Skip to content Pest Control - Part A Dec 16 · 26 min ...more
Pest Control - Part A
December 16, 2025 · 26 min
Was the early church really perfect? Pastor Skip uncovers the struggles of the first believers—and how God still brought beauty out of their mess.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast December 16, 2025 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
Was the early church really perfect? Pastor Skip uncovers the struggles of the first believers—and how God still brought beauty out of their mess. ...more Show the full description Show less Was the early church really perfect? Pastor Skip uncovers the struggles of the first believers—and how God still brought beauty out of their mess.
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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 Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're so glad you've tuned in today. At Connect with Skip, our passion is to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus through solid verse by verse bible teaching that's0:13 both clear and practical. Every message you hear is designed to strengthen your faith and help you live out God's truth wherever he's placed you. But did you know that you can stay connected beyond the broadcast?0:25 When you sign up for pastor Skip's free weekly devotional, you'll receive biblical encouragement, exclusive content, and free resources to help you go deeper in God's word, all delivered straight to your0:37 inbox. It's quick, easy, and completely free, and it's a great way to stay rooted in truth every week. Sign up today at connect with Skip dot com. That's connect with Skip dot0:49 com. Now here's today's message from pastor Skip Heitzig.0:53 So So there was a man. He was stranded on a desert island all alone for years. Finally, he was found. And a rescue team was sent to pull him off the island and bring him back to civilization.1:05 Well, they get to the island. And before they take him off, he goes, well, let me show you around first so you can see what I've done with the place. So he brought them1:17 to a hut that he lived in. He goes, this is the home that I built with my own 2 hands. They were impressed. And then he showed them a second building. And he said, this is the church1:29 that I built with my own 2 hands. Now he was alone on the island. But he said, this is the church I built with my own 2 hands. And then somebody from the rescue party noticed a third building. And he said, what about1:39 that building? He said, oh, that's the church I used to go to. If you've gone to church for very long, you know that that sentiment is not far off.1:51 That the longer you go to church, you discover that church history is filled with contention sometimes and discord2:03 over years. And it's 1 of the things that unbelievers have noticed. People who do not believe in the Jesus we follow will sometimes in fact, oftentimes2:15 say, well, know, there's a lot of denominations in the Christian world. And it just seems like you guys can't get your act together. You don't all agree on all the points. You know, it's like the old joke, how2:27 many Christians does it take to change a light bulb? And it's not an easy answer. Presbyterians, none. Lights will go on and off at predestined times.2:38 Catholics, none. Candles only. Baptists, at least 15. 1 to change the light bulb and 3 committees to approve the change and2:49 decide who brings the potato salad. Episcopalians, 3. 1 to call the electrician, 1 to mix the drinks, and 1 to talk about how much better the old light bulb3:01 was. Charismatics, only 1. Hands are already in the air. Pentecostals, 10, 1 to change the bulb, and 9 to pray against the spirit of darkness.3:14 Unitarians, we choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for light bulbs. However, if you're in your own journey, you found that light bulbs3:26 work for you, that's fine. You're invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your light bulb for next Sunday's service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including3:38 incandescent, fluorescent, 3 way, long life, and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence. Methodists, undetermined.3:50 Whether your light is bright or dull or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, a turnip bulb, or a tulip bulb. Christian or church wide lighting services planned for next4:02 Sunday bring the bulb of your choice and a covered dish. Nazarenes, 6, 1 woman to replace the bulb while 5 men review the church lighting policy.4:15 Lutherans, none. Lutherans don't believe in change. Amish, what's a light bulb?4:28 Well, now that I have effectively ditzed all denominations and offended everyone, I want to go to the text itself in Philippians chapter 1. We're going to be looking at4:39 verses 15 through 18. And here's where we are. Last time we were together, we noted that Paul was dealing with problem circumstances. He had been on trial. It was4:51 a mistrial. It was a miscarriage of justice. It landed him in prison in Caesarea, then in prison in Rome. Now Paul writes about not5:03 problem circumstances, but problem people. But get this, there are Christian people that are the problem, Christian people that5:15 are opposed to Paul. This disillusions lots of people who, after they come to Christ, say something like, well, I thought5:27 it would be much different among Christians. I thought Christians would be so wonderful all the time. It's a good thought. But the reality is we're all fallen, we're all sinful, we're all5:39 imperfect, and yet we all get together. Remember Jesus said when he gave his sermon to that synagogue in Nazareth, he said that he had come, his words, to preach the gospel to5:50 the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to give sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Did you hear the description of the6:02 audience he speaks about? Poor, brokenhearted, captive, blind, oppressed. Sounds like a messy bunch to me. And that is who we are6:14 as we are all together. Now the critical question is how do you handle pests? How do you deal with people who claim to be Christians, yet at the same time they're6:26 weird, irritable, sometimes wrong, or just plain goofy? How do you handle them? What do you do? Well, we are6:38 given a threefold strategy in these 4 verses of Philippians chapter 1. Whether you are a church leader, whether you are a group leader, whether you gather a small group in your home, or you go on a6:50 missions trip, or you just hang around Christians, these are valuable principles to know. Let's begin by just looking at our text in verse 15. Paul says7:01 these words. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill.7:13 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains. But the7:25 latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in7:37 truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. The first thing we must do is identify the7:48 troublemakers. Now, will not be difficult. Troublemakers show themselves. They emerge on their own. You don't have to look for them.8:00 You'll find them pretty easily. Paul did in his experience in Rome. Now, as we examine these words in this text more carefully, we discover who he is8:12 speaking about. First of all, we want to make a note that these people Paul is writing about are believers. They're believers. Notice in verse 15, he says,8:24 some indeed preach Christ. Some of what? Some of whom? The answer is given in the previous verse. Verse 14, Most of8:36 the brethren in the Lord please notice that. That's part of the group. Most of the brethren in the Lord have become confident by my chains and are much more bold to speak the word without8:47 fear. Some that is, some of them some of those brethren in the Lord indeed preach Christ. So Paul is not dealing with heretics here, or8:59 Gnostics, or Judaizers, or unbelieving idol worshippers. He's talking about Christian brothers and sisters who preach Christ,9:11 evidently leaders in the church in Rome. Why is this important to make a note of? Well, I've noticed that some of us like to idealize the early church.9:24 We think that the early church must have just been perfect all the time. And I've heard sentiments such as, boy, I wish our church could be like the early9:36 centuries. Those were the good old days. I've discovered the good old days is just a combination of a good imagination and a bad memory. Because if you think about9:47 it, the New Testament is filled with early church issues. Example, the church at Corinth was an early church. Ever9:59 spent much time in 1 and 2 Corinthians? If you have, you understand that when Paul wrote that letter, he was speaking to a divided church who were arguing over leadership. There was rampant divorce. There was10:11 lack of love. There was immorality. There was the discussion over spiritual gifts that nobody agreed on. It sounds very contemporary to me. If you're wanting to be like the early church,10:23 I think we've hit that mark. They were not a perfect group of people. I guess the most disturbing issue is why does that happen in the church?10:35 Why among redeemed, saved people can there get to be so many problems? The Puritan John Trapp answered that question the best.10:47 He said, the devil loves to fish in troubled waters. That's good, isn't it? The devil loves to fish in troubled waters. Satan loves to exploit and10:59 amplify any conflict or disagreement or issue that may be among us. If you have never read the book The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis, I recommend you read11:11 it. CS Lewis decided to write a book from the vantage point of the devil trying to undo people. The devil in this book,11:22 Screwtape, the senior demon, is training a younger protege demon named Wormwood on how to mess people's lives up. And in 1 section of11:34 the book, he writes a letter to Wormwood. My dear Wormwood, says Screwtape, the senior demon, the church is a fertile field. If you keep them bickering over11:46 details, structure, money, property, personal hurts, and misunderstandings. 1 thing you must prevent, don't ever let Christians look up and see the banner of victory flying because you11:58 will lose them. Never let them see the glory of God. Now that's exactly what Paul does. Paul lets us see the glory of God. That's how he12:10 will answer this whole contention issue you'll notice in a minute. He flies the banner of victory, and he shows them the glory of God.12:19 This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. As we reach the end of 20 25, generous support from friends like you is vital to keep Connect with Skip Heitzig strong and sharing God's unchanging truth around the12:31 world. Your year end gift helps more people hear the gospel and find lasting hope in Jesus. And to thank you for your generosity, we'll send you the daily God journal, pastor Skip's new year long prayer12:43 journal, together with the digital devotional, the daily God book. These resources will guide you through scripture day by day, helping you align your heart with God and experience his peace. Request12:54 yours when you give a year end gift of 50 dollars or more at connectwithskip dot com slash offer or call 8 0 0 9 2 2 1 8 8 8. Let's return now to today's13:06 message.13:07 Well, let's look at these troublemakers. Let's identify them. 1 thing I want you to notice is they were jealous. Look in verse 15 at the word envy. Some indeed preach Christ13:19 even from envy. Now we have another word for envy in our language, jealousy. They were jealous over Paul. Why were they jealous over Paul?13:30 Well, Paul was an easy target. He was quite successful. Paul was highly intelligent. He was very gifted, extraordinarily successful in spreading the gospel. He had13:42 seen with his own eyes a vision of the resurrected Christ. And at the time this was written, Christians were already regarding his letters as holy scripture.13:54 So he's an easy target. And people in seeing Paul decided, let's shoot him down. Now this is just human nature. I notice this on every level, whether it's people mad at Wall Street or the 114:06 percenters or the big corporations, always successful guys that are the easy targets. So they were jealous. He uses the word they preach from envy. Not only were they14:18 jealous, they were contentious group. Look at the next word. Some indeed preached Christ from envy that's jealousy and strife.14:31 Now that describes somebody who is an argumentative person. That's what strife means, somebody who stirs up a conflict, argumentative. Do you know any people like that? They're you're around. They're always stirring14:43 up a conflict, always argumentative. Some people thrive on being argumentative. In fact, some people are known more for what14:55 they are against rather than what they are for. You never quite know what they're for. You just know they're against a lot. That's strife. They exist to15:07 slam others, and they were slamming Paul the Apostle. I have a colleague in the ministry who I've known for years I respect. And he was speaking15:19 about and answering questions that young ministers were asking him about the ministry. And they said, what is the most difficult experience you've ever had in ministry? And he said, well, are 2. Number 1 is when15:30 people who know truth walk away from it. When somebody who should know better there are Christians who've been exposed to truth, been exposed to the word, bring their Bibles, read along.15:42 Suddenly, 1 day they, for whatever reason, walk away completely from living for Christ. He said, but the second and he was speaking about ministers who were coming against him. He15:54 said, those who live to attack others in the ministry. It's like they falsely accuse, and they16:06 live just to stir up trouble. So envy and strife. And we do not know how this strife was expressed. We can only suppose.16:18 Maybe there was a group of people saying, well, you know, Paul the Apostle, there must be sin in his life. That's why he's in jail. Because God would be more faithful and not allow him to be in prison unless16:30 something's wrong with him. Or maybe they were saying, well, Paul hasn't tapped into the victorious, Holy Spirit filled life.16:42 If he did, if he had, then he wouldn't be in prison. He'd be free like we have, like we are. But we do know they were jealous, and we do know they were contentious. Something else they were, they were16:54 selfish. If you go down to verse 16, he amplifies it further. He says, the former that is the first group, the guys against him the former preach17:06 Christ from selfish ambition. Very interesting term. It is a political term that speaks about a politician canvassing17:17 for office, using negative campaigns, putting other people down to make himself look better, to promote himself. So here's a group of17:29 people putting Paul down to puff themselves up like a politician might do in a negative campaign ad. They got some perverted pleasure17:41 by slamming Paul so that they could make other people think they are much better. This is not new in the New Testament. We know that John the Apostle17:54 spoke about a guy named Diotrephes. If you know your Bible, 3 John, verse 9, that little letter toward the end of the New Testament, he says Diotrephes loves to have18:05 the preeminence. He loves to have the preeminence. In other words, he wants to dominate people. He's a control freak. Diotrophes loves to have the18:17 preeminence among them. Keep this in mind. Next time you hear gossip and there are unfortunately too many18:29 people, even in the church, who love to spread gossip. When you hear gossip, somebody's ego is being exalted. It's usually shared because18:41 I know this and you don't, and I'm concerned. An ego is being exalted as that information is being divulged.18:53 A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. And selfish ambition was part and parcel of what was wrong with these people. They were selfish. So19:04 they're jealous. They're contentious. They're selfish. Paul mentions them, not by name. He doesn't want to make too much out of it. He didn't want to be self serving. But he mentions what they did. But there's19:16 a fourth thing. They were malicious. Notice in verse 16, the former preached Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely now watch this19:28 supposing or hoping to add affliction to my chains. Now Paul is revealing their motivation. They're doing all19:40 this. They are this way. They're pushing me down to pull themselves up, and here's why. They want to add affliction to my19:51 bonds. What does that mean? The word affliction is a common New Testament word, phyllipsis. Phyllipsis is a word that means pressure or trial, but it literally means an irritation.20:04 It means friction. It is the irritation caused by the rubbing of an object over another object. Now notice it says Paul says they want to add20:17 affliction or irritation to my chains. For 2 years, Paul was in chains. I know you've heard that. I know we've read that.20:28 We've discussed that. But I just want you to think of what that means. That means for 2 years, Paul couldn't take a potty break alone. He20:40 had no freedom. He had no isolation. He had no privacy. He couldn't eat a meal alone. He couldn't have a conversation in that rented house in Rome for 220:52 years. He was chained to a guard. That means there was a shackle around his wrist with a chain attached to the shackle of another soldier who only occupied that place for a few21:04 hours at a time. But Paul, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 2 years, he had a chain. That means that that shackle would irritate his skin and his bones, and21:15 scabs would develop, and it would bleed, and it would thicken, etcetera. You get the picture. So he says, the reason these people are this way toward me is they want21:27 to add to the irritation that I already have in my chains. That is their motivation. They don't want to evangelize the lost. They don't want to feed the flock. They're not really concerned for the21:39 church, even though they're saying, well, I'm saying this about Paul because I'm really concerned for the church. Paul said that's not the truth. The truth is they have 1 motivation. They want to add irritation to my21:51 already irritable situation of being in chains. Now please understand again, these are preachers. Paul says they preach Christ.22:04 They are Christians. They are Christian preachers. They are not anti Christ, but they are anti Paul. And they are anti Paul with a vengeance.22:15 And I can't think of a worse reason to preach a message than that. I can't think of a worse motivation to write a book or have a blog site than that.22:28 Let's just make life hard for Paul the Apostle. Sort of like scorpions. You know that if you leave scorpions together alone, they'll kill themselves and eat themselves? A guy did an22:40 experiment with 100 scorpions in a huge glass jar. In a few days, only 14 survived. They had killed the others and were eating them. There was even a pregnant scorpion in22:52 that jar that killed and started eating her young as soon as they were born. 1 of those babies escaped on the mother's back and eventually killed her. Any23:04 leader who has led anything, even Christian leaders in Christian churches, know that every church, every group has the Tate family among them.23:15 Every church has the Tates. There's old man Dick Tate who wants to run everything, while Uncle Roe Tate tries to change everything.23:28 Their sister Agitate stirs up plenty of trouble with help from her husband Era Tate. And whenever new projects are suggested, Hesitate and his wife23:40 Vega Tate want to wait till next year. Then there's Animitate, who wants our church to be like all the others. Devastate provides the23:52 voice of doom, while Potentate wants to be a big shot. And of course, there's the black sheep of the family, amputate, who has completely cut himself off24:04 from every church. Anybody who's a leader knows those people exist. So what do you do? I suggest you do what Paul does. You don't spend all your time worried about them.24:16 You pivot. Yes, you identify the troublemakers, but then you ratify the truth makers. And notice what Paul says in verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ from24:28 envy and strife. And some I want to go, ah. It feels better already. He's pivoting here. And some24:39 also from goodwill.24:42 We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. And remember, before you go, your generosity today makes a real difference. As this year ends, your24:54 gift of 50 dollars or more helps more people hear God's word and find lasting hope in Jesus. And to thank you, we'll send you the daily God journal along with the companion digital devotional, the25:06 daily God book. These resources will help you start the new year aligned with god's heart and growing in faith each day. Give your year end gift now at connect with skip dot com slash25:17 offer or call 809 2 2 18 88. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here 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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