- What motivates unity? 5 questions to ask (Phil 2:1-2a)
- Have you been Encouraged by Christ?
- Have you been Comforted by Christ's love?
- Have you been Walking in the Spirit?
- Have you been Blessed by the Spirit?
- Do you Care about your pastor?
- What does unity look like? 4 marks to examine (Phil 2:2)
- Same Mind
- Same Love
- Same Soul
- Same Purpose
- How do I promote unity? 3 statements to practice. (Phil 2:3-4)
- "I am not going to promote Myself."
- "You are more Important than me."
- "What can I Do for you?"
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:02
Philippians chapter 2.
00:06-00:19
You recall in chapter 1, as you're turning there, in chapter 1 the Apostle Paul writing to this church, says, "I am so thankful for you." Church at Philippi. He says he makes his prayers with joy.
00:20-00:25
And you just really get the sense that the Apostle Paul loved this church. He loved this church.
00:27-00:31
And then we saw that the gospel is not going to be stopped.
00:32-00:36
Remember, Paul said, "You know what? Don't worry about my imprisonment.
00:37-00:48
That's not going to stop the gospel." And I know there are a bunch of people out there preaching with false motives, but as long as Jesus Christ is being preached, the gospel is going forward, and I'm so thankful for that.
00:52-00:57
And then we talked about living for Christ.
00:58-00:59
What would you put in the blank?
00:59-01:02
For me to live is, Paul says to live is Christ.
01:04-01:06
And to die is gain.
01:07-01:11
And he was sort of torn, you know, should I depart and be with Christ?
01:11-01:11
That would be better.
01:12-01:15
He goes, no, it's more necessary that I remain here for you.
01:16-01:40
And then last week, again we're just reviewing here, but he said, "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ." And literally what that means in the original language is this, "You're a citizen of heaven. Act like it." And that was the challenge last week.
01:40-01:42
How do you think people are acting in heaven right now?
01:43-01:44
How do you think they're acting in heaven?
01:46-01:56
Paul's like, "That's how you're supposed to act on the earth." Because that is where your citizenship is, and he'll talk more about that, we'll see, as we go through Philippians.
01:57-02:03
As we start chapter 2, I'd like to just start this message by just sharing my concerns for the church.
02:06-02:25
And I suppose these could be said to be concerns for my church, or for the church, excuse me, for the church in general, across the board, looking at the church across the planet, that are even saying, "What about churches "in the Pittsburgh area?" But getting really specific, I wanna share with you my concerns for this church.
02:28-02:29
Don't push the panic button.
02:30-02:34
These would be concerns that I would have for the church back before this church launched.
02:34-02:40
And if by God's grace I'm here next year, these would still be my concerns for the church.
02:41-02:43
And really it would boil down to three things.
02:44-02:46
Three things that I'm really concerned about for the church.
02:46-02:49
The first one would be lukewarmness.
02:49-02:51
That would be a concern for me.
02:52-03:02
When the church gets to the point like, ah, we're established, there's people here, we're paying the bills, time to make the donuts kind of mentality, lukewarmness.
03:03-03:05
Let's not get too excited about the gospel now.
03:07-03:08
Well, that's a concern.
03:11-03:22
Second concern I would have for this church, for all the churches, but this is the one that the Lord has put me in this position over, would be joyless religion.
03:23-03:32
That the church sort of becomes, well, this is sort of the thing I do on Sunday and I show up and I get my check mark and God's happy with me as long as I get my check mark.
03:32-03:37
And that's a concern.
03:37-03:40
I never wanna see that be the theme of the church.
03:40-03:43
Let's just do our duty, get our check mark.
03:45-03:50
We do what we do because God probably expects us and there's no joy in it.
03:50-03:51
What are we going for this year?
03:52-03:54
You know, joy, we're going for joy.
03:56-03:58
And a third concern would be disunity.
04:00-04:02
And that is exactly what we're talking about today.
04:04-04:04
But disunity.
04:13-04:16
You're like, oh, that's why he wanted us all to sit in the middle.
04:18-04:22
But even still, there's a part right down the middle.
04:23-04:24
You see that?
04:25-04:27
And I don't think it's intentional.
04:27-04:33
I don't think anybody comes in here on a Sunday morning thinking, gosh, I hope nobody sits in my zip code.
04:35-04:38
That's just how we are as a culture, right?
04:38-04:46
I'm going to sit like way over here in this corner because I know that nobody sits anywhere near that area.
04:46-04:48
I just kind of want to have my space.
04:50-04:52
That's a bit of a concern.
04:53-04:56
We're going to be in heaven together for a long time.
04:56-04:56
Did you know that?
05:01-05:04
But I'm not just talking about the proximity of our seating.
05:07-05:09
I'm talking about unity in spirit.
05:13-05:22
And I think that's a hurdle for this church, because we have people that are coming from very different places, from very different backgrounds.
05:27-05:29
It's going to be a hurdle.
05:32-05:33
We're going to talk about that today.
05:34-05:38
You know, Paul in Philippians, what's the whole theme of Philippians?
05:38-06:10
joy, right? Well, he devotes a whole chapter to the root problem that gets in the way of joy. Do you know what it is? The number one thing that gets in the way of joy. You're like, "Oh, I know what it is. It's persecution, right?" You're not right. You are in fact wrong. That's not it. It's got to be some kind of a hardship. It's got to be some kind I don't know.
06:12-06:14
Here's what leads to joylessness.
06:14-06:15
Write this down.
06:15-06:17
Selfishness leads to joylessness.
06:19-06:20
We're going after joy this year.
06:21-06:21
That's our theme.
06:22-06:22
Not just this year.
06:22-06:24
I hope it carries over to the next year at least.
06:28-06:30
Paul's devoting a whole chapter to this.
06:31-06:31
Please don't miss this.
06:32-06:33
Selfishness leads to joylessness.
06:34-06:35
That's the thing that leads to joylessness.
06:36-06:40
So if you're sitting here today, Like, you know what, I haven't had a lot of joy in my life lately.
06:40-06:41
Do you know why?
06:41-06:44
It's because you're being selfish in your life.
06:45-06:53
There's some area of your life, or maybe many areas of your life, that selfish, it's about me, it's about me, it's about me.
06:53-06:56
When your life is about you, you're not gonna have joy.
06:56-06:58
You're not, okay?
06:59-07:00
You're just not.
07:02-07:03
So we're going to take a practice.
07:06-07:10
I want you to say, "I am selfish." Are you ready?
07:10-07:16
I'm gonna give you a little countdown, but I want you to say, no, I know what you're thinking, Colleen.
07:16-07:21
You're gonna say, "Jeff is selfish." No, I am selfish.
07:21-07:25
You're going to, Jeff knows that he's selfish.
07:26-07:27
I know that.
07:30-07:31
Are you ready?
07:31-07:32
I am selfish.
07:32-07:35
One, two, three, let's hear it.
07:35-07:36
I am selfish.
07:40-07:49
Correct. Because in the flesh, you're always going to gravitate towards selfishness.
07:49-07:53
So let me hear it again. You ready? One, two, three.
07:53-07:56
I am selfish. Try it again.
07:56-07:58
I am selfish.
07:59-08:00
Some of you aren't convinced.
08:04-08:06
Well, first of all, it's a universal problem.
08:08-08:14
If you're a human being, you wrestle with selfishness.
08:17-08:18
Where does it come from?
08:18-08:21
Well, it comes back to really Genesis chapter three.
08:22-08:26
'Cause jot this down, the root of all sin is selfishness.
08:27-08:27
Did you know that?
08:27-08:32
The root of all sin is selfishness because think of what sin is.
08:32-08:51
Sin is essentially saying, "I see what God said, "but I have reason to think that I'm going to benefit "by doing something different than what God said." That was the whole lie that got us into this mess.
08:51-08:53
Remember Satan showed up to Eve?
08:53-08:54
Did God really say?
08:55-08:56
Did God really say?
08:58-09:00
Casting doubt on the word of God.
09:01-09:15
Well, God says, "Don't look at it, don't touch it, "don't think about it, or you'll die." And Satan's like, "You're not gonna die." God knows that when you eat off that tree, you will be, do you remember what Satan said?
09:15-09:17
You will be like God.
09:18-09:23
Satan convinced Eve, and Adam was with her, by the way, God is holding out on you.
09:25-09:26
Can you believe that?
09:26-09:27
God's holding out on you, man.
09:28-09:30
You think God's so great?
09:32-09:35
Here's the thing, God's holding out on you.
09:36-09:38
"Well, you mean there's something more for me?
09:39-09:40
You mean I could benefit?
09:41-09:52
You mean there's something that I can have apart from what God's already provided?" And we haven't been the same.
09:54-09:57
The root of all sin is selfishness.
09:57-09:59
Pick any sin, any sin, pick one.
10:00-10:05
At the root of the person committing that sin is selfishness.
10:05-10:08
That's not what I want. I'm not going to do that.
10:09-10:12
Or God saying to do something, no, I refuse.
10:14-10:17
It's selfishness. Still not convinced.
10:19-10:22
Let me ask you this, what is your most common sin?
10:23-10:24
Or your besetting sin?
10:25-10:29
You know, the Bible says we all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way, right?
10:29-10:34
Meaning your sin tendency and my sin tendency are going to be different.
10:36-10:39
So what's your sin tendency? I want you to think about that for a second.
10:44-10:47
The root of your sin tendency is selfishness.
10:49-11:01
The reason you gravitate towards that sin is there's something in your flesh that has convinced you you that there's something that benefits you even though it's contrary to the word of God.
11:02-11:26
I know God said I shouldn't do this, but I'll benefit from it. Me, me, me. I'll be better off if I do this or if I don't do that. Here's the thing with selfishness though, if you don't think you have a problem, that means you have the biggest one. Because selfishness is easy to recognize in others.
11:26-11:27
Did you know that?
11:27-11:29
We are the master of that.
11:31-11:35
We're like seal team six when it comes to spotting selfishness in others.
11:36-11:37
Like, man, I can see where he's selfish.
11:37-11:39
Well, I can really tell where she's selfish.
11:40-11:42
We see it in other people in a heartbeat.
11:45-11:47
The question is, can you see it in you?
11:51-11:57
Speaking of the upcoming election, isn't this whole selfishness thing, isn't that really the argument on both sides?
11:57-11:58
Have you noticed that?
11:59-12:07
One side says, well, these millionaires are doing these things for tax breaks to themselves, they're being selfish.
12:08-12:20
Or the other side will say, well, they're trying to railroad political agendas that are ultimately going to cost us financially because they're being selfish for their agenda.
12:20-12:27
Then again, I'm not making a political platform here, but can you at least acknowledge that both sides are accusing the other of being selfish?
12:27-12:28
Can you see that?
12:28-12:29
They're being selfish.
12:32-12:34
We see it in others, we don't see it in ourselves.
12:38-12:41
Married people, can you see it in your marriage?
12:42-12:44
The tendency towards selfishness?
12:48-12:52
If you're not convinced that you're selfish, first step is get married.
12:54-12:55
You'll find out real quick.
12:56-12:57
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, no.
12:57-12:58
I can't do that.
12:58-13:00
That is my time for this.
13:02-13:03
You can't put that there.
13:03-13:05
That's my space.
13:07-13:10
You can't buy that because that's what?
13:11-13:11
That's my money.
13:14-13:16
My time, my money, mine, it's mine.
13:16-13:17
This is mine.
13:18-13:19
Selfishness.
13:21-13:23
Selfishness says things like this, well, what's in it for me?
13:24-13:25
What's in it for me?
13:27-13:33
Here's another thing selfishness says, all the times that you and I say things like, you know, I deserve, I deserve.
13:34-13:35
I'm doing this because I deserve it.
13:37-13:37
Selfish.
13:38-13:42
So if you're not convinced that you're selfish, first of all, read Genesis three, second of all, get married.
13:43-13:48
If you're still not convinced that there's a selfishness problem, What's the next step?
13:49-13:51
Have kids, right?
13:52-13:53
Have kids.
13:54-14:01
And you'll learn that there is a self-centered nature attached to the sinful core of our being.
14:03-14:04
Have kids.
14:09-14:11
Still not convinced?
14:12-14:15
Show up at Walmart at 5 in the morning on Black Friday.
14:17-14:32
Isn't it ironic in this country that we devote one day towards giving thanks and then the next day we act like idiots, trampling people?
14:33-14:40
When I worked at Walmart while I was going to Bible college, literally two ladies got into a fist fight over Tickle Me Elmo.
14:40-14:41
I'm not kidding.
14:42-14:50
fist fight, two ladies, pugilists, fist fighting over what?
14:52-14:53
(congregation laughing)
14:55-14:57
That was great, we gave you another run at that.
14:57-14:58
Fist fighting over what?
14:59-15:00
Oh, she can't do it again.
15:03-15:05
That sounded nothing like Elmo, but that was really funny.
15:07-15:07
(laughing)
15:08-15:09
I'm gonna go on Black Friday.
15:13-15:13
Aw.
15:15-15:17
Well, now you all know what to get Laura for Christmas.
15:20-15:22
But you see a real selfishness problem, don't you?
15:23-15:25
You're like, well, I don't wanna wait till Black Friday.
15:25-15:27
I'm still not convinced about the selfishness thing.
15:27-15:29
Okay, here's your assignment.
15:29-15:32
After church, drive north on 79.
15:33-15:40
And when you get towards Zillian Opal and they have the one lane closed, What happens there when you're on the road?
15:41-15:43
It's my wife's favorite thing.
15:43-15:46
I'll tell you, when you're on the road with her and this happens, she giggles and giggles.
15:46-15:52
But you know how like it tells you ahead of time, you know, right lane is closed, merge left.
15:52-15:56
And sensible people, what do they do when they see that sign?
15:57-15:58
They merge left.
15:59-16:00
What do the self-centered people do?
16:01-16:06
They stay in that right lane until that blinking arrow and then insist on cutting in.
16:08-16:15
And when that happens, my wife and I look at each other like, are we Christians with the attitude that we have towards those people right now?
16:17-16:18
That drives me insane.
16:19-16:20
Does that drive you insane?
16:21-16:22
Well, I'm sorry.
16:22-16:23
I'm sorry, Mr. President.
16:23-16:25
I didn't realize you were on route 79 today.
16:26-16:30
Here, let's stop traffic so you can cut in at the head of the line.
16:32-16:33
I'm gonna stop there.
16:33-16:34
It's gonna be a long morning.
16:35-16:35
(congregation laughing)
16:38-16:39
Yeah, but I'm really not selfish.
16:39-16:41
I'm really not a selfish person.
16:41-16:45
Let me ask you, how many people here have a problem with being late for appointments?
16:48-16:48
I do.
16:50-16:51
That's selfishness.
16:51-16:53
Because do you know what you're communicating when you're late?
16:54-16:57
You're communicating that my time's more important than your time.
16:59-16:59
Selfish.
17:05-17:08
How about being in conversation with someone?
17:08-17:15
Have you ever been talking to someone and then halfway through the conversation, you realize they're not listening, they're just waiting for you to take your breath so they can jump in?
17:15-17:16
Have you ever had those conversations?
17:17-17:20
Maybe that's, maybe you're that person, that selfishness.
17:20-17:21
I really don't care what you have to say.
17:22-17:23
You need to hear what I have to say.
17:25-17:25
Selfishness.
17:29-17:31
Like, why are we talking about this?
17:31-17:32
Well, we're talking about selfishness today.
17:32-17:34
We're talking about selfishness in the church.
17:35-17:36
How does that manifest?
17:37-17:38
Here's the top two.
17:38-17:40
We can talk on and on about this.
17:40-17:41
Here's the top two.
17:41-17:42
I don't like the music.
17:43-17:43
I don't like the music.
17:43-17:45
That's one of the biggest complaints I hear.
17:45-17:46
I don't like the music.
17:51-17:54
Or here's the biggest indicator.
17:56-18:11
When you visit a church, when you visit a church and the first thing you say when you walk in is, "What does this church do for me? My demographic." I'm a single mom. What does this church do for single moms? Selfish.
18:12-18:18
You know, I'm a college-age student. What does this church do for college-age students? Selfish.
18:19-18:27
Instead of coming in saying, "What's the mission of the church?" You know, how does this church go about fulfilling the Great Commission?
18:27-18:31
It's... I'm not really... I'm interested in that, but we'll get to that later.
18:31-18:33
The first thing I need to know is what can this church do for me?
18:34-18:36
That's selfish thinking. It is.
18:40-18:41
Are you selfish?
18:43-18:51
You're like, "Okay, Pastor Jeff, we get it." Say, "We get it." So, are you interested in unity?
18:52-18:57
Are you interested in seeing what the Bible says about unity, the cure for selfishness?
18:57-18:57
Are you interested?
18:58-19:03
All right, say, "Bring it." Oh, come on, say it like, almost like you're taunting me.
19:05-19:08
Come on, like you don't think I can back this up biblically.
19:08-19:10
Say it like you're sticking your chest out.
19:10-19:12
You can't prove unity in the Bible.
19:12-19:13
"Bring it." Let me hear it.
19:14-19:16
Okay, that was much better.
19:16-19:18
Philippians 2, 1 through 4.
19:20-19:50
says, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others is more significant than yourselves.
19:51-19:58
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
20:02-20:03
So let's talk about unity.
20:04-20:05
Five, four, three, two, one.
20:05-20:05
Are you ready?
20:06-20:08
Letter A, what motivates unity?
20:09-20:10
Here's five questions to ask.
20:11-20:13
Five questions to ask.
20:19-20:22
And in talking about unity, everybody look up here.
20:23-20:30
It's tinted, I didn't have one that was clear, but this is full of paperclips, okay?
20:32-20:38
And when we're talking about unity, there are really only two options that we have.
20:39-20:42
Now let's pretend that these paperclips are like members of a congregation.
20:44-20:47
At this point, what's keeping them unified?
20:49-20:50
The boxes, right?
20:50-20:52
The box is keeping these unified, right?
20:53-21:00
The box, this plastic box is the thing that is holding them together.
21:01-21:09
So in that case, you could say there's an external force that's holding these together.
21:09-21:14
There's something outside of themselves that's holding them together.
21:15-21:18
But this thing's really cool because at the top, there's a magnet.
21:19-21:26
Now, if you look at these ones, the thing that's holding these together is the magnet.
21:27-21:32
So you could say that in this case, there's an internal force, right?
21:33-21:37
It's by virtue of these paperclips being made out of metal.
21:38-21:49
It's by virtue of what comprises these paperclips, the stuff that they're made of, we can say, that there's some internal force that's holding them together.
21:50-21:51
Are you with me?
21:53-21:59
So my question is, God has designed the church to be unified in which way?
22:01-22:07
That something external holds us together or something internal holds us together.
22:08-22:12
But we're going to see in the text, something internal has to hold us together.
22:12-22:13
And what is that internal thing?
22:14-22:17
It's the Holy Spirit, you see.
22:19-22:21
External would be something like this.
22:22-22:25
The people that come to the church just like Pastor Jeff.
22:27-22:31
Well, there's a problem with that because Pastor Jeff's not going to be here forever.
22:32-22:34
Okay, Pastor Jeff's going to die someday, spoiler alert.
22:37-22:41
So when I do, does that mean the church disbands?
22:43-22:45
Because now we've lost the external thing?
22:46-22:57
Or we can say, well, this church, what holds us together is we're all Penguins fans, or we're all into politics, or we're all into, those are externals.
22:58-23:02
God has called the church to say, there's something that makes you up.
23:04-23:05
It's your very nature.
23:06-23:09
that the magnet here sort of represents the Holy Spirit.
23:09-23:12
It's the thing that is supposed to bind us together.
23:12-23:13
Does that make sense?
23:14-23:19
My point in all this is God help us if we become a church that's held together by an external thing.
23:22-23:24
The Holy Spirit needs to hold us together.
23:26-23:29
So looking back, first of all, what motivates unity?
23:29-23:30
Five questions to ask.
23:30-23:50
Notice he says, "So if there is," Now that word if literally means since you got that right or because he's not saying it's a conditional thing in the sense of, well, if you're one of those people like with the Holy Spirit, he's addressing believers.
23:50-24:02
So he's saying since, since be like me saying, well, if you have a headache, go take an aspirin, since you have a headache, the remedy for that is an aspirin.
24:04-24:09
But I'm sure you saw that the appeal is all related to the spiritual experience.
24:11-24:15
Just breaking these down here, the questions, number one, have you been encouraged by Christ?
24:17-24:19
Have you been encouraged by Christ?
24:25-24:27
Let me ask you, have you been encouraged by Christ?
24:27-24:36
Do you draw encouragement from the person of Jesus Christ?
24:36-24:37
Is that encouraging to you?
24:37-24:40
Is it encouraging that Jesus Christ is God?
24:41-24:44
And that He is sovereign over the entire universe?
24:44-24:45
Is that encouraging to you?
24:47-24:52
Is that encouraging to know that nothing in our lives is ever like this cosmic mistake?
24:53-24:54
Is that encouraging to you?
24:56-25:02
Is it encouraging for you to know that God never says, "Whoops." God never shows up a minute late.
25:03-25:05
God's arm is never shortened.
25:05-25:06
Is that encouraging?
25:06-25:07
Do you draw encouragement from that?
25:09-25:17
Is it encouraging to you to know that no matter what happens in this life, our best days are ahead of us eternally?
25:18-25:20
Is that encouraging to you?
25:21-25:24
Is it encouraging to know that heaven has been purchased for you?
25:26-25:29
Actually you've been purchased for heaven is a better way of saying it.
25:30-25:31
Is that encouraging to you?
25:33-25:34
So have you been encouraged in Christ?
25:35-25:41
Second question is, have you been comforted by Christ's love?
25:43-25:45
Have you been comforted by Christ's love?
25:46-25:47
It's all right there in the text.
25:47-25:51
You see that if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love.
25:54-25:57
Now this word for comfort means to come closely alongside.
26:00-26:03
That's what that means, to come closely alongside.
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You know, this is what it means.
26:08-26:13
It's not, you know, "Ken Frederick, I love you." It's, this is what it means.
26:13-26:15
It's coming up saying, "Hey, you know what?
26:15-26:17
This, I'm representing Christ now.
26:18-26:19
I am never going to leave you.
26:19-26:21
I am never going to forsake you.
26:22-26:28
Ken, I am with you in the best times of your life, and I'm going to be with you in the worst times of your life.
26:28-26:29
I'm right here with you, man.
26:29-26:32
That's the word for encouragement, or I'm sorry, comfort here.
26:32-26:34
It's come alongside.
26:36-26:39
Let me ask you, have you experienced Jesus Christ that way?
26:39-26:40
That's what he's saying here.
26:40-26:42
Have you experienced Christ that way?
26:44-26:48
that you've felt down and out, and you've known that he's the friend that sticks closer than a brother.
26:48-26:49
Have you experienced that?
26:55-26:57
Comfort by Christ's love.
26:57-26:58
He's come alongside.
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Whether it's been through a death or a job loss or a relational crisis.
27:07-27:12
Have you experienced Christ's presence coming down that, you know, I'm with you.
27:13-27:13
I'm with you.
27:13-27:13
It's okay.
27:16-27:18
Third, have you been walking in the Spirit?
27:19-27:21
Have you been walking in the Spirit?
27:21-27:23
He says participation in the Spirit.
27:25-27:27
Literally it's fellowshipping in the Spirit.
27:27-27:28
It's the koinonia.
27:32-27:35
So there again, have you been somebody who's been walking in the Spirit?
27:36-27:41
You see in your life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
27:42-27:53
You know, Galatians five, the fruit of the Spirit, you see the Holy Spirit is manifesting himself through you, but also in mind here is the participation with other believers.
27:55-28:01
That I've been blessed because of the Holy Spirit's ministry to me through other people, you get that?
28:03-28:13
Have you been somebody that you can say, you know, when I go to church, I've been blessed by the way the Holy Spirit not only is working in me, but the way the Holy Spirit is working to me through other people.
28:15-28:22
The way the Holy Spirit works with our worship team and the way the Holy Spirit works to our children's ministry and the people that the Holy Spirit is using.
28:28-28:33
So if you had this participation walking in the spirit, the koinonia, the fellowship.
28:35-28:37
Fourthly, have you been blessed by the Spirit?
28:38-28:48
Look at this last phrase, he says, any affection and sympathy, another way of saying this, have you experienced the Holy Spirit changing you from the inside out?
28:51-28:58
Do you see that your love for people is growing, your love for ministry is growing, your compassion for the lost is growing?
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He says then, verse two, "Complete my joy." That gets us to the fifth question, do you care about your pastor?
29:19-29:23
Paul says, what's about to come here, we'll complete his joy.
29:23-29:23
What does that mean?
29:23-29:25
Well, this is a pastoral appeal.
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Understand that this is a pastoral appeal.
29:28-29:35
You know, he's saying, church, Please understand how I mean this.
29:35-29:37
This is what he's saying.
29:38-29:42
Have you benefited from the church?
29:43-29:45
Have you benefited from God's Holy Spirit?
29:45-29:47
Have you benefited from Jesus Christ?
29:52-29:58
Because honestly, we're so used to take, take, take, take, take and never give.
30:00-30:03
And this last thing, you know, do you care about your pastor?
30:03-30:04
This is the pastoral thing.
30:05-30:12
If you're having a hard time wrapping your brain and your spirit around all these things that I'm saying, let me ask you, can you do something for me?
30:13-30:14
Can you do this for me?
30:17-30:18
What do you need?
30:20-30:26
Well, he says, "By," and then he gives a list of descriptions of what unity looks like.
30:27-30:28
So what motivates unity?
30:29-30:30
Those are the five questions to ask.
30:30-30:34
Before we get to what does it look like, I want you to see what Paul's doing here.
30:34-30:37
He's appealing as a parent would do a child.
30:40-30:45
But, you know, parents, you can appeal to your children in two different ways, right?
30:48-30:49
One way is the threat.
30:51-30:55
If you don't, I'm going to lay the smack down.
30:57-30:58
That's an appeal, right, parents?
30:58-30:59
Is that an appeal you can give to your kids?
31:00-31:03
If you don't, kapow.
31:07-31:13
Or another appeal that you can give to your kids is sort of the appeal that Paul's giving here.
31:13-31:29
Imagine a parent sitting down with a child saying, you know, son, haven't your mother and I, haven't we always tried to encourage you and everything that you've done.
31:30-31:44
And son, remember all the times that, whether you were upset about something at school, or you were hurting, or you were confused, haven't your mother and I always tried to bless you and comfort you during those times?
31:44-31:46
Haven't we always tried to do that?
31:49-31:58
Son, haven't you been blessed being part of our house that we've provided for you, and we've always done our best to make sure that you had the things that you need.
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That's why we want you to be a loving part of this family.
32:02-32:03
Do you see that appeal?
32:04-32:05
That's sort of what Paul's doing here.
32:08-32:14
He's appealing as a parent to a child, like haven't you benefited from being part of this family?
32:15-32:20
Well, then I need you to step up in love for this family.
32:22-32:23
Do you get that?
32:24-32:25
That's the appeal.
32:27-32:32
So he's assuming some, you know, certain things are true just because these are people that are walking with Christ.
32:33-32:35
So letter B, what does unity look like?
32:35-32:36
Four marks to examine.
32:37-32:39
So these are five questions to ask.
32:41-32:44
If you've answered yes to any of these questions, we're moving on here.
32:44-32:45
What does unity look like?
32:45-32:46
Four marks to examine.
32:51-32:54
First of all, he says, complete my joy, number one, of being of the same mind.
32:55-32:56
Write down same mind.
32:56-32:57
It's a recurring theme.
32:57-32:59
We saw it in chapter one, verse 27.
33:03-33:09
Same mind, it's thinking alike, true.
33:10-33:12
And God's word certainly would determine the standard.
33:12-33:16
But understand when he talks about the same mind, it's more than just thinking alike.
33:16-33:18
Write this word down, it's attitude.
33:20-33:21
It's attitude.
33:24-33:26
This is what he's talking about here.
33:27-33:29
He's like, you know what guys, this will complete my joy.
33:29-33:31
You guys all need to have the same attitude.
33:36-33:39
Now I've been in pastoral ministry, now I've told you this before, 15 years.
33:39-33:40
Why do I tell you that?
33:40-33:42
Not like I get a yogi button for that or anything.
33:43-33:45
But just to say I've been around the block a couple of times, okay?
33:46-33:48
And I've seen church conflict.
33:51-33:59
They're extremely rare that there's conflict in the church over theology.
34:00-34:01
Honestly, it's rare.
34:02-34:12
I can probably count on one hand the number of times that there's been some sort of a conflict upheaval over the way we interpret a particular passage of Scripture.
34:13-34:14
Very rare.
34:16-34:19
I would say that probably comprises 1% or less.
34:19-34:23
What makes up the 99% is attitude.
34:26-34:29
That's the problem, when somebody's attitude gets sideways.
34:32-34:36
And this is biblical, 1 Corinthians 3, 3, listen to what Paul says here.
34:36-34:54
"For while there is jealousy and strife among you, "are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" See, he's saying disunity is always spirit versus flesh type thinking, never spirit versus spirit type thinking.
34:57-34:59
So he's saying to have a common attitude.
35:01-35:02
Have a common attitude.
35:04-35:06
Secondly, he says same love.
35:07-35:08
Same love.
35:08-35:12
He says being of the same mind, having the same love.
35:12-35:13
What does that mean?
35:14-35:38
this, "Love for all of God's people equally." That's what that means. It means you love everybody equally. Same love. And it's true, there are friendships, there are, you know, just by virtue of whether it's ministry or past relationships, that there are different friendships in the church, that's true. But same love means you love everybody equally.
35:41-36:54
his same soul. He says, "Being in full accord." Actually, this could literally be translated one-souled, S-O-U-L-E-D. Like, I think Paul made that word up. I don't know if that word's anywhere else in the Bible. He's like, "You need to have one soul." And here he's referring to passion. So, first, do you have the same attitude, church? You're coming here with attitude? Do you love everybody equally? And next question, you have the same passion. Do you have the same passion? Then fourthly, what's the fourth thing? He says, "and of one mind." Like, oh that's same mind. No, really this means minding one thing or on your outline write down same purpose. You have the same passion and you have the same purpose. You're like, okay I kind of get that. What's that mean?
36:54-36:59
Here's what that means. Do you know what the vision is for Harvest Bible Chapel?
36:59-37:20
Do you know? Do you know what our vision is here? Well let's do a quick review. Do know this you're out. There's the door back there. There's one there and one back there. I'm just kidding. You don't have to leave, but you have to learn it.
37:20-37:42
What's the mission? To glorify God, right? Through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment. All right, how many of you You're like, "Oh yeah, I knew that." A couple of you, "Great, great." That's the mission of the church.
37:42-37:43
Why is that the mission of the church?
37:45-37:46
Anybody wanna take a swing at that?
37:46-37:47
Why is that our mission?
37:49-37:50
Yeah, because Jesus commanded that, right?
37:51-37:52
Well, what should we do?
37:52-37:53
What should we do?
37:53-37:55
I got an idea, let's do what Jesus said to do.
37:56-37:59
Jesus said to go make disciples and that's the mission of the church.
38:02-38:04
You're like, "Well, a lot of churches "do that very differently.
38:04-38:05
"How does this church do it?
38:05-38:09
"How does Harvest Bible Chapel do it?" Well, this is the vision for the church.
38:09-38:19
And understand this, because when we're talking about unity, what I'm asking you now is are you on board with this vision?
38:22-38:25
The way it works in Harvest Bible Chapel is this.
38:25-38:29
You should be bringing people to church that you know that need the Lord.
38:30-38:32
Okay, we're not sheep stealing.
38:32-38:33
We're just offering green grass.
38:34-38:38
but you need to look for people that you know that need to know the Lord.
38:39-38:41
And you bring them to church with you.
38:42-38:51
And here, as people experience worship, which can lead an unbeliever to faith, by the way, what's that, 1 Corinthians 11?
38:52-38:54
Don't think that that's not an evangelistic thing.
38:54-38:59
People being in the presence of true worship, God is really among these people.
39:00-39:01
God uses that.
39:02-39:12
So you bring your friends, your family, your coworkers, people you know that need to hear the Lord, to know the Lord, you bring them to church.
39:14-39:21
And then while we're here, we do things like, we have party with the pastor to try to let people know here's what kind of church we are up front, okay?
39:21-39:23
No bait and switch, here's what we are.
39:23-39:25
We're glad that you're here, we want you to be a part.
39:25-39:31
And then we do the two week membership class where we share the gospel and we talk about what is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
39:31-39:32
What's a disciple?
39:33-39:34
By the way, what's a disciple?
39:34-39:42
Someone who worships Christ and walks with Christ and works for Christ, right.
39:45-39:50
And then we encourage everybody to be a part of a small group, why?
39:54-39:58
Because if our mission is to make disciples, how does that happen?
39:58-40:00
That happens in small groups.
40:00-40:02
That's why you hear us saying You gotta join a small group, join a small group.
40:03-40:05
That's where discipleship happens.
40:06-40:14
That's where you're pouring into people's lives and other people are pouring into you and you're meeting together and getting in the Word together and getting in prayer together.
40:15-40:16
That happens in small group.
40:20-40:23
What else do we have for the vision of Harvest Bible Chapel?
40:23-40:25
You're gonna be hearing more about this.
40:25-40:28
Every small group doing an outreach together.
40:29-40:35
Okay, so the small group that you're in, you should be involved in some sort of outreach ministry together.
40:35-40:57
We're gonna talk about that with all of the small group leaders and hosts, but you should have a plan, whether it's, well, you know, our small group is gonna work at the soup kitchen, or we're gonna be part of Urban Impact, or we're going to hand out tracks at the hockey game if they ever have hockey again, or, you know, this is what our small group does to do outreach ministry.
40:59-41:08
And Dan Thompson right now is working with getting some things ready for some overseas missions with some Harvest Bible chapels in Nicaragua.
41:13-41:15
So do you understand the vision of the church?
41:18-41:19
Do you understand that?
41:20-41:24
How many people think, okay, I understand where you're going with this, Pastor Jeff, do I have to do it again?
41:25-41:26
How many people understand this?
41:27-41:40
Okay, you come to church, you bring your friends and family, you know, we share the gospel, we minister to them, involved in small groups where discipleship happens and where outreach happens.
41:41-41:45
That's where the local outreach happens and then the international thing, Dan Thompson's working on that.
41:48-41:50
So here's where I'm going with this.
41:50-41:51
That's the vision of the church.
41:56-41:57
But you need to know that up front.
41:58-42:03
Because what we're calling for you, this is are you on board with the vision of the church?
42:04-42:07
Okay, you understand it, are you on board with that?
42:08-42:09
Like, yeah, I'm not really into small groups.
42:11-42:12
Then you're probably in the wrong church.
42:13-42:14
You understand that?
42:15-42:17
Because that's part of our vision.
42:19-42:20
Like, yeah, I'm not really into outreach.
42:23-42:26
Then you're probably in the wrong church because that's part of our vision.
42:28-42:30
Like your music's too contemporary.
42:31-42:36
You're probably in the wrong church because this is what we're about.
42:37-42:40
And you see, this was the appeal that the apostle Paul was making to the Philippian church.
42:41-42:43
And this is the appeal that I'm making to you.
42:44-42:50
And if my closeness in proximity, though it's just a little bit, helps add to the urgency.
42:51-42:57
What I'm just sharing with you is my heart to say, I want you on board with this vision.
42:57-43:09
You have to know what it is, and you have to subscribe to it to say, I understand if this is a church about making disciples, this is my part in making disciples.
43:11-43:11
Are you with me?
43:13-43:15
You're not going to stick around if you don't have this mindset.
43:17-43:35
This might be your last Sunday, or you might stick around for a couple of months, but if you're not interested in discipleship and evangelism and passionate worship and passionate crying out to God in prayer, you might do better at another church because that's what we're going after here.
43:39-43:42
Like I'm so with you, Pastor Jeff, at least I hope that's what you're saying.
43:43-43:46
So letter C, how do I promote unity?
43:48-43:51
So we have five questions to ask, and you answered yes to all those.
43:52-43:55
Four marks to examine, and I hope that you're looking at that in your life.
43:55-44:01
You know, do I have the same attitude, the same love for people, but the same passion and purpose?
44:03-44:04
So how do I promote unity?
44:04-44:06
Well, here are three statements to practice.
44:07-44:08
Look at verse three.
44:11-44:16
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit.
44:16-44:17
Conceit.
44:20-44:25
So number one, I am not going to promote myself.
44:29-44:31
I am not going to promote myself.
44:32-44:34
This is the first thing you need to practice saying.
44:34-44:34
So you ready?
44:36-44:37
One, two, three.
44:37-44:40
I am not going to promote myself.
44:40-44:42
Okay, that was good right out of the gate.
44:42-44:42
Let's try it again.
44:43-44:43
One, two, three.
44:44-44:46
I am not going to promote myself.
44:46-44:47
We're practicing this, okay?
44:47-44:49
Let's do it again, one, two, three.
44:49-44:51
I am not going to promote myself.
44:52-44:52
Let's try it again.
44:53-44:55
I am not going to promote myself.
44:55-44:56
No countdown, we're just going into it.
44:56-44:57
You ready?
44:57-44:59
I am not going to promote myself.
45:00-45:01
Come on, we're gonna say it with conviction.
45:02-45:04
I am not going to promote myself.
45:06-45:07
Keep practicing that.
45:07-45:08
Did you see it in the text?
45:10-45:13
Actually, in the Greek, there's no verb.
45:13-45:18
You know, there's no word "do." You know what Paul's saying?
45:18-45:25
You know, literally from the Greek, he's saying, "Nothing from rivalry or conceit." That's what he's saying.
45:25-45:28
"Nothing, nothing from rivalry or conceit.
45:31-45:33
I am not going to promote myself." Well, what's rivalry?
45:34-45:37
That's the desire to promote yourself.
45:39-45:43
It's winning by destroying someone else.
45:43-45:49
rivalry, winning by destroying someone else. Last political statement of the day.
45:49-46:34
Isn't that political ads? Every political ad, right? I've said this to Aaron so many times and I've had conversations with some of you others. I would rather have a candidate say, "Hi, my name is Jeff Miller and here's what I stand for." Boom boom boom boom boom. That's why you should vote for me. How many of those ads do you see? Seriously, how many of those ads do you see? Abby says one. Yeah, I think I saw one. I think we saw the same one, Abby. Let me ask you another question. How many ads are "don't vote for this guy because..." and then they always have the most unflattering picture of the guy, you know what I'm talking about?
46:34-46:36
They get this picture where he's like...
46:37-46:37
(congregation laughing)
46:39-46:40
(man speaking indistinctly)
46:42-46:43
How many of those do you see?
46:44-46:46
Like all of them but the one, right?
46:48-46:50
That's what he's talking about rivalry.
46:50-46:56
We have a tendency to make ourselves look good by tearing someone else down.
46:57-46:59
I was talking to Mark Bloomingdale about this.
46:59-47:03
I'm like, "Why do they do that?" And Mark's answer is, "You know why they do that?
47:04-47:34
because it works. And he's right. They're not dummies. They do that because it works, but I'm not saying it's right, because actually the Bible says it's wrong. Paul says, "Nothing from rivalry." I'm not going to tear other people down to make myself look better. Then he says, "Nothing from conceit." What's conceit? Well, that's empty glory, that's having a high opinion of yourself.
47:35-47:39
Those are all the things that I do to let people know how much I rule.
47:40-47:41
God help us.
47:43-47:47
All my little statements about I did this and I accomplished this and look at what I did.
47:50-47:58
So how much should we be motivated by rivalry or conceit?
47:58-47:59
Well, he says nothing.
48:00-48:02
I did an extensive study on this Greek word.
48:02-48:03
Do you know what it means?
48:04-48:05
It means nothing.
48:07-48:08
It means nothing.
48:09-48:14
Not like try not to do too many things, nothing.
48:16-48:18
Get a great quote from C.S. Lewis.
48:18-48:19
Listen to this.
48:20-48:32
He says, "We must not think that pride is something that God forbids because he's offended at it, or that humility is something he demands as do his own dignity, as if God himself were proud.
48:33-48:41
The point is, he wants you to know him, wants to give you himself.
48:44-49:08
And he and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any touch with him at all, you will in fact be humble, delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity, which has made you restless and happy all your life.
49:09-49:14
He says, "I wish I'd gotten a bit further with humility.
49:16-49:39
If I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief and the comfort of taking off the fancy dress, getting rid of the false self with all its, "Look at me, and aren't I a good boy?" While it's posing and posturing to get near it, selflessness, to get near it, even for a moment, it's like a cold drink of cold water to a man in the desert.
49:40-49:51
"And how much of my misery comes from my reputation "and my position and my thoughts about me?" It's a great quote.
49:54-49:56
So understand, I am not going to promote myself.
49:57-49:57
Go ahead and say it.
50:02-50:05
You sounded a lot more convinced actually before the sermon.
50:07-50:08
Maybe I should stop now.
50:11-50:14
This is an act of faith, understand that.
50:15-50:16
This is an act of faith.
50:19-50:22
The Bible says, if you exalt yourself, you will be what?
50:23-50:23
Humbled.
50:25-50:28
And if you humble yourself, you will be exalted.
50:29-50:30
Do you believe that?
50:32-50:40
This is an act of faith because selfishness says, selfishness says this, if I'm not selfish, I'm going to lose something, right?
50:40-50:41
Isn't that what selfishness says?
50:42-50:48
If I'm not selfish, if I'm not looking after my interests, nobody else is and I'm gonna miss out.
50:50-50:51
That's what selfishness says.
50:54-51:01
You're like, "Well, if I'm not looking out for myself, who is?" And what's the answer, church?
51:02-51:04
The answer is everybody else, right?
51:05-51:05
Ultimately God.
51:06-51:10
But in the church, we're going to get to that part.
51:12-51:14
But let's just start with this.
51:14-51:15
I am not going to promote myself.
51:16-51:18
Try it again with conviction.
51:18-51:18
Go.
51:20-51:21
(congregation chattering)
51:21-51:25
I'm gonna hold you to that because I just heard you say that like 12 times.
51:27-51:28
Okay, here's something else to practice.
51:28-51:29
You ready?
51:32-51:33
You are more important than me.
51:39-51:40
Let's try that.
51:42-51:43
You ready?
51:44-51:48
I'm gonna model it for you and then I'm going to give you the chance.
51:48-51:49
you're practicing this.
51:51-51:52
You are more important than me.
51:54-51:55
Now it's your turn.
51:56-51:57
One, two, three, go.
51:58-52:00
You are more important than me.
52:00-52:01
Let's try it again.
52:01-52:02
Go.
52:02-52:04
You are more important than me.
52:05-52:07
Try it again, but like you're really convinced of it.
52:07-52:07
Go.
52:08-52:11
You are more important than me.
52:13-52:14
Do you believe that?
52:16-52:18
See, the answer is humility.
52:19-52:32
Paul says again, "But in humility, "count others more significant than yourselves." You better have that highlighted in your Bible because I'm going to check when you leave today.
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And if it is not highlighted, I will highlight it for you.
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Underlining is acceptable, Ken.
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"In humility, count others more significant than yourselves." What's humility?
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Okay, get this on the table.
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Humility is not thinking badly of yourself.
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I'm a loser, I stink, nobody likes me, nobody should like me, I'm just nothing but a piece of dirt.
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That's not humility.
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You know what that is?
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That's actually pride.
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Humility is not thinking less of yourself, humility is not thinking of yourself at all.
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You get that?
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Because when you're obsessed with, I stink, I'm a loser, I'm nothing, I'm the most least important person, when you're stuck in that mindset, it's an over-preoccupation with yourself, which is not humility.
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It's not thinking less of self.
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It's not thinking of self at all.
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So I want you to turn to the person beside you and I want you to say, "You are more important than me." Go.
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I know we're creating a lot of problems in some households because we have a lot of husbands and wives sitting together.
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If that's the case, I want you, husbands, I want you to take your wife's hand and I want you to look in each other's eyes and you're both going to say it.
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You ready? Go.
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I got nothing to do till four o'clock.
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You guys better have this down before Steelers come on.
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You are more important than me.
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Come on, say it.
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Okay.
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You're like, Jeff, why are you so like adamant about this?
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Because it's in the Bible, man, that's why.
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And because we get all sideways because we walk in the church thinking, "This place couldn't run without me.
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I'm the most important person in this church.
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That church is gonna suffer when I take my ball and go to the church down the street because nobody's more important in this church than I am." Wrong.
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That's working against unity because Paul says in humility, "Count others more significant than yourselves." Honestly, honestly, I'm probably the most expendable person in this church.
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Like, well, you're the pastor, isn't that the most important?
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Actually, no, because you know what?
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If I keel over this afternoon, it would just be a matter of calling the fellowship and there'd be some other guy that James McDonald trained that's prayed up and ready to go and he'd be up here Sunday chasing the same thing that we're chasing here together, all right?
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But get the idea out of your head that you're so important all about you, instead we look around and say, you're more important than me.
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You're more important than me.
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I have a hard time with that.
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How do I get into that mindset?
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I wanna just think about this.
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You don't know what's in another person's heart, do you?
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But you know, you know the history of what's in another's one heart and whose is that?
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It's yours, right?
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So with that in mind, let me ask you a question.
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Who was the worst sinner that you've ever met?
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There's really only one answer to that question, isn't there?
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I don't know what's in your heart.
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The only thing I know is looking back in my life to say I know what's been in my heart.
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So the only heart that I have the inside scoop on that I have full disclosure on is mine.
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So my assumption is, I probably have the worst track record of anybody in this room.
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And if you're honest with yourself, you'll have a similar attitude.
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So it's easy with that attitude to look around and say, yeah, these people are more important than me.
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I was just a horrible sinner saved by grace, but they're more important than me.
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Okay, one more thing.
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Can you handle it?
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So much to memorize.
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Look at the last thing.
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Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.
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So the last question is, what can I do for you?
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Remember I told you before, It's always an indicator when somebody comes into the church and says, "What can this church do for me?" In Philippians 2, 4, what does Paul say?
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You don't just walk in with that attitude. You walk in and say, "What can I do for you? What can I do for you?" And that's my prayer as we're moving forward with, you know, shouldering the weekly kingdom responsibility.
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And we have a lot of areas where we need people to step up and work as this ministry grows and moves forward.
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We need people to step up and say, "What can I do for you?" What can I do for you?
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So are you ready to give that a swing?
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It goes like this.
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I'll model it and then we'll give you a try.
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What can I do for you?
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All right, you got that?
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Three, two, one, go.
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What can I do for you?
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All right, let's try it again.
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Three, two, one.
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What can I do for you?
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Don't need a countdown, go.
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I'm so glad you asked.
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Set yourself aside and give yourself for others.
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This isn't just a matter of what's right and wrong, of what's good, better, and best.
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God says you will actually benefit from this.
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So five questions to ask, four marks to examine, three statements to practice, two choices.
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These aren't on your outline, John, down at the bottom.
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Two choices.
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What happened was I had the outline done, I thought, oh, I had a countdown thing going, I didn't even realize it.
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So we gotta have a two and a one, right?
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Two choices.
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Two choices, you can leave here today insisting on I should get my own way in life, I deserve to get my own way in life, People should cater to me.
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Everything still revolves around me.
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That's one choice that you have.
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You can leave thinking that you're all that in a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.
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Or your other choice is to say, you know, the Bible says that I was bought with a price.
01:00:00-01:00:02
I am not my own.
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You know, the Bible says to be a disciple, we're talking about disciples here, right?
01:00:11-01:00:15
Jesus said, "If anyone would be my disciple," what was step one?
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You remember?
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"Let him," do you remember step one?
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"If anyone would be my disciple, let him," if you know it, shout it out, "deny himself." That's step one.
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Why?
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Because as long as you're in your own way, you're not going to come to Christ.
01:00:34-01:00:35
It's giving up.
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And that's what we talked about this baptism service.
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That's the whole picture of baptism.
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The whole picture of baptism.
01:00:44-01:00:50
When you go underwater, I remember Ken, you were baptized, you know, our last service at Northway.
01:00:50-01:00:52
When you go underwater, do you know what you're saying?
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Ken's dead.
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That's what you're saying.
01:00:56-01:01:24
dead. I'm identifying with the death of Jesus Christ. My old man has been crucified with Christ. And when you come up out of the water, what you're saying is, "Christ is alive in me. My life is Christ." That's the whole picture of baptism. I'm no longer, I'm not even on my own radar anymore. My life is Christ.
01:01:26-01:01:27
So these are my choices.
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I can promote myself, and ultimately I'm going to be miserable.
01:01:36-01:01:37
Because here's what you're going to find.
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You are not interesting enough.
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You are not captivating enough.
01:01:47-01:02:01
You are not exciting enough to maintain any level of enthusiasm for promoting yourself for any long period of time, you're going to make yourself miserable.
01:02:05-01:02:07
Go ahead and promote yourself.
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Make your life all about yourself and you will be miserable.
01:02:13-01:02:20
Your other option is you can spend yourself for others and you can experience joy.
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Those are your choices.
01:02:26-01:02:29
One example, finally one example.
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So who's the ultimate example in pouring myself out for the benefit of others?
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Who's the ultimate example of I'm going to humble myself for the purposes of God and for the benefit of others?
01:02:44-01:02:45
Who's the ultimate example of that?
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You're like, well, my grandma was really good at that.
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She might've been, but she's not the ultimate example.
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I have a next door neighbor who he's real, I'm sure he's fantastic, but that's not the example.
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Who is the ultimate example of this type of I'm giving myself for you?
01:03:03-01:03:09
Who is the ultimate example of humility for the purposes of God?
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Who is it?
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It's Jesus Christ.
01:03:12-01:03:15
And next week, that's the sermon.
01:03:17-01:03:23
You know, read ahead, but it's all about having the mindset that Jesus Christ had.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 2:1-4
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.