This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Drive Time Devotions. We are in day three of our look at Philippians
chapter three. We're going to look at verses 10 and 11 today.

Just two verses, powerful verses that picture what it means to have a
relationship with Jesus. Let me begin by reading those Philippians three, 10 and
11. Paul writes there, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death
and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

" Those words that begin verse 10, they just grab my heart. I want to know
Christ. Not I want to know about Him, but I want to know Him.

As I read these verses, in fact this entire chapter, it's a chapter to me that's
about how do I take my relationship with Jesus to the next level? How do I take
the growth that I'm experiencing to the next level? He begins by warning us in
the beginning of the chapter of those who would like to draw you down to their
level and then the rest of the chapter is how do you take it to the next level?

How do you truly get to know Christ? I'd like to take it to the next level. I'd
like to grow to be more and more like Him.

Sometimes some of us are like that little boy who fell out of bed and when his
parents asked him, "Why'd you fall out of bed? " He said, "Well, I stayed too
close to where I got in. " And sometimes when it comes to growth in Christ, we
are satisfied with a little bit of growth.

But then God does something in our heart, in our life, and something starts to
stir and realize that's not where I want to stay. I want to know Christ. As you
walk through these verses, Paul talks about his resurrection, the resurrection
of Jesus, and he talks about his sufferings, the sufferings of Jesus.

Those are two key, not only occurrences in history, but also spiritual truths
from my own life that I have to understand if I'm going to know Christ. If I'm
going to know Christ, Paul says, "First, I want to know the power of His
resurrection. " Knowing Christ means living by His power.

I've got to know. I've got to tap in to His power. But there are times when
although I know Jesus, I have a relationship with Him, I live day by day by day
without His power.

I live under my own power. I live with no power. You might remember that old
story from the Rose Parade, that New Year's Day Parade in Southern California,
where one of the floats ran out of gas, which is a somewhat common occurrence.

But the funny thing this year was that it was the standard oil, the big gas
companies float that ran out of gas. And seeing it sitting there, unable to
move, it was a great picture of vast resources, but no power. And some of us as
believers, we live like that.

Sometimes my life is like that. The power of the resurrection is available, but
I'm depending on my own power. Paul says, "I want to know Christ.

" And to know Christ means the power of the resurrection is flowing through my
life. Paul is saying, "I want that. I'm not going to be satisfied with anything
less than that.

" And you and I shouldn't either. Never be satisfied with a Christian life that
doesn't flow with the power of the resurrection of Jesus' life. Now the fact
that your life is flowing with the power of the resurrection, that doesn't mean
you're perfect.

It doesn't mean you're not going to be humbled sometimes. It doesn't mean you're
not going to say something stupid sometimes. Jesus as a disciple said stupid
things.

I certainly have. It doesn't mean that you won't have the weaknesses of these
human minds and these human bodies, but it does mean that he's using you. His
power is working through you in your work, in your school, in your family.

The power of Jesus' life is making a difference in your life and in the lives of
those around you. The power of his resurrection. Paul said, "I want to know him.

" And the power of his resurrection and then the fellowship of his sufferings.
The power of his resurrection, that reminds me that knowing Christ means living
by his power. The fellowship of his sufferings, that reminds me that knowing
Christ means living in his presence.

Fellowship. Now I know the first word that you may hear as I read this phrase is
sufferings, and we'll get to that in a moment, but the key here is fellowship.
The most important word here is fellowship, a sense of closeness to Christ.

A living of life with Christ. I think it's easy for us to think sometimes. It
might be easy for you to think, "You know, I want to get closer to Christ.

Jesus, I want to get closer to you, but I can't today. I can't get to know you
today. I've got work.

I've got a soccer game. I've got meals to fix. Jesus, how am I going to get to
know you today?

" Well, you start by recognizing Jesus is there, and you realize that Jesus
wants to be a part of every part of your life. It starts there. If you've got a
son or a daughter who has a soccer game, and you're standing and you're watching
them, you're enjoying watching them play soccer, do you think that Jesus is
enjoying you, enjoying them?

Of course. Do you think Jesus can enjoy that with you? He created them.

He made them. When you have energy and creativity for work, and things are
working like they should, do you think Jesus enjoys that, the fact that he gave
you that energy, that creativity? And can you bring him into that?

Can you fellowship with him in that? This idea that we can only get close to God
at church, that's ridiculous. You spend just a brief amount of time at church,
and that should enable us and empower us for living life in the everyday world.

But the truth is, everything else isn't a spiritual desert compared to church.
We can bring Christ into anything and enjoy fellowship with him, even in your
entertainment. Entertainment should not be an escape from everything, including
Jesus.

You're watching TV. You should realize Jesus is here with me. Now, it might
change your channel selections.

I'll admit that. But recognizing that he's here with me in any situation, even
as I'm relaxing, is a key to fellowship with Christ. That's where this begins.

But this fellowship with Christ that's talked about here, Paul is talking about
something deeper, because he talks about the fellowship of his sufferings. One
of the main ways that you feel, you sense the presence of Jesus is in suffering,
in recognizing that he suffered and gave his life for me, but also in
recognizing that sometimes I and others go through suffering, and I can trust
him during that time. Paul talked about that in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse
10.

He says there, "Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the
death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be also seen in our bodies. " Now,
Jesus suffered. He died on a cross in order to do away with our suffering.

Paul is not saying that we suffer like that. We can't give our lives for someone
else for their salvation. But he's saying the fact that we suffer in this world
is a reminder of the fact that just like Jesus died we are going to face death
one day, and that Jesus came so he could understand everything that we have
faced.

The fellowship of his sufferings. How does that work? How does that come into my
everyday life?

Well, Paul talks here about becoming like him in his death in order to attain to
the resurrection from the dead, becoming like him in his death, even in his
suffering. We're talking about joy as we walk through the book of Philippians.
Let me just paint a picture here.

What is joy? How does it happen? Sometimes we think that all that joy is is what
we say no to.

If I say no to the wrong things, I'm going to experience joy in my life. The
picture is we want to have joy in our lives, and Satan places some substitute in
front of the joy that God wants to give, some fake joy, some false joy. And he
wants us to go for the fake, to go for the phony.

And if I say no to the fake, the phony, then I can enjoy the real thing. The key
to joy there is saying no to the substitute. So then I can turn my heart to God
and enjoy the real thing.

And yes, there is joy in that. But there's a deeper picture that Paul talks
about here. Joy is not only what you say no to, it's also what you say yes to.

And when he talks about the fellowship of his sufferings, Paul is reminding us
here that there is a cross between us and joy. In this joy, I must say yes to
the cross in order to experience the real joy that God has for my life. The key
to joy is in saying yes to the suffering.

Now that's hard to say, let alone hard to live. It may be hard to understand.
What does it mean to say yes to the suffering?

It means to recognize that Jesus suffered for me and to lean on that suffering
and to trust in the fact that he gave his life on the cross so that I can be
forgiven. But it's also a reminder of the fact, the way that Jesus lived, that
the object of life is not to avoid pain. You're going to have pain in this life.

The object is to know Christ. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to
when they've gone through suffering. They've lost someone to death or they faced
their own death or they've gone through cancer.

They've gone through suffering and they brought Christ even into that experience
and they've trusted him. I can't tell you how many people have said to me, "I
felt closer to God during that time of my life than in any other time. " That's
the fellowship of his sufferings.

That's the miracle of what Jesus can do. God takes the worst that Satan throws
at us and he turns it for his good. He turns it to joy.

Now, does that say that the suffering is good? Of course not. One day, he's
going to do away with all suffering.

No, it says that God is good. And while I live in this world, I'm going to face
some suffering. I can allow it to cause me to feel separated from God.

Guy, why would you allow me to go through this? Or I can enjoy the fellowship of
his sufferings. Jesus, you suffered.

You suffered for me. And when I go through tough times, difficult times in this
world, I draw close to you and I rely on you. Paul started these verses by
talking about this desire to know Christ.

So let's talk to Jesus about that. Pray with me. I want to know Christ and the
power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.

Jesus, help me not to be satisfied with how much I know you today. As much as I
may have grown or as little, help me to realize that there's always so much more
to know of you. Help me to realize that you have life to give me and to rejoice
every day in the resurrection life that you want to give.

Even when I don't feel powerful, feel alive, the truth is I am Jesus because I
am Jesus. The truth is I am Jesus because of what you've done in me and for me
as I trust in you. But Lord, help me also not to be afraid of suffering.

Your suffering was turned to good and you can take the suffering that I go
through and as I trust in you, you can use even it for good. All things work
together for good to those who love God. So instead of being afraid of
suffering, instead of making the object of my life avoidance of pain, I want to
know Christ.

So even when life doesn't work out like I want, even when I face
disappointments, even as I'm facing suffering right now, Jesus, help me to get
to know you even there, even here. I pray it, Jesus, in your name. Amen.