Jeff Miller

January 13, 2013

Pressing On

Jeff Miller

January 13, 2013

  
    I Press On: Because I realize I have room to grow. (Phil 3:12)

I Press On: Because That is what Jesus wants for me. (Phil 3:12, 14)

I Press On: Because The past is irrelevant. (Phil 3:13)

I Press On: Because This is mature thinking. (Phil 3:15-16)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:04
At the time I was young and cool.
00:07-00:14
And over the years I've learned that I am becoming less in both categories.
00:20-00:28
The realization really hit me a few years ago when I was teaching a group of third and fourth graders.
00:30-00:44
And I thought I was being really cool and relevant and connecting and I made some sort of a reference to Fat Albert and was met with a room full of blank stares.
00:46-00:49
They were like, and I'm like, why are you all looking at me like that?
00:49-00:50
And they're like, who's Fat Albert?
00:52-00:53
Like, who's Fat Albert?
00:55-00:57
I sent notes home to all the parents.
00:57-00:58
(congregation laughing)
00:59-01:03
Like your discipleship in your household is seriously in question right now.
01:08-01:17
So those of you under 23, turn to somebody older after service and have them explain this to you.
01:17-01:22
But I'm also old enough to remember the Sunday drive.
01:23-01:26
How many of you know what I'm talking about when I mentioned the Sunday drive.
01:27-01:28
Remember the Sunday drive?
01:28-01:32
Okay, how many of you are like, "I have no idea what the Sunday drive is." Go ahead.
01:32-01:34
Taylor Brown, seriously, my heart aches for you.
01:35-01:37
The Sunday drive.
01:37-01:40
Well, the Sunday drive was basically this.
01:40-01:54
It was after church Sunday and after lunch, dad would be like, "Pile into the car, "we're going for a drive." And go ahead and shout it out, "Where did you go?" Nowhere, right?
01:54-01:58
And you just went for a drive and you got in the car.
01:58-02:04
And the reason younger people don't understand this is we did this before gasoline was like $80 a gallon.
02:05-02:07
So you could afford to do it.
02:07-02:10
But now Sunday drive is like family vacation.
02:10-02:13
Like kids, we can go to Disney World or we can take a Sunday drive.
02:13-02:23
But, oh, speaking of vacation, you'd have the Sunday drive and you would have the vacation drive.
02:24-05:06
But the vacation drive, it was, "We need to get to this resort spot, this destination. We're going to Myrtle Beach, for example, and here's how long it's going to take us, and here's the route that we're going to go, and here are the places that we're going to stop." And you're like, "Why in the world are you talking about this. Well, let me ask you this. Which is the Christian life more like? Is it more like a Sunday drive where we just sort of wander around aimlessly, or is it more like the vacation drive in that we are heading somewhere, we have a destination in mind, and we need to be deliberate about getting there? Which is it? The Christian life is more like the vacation drive, isn't it? And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul is talking about here in Philippians chapter 3 verses 12 through 16 that we're going to be looking at this morning. Last week we looked at the first 11 verses where Paul said, "You know, I used to put my confidence in who I was." You remember he gave his little resume, you know, "Here's my Jewishness and here's my religious zeal and here's blah blah blah blah blah," and he said, "It's rubbish." And then he gets to the end of the passage that we looked at last week, and he talked about being found in Christ, and having a righteousness from Christ, and knowing Christ, and knowing the power of his resurrection. Verse 10, "Sharing in his sufferings and being like him in his death, attaining resurrection from the dead." And at this point, like the original readers of Philippians, we could step back and say, "Man, Paul had it going on. Paul was perfect, wasn't he? I mean, Paul was perfect. He was just perfect. I mean, you read that list there about knowing Christ and knowing his power and sharing in his sufferings. I mean, Paul had it nailed down." And then, like the Philippian readers, we start to ask some other questions. Does that mean that coming to Jesus Christ means that I'm instantly perfect? Because let's be honest, I still struggle, man. I still struggle. Anybody else still struggling in your Christian walk? Anybody? Look, I've been a Christian now for like 17, 18 I've been a pastor for like 15 of those, 16 of those, I lost count.
05:07-05:12
And I can tell you that every day is still a struggle in some way, shape or form.
05:13-05:21
And I was naive enough 15 years ago to think, you know, once I get to my mid-30s, late-30s, I'll have it nailed down.
05:22-05:25
It's still a struggle. It's still a struggle.
05:25-05:28
So the question is, why am I still struggling?
05:28-06:33
shouldn't it be easier? You know, I don't feel very perfect. Am I even a Christian? Well, the Apostle Paul was the master of anticipating what people were saying or thinking after they were reading portions of his letters, so oftentimes he interjects things. He's like, "I know what you're thinking, so let me tell you something right now just to clear that up, and that's what we're going to be looking at today. So if you're a perfect Christian, you are dismissed. But if you are still struggling like me, let's see how Paul interjects here. He says, verse 12, "Not that I have already obtained this, or am I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
06:36-06:39
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.
06:41-06:58
But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus.
07:00-07:04
Let those of us who are mature think this way.
07:04-07:11
And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
07:12-07:17
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
07:20-07:24
The Apostle Paul frequently used sports metaphors.
07:24-07:25
Did you know that?
07:27-07:39
He talked about wrestling and he talked about boxing and oftentimes he would talk about running a race, a sports metaphor I am less inclined to identify with.
07:40-07:44
But that is the metaphor here, like in 1 Corinthians 9, 24.
07:45-07:46
He's talking about running a race.
07:47-07:53
He says it in verse 12, you saw it, he said it in verse 12, he said it in verse 13, and he said it in verse 14.
07:53-07:57
Press on, straining forward, pressing on.
07:59-08:01
It's a picture of a runner, right?
08:03-08:04
But not just a runner.
08:08-08:12
You know, if you look out the back doors here, you see people run this property here.
08:12-08:14
Paul's not talking about that kind of a runner.
08:15-08:17
He's talking about a runner in a race.
08:19-08:23
And not just the runner in a race, but a runner who wants to win.
08:26-08:32
And not just a runner in a race who wants to win, but a runner in a race who wants to win what?
08:36-08:37
First place, right?
08:37-08:38
The gold.
08:38-08:39
No, no, no, gold's not good enough.
08:39-08:40
What's above gold?
08:41-08:42
That's what I want.
08:42-08:43
That's what I'm running for.
08:43-08:44
That's the picture here.
08:45-08:45
(congregation laughing)
08:45-08:47
I found this extremely interesting.
08:47-08:50
You know this word for press on or to strive?
08:52-08:59
It's used in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, those books, 13 times.
09:00-09:05
And the apostle Paul used this word in his writings 10 times.
09:06-09:09
And do you know the context that this word is usually found in?
09:09-09:10
I found this so interesting.
09:10-09:23
The context that you usually find this expression for press on or strive forward has to do with hunting something down passionately, and it's usually in the context of persecution.
09:26-09:31
Like somebody out to persecute the church, they're striving forward to get them.
09:31-09:34
They're not just like after them, they're passionately after them.
09:34-09:42
I hate those Christians, and I hate that they identify with Jesus, and I'm going to hunt them down, and they're very serious and very passionate about this pursuit.
09:43-09:45
That's usually the context you find this word.
09:45-09:52
And here Paul is using this hunting it down passionately referring to something else.
09:52-09:55
You're like, well, what are we hunting down passionately?
09:56-09:59
We'll look again at the text, verse 12.
09:59-09:59
Here it is.
10:00-10:04
"Not that I have already obtained this." Okay, so there it is, this.
10:05-10:07
That's what we're hunting down passionately, this.
10:07-10:09
All right, any other questions?
10:11-10:12
What is this?
10:14-10:17
Well, actually, you go back up to verse 10 for that.
10:18-10:20
This is all in context, right?
10:20-10:20
You know that, right?
10:22-10:24
This is building off what he said previously.
10:24-10:28
And what this is, is knowing Christ.
10:32-10:35
What this is, is growing in Christ.
10:35-10:37
What this is, is being perfect.
10:40-10:53
We are hunting down, listen to this, we are hunting down knowing Christ fully, we are hunting down growing in Him, and we are hunting down passionately maturing in Him.
10:54-10:55
Why?
10:57-10:58
I'm so glad you asked.
10:58-11:01
In fact, I anticipated that you might ask, so get your outline.
11:01-11:02
Why do we press on?
11:04-11:05
It's all straight here from the text.
11:06-11:07
Why do we press on, number one?
11:08-11:10
I press on because I realize I have room to grow.
11:12-11:13
That's the first thing.
11:13-11:17
I press on because I realize that I have room to grow.
11:20-11:23
He said it in verse 12 very plainly.
11:23-11:44
He says, "Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect." People are like, "Well, the Bible's so unclear." Verse 13, "Brothers, I do not consider "that I have made it my own." He was going to every effort to make sure it was so crystal clear.
11:44-11:46
Paul, are you perfect, Paul?
11:46-11:51
Would you say that you're at the mountaintop of the Christian experience, Paul?
11:51-11:52
Is that what you're saying?
11:52-11:53
What's his answer?
11:54-11:55
Shout it out, what's his answer?
11:56-11:59
No, no, no, I'm not there.
12:00-12:04
No, I'm not saying that I've obtained like the spiritual elite status?
12:04-12:11
No, no, I'm not saying that I've mastered the spiritual life.
12:13-12:15
So I press on because I realize that I have room to grow.
12:16-12:20
And that's the paradox of the Christian life.
12:21-12:23
What is the Christian life?
12:24-12:26
How would I define the Christian life?
12:26-12:28
Here's how I define the Christian life.
12:28-12:29
Drop this phrase down.
12:29-12:33
The Christian life is the process of becoming what you are.
12:34-12:36
That's what the Christian life is.
12:36-12:40
It's the process of becoming what you are.
12:43-12:47
You go, "That doesn't make any sense." Well, sure it does.
12:47-12:53
God says about you in Christ, now understand I'm talking to those that are in Christ, okay?
12:54-13:02
If you're here and you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you have not been born again, you have bigger issues than pressing on.
13:04-13:07
You're spiritually dead and you need Jesus Christ.
13:09-13:17
But for those of you that have received Christ, God says this about you.
13:17-13:26
He says, "You are holy, you are righteous, "you are guiltless, you are blameless, "and you are perfect in Christ." That's what God says about you.
13:26-13:27
Did you know that?
13:31-13:38
And your walk, your Christian walk, is God growing you into what He says you are.
13:42-14:04
Even with a new heart and a new disposition and a new mind and a new standing before God and the indwelling Holy Spirit, we step back as Christians and look at all of that and "but I'm still in need of growth." And as I told you, 18 years later, I realized the more I grow, the more I need to grow.
14:08-14:13
So the Christian life is God growing you into what he says you are, into who he says you are.
14:14-14:16
It's the process of becoming what you are.
14:18-14:25
Now, this year, our ministry theme, tell our friends from Pittsburgh East, Your ministry theme is what this year?
14:26-14:27
It's joy, right?
14:28-14:30
And you're like, well, where's the joy in this?
14:30-14:33
Where is the joy in knowing that I need to grow?
14:37-14:39
Well, we've surveyed 100 people, top three answers on the board.
14:41-14:43
My son loves the family feud.
14:45-14:48
Why is there a joy in knowing that I need to grow?
14:48-14:49
Here it is.
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Number three, it's a sign of life.
14:55-14:58
That's why it is a joy knowing that I need to grow.
14:58-14:59
It is a sign of life.
15:00-15:00
Why?
15:00-15:03
Because dead things neither grow nor care that they need to grow.
15:05-15:06
However, living things grow.
15:09-15:15
And one of the perks of being a new creation is the desire to grow is built right into that.
15:17-15:17
So that's encouraging.
15:18-15:34
If you're like, "I'm just not sure if I'm a Christian "and I'm not sure, does the Holy Spirit live in me?" One of the things I'd ask you is, do you have a holy discontent with where you are spiritually, that you feel the Holy Spirit is calling you to grow, to trust more, to grow more in Christ?
15:34-15:35
Do you feel that?
15:35-15:36
Do you experience that?
15:37-15:38
Well, that's good news.
15:39-15:40
That's a sign of life.
15:44-15:47
Number two, why is there joy in knowing that I need to grow?
15:47-15:51
Number two is this, I won't be so quick to judge others.
15:53-15:54
Talk about an area that God's grown me.
15:55-15:57
I won't be so quick to judge others.
15:59-16:00
It's grace.
16:01-16:01
It's grace.
16:05-16:16
Sometimes as Christians, mature Christians, instead of talking about life dominating sins, because at this stage of the game, I surely can't use that expression.
16:17-16:49
What do we call them? Growth points. Growth points, right? No offense, ladies, but that phrase had to have come out of some women's ministry somewhere, right? Growth points. I have growth points. Well, you know what? I have growth points, and so do you. And it's so easy for me to judge you on your growth points. To say, "Gosh, that This guy's been walking with the Lord, he said for 10 years, but he acts like a spiritual infant sometimes.
16:50-16:54
And it's like, hey, how about a mirror, pal?
16:54-16:55
That's me.
16:56-16:57
That's me sometimes.
16:57-16:58
And when I realized, you know what?
16:58-17:00
God's still growing me.
17:01-17:03
God's still working on my heart.
17:05-17:09
It's a reminder that he's working on you too.
17:12-17:13
And I just ask for your grace.
17:13-17:17
You know, sometimes as a pastor, people think of me as being, well, you're like Paul, right?
17:18-17:19
You're perfect and have it all figured out.
17:19-17:20
I do not.
17:21-17:24
You talk to the two people that know me best, talk to my wife and talk to my brother.
17:24-17:25
I do not.
17:28-17:29
But God's still growing me.
17:29-17:30
God's still changing me.
17:30-17:31
God's still teaching me some things.
17:32-17:40
As I heard one evangelist say, I'm not yet the man that I wanna be, but I thank God that I'm not the man that I was.
17:41-17:43
I won't be so quick to judge others.
17:43-17:49
And number one answer, why is there joy in knowing that I need to grow?
17:51-17:52
Well, I won't be discouraged when I fail.
17:54-17:56
I won't be discouraged when I fail.
17:56-18:03
Christians, how many times have we, we've done the very thing that we knew we shouldn't have done.
18:05-18:08
And then we walk away and we say, I should have known better.
18:11-18:12
What's wrong with me?
18:17-18:20
Well, apparently this is an area that God is growing me.
18:24-18:28
And this reminds me of reality.
18:29-18:30
It makes me long for heaven.
18:33-18:34
So I won't be discouraged when I fail.
18:37-18:38
I don't make excuses for it.
18:40-18:41
That's a reality check for me.
18:41-18:42
God's still growing me.
18:44-18:51
So this concept of growing in the Lord, there's a big fancy theological term for it.
18:51-18:52
You see it in God's word.
18:53-18:54
It's called sanctification.
18:55-19:00
And literally it means being set apart in your character and in your attitude and in your action.
19:00-19:01
And how does it happen?
19:03-19:05
How does sanctification happen?
19:05-19:06
How does growth happen?
19:09-19:14
Now listen closely, this growth, this sanctification, it's like a plant.
19:15-19:16
I can't make a plant grow.
19:18-19:18
Do you know that?
19:18-19:20
I can't make a plant grow.
19:21-19:25
What I can do is I can put it in a position to maximize its growth potential, right?
19:27-19:28
And it's true for you.
19:29-19:30
I can't make you grow spiritually.
19:31-19:33
You can't make you grow spiritually either.
19:33-19:37
What you can do is put yourself in a position to maximize your growth potential.
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What does that mean?
19:40-19:42
Well, there are two ways that you are sanctified.
19:43-19:45
Not two like separate paths, understand that.
19:45-19:47
Like, well, there's path A or path B.
19:48-19:53
No, there's one path, but there's two things on that path that work together for your sanctification.
19:53-19:54
And here are the two things.
19:55-19:56
First of all, it's the word of God.
19:57-20:00
John 17, 17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth.
20:01-20:07
"Your word is truth." Jesus said the thing that would sanctify us, church, is the Word of God.
20:11-20:16
But then Romans 15, 16 says that we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
20:17-20:19
That's how God grows you.
20:20-20:26
It's by the power of his indwelling spirit within you at work with the Word.
20:26-20:27
That's why we tell you to read your Bibles.
20:28-20:41
Have a plan and be in God's Word because God's Spirit wants to take what is in God's Word and plant it into your heart and have it flow out of your life.
20:43-20:44
That's why we preach from the Bible.
20:46-20:54
That's why I'm encouraged that nobody walks in here on a Sunday morning and says, "Pastor Jeff, what are you gonna speak about today?" Everybody knows, right?
20:54-20:55
The Bible.
20:56-20:58
Aw, you talked about that last week.
21:01-21:03
Well, I hate to spoil next week for you.
21:05-21:05
The Bible.
21:06-21:08
Why do we preach from the Bible?
21:08-21:14
Because this is what God uses, his spirit, his word, to provide his results.
21:15-21:16
What does Paul tell us in Romans?
21:17-21:18
Faith comes by hearing.
21:19-21:21
The Holy Spirit takes it and works it through you.
21:22-21:25
So first of all, I press on because I realize I have room to grow.
21:25-21:32
Secondly, jot this down, I press on because that is what Jesus wants from me.
21:35-21:37
That is what Jesus wants for me.
21:43-22:50
Jesus Christ saved me for a purpose. What is the purpose that he saved you? Why did he save you? Well, notice in verse 12 he says, "I press on to make it my own." Why, Paul? "Because Christ Jesus has made me his own." So when Jesus saved you, what was he after? Your advice? He's like, "You know what? That Bob Arnold, I gotta get him in because I bet he has some good ideas. No, that's not why he saved you. Like, oh I know, it's for my work, right? Well he prepared good works beforehand that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2, but let's not get some kind of an arrogant attitude like, well he saves me because he needs me. What does God need? Nothing.
22:50-23:51
God doesn't need me. So why did he save me? For what purpose did he save me? And here it is, literally, this is what Paul is saying in the text. And this this this about blew my heart right out of my chest this week. Jesus took hold of me because he wants me to know him." Isn't that awesome? Jesus took hold of me for the sole purpose of "he wants me to know him." "For God so loved the world." God loves the world. Now what is he after? He's after a relationship with you. That's That's why when we show up to church and sort of punch in the time card and say, "I did my weekly duty," God's not after that.
23:52-24:01
He says, "I saved you so that you would grow in a relationship with me." That's why He saved us.
24:05-24:10
And knowing Him is becoming like Him.
24:12-24:18
Romans 8, 29 tells us that he predestined us to be conformed into the image of his son.
24:20-24:24
That's why he saved you, it's for his glory, that's number one, that's obvious.
24:24-24:25
It's all about God's glory.
24:25-24:26
You got that right.
24:27-24:29
But if you're like, well, why did he why would he save me?
24:30-24:31
Because he wants you to know him.
24:32-24:33
He wants you to grow in him.
24:34-24:39
He wants you to experience his love and mercy and forgiveness and know what kind of a God he is.
24:41-24:43
But you know what can seem frustrating?
24:44-24:47
Going after a goal that we will never achieve.
24:50-24:55
You know, Paul says, you know, I've been, I'm pressing on and I'm going after this thing, I'm going after this thing.
24:58-25:02
Do you think that Paul ever got to a point in his life that he was like, got it?
25:05-25:14
Do you think if you would have talked to Paul five minutes before he died, He would have said, "You know, I've grown as much as I can possibly grow." Do you think he would have said that?
25:14-25:15
I don't.
25:16-25:20
Five minutes before he died, I think Paul would have said something like, "Yes, hey, I'm pressing on.
25:21-25:30
I'm pressing on to know Jesus Christ." So in that regard, you could say, "Well, man, isn't it frustrating?
25:31-25:36
We're going after something we were never going to achieve." Well, here's the thing, you are going to achieve it.
25:37-25:38
In glory.
25:40-25:59
When you are in the presence of God himself, you are going to perfectly achieve this thing that you're going after, but the purpose of the pursuit now is knowing Christ more now, so Christ's goal for me is for me to be in pursuit of the goal which is growing in our relationship.
26:02-26:03
Did you catch that?
26:04-26:06
That's one of the sentences I wrote it.
26:06-26:08
I'm like, man, that sentence is so confusing.
26:08-26:10
I'm not even sure how it started.
26:11-26:12
Let me run that by you again.
26:13-26:20
Christ's goal is for us to be in pursuit of the goal, which is growing in our relationship with him.
26:22-26:23
So why do we press on?
26:23-26:30
Paul very clearly says, "This is what Jesus Christ wants for me." Thirdly, I press on, why?
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Look at verse 13.
26:34-26:37
I press on because the past is irrelevant.
26:40-26:41
The past is irrelevant.
26:46-26:58
Look at verse 13 with me again, where the apostle Paul says, "Forgetting what lies behind "and straining forward to what lies ahead." And listen, this whole pressing on thing can't happen until you do this.
26:59-27:01
You have to let go of the past.
27:01-27:02
You have to let it go.
27:02-27:04
You have to let it go.
27:05-27:06
He's using this runner analogy.
27:06-27:10
Now think, let's carry this analogy out a little bit, can we?
27:12-27:17
Here's the runners at the starting block.
27:20-27:23
And you're just about ready to run this race.
27:23-27:28
You're waiting, you're waiting for the gun to go off because you're going after this.
27:28-27:30
And the gun goes off.
27:30-27:35
and the runners start running and you just turn to the guy beside you and you say, "You know what?
27:37-27:43
"I've had a lot of good runs back in the day." Let me tell you, and you just sit down right there in the track.
27:43-27:44
Like, "Hey, come here and sit down.
27:44-27:53
"Let me tell you, you know, back in '86, I was fast "and I had this one race." And you're like, "Yeah, good for you, buddy.
27:53-27:54
"You're in a race now.
27:55-27:58
"Why are you sitting down talking about something "that happened in the past?
27:58-28:01
How much is that going to help you run this race?
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Zero?
28:05-28:09
Or the runner gets in the starting blocks, and he's like, OK, the race is about to start.
28:10-28:10
But you know what?
28:12-28:14
The last time I ran, I didn't do very good.
28:16-28:17
Last time I ran, I really failed.
28:18-28:21
And I'm not sure if running's really for me.
28:25-28:26
Maybe I shouldn't be running.
28:28-28:31
Maybe because I've failed in the past, maybe I shouldn't be running now.
28:34-28:37
How much is that attitude going to help him in the race that he's in right now?
28:37-28:39
How much is that attitude going to help?
28:41-28:44
So tell me, what should the attitude of the runner be?
28:44-28:51
The gun goes off and he's like, "I am going to go after this with everything that I got.
28:51-28:57
"It doesn't matter how fast I was in '86, "and it doesn't matter that I lost my last race.
28:57-28:59
What matters is that I'm in a race right now.
29:00-29:02
The past is irrelevant.
29:02-29:07
And that's what Paul is reminding us Christians in our spiritual race, in our spiritual pressing on.
29:08-29:11
The past can be debilitating.
29:11-29:18
And even some Christians get stuck, and I would suggest to you, even some Christians get obsessed about their past.
29:22-29:25
There are some Christians that they're obsessed.
29:25-29:30
They can't have a conversation, you know, like, "Hey, how's the weather?" "Oh, the weather's fine.
29:30-29:48
The weather's actually a lot like the weather was, you know, 27 years ago when I went through this horrible crisis." Like, "The weather's a lot like it was when I made this horrible mistake." And so what are we forgetting?
29:50-29:51
What are we forgetting?
29:52-29:53
I'm gonna give you another list.
29:54-29:56
Top three answers on the board.
29:56-30:02
You're like, "Two lists in the same sermon." He's gone off the deep end.
30:02-30:04
Somebody needs to stop him.
30:04-30:04
What are we forgetting?
30:06-30:07
Three things, you ready?
30:07-30:09
Number one, we're gonna go one, two, three on this one.
30:09-30:16
Number one, we're forgetting regrets or sins or things I put down in my notes, things of me.
30:19-30:20
That's what we're forgetting.
30:20-30:21
We're forgetting regrets and sins.
30:21-30:23
Some Christians are stuck.
30:24-30:27
And listen, as a pastor, please hear my heart.
30:27-30:28
My heart aches for you.
30:29-30:30
My heart aches for you.
30:30-30:32
When you, you know what, Pastor Jeff?
30:32-30:34
Eight years ago, I did something really bad.
30:34-30:41
And you know, I've prayed and I've sought the Lord on this and I've made reconciliation, but I just can't get over it.
30:44-30:46
I've done a lot of things I regret, man.
30:46-30:46
You know what?
30:46-30:47
Me too.
30:48-30:49
I have too.
30:50-30:55
Don't underestimate the wickedness of my sin because it took the death of the Son of God to pay for my sin.
30:57-31:03
But neither underestimate the work of Christ because his death destroyed the penalty of sin.
31:05-31:09
So number one, forget your regrets, your past sins.
31:11-31:12
Please hear me.
31:13-31:16
I'm not making light of this, but you can't go through life holding on.
31:19-31:20
Number two, what are we forgetting?
31:21-31:25
Worldly pursuits, worldly acclaim, worldly victory.
31:25-31:27
I put down in my notes, things by me.
31:28-31:31
I'm forgetting things of me, but I'm also forgetting things by me.
31:31-31:33
All these things on my resume.
31:33-31:35
You know, Paul said, "I got this list." And guess what?
31:35-31:36
I have my list.
31:39-31:45
And it's so easy to evaluate my life by looking at the best of, right?
31:46-31:50
If you would go down to the, I almost said record store.
31:53-32:02
If you would go down to the music store and buy a CD from a band or from an artist that was best of, what are you getting?
32:03-32:06
You're getting like their best music, right?
32:06-32:11
And if that was all you knew of them, you would think, man, all they can do is like crank out the good ones.
32:12-32:12
You know what?
32:12-32:15
I could make my Christian life look like a best of album.
32:15-32:17
Let me tell you about some of the things that I've done.
32:18-32:21
Let me tell you about some of the amazing ways that God's used me.
32:23-32:25
And that's exactly what we talked about last week.
32:25-32:28
Paul was like, "Pfft, rubbish.
32:29-32:36
"Rubbish, it's all in the past." And these successes can be even more debilitating.
32:40-32:45
So the third thing to forget, please hear me, wrong things done to me.
32:46-32:47
Wrong things done to me.
32:49-32:53
Remember, forgiven people forgive, right?
32:54-32:55
Forgiven people forgive.
32:56-33:02
And your past has nothing to do with your future because there is nothing you can do about it.
33:02-33:04
Every sin has been paid for.
33:04-33:11
Every highlight has nothing to do with making God love you more than he already does.
33:12-33:16
Holding grudges does nothing but put a burden on your own hearts.
33:20-33:21
We choose to forget.
33:22-33:22
Why?
33:24-33:26
Well, here's one more thing before we wrap up.
33:27-33:28
Why do we choose to forget?
33:29-33:30
Because God chooses to forget.
33:30-33:31
Did you know that?
33:33-33:41
And God's so fired up about this choosing to forget business that he says it twice in his word, once in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament, just in case you miss it.
33:42-34:06
Jeremiah 31, 34. Hebrews 10, 17. God says, "I will remember their sins no more." So if God is willing to forget some things, why can't you? Why can't I? So I press on because the past is irrelevant, and finally, I press on because this is mature thinking.
34:07-35:05
This is mature thinking. Getting back to our runner analogy, you know, when that runners in the race, it'd be easy to gravitate towards two extremes. One is this, I'm never going to improve my time. I'm never going to get better. I'm never going to get faster. I'm never going to get any better." Wrong. But here's the other extreme. "I have no room for improvement. I'm as fast as a human being can possibly be." And that's why as Paul's talking about pressing on, "I'm not perfect. I don't have perfect full knowledge, perfect experience of knowing and growing in Christ, so I'm pressing on.
35:06-35:08
Paul reminds us, look at verse 15 and 16 again.
35:09-35:21
He says, "Let those of us who are mature think this way." He says, "This is mature thinking." Immaturity is found on the extremes.
35:25-35:27
Here are the two Christian race extremes.
35:28-35:29
One is this, "I'm just a sinner.
35:31-35:35
I'm just a sinner." Do you know who says that?
35:36-35:38
Somebody that wants to make excuse for their sin.
35:40-35:41
I'm just a sinner.
35:43-35:45
Well, just a sinner.
35:51-35:52
Not in Christ.
35:54-35:55
In Christ, you're a child of God.
35:58-36:02
You act like the very thing you identify yourself with.
36:02-36:06
So walking around saying, "Well, I'm just a sinner," that's not gonna get you anywhere.
36:06-36:15
Here's the other extreme, walking around saying, "I am perfect." You're like, "Pastor Jeff, do people really do that?" Yeah.
36:17-36:23
The Bible college that I attended, I was a very young Christian at the time, so basically I had no clue about anything.
36:23-36:26
I didn't even know there was a difference between one Bible college and another.
36:27-36:40
And one of the things at the Bible college I attended, One of the things they taught was Christian perfection, that you're kind of going along and you have this crisis moment and you cry out to God and he saves you, you're justified.
36:43-36:44
The penalty of sin is removed.
36:46-36:59
But they teach that as you're going along, you have another crisis moment and you're entirely sanctified at that point that now not only is the penalty of sin removed, but the power of sin is removed.
37:00-37:04
and you live the rest of your life completely devoid of temptation.
37:05-37:06
That's what this school taught.
37:07-37:10
Take a guess how many head-butting matches I got into with the school.
37:11-37:15
And a lot of them circled around this text that we're looking at right here.
37:15-37:26
Like if the apostle Paul says he hasn't obtained it, who do you think you are walking around saying, and we had people, you know, I've been entirely sanctified for, you know, 73 years.
37:28-37:35
You haven't been tempted to sin, you haven't made one mistake, you haven't spoken one harsh word in 73 years, really?
37:37-38:47
Nope. Oh, I might have had some maybe errors in judgment or maybe a temporary lapse of moral cognitude, something, but I haven't sinned in 73 years. You just did liar. No wonder we're joyless. Seriously, no wonder we are joyless when we walk around, "Well, I'm just a sinner. Well, I'm just perfect." Both of those extremes are messed up. That's why Paul says here's mature thinking. You're like, "Well, I'm not sure I agree with all this." And my response to that is, "It's okay. Give it time because here's what he says. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you." Paul's like, "There are probably some people reading this." and they're like, "Yeah, I'm not so sure." And Paul's like, "Okay, it's all right.
38:49-38:54
"It's okay." You might be sitting here today and you're like, "Yeah, Jeff, I totally am not tracking "with what you're saying." It's okay.
38:57-38:59
It's okay, you keep seeking the Lord, He'll reveal it to you.
39:01-39:05
You're not a sinner and you're not perfect, Christian.
39:09-39:10
This is just how it is.
39:12-39:13
You're like, "Well, you know what?
39:13-39:16
"I hear what you're saying, but you know, a lot of this seems overwhelming.
39:16-39:26
You know, my goal is Christ's goal to grow by knowing him and I won't ever fully attain it here, but I'm supposed to keep pressing on.
39:26-39:29
And wow, there's like a lot of stuff here.
39:29-39:30
So you're like, what do I do?
39:31-39:33
There's like a lot of stuff to process.
39:33-39:35
Well, here it is, last verse.
39:36-39:43
"Only let us hold true to what we have attained." Why does Paul close this little section with this command?
39:44-39:46
because growth is a work of the Holy Spirit.
39:46-39:51
What Paul is saying is this, you stick to the basics of the gospel and growth will come naturally.
39:53-39:56
We're not going after a new fad, a new gimmick.
39:56-39:59
We're not going after a shortcut or alternatives or plan B.
40:01-40:19
Get in the Word, pray shamelessly, be connected to a body of believers, get involved in a small group, Use all of these as your means to passionately pursue Jesus Christ.
40:22-40:23
Do you believe that God loves you?
40:24-40:25
Do you believe that?
40:26-40:28
Do you believe that God loves you?
40:30-40:35
Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and he rose from the dead?
40:35-40:36
Do you believe that?
40:39-40:41
Do you believe that God's Holy Spirit indwells you?
40:44-40:45
Do you believe that?
40:46-40:47
Let's hold on to that.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 3:12-16

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

January 6, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

Losing My Religion

Jeff Miller

January 6, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

Look Out! Don’t be Misled!. (Phil 3:1-3)

Loss: These things do not Save You. (Phil 3:4-6)

Ceremony (Phil 3:5)

Heritage (Phil 3:5)

Understanding the facts (Phil 3:5)

Motives (Phil 3:6)

Perfect Record (Phil 3:6)

Gain: Salvation is Knowing Christ (Phil 3:8-11)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:01
Just a little parenthetical note.
00:05-00:10
Happiness, you've heard me say this before, but to repeat it is no trouble to me and it's safe for you.
00:11-00:17
But happiness actually comes from a root, "hap," H-A-P, which is tied into circumstance.
00:19-00:29
For example, the word "happening" or the word "happenstance." It's a word that's tied into circumstance. That's what happiness is.
00:29-00:30
tied into circumstance.
00:32-00:36
What that means is this, if you give me a cookie, I will be what?
00:37-00:39
Happy. I'll be happy. There was a circumstance.
00:40-00:41
Something happened that made me happy.
00:43-00:44
You gave me a cookie.
00:45-00:46
But joy...
00:47-00:51
Joy isn't based on circumstance. Joy is based on relationship.
00:53-00:54
Joy is based on relationship.
00:56-00:57
You want proof of that?
00:59-01:00
Look at a new mother.
01:02-01:03
You want proof of that?
01:03-01:04
Look at a brand new mother.
01:05-01:07
Get to the delivery room when the baby is born.
01:08-01:22
Now this mother has been carrying this baby and by the ninth month, you know, talk to a mother, "Ready to go." You know, I've talked to a lot of pregnant ladies and I'm married to a woman that's been pregnant.
01:22-01:24
You know, what do they say in month nine?
01:24-01:24
"Ready.
01:25-01:26
I'm ready for him to come.
01:26-01:30
I'm ready for her to come." and the delivery and the pain.
01:33-01:37
But you see that mother holding that baby, experiencing what?
01:38-01:38
Joy.
01:41-01:42
Why does she have so much joy?
01:44-01:45
It's because of the relationship.
01:46-01:48
That baby didn't do anything for her, right?
01:49-01:57
I don't know about you, but when my kids were born, it's not like Owen came out, like, you know, "Here's a new watch." "Oh, thanks, now I'm happy.
01:58-02:03
This kid gave me a new watch." They don't do anything for you, they don't give you anything.
02:06-02:09
But why is there so much joy in the relationship?
02:12-02:13
That's just the way it is.
02:13-02:16
Happiness comes from circumstance, joy comes from relationship.
02:17-02:29
So when we talk about rejoicing, if you're looking for circumstances that are going to make you happy, "Yeah, I want to get on that joy train that they're talking about at church." Your circumstances aren't going to do it.
02:30-02:34
It's rejoicing in the Lord. It comes from a relationship with God.
02:36-02:45
Alright, end of parenthesis. Verse 2 again, he says, "Look out, look out, look out." Almost every book in the New Testament warns against false teaching.
02:49-02:58
I've been harshly criticized in the past for warning people about false teaching in various forms.
03:00-03:09
And my defense is this, every book in the New Testament has some teaching on watch out for the false teachers.
03:12-03:14
What's the false teaching here?
03:14-03:19
Well, the Apostle Paul is really addressing a specific group.
03:22-03:23
They were known as the Judaizers.
03:24-03:28
And the reason I need to tell you this is it helps make sense of what he's saying here.
03:29-03:34
But these Judaizers were teachers that, they weren't against the Christian message.
03:36-03:37
They would teach something like this.
03:37-03:42
So if you want to become a Christian, well, you know, salvation is of the Jews.
03:43-03:43
True.
03:44-03:52
And Jesus, Jewish, the disciples were Jewish and really founded upon a Jewish religion, so to speak.
03:53-03:58
So if you want to become a Christian, you have to become a Jew first.
03:58-04:00
That's how you become a Christian.
04:01-04:01
All right?
04:02-04:04
So if you're already a Jew, good for you.
04:04-04:12
But if you're a Gentile and you want to become a Christian, first become a Jew and then become a Christian.
04:14-04:17
So for the Gentile, what did it mean to become a Jew?
04:18-04:21
Well, step one would have been you have to be circumcised.
04:23-04:27
And that helps us to understand why Paul said the things that he said here.
04:27-04:28
Look at this warning.
04:31-04:33
First of all, he says, look out for the dogs.
04:36-04:44
Now, when we see that, typically when we hear dogs, we think of a dog that looks like this.
04:44-04:45
Do we have a picture of our puppy?
04:46-04:47
Say, go ahead.
04:47-04:48
All at the same time, you ready?
04:48-04:49
One, two, three.
04:51-04:54
Aw, typically when we see dogs, we think of that, right?
04:56-05:00
But when Paul was talking about the dogs, he would have meant something like this.
05:00-05:03
(audience laughing)
05:04-05:05
Aw.
05:07-05:08
More like, ah, right?
05:09-05:11
That's what he would have been talking about.
05:11-05:13
There are actually two different Greek words for dog.
05:14-05:21
One referred to, you know, that little fuzzy thing that you put the sweater on and carry around with you everywhere.
05:22-05:25
And the other word would have referred to this, the wild dog.
05:27-05:32
Back in 1996, when I was in Thailand, You can get that picture.
05:33-05:33
Thanks.
05:34-05:35
Sorry.
05:35-05:37
I don't want that looming over me.
05:38-05:38
You're not gonna hear me.
05:39-05:51
When I was in Thailand in '96, we were getting ready to go to the villages in the northern mountain jungle areas of Thailand, and we were getting ready to set out.
05:52-06:01
And I bought this big, huge thing of candy that we were going to give to the children up in the villages.
06:04-06:06
And we were getting ready to set out.
06:06-06:08
We were loading the trucks up and stuff like that.
06:08-06:11
And I will never forget this.
06:13-06:18
All of a sudden I hear just coming behind me.
06:21-06:21
(dog growling)
06:22-06:25
And I turned around, there's a wild dog bearing down on me.
06:26-06:36
Okay, I'm just like standing here and this big nasty mangy looking wild dog was bearing down on me, foaming at the mouth, showing its teeth.
06:39-06:40
I was like paralyzed with fear.
06:40-06:43
I wish I could tell you some macho story about how I wrestled it to the ground.
06:45-06:49
You know, I, no, no, I was paralyzed with fear.
06:49-06:52
I'm just like, now what?
06:53-06:54
I thought I was a goner.
06:55-07:02
All of a sudden, this rock comes out of nowhere and hits this dog and the dog's like,
07:02-07:03
(imitates dog barking)
07:03-07:04
takes off for the hills.
07:05-07:06
I'm like, what in the world?
07:07-07:13
There is this little like seven year old kid that was playing in the dirt, like a hundred yards away or something.
07:14-07:15
He was way out there.
07:15-07:22
He saw this whole thing taking place and just picked up a rock and zinged it and sent that dog away.
07:23-07:31
So I went up to this kid and obviously he didn't speak my language and I didn't speak his, but he just kind of smiled at me and I had this big thing of candy.
07:33-07:46
So I was like, seriously, imagine the story that kid told when he went home, like, look what the big white guy gave me.
07:51-07:57
My point is this, when Paul was talking about dogs, those were the kind of dogs he was talking about, okay?
07:58-08:02
In our culture, we see people out here walking dogs while we're in church.
08:02-08:04
That's not what he's talking about, wild dogs.
08:06-08:07
You know, dangerous dogs.
08:08-08:12
It was actually a term of derision to call somebody a dog.
08:15-08:20
And Paul wasn't very complimentary towards false teachers.
08:20-08:21
He said, "They're dogs, okay?
08:22-08:23
"They're vicious.
08:23-08:37
"You need to watch out for them." He also says, "Look out for the evil doers." Now again, these, you know, they were not like trying to build satellites to like, you know, zap the earth or something.
08:37-08:40
They weren't like, you know, super villains.
08:42-08:44
Evil doers, he was talking about their teaching.
08:46-08:47
Their teaching is evil.
08:48-08:54
And then he says, this is a big slam here at the end.
08:54-09:00
He says, "Look out for those who mutilate the flesh." He's talking about circumcision, okay?
09:01-09:11
These people were saying, "Well, if you wanna be saved, first you need to become Jewish, so first you need to be circumcised." And they painted it as this religious thing.
09:11-09:26
And Paul's like, "They're just flesh mutilators, that's all they are." And you're like, "Well, I hear what you're saying, Pastor Jeff, but we don't have Judaizers today." Listen, we are surrounded by false teachers.
09:27-09:29
We are surrounded by false teachers.
09:30-09:35
They are on TV and on the radio, and they publish books, and they preach in the church down the road.
09:37-09:40
They're in universities, and they're in classrooms, and they're in locker rooms.
09:41-09:44
They're in movies, and they're in sitcoms, and they're in cartoons.
09:45-09:53
You can't go anywhere where you don't have somebody saying to you, this is what you should believe.
09:56-09:59
Everywhere, this is what you should believe.
10:02-10:03
And that's why it irks me.
10:05-10:13
Parents. I hear parents, well intentioned, I know, and it sounds so noble the way they say it, I know.
10:13-10:19
But I have parents tell me, well, you know, I don't tell my kids what to believe.
10:19-10:22
I figure they should grow up and figure that out for themselves.
10:23-10:26
But you know what, Jeff? I don't tell my kids what to believe.
10:27-10:29
And I'm like, why not? Everybody else is right.
10:30-10:32
Everybody else is telling your child what to believe.
10:33-10:36
They go to school and get a message and they get a message from the movies.
10:36-10:40
They get a message from their friends and they get a message from all these places.
10:40-10:42
but not their parents?
10:43-10:45
You're the only people not telling your kids what to believe?
10:47-10:48
Not a good move.
10:49-10:49
Not a good move.
10:49-10:56
Parents, tell your children what to believe because everybody else is, and you are the primary influence in their lives.
10:58-10:58
Amen?
11:01-11:03
So it all boils down to this.
11:04-11:14
Capture this because this is the whole issue, and this is why Paul wrote what he wrote, And he was very passionate about what he wrote and a little crass about what he wrote.
11:17-11:20
But there are really only two belief options in the world.
11:20-11:21
You have two belief options.
11:26-11:32
It's either human accomplishment or it's divine achievement.
11:34-11:36
to borrow terms from John MacArthur.
11:37-11:44
Human accomplishment or divine achievement, those are your only two options that you have when it comes to quote unquote religion.
11:45-11:50
One of them is trusting in my works, the other is believing that God has provided.
11:52-11:56
One of them is never confident that I've done enough.
11:58-12:00
The other is assurance that God has provided perfectly.
12:03-12:05
One will send me to hell.
12:06-12:08
The other will send me to heaven.
12:12-12:13
And we talk about works.
12:13-12:15
You know, why are works such a struggle for us?
12:16-12:25
Why is it the people who know better or should know better and sit in church and read the Bible, why do people still wrestle with works?
12:29-12:30
Like, what do you mean by that?
12:33-12:42
I'm talking about people, maybe some people here, I'm sure some people here, deep down in your heart of hearts wanna say something like this.
12:42-12:57
I believe Jesus died for my sins and to go to heaven, you need to be a good person and never try to hurt anyone and be involved with this and maybe get involved in the church and try to be a good parent and try to be a good spouse.
13:01-13:09
Why do we insist on inserting some form of works into our beliefs?
13:09-13:10
Well, here's why.
13:10-13:10
You want to know why?
13:12-13:13
It's an easy answer.
13:16-13:17
The answer is pride.
13:19-13:25
That's why we want to insert something of ourselves into this equation.
13:29-13:35
The message of the Bible is when it comes to your salvation, Jesus Christ did 100% of the work.
13:36-13:39
Your job is to believe on him.
13:42-13:48
Yeah, but surely we have to shoulder some of the salvation load here.
13:52-13:58
It's pride, there's something in us that I got to have some part of this.
13:58-14:08
Surely there has to be a part of this whole thing that is me, that I bring to the table, that Jesus did his part and I get to do my part.
14:08-14:18
And well, the two belief systems, human accomplishment and divine achievement, the two belief systems are mutually exclusive.
14:22-14:31
Either Jesus did 100% of the work or you earn your way, but both cannot be true.
14:34-14:36
Do you understand that?
14:36-14:41
Jesus did it all, or you earn your way, but both cannot be true.
14:44-14:48
It'd be like if I went to lunch with somebody.
14:48-14:59
Let's say I go to lunch with my friend Wilson, And I go home and Aaron says, "Did you have a good lunch with Wilson?" I said, "Yeah, I had a great lunch with Wilson.
14:59-15:21
I always enjoy being with Wilson." And Aaron's like, "Well, did you pay for lunch?" And I pull out a receipt that says, "Well, no, it says right here that Wilson paid for lunch, but I had to pay for it too." And Aaron's like, "So you went Dutch?" "No, Wilson paid for all of lunch, but I had to pay too." Does that make any sense?
15:22-15:25
No, it doesn't make any sense.
15:25-15:28
But you know, we do the same thing sometimes, don't we, Christians?
15:28-15:32
Jesus did it all, Jesus did it all, but I have to do my part too.
15:34-15:36
It doesn't work that way.
15:37-15:41
That's why in verse three, he defines what a Christian is.
15:41-15:44
You're looking for a definition of a Christian, here it is in verse three.
15:46-15:52
A Christian is someone who worships by the Spirit of God, who glories in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh.
15:52-15:53
That's a Christian.
15:54-16:01
Look at that last phrase, "no confidence in the flesh." None of us have anything going for us that will somehow earn us God's favor.
16:02-16:06
And as long as you think you do, you're never going to understand the gospel.
16:07-16:08
You're never going to understand the gospel.
16:13-16:19
In Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 and following, Listen to what Jesus said.
16:21-16:36
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." Jesus said step one in coming to him is denying yourself.
16:39-16:47
Turning from sin, turning from confidence in the flesh, turning from trusting in yourself, believing in yourself.
16:51-16:54
It's a complete emptying of yourself.
16:54-17:00
And then listen, listen to this statement, Jesus said, for whoever would save his life will lose it.
17:01-17:05
But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
17:07-17:10
The gospel is about losing something to gain something.
17:10-17:11
Did you catch that?
17:12-17:16
You cannot gain Christ until you lose some things.
17:16-17:19
Jesus isn't something that you just add to your portfolio.
17:20-17:23
Like I got this going for me, and I got this going for me, and I got this going for me.
17:23-17:25
And you know what?
17:25-17:26
Jesus would look really good on my resume.
17:27-17:28
I'll put him on there too.
17:29-17:31
And Jesus said, "It doesn't work that way.
17:31-17:50
"If you lose your life, you will find it." The point is this, you can't trust Christ your religion, trust your works, trust your good deeds. You can't trust those things and trust Christ at the same time. That's why in verse 7, look at verse 7 again with me.
17:54-18:10
Then we're going to go back and look at this little list that he gives. Paul says, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." Whatever gain I had, that I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
18:11-18:17
These words gain and loss, they're actually, believe it or not, they're accounting terms.
18:18-18:19
They're accounting terms.
18:21-18:24
It's almost like Paul's talking about his spiritual checkbook.
18:25-18:30
What he's saying is I'm looking at my ledger, see, and I had all these things that I thought were in the profit column.
18:31-18:34
And that's that list that we saw that we're gonna go back through and look at.
18:34-18:36
He said, "I had all these things in the profit column.
18:37-18:47
"I got this going for me, and I got this going for me, "and I got this going for me." And he said, "You know, and then I realized "that it wasn't really profit, it's loss.
18:50-18:54
"I used to think that these things made me holy, "and I was wrong.
18:54-18:56
"They weren't a gain for me.
18:58-19:01
"They were a loss because they kept me from trusting Christ.
19:02-19:05
"And when it comes to salvation, and these things didn't get me anywhere.
19:06-19:07
So he talks about gain and loss.
19:08-19:09
It's profit and loss.
19:09-19:11
It's being in the black and being in the red.
19:12-19:14
Which by the way, who came up with those color terms?
19:15-19:17
I have a real problem with that.
19:18-19:18
You know why?
19:20-19:23
It's because they're different on a car battery, right?
19:26-19:26
Am I right?
19:28-19:29
Confuses the heck out of me.
19:32-19:36
In accounting, black is positive, right?
19:36-19:38
And being in the red is negative.
19:39-19:45
If you're gonna jump your car, the red terminal is positive, and the black terminal is...
19:46-19:47
Seriously?
19:47-19:50
We couldn't have a meeting before we finalized that?
19:54-19:56
So I'd always mess it up.
19:56-20:00
I'd go to a church board meeting, like, "How's the budget look?" And I'd be like, "It's fantastic.
20:00-20:10
"We're in the red!" And I'm thinking, "Positive." They're like, "What is his problem?" Well, let's look at Paul's list.
20:10-20:13
Understand this list that he gives, these aren't evil things.
20:16-20:21
But when it comes to being spiritual, here's an acrostic for you.
20:21-20:22
Do you like acrostics?
20:23-20:26
When it comes to being spiritual, this stuff is chump change.
20:27-20:27
All right?
20:27-20:33
You're like, "Well, what does chump stand for?" Well, here it is, lost, these things do not save you.
20:34-20:36
These things do not save you.
20:39-20:41
Please hear what the word of God says.
20:42-20:43
Let's look at these things.
20:43-20:44
These things do not save you.
20:45-20:46
These things do not save you.
20:47-20:48
Like, why do you keep saying that?
20:48-20:52
Because there are some people that are going to leave here still holding onto these things.
20:53-20:57
By the grace of God, by the power of his spirit, I pray that you let some of these things go.
20:57-20:59
These things do not save you.
20:59-21:01
Number one is ceremony.
21:02-21:02
Ceremony.
21:04-21:14
That's where Paul says, "I was circumcised on the eighth day." That would have been a big deal to the Jewish community.
21:16-21:19
He did the right thing at the right time on the right day in the right way.
21:19-21:25
And it was a ceremony, which by the way, seriously, who's bragging about that?
21:26-21:28
Do you think Paul had anything to do with that decision?
21:30-22:18
Did he? Do you think his parents like took it up for a vote with him? Talked to him about it? He was eight days old. But you know, some people brag about things that they had no control over. I was baptized as a baby. I went through confirmation classes. I had my first communion. And they trust in these ceremonies. It even happens in the church, where people trust their Christian baptism as the thing that saves them. It will not save you. The ceremony is not the thing that saves you, okay? Whatever ceremony you've been through, whatever baptisms or lighting candles or rituals or classes or whatever, those things do not save you.
22:21-22:50
Secondly, what else does not save you? Write down the word "heritage." He says, "of the people of Israel." Like, wow, Paul's Jewish. That's some... I have a great affinity for the Jewish people, and he's Jewish, so already my heart is warm to him. Oh, but wait, there's more. "Of the tribe of Benjamin." Okay, pop quiz. Like, what were the two best tribes of Israel?
22:52-22:52
Do you know?
22:54-22:56
Judah and Benjamin.
22:57-22:58
Those were like the best tribes.
22:59-23:07
Remember when the nation of Israel split, 10 of the tribes went Northern Israel, two tribes remained to be Southern Israel.
23:07-23:09
Do you know what two tribes they were?
23:09-23:12
The two best ones, Benjamin and Israel.
23:12-23:14
So Paul's, or Benjamin and Judah rather.
23:15-23:17
So Paul was like, I'm not just Jewish.
23:20-23:25
I'm from the tribe of Benjamin, which is where that song came from.
23:25-23:26
It's all about the Benjamins.
23:27-23:29
But he says a Hebrew, at least I think so.
23:29-23:32
I never really listened to that song, but I'm just assuming.
23:32-23:34
Sometimes you shoot from the hip and you hope you're right.
23:34-23:36
But a Hebrew of Hebrews.
23:37-23:42
Paul's like, you can't get any more Jewish than me, is what Paul was saying.
23:42-23:44
You just can't get any more Jewish than me.
23:46-23:50
Like if we're going to have a Jewish contest, there's no way in the world you're going to win.
23:53-23:58
Paul's like, I'm so Jewish, when I walk down the street, Jewish people look at me and they go, man, is that guy Jewish?
24:00-24:01
That's what he's saying.
24:06-24:13
There again, Paul's saying, this is something that I really used to hold onto as gaining God's favor.
24:14-24:16
And understand in this culture, that was really a thing.
24:17-24:19
If you were Jewish, God loved you.
24:19-24:21
If you were a Gentile, God hated you.
24:23-24:26
Actually, the Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs.
24:30-24:32
Paul says, man, that used to be such a big deal to me.
24:35-24:36
Used to be such a big deal.
24:38-24:38
My heritage.
24:40-24:42
Then he says, that doesn't save you.
24:44-24:46
Like we don't have that problem here, do we?
24:46-25:14
Yeah, we do, because we hear people today, you know, "Are you a Christian? Are you saved? Have you been born again?" People respond with things like this, "Well, my father was a deacon, my uncle was a pastor, my grandmother was a nun." Almost like, "Because I was born into some kind of a Christian family, that automatically by default makes me a Christian, and it does not." You're not saved because of who your grandmama is.
25:16-25:27
When you stand before God, your dad's not going to stand beside you and sort of vouch for you.
25:29-25:29
It's not your heritage.
25:30-25:31
That's not gonna cut it.
25:32-25:33
Number three is understanding the facts.
25:35-25:37
Understanding the facts, that doesn't save you.
25:38-25:40
Understanding the facts.
25:41-25:43
Understanding the facts does not save you.
25:43-25:52
That's why Paul says that he was, he says, "As to the law, a Pharisee." You know, the Pharisees had the Old Testament memorized.
25:54-25:56
They didn't even have to turn to it.
25:56-25:59
It's like, you know, what does, you know, what does Isaiah say?
25:59-26:00
Boom, I'll give you the whole thing.
26:00-26:01
What do you want to know?
26:07-26:09
Understanding the facts does not save you.
26:11-26:13
Well, you know, I've read the Bible.
26:13-26:14
I know what the Bible says.
26:14-26:15
I've read that.
26:16-26:17
Fantastic.
26:17-26:19
Understanding the facts does not save you.
26:22-26:29
Several years ago, I was in a building where the boiler backed up and I was overloaded with carbon monoxide.
26:29-26:32
I had a lethal level of carbon monoxide in my system.
26:35-26:38
I should have been dead, but do you know why I'm still alive today?
26:39-26:53
"because somebody gave me a pamphlet "explaining why carbon monoxide is lethal." So as I lay there dying, somebody put that pamphlet and I read the pamphlet and I understood the pamphlet and that's why I'm alive today, right?
26:54-26:56
No, that didn't do it.
26:59-27:07
There are some people that think, "Well, just because I understand the facts, "that means that I'm saved." Wrong, okay, wrong.
27:07-27:08
And that's what Paul is saying here.
27:08-27:10
As to the law, I was a Pharisee.
27:10-27:12
I can tell you the Bible frontwards and backwards.
27:14-27:15
Fourthly, motives.
27:17-27:18
Motives.
27:25-27:28
Paul wasn't like a Christmas and Easter only Jew.
27:33-27:36
Paul, were you like really serious about your religion?
27:36-27:37
Were you really serious?
27:37-27:38
Look at verse six.
27:39-27:46
He says, "As to zeal, a persecutor of the church." How serious was Paul about his religion?
27:48-27:50
He said, "I'll tell you how zealous I was.
27:52-28:03
"I wasn't one of those people that just showed up to service "and kind of, you know, mouthed a couple of Psalms "and nodded my head in agreement with whoever was teaching." He said, "I'll tell you how zealous I was.
28:08-28:58
I was out killing Christians. That's how zealous I was. You know, while Stephen was being stoned, I said, "Here, you'll be able to throw those rocks better if you're not wearing your coat. I'll hold your coats for you so you can kill this man." That was Paul. So don't ever question his sincerity. Were you sincere, Paul? He was pretty sincere, but your motives, your sincerity don't cut it. I'm sincere about my religion. I never miss church. Deep down, deep down God knows that I'm really sincere. Sincerity doesn't save you. That's what Paul was saying here. He said, "I had all the zeal in the world, but that wasn't the thing that saved me." Number 5 is perfect record. Perfect record.
29:00-29:07
Paul says as to the excuse me, as to verse 6, righteousness under the law.
29:12-29:14
Blameless. Blameless.
29:16-29:25
Paul said, I live the kind of life that none of my Pharisee friends, none of my Jewish friends, none of them could point to anything in my life and say, Yeah, he really should cut that out.
29:26-29:27
That's what he was saying.
29:27-29:31
And that's, again, people trust in that to make them right with God.
29:32-29:34
"Well, I don't drink and I've never been arrested.
29:35-29:37
I've never cut the tag from a mattress.
29:38-29:41
I used to rewind the videos when I took them back to Blockbuster.
29:45-29:48
I'm just, I'm such a good little boy in every way.
29:49-29:55
And I just, I think God's really keeping track of all that." And Paul's like, "Yeah, I was blameless too.
29:57-30:05
I thought all these things were in the profit column, but whatever gain I had, I counted as what?
30:06-30:09
Loss. So it went from the black column to the red column.
30:11-30:20
I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." That's why lastly, gain, that's loss.
30:21-30:36
So if you're trusting in any of these things, and let me add, not just to save you, but some people think that these things, ceremony, heritage, understanding the facts, motives, perfect record, some people think that that endears you to God.
30:37-30:42
Like God's looking down from heaven and he's like, well, he reads the Bible more than she does, so I like him better.
30:44-30:48
You don't endear yourself to God by doing these things.
30:51-30:58
gain salvation is. Here it is, it's knowing Christ, it's knowing Christ.
31:02-31:25
Look at first aid again with me, he says, I count, indeed, I count everything is loss because of the surpassing worth. Of. Knowing. Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.
31:29-31:35
So salvation is knowing Christ, everything is loss compared to knowing Christ.
31:37-31:42
Now, your Bible has a word in my Bible, it's translated rubbish.
31:42-31:46
Paul says I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.
31:46-31:58
That list that he had, he said, "That stuff is all rubbish." Now, as you know, when I study for messages, one of the things I do is go back and look at the original Greek to understand what is being communicated here.
31:59-32:05
And it's not my intention to be crass, but this is a crass word, it just is.
32:07-32:14
The word for rubbish, I mean, when we use rubbish, it sounds so, I think of this like really prim and proper like Britishman.
32:15-32:20
These things that I had, I count them as rubbish, just simply rubbish.
32:21-32:23
But it was actually a very crass word.
32:23-32:25
The word literally means human excrement.
32:28-32:34
And I'm not going to say the word that would be a modern day translation of this word, but you know what it is.
32:34-32:38
If I said it, that's all anybody would talk about for the next 20 years.
32:39-32:42
Remember that time Pastor Jeff said the S word in church?
32:43-32:46
But listen, I'm not trying to be crass, But that's what he's saying.
32:48-32:54
It's just the translators didn't want you to get distracted by that, so they counted it rubbish, or translated it as rubbish.
32:57-33:11
He says, I look at all these acclaims that I thought I had, all these things that I thought were so amazing about me, and it's nothing but a pile of excrement.
33:15-33:16
That's all that's worth.
33:17-33:18
That's all that is.
33:20-33:24
Salvation is only found in the person of Jesus Christ.
33:24-33:28
And as I close, you're asking yourself right now, well, can you be a little more specific?
33:28-33:29
I certainly can.
33:31-33:32
So jot this down.
33:32-33:38
What does it mean when he says, count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ?
33:38-33:39
Like, what does that even mean?
33:40-33:42
I'm gonna close with three R words.
33:44-33:46
The first R word is this, write down the word relationship.
33:49-33:50
Write down the word relationship.
33:58-34:01
That's where he talks about knowing, about knowing, about knowing.
34:01-34:04
There were different words for knowing in the Greek as well.
34:06-34:10
And this word for relationship isn't just like knowing about Jesus.
34:12-34:16
This word for know literally is experiential knowledge.
34:17-34:21
Understanding that knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus.
34:22-34:24
Big difference, big difference.
34:31-34:35
Before I was with Harvest Bible Chapel, I knew about James MacDonald.
34:38-34:45
But then after moving to Chicago for five months and training and being with him and going to his home and all those things.
34:46-34:48
Now I say, I know James MacDonald.
34:49-34:50
Do you see the difference?
34:50-34:54
There's a difference between knowing about and experientially knowing.
34:55-34:58
And this word in the Greek is experientially knowing Jesus Christ.
34:59-35:01
It's about a relationship with Christ.
35:05-35:05
Relationship.
35:06-35:08
Second word is receiving.
35:10-35:12
So it's relationship, your second R word is receiving.
35:13-35:15
He says, "For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things.
35:17-35:28
"Count them as excrement, in order that I may," here it is, "gain Christ." Gain Christ.
35:31-35:34
Jesus Christ must be personally received.
35:37-35:46
If you think that, well, I'm saved because Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of all of the world, you're mistaken.
35:47-36:11
Jesus Christ must be personally received. Just because Jesus died doesn't mean that the salvation that he offers, the new birth that he offers, falls on everyone whether they want it or not. The Bible over and over and over again says that we must receive Jesus Christ. That's that you have to personally appropriate.
36:13-36:14
You receive him.
36:18-36:25
The wages of sin is death, Paul tells us, but the free gift of God is eternal life.
36:25-36:27
A gift is something that must be received.
36:29-36:34
And then finally, write down this R word, righteousness.
36:40-36:49
And that's where in verse 9, he says, it's so beautiful, "To be found in Him." To be found in Him.
36:51-37:34
Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may, here it is again, know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." By the way, for a lot of Christians, when we talk about knowing the power of the resurrection, "Sign me up for that." But when it's, "Well, we also share in his sufferings." Like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second." But it's both, isn't it?
37:34-37:36
Isn't the Christian life both?
37:36-37:43
It's experiencing the power of God's spirit within you, but it's also a participation in his suffering.
37:49-37:50
May share his sufferings.
37:50-37:51
The world still hates Christ.
37:52-37:54
And the world's going to hate you.
37:56-38:12
But then look, Paul says, "Becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead." So our last R word is righteousness.
38:12-38:15
It's talking about being found in Christ.
38:16-38:24
He says, "Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law." You know what the problem is with that?
38:29-38:36
If you live as if your righteousness is the thing that saves you, my question is, when do you know when you're righteous enough?
38:38-38:40
When do you know that you've done enough good deeds?
38:41-38:43
How do you know that you've been good enough?
38:44-38:49
And see, people that live that way are always unsure if they're truly saved or not.
38:50-38:51
Well, you know what?
38:51-39:09
I had a great day yesterday and I love my kids and I love my wife and I was doing so good yesterday, but today I had lustful thoughts and I made a rude gesture to a guy that cut me off and I'm just in a foul mood and maybe I'm not really a Christian.
39:11-39:18
And when it's dependent upon me, it's always gonna feel that way.
39:20-39:31
But when you get to the point that you realize you can't inherit righteousness on your own, you can't muster it up, you can't work for it.
39:32-39:46
That's why Paul says, "I'm not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law." His point is, if there was ever anybody in the history of the universe that would have been good enough to go to heaven on their own merit, it would have been Paul.
39:47-39:54
And he said, "I realized that I didn't even cut it." So where does righteousness come from?
39:54-39:55
Well, he tells us.
39:57-40:01
But that which comes through faith in Christ.
40:04-40:07
The righteousness from God that depends on faith.
40:11-40:13
Righteousness that depends on faith.
40:17-40:21
It's righteousness that takes God at His word.
40:23-40:42
It's righteousness that says, "I realize that the best that I can offer you, God, "is filthy rags." It's righteousness that says, "God, without your grace, I'm lost.
40:42-40:51
"I need you to pronounce me righteous." And that's where faith comes in. It's taking God at His word.
40:51-40:58
It's believing that Jesus Christ is who He said He is.
40:58-41:04
The perfect, sinless Son of God, the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.
41:06-41:10
That His death on the cross was to pay the penalty for your sin.
41:13-41:16
God's not going to punish you for your sin if you've received Jesus Christ.
41:16-41:20
because God's already punished Jesus for your sin.
41:25-41:33
And believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to give us eternal life, knowing the power of the resurrection.
41:35-41:36
That's what it means to know Christ.
41:36-41:37
Relationship.
41:39-41:40
I want to know Christ.
41:41-41:42
Receiving.
41:42-41:44
I want to gain Christ in righteousness.
41:46-41:49
I want to be found in Christ.
41:50-41:58
You know, somewhere around 164 times in the Apostle Paul's epistles, he talks about being found in Christ.
42:01-42:03
And just now we're going to receive the Lord's Supper together.
42:06-42:13
And let this be a reminder for us of where our righteousness comes from.
42:18-42:35
If we have the audacity to believe that there's something in us that merits salvation, then we have to ask ourselves, "Why did Christ die on the cross?" What are you trusting in?
42:37-42:43
Do you have a little spiritual resume that you're going to present before God someday?
42:43-42:45
Say, "God, here's why you should let me into heaven.
42:46-42:56
I came from a good Christian family, went to church, always tried to do my best." That's the exact list that Paul gives in this passage.
42:56-43:11
And he says, "You know what this list is? It should be flushed." Instead, I found that righteousness comes from receiving Jesus Christ.
43:13-43:14
Will you bow your heads with me please?

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 3:1-11

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

November 25, 2012

Know Christ Know Joy

These Guys are for Real!

Jeff Miller

November 25, 2012

Know Christ Know Joy

Exhibit A: Timothy; This is what selfless Sacrifice looks like.

I care about People. (Phil 2:20)

I am focused solely on Christ. (Phil 2:21)

I submit to godly Leadership. (Phil 2:22)

Exhibit B: Epaphroditus; This is what selfless Endurance looks like.

I care about the Church. (Phil 2:26)

I won’t let Suffering stop me. (Phil 2:27)

finish the Job. (Phil 2:30)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:02
Now, all in favor of being real?
00:03-00:03
All in favor?
00:04-00:06
Is there anybody here at all that's like, "You know what?
00:07-00:09
"I just wanna be a big phony.
00:10-00:11
"That's really what I'm after.
00:11-00:12
"You know what?
00:13-00:17
"That's how I want people to remember me." Like, you remember that guy?
00:17-00:21
He was a big phony, and he was really good at pretending to be something that he wasn't.
00:21-00:22
Anybody?
00:23-00:28
If that's your passion, you're not gonna be very comfortable here this morning.
00:29-00:31
because I wanna be real.
00:32-00:33
I wanna be real.
00:34-00:35
I wanna be transparent.
00:36-00:37
I wanna be authentic.
00:39-00:40
I wanna be real.
00:40-00:42
And we saw last week what that meant.
00:44-00:45
What does it look like when we're real?
00:46-00:52
And we saw that the apostle Paul told us to work out our salvation.
00:55-01:15
And then he says, "For it's God who works in you." And that's where reality, that's where being authentic, that's where being the real deal, that's where it has to start, at that level of being who God's called you to be and being who God's equipped you to be.
01:16-01:17
I wanna be real.
01:20-01:32
And after last week, you can walk away from that message and you can be like, well, yeah, I kind of hear what you're saying and I've wrestled with this as I have.
01:33-01:35
So I know what you were asking.
01:35-01:39
You're asking yourself, what does it look like when someone's real?
01:40-01:42
What does it look like when somebody's the real deal?
01:43-01:47
That's why the title of this message is, these guys are for real.
01:48-01:50
All right, these guys are for real.
01:51-02:17
you're gonna be driving home from church today, and whether you're with your girlfriend or with your spouse, some of you are gonna be doing it with your children, you're gonna be driving home from church today, and you're gonna turn to the person next to you, and you're gonna say, "Those guys were for real." Or if you came to church by yourself, you're gonna be getting on the phone on your way home and saying, "These guys are for real." All right?
02:18-02:19
These guys are for real.
02:20-02:30
In preparing this message, we're going to be reading the text here in a second, but we're gonna see the Apostle Paul was talking about a couple of real guys.
02:30-02:34
And I got to thinking, how many people remember Chuck Norris jokes?
02:34-02:36
How many people remember Chuck Norris jokes?
02:36-02:37
A few of you?
02:38-02:38
Okay.
02:39-02:42
How many people have never heard of a Chuck Norris joke?
02:43-02:44
Oh, okay, there's a few of you.
02:45-02:46
Well, gosh.
02:47-03:15
Chuck Norris jokes were really popular or four years ago, and during that time I was like leading a youth discipleship program, so I was really hip to the Chuck Norris jokes. But basically these jokes are obvious exaggerated statements of Chuck Norris's manliness because he's often portrayed in movies and his TV show. What's his TV show? Oh you got it!
03:15-03:23
I knew what it was. I was just saying, "Walker, Texas Rage!" I mean, I think that's what it was, I mean, I might've passed it on the dial.
03:25-03:27
Okay, truth is out.
03:31-03:42
But I looked up online, and you might be like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, "those are so like four years ago." Yeah, maybe.
03:42-03:46
But I gotta admit, like I said, I'm going for transparency, right?
03:46-03:51
I gotta admit, I laughed out loud at a couple of these, because in the last four years, A couple of new ones have sprung up.
03:53-03:57
Fear of spiders is arachnophobia.
03:58-04:02
Fear of tight spaces is claustrophobia.
04:03-04:06
Fear of Chuck Norris is logic.
04:10-04:13
Did you know Chuck Norris has a grizzly bear carpet in his living room?
04:14-04:15
It isn't dead.
04:15-04:16
It's just afraid to move.
04:19-04:20
They're still funny.
04:22-04:25
Let's seriously, you don't have to tell anybody that we talked about this.
04:26-04:28
Like, you know, I laughed though.
04:28-04:32
Did you know that ghosts sit around a fire and tell Chuck Norris stories?
04:34-04:39
Did you know that death once had a near Chuck Norris experience?
04:42-04:44
This last one just tickled me.
04:46-05:06
Did you know that one time Chuck Norris and Superman had a fight and they had a little wager going into the fight and they said, "Whoever loses from now on has to wear their underpants "on the outside of their clothes." All right, enough of that.
05:06-05:10
Well, in this section, why are we talking about Chuck Norris?
05:10-05:14
We're going to read about the apostle Paul's versions of Chuck Norris, okay?
05:15-05:16
Paul didn't tell Chuck Norris jokes.
05:17-05:18
Paul told Timothy jokes.
05:19-05:22
Paul told Epaphroditus jokes.
05:23-05:23
Okay?
05:24-05:30
So let's look at Philippians chapter two, picking up in verse 19.
05:32-05:41
Paul says, "I hope in the Lord Jesus "to send Timothy to you soon, "so that I too may be cheered by news of you.
05:44-05:49
For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
05:51-05:55
For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
05:55-06:03
But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel.
06:04-06:08
I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me.
06:09-06:14
And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
06:18-06:30
I've thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need.
06:32-06:38
For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
06:39-06:43
Indeed, he was ill near to death, but God had mercy on him.
06:43-06:48
And not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
06:50-06:52
I am the more eager to send him.
06:53-07:00
Therefore, that you may rejoice in seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
07:01-07:07
So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men.
07:08-07:23
For he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me." I'd like to remind you that the Apostle Paul, when he wrote this, was in a prison in Rome.
07:24-07:27
And he was actually in a private house, chained to a guard.
07:30-07:31
And he would have had some needs.
07:33-07:34
Well, Timothy was with him.
07:35-07:38
We saw in Philippians 1, 1, Timothy was with him.
07:38-07:39
You're like, why?
07:40-07:41
Well, because he always was.
07:43-07:45
Timothy was always right there with Paul and for Paul.
07:45-07:46
We're going to talk about that.
07:48-07:56
And the Philippian church, to whom Paul wrote this letter, they actually sent Epaphroditus to minister to Paul's needs.
07:56-07:58
They heard that he was in prison and he had needs.
07:58-07:59
They're like, we're going to help meet these needs.
08:00-08:00
What are we going to do?
08:01-08:01
You know what?
08:02-08:32
Epaphroditus, and he took an offering and I'm sure some other things to help meet some of Paul's needs. And in this section Paul is just talking about the faithfulness of these two men. Also keep in mind during this day that there were no cell phones. I know it's hard to imagine. What did we do before cell phones? And now they're called smartphones, right? Except for mine. I'm not I'm not gonna tell you what I call mine.
08:34-08:35
They didn't have cell phones.
08:36-08:39
It wasn't like, Paul's like, "Oh, Paphroditus is here.
08:39-08:43
"I'm just gonna call them and say thank you." Couldn't do it.
08:44-08:45
They couldn't Skype.
08:46-08:47
They couldn't FaceTime.
08:47-08:48
They couldn't email.
08:48-08:51
They didn't have CNN to see what was happening in the world.
08:51-08:51
They didn't have the internet.
08:52-08:55
They didn't have NBC, ABC, CBS.
08:56-08:57
They didn't have any of that.
08:59-09:05
To get the news, someone had to come and report it.
09:07-09:11
If news is going to travel, somebody had to take the message and go report it.
09:15-09:23
So Paul's sort of giving an update, not just on his condition, but he's, why is he talking about these two men?
09:23-09:24
Well, look at verse 29 again.
09:26-09:29
I want you to underline or highlight these three words.
09:29-09:41
last three words in the verse where he says, "Honor such men." Honor such men.
09:42-09:58
And sometimes, you know what we do in the church, when we have somebody who is an exemplary example, someone who is such a stellar role model, sometimes in the name of humility, we just sort of, oh, he does it for the Lord.
09:59-10:01
We don't need to recognize him, he does it for the Lord.
10:03-10:04
And I get that.
10:05-10:08
But do you know what else I get is exactly what Paul's doing here.
10:09-10:10
You should honor people.
10:11-10:18
You know, what does Paul say in Romans 13, "Do not withhold honor from him that is due." There's a time to honor people.
10:20-10:22
In the right context, in the right way.
10:22-10:24
And that's exactly what he's calling for here.
10:24-10:26
He's holding these men up as an example.
10:27-10:34
And over and over and over in Philippians, if you've been here at all, we've been talking about three things.
10:35-10:38
That's been humility, selflessness, and joy.
10:39-10:44
Obviously all under the big heading of Jesus, who we talk about every week.
10:44-10:45
But what about Jesus?
10:48-10:53
It's about his humility and selflessness and joy and how that manifests in us and through us.
10:55-10:58
But the question we have on the table is, What does that look like?
10:59-11:06
Well, he already talked about the example of Jesus Christ, and obviously, Jesus is always the ultimate example.
11:09-11:14
And we can certainly look at the Apostle Paul, who would be a great example.
11:15-11:19
But here he gives us two other men, and why does he do that?
11:20-11:21
Well, jot this down.
11:22-11:26
We are much better at following a model than trying to live out a principle.
11:30-11:32
That's why we're going through this passage today.
11:32-11:35
We're much better at following a model than trying to live out a principle.
11:39-11:43
See, principles sort of tell the duty, so to speak.
11:44-11:45
Here's what to do.
11:47-11:50
Models or examples show that it's possible.
11:51-12:02
For example, if I said, you know, one of the virtues that the Bible lifts up is humility, and you're like, okay, well, what's humility?
12:04-12:05
What is humility?
12:06-12:11
Well, it's, some people say, well, it's sort of thinking less of yourself.
12:11-12:15
And, you know, I would say, well, it's more of not thinking of yourself at all.
12:17-12:23
And we can sort of conceptualize this abstract idea of what humility is, but do you know what's even easier than that?
12:24-12:27
It's pointing to someone who models humility.
12:28-12:30
Says right there, you wanna see what humility is?
12:30-12:31
Look at this guy.
12:32-12:33
This guy is humble.
12:34-12:36
He's an example of humility.
12:36-12:38
That's sort of what Paul's doing here.
12:38-12:38
Is everybody with me?
12:41-12:41
Everybody with me?
12:44-12:47
All right, anybody ready for some more Chuck Norris jokes?
12:49-12:50
Look, no, look 'em up yourself.
12:52-12:52
(laughing)
12:55-12:58
Bible's our middle name, that's what we're going after here.
12:58-12:59
I wanna be real.
13:00-13:02
And we read the passage.
13:05-13:08
Let's check out what real disciples say, okay?
13:09-13:11
Here's what real disciples say.
13:11-13:16
And on your outline, Paul says, "Exhibit A, Timothy.
13:18-13:22
This is what selfless service looks like.
13:25-13:27
This is what selfless service looks like.
13:29-13:33
You know, we talked about selflessness, we talked about humility, we talked about the work of the Lord.
13:34-13:35
What does that look like?
13:35-13:36
Paul says, it looks like Timothy.
13:38-13:38
Why?
13:38-13:41
Because here's three things that Timothy says, they're all straight from the text.
13:42-13:44
But the first one is this, I care about people.
13:47-13:48
I care about people.
13:48-13:50
I want you to look at verse 20 again with me.
13:55-13:59
Paul says, what a statement this is.
14:00-14:16
"For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare." I have no one like him.
14:21-14:23
So Taylor Brown, you're in school studying for the ministry.
14:23-14:25
How many people did Paul minister to?
14:25-14:26
Can you ballpark that?
14:27-14:27
It's a lot, isn't it?
14:28-14:30
It's a lot, it's fresher in your mind than it is on mine.
14:30-14:31
But it's a lot, right?
14:31-14:32
Did you say more than 12?
14:33-14:34
More than 100?
14:34-14:35
Yeah, right, keep going.
14:35-14:37
How many people has Paul ministered to?
14:37-14:40
Planted churches, discipled?
14:42-14:43
Thousands, would you say thousands?
14:44-15:03
So would you agree with me that it's sad that Paul's like, "I don't have anybody like Timothy, just him." On one hand, it's great to be as Timothy, I hate to be the pessimist here, but I just think it's sad that here's a man whose whole life was dedicated into pouring into people.
15:05-15:11
And he's like, "Okay, I'm gonna make a list of the people that I really believe have a genuine concern and care for the church.
15:11-15:18
I'm gonna make a list, you ready?" Timothy, true.
15:24-15:24
Right?
15:25-15:26
Is that what he said?
15:26-15:28
He said, "I don't have anybody like him.
15:29-15:37
I don't have anybody like Timothy." Genuine concern for other people.
15:37-15:41
So let me ask you, are you genuinely concerned about others?
15:41-15:43
Here's a quick test for you, all right?
15:46-15:51
'Cause right now we're in church mode, so we're like, yeah, that's a shame that Paul didn't have me.
15:54-15:56
I'm like the John Wayne of caring.
15:58-16:01
I'm like the Michael Jordan of compassion.
16:06-16:08
Well, let's see, let's take a little test.
16:10-16:12
Are you genuinely concerned about other people?
16:12-16:13
Here's just a little test for you.
16:13-16:17
Number one, how much do you pray for other people?
16:19-16:30
Versus how much of your prayer, if you pray, is focused solely on yourself, your needs, me, me, me, God give me, God give me, God give me, God give me, amen.
16:31-16:42
How much of your prayer is, I have this burden for this family and I have this burden for this friend That's an indicator that you genuinely care.
16:44-16:51
When your private prayer life consists of praying for other people, are you genuinely concerned?
16:51-16:52
Here's another question for you, number two.
16:53-17:01
When was the last time you sent an email, or called, or texted, or whatever, just to ask how someone is?
17:03-17:05
You know, that person you know is going through a hard time.
17:05-17:08
When was the last time that you just, "Hey, I just haven't talked to you in a while.
17:08-17:13
"I wanna know how you're doing." Do you do that?
17:16-17:17
Here's a third question.
17:17-17:24
How much money do you give to missions, whether it's through the local church, international, et cetera?
17:25-17:28
Like, well, I don't know if that's a good question to ask.
17:28-17:31
Well, Jesus said that where your treasure is there, your heart will be also.
17:32-17:44
Jesus said, "You find out where you spend your money, "you find out where your heart is." If you really care, if you really care, your checkbook reflects that.
17:46-17:47
It's an objective test.
17:47-17:48
There's nothing to argue about.
17:50-17:52
You show me your checkbook, I'll show you where your heart is.
17:54-17:55
I care about people.
17:56-17:57
That's what selfless service looks like.
17:57-17:58
I care about people.
17:59-18:01
Secondly, I'm focused solely on Christ.
18:01-18:03
This is sort of attached to the first one.
18:05-18:06
Look at verse 21 again.
18:06-18:18
He says, "For they all seek their own interests, "not those of Jesus Christ." Like to remind you that the interest of Jesus Christ is being concerned for others.
18:18-18:20
We're gonna talk about that in a second here.
18:22-18:26
What I wanna focus here, he says, "They all seek after their own interests." What does that look like?
18:29-18:32
Well, it'd be easy for us to kind of gloss over this and villainize those people, right?
18:33-18:39
Like, okay, we're reading here and Paul's like, "For they all seek their own interest." You know who he's talking about, right?
18:39-18:43
Those pagans, those Judaizers, those Pharisees.
18:43-18:44
That's who he's talking about right here.
18:46-18:49
Paul's getting on those, what do you call those?
18:49-18:50
Apostates?
18:51-18:53
That's who Paul's after right here.
18:56-18:59
No, he deals with them in chapter three.
18:59-19:01
Who's he talking about here?
19:02-19:06
He's talking about disciples, right?
19:06-19:14
Look at verse 20, he says, "I have no one like him "who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, "for they all," he's talking about people that he has.
19:18-19:22
He says, okay, so there's Timothy who genuinely cares, and you're like, all right, Paul, I gotta ask.
19:23-19:25
You have one guy that really cares.
19:27-19:29
What would you say about the rest of the guys you have?
19:30-19:39
And here he says, "They all seek after their own interests." We're not talking about pagans here, we're talking about fellow believers.
19:42-19:51
And we have a lot of people sitting in this room right now, and the question is, how many of you fit in verse 21 to say, "I'm really just concerned about my own interests.
19:53-20:00
"My time, my money, my effort, my energy as in pursuit of my interests.
20:00-20:05
Now I said before about, you know, if you let me see your checkbook, I'll tell you where your heart is.
20:05-20:06
Here's another test for you.
20:07-20:08
Keep a checkbook of your time.
20:10-20:11
Keep a checkbook of your time.
20:11-20:12
Have you ever done that?
20:13-20:14
I did that for a season.
20:14-20:15
I learned a lot about myself.
20:17-20:18
Keep a checkbook of your time.
20:18-20:22
How much time have you been spending, you know, on the internet, watching TV?
20:25-20:27
And we're not even talking about evil things, okay?
20:30-20:32
We're talking about things that are just okay.
20:36-20:38
And that's what Paul's talking about here.
20:38-20:39
Do you see that?
20:39-20:40
He says they seek their own interests.
20:40-20:44
They just spend their time on, their energy on, you know, what is it?
20:44-20:50
My new fishing boat or, you know, my hobby, this, or.
20:53-20:57
He says that's what they're concerned, he says, not those of Jesus Christ.
21:01-21:05
So that's why when he's talking about Timothy, what does Timothy say?
21:05-21:07
He says, I'm focused solely on Christ.
21:08-21:17
That's why Timothy was so concerned about people, because you're gonna find that the more you grow in your walk with Jesus Christ, the more you're going to be concerned for people.
21:21-21:24
You know, before I became a Christian, I couldn't have given a rip about any of you.
21:26-21:30
Well, maybe Darren, but the rest of you, I wouldn't have cared about any of you.
21:31-21:34
And that's something that changed when I came to Christ.
21:35-21:39
That was something that God worked in me, was you see people different, right?
21:43-21:46
And that's what Timothy was really experiencing here.
21:46-21:54
He's like, "I care about people because I am so focused on Christ, that being focused on Christ means I'm focused on Christ's mission.
21:54-21:56
And Christ's mission is about people.
21:59-22:00
It's about reaching the lost.
22:02-22:06
It's about equipping and discipling the saved.
22:11-22:15
Third thing Timothy says, I submit to godly leadership.
22:17-22:24
Verse 23, "I submit to godly leadership." I'm sorry, verse 22.
22:25-22:38
"You know, Timothy's proven worth, "how as a son with a father, "he has served with me in the gospel." As a son with a father.
22:41-22:42
What a picture that is.
22:46-22:52
Like a kid sitting down with his dad, learning how to do something together, working on a project together.
22:53-22:54
That's sort of the picture here.
22:59-23:01
I submit to godly leadership.
23:03-23:05
When was Paul sending Timothy?
23:06-23:07
Did you see that?
23:07-23:23
He says, "I hope therefore to send them," verse 23, "just as soon as I see how it will go with me." So when are you sending Timothy? Paul says, "When I'm ready." Does Timothy get a say in that? No, not so much.
23:26-23:32
Like, well, didn't Timothy have a life? Like, did Timothy, like, did he have a family?
23:32-23:36
Did he have, like, anything outside of the ministry? I don't know.
23:36-23:44
Because when I see Timothy in Scripture, what I see is somebody so focused on Christ and so focused on Christ's people.
23:49-23:53
And it all came down to submitting to the leadership that God put over him.
23:54-23:56
Timothy was a pastor's best friend.
23:57-24:01
He was competent himself, but he was completely at your service.
24:02-24:14
And just to tell you, you know, a little insight to the heart of a pastor, nothing means as much to a pastor as the person that says, "I love you, I support you, and I'm here to do whatever you need." That means the world to a pastor.
24:17-24:22
For that person that comes and says, "Look, I'm on board with what the mission of this church is.
24:24-25:04
So let's get to it. Tell me what I need to do and let's get to it, because this is about the kingdom of Christ. This is about making disciples." submit to godly leadership. So that's a little bit about Timothy. Selfless service, selfless service, completely. My life is a result of Christ, it's for Christ, it's dedicated to Christ. Let's move on to Epaphroditus. Exhibit B. Epaphroditus, "This is what selfless endurance looks like." Write down the word endurance.
25:07-25:15
The reason that Paul highlighted Epaphroditus, there's some different things that were going on with him that weren't going on with Timothy that we wanna call your attention to.
25:16-25:20
Well, Paul says, "I'm sending Epaphroditus back to you." Like, why?
25:20-25:29
Like, you know, the Philippian church was like, "We sent him to take care of you, Paul." And Paul's like, "Yeah, I'm sending him back to you." Well, why are you sending him back to us?
25:30-25:31
Well, did you see it in the text?
25:34-25:34
Did you see it?
25:36-25:42
Verse 26, Epaphroditus was distressed because you heard that he was ill.
25:43-25:46
And I'll be honest with you, you're like, how did those messages get relayed?
25:46-25:47
I have no idea.
25:48-26:04
Obviously it was through people traveling in the news, but somehow Epaphroditus heard that the church was all upset because they knew he was ill, but they really weren't sure what happened to him.
26:09-26:10
Sort of like mom, right?
26:11-26:15
Sort of like mom, like if mom calls and you don't answer your phone, what's the conclusion?
26:16-26:17
He's dead.
26:20-26:21
That's happened to me a lot.
26:25-26:35
If my mom calls and I don't answer the phone, you can be sure I'm in a ditch somewhere or I'm being eaten by wolves.
26:37-26:39
The bandit has got me.
26:39-26:41
I was struck by lightning, something.
26:42-26:43
You can be sure.
26:43-26:50
And that's sort of what's happening here is the Philippian church was sort of like mom, like, well, the papyrus is sick, he must be dead.
26:50-26:52
And they were like, so like freaking out.
26:52-26:54
Like we love this guy and he might be dead.
26:54-26:57
And Paul's like, "I'm sending him back, okay?
26:58-26:59
"Epaphroditus, you go home, all right?
27:00-27:09
"Go tell them to calm down." So, Epaphroditus, what kind of guy was he?
27:09-27:11
Well, look at verse 25.
27:13-27:15
I'm not gonna flesh these all out.
27:15-27:16
You see what he's saying.
27:17-27:19
What did Paul think of Epaphroditus?
27:19-27:23
He says, "He's my brother, he's my fellow worker, He's my fellow soldier.
27:26-27:31
He's your messenger and your minister to my need.
27:32-27:35
So what do you think Paul's opinion of Epaphroditus was?
27:35-27:36
Thumbs up or thumbs down?
27:37-27:39
Yeah, big thumbs up, right?
27:39-27:40
That's quite a list there.
27:44-27:48
So what does selfless endurance look like?
27:48-27:50
Well, here are three things that Epaphroditus says.
27:50-27:52
Number one, I care about the church.
27:52-27:55
Again, he was distressed because the Philippians heard that he was ill.
27:58-28:01
He was distressed because the Philippians heard that he was ill.
28:02-28:03
Erin's not here today.
28:03-28:11
I told her not to come because coming down 79, there were cars like everywhere, literally on their side, wrong way on 79.
28:11-28:12
It was crazy.
28:12-28:13
So I said, don't even come.
28:16-28:18
So don't tell her what I'm about to tell you.
28:18-28:19
(audience laughing)
28:20-28:21
Promise?
28:23-28:25
Mark Bloomingdale says no.
28:25-28:27
Mark, can you cover your ears for a few minutes?
28:30-28:34
I will confess that when I am sick, I am a big baby.
28:36-28:37
I am a big baby.
28:38-28:39
Of course, I never tell my wife that.
28:40-28:40
No, I can handle it.
28:40-28:42
I'm not a baby when I'm sick.
28:42-28:44
I am a baby when I'm sick.
28:44-28:48
When I'm sick, it's like call off everything, right?
28:48-28:50
It's like, but it's just a little cold.
28:50-28:53
Like forget it, I'm not doing a thing.
28:55-28:57
That happened to me a couple of weeks ago.
28:57-28:59
I had the flu and guess what I did for two days?
29:00-29:03
Nothing, I did nothing for two days.
29:04-29:08
I had to work like crazy to get caught up because that amount of work remains, right?
29:09-29:10
You know how it goes.
29:12-29:17
So Epaphroditus, I don't know what his illness was, but here's what I do know about his illness.
29:17-29:18
Did you see it in the text?
29:19-29:20
How serious was it?
29:22-29:24
It almost killed him, okay?
29:24-29:26
So it wasn't like he had the sniffles.
29:26-29:28
He had something that almost killed him.
29:29-29:30
And it's like, dude, you know what?
29:30-29:32
Why don't you just chill out for a while?
29:33-29:34
He's like, no, they're concerned, I gotta get back.
29:36-29:37
That's care for the church.
29:39-29:45
You're like, yeah, you know, Pastor Jeff, this is awfully weak because you said kind of the same thing about Timothy, concern for people, concern for the church.
29:46-29:47
Isn't it the same thing?
29:47-29:49
And the answer is yes, it is the same thing.
29:50-29:53
Like, well, why is it like twice in the same sermon?
29:53-29:57
Because nothing else happens without this.
29:59-29:59
You see?
30:00-30:09
It's not like, well, Timothy's great because he cares about people, and Epaphroditus is great, well, he doesn't really care about people, but he's got some other really cool things happening.
30:11-30:15
In both cases, it's love for Christ's people, love for the church.
30:15-30:17
It has to start there.
30:19-30:31
Remember Peter, on the beach with Jesus, Jesus said, "Do you love me?" Peter says, "I love you." What did Jesus say three times?
30:31-30:31
What did he say?
30:32-30:35
"Feed my sheep." Do you love me?
30:37-30:38
and take care of my people.
30:41-30:46
And I'd like to remind you, here at Harvest Bible Chapel, we are not selling cookies, okay?
30:46-30:51
We're not in the business of screwing toothpaste caps onto toothpaste.
30:51-30:53
We're in the business of caring for people.
30:53-30:54
Do you understand that?
30:56-31:18
We're in the business of, and I say business in quotes, but I'm not doing the annoying air quotes, but we're in the business of Representing Jesus Christ, letting Christ's life be at work through us on the earth, and that always, always, always, always looks like loving and caring for and ministering to people.
31:20-31:22
There is no ministry apart from people.
31:23-31:24
Believe me, I looked.
31:25-31:28
I looked for a long time.
31:28-31:31
Can I be involved in ministry but not deal with people?
31:32-31:34
Do you know what the answer to that question is?
31:35-31:36
The answer is no.
31:38-31:40
The answer is no.
31:41-31:43
We're in the business of caring for people.
31:44-31:49
But I'd like to remind you of this, disciple makers, disciplers.
31:52-31:55
It can be easy to romanticize church work.
31:58-32:34
It can be easy to romanticize because when you think about ministry, you think of that guy that comes to Christ guy that's just growing and then all of a sudden he's out preaching on the street corner and thousands of people are flocking and we can romanticize church work but the bottom line is church work is about people and their problems. Church work is about people and their good points too. Please hear me church work is also about people and their growth points.
32:37-32:40
And that's why sometimes we get frustrated in ministry.
32:42-32:45
Yeah, I've done a lot of counseling over the years and sometimes just, oh, don't you get it?
32:45-32:46
Don't you see it?
32:47-32:48
Why can't you see it?
32:51-32:55
Because just like me, that person has some growth points.
32:58-32:59
Don't let those discourage you.
33:00-33:03
If you're dealing with people, you're going to have to deal with growth points.
33:03-33:06
And if you're in ministry, that means you're going to have to deal with people.
33:10-33:11
Like, well, I don't like dealing with people.
33:14-33:15
Well, then you better check yourself.
33:18-33:19
So I care about the church.
33:20-33:21
Two more things.
33:21-33:22
Can you handle it?
33:22-33:24
Number two, I won't let suffering stop me.
33:24-33:25
Look at verse 27.
33:27-33:31
Indeed, he was ill, near to death, but God had mercy on him.
33:33-33:34
I think this is hilarious.
33:37-33:43
God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
33:44-33:45
Did you catch the humor there?
33:46-33:50
I don't think Paul was like intentionally trying to be funny, but I think it's kind of funny.
33:50-33:54
But Paul's like, so he was really sick and he almost died.
33:55-33:56
And God had mercy on him and he's alive.
33:56-34:06
But you know, as a result, God also had mercy on me 'Cause let's be honest, how bad would I have felt if the guy that was sent to take care of me like croaked on the way?
34:07-34:08
You catch it's kind of funny.
34:08-34:09
He's like, "It would have been really sad for me.
34:09-34:20
"God had mercy on me because I would have been really sad "if Epaphroditus would have just like face planted "dead as a doornail in the dirt "on the way to take care of me.
34:20-34:23
"I would have felt really, really horrible about that.
34:23-34:32
"So God had mercy on me by letting him live." Well, jot this down, ministry isn't always going to go as you expect.
34:34-34:36
That's a lesson that we learned from Epaphroditus.
34:37-34:40
Ministry isn't always going to go as you expect.
34:44-34:50
So many times over the past couple of years, people have asked me, you know, "What's church planning like?
34:50-34:53
"What's church planning like?" And maybe some of you have asked me, do you remember my answer?
34:54-34:55
This has been my like standard answer.
34:56-34:58
Everything I've expected to happen has not.
35:00-35:03
And everything that I never expected would have happened has.
35:05-35:05
Every time.
35:06-35:07
Every time.
35:11-35:14
Well, Epaphroditus was certainly testimony to that.
35:15-35:18
Because you're sitting there right now thinking, well, how could God have let him get sick?
35:19-35:19
Right?
35:21-35:25
Didn't God know that Epaphroditus was going to Rome to minister to Paul?
35:25-36:25
God know that? God wasn't cc'd on the email was he? Epaphroditus wasn't taking a vacation, he was going to take care of Paul. So how could God have let him get sick? Well suffering is coming and listen you don't get a pass just because you're serving God. All right? That's the lesson from Epaphroditus. Some people think well I'm serving God therefore I'm not gonna get sick. Nothing bad's gonna to happen to me because I'm serving God and he's got my back." Well, Paphroditus learned that serving God means, "I almost died." Maybe you're sitting here saying things like this right now, "You know, ever since I joined that small group, I've been having money problems. Maybe that's God's way of telling me that I shouldn't be in that small group." That's a lie from the devil. Yeah, God's telling you, "I don't want you involved in making disciples despite what my son said. No! Ridiculous!
36:27-36:50
Well, ever since I started playing with the worship team, I've had health problems. My answer to that is maybe you're playing wrong. But that's not a sign from God that you shouldn't be on the worship team, any more than it was a "It's a sign from God that Epaphroditus "shouldn't have gone to Rome to take care of Paul.
36:51-36:59
"Therefore God hit him with like the ultimate flu whammy." You know, these things must be a sign from God that I'm on the wrong track, right?
36:59-36:59
Wrong.
37:00-37:08
A little reminder for you, just in case we forgot, suffering is normal.
37:11-37:13
Suffering is normal.
37:13-37:17
This is a fallen world, which is full of fallen people.
37:17-37:24
The world is under a curse and Jesus promised, in this world you will have trouble.
37:25-37:29
So where in the world did we get the idea that we should all be shocked by hardship or struggling?
37:30-37:31
Where did that come from?
37:31-37:33
Oh, it got hard all of a sudden.
37:34-37:34
Yeah.
37:37-37:38
It will.
37:42-37:50
So you're either in hardship now, or you're about 15 minutes away from a trial.
37:52-37:58
And maybe there's someone here that's just coming out of one, which just means you're just about to get into another one.
37:58-38:01
Trials are going to come, but this is the question.
38:03-38:04
Please hear me, this is the question.
38:06-38:09
Trials are going to come, but are they going to stop you?
38:10-38:11
That's the question.
38:21-38:30
Whether you're in ministry or preparing to get into ministry, it's going to get a lot harder before it gets a lot easier.
38:31-38:32
Is it going to stop you?
38:34-38:36
Is it going to stop you?
38:39-38:41
Epaphroditus said no.
38:43-38:45
Even though he almost died.
38:47-38:49
And this leads us to our final point.
38:51-39:04
Epaphroditus says, I finished the job, I finished the job, look at verse 30 again, Paul reminds us for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life.
39:08-39:25
"to," circle this word in your Bible, "complete, "to complete what was lacking in your service to me." He's like, "I got a job to do, I'm going to finish it." This is what you need to see about Epaphroditus.
39:25-39:31
Don't leave here going, "Wow, Epaphroditus suffered, wow!" That wasn't his high point, okay?
39:32-39:35
That wasn't what he got marked for because, newsflash, everybody suffers.
39:37-39:42
What Epaphroditus gets points for is that he finished the job.
39:43-39:44
That's what he gets points for.
39:45-39:48
He nearly died, but he finished the job.
39:51-39:59
Everybody suffers, but few people endure, and very few people finish.
40:01-40:05
And apparently that's all the concern to Epaphroditus was finishing the job.
40:07-40:08
finishing the job.
40:13-40:17
There are a lot of excuses that we can give to not finish the job that God's put before us.
40:19-40:19
There's a lot of excuses.
40:21-40:34
My wife's really not into me being involved at the church or my kids are at an age where this or the other, or here's an excuse, I almost died.
40:36-40:52
That was Epaphroditus's excuse, but did it stop him? No. So here it is, if you have any excuse which is anything less than "I almost died," then your excuse is lame.
40:53-41:12
Okay? Because here we have a guy that wouldn't let that stop him. By faith, by By trusting in God's sustaining grace, you need to learn to say four important words and say them often.
41:17-41:19
I'm gonna give you a run at these words, you ready?
41:20-41:22
Here are the four words, I will not quit.
41:24-41:25
Can you say that?
41:25-41:26
I'm gonna give you, you ready?
41:28-41:29
On the count of three.
41:31-41:32
I want you to close your eyes.
41:32-41:34
You're not saying this to me.
41:35-41:36
You're not saying this to the person beside you.
41:38-41:39
I want you to say this unto the Lord.
41:40-41:40
Close your eyes.
41:42-41:45
I want you to say, "I will not quit." You ready?
41:45-41:47
One, two, three.
41:52-41:54
Rest in that for a second.
41:58-41:59
Say it again.
41:59-42:00
You ready?
42:00-42:05
One, two, three, I will not quit.
42:09-42:11
Can you say that and mean it?
42:12-42:15
Can you say that despite what's coming?
42:17-42:18
Knowing that you don't know what's coming?
42:20-42:24
This decision needs made ahead of time.
42:25-42:31
You can't make the decision on whether you're going to endure or not on the spot.
42:32-42:34
You need to make the decision ahead of time.
42:34-42:48
You need to say, "No matter how hard things get, "no matter who abandons me, no matter what it costs me, "no matter the discouragement that surely is going to come, "I will not quit." Do you know how many times I've prayed that prayer?
42:53-43:17
And many times I've been praying it in faith, saying, "God, I'm not feeling it right now, but as an act of will, crying out for your sustaining grace that I know that you'll give me, God, I do not want to quit. So God, by your grace, I will not quit. I will not quit." Finish the job.
43:21-43:56
So in closing, I'd like to remind you of verse 29. You should have it underlined in your Bible, honor such men, honor such men, people that love the church, that stay focused, that work through hardship, that finish the job. These people should be honored because they're an example, because they are inspiring, and because They are rare.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 2:19-30

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

November 18, 2012

Know Christ Know Joy

I Wanna be Real

Jeff Miller

November 18, 2012

Know Christ Know Joy

  
    WORK! No hypocrisy in my Faith. (Phil 2:12-13)

SHINE! No hypocrisy in my Witness. (Phil 2:14-15)

HOLD! No hypocrisy in my Endurance. (Phil 2:16)

REJOICE! No hypocrisy in my Zeal. (Phil 2:17-18)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:01-00:56
I want to be real. We've been talking about one subject in particular as we've been going through Philippians. And what's that subject? Joy, right? Joy. All in favor of joy? Okay. Me too. Well, through Philippians we've seen a call to unity which is achieved through humility and it's modeled by Christ. But here's the problem. Unity and humility and joy can all be faked. True or false? Can you fake unity, humility, and joy? Can you fake that? Absolutely you can. And we are so We're so outraged when we see hypocrisy in others, aren't we?
00:58-01:05
When you see someone else being a hypocrite, doesn't that bother you?
01:09-01:27
Some people say, "Well, the church is just full "of hypocrites." And my answer to that is, "We have room for more." But we're outraged when we see it in others, But here's the thing, if we can be honest, we're discouraged when we see it in ourselves, aren't we?
01:29-01:30
Anybody else?
01:31-01:34
When I see hypocrisy in my life, it discourages me.
01:36-01:43
I'm like, "Really, Jeff, you know better." And you're going through the motions and it's discouraging.
01:44-01:47
That's why the title of this message is, I wanna be real.
01:49-01:50
Now, how many people are in favor of that?
01:50-01:51
Let's be real.
01:51-01:52
How many in favor?
01:52-01:54
Okay, so we're gonna give you a run at this.
01:54-01:57
We're working on this and someday we're going to be really good at this.
01:58-02:10
But I'm going to give you a chance to say in your best preacher voice with conviction, I want you to say, I wanna be real.
02:11-02:11
Are you ready?
02:12-02:13
One, two, three.
02:14-02:15
I wanna be real.
02:15-02:17
That wasn't bad for a first attempt.
02:17-02:21
Let's do one more because I think you're really close.
02:22-02:22
Are you ready?
02:22-02:24
One, two, three.
02:25-02:26
One, two, three.
02:26-02:26
Okay.
02:29-02:30
Then let's go after this.
02:32-02:37
Philippians 2, we're gonna be picking up where we picked off, where we picked off, where we left off.
02:39-02:40
Yeah, nobody got picked off.
02:41-02:43
Yeah, Ken's not gonna get picked off today.
02:45-02:47
Where we left off last week.
02:50-02:52
Verse 12, Philippians 2, 12.
02:53-03:00
He says, "Therefore," therefore is always a big word in the Bible, as you know, because that's linking everything that was said before.
03:01-03:04
Now here's what I'm going to tell you based on that.
03:04-03:23
"Because Jesus Christ is Lord, "because all will acknowledge that, "and because humility results in exultation." And I would suggest to you this one, "Because Christ is real." a real model for us in unity and humility and joy.
03:24-03:40
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence.
03:41-03:42
Let's stop there for a second.
03:42-03:43
Does that sound familiar?
03:44-03:47
Paul said like the same thing in chapter one, verse 27, didn't he?
03:49-03:52
You've obeyed not only in my presence, but much more in my absence.
03:53-03:59
Do you have a feeling that Paul sort of sees himself like the parent leaving the child with the babysitter?
03:59-04:00
Did you get that?
04:00-04:02
That's what I kind of pick up in Philippians.
04:02-04:14
He's like, you know, parents, what's a little, you know, the thing with the babysitter, you know, here's what they're supposed to do, and make sure this, and make sure...
04:16-04:21
But then parents, what's the little speech that you give your children before you leave them with the babysitter?
04:23-04:30
Don't you give them a speech something like, "Look, so-and-so's in charge. I want you to listen to them.
04:30-04:40
Don't be rude. Don't be mouthy. Make sure that you go to bed on time. Make sure you do your homework." Don't you give them a speech something like that, parents? Something like that?
04:41-04:44
That's sort of what Paul's like here, isn't it?
04:44-04:49
Like, look, whether I'm there or I'm not there, okay?
04:50-04:51
Whether I'm there or I'm not there.
04:52-04:54
So jot this down, first of all, in your outline.
04:55-04:57
I wanna be real, work.
04:59-05:01
No hypocrisy in my faith.
05:03-05:05
No hypocrisy in my faith.
05:08-05:12
So therefore, my beloved, that's Paul's way of saying you are loved.
05:13-05:22
My beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only is it my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
05:25-05:26
I'm gonna pause there.
05:29-05:36
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
05:38-05:39
We've been talking about humility.
05:39-05:43
We've been talking about putting other people ahead of yourselves.
05:43-05:49
And you're like, well, is there ever a time that I should like focus on myself instead of focusing on other people?
05:49-05:50
Yeah, actually there is.
05:51-05:54
And it comes to working out your own salvation.
05:56-05:58
Because what do we typically do as Christians?
05:58-06:06
We are better at judging other people's salvation and other people's walk with the Lord than we are at examining our own, true or false.
06:08-06:09
True or false?
06:10-06:10
True.
06:10-06:12
All right, don't leave me up here.
06:16-06:18
Ending hypocrisy has to start here.
06:20-06:34
That's why he says, "Work out your own salvation, not work out your husband's salvation, wives." You can't do that, even though you think you can.
06:35-06:40
Husbands, you can't work out your wife's salvation. You think you can, but you cannot.
06:43-06:47
The Bible says to work out your own salvation.
06:51-07:05
So Paul says, "Yeah, here's a time you focus on yourself. You need to look at your own walk with the Lord." Like in 2 Corinthians, he says, "Examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith." Work out your own salvation.
07:07-07:11
Now this word for work literally means continual effort.
07:13-07:28
What it means is to demonstrate your conversion, and without being cliche, maybe you've heard this, but it's very appropriate here, but the question is, if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
07:31-07:34
It's cliche, but I think it became cliche for a reason.
07:34-07:35
It's a good question.
07:36-07:46
If you were arrested for being a Christian and they put you on the stand, would there be enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian?
07:49-07:50
That's what he's talking about here.
07:52-08:08
He says, "Work out your own salvation." Look at the next phrase, "With fear and trembling." Literally those two words in the Greek is where we get the words for the English, phobia and trauma, okay?
08:09-08:12
Work out your salvation with phobia and trauma.
08:13-08:15
Like, what's that all about?
08:15-08:17
That's not, you're like, that sounds pretty serious.
08:20-08:20
It is.
08:24-08:25
It's deadly serious.
08:28-08:33
It's everything rides on this, Sirius.
08:35-08:40
It's what is more important than this, Sirius?
08:40-08:41
I mean, think about it.
08:42-08:44
What is more important than your standing with God?
08:46-08:58
What is more important than examining whether you really have a born again, spirit-filled, spirit-led relationship with your creator?
08:58-09:04
What's more important? I'll take suggestions now and we'll talk about that instead of this Bible.
09:05-09:12
But if there's something more important than your eternal souls, let's get it on the table and we'll spend our time talking about that instead.
09:13-09:15
See, that's what he's talking about with fear and trembling.
09:17-09:20
This isn't something to joke about. This is deadly serious.
09:24-09:30
So he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." And right now is where somebody says, "Oh, question.
09:33-09:37
Pastor Jeff, you've told us many times that salvation is something that God does.
09:37-09:41
So here it's saying that it's something that we're supposed to work out.
09:42-10:26
Was Paul confused or did he forget something or is this a mistranslation or what's going on here. I'm so glad you asked. Look at verse 13. "For it is God who works in you, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Both to will and to work for His good pleasure. So the question is, if you look at verses 12 and "Work out your own salvation, for it is God who works." So who's working here? Is it God or is it me? And what's the answer?
10:27-10:30
The answer is yes. The answer is yes.
10:34-10:36
I need to spend a few minutes on this.
10:40-10:49
All in favor of Bible study? Okay, everybody say, "That's why I'm here." Oh man, I'm so glad to hear that.
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Let's do a little Bible study together, shall we?
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Listen, there is a tension.
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There is a tension here.
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And the Bible never seeks to resolve this tension.
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And I want you to listen very closely because someone is going to leave here this morning misinterpreting what I'm saying.
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You can write that down in your notes.
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Somebody's going to mishear this.
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Somebody's going to send me an email and say, "Well, you said this or you said that," and they're going to miss what I'm actually trying to communicate from the Bible.
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So I need you to listen very closely.
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There are tensions in the Bible that the Bible never seeks to resolve.
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And actually, tension exists in every major doctrine in the Bible.
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Did you know that?
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Every major doctrine in the Bible, there's tension.
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That's one of the reasons we have so many different churches and denominations.
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People all over the board on the spectrum, so to speak, but there's tension in every major doctrine in the Bible.
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I'm gonna give you some examples here.
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If you wanna jot these down, I'm going to speak quickly.
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So have your pen ready.
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For example, here's a doctrine that Christians get wrapped around the axle about, because of the tension, sparked many discussions and debates.
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Let's talk about your salvation.
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Did you choose to follow Jesus Christ, or did God pick you?
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That's the issue of election versus free will.
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Which is it?
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Did God pick you or did you pick God?
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Which one?
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Well, according to Ephesians 1, 5, God picked us and many other passages, God picked us.
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But according to many other scriptures, we are called to make a choice as to whether we're going to follow God or not.
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So do you see the tension?
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And you're like, well, what do you believe about that, Pastor Jeff?
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And the answer is, I believe both.
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And you're like, well, that sounds like a lukewarm, you know, flip-flop answer.
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But here's the thing.
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Ever since I was born, I've only ever known two things.
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And that's time and space.
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Anybody else in there with me?
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Anybody else ever existed in any realm outside of time and space?
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You see, I haven't.
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That's all I've ever known.
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So there are some things that the Bible says about God, who by the way, exists outside of time and space, that aren't going to make sense to me.
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And I need to be okay with that.
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Right?
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I just need to be okay with that.
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God is God and I am not.
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And if I could explain God, he would probably be too small for me to worship anyways.
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So is it okay that there's some things about God and about his word that I can say, you know what, I believe that, but I sure don't understand it?
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Here's another one, repentance.
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Repentance, you know, Acts 17, 30 says, "God commands all men everywhere to repent." God commands repentance.
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To who?
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All men everywhere.
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But did you know 2 Timothy 2, 25 says that God grants repentance?
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It's like, well, which is it?
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Are we commanded to repent?
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Or does God grant repentance?
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what's the answer? Yes. You're like, well that doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to.
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You're not commanded to explain God. You're called to trust God. And he's bigger than your little mind and my little mind can wrap around. Here's another one. The fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
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Galatians 5, those are the ways that the Holy Spirit manifests himself through your life.
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But also in Galatians 5, Paul says, "Walk by the Spirit." So the Spirit does it, but there's also a command to walk by the Spirit.
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What about the Bible?
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Let's talk about the Bible.
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Who wrote Philippians?
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Who wrote Philippians?
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Paul did, right?
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and wrong. Who wrote Philippians? The Holy Spirit did, right? And I'm not gonna say wrong on that one, but do you see the tension? Now when Paul wrote Philippians, was he in some kind of a trance? And when he woke up like, "Whoa, look what I wrote!" Somehow God used Paul and his choice of words and his personality and his circumstances, God used all that in such a way that when he wrote Philippians, Paul wrote it and the Holy Spirit wrote it. And I'll be honest with you, I can't explain that. All right? I just can't. But I'll tell you this, I've never lost a minute's sleep worried about it. Never. I've lost sleep over some other things, But I've never lost sleep. I just I can't get to sleep until I figure out who wrote Philippians. Was it the Holy Spirit or was it Paul?
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It was both. Good night.
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Somehow Both are true. What about the person of Jesus Christ?
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Was Jesus God or man?
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Which one?
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You're like, "Well, he was both, right?" Okay, well, was he 50% God and 50% man?
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That's not really an accurate representation of Jesus.
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Jesus, according to the Bible, was 100% God and 100% man.
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You're like, "How can you be 100% of two things?" And once again, my answer is, I don't know.
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I don't know.
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And even living a Christian life, listen to these verses.
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Listen to these verses.
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First Corinthians 15, 10.
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"But by the grace of God, I am what I am, "and His grace toward me was not in vain." It's like, okay, Paul, so your life is basically based on the grace of God, right?
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He says, "On the contrary, I worked harder "than any of them, though." Oh, okay, so God did a work, but you're working, Paul.
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So it's your working.
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He says, "It was not I, "but the grace of God that was with me." So Paul, who's doing the work?
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And he's like, "God, me, God." Did you catch that?
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Galatians 2.20, he says, "I've been crucified with Christ.
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"It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Oh, okay, so Christ is living in you, So you don't really live at all now, right, Paul?
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It's just Christ lives in you and through you.
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He says, "In the life I now live in the flesh, "I live by faith in the Son of God." Wait a minute, Christ is living in me, but I live in faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
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But these things don't contradict each other, they somehow complement each other.
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Philippians 3, we're gonna get to this next year, in January, I believe.
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but he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death.
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Look at this next phrase, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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Like, well, Paul, you don't need to try to attain something.
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Christ purchased that for you through his death and resurrection.
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Paul knew that.
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But you see the sense of, it's that tension.
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It's God works and I work and it's a compliment thing.
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Couple more, Colossians 1, 28 and 29.
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Paul says, "Him we proclaim." We studied this last year about this time.
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"Him we proclaim, warning everyone "and teaching everyone with all wisdom "that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
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"For this I toil, struggling." And stop right there.
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Okay, so you're like, "Paul, this ministry you're doing, he's doing the work." He goes, "I am toiling and I am struggling." So you're doing the work, Paul, are you?
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With all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
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I'm working, Christ is working.
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Second Peter, chapter one, verses three through five.
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"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, so that through them you may become partakers nature. So Peter very clearly says that God is the one who has given us all things. You don't have to try to get something that pertains to life and godliness. God's already given it to you to the extent that we are people that are actually partakers of the divine nature. Then he turns around and says for this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith and then he gives a list. People tend to gravitate towards the extremes. Here's what I want to suggest to you this morning, not suggest, but just ask, "Can you be on board with me?" Can we be okay with the tension? Can we be okay with the tension? The New Testament commandments assume two things. They assume responsibility and they assume resources. Jot that down. When the New Testament gives us commands, those are the two things that are being assumed. That first of all, we can take responsibility to obey the commands. So there's a sense in which our will is involved, but the other thing it assumes is we have the resources to be able to obey the commands which we don't have in the flesh. You can't obey the commands of God in the flesh. You can't do it. You just can't. You need His power, His enabling, His Spirit living within you in order to carry out the responsibilities that He's put before you. And notice even here in Philippians 2, He says, "Work out your own salvation." He doesn't say, "Work at salvation." Like, "Keep at it, you'll get it.
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keep working at it. Don't have salvation yet, keep working at it. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say work for salvation. Oh you want to be saved? Let's get started and we'll see how you're doing in a year if you're ready to get saved or not. He's not saying that either. He's not saying work up your salvation. Like oh if I can just muster up enough faith I'll get saved. He's not saying that He's saying, "Work it out, work it out." Here's a couple of statements that help me.
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Jot these down.
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The hunger in you is God at work in you.
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So you know that drive in you that you're like, "I wanna be obedient to Christ, "and I want to do what's right, "and I wanna honor God.
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"I wanna do the right thing." That is God at work in you.
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That is His Holy Spirit at work in you because that attitude doesn't exist in the flesh.
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Do you remember, Christians, do you remember when you lived in the flesh?
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I do.
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I didn't give a rip about anything except what Jeff Miller wants, what's gonna make me happy, what's going to satisfy my lusts.
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But when I gave my life to Christ, Suddenly I had these new appetites.
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You know, I want to honor God.
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I want people to see Christ in me, and I want to speak in such a way that Christ is glorified.
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Where does all that come from?
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That's God working in you.
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Here's another analogy that really helped me.
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Maybe it'll help you.
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But somebody said, "You know, think of yourself as a mine." I'm being in western Pennsylvania, we know what a mine is, I don't have to explain that.
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But you're a mine, and God has deposited priceless resources in the mine.
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And our work, so to speak, is to mine out the things that God has already deposited within us.
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Does that make sense?
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We are mining out what God has placed within.
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So when we talk here about working for Christ, we're not saying let's fulfill something in the flesh, we're saying Christ has put something in you, and what is that?
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He's put himself in you.
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And our job in the Christian life is to mine that out.
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That's the work.
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Does that make sense?
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What's God's part in this?
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I want you to jot down five words here.
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I know this is a lot, but in my defense, I asked you if you wanted to do Bible study and you said yes. All right? This is all from verse 13. I don't want anybody to misunderstand me, so I want you to... we're going to be thorough, all right? I could give you some cotton candy sermon and have you leave going, "Oh, that was sweet," but sermonettes make Christianettes, all right? The title of this message is "I Want to Be Real." So what's God's part in all this? You know, we're talking about I'm mining out.
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Well, it's all right in verse 13.
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First of all, number one, jot this down.
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God is the person at work.
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Your key word there is person.
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These are all P words.
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God is the person at work.
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For it is God who works in you.
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Okay, God is the person at work, no one else.
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This is a work of God, and that should be very encouraging.
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Because what that means is sanctification can't be stopped.
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It can't.
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Just as God is thorough in your justification, he will be thorough in your sanctification.
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He who began a good work in you, he's going to take it to the finish line.
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So understand that God is the person at work, no one else.
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We have a lot of wonderful Bible teachers.
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We think of John MacArthur and James MacDonald and even some local guys here.
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wonderful Bible teachers, who is it working you? It's God at working you. God is the person. Secondly, God provides the power. Your P word there is power. That's where it says, "For it is God who works in you." That word for works is the same Greek word where we get the word energize. What that means is God energizes the fulfillment of His own command. He energizes the fulfillment of His own command. So God provides the power. You can't do it in the flesh.
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Verse 13, "God works in you, for it is God who works in you." So the third P word is present. God is present. God is present. Do you realize that's the distinctiveness of Christianity? You look at all the other religions all over the world and you have this deity that we have to try to make happy because he's out there somewhere and he might be mad at us and we have to we have to try to make him happy? What can we do to make him happy? The Bible teaches that God isn't some detached deity out there that we need to try to appease because he's angry with us, but that God poured out his wrath on his son and that those who receive him, where does God live? He lives in here. God is present in here. You don't see that in any other religion. Where does your God live? Oh, he's out there somewhere.
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Christians, where does your God live? He lives here. God works in you. He's here.
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You get that? He's here. So God is present. Number four, God establishes the purpose.
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Your P word there is purpose.
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And what's God's purpose?
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Well, it's right here.
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Okay, for it is God who works in you both to, now here's two W words, to will and to work.
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Two things God is after.
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You know what God's after?
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Well, first of all, he's after your will.
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He's after your will.
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What he's saying is he wants your will to line up with his.
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That's one of the ways you know that God is at work in you, understand that.
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How do I know God's at work in me?
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When your will lines up with his will.
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When you want the things that God wants.
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Like, man, I wanna be involved in ministry.
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I wanna be involved in reaching out to this community.
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Where does that come from?
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That's God working in you, because that's what God wants.
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But to will and to work, not very much is getting done if it's just will, right?
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Yeah, we just all sat around here like, yeah, we wanna reach out to this community and we meet here next week.
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And yeah, we wanna reach out to the community and we're here in 2015.
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And we're like, yeah, we wanna reach out to this community.
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Yeah, do you think maybe we could get out there sometime and like get started?
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Like that's what God's doing.
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He gets our will lined up with his and then he works through us, both to will and to work.
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One more P word, can you guess what it is?
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The end of verse 13?
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Pleasure, very good, pleasure.
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God receives pleasure at what he is doing through you.
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Does anybody's brain hurt yet?
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Because mine's starting to.
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God is doing this work in you and through you, and he's the one that is satisfied.
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That's literally what the word means, it's satisfaction.
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God causes us to do what satisfies him.
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That when God looks at the work that he's doing through you, He's not gonna be like, "Well, that was lame.
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I'm satisfied with the work that I'm doing through him or through her." Can't do it in the flesh.
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So the question is, what is God working in you to will and to do?
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What is God working in you to will and to do?
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Is there a habit that needs to stop?
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Is there an attitude that you need to stop?
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Or maybe for some it's an attitude you need to embrace.
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Maybe there's a relationship that needs to be healed.
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Or a relationship that needs to stop.
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Or as I said earlier, maybe there's a ministry that he's wanting to work through you.
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And see, even going through that list, at different points in that list, there are people that are sitting here going, "Yeah, that's me. Yeah, that's me." That's God working through you.
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bringing these things to your attention.
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So work, no hypocrisy in my faith.
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Can we be okay with the tension?
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Can you be okay with that?
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I'm okay with that.
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I realize no good thing dwells in my flesh.
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I realized that apart from God, I was wayward and dead and lost.
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He put life into me and somehow He operates in me and through me in a way that goes with my will, goes with the choices that I make, that somehow I have responsibility, somehow I have resources.
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Can we be okay with attention?
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Can you be okay with that?
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Like "But Okay, I'm just trying to follow Christ. That's it. I'm trying to follow Christ I'm not a Calvinist or an Arminian You know pre millennial Dispensational covenant. I mean you I Seriously, I just that's fine for people to categorize their beliefs and things like that. I'm just telling you that's just not me That's just not I don't care. I don't care All I care about is trying to seek the Lord, trying to be real.
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So if you like the labels in that, great.
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If you wanna talk to me about it, it's probably going to be a short conversation because I don't know very much about it.
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So I'll just listen.
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All right?
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So work.
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I have three more things and I promise they're gonna go much quicker.
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So no hypocrisy in my faith.
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Number two, shine.
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Shine.
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No hypocrisy in my witness.
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Look at verse 14.
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Paul continues with the imperatives here.
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He says, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. So shine, no hypocrisy in my witness." So he says, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning." Grumbling. Actually, the The word in the Greek for grumbling is an onomatopoeia.
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Do you know what that is?
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That's a word that sounds like what it is, like zipper.
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A zipper is called a zipper because that's the sound it makes when you zip it.
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Well, this word in the Greek for grumbling is that.
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It's just (mumbles) Grumbling.
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And this word for questioning literally means intellectual debate.
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So he says, "Do everything, without grumbling, without questioning, without turning everything into a debate." And then he talks about living in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.
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And actually the Greek word literally means twisted, bent out of shape.
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from the same word where we get scoliosis, bent out of shape.
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So notice he says, "Do everything without grumbling and questioning because you live in a crooked and twisted generation." Do you see the connection?
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That's what they do.
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That's what the world does.
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The world grumbles in questions.
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Did you notice that?
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The world grumbles in questions.
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That's why he says, "Church, when you do things without grumbling and questioning, you are going to shine as lights in the world." Evangelism starts here.
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Evangelism starts here.
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You know, Thanksgiving is Thursday, right?
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What is this Thursday, isn't it?
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And I've shared this with you before, but it's sort of ironic, isn't it?
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What comes after Thanksgiving?
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Like Christmas.
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Well, what comes like the day after Thanksgiving?
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Black Friday.
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We have our one day a year where we give thanks and we sit around the table with our family and eat squirrel gravy if you're at my in-laws house.
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true. And then the next day we trample each other to buy toys so that our children can play with the box. But honestly we live in the most indulged and the most discontented society I would suggest to you in history. We have everything and we are satisfied with nothing. I read this interesting thing from this sociologist. I really think there's a lot of truth in this, but he's talking about how in our day you see a lot of smaller families. Now before you start thinking I'm throwing stones, we only have two kids ourselves, okay?
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All right?
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So I'm not picking on you, but this is what the sociologist said.
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Many couples in our day are just having smaller families.
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And the danger with a smaller family is that can breed self-centeredness.
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And here's why.
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When you're in a small family, the system, the family system sort of bends to the child.
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But when you're in a large family, the child sort of has to bend to the system.
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Let me give you an example.
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You have, let's say you have two children like we do.
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They get up out of bed.
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What do you want for breakfast?
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I want Captain Crunch.
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All right.
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I want French toast.
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Okay, and you make it for both of them.
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And they, you know, they're getting ready to go to school, whatever.
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You know, what do you want packed for your lunch?
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You know, I want, you know, tuna.
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I want, you know, jello.
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And you're customizing everything for them.
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Now, eventually after a while, they start to realize, everything sort of revolves around me, right?
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But what happens in larger families?
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What happens in larger families?
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Breakfast is at 8.30 and here is what we are having.
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Well, don't I get a choice?
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Yeah, you have a choice.
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You can take it or what?
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Tell me.
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Leave it.
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Those are your options.
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So you see in larger families, typically what's happened is the children learn to bend with the system.
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to say, you know, it's not, you know, what do you want for lunch, you know, for school?
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It's here's your bag.
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So when you have lunchtime in the cafeteria at school, you also again have two options in front of you.
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You eat what's in the bag or you go hungry, right?
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So do you see the difference there?
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Well, the sociologist said, well, that's why children in our day seem to be coming more and more, be coming rather more and more self-centered.
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And then they get old.
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You know, in the larger family setting where the child sort of bends to the system, moving out and getting a job looks like freedom.
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"Oh, you mean I'm going to be able to move out and make my own choices?" But instead what we see are children that parents are always catering to them.
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They see their freedom living with mom and dad, and they see moving out and having to get a job as being conformity.
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Do you get that?
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We went from as a child living in conformity to the house to now as an adult I have freedom to, "Oh, I have freedom to do whatever I want as a kid.
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"Oh, now I'm gonna have to punch a time card "and make sure I dress right for work "and I only get so much time for breaks." And do you see the difference there?
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Why am I saying all this?
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Well, we have a generation that has not embraced responsibility.
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We have a generation where nothing is ever enough, and there's very little thankfulness.
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So instead what we have, a lot of 20, 30, 40 some year old people that never grew up, and they do all things grumbling and questioning.
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And they look exactly like the rest of the world.
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Church, I am persuaded of better things for you. Where Paul says, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning." Why?
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What's the big deal with complaining? Everybody complains, right?
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Everybody complains. Is that really a sin? I wish I had the time to do it, but I don't.
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But read through Exodus 14, 15, 16, 17, then read through Numbers 11, 13.
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You see a pattern with the nation of Israel where God provides them, "Are you hungry?
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Okay, well, I'm bread out of nowhere.
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How does that strike you?
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Oh, we're thirsty.
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Okay, water from a rock.
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else? God provided every single thing that they needed. And what did Israel do?
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They complained. "We have nothing to eat but this manna. We don't have anything to eat but this miraculous food that God provides almost every day except for the Sabbath. Nothing at all." God gave them perfection and they still, they still So what was God like? Did God just sort of like roll his eyes on all those kids?
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Can't make them happy. Actually, the Bible says there are different times in their complaining that God would wipe people out, kill them for their complaining.
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It's a very serious thing because when we complain, what we're saying is, "God, you didn't provide.
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You haven't given me enough. You haven't given me exactly what I wanted." It's disbelief. It's lack of trust. And it's sin. And God hates it.
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He hates complaining. Because you're questioning His sovereignty.
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You're questioning His goodness. You're questioning whether He loves you or not.
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So it's distrusting and believing God.
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So why does he mention this here?
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It seems kind of weird that he's talking about salvation and then all of a sudden he's talking about don't complain.
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As you're working out your salvation, or as God is working out your salvation, there are going to be some elements that God is going to sovereignly and supernaturally bring about and use to grow you, to conform you into the image of his son, and it's not a pleasant process sometimes.
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For example, how's God going to teach you how to pray?
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He's going to bring trials into your life, where you have no choice but to pray.
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Do you know that?
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God's going to bring trials into your life where you have no choice but to fall on your face and cry out to Him.
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And God says, "I'm going to use this to teach you, to teach you how to pray." God's going to bring things into your life to teach your greater dependence upon Him, to teach you to trust Him, to teach you to go to His Word.
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But all of these things that God's trying to accomplish in you and through you, to conform you to the image of His Son, it's hard sometimes.
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So we can take the trials, we can take the hurting and the suffering, and we can complain about them.
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That would be a horrible mistake.
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Instead, do all things without grumbling or questioning.
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For you, first of all, because you're a child of God, act like it.
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Do you believe that God has your best in mind?
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Do you believe that God is sovereign?
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Do you believe that as his child, he is taking care of you?
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All right, then start acting like it.
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That's what he's saying here.
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You know, you're a child of God.
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Blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.
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But it's also for others, again your evangelism.
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Evangelism. When you gripe and complain and question, you look just like the world and you apparently have nothing to offer.
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But when the world sees that you have suffered, you have endured, You're standing under persecution, you're going through horrible trials, and you can come out of the other side of that saying, "You know what?
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I trust that God's doing something with this." The world notices that, and the result is you're shining in a dark place.
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You're shining in a dark place.
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So work and shine, thirdly, hold.
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Verse 16 says, "Holding fast to the word of life, that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." It says, "Finish line faith.
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Hold no hypocrisy in my endurance." Paul says, "Hold fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ," we talked about that already, that's glorification.
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Paul says, "I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
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How would you like to look back on your life, however old you are, just imagine, God grants you to live to be in your 80s.
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How would you like to be able to look back and say, I wasted my entire life?
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It was all a waste.
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I thought I was doing big things, but I wasn't.
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I wasted it.
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And see, that's what Paul is saying here.
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He says you need to hold on to the word of life because I know that someday I'm going to look back and know that it wasn't a waste.
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So what about me?
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How can I evaluate my effectiveness?
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There's a lot of ways.
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How many people do we have coming to the church?
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How many people visit the website?
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Or how about this?
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How many people are devoted to me?
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How many people can I get devoted to James McDonald?
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You realize that none of those things are a proper evaluation of effectiveness.
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Here it is, at the end of the day, you are a group of people that are holding onto the word of God.
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You know, whether I could be killed in a car accident on the way home today, I know that.
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How effective would I have been if we had people sitting in this room going, "Well, you know, Jeff always says we've got to see what the Bible says.
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We've got to hold on to this.
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And we can't take man's word for it, we must take God's word for it." And that's what Paul is saying here.
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Hold fast to the word of life.
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That's how you know you did your job.
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Whether I'm here one more day or one more week or two more years or 60 more years, what is the legacy that I'm going to leave?
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It would be a church that says, "What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say?" If that's the kind of church we have, then I did my job. I did not run or labor in vain.
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One more. Rejoice. No hypocrisy in my zeal. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. Rejoice. He It says, "Even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering." You know what the drink offering is?
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In the Old Testament sacrifices, this was actually the last sacrifice.
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After the animals were sacrificed, they would actually take wine or oil or sometimes even honey, and it's poured out before God.
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And Paul pictured himself as being that sort of an offering.
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It was a picture of being spent for God, exhausting yourself for God.
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But notice he says, "Even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering," what's this phrase?
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"Upon the sacrificial offering of your faith." What he's saying is his life was poured out to develop the faith of others.
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I'd like to close with this.
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You know, joy does not come from hoarding your life unto itself.
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So I want to challenge you if you're here this morning, you think, "You know what's going to make me happy is if I get what I want and I can do what I want and people leave me alone, give me my space, let me just be, live a quiet, insulated, isolated life, then I'll be happy." you won't. Let me tell you as sure as the Word of God, you will not. Joy, you will discover joy when you experience the Lord treating you as a drink offering, that you are pouring yourself out for other people. That's why once again we're talking about small groups. We have this small group sign up. Why are we doing this because we're about making disciples.
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We're about people pouring into other people.
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Like, well, I don't really know if I wanna open my home up or I don't know if I wanna go into somebody else's house.
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And joy comes from spending yourself on behalf of others.
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That's why Paul says, I want you to, verse 18, "Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me." God's doing some big things.
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So you should be glad and rejoice with me.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 2:12-18

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

November 11, 2012

Know Christ Know Joy

God Models Humility

Jeff Miller

November 11, 2012

Know Christ Know Joy

  
    Let go of your Rights, Jesus did. (Phil 2:6)

Act like a Servant, Jesus did. (Phil 2:7)

Be Obedient to death, Jesus did. (Phil 2:8)

Trust God to Ehalt you, Jesus did. (Phil 2:9-11)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Sermon Audio: (no recording)

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 2:1-11

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Pressing On

Losing My Religion

These Guys are for Real!

I Wanna be Real

God Models Humility

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

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