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Skip Heitzig: We're in the book of Philippians. Philippians, as we mentioned last week, is oddly a book filled with joy. Oddly because it was written by a prisoner in jail, incarcerated because of his faith. Things didn't work out the way he thought they would. And yet over and over again, 16 times in this book, he mentions joy. With all the derivations of that word, it's 19 times in this book.

It lets me know, just reading it through once, it informs me that joy is a choice more than a feeling. Happiness is externally triggered. I get a raise, I'm happy. I get a new car, I'm happy. My team wins, I'm happy. But joy is internally triggered. Joy is something far more profound. It is tied to a relationship that I have with God, so that if I'm running around outside in freedom or stuck inside some kind of a prison, I can experience joy.

I did mention a few things last week, and if I overlap, I apologize. But we are going to begin in a moment in verse 12. I don't want to begin in verse 12; I want to begin in the book of Romans, and I'll tell you why. Paul made three separate mission trips. We call them his missionary journeys. You know that from reading Acts. You also know that from the map in the back of your Bible that shows the different missionary journeys of the apostle. They're usually outlined in color so you can see the difference between the first, second, and third.

Though he made three different trips to spread the gospel, he never once had gone to Rome on any of those trips. They never took him to Rome. But it was always his desire to go to Rome. He wrote to the Romans in the book of Romans, a letter to the Romans, while he was in Corinth on his third missionary journey. From Corinth, he wrote a letter to them.

In chapter one of Romans, he said, "I long to see you that I might impart unto you some spiritual gift." He wanted to come to them because he wanted to bless them, teach them, encourage them, and also be blessed by them and encouraged by them. He had never met the church in Rome, which in and of itself is sort of fascinating to me because it is a church that was growing and thriving that Paul did not start. So we are forced to ask the question, then who started it?

The answer, of course, is nobody knows for sure. I can venture a guess. Either after Pentecost, we remember all of those different people, those Jewish people who came to Jerusalem, and on the day of Pentecost, because of the testimony of the early church in Jerusalem, many of them came to know Christ. Thousands of them. Some were baptized. They had come from all over the world. The diaspora, the dispersion of the Jews, brought them to Jerusalem for the feast.

In going back home, many of them now transformed by the gospel went to their different places of origin, and from them a church started. That's one option. Option number two is Paul didn't start it, but it was somebody that Paul led to faith that could have started it. We don't know. But there was one, there was a church there, vibrant believers, and Paul wanted to go.

I said I'm going to begin in the book of Romans. I'm looking at chapter 15 of Romans, toward the end of that epistle. If you have a Bible with you, you may want to turn to Romans 15. I know it's sort of going around the block to get next door. We are really studying Philippians, but in chapter 15 of Romans, verse 23, listen to his words. "But now no longer having a place in these parts," he's writing from Corinth, "and having a great desire these many years to come to you," he's writing to those in Rome. "Whenever I journey to Spain," that was his ambition, to take the gospel as far away as Spain, "I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while."

These are Paul's plans. They never happened the way he wants them to happen. Verse 25 of that same chapter: "But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain."

He was saying, "I'm going to Jerusalem, I'm taking the offering that I took from the churches to bring to the poor in Jerusalem." We have covered that on many different occasions. "But I'm going to be back, and I'm going to come see you guys on my way to Spain." Verse 29: "But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me."

And here's what he's asking them to pray about. He's on his way to Jerusalem. "That I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God and may be refreshed together with you. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen." That's what he wanted to happen.

That's not what happened. Something happened to him, and those in Philippi hadn't heard from Paul for a while, and they're wondering, "What happened to him?" Well, we know what happened. He went to Jerusalem. He was falsely accused of bringing a Gentile into the court of worship for only the Jews. He was arrested. He was brought before a Roman soldier who was about to beat him. Paul said, "I'm a Roman citizen, you can't do that."

He asks if he can address the Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin, and give a defense. He gives his testimony to them and he says, "God sent me to the Gentiles," and then they threw dust in the air and they said, "Kill him, he's not worthy of life." So they ferried him away from Jerusalem to the seacoast, to Caesarea. Some of you have stood with me and sat in the great amphitheater in Caesarea, and we've covered that section of Paul's life right there on the seacoast of the Mediterranean.

He goes to Caesarea and spends two years in prison in Caesarea. He goes through three trials, finally appeals to Caesar. They put him on a grain ship that carried prisoners as well, and he makes his way on that prison ship, that grain ship, toward Rome. The ship sinks. Paul is saved, gets on another ship. They make it to Puteoli and walk up to Rome, where Paul spends two more years in prison.

For four years, things have happened to him that do not fit the plan that he outlined in chapter 15. "I'm going to Jerusalem, but I'll be back, and I'll be there with joy, and then I'll hang out with you guys on my way to Spain." It never happened. What did happen is he did go to Rome, not as a preacher in freedom, but as a prisoner in chains. Maybe he had in his mind, "I cannot wait to go to Rome. It'll be like a princess cruise." It ended up a prison ship.

But at least he didn't have to pay for it, and none of the churches had to pay for it. The Roman government paid for it. So that happened to him. He is incarcerated two years in Caesarea, two more years in Rome, and so all of the plans that he makes, well, they happen, but not like he wanted them to happen. He did make it to Rome, but in a very different way.

In Psalm 37, do you remember when the psalmist said, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way"? Or the steps of a righteous person are directed by the Lord. I love the way that's written. The steps are ordered by the Lord. But not only are the steps of a good man or woman ordered by the Lord, but the stops of a good man or woman are ordered by the Lord.

God tells you when to step, and God tells you when to stop. And even if you don't know when to stop, He'll stop you. And so Paul's steps are directed by the Lord, but he didn't think he was going to stop off in Caesarea and then stop off in Rome as a prisoner. But that is how he goes to Rome. That is what has happened to Paul to get him to Rome.

I have studied the life of Paul for years. I even did doctoral work on the life and journeys of Paul. And in studying Paul, I often have wondered why this guy, so open and sold out to do the will of God, had so many difficult stops in his life and why it was so abrupt like this for him. I don't know that I can give a good answer to it. It's just something that I have mused over. Like, why was it so difficult for Paul? And it was.

I'll only speak from experience. Some of us are strong-willed, bullheaded. I'll be kind to Paul and just say he had a strong will. And like the Everready Bunny, he's just, you wind him up and he's going to go, go, go, go until the Lord says stop. Like He did when he tried to expand to different areas in Bithynia, and the Holy Spirit forbade him until he went down to Troas, that whole thing we covered last week, and then God sent him to Macedonia to plant a church in Philippi.

But some people require, because of their personality, well, listen to what Bob Pierce said. Bob Pierce was the founder of Samaritan's Purse before Franklin Graham ever ran it. Bob Pierce said, "The Lord directs His children gently, but me He yanks." And some people do need to be yanked around, and I think Paul was sort of one of those. Not in a mean way was he bullheaded; he just saw what needed to be done and he went for it and didn't always read what the will of God was, but he was trusting that God was directing the scenes behind the scenes.

So the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and the stops of a good man are ordered by the Lord. So he makes it to Rome after stopping in Caesarea and now, full stop in Rome, he is a prisoner. So they're wondering, "Whatever happened to Paul?" So Paul says in verse 12 of Philippians chapter one, it took us all this time to get to it. "But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me," now think of all those things I just outlined that happened to Paul: his arrest, false accusations, three trials in Caesarea, shipwreck, another ship, finally makes it to Rome. "All those things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel."

And I mentioned last week, aren't you glad Paul was locked up? I am because we have, because of that lockup, the book of Ephesians, the book of Philippians, the book of Colossians, the book of Philemon—all prison epistles. And when I read verse 12, I get a little bit of insight into the man Paul the apostle. I think when I meet Paul in heaven, it's going to be very humbling to be face to face with this guy.

I don't know if I'm going to be real shy around him or what. I'll be in heaven, so I'll have a glorified constitution. Nonetheless, I am so humbled by his outlook on life. He's not bitter. He's not complaining. He's not lamenting over all the things, bad things that have happened to him. It's as if he says, "Look, I get it. This comes with the territory. If you're going to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and spread the gospel in the Roman world, expect to be locked up."

So the things that have happened to me have actually happened for the propulsion, the furtherance. The gospel can go further because I'm in these chains. I can reach a segment of people and do a certain kind of ministry that I couldn't do unless I was in a situation like this.

And last week, I did make mention of John Bunyan, who in the 1600s in England was incarcerated because he fearlessly proclaimed the gospel in England. And he was locked up in the Bedford jail. And he was such a fiery preacher that not only did he preach to the prisoners in the Bedford jail, but he would preach in the open courtyard and people from the town would come to overhear his sermons to the prisoners.

So the authorities locked him in an inner prison so he was inaccessible. And in that inner prison, he wrote a book called *Pilgrim's Progress*, a book that has been translated and distributed more than any other book in the world except the Bible. It is second only to the scriptures. And if you have never read *Pilgrim's Progress*, well, Charles Spurgeon read it every single year. So I would make a recommendation that you get the book, either get the real book or the fake book online and download it and read it and be edified.

And it comes now in several versions that are more simplified than the ancient English in the 1600s. I would just recommend it. But like Paul the apostle, he was stuck in prison, but out of that prison was birthed something that has blessed tens of millions of people around the world. So that is how Paul views the things that have happened, all the bad steps and stops.

It is very similar to Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into Egypt, you remember, and they were nervous because he's now the prime minister and he finds out that that's his brothers who sold him into Egypt. "We're dead meat." And on two different occasions, once in Genesis 45 and then in Genesis 50, he says to them, "Hey, don't berate yourselves because you sold me here and don't get mad at yourselves for that, because God actually sent me here before you to preserve life."

And then in chapter 50 of Genesis, he says the same thing. That it wasn't you; it was the Lord who did this. This is something that God wanted to have happen. He orchestrated it. So that's how Paul sees his life. "The things that have happened to me have actually happened for the furtherance of the gospel."

And here's some of the benefits of his incarceration. "So that it is become evident to the whole palace guard and to the rest that my chains are in Christ." Now a word about Paul's chains. Paul was in prison, but the kind of prison he was in at first was not the deep prison, the solitary confinement prison. That second type of prison is what he will undergo in a few years from this point.

But at this point, when he first gets to Rome, he is under house arrest. He is chained to a soldier. The chain was about 18 inches long, cuffed around the prisoner, never left the prisoner's wrist for two years. But the guards were working in shifts, a few hours at a time, then they would un-cuff it and a new soldier would. This would prevent any kind of a breakout because you're under house arrest.

In Acts 28, it says that Paul lived in his own rented house for two years. He was chained, but he was in a house he had to pay for. And people could come in and visit with him, and he could have Bible studies and he could encourage the church and he could do evangelism for those who came. But he couldn't go out, and he was always chained to a soldier.

The soldier that he is referring to is the Praetorian soldier, the Praetorian guard. There were in Rome at this time about 10,000 different soldiers in that elite category called the Praetorian guard. 10,000. Originally, it was started by Caesar Augustus, and then it just sort of continued as an institution. Praetorian guards were stationed around Rome, all around the city, to preserve peace, but also and especially to guard the emperor. They were the elite Secret Service force.

And it was the Praetorian guards that guarded Caesar's life. Well, you can imagine as we mentioned last week, if you're chained to Paul the apostle for hours at a time, you don't have to really guess what's going to happen, what they're going to hear. They started hearing the gospel. They started hearing the conversations Paul would have with church leaders, with Jewish people, with people who come to visit him, with just the guards.

And many of them came to know the Lord. Those in Caesar's household, his elite forces, were coming to know Christ and growing in their faith in Christ.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember your generosity helps share God's word with people around the world, offering biblical truth and hope in a time when many feel discouraged or overwhelmed. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $50 or more by sending you City in Shambles, Pastor Skip's complete 18-message study through Nehemiah on CD plus digital download.

These messages will encourage you to respond to brokenness with prayer, repentance, and courageous faith and remind you that God still rebuilds what's been torn down. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: Hi, I'm Skip Heitzig, Pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the author of the devotional "Soaring Above It All." If you're a believer who longs to see the big picture of God's word, but maybe you've felt overwhelmed or you've been unable to make all the pieces of God's story fit together, I wrote "Soaring Above It All" for you.

From Genesis to Revelation, I've highlighted the Bible's big picture, distilling key passages, events, people, themes, and significance. This approachable overview of scripture will help you stay engaged in God's word daily. My hope is that as you read through the Bible, this devotional will enable you to better understand God's truth and His heart and plan for your life. Pre-order your copy now on Amazon or wherever books are sold.

Guest (Female): Now, let's return to today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: God tells you when to step, and God tells you when to stop. And even if you don't know when to stop, He'll stop you. And so Paul's steps are directed by the Lord, but he didn't think he was going to stop off in Caesarea and then stop off in Rome as a prisoner. But that is how he goes to Rome. That is what has happened to Paul to get him to Rome.

He is not bitter. He's not complaining. He's not lamenting over all the bad things that have happened to him. It's as if he says, "Look, I get it. This comes with the territory. If you're going to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and spread the gospel in the Roman world, expect to be locked up." So the things that have happened to me have actually happened for the propulsion, the furtherance. The gospel can go further because I'm in these chains. I can reach a segment of people and do a certain kind of ministry that I couldn't do unless I was in a situation like this.

Guest (Male): Every day, friends like you help bring clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching to people searching for truth in a world that often feels confused, divided, and uncertain. And this month, we want to thank you with a powerful resource designed for times like these. When you give, you'll receive City in Shambles, Pastor Skip's complete 18-message study through Nehemiah on CD plus digital download.

In these messages, you'll discover how God works in seasons of spiritual and cultural collapse, how prayer and obedience become the starting point for renewal, and how ordinary believers can respond with faith instead of fear. We'll send this resource as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer.

Ready to go deeper in your faith and discover your calling? The School of Ministry at Calvary Church in Albuquerque is designed to equip you with practical Bible teaching, hands-on ministry training, and real-world experience. Whether you're called to lead, serve, or grow, this is your next step. Classes are forming now. Visit calvarysom.org to learn more and apply today. That's calvarysom.org. The School of Ministry at Calvary Church. Your calling starts here.