so you and I ought to be looked upon that way. If we are living as citizens

of heaven, people will say, what world are you from? And they do say that a lot of times, and they don't mean it in a nice way. But anyway, our life, our conduct, our behavior ought to be regulated by the gospel. That's what he's saying, that you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel. All those Philippians wanted to be worthy of their citizenship in Rome. They longed to be worthy of it. And Paul says you need to live in a way that you are worthy of the name of the gospel of Christ. Let the gospel of Christ and all that it means

dictate your behavior and regulate your activities. And so that is the only thing that concerns Paul is that his people, these believers, live as citizens of heaven and conduct themselves in a way that is worthy of the gospel. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask myself a question. Do you live worthily of the grace of God

that has been bestowed upon you. I don't mean that any of us can be worth it. We're not worthy of it. But we can live lives that are worthy. Are our lives, really, our thoughts, our actions, are they worthy of what the gospel means? Are they a contradiction to all that the gospel means?

And so the command is upon us to live as citizens of heaven, to conduct ourselves as though we were already in heaven. Living here on earth as though we were already in heaven because that is our citizenship. Now, this involves several things, Paul says. And as I said a moment ago, this one command, conduct yourselves worthy of the gospel, everything else flows from that. So let's read again the 27th verse. Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or

remain absent, I will hear of you that you are, now here's the first thing, standing firm in one spirit. So living as citizens of heaven means in the first place, the way I'm going to express it, is to stand your ground. To stand your ground. The word stand there is a very important word to Paul, evidently. Just flip back a page to Romans chapter 6, and beginning in verse 10, it comes that great passage about the spiritual warfare that we have. And he says, put on the full armor of God so that you

will be able to stand firm. And in verse 13, to stand firm. And in verse 14, he sums it all up, stand firm. And so for Paul, standing firm, standing fast, holding your ground was a very important aspect of the Christian life. This is a military word, really, that means to hold ground that has been gained in battle. You know, it's one thing to gain the ground. It's another thing to maintain the ground. It's one thing to run the enemy out. It's another thing to occupy that land. You remember what God said in Exodus? He said, I will not drive out the enemy from you all at once, but you will conquer city as city, one city at a time, one city at a time. Now you might say, well, why does God do that? Why doesn't he just drive them all out at the same time? So the land will be totally empty. But God says, I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to just do it one city at a time, one city at a time, lest the land be overrun. You see, the land was too much for those people to occupy fully. And if God cleared out all the enemy, the enemy would come back and they would be overrun by the enemy. So God says, I'm going to do it according to your strength, one city at a time. Then you occupy that city, maintain that city, and then I'll give you another city. And when you're able to occupy that city and maintain that city, I'll give you another city. And so this is primarily what Paul is talking about. He's saying that you and I as Christians need to stand our ground, the ground that we have won. There's always the temptation in the Christian life to regress

and to lose ground. Now when he says to stand your ground, this basically implies two things. Number one, it implies that there has been a struggle and that you have gained ground, but that there is constant pressure on us to retreat. Constant pressure on us to retreat. You know, the devil always likes to make a counterattack. You remember when the people

were freed from Egypt, and they were at the Red Sea, and all of a sudden they looked up one day, and here come all the Egyptians swooping down on them. And that's how you know they were Baptists, because they blamed their pastor on the situation. They say, well, Moses, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into. Not enough room to bury us in Egypt. You brought us out here in the wilderness so there'd be plenty of room to bury us. And here come all the Egyptians. Why? Pharaoh, unlike some preachers, had let his people go. Pharaoh had let them go. And then he had a change of heart. Hmm.

All that free labor. How can I replace it? And so he gathered his army together and went after them to bring them back. The devil always mounts a counterattack to recover lost ground. And the believer is under constant pressure to retreat. Let me ask you a question tonight. Have you retreated? Have you? Have you held your ground? Have you?

Or have you given way, retreated from it? Are you tonight what you used to be in relationship to the Lord? Maybe better, that's great. But I wonder how many of us are not quite as enthusiastic, not quite as passionate about the Lord as we once were. Our church is known as a praying church everywhere I go. I get emails all the time telling me to have this church pray for people.

This church is known as a praying church. Let me ask you a question. Are you as passionate about prayer as you used to be? Or have you retreated, lost ground? Are you as passionate about the Word of God as you used to be? I don't have to ask this question. I know it, that there are a lot of members of this church that are not nearly as passionate about coming to worship

as they used to be. Paul says you need to stand your ground. He says in one spirit. Now, all the translations use a little S there, but most of the Bible scholars I've read after say that that refers to the Holy Spirit and that the sphere

or the energy or the strength in which we are to stand fast is the power of the Holy Spirit. And so he enables us if we are surrendered to him to stand our ground not to retreat

not to be less this year than we were last year. But not only does it mean that we're under constant pressure, it also implies that there is an inner inclination to do so, to retreat. God said in the Old Testament, my people are bent to backsliding. They are like a tree that has grown and it is bent. That's its posture.

And he said, my people have a nature, my people have a tendency to backsliding. And I find that to be true. God's people are bent to backsliding because, you see, we still have the old nature. Now, several years ago, there was a big debate starting back in 81, starting, you know, about how many natures we had. And there were a number of people who advocated, according to David Needham's book on birthright, which was the most confusing book I ever tried to read in my life. But he said that we're not sinners. We ought not to call ourselves sinners.

We're simply saints and that the old nature's been done away with. And we are people of just one nature and that's the nature of Christ. Well, I wish you'd wake up and smell the thorns and the roses. I'll tell you what, old Adam is very much with us. The old nature is still there.

And if you ever forget that, then you're lost. You're doomed. And so we have an inner inclination to retreat, to slide a little bit, to lose our passion because that old nature is there. You know, I'm afraid that many of us who've been saved for a lot of years and have done a lot of service for the Lord may have the idea that that old nature has improved somewhat. It's not as bad as it used to be, and it's sort of accommodated itself

to my Christian life, and just sort of what we used to say in Arkansas, it's just hiding behind a log and staying out of sight because he knows that Christ is the conqueror. And I've been a Christian all these years. I've been saved ever since I was nine years old. That's been a pretty long time. I've been preaching since I was 15, and that's a long time. That's about 50 years, if you want to know. And so I know that my old nature has improved because, well, I take it to church, you know, a lot. I really do. When I'm in a meeting, I take it to church, you know, every Sunday morning and Sunday night and Monday through Wednesday. And so, you know, that has to have an effect on the old nature. And the old nature has heard me preach a thousand sermons. And, you know, that has to have an effect on the old nature. And the old nature's

heard me preach a thousand sermons. And you know, that has to have an effect on the old nature. I believe the old nature's been impressed by what I preached. And he's not as evil as people make him out to be. He's not as bad as people make him out to be. You believe that? No, in spite of how many times I've taken my old nature to church, in spite of how many times my old nature's heard me preach, it hasn't changed one whit. And I want to tell you something. Because of that, there is an inclination in us to retreat. Stand your ground. Stand your ground. Oh, I tell you, I've seen so many churches.

I've been to churches that, well, I went one year to a church and they were experiencing great revival and everybody was praising the Lord. I went back a couple of years and it was as dead as a doornail. The people had retreated. They'd lost their passion for the Lord. And I don't like to refer back to old times so much, but I know for myself that this church at one time

had the greatest passion for the Lord that I've ever seen in any fellowship. And many of you still do. And I wonder if some of you have not retreated a little bit. If you're going to live as citizens of heaven and worthy of your heavenly citizenship, you need to stand your ground. But not only that, he says, he goes on and he says,

with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Not only are we to stand our ground, we're to strive for the gospel. Striving for the gospel. That's an athletic word, and it literally means wrestling. The spread of the gospel, protecting the gospel, folks, is a struggle, is a battle. He says we are to strive with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. In other words, we are to do it in unity, he says,

with one mind striving for the gospel, with one mind. Now, when the Bible says that we ought to have one mind, it doesn't mean that we have to agree on every little point. It doesn't mean that I don't have the right to think independently. You may think that a Chevrolet is the best car. I can say the Ford is the best car. Ford is the cheapest car you can own because enough of it falls off.

You can sell it and make payments on the car. You see, it doesn't mean that I have no right for independent thought and that we have no right to disagree on things. It's speaking of unity of purpose. One mind. The best way I know to illustrate it is have you ever seen those old World War II movies? And when the German planes, the bombers are coming over London

to bomb the city. The searchlights all go on. And those searchlights roam here and there stabbing the night there and there and here and there, until one finally settles on a plane. One finds a plane. And then all the other search lights join in that one search light, and they all focus on that one German plane. That's what he's talking about. It is that we all focus our heart's attention and ambition on one thing, and that is spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is to be done in unity. I tell you, the church is not going to grow, and it's not going to look like a colony of heaven if not everybody in that church doesn't believe that winning people to Christ is its greatest purpose. And I'm afraid that many of our churches no longer hold that to be so.

That's what I appreciate about our pastor. He believes in winning people to Jesus. And unless all of us together in unison, in unity, have that one purpose, is to bring men and women to Jesus Christ. Because folks, if we don't, nobody else will. You can read Shakespeare all day, and you're not going to be saved.

You can listen to Oprah all day. Not only will you not be saved, you will be confused. So it's to be done in unity, but also it's to be done in unison. Notice he says, I want you to do this together, literally side by side. Now, it means that all of us are to be in the business of witnessing. All of us. Pastor, do we have a visitation program?

We do. I mean, is there a certain night that people come to this? Who's tonight? The many people come? Amen. When I was pastor, we had visitation on Tuesday night

and it was about four of us. And we moved it to Monday night. We moved it to this night and that night. Couldn't get people out for visitation. I visited one of the great soul winning churches. Led the convention many years in baptisms. And I asked them about their visitation program.

They said we don't have one. I said what do you mean? He said we've tried every way we know to get people to come out on a certain night take a card and go out and visit. And we just can't do it. I said, well, how do you win so many people? He said, our people do it by the lives they live and the conversations they have day by day. The Great Commission says, go into all the world, but that is not correct. Actually, he's saying, as you go into all the world. But that is not correct. Actually, he's saying,

as you go into all the world. Beings as you're going, make disciples of Christ. In other words, while it is good, and I think important for us to have a night that we emphasize, especially on visitation and going out, yet the real winning of people is to be done

by just as we move in the marketplace and as we go to the barber shop and as we go to this place and to this place to talk about the Lord, to talk about the Lord. And as people talk about the Lord in their everyday movement, others will be brought to Christ and won to Christ. This is to be done in unison. Bins, you're going anyway. I don't know if that's a good translation, but that

fits me. And Jesus is saying, you're going anyway. I mean, he's not commanding us to go. The command is not to go. The command is to make disciples. I mean, you're going anyway, aren't you? You're going anyway. Nobody stays home anymore. I get on an airplane. I hate to fly anymore. Used to you could get on an airplane and

be almost by yourself. Now you're scrunched in like they're packing a can of salmon or sardines everywhere. You get on the highway here in Dallas and it's bumper to bumper traffic. And I say to myself, why don't these people stay home? Friends, you're going anyway. And as you go, you make disciples by the word of your witness and the witness of your life. Striving together. Now, there is another alternative interpretation of that. And most Bible scholars that I've read after

are kind of split on how that ought to be interpreted. But I think it works both ways. Some of them believe that the primary meeting is what I've just spoken about, going out and witnessing, spreading the gospel. But others say, and it is a good point, he does not say striving together for the gospel. He says striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now when the Bible speaks of it as the faith, it's not talking about believing, but it's talking about the whole body of Christian truth.

And so many believe that what Paul is referring to, because there were enemies in the Philippian church, there were enemies in the New Testament church that were trying to distort Christian truth, and so many believe that what Paul is saying is that I want you to strive, wrestle together to preserve the truth of the gospel. And I believe that's really applicable today.

I was talking to Kay last night about the services and everything, and I said, you know, it grieves me because so much that I read and so much that I hear, people are compromising the truth of the gospel. Political correctness is one of the most damnable things that has ever come our way. And one of the great problems of the church today or failures of the church today is that we have become persuaded to be politically correct. And I want to say to you,

you cannot be politically correct and biblically correct at the same time. I don't understand it. When our convention added to its confession that statement of Paul where wives should submit themselves to the husbands, how many Southern Baptists, I mean men,

they stood up in rage, didn't they? I thought to myself, hey friend, they're just quoting the Bible. That's just a direct quote from the Bible in Ephesians. How can you be against that? How can you say that I ought not to be there?

I tell you, there was a great clamor, a great fuss about it. And it amazed me. I guess I'm just naive. I would think you couldn't actually oppose Scripture, could you? I mean, it was right there in the Bible. Now, all these people that opposed it were trying to be politically correct. They were giving in to the pressure of the world. And I believe today that we're seeing a great compromise. You take the matter of homosexuality. I tell you what, if there's anything the Bible makes clear, it makes clear that it is unnatural

and that it is a sin and one of the greatest sins that can rise up before God. But you can be kicked off the radio if you preach against homosexuality. Well, friend, it's right there in the Bible. And a part of our Southern Baptist

people have affirmed homosexuals and homosexuality. And some of the major denominations have okayed the marriage of homosexuality. And some of the major denominations have okayed the marriage of homosexual couples. Now, my friend, what are you going to do with the Word of God? Oh, but the pressure that the world exerts on us

to be politically correct. I remember in 1969, I went over to Fort Worth for a Bible conference and there was one fellow from England preaching on prophecy. And he made this statement. This was in 1969. He said said unless America

experiences revival in 10 years you will be endorsing homosexuality. I sat there and got angry at him. Saying well it might be that way in godless Britain. But I tell you what in Christian America

it'll never be that way. Why is it that way? Because the churches, and I hold the churches accountable and guilty. I don't hold the world guilty. The world is just acting like it acts. I remember when I was eight years old, my mother got on to me and she said, you're acting like an eight-year-old. I said, that's what I am. We got a dog behind us there that barks. Is it illegal to give dogs poison meat? I mean, is it? Just barks and barks and barks, a little puppy.

But hey, that's what little puppies do. That's their nature. I'm not angry at the world or surprised at the world because it fosters homosexuality and it fosters premarital sex and all of that. That's the world doing its thing. That's the world being the world. The guilty party here is the church of Jesus Christ

because we have wanted to be accepted by the world and we have yielded to the pressure of the world and we have compromised the gospel. And Paul says, I want you to strive to keep the body of truth, to keep the faith of the gospel. That's the only hope for Southern Baptists. I mean, these other denominations have gone the other way and we're tempted to follow them.

We know we want to be mainstream with what everybody else is doing. But friends, I don't have anything to learn from a loser except how not to do it. And this leads, and notice in verse 28, I've just got to say something about this. And he says, in no way alarmed, intimidated I think is a better word, by your adversaries. You see, in other words, he says, as you stand fast and hold your ground, and as you strive together for the gospel, you're going to have opponents.

You're going to have adversaries. Don't be intimidated by them. Oh, we are though, aren't we? I tell you, the greatest reason, I think, the biggest reason, or one of the biggest reasons why we do not engage in personal witnessing is because we're intimidated. We're intimidated. But he says, don't be intimidated.

And he says, if you stand up against your adversaries and are not intimidated and don't give any ground and hold your ground and stubbornly hold your ground, you know what? That's a sign to your opponents that they're wrong. That's a sign of their destruction. And it's a sign of their destruction. And it's a sign of our salvation. And all this leads up to my last point,

and I'll just speak briefly on it. Not only are we to stand our ground, not only are we to strive for the gospel, but we are to suffer for His glory. In verse 29 and verse 30, he says, For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me. Now, I spoke about that the other night, and so I'll not say much about it except this.

Friends, if we're going to stand our ground as a church and not retreat, and if we're going to strive together for the gospel, it's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take sacrifice. I guess that's one reason I admire these couples. Now they may not feel this way

but I feel they've made sacrifice. And I look at my own life and I don't see much sacrifice that I've had to make. I guess I have. I'm preaching on Sunday. I miss TV on Sunday night. That's a great sacrifice.

Having to preach here, I think it was Monday or Tuesday night, I had to miss the fifth game between the Mavericks and the Spurs. It was a great sacrifice. It was a great sacrifice. I may have told you this before, but I don't want to hear it again. You know, I get a lot of newsletters from churches. I mean, just dozens of newsletters from churches. And they're always a pastor's column.

And I love to read the pastor's column. I'm a science fiction fan. And I love to read the pastor's column. And I remember some years ago I got a newsletter from a church. I read the pastor's column. And you know what he said? Evidently it had been a big storm last Sunday. And he said, I want to thank all the people who braved the rain to come to church. Now I looked at that phrase, braved the rain. That ought to be in the book of Acts. That ought to be right up there with being stoned at Lystra and being shipwrecked and bitten by a snake.

That ought to be right next to where Paul received 39 lashes on the back. Raved the rain. And you know, I could imagine in my mind that Sunday morning, Saturday night, preparations had been made. Little girl's shoes had been shined. Little boy's shoes had been shined and dresses and pants pressed. Everybody was ready. Envelopes had been filled out. And suddenly, early Sunday morning morning a little girl burst into the parents' bedroom and said,

Mom and Dad, look out the window. It's raining. And they did and what they'd always feared had come upon them. Here it was, raining. What are they going to do? This is Sunday morning. They ought to always go to Sunday school and church on Sunday,

but it's raining. So what are they going to do? Well, I tell you what, this is a brave Baptist family here, I tell you what. They count not their lives dear unto themselves. And so they decided that even in the rain, they were going to Sunday school and church.

And so not counting their lives dear unto themselves, they dashed to the garage and got in the car and backed out. And they drove through the rain. They drove through it for three blocks. And the father, being a good and holy man, full of faith in the Holy Ghost, let his family out at the front door so they wouldn't be bothered by the rain. And then he went and had to park.

Oh, it hadn't been for that umbrella. No telling what would have happened to that man. Braved the rain. And that's about the extent of our sacrifice, folks. I guess they still don't do it. Things have changed so much since I was a pastor. But when I was pastor, we had a big red book, kind of the book of life, sort of,

in which we kept the attendance every Sunday, total and, you know, in each department and stuff like that. And always at the top of the page, there was a line there, a blank, and it said weather. In other words, you were to put down what the weather was like. So that if you look back a year ago or two years ago and say, hey, boy, we were really down that Sunday.

Well, no wonder. Look up there at the weather. It was raining. It was raining. Our church is in the midst of a building program. Well, maybe some didn't feel like we ought to do it, but I felt like we should. Should have done it a long time ago. Not so we can have a prettier location,

but so that we can be where the people are. So that we can minister and have a broader outreach. I was listening to or looking through some old newsletters we put out when I was pastor. One night I couldn't sleep and I just got out. Joanne used to make a notebook of every year for me and gave it to me. And she'd put in there all the pastor's columns

and other things, you know. And we were trying to build that gymnasium type auditorium. And I remember reading that we were going to have to raise a million and a half dollars to build that building. I mean, you can't even build a foyer for that today. How much money is it going to take? Four and a half million. You want that by check or cash?

I'll give you a check and you just keep running it through until it pays. I'm going to tell you something, folks. This church has always been kind of a blue-collar church. We've had some white collars, but they've had rings around them. But we're not a rich people. It's going to take sacrifice.

It's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take sacrifice for us to do what God is leading us to do. This is common to every believer, Paul says, that if we're going to stand our ground and not be pushed into retreat, and if we're going to strive together for the faith of the gospel, it's going to require suffering and sacrifice for his glory. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification,

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