Paul's Example - The Priceless Privileges from Knowing Christ - Part 2

Alright, let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 to 11. Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 to 11. Now we are still in these verses that Paul has been given us. We've been studying where Paul is writing to warn the Philippian church about the danger of the Judaizers. Now if you don't know who the Judaizers were and what they did and their false teaching, you need to go back and get some of these previous messages. And we have seen that these false teachers and their false teaching, this was a serious and legitimate threat to the church. Now I know I've said this several times. It helps me. I hope it helps you.

But Paul was writing to do several things. He was writing to educate them. He was writing to equip them. He was writing to counsel them. But most importantly, he was writing, like he had before, to caution them. And we have seen that a great part of Paul's approach was using himself as an example up against or in contrast to the Judaizers and their false teaching. Paul explained to these believers that if there was any person who could have put confidence in the flesh to attain a right standing with God, well it was him.

He was explaining that if there was any person who could attain a right standing with God by a great Jewish religious heritage and great religious works in Judaism, well it was him, not the Judaizers. But he went on to say that he had counted all of those things as a loss for the sake of Christ and the surpassing value of knowing Christ. He stated that he had counted all those things a loss for the sake of Christ and this included his great religious inheritance, his inheritance or heritage, and all of his great religious achievements.

Simply when Paul came to faith in Christ, he put all of those things in the loss column of the spreadsheet of salvation. On that very day, he placed Christ in knowing Christ and gaining Christ in the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation. Listen to how Warren Wiersby describes what happened to Paul here. I know I haven't shared this in the other verses. And I'm quoting, "When Paul met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he trusted him and became a child of God. It was an instantaneous miracle of the grace of God, the kind that still takes place today whenever sinners will admit their need and turn to the Savior by faith.

When Paul met Christ, he realized how futile were his good works and how sinful were his claims of righteousness. A wonderful transaction took place because remember, Paul is using business language. Wiersby goes on to say that Paul lost some things, but he gained much more than he lost. And that's what we're looking at, what he gained and what we gained. Now last week, as we transitioned into verses 7 and 11, we saw that Paul explained that when he put his religious inheritance and his religious achievements into that lost column, he gained Christ and he gained Christ in more.

Here we saw that Paul explained that he gained many things that can be seen as benefits. I called them privileges. I called them priceless privileges, 5 to be specific. I called these priceless privileges, that leads us to the title, Paul's example, the priceless privileges from knowing Christ. Of course, this is a part two. Now let's read our verses, verses 7 to 11. Paul says, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and I count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, but coming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Now last week we covered two of the five privileges that Paul gives from knowing Christ.

But before we glance back at the first two, and before we dig into the last three, I want us to make sure we see how Paul makes his situation known. In the beginning of verse 7, in the beginning of verse 8, Paul says that he was totally bankrupt before God. Of course, Paul does not use that word. It's not in the verses. But that is what he was, and that is what he was saying. Now when used as a noun, Webster says this word "bankrupt" can be defined as a person who is completely lacking in a particular desirable quality or attribute, morally bankrupt.

And when used as an adjective, Webster says the word "bankrupt" can be defined as reduced to a state of financial ruin, impoverished. Well, here Paul is not talking about a financial bankruptcy. He is talking about a spiritual bankruptcy. He is saying that as far as his personal righteousness as he stood before God, he was completely lacking in true righteousness. He was found to be in a state of spiritual ruin. And that's what the beginning of verses 7 and 8 are all about. Bankruptcy, spiritual bankruptcy. Look back at the verses.

Verse 7, "But whatever I had," he is talking about his religious inheritance and accomplishments, "I counted his loss." Verse 8, "Indeed, I count everything, and the everything was his religious inheritance and accomplishments. He counted those things as loss." Simply what we see here is this. On the road to Damascus when Paul was converted to Christ, when Christ revealed himself to Paul, and when Christ revealed Paul to Paul, he saw that he was bankrupt in his righteousness before God, therefore he counted all his loss. And on that day he made a spiritual transaction.

All those things that he saw as true righteousness, which was no righteousness at all. He put those things in that loss column. Remember the spreadsheet of salvation. And in that spiritual transaction, he gained Christ. Christ was put in the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation. And as a result, he gained five priceless privileges. The first two we covered last week. But I want us to look back at those particular privileges. Number one, the priceless privilege of knowing Christ. We saw this primarily in verse 8, but we also see some of this in verse 7 as well. Let me read the verse, verse 8.

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." Here we saw that Paul was and is saying two basic but big things. This will be rather quick as compared to last week. First he was expressing his great personal loss by saying in verse 7 that he counted his loss whatever he had gained. And by saying in verse 8 that he counted everything a loss, he was saying that he lost and he continued to lose all of his religious inheritance, all of his religious achievements.

He lost those things when he came to faith in Christ, and he continued to lose those things every day after. And we learned how he viewed his religious inheritance, how he viewed his religious achievements as compared to gaining Christ. We used to warn Wiersby says, "But he measured these treasures against what Jesus Christ had to offer, and he realized that all he held dear was really nothing but refuge, garbage, manure compared to what he had in Christ." So simply all his religious past was counted as a loss since the day that he met Christ and every day after.

And he viewed all those things as garbage, animal manure as compared to knowing Christ and the privileges that came with knowing Christ. And second, he was expressing great personal gain. Again, look back or listen to verse 8, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." We saw that Paul was saying that he came to the place where he knew Christ personally. He knew Christ experientially. He knew Christ intimately. And that's because he knew Christ savingly.

And knowing Christ in this way was of surpassing worth or value as compared to all of his past. And we learned that in saying that I may gain Christ, Paul was reflecting back on what happened when he came to saving faith. He was referring back to that great transaction that took place when he met Christ. And he put everything in that lost column of the spreadsheet of salvation, but he put Christ gaining Christ and continuing to gain Christ in the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation. Simply knowing Christ savingly, personally and intimately was of surpassing worth as compared to his past.

He had gained Christ and he continued to gain Christ more and more and more and he was of surpassing worth as compared to all of his past, his religious accomplishments and his heritage. And I know I touched on this some last week, but think about it. We all have a spreadsheet here. We all have a spreadsheet. Now I'm not talking about your personal budgeting, no. I'm talking about the spreadsheet of salvation. All of us, we have a spreadsheet.

And if we are converted to Christ, if we've been converted to Christ and we've come to faith in Christ, we've put certain things in that lost column and it might look different for you than it does for me. I explained that I really didn't have a lot of religion. I didn't have a lot of religious pride. I didn't have to die to a lot of that. I had a lot of sin and sinfulness that I had to put in that lost column, but I had some sense of goodness that was going to get me to "heaven." But you know, a lot of people are like Paul and they have to die to a lot of religion and a lot of accomplishment.

But we all have a lost column, but notice no matter where we come from, no matter who we are, we all have a gain column that looks the same. We've gained Christ and we're continuing to gain Christ. And look, evidence that true conversion has taken place is this. Christ is of surpassing worth to us. You see that? Not just in what we say, but in how we live. You see, if we truly have come to faith in Christ, evidence that we have come to faith in Christ is this. Christ in Christ Jesus is of surpassing worth to us, not just in what we say, but in how we live. And then number two, the priceless privilege of righteousness that comes from faith.

Again, look at verse 9. Paul says, "And we found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." Now at this point we learn what kind of righteousness Paul was talking about. He was not speaking of a righteousness as compared to other people, or some kind of a righteousness that he had in comparison to the Judaizers. Here we learn that Paul was speaking of a righteousness which is being accepted by God, or a righteousness which makes us in a right standing with God.

Here we learn, and in this verse we saw that Paul was doing two big things, and two basic things as well. Again, I'll be real quick here. First, he was exposing his past righteousness of works. Here we saw that Paul revealed the truth. Here we saw that Christ revealed the truth to Paul. At his conversion, Christ revealed himself to Paul, and Christ revealed Paul to Paul. And he revealed to Paul that he had a righteousness, but it was useless. He was futile, it was hopeless. Simply Paul came to understand a crucial fact. We know that a person is not justified by works of the law.

Because by works of the law, no one will be justified, Galatians 2.16. So Paul was exposing the fact that his past righteousness of works was really no righteousness at all. His old righteousness was a righteousness that came from him, not from God. Then second he was explaining that true righteousness comes by faith. Here we learn that Paul willingly exchanged his external righteousness that centered on his own efforts. He exchanged that righteousness for righteousness that came from God. Paul exchanged his workspace righteousness for righteousness that came by faith and not by works.

And we learn that this is possible only because of what God did in the cross and what Christ did on the cross. We need to hear that again. We learn that this is possible only because of what God did in the cross and what Christ did on the cross. Corinthians 5.21 says, "For our sake he," that's God, "made him," that's Christ, "to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." So simply we learn that Paul was saying that he had exchanged his righteousness of works for righteousness that comes by faith. He exchanged a righteousness that came from him for a true righteousness that came from God.

And you see folks, we must understand there's got to be a big exchange in our life, exchange. Some of you have been out of the country before. You go to some places in the world, some foreign countries, you can use your American money. But sometimes you go to places in the world where your American money will do you no good. It has to be exchanged. You have to exchange your American money for their money, you see? I remember when I went to India with a friend there and traveled all over. I just would give him money and he would exchange it. I had no clue where my money went. There was this exchange.

But spiritually speaking for those of us who are right with God there has to be an exchange. We exchange some kind of a manmade righteousness for the righteousness of Christ which comes by faith in faith, through faith. You know there's a time, there's a place, there's a when, there's a how. For some it could look a little bit different but it's all the same. There is a time and a place and a when and a how that that happens for us. There's this exchange. Now question, why did I take one message to cover the first two priceless privileges and why do I review them tonight?

Is knowing Christ savingly, knowing Christ personally, knowing Christ intimately. Look folks you cannot know Christ personally and intimately unless you know Him savingly. And possessing a righteousness that comes by faith in Christ and from Christ, these two privileges are the most important of the two. To be in a right standing with God one must possess a righteousness that comes from God. And that comes by faith and through faith. And to possess this righteousness means to know Christ savingly and personally. And it is out of these first two priceless privileges that the last three flow. See?

Unless one knows Christ savingly and personally, unless one possesses a righteousness that comes by faith from God one can never possess the priceless privilege of the power of the resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering and the glory to come. You see? So number three, the priceless privilege, the power of resurrection. The priceless privilege of the power of resurrection. Let's look back at verse 10. This is where we start new material. Paul says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. Let's stop there. Now notice what Paul is saying here. He already said in verse 8 that he knew Christ personally.

He already said that he knew Christ experientially and savingly. And here in verse 10 Paul is saying that he longed to know Him even more. You see it was not enough that Paul had come to know Christ savingly. He had come to know Christ but he said again right here that I may know Him because of the desire, a great desire in his heart to know Christ and to know Christ more. To know Christ and to know Christ more. William McDonald describes it this way. And I'm quoting, "To know Him means to gain practical day by day acquaintance with Him in such an intimate way that the Apostle himself would become more Christlike.

He wants the life of Christ to be reproduced in himself." I'll give you an earthly example that can help us. It can only go so far. I heard the testimony of a rather famous and rather serious Christian. And you know when people interview men like that, usually they're looking for something deep and theological, something great and something grand. And the topic of the interview was on dating and courtship, whatever you want to call it, engagement in marriage. And they asked him what his relationship was like with his wife when they were dating or courting when they were leading up to that marriage, what that was like.

And again the one who was doing the interviewing was looking for something grand and theological. And the man, the minister being interviewed, he just said, "I just wanted to be with her. I loved her. I love her and I loved her then and I just wanted to be with her. I can't tell you why. I was attracted to her. I loved her and I wanted to be with her more and more and more and more." And the one who was doing the asking was a little disappointed because again he wanted something grand and glorious. But what was he saying? I met the woman that I loved and I fell in love with her and I wanted to be with her and I wanted to be with her more.

He said it wasn't enough just to be with her a little. I wanted to be with her more and more and more and more and more. Right now man, that's when you need to be saying, "Yeah, that's me. That's me." Well, it's similar here with Paul. He knew Christ. He'd come to save in Christ. But he wanted to know Christ more and more and more. And specifically he wanted to know more of Christ and the power of the resurrection. Now we know that the resurrection of Christ, we know what that was. And we know that the resurrection of Christ is and was the greatest display of God's power ever known.

In being raised from the dead, Christ demonstrated that he possessed absolute power over the physical and spiritual worlds. But we've got to ask here. How can Paul know Christ and the power of his resurrection? He wasn't even there. How could he? He wasn't there and he's not Christ. Only Christ can know the power of the resurrection because only Christ can be resurrected as Christ. And he wasn't even there. Now to know the power of Christ's resurrection personally, experientially, and intimately like Paul knew Christ, that meant that Paul knew this power in two ways in his life. First in salvation and second in sanctification.

That's what Paul's getting at. Paul knew the power of resurrection and salvation. In Galatians 2.20 Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." What is he saying in Galatians 2.20? "I know the resurrection power of Christ in salvation." But here Paul yearned to know Christ more and more and more and he yearned to know the power of his resurrection every day. He had this great hunger to possess sanctifying power and the new life of Christ in him more and more and more.

The scholar William Hendrickson says, and I'm quoting, "He that's Paul, longs for an ever increasing supply of the power that proceeds from the risen exalted Savior." So notice because Paul possessed the priceless privilege of knowing Christ and the priceless privilege of a righteousness that comes from God. The first two, he could then possess the priceless privilege of the power of the resurrection at work in his life every day. Now right here I've got three questions for us, three questions I'll build off of. Do we yearn to know Christ more? Now I'm speaking to believers now. We've come to faith in Christ now. Our salvation's been settled.

We have peace. Do we yearn to know Christ more or have we eased off into the habit of yearning to know Christian things more? You know you can know Christian things and still not know Christ more? Have we slid off to the side of wanting to know more theology? Did you know you can learn all about theology and doctrine and still not yearn to know Christ more? This one might surprise you. Do you yearn to know your Bible more than you want to know Christ? You can know the Bible more and more and more and still not know Christ more because remember knowing Christ is personal, it's experiential, it's intimate. Now I'll pick on me.

Are we in a place in the church, maybe in ministry or serving where we want Christian service and ministry more? You see what I'm aiming at is this, sometimes if we're not careful we can want Christian things more than we want Christ. You see we can want Christian things more than we want Christ. Going back to the marriage relationship. You see it's all about knowing our wives, it's all about knowing our husbands, it's all about spending our time with our spouse, it's about being with them more and more and more not just about marriage things. So do we yearn to know Christ more?

And then the next question, do we possess the privilege of the power of the resurrection in our lives? Do we? See that power is first demonstrated when we come to saving faith. I can't describe the miracle of miracles. It's the miracle that only God can do. It's when God reveals Himself to the sinner, God reveals the sinner to the sinner and He calls them to Himself and He enables them to repent and trust and believe and there comes a day when they say I do believe and I want to believe and they trust in Christ and they go from an old creation to a new creation. But then there's more.

Do we possess the privilege of the power of the resurrection in our lives to sanctify us whereby we can have more victory over sin, where we can walk in victory, we can know God's will for our life. See it's one thing to know the power of the resurrection to save us but then it's another thing to walk in victory with Christ, to have victory over our sin. We can have victory over sin. This is a little spontaneous but Paul's writing to the Corinthians, remember the Corinthian church was worst of the lot as far as wordliness and sin. And he gives this long list of the Corinthians of gross things and he says that's what some of you were.

What is he saying? You were. You have victory. So do we have the priceless privilege of the power of the resurrection in our lives so therefore we have victory over sin, we have the victory to walk with God in victory and we have the victory to walk in and know God's will. The third question, do we yearn for more resurrection power in our lives? Do we yearn for more resurrection power in our lives? Now what does that look like? That means that when we come to faith in Christ in those first three or four or five years we have more and more power in our lives.

But then when we've been a Christian for 20 or 30 years we still want more and more resurrection power in our lives. See we never arrive. You see we never arrive. So the priceless privilege of the power of the resurrection. Then number four, the priceless privilege of the fellowship of his suffering. Look back at verse 10. Paul says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings. Now right here we have to ask a few questions to get at what Paul was in his saying. And here are the questions. Is Paul speaking of literal suffering? Or is this somehow figurative?

And is Paul saying that he wanted to share in the literal sufferings that Christ experienced? You see? MacArthur says Paul is speaking of a deep partnership and communion with Christ in suffering. Let me repeat that. MacArthur says and I'm quoting that Paul, MacArthur says Paul is speaking of and I'm quoting a deep partnership in and a communion with Christ in suffering. And what that means is this. In walking in obedience to Christ and Christ's will and call in his life, Paul walked a walk that meant suffering. Christ's call in his life meant a life of suffering much like Christ's call. Christ's call meant a life of suffering.

We see this alluded to in Acts chapter 16 at Paul's conversion or Acts chapter 9 excuse me verse 15 and 16. At Paul's conversion when God called Ananias to go to Paul and to lay hands on Paul in prayer God told Ananias this, "Go for he," that's Paul, "is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." Verse 16, "For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Paul understood that God's call in his life was a call of suffering. He understood that.

Earlier in Philippians 1, 29 to 30 he said, "For it has been granted to you," talking about the church, "that you for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake." Now let me pause there. What's Paul saying? He's saying to the Philippian church and those believers you're to suffer for Christ's sake as well. And then verse 30, "Engage in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have." What's the conflict? What's he speaking of? His suffering. What a question. What does Paul mean when he mentions death? Look back at verse 10.

"That I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings but coming like him in his death." Now there are some that see this figuratively. There are some that say that this speaks of a dying to self and dying to sin and dying to the world. So this is not some kind of a literal death but a spiritual death. But I do not think that that is what Paul was saying. Of course Paul did die to self. He of course did die to sin and he did die to the world. He died even to his religious heritage and his religious achievements. I have said those two terms over and over and over so that we will know that.

But this is a literal death as well. Just as God's will meant a literal death for Christ, Paul understood that God's will for him meant a literal death for him. He understood that God's call on his life meant a life of suffering like Christ and an eventual death like Christ. So here Paul was saying that he yearned to know Christ and to know more of Christ and he yearned for the priceless privilege to share in the sufferings of Christ. Right here is where some of you say, "Man, I don't want that." And he goes on to say that he yearned to even die just like Christ.

But notice folks because Paul possessed the priceless privilege of knowing Christ and the priceless privilege of the righteousness that comes from God. The first two, he could then possess the priceless privilege of the fellowship of his suffering even to the point of death. You know right here we have to ask, "How does this apply to us?" Everybody's life is different. God's call for your life and my life and every Christian's life is different, right? Everybody's call is different. God might not ever call you to suffer and die for the cause of Christ.

That might not ever be God's will for your life, but yet there are Christians in the world that is God's calling. Christians in North Korea, Christians in China, how many Christians in the Middle East? Because they profess Christ and follow Christ, they suffer because they possess Christ and follow Christ and honor Christ and witness and share Christ, they suffer and they even die. You see, God's will for you can be different for me. God's will for us might be different from Christians around the world, but what about our sons and daughters? Could we ever get to the place where we stand up here and we commission them and send them off?

You know Sunday Brother Steve talked about getting on an airplane and traveling around the world on mission. No doubt there was at least one parent that said, "You know I couldn't send my son or my daughter off for a week or two, that's dangerous." What if God calls one of our own to go to a difficult place in the world where they really could suffer and die for the cause of Christ? Would we be willing to do that? Look folks, we have to understand they're not ours, they're His. They're His. They are His. We have to be open to anything like this. We do.

So our will, God's will for our lives could be different from other believers and we also have to realize that as our world is changing, you know we might suffer and we might die. So the priceless privilege of the fellowship of His suffering. And then number five, the priceless privilege of the glory to come. Now let's look at verse 11, "That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Now at first glance it can seem that Paul is unsure of things. He says that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Now the New American basically says the same thing to King James as well.

But that's not what Paul is saying at all. At all. Actually it's the opposite. This phrase that by any means actually speaks of a strong desire, it speaks of a strong expectation and a certainty of these things. And this shows us two things. First he was not unsure of a future resurrection. He was certainly sure of a future resurrection. And second he was being extremely humble. MacArthur says he was gripped with a sense of unworthiness here. The question, what resurrection is he referring to? Of course this gets into eschatology. Some of you may know that.

You probably put your hands together and rub them together and thought, "Oh, the pastor is going to get into eschatology." Eschatology is a big word for end times. For end times. Now that gets us into all kinds of different views of the end times. But without getting into the views here, we don't have time for that yet. We don't have time for that. This is what Paul was saying here. He was confident. He was certain. He had a confident expectation that after his suffering and death in accordance to God's will for his life, he would attain a resurrection from the dead which was and is a resurrection to where? To glory.

And for us, we must ask, are we confident that we have a resurrection to glory? Are we confident that after we have lived out our days, we will attain a resurrection to glory? Look, folks, there's only two. There's only two possibilities. There's no in between. There's none. And are we confident? In a resurrection to glory. And look, church, we must accept the fact that people who do not know Christ, people who do not possess a righteousness that comes from God by faith, they have no hope of the resurrection to glory. They have a hope and a certain resurrection to judgment. I say this jokingly. I've said it before.

You know, nobody ever goes to hell in a country music song. People are at a funeral. Let the humor of that pass you by. I've never been to a funeral where somebody got up and said, "Well, Uncle Jimmy didn't know Jesus and he went to hell." Nobody ever goes to hell in a country music song unless they're singing about a terrorist or something. You know, some churches can be like that. Some believers can be like that. You see? Look, what I'm getting at is this. Only true believers have a confident hope in the resurrection to glory. Otherwise, it's not a resurrection to glory, folks.

But notice Paul possessed the priceless privilege of knowing Christ and the priceless privilege of a righteousness that comes from God the first two. And because of that, he could then possess a priceless privilege of the glory that was certain to come, you see? So the priceless privilege of a certain glory to come. Now as I close our message, we know the title. Paul's example, the priceless privileges of knowing Christ. I want to revisit what I shared last week. Many of us talk about privilege and privileges today. Many talk about how some have privileges and some do not have privileges. And many talk about those things being bad.

And of course, you know, that comes out of woke ideology that's so prevalent today. But look, folks, as true believers, we must see the privileges that are ours from being born-again Christians. When we come to faith in Christ, we know Christ personally, intimately. And we know Christ personally and intimately because we've come to know Him savingly. And we possess a righteousness that comes by faith. Oh, what a wonderful, liberating fact. We don't have to have a righteousness that we manufacture. It's a righteousness that He purchased on the cross and it comes by faith. These are great privileges.

And then we have the resurrection and the power of resurrection in our lives. The power of resurrection to not only save us but to sanctify us. And then we get to experience the fellowship of His suffering if He ordains. And then we have the confident understanding and knowledge that there is glory to come. See the privileges. See the privileges. One more thing and then we'll close. You know the term someone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth? You know that term? They're privileged, wealthy, have a lot of possessions, born with a silver spoon in their mouth. We can spot people like that. But you know we should look around the room.

We should look around Grace Life Church and we should see these privileges in all of our lives. This should be the norm. And the lost world should see them too. Our family should see them too. When we begin to witness, share Christ with our family, those that we're close to, they shouldn't look at us and say, "You? They should see these privileges in our life." So when you've finished up these verses, Paul's example, the priceless privileges from knowing Christ. Let's pray and we'll look at some prayer needs.