Skip to content The Family Business - Part A Dec 8 · 26 min ...more
The Family Business - Part A
December 8, 2025 · 26 min
How can you find joy even in hard seasons? Pastor Skip shares why you can look back on pain with gratitude when you see how God used it for good.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast December 8, 2025 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
How can you find joy even in hard seasons? Pastor Skip shares why you can look back on pain with gratitude when you see how God used it for good. ...more Show the full description Show less How can you find joy even in hard seasons? Pastor Skip shares why you can look back on pain with gratitude when you see how God used it for good.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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0:01 This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, our mission is to help you know God's word and apply it to your life through clear, practical bible teaching and real0:12 encouragement every day. And if you'd like to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive resource offers0:24 straight to your inbox. Everything designed to help you stay strong in your faith. It only takes a minute to sign up. Go to connectwithskip dot com and join the list today. That's connectwithskip dot0:35 com. Now let's dive into today's teaching from pastor Skip Heitzig.0:40 I have a friend who was a director. He was a crusade director of the Billy Graham Association. His job was to get on planes and fly to different parts of the country and0:52 help organize those huge evangelistic crusades for Doctor. Billy Graham. So 1 day he's in an airplane. He's flying across country. And sitting next to him was Tom Cruise,1:04 the actor, who asked my friend, so what do you do for a living? My friend was always looking for ways to get the gospel presented. So he looked at Tom Cruise and he1:16 said, I'm in the security business. Now that's a huge buzzword for actors because actors and musicians are always looking for good security people. So he goes, really? You're in security. So my friend went on to1:28 tell him about how to have eternal security in Jesus Christ. And that was the platform that he used. I'm in the security business. You're part of1:40 a business. You have a business. And I'm not just meaning that you have a occupational business, a professional business, that I know. But you have1:51 another business. You have a spiritual business. You have a vocational business. You have a high and holy business. And that is God's business.2:04 And that's what I want to talk to you about here so that you might be a financial investor, but you have another business. You might be a consultant, but you have another business.2:17 You might be a construction worker. You have another business. You might be a student. You have another business. You might be a single parent. You have another business. You might be in2:28 between jobs. But you're always on this job. It is a business that comes from God. What's more, it's a family business. That2:40 is, now that you're a part of God's spiritual family, you're part of the family business. Remember what Jesus said when he was, I think, 12 years old and his mother found him in the temple speaking2:52 to the leadership there? And he said to her, don't you know that I must be about my father's business? We are in that business, that family business.3:04 And I want you to just make a note in verse 5, even though we haven't even read it yet. Notice the word in verse 5, fellowship. You see that word? Some newer translations3:16 translate it partnership. I think that's a better choice. It is a partnership. It is the word koinonia translated fellowship or partnership. We are partners with God in a3:28 family business. God is our Father. Jesus said, I am going to my Father and your Father. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is not ashamed to call us3:39 brothers. So we are part of a family business. I was reading a little article in Forbes Magazine this week about businesses in the United States of America. And the3:51 article said that family business in America is responsible for 50 percent of the gross national product, that it is essentially a country built4:03 on family businesses. Now some of us think of family businesses as the store down the street owned by a family, and it's been in the family for a few years. But the article goes4:15 on to say that Walmart is a family business, as is Ford Motor Company, Tyson Foods, Sears, and Comcast. All of those are family businesses.4:27 But the same article noted that less than 1 third of those businesses will survive the transition from the first generation to the second generation.4:39 And those that do survive, 50 percent of them will not survive the transition from the second to the third generation. Why is that? The article says4:51 these are businesses that get stuck doing things the same way. In other words, the business outgrows the structure. So we are in5:03 a business. We are in a family business, a partnership with God, with the Lord, and with others. Now we in this business have a product.5:15 Every business has a product. Yes, we have a product. Our product is the gospel. That's our product. That's what we give out. That's what we disseminate. That's what we're always sharing, the5:27 gospel. You'll notice in verse 5, he says, for your fellowship in the gospel. Down in verse 7, he talks about the defense and5:38 the confirmation of the gospel. In verse 12, he speaks about the furtherance of the gospel. That is our product. Why is it our product?5:51 Because it's only the gospel that brings change. That's where the life change comes from. Now, you know what the gospel is. You know what the gospel means. Gospel means6:03 the good news. The good news that what Jesus did on the cross was enough to get you from Earth to heaven. That's6:15 the good news, that he paid the price. He did the heavy lifting. We can trust that he died, was buried, was risen from the dead for our justification. That's the gospel.6:27 Now it's that gospel that changed Paul's life. He heard it. He received it. It changed him from a persecutor into a preacher, from Saul of6:39 Tarsus to Paul the Apostle. It changed Timothy, also mentioned here in our text in verse 1. Timothy was probably 15 years old when he first heard the gospel preached6:50 by that Paul who came through his town on a missionary journey. Changed him. It was the gospel who changed the lives of people at Philippi like Lydia and like the7:02 jailer, the Philippian jailer. And now there is a church there all because of the gospel. And now they, church members, are partners with Paul in7:14 the family business of the gospel. Let's look at our text. Let's get familiar, at least, with it as we jump in. I'm going to be looking with you today from verses 3 to verse 8 of chapter 1. But7:26 can we just begin in verse 1 and go down to verse 8 for the sake of context? Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ7:38 Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon7:50 every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,8:02 being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me8:14 to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart. Inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel, you are8:25 partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness. How greatly I long for you with all the affection of Jesus8:36 Christ. I want to share with you some principles of partnership. Look at these as 3 partnership8:48 principles in keeping the family business strong. They're pretty simple. Be thankful, be confident, be aware. Be8:59 thankful, be confident, be aware. Could you say those with me? Be thankful, be confident, be aware. Let's begin with the first, be thankful. Paul9:11 was thankful. Be thankful for God's work collectively. Go back to verse 3. Listen to what he writes. I thank my God9:23 upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy for your fellowship, partnership in the9:35 gospel from the first day until now. Okay, Paul is writing from a prison cell in Rome. We have discovered that in our first study. And while he's in that prison9:47 cell, he's got a lot of time in his hands. So he goes reminiscing. He has a large inventory of memories. And 1 of those memories is about9:59 the Church of Philippi, how it started, where it is now. And he says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. I put a smile on my face when I10:10 think of you and remember you in prayer, he would say. Now, the way I see it, the words I thank God or I thank my God in verse 3 and10:22 the word joy in verse 4 seem like strange words to apply to Paul's experience at Philippi. Because10:34 Philippi was sort of a pain all the way around. First of all, Paul didn't even want to go to Philippi, remember? He was trying to go several places. The Holy Spirit was shutting that down. Finally, ends up at10:46 Troas. He gets a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, come over here and help us. So he goes to Macedonia, Philippi being the chief city. And he's probably looking around for a man that he saw in his10:58 vision, doesn't see a man, goes to a group of women at a riverside, Jewish women who are praying. And 1 of them, 1 of them named Lydia, listens to the11:10 message and receives Christ as her Savior. So Paul may have been thinking, I don't know, but this is what I would be thinking if I were Paul. Okay, we got11:21 1. I've had more success on other missionary journeys. I didn't want come here to begin with, but here I am. We got 1. But then things go from that place11:33 to much worse to really, really bad.11:37 You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. As 20 25 comes to a close, generous support from friends like you is vital to keep connect with Skip Heitzig strong in the year ahead so more people can hear God's word11:49 and find real hope in Jesus. Your year end gift today helps reach even more hearts with verse by verse teaching and resources that connect people with God's love. To thank you for your generous gift of12:01 50 dollars or more, we'll send you pastor Skip's new resource, the daily God journal, along with the digital companion devotional, the daily God book. These resources will help you align your heart with12:12 God's, let go of anxiety, and grow in steady faith through his word each day. So give your year end gift today at connect with Skip dot com slash offer, or call 8 0 0 912:24 2 2 1 8 8 8. Now let's get back to today's teaching.12:29 Because the next few days, a girl demon possessed follows Paul and his team wherever he goes. And 1 day they even mock him while they are praying. Paul discerns she's12:41 demon possessed, delivers her from that demon. Paul gets taken to the center of town and gets beaten with rods and then put in jail.12:54 R. C. Linsky, a commentator, tells us what that would have felt like. Under the many blows, the skin would be broken, the blood would ooze out, The inflamed welts would cover the whole13:06 back. The rod that it speaks about was called a vitis. A vitis is a 3 foot long stick that centurions carried. The13:17 centurion used the vitis, the vine stick, for how shall I say it to motivate lazy soldiers. Paul got the full brunt of13:29 that vitis, that vine stick, those rods across his back. Then he gets put in jail. He gets put in the stocks. Stocks were designed to pull the13:41 extremities out to their maximum reach so that you were immovable. So it's interesting that with that as the background, he says, I thank my13:52 God upon every remembrance of you. Because that's not what I would write. I would say, when I think back to Philippi, I get sick to my stomach.14:05 My skin crawls. I break out in a sweat. But Paul says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer with joy.14:17 Now, there's a key there in how joy is produced. When the Holy Spirit and He does this, it's a work of grace. When you look back through your14:29 catalog of memories and the Holy Spirit is able to push the Delete key so that what your mind lands on are not all the bad things people have done to you, not all the injustices,14:41 not all the wounds, not all the hurt, not all, well, let me tell you what's not right with other people. When all that stuff goes away and you can look back through all the maze of pain and say, but God was14:53 working. And for that I have joy. What is he thankful for? Simple. He's thankful for what the gospel produced. It produced life change.15:05 People's lives were changed. The church grew. A family was extended. His memory of Lydia's salvation brought him joy. His memory of the Philippian jailers conversion and15:16 subsequent baptism brought him joy. His memory of how just a few people gathered around, and now there is a larger vibrant church at Philippi. All of that brought him joy. So15:29 listen to this principle. Paul's joy and thankfulness were directly proportional to the growth of the family business. I'm thankful for your15:40 partnership in the gospel. My joy is directly proportional, Paul would say, to the growth of the family business. That's how he saw his life.15:52 Yes, this hurt. Yes, that was painful. That was horrible. But, but the gospel changed people's lives through it. He was joyful.16:05 Same thought is expressed a few verses down. Verse 12, But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which have happened to me now he's speaking about his present incarceration. He's been16:16 unjustly accused. He has been a prisoner of the Roman government. He's now locked up in a Roman prison. Those are the things he refers to. The things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance16:27 of the what? The gospel. The product has gone out. The life changing element has gone out So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard16:39 and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the Lord have become confident by my chains and are much more bold to speak the word without16:51 fear. So my painful hardship has extended the family, and for that I'm joyful. This is Paul looking back.17:03 This is the Holy Spirit pressing the delete key, Paul looking back saying, bless you pain, bless you problems, bless you prison, bless you chains. Because as hard as those17:15 were, I see the effect the gospel has had, and for that I have joy. Boy, that's an attitude. That's an attitude. I read an article. I found an article this week17:27 about your attitude. And it was all about the right kind of attitude in life. And it was found in, of all places, the Huffington Post. And the article was called Your17:39 Attitude Determines Your Altitude. The article spoke about how your attitude affects your ability to enjoy your life. It affects your ability to be grateful17:50 for blessings, to note that these things are blessings to me. And the article went on to say, it's the reason it's so important to hang out with the right kind of people18:03 who will influence your attitude. You know, there's an awful lot of people, even Christian people, who look like basset hounds. You know, they're on their way to heaven, but you'd never know it.18:16 And it's important to be with those people like Paul who can look back and go, ah. But look and filter through it. Notice how God was at work. I have joy because of that.18:28 I rejoice in that. My mind could go back as I go through my catalog of memories. I could think about the hardships when we started, the trials and the18:40 tears that we experienced, the betrayals I've had in ministry. But as I look back, honestly, so much has been deleted. I remember things happened, but I don't remember the particulars. And I thank18:51 God for that selective memory disorder. And I think it's from Him. I think back to changed lives and churches planted and souls saved. And for that, I rejoice. I'm thankful for God's work19:03 collectively. Here's the second partnership principle. Not only be thankful for God's work collectively, be confident in God's work personally. And that's what he19:15 draws our attention to in verse 6. Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day19:27 of Jesus Christ. Now allow me to unpack this little verse. There's a lot in it. This personal work was begun by God. It's God's work. Notice what it says, being19:39 confident that He who has begun this good work. Paul is not referring to what the Philippians did. He's not saying, kudos to you guys. You did such a great work at19:51 Philippi. You planned. You strategized. You took demographic studies of the greater Philippian region. Nor is Paul talking about himself. He's not talking about or bragging about the work that he and Silas and20:03 Timothy did. Because frankly, he just showed up, and God did the work. Now you might hear that and go, Skip, you're not giving Paul enough credit. He did more than just show20:14 up. He spoke the word to Lydia. Yeah, but Luke, who was with him, put it this way, the Lord opened up her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.20:26 So who did the work, Paul or God? Well, Paul spoke, but he spoke sort of because he was there. And the Lord opened her heart. The Lord did that. Then Paul was put in20:38 prison. And his back was covered with welts, and he's in stocks. And it's midnight, so he turns to his buddy and goes, hey, let's sing. So they started singing hymns. And what happened?20:51 An earthquake happened. An earthquake shook the prison and opened the doors, and the chains fell off. Did Paul do that? That wasn't Paul's work. That was God's work. Paul showed up. The21:03 Lord opened people's hearts. An earthquake happened. It is God's work that He was doing. I love that verse in Ephesians 2, For we are His21:15 workmanship, His poema, His work of art. God is the master artist, skillful artist, always looking to express Himself. It's21:27 His work. Not only is it God's work, notice more carefully in the verse, it's a gradual work. It says, He who has begun a good21:39 work now that word begun implies it's still going on. Think for a moment of the good work that God has begun21:50 in you. Think of the first time you heard the gospel. Maybe you heard it and parts of you said, yeah, I'm sort of touched by that. But then you heard it a second time and your22:02 heart softened, and a third time. Maybe it took several times till you finally said, I give up. I surrender my life to Christ. At that moment, on that day, God began a work.22:15 He initiated a task. It's an ongoing work. I bring this up because some of you that I'm talking to feel very discouraged as you look at your own life.22:27 There are problems in your life. There are imperfections in your life. And you're tempted to look at yourself and say, this is God's masterpiece? This is the workmanship? This is the poema, the22:39 great work of art? Doesn't look very good to me. But what you're looking at is what a visitor to a great artist studio would see if you walked in and there's that artist with that white canvas spread out22:51 on a beautiful frame. And the visitor notices a splotch of orange and yellow and green. And the visitor thinks, I could do that. That's not art.23:03 I can throw paint at a canvas and put color on it. And that visitor might even say, excuse me, Mr. Famous Artist, but that doesn't look like a great piece of art to me. And the artist would say,23:15 that's because you're looking at a work in progress. I have something in my mind. I have a goal for this. But you are just seeing it at its early stages, just like you are seeing23:27 you in the middle of the job. You see, holiness is not a light switch. It's not like you come to Christ and he flips the switch and it's like,23:39 I'm perfect. We all know that's not true. The Christian life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. Put in your23:50 time. You go through the paces. So it's God's work. It's a gradual work. But notice more carefully in verse 6, it's a growing work. That is, it has to do with your spiritual24:02 growth inside of you. Notice it says, He who has begun a good work where? In you. You see, God's work is always an inside job24:14 before it's ever an outside job. God works in you before He works through you. It's sad, really, but most of our concerns in life are outward24:26 concerns. Most people, their focus, their concern is about outward thing. How do I look? Do you like my hair? Do you like this dress on me? Do I look too fat? Am I too thin? Am I too24:38 wrinkled? Am I too pale? It's usually outward stuff that we are preoccupied with. How's the weather? How's the temperature? How do I feel? It's all outward stuff. Rarely do people really get concerned about24:49 the inside work.24:52 Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't miss your opportunity to request The Daily God Journal along with the companion digital devotional, the daily god book. These25:04 resources are our thanks for your generous year end gift of 50 dollars or more to help connect with Skip Heitzig finish 20 25 strong and reach more people with the truth of God's word in the year ahead.25:15 Call 809 2 2 18 88 or go to connect with Skip dot com slash offer. Thanks for spending time with us today, and we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.25:49 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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Flight 1SAM1 - Part C Skip Heitzig
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