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Skip Heitzig: 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 uncuff it, and a new soldier would take over. This would prevent any kind of an escape, 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. 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 soldiers that he is referred to are the Praetorian soldiers, 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 came to visit him, with just the guard. 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.

So I can just imagine a soldier at the end of his shift, the other guy comes on, and he goes, "Hey, if you don't mind, I'll take your shift. Paul is just getting into something really juicy here and I'd like to be here for another few hours." But if you would just skip ahead to chapter four, notice how he closes out this little epistle to the Philippians. Verse 20: "Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household."

So Paul has made an impact in the Praetorian Guard and in the household of Caesar Nero himself. So you can just hear, can you not, the prayers of some of the church members in Rome before Paul came to be a prisoner there? "Lord, somehow reach Caesar Nero even, Lord. Nothing's too hard for you. Just send someone to preach the gospel to them." So God sends Paul, and they become believers, and they become part of the epistle to the Philippians because they come to know Christ and have a faith in him because of that.

So it's become evident to the whole palace guard, the Praetorian Guard, and to the rest that my chains are in Christ. I'm not chained to them, I'm chained to the will of God and he has me here. The things that have happened to me have happened for the furtherance of the gospel. So that's first; I'm reaching out to them.

And verse 14: "Most of the brethren in the Lord," these are believers, "having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." Now stop there and think about that. From this verse, I surmise that the Christians in Rome were skittish to share their faith until Paul became a prisoner. They didn't want to be too vocal, they didn't want to get arrested, they didn't want to get into trouble. There was already anxiety and tension among Romans and Christians and Jews and Romans and on and on. They just didn't want to get in the fray.

But then Paul gets arrested and they say, "Look at him. He's bold, he's unashamed, he's not afraid to speak to the household of Caesar and the Praetorian Guards." And they think, "If Paul can do that in chains, I'm out of chains; certainly I can open my mouth a little bit more and share in the office, at the hospital, with my neighbors, in an Uber." Now I know they didn't have that back then, but I'm translating that into modern parlance. If Paul can be that bold while incarcerated, certainly I who have freedom can be a little more bold in my faith.

That's what's happening. Paul's imprisonment was good for the Praetorian Guard; it got the gospel into their lives, changed them. It was good for the believers in Rome who were a little skittish in evangelism; it propelled them to share their faith. They're more bold to speak the word without fear.

But look at verse 15: "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel."

Guest (Female): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that brings clarity, hope, and direction in difficult times. And this month, we’d like to thank you with a timely resource centered on God’s power to restore what’s broken. When you give today, you’ll receive *City in Shambles*, Pastor Skip’s complete 18-message study through Nehemiah on CD plus digital download.

These messages will help you understand how God works in times of confusion and instability, how revival begins in the hearts of his people, and how to move from passive concern to courageous faith in action. Your gift helps extend the reach of Connect with Skip Heitzig, connecting more people to God’s word. Request your resource when you give $50 or more at connectwithskip.com/offer or by calling 800-922-1888. We’ll be right back after this special message from Skip Heitzig about a way you can deepen your understanding of scripture in just 90 days.

Skip Heitzig: Learning your Bible matters. I'm committed to teaching God's word, and I want you to understand the depth of scripture for yourself. That's why I want to invite you to join me in a 90-day through-the-entire-Bible reading challenge using the YouVersion Bible app. We call it Jesus People Grow. So for 90 days, we're going to read together God's word, we're going to learn it, receive it, and we're going to let it shape us so that we can also be faithful in sharing good teaching with others. So join me. Let's learn our Bibles and grow in the word of God.

Now here’s more from Pastor Skip.

I'm even going to venture a guess. Because remember in the book of Job, Job's friends said, "Job, the reason you are suffering so much is because there's sin in your life." I'm guessing that some people said the reason Paul keeps getting put into prison and beaten up and going through shipwrecks is there's sin in his life. I'm sure they did that. The prosperity gospel, false gospel, was prevalent even back then.

So some preach from envy and strife, others from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. I'm in prison not because there's sin in my life, but I'm defending the gospel. I am—the gospel is on trial. I'm before Caesar Nero. I was before Agrippa and Festus and Felix, etc., in Caesarea. And I am defending the gospel for the future. They understand that.

So I love verse 18. He's sort of summing that whole thought up: "What then?" That is, what is my conclusion about these people, some who don't like me and are jealous and some who do? "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice."

Now in verse 15, when he says, "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife," who is he referring to? He's referring to believers. Now this is sort of a shock to your system because you think, well, who are these people speaking envy and strife against Paul? These must be pagans, these must be Gnostics, these must be idol-worshiping heretics. No, they're believers. Because "some" in verse 15—that little word "some"—the antecedent to that is in verse 14, "brethren." "Most of the brethren in the Lord." These are believers he's talking about. After talking about the brethren in the Lord, he says "some" of these brethren in the Lord indeed preach Christ from envy and strife.

Paul had detractors. Not everybody loved Paul or his ministry or his success. They were jealous of it. In fact, in Corinth, groups had developed around certain teachers. Do you remember that? Some say, "I'm of Paul." Others say, "I'm of Apollos." Others say, "I'm of Cephas." Others say, "I'm of Christ." These were people who gravitated toward Bible teachers—we would say radio or media preachers maybe today—and discounted the others. "Oh, I really like listening to this guy or that person." And so even in Corinth, and evidently also in Rome, Paul had his detractors.

Paul was brilliant, theologically astute, very well-educated, very successful. And because of that, it invited these kinds of problems where you have people that are preaching from envy and strife and then others from goodwill. Now this shouldn't shock you really. Because what's changed? There are people—there's a lot of different reasons why people go into the ministry and they're not always noble. Some people really like to be seen, like to be noticed. "I'm important, you really need to listen to what I have to say. I'm a gift from God to you." That's why I love Moses, because Moses didn't want to speak. And God said, "No, you're the guy I want to speak." "Yeah, but I really am not good at this." "Well, that's why I really want you to do this."

But some people just, they're filled with strife and their motivation is, well, they're pompous. Diotrephes was of this sort in—if you know your Bibles—in 3 John. That little one-chapter letter of 3 John, John writes about—he said, "I was trying to write to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves the preeminence, would not receive us." In other words, Diotrephes is a control freak, and he didn't like us because he couldn't control us. And so he wanted to control the church and even though I tried to write to you guys, he wouldn't have anything because he likes to have the uppermost hand. He likes the preeminence.

So Paul had to deal with these kinds of people as well. And as I mentioned also in Corinth. Now I don't know what they had against Paul other than he was successful. I don't know why they didn't like his ministry. Same in Corinth. Maybe they thought, "Well, he's old-fashioned, we like kind of a newer flare, something more relevant than this little bald guy who can't see, who—he's been around a while, we need something fresher and newer, maybe like Apollos." But nonetheless, he had his detractors.

Think of Jonah. God told him to go to Nineveh. He didn't want to go. He hated the Ninevites. He wanted them dead. God said, "Well, Jonah, you should like this ministry then. Because I want you to go to Nineveh and tell them '40 days and God's going to judge you.'" Now he ran the other direction. God finally got ahold of him. He sends him to Nineveh with a message of judgment.

But in giving the message of judgment, you know what happened in Nineveh: they believed and turned and repented and God forgave them. And that's what ticked Jonah off. He said, oh, he was bitter, "I knew you would do that, Lord. I knew you are so loving and so kind and so forgiving that you would dismiss all of the wickedness and you'd give them another chance. That's why I didn't want to come, because you're so good."

So here you have this bitter, angry preacher named Jonah, but God honored his word. See, God honors the message. The message is far more important than the messenger. The truth is all of us messengers are flawed. It's only the message that is pure. So get the right message, preach the message. And God said, "My word that goes out forth out of my mouth will not return to me void; it'll perform that which I have sent it to do."

So, that's his summary there of that whole nonsense. God be glorified, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice and I will rejoice. So what a way to live. Now before we go on and finish, God willing, the rest of the chapter, think of your own life for a moment. Think of the things that take your joy away. Think of Paul in prison. Bad things happened to him. False trials, false accusations, shipwrecks, preachers who didn't like him, jealous, all that stuff. Think of all—and here he goes, "I'm rejoicing. Nothing's stealing my joy."

What does it take to steal your joy? For some of you, not much. The guy that pulled out in front of you on the road on Osuna on your way here, as you were pulling into the parking lot, took your joy away. You're pulling in, "It's Bible study tonight, idiot." Boy, all that joy out the window just like that. I relate, I can relate. But let me say this and then we'll move on: maturity is measured by what it takes to steal your joy. Christian maturity is measured by what it takes to steal your joy.

Christ is preached, I rejoice and I will rejoice. "For I know," verse 19, "I know this will turn out for my salvation," or deliverance. "This will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." I trust that I'm going to be delivered from this, God has his hand on me. No matter what, if I'm in jail or I'm out, I'm going to be bold. I've always been bold in my faith, I'm not going to back down. And so as always, so now also—and I love this—that Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

The word "magnified" means to make large or to enlarge or to make great. But think about this: how great is Christ? Is he pretty great? He's pretty awesome, right? He's the preeminent one. How can you possibly make Christ, who's that great, any greater through your body? "That Christ may be magnified," he says, "whether by life or by death in my body."

Well, think about that. When you look up on a clear evening and you see the stars up in the Milky Way, you know, because you went to school, you know that those little specks of light are actually large bodies. Those stars are enormous. Some of them are much bigger than the sun. In fact, some of them are 1,200 times larger than our sun. Why do they look so small then? Because they are far away.

So how do you enlarge them? What instrument do you look through? A telescope. A telescope takes things that are farther away and magnifies them, enlarges them. You go, "Whoa, that looks—" or you look at the moon, it's like, "Man, I could touch it."

Think of your body, your life, like the telescope that lets people see Christ clearly. Because for most people, Jesus Christ is this enigmatic figure of history, 2,000 years old, so distant. God is so far away until you show up and you make him great by your lifestyle, by your words, by your personality, your temperament, your joy. You have the ability to be for people the telescope that enlarges the character and glory of God.

So just think of that as you read that again: "That Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." So that's why you want to present your body every day. "Here's my body, Lord. I present it as a living sacrifice. May Christ be magnified, be enlarged. Let people see him clearly through my life."

Guest (Female): We’re so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here’s a reminder: when you give $50 or more this month, we’ll send you *City in Shambles*, Pastor Skip’s complete study through Nehemiah on CD and digital download, as our thanks.

These messages offer practical biblical insight for anyone burdened by the brokenness they see in the world around them, helping you respond with faith, prayer, and hope instead of fear or despair. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people to God’s word. You can give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time.

Guest (Male): 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.