Jeff Miller

February 10, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

The Secret of Contentment

Jeff Miller

February 10, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

What do I need to learn about contentment?

Contentment is trusting God’s Timing. (Phil 4:10)

Contentment has nothing to do with my Circumstances. (Phil 4:11-12)

Contentment is resting in the strength of Christ. (Phil 4:13)

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

00:00-00:01
You're in Philippians 4, I'm sure.
00:05-00:09
Do you know what I love about my wife?
00:11-00:13
Yes, I knew you would get that.
00:13-00:15
The correct answer is everything.
00:16-00:17
Would you like to hear something specific?
00:19-00:25
One of the things I love about my wife specifically is she can't keep secrets very long.
00:25-00:31
Now, I don't mean like you confide something in her and she comes and tells me or gets on the phone.
00:32-00:44
I mean, when it comes to gifts, giving gifts, Erin does not keep secrets long because she's so excited to give the gift.
00:44-00:49
Is there anybody else like that, that as soon as you, okay, there's a few, all right, kindred spirits from my wife.
00:52-01:45
It's fun for me because if she finds a birthday present early, I get it a month early because she can't wait to give this gift to me and have me enjoy what she so thoughtfully picked out. Just so excited to let me know the secret. Well, as we close our series, I have a secret that I'm very excited to tell you. Anybody ready to hear a secret? A big juicy secret? A secret that will change your life. And it's the secret of always being content. You ready?
01:49-02:20
Let's take another run at that one. Are you ready? Okay, I'm going to pretend that silence was just like the anticipation led you to be speechless. Alright, here's the secret. Philippians chapter 4 verse 10. The Apostle Paul writes, "I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You but you had no opportunity.
02:22-02:30
Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
02:33-02:38
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.
02:39-02:48
In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger.
02:51-03:50
abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the The gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
03:53-04:05
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
04:07-04:11
To our God and Father be glory forever and ever, amen.
04:13-04:14
Greet every Saint in Christ Jesus.
04:15-04:17
The brothers who are with me greet you.
04:18-04:22
All the Saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
04:24-04:28
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
04:31-04:42
We live in a day and we live in a culture of radical discontentment.
04:47-04:51
I don't like the way I look. I don't like my clothes. I don't like my hair.
04:51-04:54
I don't like how much I make. I don't like who I'm married to.
04:54-05:16
I don't like where I work. I l "I have a problem." Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up.
05:19-05:40
Some of you said, "Jeff has a problem." Turn to your neighbor and say, "I have a problem." I know I do, and you do too, because we are always after two things, more and different.
05:41-05:43
Those are the two things that we're after.
05:45-05:47
More and different.
05:50-05:54
Because we're under the illusion that either would be better than where we are.
05:54-05:58
If only I had a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more.
06:00-06:04
Sometimes it's not about the amount, it's just, I just want different.
06:04-06:06
I'm not happy with what I have, I just want different.
06:09-06:11
What are we going after this year, church?
06:13-06:13
Joy.
06:15-06:29
Well, our last message on joy from Philippians, mark this down, joy is being content in Christ, regardless of my circumstances and regardless of my possessions.
06:31-06:32
Going to say that again.
06:33-06:35
Joy is being content in Christ.
06:40-06:57
"Regardless of my circumstances and regardless of my possessions." Now you see, just to clarify, there are some things that we should never be content with.
06:58-07:00
And we have already studied that in Philippians.
07:00-07:52
in Philippians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul says, "Not that I'm perfect, but I do what?" He said, "I press on." We should never be content with our spiritual maturity. We should never be content with...this is good, I think we've reached enough people for the gospel. We should never be content with those things, but we should always be content with the externals. Fantastic news for you this morning and I'm sure you saw it in verses 11 and 12. Look at it again. He says, "For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." And then in verse 12, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger.
07:54-07:59
This is good news for you this morning, contentment is learned.
08:00-08:00
Isn't that good news?
08:03-08:12
There's no excuse for anybody to walk in here this morning, listen to this message and walk out and say, well, contentment, some people got it, some people don't got it.
08:12-08:14
I guess I'm one of those people that just don't got it.
08:16-08:18
I guess I'm just I just I just don't get it.
08:19-08:20
This is fantastic news.
08:20-08:22
You can learn contentment.
08:23-08:23
You can learn it.
08:25-08:30
So the first thing we need to do when we learn things so often is we have to unlearn some things.
08:33-08:39
So if you're taking notes and I hope that you are, jot these things down, these are myths of contentment.
08:41-08:43
These are myths of contentment.
08:48-08:50
Counting down from four.
08:52-08:53
Here's a myth of contentment.
08:54-09:01
Number four is, "If I was him or her, I would be content." That's a myth.
09:01-09:05
If I was Taylor Brown, I'd be content. I mean, I'm discontent.
09:06-09:16
Because I got a whole lot of things going on, but I look at Taylor Brown, man, if I were him, I'd be content. How can I be so sure about the contentment of another person?
09:18-09:41
Right? We tend to idealize people. And meanwhile, that person that we're idealizing is thinking, "I wish I were you." So contentment doesn't come from, "I wish I was someone else." Let's get that myth off the table here. Number three, "If I had a different spouse, I would be content." That's a myth.
09:44-09:46
If I had a different spouse, I would be content.
09:48-09:53
Or single people here, "If I had a spouse, I would be content." Okay?
09:54-09:55
Both of those are myths.
09:56-09:56
Okay?
09:58-10:00
Once again, we run into the danger of idealizing.
10:02-10:11
Man, his wife is so nice, and she seems to really have a great relationship with him and their marriage is probably perfect.
10:11-10:14
And he's thinking that about your marriage.
10:15-10:17
It's a myth, okay?
10:19-10:22
If I had a different spouse, I would be content.
10:25-10:25
That's wrong.
10:26-10:27
If I had a spouse, I would be content.
10:27-10:36
If you can't be content in the Lord in your singleness, adding another person and their problems isn't going to make you more content, okay?
10:38-10:43
Number two, if I lived somewhere else, excuse me, if I lived somewhere else, I would be content.
10:44-10:45
If I lived somewhere else.
10:45-10:46
I hear that a lot from people.
10:46-10:48
If I lived somewhere else, I'd be content.
10:51-10:53
If I lived in Orlando, I'd be content, Derek.
10:55-10:57
Because you know what they're not dealing with in Orlando?
10:58-10:59
All that stuff.
11:00-11:01
That chill to the bone stuff.
11:02-11:03
They don't deal with that down there.
11:03-11:05
I'd be a lot happier if I live somewhere else.
11:05-11:06
And you know what?
11:06-11:07
The people are nicer there too.
11:08-11:11
And if I live somewhere else, I would be content.
11:11-11:12
That's a lie.
11:14-11:23
Because if I move, I'm taking myself with me and I'm going to miss the white Christmases and I'm not going to be content there either.
11:24-11:24
Myth.
11:26-11:28
The number one myth.
11:30-11:31
You can preach this one.
11:32-11:33
What's the number one myth?
11:34-11:37
If I had, I heard somebody say it.
11:38-11:41
Yes, if I had more money, I would be content.
11:42-11:43
That's a myth.
11:43-11:46
If I had more money, I would be content.
11:48-11:50
You will not.
11:55-11:56
Do a study sometime.
11:57-12:00
Google this, quotes from famous rich people.
12:03-12:08
about how they have everything, and how they're completely miserable.
12:09-12:16
I read an account from Henry Ford, you know, like the guy that invented the automobile.
12:18-12:22
He said the best time of his life was back when he was working in the shop and had nothing.
12:24-12:25
That was the best time of his life.
12:25-12:29
And we'd look at him and be like, man, he had so much money, he could have had everything, and he did have everything.
12:30-12:34
Why wasn't he content? Because contentment doesn't come from stuff.
12:36-12:38
That sounds so un-American, doesn't it?
12:39-12:41
What's the problem with these myths?
12:42-12:50
The problem is if I had blank, I would be content, but contentment has nothing to do with what you have or what you don't have.
12:50-12:51
It's the attitude.
12:52-12:57
It's the attitude that with Christ, whatever you have is the perfect amount.
12:57-12:58
That's contentment.
12:59-13:08
I have Christ, so whatever whatever is in my possession, wherever I live, the people I'm with.
13:10-13:11
It's perfect.
13:13-13:15
So contentment is learned.
13:16-13:25
What do you need to learn about contentment, what do I need to learn about contentment, right, these three things down in your outline, number one is contentment is trusting God's timing.
13:27-13:29
Contentment is trusting God's timing.
13:31-13:32
Look at verse 10 again with me.
13:33-13:40
Paul says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.
13:41-13:43
You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.
13:47-13:52
At the time of this writing, 10 years had passed since the Philippian church was planted.
13:53-13:57
And they had given much support to the Apostle Paul early on.
13:57-13:59
That's what we read in those latter verses.
14:01-14:06
Well, at some point, obviously, from the text, we see they stopped supporting him.
14:07-14:11
And now the Apostle Paul is under house arrest.
14:11-14:12
Remember, we talked about this.
14:12-14:15
He was chained to a guard.
14:17-14:17
24/7.
14:21-14:29
So the Philippian church sends Epaphroditus with some provisions for the Apostle Paul.
14:29-14:32
We saw that in chapter 4, verse 18.
14:32-14:35
We talked about it in chapter 2, verse 25 and following.
14:36-14:38
And really, that's what Philippians is.
14:38-14:44
This whole book, this Holy Spirit inspired book is really a thank you card.
14:45-14:59
Paul was saying, "Thank you." That's why he says in verse 10, "I know that you cared, but you just couldn't act upon it.
14:59-15:04
You didn't have the opportunity." But verse 11, you see the apostle Paul's contentment.
15:07-15:27
He throws this out here, "Not that I'm speaking of being in need." You see the contentment? Paul's saying, "I'm okay, but I'm rejoicing to see that you love me and care about me." Now, get this down because this is really important.
15:29-15:34
Paul says that he rejoiced in the Lord.
15:36-15:36
Did you catch that?
15:37-15:46
Yes, this is a thank you letter to the Philippians, but this isn't a letter where Paul's like, "You guys came in just in time," Because if you hadn't sent Epaphroditus with the provision, I would have been sunk.
15:46-15:49
I would have been done. I would have been hopeless.
15:50-16:01
And I was like leaning on the panic button, I sure hope somebody sends something, and, "Oh, you guys came in just in time." He's not saying that at all.
16:03-16:11
He says, "I'm rejoicing. Your concern for me has been revived." But it's all God's timing.
16:13-16:14
It's all God's timing now.
16:15-16:16
God works through people.
16:16-16:17
True.
16:19-16:21
God provides through people.
16:22-16:22
True.
16:25-16:29
But the important thing to take away from this is we trust God, not people.
16:31-16:33
OK, we trust God, not people.
16:36-16:39
Yes, thankful for the people that the Lord used.
16:39-16:51
"Yes, loving the people that the Lord uses." But Paul says, "I rejoiced in the Lord." Trusting God, not people.
16:53-16:55
Hey, any hockey fans here?
16:57-16:59
What happened yesterday?
17:00-17:01
Somebody wanna explain that one to me?
17:04-17:10
We lost to, we didn't just lose, we lost to the devils, which as Christians has a little bit of a sting to it, right?
17:12-17:14
I was watching this game.
17:15-17:18
Oh, if you DVR'd it and didn't get a chance to watch it, spoiler alert.
17:21-17:22
They play them again tonight.
17:24-17:27
As I'm watching this game, I saw that the penguins, they just like unraveled.
17:28-17:29
They were unraveling.
17:29-17:30
And I had an idea.
17:31-17:46
I thought, well, I thought if I could get to the arena and get like one of Mario Lemieux's sticks and throw it on the ice, all the penguins problems would be solved.
17:48-17:48
Why?
17:49-17:54
Because I've seen Mario Lemieux's stick do some amazing things.
17:55-17:56
I have.
17:58-18:02
And you're like, you know, it's not really about the stick, right?
18:03-18:05
That stick in my hands is what?
18:07-18:16
a stick, I might be able to hit somebody with it, which actually would have helped the penguin yesterday.
18:16-18:19
But that stick in my hand is just a stick.
18:19-18:22
But that stick in Mario Lemieux's hands is what?
18:23-18:25
I believe the word is magnifique.
18:29-18:38
Well, you see the point, the stick is just the tool used, but in Mario's hands, it's special, And it's true as God works through people.
18:41-18:42
We're just like the stick.
18:46-18:52
The praise and the thanks goes to the God who is using the tool, right?
18:55-18:57
Praise and thanks goes to God.
19:00-19:01
But it's trusting God's timing.
19:04-19:05
trusting God's timing.
19:08-19:16
A couple of weeks ago, we had some friends that are part of planting actually about a month ago now, as I think about it, but we had some friends that are.
19:17-19:21
I'm going to be planting harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh East, come up and.
19:23-19:27
Introduced my wife and I to a doctor that deals with autistic children.
19:29-19:31
And gave us this doctor's information and.
19:33-19:34
We called this doctor on a Friday.
19:39-19:41
And what he was saying was really resonating with us.
19:41-19:45
And he said, well, I can set up an appointment for you if you would like.
19:46-19:48
And we said, well, OK, let's set up an appointment.
19:48-19:56
And a lot of times when you deal with specialty doctors, it's we're taking bookings for like 2017 kind of thing.
19:58-19:59
He said, I can see you next Thursday.
20:00-20:02
Did I mention it was Friday when he told me this?
20:03-20:04
Like, oh, that's six days.
20:05-20:06
And we had to get all of this testing done.
20:09-20:14
You know, this test is gonna be $500 and the office visit is gonna be this much.
20:14-20:16
And by the way, we have two children.
20:17-20:29
So doing the quick math on that, I realized that I was going to need a couple of thousand dollars in six days.
20:31-20:35
I go on eBay to see how much one of my lungs could go for.
20:37-20:38
Then I found out you're not allowed to do that.
20:41-21:01
So Friday night, Aaron and I were excited about talking to this doctor, but we're like, "Six days, where are we going to get that kind of money in six days?" The following day, Saturday, a friend of mine showed up at our house that I hadn't seen in months.
21:04-21:09
He said, "The Lord laid it on my wife's heart "and on my heart to give this to you.
21:10-21:16
"I gotta get going, I have some other errands to run." Anybody wanna take a guess what he gave us?
21:18-21:24
It was the money that more than covered what our children needed.
21:29-21:38
Now somebody could chalk that up to an absolutely amazing coincidence. I don't.
21:40-22:05
How is it that someone who had no idea what situation we were going through, that we were talking to this doctor, and that we needed this money, meanwhile the Lord was laying it on their heart to make that provision so we could get this treatment for our kids? You see, God is never late, but He is seldom early. So let me ask you, do you believe that God knows the hardship that you are going through?
22:06-22:17
Do you believe that? Do you believe that God knows the hardship you're going through? Sometimes when we're in the middle of it, we're like the psalmist, Where are you, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
22:23-22:25
Do you believe that God's timing is perfect?
22:28-22:33
Do you believe that God will meet your needs? Do you believe that?
22:36-22:39
I encourage you to trust in the Lord's timing.
22:39-22:45
So often we have our credit cards out when God is on his way over with the cash in his hand.
22:47-22:50
That's why the apostle Paul says, I rejoice in the Lord.
22:51-22:54
You know, here this long period of time went where I didn't hear from you.
22:55-22:59
You didn't support me and you show up at just the right time.
23:03-23:05
He says, not that I'm speaking of being in need.
23:08-23:09
God's timing was perfect.
23:11-23:11
OK?
23:13-23:18
Number two, contentment has nothing to do with my circumstances.
23:20-23:22
It has nothing to do with my circumstances.
23:22-23:24
We're learning things about contentment.
23:24-23:25
We trust God's timing.
23:27-23:30
But secondly, it has nothing to do with my circumstances.
23:31-23:33
Look at verses 11 and 12 with me again.
23:36-23:41
Picking up where we left off, he said, For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
23:43-23:49
I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance.
23:49-23:56
I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
24:00-24:01
See here, Paul rolls it out.
24:01-24:02
He goes, I'm content.
24:04-24:06
I'm praising the Lord for what you've done, but I'm content.
24:06-24:08
This is actually a very interesting Greek word.
24:09-24:28
In ancient literature, this Greek word for contentment was used to describe countries that didn't do imports, countries that just supplied their own needs, but didn't need things from the outside coming in to meet their needs, content.
24:33-24:40
And Paul writes, and we're learning, that my contentment is constant no matter what I have and what I don't have, but it's something we have to learn.
24:40-24:42
So you're ready to go to contentment class?
24:43-24:45
You have your number two pencil sharpened?
24:46-24:47
Okay, here's contentment 101.
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Contentment 101, jot this down.
24:52-24:55
The contentment 101 course is about being brought low.
24:55-24:56
Do you see that in the text?
24:57-24:58
He says, I know how to be brought low.
25:00-25:00
Brought low.
25:04-25:06
Where is contentment often learned?
25:08-25:12
Often it's learned when we're in times of distress, right?
25:15-25:17
It's learned when we're in times of distress.
25:22-25:27
Jesus is all you need, but you'll never know it until he's all you got.
25:30-25:33
And then when he's all you got, you realize.
25:35-25:36
He's all that you need.
25:40-25:46
We learn contentment when we're put in a situation that requires God to show up.
25:47-25:48
That's fantastic news.
25:48-25:49
We call those Red Sea moments.
25:50-25:59
That, yeah, I've been brought low, and if I'm going to keep going, it's going to require the Lord to show up.
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So contentment 101 brought low, don't be in despair.
26:07-26:10
Those times in your life that God brings you low.
26:11-26:13
That's one of the ways he teaches contentment.
26:14-26:15
Contentment 102.
26:20-26:21
That course title is called Abound.
26:22-26:41
He says, "I know how to be brought low "and I know how to abound." This is much harder to learn than contentment when you're brought low.
26:41-26:42
This is much harder.
26:46-27:01
I've been to places in the world on mission trips where I think of these children in the children's home in Thailand, elementary school age children who literally owned one possession.
27:02-27:04
Do you know what that one possession was?
27:04-27:07
It was one change of clothes.
27:08-27:08
That was all they had.
27:09-27:16
They had the clothes they were wearing, and in their closet, they had another set of clothes, and literally, that was all that they had.
27:20-27:25
But I've never been anywhere in the world where I've seen children more joyful and more content.
27:27-27:29
than those Thai children.
27:35-27:38
The really hard lesson is being content when we abound.
27:38-27:40
Wealth has destroyed more people than poverty.
27:43-27:45
The question is, can you have it?
27:46-27:47
Can you have stuff?
27:48-27:52
Can you have more without drifting from God?
27:52-27:53
That's the issue.
27:56-27:58
to the psalm say when riches increase, do not what?
27:58-28:00
Set your heart upon them.
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So let's dispel from our minds once and for all the silly notion that it's the externals that dictate contentments.
28:11-28:13
And you're like, well, Pastor Jeff, that's easy for you to say.
28:14-28:17
I get a stare down the barrel of disappointment every day.
28:17-28:23
When I walk out of this school today, it's back to reality, pal.
28:25-28:29
And I'm not walking the yellow brick road like you apparently are, Captain Contentment.
28:31-28:32
I'd appreciate you not call me that.
28:35-28:41
But it's easy for you to say, how do I get this contentment the Bible speaks of?
28:44-28:51
Paul says, "I've learned the secret." You ready for it?
28:52-28:53
You ready for the secret?
28:57-29:01
Well, it's not really that much of a secret because it's like in your Bible.
29:02-29:05
And it's probably underlined or highlighted in your Bible.
29:06-29:10
Philippians 4.13. How many people have memorized Philippians 4.13?
29:10-29:11
How many of you like have that memorized?
29:12-29:15
All right, I'm going to give you a whirl at it. No looking. Look up here. Everybody up here.
29:17-29:20
I'm going to count to three and you're going to quote Philippians 4.13. You ready?
29:20-29:22
1, 2, 3.
29:23-29:27
"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Perfect.
29:28-29:37
"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." So, number 3, contentment is resting in the strength of Christ.
29:41-29:47
Contentment is resting in the strength of Christ.
29:48-29:51
So here it is, the secret.
29:53-29:55
But I would also say here it is.
29:57-30:04
The most misquoted, taken out of context verse in the whole Bible, here it is.
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Do you know where I usually see this verse?
30:10-30:15
I usually see this verse on a poster with like a pole vaulter.
30:16-30:17
Right? You see the pole vaulter?
30:17-30:20
And he's like mid-air, muscles rippling.
30:21-30:24
That bar's like, you know, 30 feet in the air.
30:25-30:27
And he's action shot.
30:28-30:34
And at the bottom, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Or a poster of a little kitten.
30:36-30:39
Little kittens hanging on the hand of a wicker basket.
30:40-30:40
Bless his heart.
30:42-30:43
So precious.
30:44-30:45
I can barely stand it.
30:46-30:48
But the kitten's like, "I can do all things.
30:49-31:01
"Through Christ who strengthens me." That verse has nothing to do with pole vaulting, or kittens, or even kittens that can pole vault.
31:03-31:05
That verse has nothing to do with that.
31:06-31:09
I would encourage you, read the Bible in context.
31:09-31:14
So often people take a verse out of context and like run with it.
31:15-31:19
This is the secret to contentment that Paul has been talking about.
31:22-31:26
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
31:28-31:31
It's not I can do all things because of Christ.
31:32-31:35
Like somehow Jesus inspired me.
31:36-31:40
You know, I think of Jesus on the cross and I just feel all eye of the tiger about that.
31:41-31:42
And I'm inspired.
31:42-31:44
not what he's saying and he's not saying.
31:46-31:50
I can do all things for Christ who strengthens me as if.
31:51-31:56
Jesus, I owe you one and I'm going to do this for you, but what does he say?
31:57-31:59
I can do all things through him.
32:01-32:02
Who strengthens me?
32:04-32:05
Through Christ.
32:08-32:13
This word for strength in the Greek is where we get the word dynamite.
32:15-32:17
It's coming to the end of your rope.
32:18-32:28
It's coming to the end of your strength to discover that God is there to infuse you with his strength.
32:33-32:39
And as we get on the home stretch, there are some people here this morning that are saying, "Yes, Pastor Jeff, you're absolutely right.
32:39-32:47
From now on, I'm going to try harder to be content." And my response to that is, "You missed it.
32:48-32:59
You missed it." The answer is not trying harder, because the Christian life was never meant to be lived out by our resources.
33:00-33:03
In fact, it's impossible to live the Christian life by our resources.
33:05-33:06
So I would encourage you to stop trying.
33:08-33:16
And instead, start getting on your face and crying out the reality of the situation.
33:16-33:18
God, I can't do this.
33:19-33:21
Can we be honest with God?
33:21-33:25
Can we get on our faces and say, God, I look around and I'm discontent.
33:27-33:29
You have so richly blessed me.
33:34-33:40
But I'm so discontent. God, I need your strength to be content.
33:43-33:46
Can you bow your head? Go ahead, bow your heads right now.
33:50-34:09
Can you say this in your heart? Can you say, "God, you are my contentment." God, in You I've been forgiven. No shame, no condemnation. You have totally forgiven me in Jesus Christ.
34:11-34:19
You have given me eternal life. God, You have given me the promise of heaven.
34:22-34:24
My best days are ahead of me.
34:25-34:31
God, you have given me your Spirit who lives in me and works through me.
34:34-34:39
Can you say with your head bowed, "God, you have been my provider.
34:40-34:48
Here I sit today as a testimony to your faithfulness because you've brought me this far.
34:49-35:28
And because you have promised to take me the rest of the way, with your head bowed, can you say, "God, I need nothing besides you, because you are all that I need, because you've given me yourself." So Harvest Bible Chapel, we close the book of Philippians.
35:30-35:36
Let me ask you, can we just go back to joylessness?
35:37-35:38
Can we?
35:41-35:44
Can we look at everything that the Lord has taught us in His Word?
35:46-35:55
Can we look at these glorious promises of God for this supernatural joy and just turn away from it?
35:57-36:02
Can we just be content to go back to not choosing this glorious pursuit of joy?
36:08-36:09
Can we go back?
36:12-36:12
We cannot.
36:18-36:24
So I would like to remind you as we close our message, as we close this series, if our worship team would make their way forward.
36:29-38:33
In chapter one we learned that joy comes from being thankful for what God is doing in His church. It's easy to complain about the church, it's easy to criticize the church, it's easy to nitpick, but to stop and be thankful at what God is doing, you're on the path to joy. In chapter 2, we learned that joy comes from humility. Oh, we are so eager to broadcast ourselves and our amazingness and put the spotlight on me and we are so miserable when we live that way. True joy comes from putting other people ahead of yourself. In chapter 3 we learned that true joy comes from growing in the Lord. There is no joy in thinking, "I've arrived, I'm perfect," because that's a lie and you know it's a lie. Nor is there joy in saying, "I'm never gonna get it. This is the best that's gonna be for me." There's no joy in that either. Joy is saying, "I know God has pronounced me perfect, and by His grace and the power of His Spirit, He is growing me and changing me and conforming me into the image of His Son. I'm not yet the person that I want to be, but I thank God that I'm not the person that I was. Then we got to chapter four, we learned that joy comes from peace. Joy comes from peace. Do you have some conflicts in your life that need resolved? You know, preachers used to say, when you go home, you need to make some phone calls. We live in a much better day. You don't even have to wait until you get home.
38:35-38:41
Because you probably all have a cell phone. Maybe you need to make a call when you get to the lobby or the parking lot today.
38:43-38:46
Peace and resolving conflicts, peace and prayer.
38:48-38:51
Peace and experiencing.
38:55-38:57
That relationship with God that he's blessed us with.
38:59-39:00
And then finally, we learned that.
39:02-39:03
Joy comes from contentment.
39:06-39:12
to say, "God has given me everything that I need. He promised He'll never leave me or forsake me.
39:17-39:33
I have all of the promises of Jesus Christ. What more could I possibly want or need? I am content." Let's keep pressing on.
39:35-39:36
Let's keep pursuing joy.
39:37-39:38
Will you bow your heads with me please?

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 4:10-23

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

February 3, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

Some Things to Think About

Jeff Miller

February 3, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

  
    Think True thoughts.

Think Honorable thoughts.

Think Just thoughts.

Think Pure thoughts.

Think Lovely thoughts.

Think Commendable thoughts.

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

00:01-00:02
What do you think?
00:06-00:13
What do you think? All right, um, what do you think?
00:17-00:25
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Yeah, let's get in the truth.
00:26-00:35
Amen. As long as you promise not to tell anyone, I'm going to tell you a little secret.
00:35-00:49
At the pastor retreat, we had sessions and meetings and stuff in the morning, and then they gave us kind of a break in the afternoon, and then there was an evening session, And I skipped one.
00:50-00:51
All right, don't tell.
00:52-00:56
But Aaron and I snuck away and went to Universal.
00:59-01:04
And we went there several years ago and just really enjoyed it.
01:04-01:09
And it was literally 15 minutes away and we just couldn't resist.
01:12-01:15
But you know, you know what those places are called?
01:16-01:23
like Universal and Disney World and Kennywood and Cedar Point.
01:23-01:24
What do you call those places?
01:25-01:27
Amusement parks, right.
01:27-01:30
Those are called amusement parks.
01:31-01:33
Do you ever think about that?
01:33-01:37
What does amuse mean?
01:38-01:39
What does that word mean?
01:42-01:43
Well, muse means what?
01:45-01:46
Amuse means think.
01:47-01:52
And when you put an A in front of a word, when you put that prefix, what does that do to the word?
01:53-01:54
It negates it, doesn't it?
01:55-01:57
So amuse means what?
02:01-02:01
Come on, shout it out.
02:02-02:03
Amuse means what?
02:04-02:05
You're not thinking, right?
02:05-02:06
You're not thinking.
02:07-02:08
So here's a park.
02:10-02:11
Here are several parks.
02:11-02:19
Here are millions and millions and millions of dollars spent to build a place where we can go to avoid thinking?
02:23-02:39
Well, your brain, all three pounds of it-- some of us a little more, some of us a lot less-- has more information in it than the Library of Congress.
02:41-02:42
17 million volumes.
02:43-02:43
Did you realize that?
02:46-02:48
Take all the information in the Library of Congress.
02:48-02:51
You have more information than that in your brain.
02:54-02:58
I see some parents looking towards their children now.
02:59-02:59
Use it.
03:01-03:01
Right?
03:02-03:06
Psychologists say that we have 10,000 thoughts per day.
03:08-03:10
Honestly, I would have guessed more than that.
03:11-03:13
I'm not a psychologist though.
03:14-03:19
And you're like, well, when we're talking about thinking and thoughts, this is really a psychology thing, right?
03:19-03:20
Well, wrong.
03:21-03:24
God's word says much about your thinking.
03:26-03:29
God's word says much about your thinking.
03:29-03:36
And I've actually done sermon series on thinking and was tempted to do so again.
03:38-03:40
But let me just share this with you, for example.
03:42-03:44
You know, what does the Bible say about thinking?
03:44-03:46
What does the Bible say about your mind?
03:46-04:00
One of the most important teachings in the Bible, the teaching that every single preacher in the Bible, every sermon started with this concept is to repent, right?
04:01-04:03
You see it all through the Bible, don't you?
04:03-04:03
Repent.
04:04-04:04
Repent.
04:04-04:05
What does that mean?
04:07-04:13
I think sometimes we think that means we just change our actions, but that's not what repent means.
04:14-04:17
Repent literally means to change your mind.
04:19-04:26
Speaking for myself, you know, there was a time that I was in sin and loving it.
04:27-04:30
At the same time, while it was destroying me.
04:34-04:39
The call to repentance was for me to stop and rethink about what I was doing.
04:39-04:40
What am I doing?
04:42-04:48
It's thinking the way God thinks, it's looking at my sin the way God looks at my sin.
04:49-04:50
This isn't great.
04:51-04:52
This is wickedness.
04:52-04:53
This is destructive.
04:55-04:58
So repent means to change your mind.
05:00-05:04
The question is, Christians, is that just a one time event in your life?
05:06-05:08
Like, yeah, I repented back in 1995.
05:09-05:16
Well, actually, no, the Bible says Luke 3 8 to bear fruits in keeping with repentance.
05:17-05:18
So hear me.
05:20-05:27
Yes, it is a one time event, but it's a one time event that is continuous for the rest of your life, meaning this.
05:28-05:30
Change your mind about sin.
05:32-05:37
And when sinful thoughts enter your mind again, you keep getting back on track.
05:39-05:42
This is what the Bible calls renewing your mind, right?
05:43-05:49
Romans chapter two, verse two, you know, do not be conformed to the image of the world, but be what?
05:50-05:57
Be transformed by the well, how do we get transformed by the renewing of your mind?
06:01-06:21
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 23, the Apostle Paul writes, "Be renewed in the spirit of your minds." We still live in fallen flesh, we live in a fallen world, so it's easy to get off track sometimes upstairs.
06:23-06:31
You know, when we first came to Christ and we experienced the joy of forgiveness and we're like, you know what, I'm going to forgive people.
06:31-06:39
And then a year, two years, five years down the road, we have a fallout with somebody and we say, I will never forgive that person for that.
06:42-06:43
Now, you need to repent.
06:43-06:50
You need to change your mind again or still, because your thinking has gotten off track.
06:52-06:53
Change your mind.
06:56-06:59
Let God's Word and God's Spirit renew your mind.
07:03-07:11
So not only do we still live in fallen flesh, we live in a fallen world, but the other problem we have is we have a storehouse of sin in our brains.
07:11-07:22
I have 20 years worth of, you know, history, a big head start in life of stockpiling sinful thoughts and sinful images.
07:22-07:30
And as I told you last week, we need to check up from the neck up because we're tore up from the floor up.
07:31-07:31
Right.
07:34-07:36
So we're talking about your mind.
07:37-07:38
We're talking about your mind.
07:39-07:43
And you're like right now, you know, I hear what you're saying, but we're kind of in church right now.
07:43-07:47
And really I'm trying to get to a spiritual place right now.
07:47-07:49
So why are we talking about the mind?
07:49-07:51
Do we really need to talk about the mind?
07:51-07:53
Like I said, that's sort of a psychology thing.
07:54-07:57
Do we really need to be talking about these kinds of things in church?
08:00-08:02
Well, let me offer you this.
08:05-08:08
What goes in your car affects the way it drives, correct?
08:09-08:13
Is that true or not true? What you put in your car affects the way it drives, right?
08:16-08:34
If you don't believe me, go fill your gas tank with syrup and see how your car drives. What goes in your car affects how it drives. What goes in your body affects your health. Now, I don't need to like ask the general audience, we have an expert.
08:34-08:58
Is that true? What goes in your body affects your health, right? I know when I eat healthy I feel good, and when I have a milkshake I feel terrible. But what goes in your body affects your health. What goes in your computer affects the programs that it runs, right?
09:02-09:07
We're going to see from God's word here this morning that what goes in your mind affects your attitude and your actions.
09:11-09:23
Last week. We were talking about peace and the apostle Paul was teaching us, do you want peace? Well, you've got to ditch some things, you've got to ditch conflict, you've You've got to ditch negativity.
09:24-09:25
You've got to ditch unreasonableness.
09:25-09:26
You've got to ditch anxiety.
09:28-09:30
You're going to cast these things off.
09:30-09:31
So what should go in my mind?
09:32-09:33
You know, I can't think about nothing.
09:34-09:39
I've had this conversation with my wife, probably 10,000 times.
09:39-09:40
Like, what are you thinking about?
09:40-09:41
And she says, nothing.
09:42-09:44
And my response is always, that's impossible.
09:45-09:46
You can't think about nothing.
09:47-09:47
It's impossible.
09:47-09:50
You're thinking about something at all times.
09:54-09:57
So what we're going to look at today, really just one verse.
09:58-10:00
These things are the other side of the coin.
10:00-10:09
You know, Paul says, "Get rid of the conflict, get rid of the negativity, the unreasonableness, the anxiety." So what should I be thinking about?
10:11-10:15
Well, let's look at verses 8 and 9, and really we're going to camp out in verse 8.
10:17-10:53
Paul writes, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, If there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
10:55-11:06
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.
11:08-11:18
I drew a line in my Bible from verse 7 to verse 9 because in verse 7 he says, You can have the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.
11:18-11:22
And in verse nine, he says, you also have the God of peace.
11:28-11:30
So what goes on in that head of yours?
11:33-11:34
What are you thinking?
11:36-11:43
And for many of you, you might be struggling with, you know, life just seems so rotten and life stinks.
11:43-11:49
and I've been having such a hard time, and I hate everyone, and I hate everything, and I just can't seem to get it together.
11:50-11:53
The problem is happening between your ears.
11:54-11:55
It is.
11:57-11:58
And I want you to write this down.
11:58-12:02
Before we get to our, we're gonna look at the six things that he kind of lays out here for us.
12:03-12:06
But I want you to write this down at the top of your outline.
12:06-12:08
I am in charge of my mind.
12:08-12:09
I want you to write that down.
12:09-12:11
I am in charge of my mind.
12:14-12:16
You control what you think about.
12:19-12:21
I am in charge of my mind.
12:27-12:37
Some of you aren't convinced, but you know, I took a whole class on this, about being in charge of your mind.
12:37-12:39
I took a whole class on it.
12:41-12:42
It's called Lamaze.
12:44-12:45
Aaron was there too.
12:47-12:49
Otherwise that would have been weird.
12:52-12:53
But do you know what they teach you at Lamaze?
12:53-12:55
At least the class I went to.
12:56-12:57
Do you know what's up with that breathing?
12:57-12:58
Do you know why you do that breathing?
12:59-13:00
Do you know why?
13:02-13:04
You're like, yeah, because your lungs need oxygen.
13:05-13:07
Yeah, but there's another reason you do the breathing.
13:07-13:07
Do you know why?
13:09-13:11
Yes, it's a distraction, right?
13:12-13:25
It was (whistles) at least that was the pattern that we had and Erin had this whole thing about like the pattern tracing down like my face, like she had this whole thing.
13:25-13:49
Anyways, it was a distraction because you're thinking about this rhythm and pattern of breathing and thinking about, okay, we did the three short ones and then the long one and then you go back to the three shorts and the long three shorts and a long..." And you're thinking about that so much that it's supposed to take your mind off the fact that a human being is coming out of you.
13:52-14:10
And one of the exercises we did, this is... I pray for my wife, but one of the exercises that we did was the person that was teaching the class says, "Okay, I I want you to close your eyes and you're going to create a place in your mind that you're going to go to.
14:11-14:16
And this place is a garden. And this place has a wall.
14:16-14:22
And she was just going on and on and on about the flowers and the sounds of the birds and the sun.
14:23-14:25
And it just... she was going on and on.
14:25-14:36
And then finally I said, "The flies in my garden are terrible." And I got some laughs and a dirty look from Aaron.
14:37-14:45
But the whole point of that whole exercise was, you're having a baby and it's painful.
14:46-15:01
So what we're going to do as much as we can is to put some tricks in your magic hat, so to speak, that you can get your mind off of the incredible pain.
15:02-15:06
But the point of all that is this, I'm in charge of my mind.
15:09-15:10
I'm in charge of my mind.
15:10-15:12
So what should I be thinking about?
15:12-15:14
This is all straight from the text.
15:14-15:18
Really like any one of you could come up here and preach this message.
15:18-15:20
It's all right there in the text.
15:22-15:25
So number one, what should I be thinking about?
15:26-15:27
I think true thoughts.
15:28-15:29
Think true thoughts.
15:35-15:40
Racing through your mind should only be thoughts that are true.
15:42-15:43
Like where do I go to for that?
15:44-15:52
Well, John chapter 17, verse 17, Jesus said, "Thy word is truth." The Bible tells us that the truth is in Christ.
15:52-15:55
John 14, six Ephesians 421.
15:56-15:58
Jesus Christ is truth.
16:01-16:05
So the first thing the apostle Paul says, racing through your mind should be truth.
16:06-16:21
And isn't it interesting when God wanted to give us a revelation of himself, of his character, of his mercy, of his judgment, of the condition of the human race, of history, of future history.
16:21-16:24
And what form did he provide that?
16:25-16:27
You know, he could have given us a DVD, right?
16:29-16:39
God's like, here's my revelation to man, available on Blu-ray, and you just pop it in and you sit down and watch it, but he didn't do that.
16:40-16:42
God could have said, here's a CD.
16:43-16:47
You know, when you're in the car, you can kind of listen to it, and it's, he didn't do that either.
16:47-16:51
What did God give us to reveal himself?
16:52-17:04
What did he give us? He gave us a book, right? And why did he give us a book? The reason he gave us a book is when you read a book you need to use your mind.
17:05-17:23
You read the words. It's objective outside truth that you you read and you think about and you meditate upon and you examine. And he gave us a book to engage our minds. So my encouragement to you is have a plan to get in the book.
17:26-17:45
Get the word in you. Be preaching the word to yourself. You know, that's the problem that I have. I only get to preach to you for about 40 minutes a week. Do you know who's preaching to you for another hundred and sixty seven hours in 20 minutes. You are.
17:47-17:56
You are you are constantly preaching to yourself, did you know that you ever stop to listen? What's the content of your sermon?
17:58-18:00
All this little sin that I'm hiding, it's not that bad.
18:01-18:02
I'm not going to get caught.
18:03-18:13
I'm not really hurting anyone with this little sinful secret thing that I have hidden, this little flirtatious affair that I've had going on, it's not really hurting anyone.
18:13-18:15
And, you know, I deserve this.
18:15-18:18
And, you know, things have been rough lately.
18:18-18:21
I kind of deserve this little release and I can handle it.
18:21-18:22
It's not going to get out of control.
18:23-18:25
Your preaching lies to yourself.
18:29-18:36
Instead, when you get this and this, your sermons take on a different tone.
18:39-18:45
"This is not who I am in Christ. In Christ, I am a child of God. I'm dead to sin.
18:46-18:55
Sin is not my master. I should hate my sin because it killed my Savior." Those are the sermons that start coming out when you get this and here and in here.
18:58-19:01
Every thought, every thought doesn't line up with God's Word.
19:04-19:05
Does this thought echo His truth?
19:06-19:09
You need to take every thought, you know the Bible tells us to take every thought captive.
19:14-19:15
We think horrible things sometimes.
19:17-19:18
I think horrible things sometimes.
19:19-19:20
Let's be honest.
19:22-19:26
Have you ever thought of something that you were like ashamed that that thought ever entered your mind?
19:26-19:30
That's happened to me. Anybody else? Just me and Taylor? Must be a preacher thing.
19:31-19:35
Okay, thank you. You're like, "I'm embarrassed that I even thought that.
19:36-20:01
I can't believe that went through my mind." That's why the Bible says, "Take every thought captive." You know, when you say things like, "I'm completely useless. I'd be better off dead." That's a lie, man. The Bible says that you were fearfully and wonderfully made.
20:02-20:07
The Bible says that in Christ, God has good works prepared beforehand that you should walk in them.
20:10-20:12
You're ignoring your big why.
20:14-20:16
And you've been preaching to yourself, why bother?
20:20-20:28
For this one, my wife is just on my nerves and that raises your mind or my spouse, you know.
20:30-20:37
He's just been on my nerves, I can't even stand to look at him or she is such a nag, I am so sick of her.
20:40-20:43
Preaching God's word to yourself says, you know, I'm commanded to love her.
20:44-20:45
I am commanded to love her.
20:46-20:51
My love for my wife should emulate the love that Jesus Christ has for His church.
20:52-21:08
And wives say, "My love for my husband should be like the love that the church has for Jesus Christ." How about this one? "My children are rebellious." "My children just aren't going to get it. They're rebellious, they're wayward.
21:10-21:12
I've failed as a parent.
21:13-21:15
I've completely failed as a parent.
21:18-21:19
You're preaching lies to yourself again.
21:21-21:28
Instead, what you need to be preaching from God's word, God gave me the job of discipline and correction and instruction.
21:29-21:30
God gave me that job.
21:30-21:31
And yet I don't do it perfectly.
21:32-21:33
I don't do anything perfectly.
21:35-21:36
But I press on.
21:40-21:48
I'm going to do the best I can to do the job of raising my children because God gave this job to me.
21:50-21:55
And yes, I'm going to rely on Him and I'm going to get other people to help me, but it's my job.
21:58-22:01
Now, speaking of, here's a sermon that we preach often to ourselves.
22:01-22:04
I hate my job. I hate my job.
22:06-22:09
My job stinks and I hate my boss and my.
22:11-22:24
The Bible says I should work as if I'm working for Christ himself and I could go on and on and on and on and on, but you see, so often the things that run through our mind are contrary to what runs through God's word.
22:26-22:30
So the first thing is think true thoughts, think true thoughts, is that true?
22:30-22:32
Is that true? Is that true?
22:33-22:33
Think true thoughts.
22:34-22:40
Secondly, it's right there in your text, what's the H word think?
22:42-22:45
Honorable thoughts, honorable thoughts.
22:48-22:52
Right down the word gracious, really, that's a good synonym for this.
22:52-22:53
What's it mean, honorable thoughts?
22:53-22:58
It means gracious, gracious air on the side of grace.
22:59-22:59
Right.
23:02-23:08
It's taking the high road. It's asking yourself, "Is this the highest option?" Do you remember the fad?
23:09-23:13
Oh gosh, must have been like 15 years ago now.
23:13-23:17
How many people remember the WWJD bracelet fad?
23:18-23:27
It was at the point where you're like, "Your salvation is seriously in question if you're not wearing a WWJD." Is there anybody wearing one today?
23:30-23:33
How many people were rocking them though back in the day?
23:33-23:35
Okay, see? It's kind of a fad.
23:36-23:37
You know what the sad thing is?
23:38-23:41
Like the bracelets went out of style and so did the concept.
23:46-23:47
What would Jesus do?
23:49-23:53
And see, that's what he's talking about here, thinking honorable thoughts, thinking gracious thoughts.
23:53-23:55
How would Jesus think about this?
23:56-24:03
You know, that guy at work that has been just harassing you has blatantly insulted you in front of your other co-workers.
24:04-24:07
How would Jesus handle that? What would He think about that?
24:11-24:13
Somebody lashes out at you.
24:15-24:19
Somebody's gossiping behind your back. Somebody's making false accusations.
24:23-24:29
And you say, "Well, I could defend myself. I could retaliate against my enemies.
24:29-24:37
I could use social media to write messages about them publicly." You know, those little veiled messages, like, "Oh, you know I'm talking about you.
24:38-24:49
I'm gonna update my Facebook status." And to the rest of the world, it's gonna look a little cryptic, but Derek Edwards, you know I'm talking about you in this, pal.
24:51-24:53
Yeah, could you see Jesus doing that?
24:54-24:58
How many people could totally see Jesus tweeting stuff like that?
24:58-25:01
No, absolutely not. It's immature.
25:02-25:05
And that's what he's talking about here. Think honorable thoughts.
25:06-25:08
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable.
25:10-25:30
So easy to get caught up in the emotions and forget this basic foundational truth of the gospel, And it is, we've already studied it twice in Philippians, "I am not a citizen of this world, and I shouldn't act like I am." That's why Paul tells us in Philippians, "We're citizens of where? Heaven.
25:31-25:33
We're citizens of heaven, act like it." That's what he said.
25:34-25:37
Just imagine all the stuff that's happening in heaven right now.
25:37-25:39
Do you think there's gossip happening in heaven right now?
25:40-25:45
No. Do you think there's retaliation, revenge, vindictiveness, anger, hostility?
25:45-25:48
No. None of that stuff's happening in heaven.
25:49-25:51
I shouldn't be letting that stuff roll around in my head.
25:52-25:55
I'm a citizen of heaven. I should act like it. I should think like it.
25:57-26:00
So, number three, think just thoughts.
26:00-26:04
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just.
26:06-26:10
Just literally means right, meaning righteous.
26:13-26:19
God has a standard, His standard is perfection. He has given us His perfection in Jesus Christ.
26:21-26:28
Thinking just thoughts means thinking about the right things, thinking about specifically how to do what is right.
26:31-26:38
You know, don't think that just thoughts means that like justice, like what's the best way for me to get even with Him.
26:41-26:43
Just thoughts, that's thinking this way.
26:44-26:46
"Okay, I have decisions I have to make.
26:49-26:51
What's the right thing to do?
26:52-26:53
What's the right thing to do?
26:53-26:59
Not what's going to make me feel the best, not what's going to get me in the least amount of trouble.
27:00-27:04
It's what is right." And look at this next one.
27:06-27:11
"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just." And then he says, whatever is what?
27:13-27:13
Shout it out.
27:15-27:15
Shout it out.
27:15-27:16
Come on.
27:17-27:20
Pure, yes, pure, think pure thoughts.
27:22-27:23
What does pure mean?
27:25-27:27
Like, seriously, what does that word even mean anymore?
27:29-27:33
The question is, is this morally faithful?
27:38-27:42
Does this line up with God's design for marriage and sexuality?
27:46-27:47
Think pure thoughts.
27:49-27:53
In 2013, I don't even know what I don't even know how to communicate this.
27:56-27:59
I don't think people even have a grasp on what purity is.
28:01-28:09
And the church is trying to hold the line, right, you have the silver ring thing, and we've done purity classes and things of that nature.
28:11-28:14
Do you think the world at large really gives a rip about purity?
28:14-28:15
Do you think?
28:20-28:22
Anything goes.
28:22-28:25
That's how it is for the world for sexuality.
28:25-28:27
Anything goes, right?
28:28-28:29
Whatever makes you happy.
28:34-28:42
Well, let me ask you, when it comes to issues of sexuality, where do you draw the line?
28:43-28:49
As in, let's talk about what's right and what's wrong.
28:49-28:51
Let's talk about that for a second.
28:51-28:52
What's right and what's wrong?
28:52-28:54
Because we live in a day that there is no right or wrong.
28:55-28:57
So what's right and what's wrong?
28:59-29:00
All right.
29:02-29:06
How about marriage, right or wrong? Marriage between a man and a woman?
29:07-29:10
I think most people would say that's right.
29:12-29:15
What about cohabitation? What about living together without being married?
29:16-29:17
Is that right or wrong?
29:19-29:29
What about sexting? We're not like really in a relationship, but we send impure messages to each other. Is that right or wrong?
29:29-29:34
What about adultery? Is that right or wrong? Is it ever right? Is it always wrong?
29:35-29:37
What about homosexuality, right or wrong?
29:40-29:43
What about pedophilia, right or wrong?
29:44-29:45
See the problem?
29:47-29:53
When we decide where we're going to draw the line, we are all over the place, right?
29:54-29:57
You'll have people that'll say, "You know what, pedophilia, that's definitely wrong.
29:58-29:59
Pedophilia is definitely wrong.
30:00-30:06
But homosexuality really isn't wrong, because it's just between two loving adults that care about each other.
30:07-30:08
So that's on the right side.
30:11-30:20
And then you have people, well, pedophilia wrong, but homosexuality's okay, and adultery's wrong, because you're betraying.
30:23-30:25
The problem is, here's the problem.
30:28-31:43
What in the world makes us think that we have the right to draw the line? I just don't get that. Like, we're going to vote for the definition of marriage? Like, I'm sorry, I thought that was already established. I thought God already defined that. I didn't realize that God appointed a committee to reevaluate this marriage thing to see if we needed to change it. Who do we think we are? I'll tell you where the line is. The line is where God drew the line. And God says marriage is for one man and one woman for one lifetime. That's right. Well, what goes in the wrong category? Somebody tell me. Everything else goes in the wrong category. Think pure thoughts. Think pure thoughts. That's why pornography is such a danger. There was a day that you had to find it in certain stores or certain gas stations and it was only limited where it was available. Now it is just one mouse click away.
31:45-31:51
And it gets images in our minds that have no business being in our minds.
31:56-31:58
I heard one preacher, a preacher friend of mine say this.
31:58-32:05
I don't know if it was original with him, but this Baptist pastor friend of mine said, "Sex is like fire.
32:06-32:08
"In the right place, it's beautiful.
32:09-32:12
in the wrong place is destructive, right?
32:14-32:16
Fire in the fireplace is fantastic.
32:16-32:17
It heats the house.
32:17-32:17
It's warm.
32:17-32:18
It's beautiful.
32:20-32:26
Fire on the middle of the living room floor will burn your house down.
32:30-32:31
But we live in sexual anarchy.
32:33-32:44
Pure thinking is this-- My affection, my physical attraction, my thoughts are reserved for my spouse or my future spouse.
32:46-32:47
Pure thoughts.
32:49-32:56
Every time I marry a couple, I tell them this phrase, "Sex and marriage is God's thing. Do God's thing God's way." That's all I got.
32:57-33:02
I didn't invent marriage. Some pastor or theologian didn't invent this concept of marriage.
33:02-33:04
God invented sex and marriage.
33:05-33:09
It's God's thing to do it God's way and think of it God's way.
33:09-33:12
That's why he says whatever is pure.
33:14-33:18
Hey, two more, think lovely thoughts, think lovely thoughts.
33:22-33:31
This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament, it means pleasing, attractive, literally it means it means friendly towards.
33:32-33:34
It means friendly towards.
33:37-33:41
The best way to define it is to give you the antonyms, really.
33:43-33:45
There are many ugly things that we think about.
33:46-33:49
Envy and violence and hatred.
33:51-33:52
Right? Envy.
33:53-33:57
"Oh, I can't stand that guy. I can't stand that.
33:57-33:59
I don't know why everybody thinks that guy is so great.
33:59-34:03
I think he's an idiot." That's an ugly thought.
34:06-34:07
You know, violence.
34:08-34:10
I would just like to punch that guy right in the throat.
34:10-34:12
Man, I'd like five minutes with that guy.
34:13-34:14
Can't stand him.
34:14-34:16
Violence, that's an ugly thought.
34:17-34:20
Hatred, hatred, I will never forgive that person.
34:23-34:25
I hope their life is miserable.
34:25-34:27
I hope they burn in hell.
34:28-34:30
Those are hateful thoughts, right?
34:32-34:34
Hateful and they're ugly.
34:34-34:37
And see this word actually means the opposite.
34:37-34:39
We're thinking friendly thoughts.
34:40-34:44
We're not thinking of things that are stirring up a part of me that doesn't need stirred.
34:47-34:55
Think lovely thoughts, friendly towards, positive, not negative.
34:55-34:55
Do you get that?
34:56-35:03
And the last one, he says, "Whatever is commendable." Whatever is commendable.
35:07-35:10
This literally means well-sounding words.
35:12-35:14
Well-sounding words.
35:15-35:19
I think sarcasm is hilarious, and that can be a problem.
35:22-35:24
Because have you ever been around that guy?
35:25-35:26
You know what I'm talking about?
35:26-35:27
Have you ever been around that guy?
35:28-35:31
The guy that has to give a sarcastic comment about everything.
35:33-35:34
Anybody know that guy?
35:34-35:35
You've worked with that guy?
35:35-35:37
You have an uncle that's that guy?
35:37-35:38
You know what I'm talking about?
35:38-35:45
You can't say anything that they don't have to cut it up, make fun of it, make their little sarcastic comment.
35:45-35:47
I never wanna be that guy.
35:47-35:49
Don't let me be that guy.
35:51-35:52
Ripping on everything.
35:52-35:53
It gets old.
35:54-35:57
And here he's talking about well-sounding words.
35:57-35:59
I don't have to be the comedian.
35:59-36:04
I don't have to express my opinion and commentary on every matter.
36:05-36:07
Instead of thinking, how can I make a joke out of this?
36:08-36:12
Commendable thoughts is thinking, how can I be an encouragement to this person?
36:13-36:15
How can I be an encouragement to this person?
36:16-36:18
At this point, you're like, you know what?
36:18-36:19
Can you just stop?
36:20-36:21
This is a lot of stuff.
36:22-36:23
You're right, it is.
36:23-36:26
You're like, how about you just like stop here and sum it up for me?
36:26-36:27
Fantastic, here it is.
36:28-36:32
He says, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
36:33-36:35
That's a summary statement, really.
36:35-36:36
That's really all that is.
36:36-36:37
It's a summary statement.
36:39-36:39
Excellence.
36:41-36:42
What does that mean?
36:45-36:46
Brace yourself.
36:46-36:47
Are you sitting down?
36:50-36:51
Excellence means human goodness.
36:53-36:55
It's a word that the apostle Paul like never uses.
36:56-36:56
Why?
36:57-37:03
Because he talks about how by nature, we're fallen and sinful and dead in our sin.
37:03-37:07
He doesn't often talk about inherent goodness in people.
37:07-37:09
That's what this word means.
37:09-37:12
It means, it literally means this.
37:13-37:18
Excellence is something that the whole human race would regard as good.
37:18-37:19
Does that make sense?
37:20-37:23
the whole human race would regard it as good.
37:26-37:27
Can you think of anything?
37:30-37:33
Oh, I got one, a baby, a baby.
37:34-37:37
Well, isn't that something like the whole human race would be like, babies are great.
37:38-37:42
For the person that says otherwise, they're a monster, honestly, they're a monster.
37:42-37:47
And I don't mean like a Sesame Street monster, I mean like a real nasty monster.
37:47-37:48
Babies are fantastic.
37:50-37:52
That's something like the whole world rallies around, right?
37:53-37:55
Or like puppies, right?
37:56-37:57
The whole world rallies around puppies.
37:57-38:00
He's not just saying, think about babies and puppies.
38:01-38:03
What he's saying is, think about things that are good.
38:06-38:07
Think about things that are good.
38:10-38:12
And then he says, praiseworthy.
38:12-38:14
That's really the icing on the cake here, right?
38:14-38:15
Which the icing is always the best part.
38:16-38:18
Praiseworthy means this, is it vertical?
38:18-38:19
Is it vertical?
38:19-38:22
Meaning, is this something people think about in heaven?
38:24-38:35
And as people are standing around the throne of Jesus Christ and shouting adoration of praise, is this something that's running through their minds in heaven, praiseworthy?
38:40-38:42
He says, think about these things.
38:45-38:55
And that phrase comes from an Old Testament concept, which comes from a, which actually comes from a farm animal concept.
38:55-38:56
It's ruminate.
38:57-38:59
Think about these things means ruminate.
39:00-39:01
Do you know what ruminate is?
39:02-39:03
You know what ruminate is?
39:06-39:07
Ruminate is this.
39:08-39:09
How many stomachs does a cow have?
39:11-39:12
Four, right?
39:12-39:13
Don't cows have four stomachs?
39:15-39:15
Two?
39:16-39:16
We gonna vote?
39:16-39:17
I think it's four.
39:19-39:20
More than one, thank you.
39:21-39:23
See, thank you, Mark.
39:23-39:25
And what a way to bring peace back.
39:26-39:29
Somebody Google that, but not now because we're like in sermon time.
39:32-39:36
A cow has more than one stomach, I think we can all agree with.
39:38-39:43
Reason being is when it eats grass, it doesn't just like eat it and pass it through.
39:43-39:44
What does a cow do?
39:45-39:46
A cow eats it.
39:48-39:51
Somebody wanna come up and do a demonstration as to what happens next?
39:53-39:55
He eats it and then he brings it back up again.
39:59-39:59
Like that.
40:02-40:03
And then what does he do?
40:05-40:06
He chews on it.
40:08-40:09
Swallow.
40:12-40:13
Chews on it some more.
40:14-40:22
That is a really gross picture, but it is a really good picture because this is what we are to do with God's word.
40:22-40:31
As we read it and memorize portions of it, the reason we do that is to get it gone in our heads that we're constantly chewing on it.
40:31-40:33
We're constantly chewing on it.
40:34-40:36
That's what we do in sermon prep, isn't it, Taylor?
40:36-40:42
We get that passage of scripture and we like, our goal is to tattoo it onto our brains the whole week.
40:43-40:46
So we are constantly meditating on God's word.
40:46-40:50
And you don't have to be preparing for a servant to do that wherever God has you in his word.
40:51-40:52
Constantly be thinking about it.
40:52-40:54
Why does God's word say this?
40:54-40:55
And what does it mean?
40:56-40:59
And I wonder why he used this word and why he didn't say it this way.
40:59-41:01
And what all does that include?
41:01-41:03
And how can I reflect this to my family?
41:04-41:06
And what does this mean at my workplace?
41:06-41:09
And that's meditating on God's word.
41:09-41:14
That's getting it in and bringing it up and chewing on it.
41:14-41:17
Ruminate, Paul says, think about these things.
41:22-41:28
You know, there's very little you can control in life.
41:31-41:33
You can't control your circumstances.
41:36-41:39
Many times there are health issues that you can't control.
41:41-41:44
You can't control the choices that other people make.
41:45-42:01
You can't control when wrongs are done to you, but there is one thing that you always have control over, and that is what you are going to focus on in your mind.
42:03-42:04
So what do you think?
42:04-42:07
Let's pray.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 4:8-9

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

January 27, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

Peace!

Jeff Miller

January 27, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

4 Roadblocks to receiving Peace:

Conflict : Resolve it! (Phil 4:2-3)

Negativity : Replace it! (Phil 4:4)

Unreasonableness : Reject it! (Phil 4:5)

Anxiety : Release it! (Phil 4:6-7)

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

00:00-00:03
Philippians chapter 4, what are we going after this year?
00:04-00:05
We're going after joy.
00:05-00:06
How are we doing with that?
00:11-00:11
You're good?
00:14-00:26
You know, beginning of August, I went away for a week and was prayerfully thinking through what are we going to talk about this year?
00:27-00:30
and the Lord just really laid it on my heart to talk about joy.
00:32-00:38
And these past several months have probably been the biggest attack on my joy in my Christian walk, to be honest with you.
00:39-00:40
And isn't that just like God?
00:41-00:42
Isn't that just like God?
00:42-00:43
Oh, you're learning about joy.
00:43-00:44
How you wanna talk about joy?
00:44-00:45
You wanna learn about joy?
00:45-00:45
Okay.
00:47-00:49
Okay, well, you're going to learn some things about joy.
00:51-00:54
And one of the things that I've learned is joy can't rest in my circumstances.
00:55-00:59
Joy can't be dependent on what's happening around me or with the people around me.
01:00-01:01
Joy has to come from where?
01:03-01:03
Has to come from God.
01:04-01:05
It has to.
01:05-01:11
In fact, Galatians 5 tells us that joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
01:12-01:17
It's not something that we can just sit at home on a Sunday afternoon and say, OK, I'm going to try really hard to have joy.
01:18-01:20
It has to come from God's Holy Spirit.
01:20-01:20
It has to.
01:25-01:33
And you know, one of the key components of joy that we're going to be talking about today is peace.
01:36-01:43
And there's much happening right now that we could allow to take our peace.
01:48-01:51
Just knowing some of the situations happening in people in this room.
01:53-02:02
A dear Christian brother of mine had to say goodbye to a biological brother this week.
02:04-02:19
And people dealing with job loss and financial worry and relationship problems, problems with children, young and old.
02:21-02:26
There's a lot happening that we could allow to take our peace.
02:30-02:43
We live in a time where there's the constant fear of foreign terrorist attacks, and we live in a time where people walk into an elementary school and shoot children.
02:46-02:53
And you're like, "Oh, you want to talk about peace?" Well, there's not going to be world peace until the Prince of Peace comes back. Amen?
02:55-03:05
However, that doesn't mean that we are without peace in the meantime, because peace comes from the same place that joy comes from, which is where?
03:07-03:07
It comes from God.
03:08-03:10
Now, I want you to jot this definition down.
03:13-03:13
What is peace?
03:14-03:23
Peace is the calm assurance that what God is doing is best.
03:24-03:25
I must say that again.
03:25-03:31
Peace is the calm assurance that what God is doing is best.
03:38-03:40
Now, the key word there is best.
03:40-03:44
Peace is not the calm assurance that what God is doing is easiest.
03:45-03:46
Okay?
03:46-03:47
Peace is not...
03:47-03:51
I'm just trusting that God's going to make my life easy.
03:54-04:02
Jesus said, "In this world, you will have trouble." Peace is not the calm assurance that what God is doing is fastest.
04:06-04:08
I've noticed in my life, have you?
04:08-04:12
Sometimes God's timetable of events is a little bit different than mine.
04:12-04:13
Have you noticed that?
04:15-04:28
"But God, I'm going through this trial, I want it over now, I want it over now, I want it over yesterday." And God's like, "No." But peace is the calm assurance that what God is doing is best.
04:29-04:40
whether it looks bad, or whether it looks good, whatever your situation is, God can be trusted.
04:41-04:42
That's what peace is.
04:42-04:44
No matter what I'm going through, God can be trusted.
04:45-04:45
I trust him.
04:46-04:47
I trust him.
04:47-04:49
But we're dealing with this health thing here.
04:50-04:52
Yeah, but God knows best, and I trust him.
04:53-04:56
Yeah, but don't you see what's happening in my life right now?
04:58-05:00
Don't you see the pain that we're going through over this?
05:02-05:11
Peace says, God knows what he's doing and what he's doing is best, even if it doesn't look like it right now.
05:12-05:16
Now, I've already told you, you know, you can't muster up peace, you can't do it.
05:18-05:19
But do you know what you can do?
05:19-05:20
You can block it.
05:21-05:24
You can't muster it up, but you can block it.
05:24-05:29
That's why the title of this message is Four roadblocks to receiving peace, and it all comes from the text.
05:31-05:32
You're going to see it.
05:32-05:35
It all comes from the text. Four roadblocks to receiving peace.
05:36-05:38
Number one is conflict.
05:39-05:40
Resolve it.
05:41-05:42
Conflict.
05:43-05:44
Resolve it.
05:44-05:48
Look at Philippians, chapter four, verse two.
05:53-06:13
where the apostle Paul says, "I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord." Now, you know what happened with these New Testament letters, right?
06:13-06:27
Paul would actually write these to a church that he had some involvement with, whether he planted the church or whether he influenced the church, And he would send these letters and you know what they did, they'd actually stand up in church and read the letters.
06:28-06:44
Okay, so imagine like modern day, like if, you know, let's say James McDonald, since he's tied into this fellowship, if he said, "Hey, I have a message "for Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North." And he sent a letter, I'd stand up and say, "Oh, we got a letter from Pastor James and I would read it." That's what happened with Paul.
06:48-06:50
Which makes this passage kind of crack me up a little bit.
06:50-06:51
Could you imagine sitting in church?
06:53-06:55
Hey, we got a letter from Paul and everybody's cheering.
06:56-06:58
Letter from Paul, letter from Paul, read it, read it.
06:59-07:01
Okay, here's what Paul says.
07:04-07:16
You Odiah and Syntyche, stop bickering, called them out by name, called them by name.
07:19-07:28
But notice in the text in verse two, he says, "I entreat you Odiah and I entreat Syntyche." He says, "Entreat" to both of them.
07:30-07:30
Why?
07:33-07:47
Because you know, as soon as he mentions these ladies, one of them is going to say, "Well, she started it." Parents, parents of more than one child, has that ever happened in your house?
07:48-07:51
that you're like, "Knock it off." And what do they say?
07:52-07:53
I see Laura Ming shaking her head.
07:53-07:55
Not your kids, no.
07:56-07:57
But you can just relate, you can imagine.
08:00-08:07
"Knock it off." And they said, "Well, he started it." And you say, "Parents, what?
08:09-08:10
"I don't care who started it.
08:12-08:20
"I'm telling both of you, knock it off." That would happen at our house, right?
08:20-08:24
If mom wasn't sure who started it, she'd be like, "Line up, you're all getting it.
08:27-08:31
Who's first?" We all had our little strategy about the order of that one.
08:32-08:33
I'll tell you about that some other time.
08:34-08:38
But he says, "Agree in the Lord." Listen, ladies, agree in the Lord.
08:39-08:40
Why agree in the Lord?
08:40-08:44
Because when bickering takes place, so often we take sides, right?
08:46-08:48
And we don't have a lot of details on what was going on here.
08:48-08:50
I'm gonna share some more as we get to verse three.
08:50-08:51
Here's what we do know.
08:51-09:00
Here were two ladies that weren't seeing eye to eye and it was causing a problem, so much so, that forever recorded in the word of God are these two ladies' names.
09:01-09:02
Knock it off.
09:05-09:06
Right?
09:08-09:09
Don't take sides.
09:10-09:11
I don't care who started it.
09:12-09:13
Here's what I'm telling you both.
09:13-09:15
You need to agree in the Lord.
09:15-09:21
We may disagree about personal things, but we have to get on the same page here, right?
09:21-09:26
We might disagree about personal things, but this is where we have to agree.
09:28-09:31
I was thinking, what would be a great illustration to use?
09:32-09:35
Is there anybody here that follows this football game?
09:36-09:37
Right, anybody?
09:38-09:43
I guess there's a team in this area called the Steelers or something.
09:44-09:46
Well, I was thinking about this this week.
09:48-09:56
You know, what would happen if, for some reason, Ken, what would happen, he's a baller, I knew you could catch him here.
09:58-09:58
Yeah, throw it back.
10:00-10:07
What would happen if Big Ben and Heath Miller had an argument?
10:07-10:08
They had a little tizzy.
10:09-10:17
And they said, Darren, they said, Big Ben says, "You know what?" Oh, I was hoping Evan wasn't sitting right there.
10:18-10:18
Donk!
10:19-10:20
Thanks, Uncle Jeff.
10:22-10:24
But what if Big Ben was like, "You know what?
10:26-10:27
"I'm not throwing to Heath.
10:28-10:28
"I'm just not.
10:29-10:33
"I'm not gonna throw to him." And Heath is like, "You know what?
10:34-10:47
"Good, because if you throw to me, "I'm not gonna catch it." And like, all through practice during the week, I know the Steelers are done playing, you know, for a while now.
10:49-10:55
But all through the practice week, this is going on, that Ben's like, "I'm not throwing.
10:55-10:56
"I'm not throwing to Heath.
10:56-11:04
"I'm not throwing to Heath." And Heath is like, "If he throws to me, "I'm totally just gonna drop it." Okay, so tell me, what would happen with the team?
11:05-11:06
What would the team do, rather?
11:06-11:07
What would the team do?
11:07-11:11
If this tizzy was going on throughout the week, what would happen?
11:11-11:11
What would you tell me?
11:12-11:13
Trade 'em to the Eagles.
11:13-11:14
Trade 'em to the Eagles.
11:16-11:17
Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad of an offense.
11:18-11:19
What would happen?
11:21-11:22
Like, what would happen?
11:23-11:25
They'd tell them to knock it off, right?
11:25-11:31
What would happen is Mike Tomlin or one of the other probably veteran guys would probably do what?
11:31-11:36
They'd probably step in and be like, "Ben, seriously, you're being a baby.
11:38-11:42
"Throw the ball to Heath." And then they'd go to Heath, what would they tell him?
11:42-11:43
Heath, come on, seriously.
11:44-11:45
Knock it off.
11:46-11:46
Come on.
11:46-11:51
Now, why would they be so concerned to get involved in that argument?
11:51-11:53
Because, I mean, seriously, isn't that just their deal?
11:53-11:54
That's not my business.
11:55-11:55
That's not my business.
11:55-11:57
Why would they get involved in that argument?
11:59-12:00
What's that?
12:01-12:03
Because it affects the team is exactly right.
12:04-12:12
The reason another player or the coach would get involved in that argument is because their behavior is affecting the whole team, right?
12:12-12:17
And we're not going to win if two members of the team aren't getting along.
12:19-12:45
And that's why Paul says in verse three, "Yes, I ask you also, true companion, "to help these women who have labored side by side with me "in the gospel together with Clement "and the rest of my fellow workers "whose names are in the book of life." Just like you would expect a player to step in and say, "Hey, we got a game on the line here.
12:47-12:48
Big picture.
12:50-12:54
Stop fighting." Notice the apostle Paul here says the same thing.
12:54-13:12
"Look, get in there and help resolve this issue." Who, by the way, he says at the end of verse three, "Whose names are in the book of life." Okay, I'm a Steelers fan, but you know, there's a team I'm even more fired up about than the Steelers, and no, not the Penguins, I love them too.
13:12-13:16
But do you know the team that I'm most fired up about is the team that's listed in the Book of Life?
13:17-13:19
That's the team that I'm most concerned about.
13:20-13:21
What is the Book of Life?
13:21-13:25
Well, that's from Daniel chapter 12, Malachi chapter three.
13:27-13:29
God knows who belongs to him.
13:29-13:34
If you belong to Jesus Christ, if you're born again, God has you down in his book.
13:34-13:35
He has like a ledger.
13:35-13:36
You belong to me.
13:38-13:51
And Paul is reminding these two ladies, look, ladies, Clement and whoever else is going to step in and resolve this, you guys are on the same team here.
13:54-13:58
Notice Paul says, we were laboring side by side.
13:59-14:03
He's saying, you know, church, we have worked so hard together let an offense get in the way.
14:06-14:08
And I would echo the same to you, church.
14:10-14:15
This church has worked very hard to get going, to get planted.
14:16-14:20
This church continues to work very hard to get some things happening ministry-wise.
14:20-14:22
We're working on outreach.
14:22-14:23
We're working on international missions.
14:23-14:26
We're working on small group discipleship.
14:27-14:28
We're working on youth group.
14:28-14:29
We're working on all these things.
14:30-14:37
And the point is we're working too hard to let little tiffs, little arguments get in the way of what we're trying to do here.
14:38-14:41
Which by the way is more important than winning a football game.
14:43-14:52
When we spend time and energy on inward fighting, that time and energy is not being used to advance the kingdom.
14:58-15:06
Let's be honest, the biggest arguments, the biggest standoff is usually over something so minor.
15:08-15:10
What was the issue with these two ladies?
15:12-15:14
Again, I don't know, but here's what I do know.
15:16-15:17
It wasn't a doctrinal issue.
15:19-15:20
Like, well, how do you know that?
15:22-15:25
Do you think Paul would have said something if it was a doctrinal issue?
15:25-15:26
Do you think he would have said something?
15:27-15:34
Like if one of these ladies was going around teaching other ladies that Jesus Christ did not raise from the dead, that's heresy.
15:34-15:40
Do you think that Paul would have said, "Hey, correct the heresy." He was never shy about that, was he?
15:41-15:43
He was never shy about attacking false teaching.
15:44-15:45
We saw that in the last chapter.
15:46-15:47
He's not shy about that.
15:50-15:51
Also, we see Paul didn't take sides.
15:51-15:53
He wouldn't have been shy about that either.
15:53-15:59
If it was a major doctrinal issue, It had to have been something minor.
16:04-16:05
I've been around the block a couple of times.
16:05-16:14
I've seen people get involved in very serious conflict that has very serious consequences for the church over something that's not very serious.
16:17-16:20
Well, the leadership didn't make the decision I would have.
16:21-16:24
What are the chances that's going to happen, seriously?
16:25-16:30
You're gonna go to a church that the leadership is always going to make the decision that you would have every time.
16:30-16:32
That's what I like about this church.
16:32-16:35
They do everything exactly as I would have done it.
16:40-16:40
Small issues.
16:41-16:43
He walked right by me and didn't say hi.
16:44-16:45
People get bent about that kind of stuff.
16:49-17:01
The very first church I pastored Before I was on board there, one of the big church blowups was over the color of the carpet that was going in the church.
17:02-17:04
Like, seriously, we're still talking about that?
17:06-17:23
A friend of mine had told me several years ago, it's kind of funny now, wasn't funny at that church at the time, but they almost had a church split over a bulletin board, over what should go on the bulletin board.
17:23-17:32
We're not talking like racy pictures or something like that, but each little ministry wanted to have their cut of the bulletin board, and they were like at each other's throats over that.
17:32-17:32
I'm like, "Really?
17:33-17:46
"Is that what we're fighting about?" So always something so minor, so minor that Paul didn't even mention what it was.
17:46-17:49
He's just like, "Just tell them, look, I'm begging you.
17:49-17:50
"Agree in the Lord.
17:51-17:59
"Get on the same page." One more thing, if I can insert this parenthetically, he's not talking about moral issues.
17:59-18:00
Again, that's obvious.
18:00-18:02
Not a doctrinal issue, not a moral issue.
18:05-18:11
If one of these ladies would have been involved in some sort of immorality that was causing conflict, Paul would have addressed that.
18:11-18:12
That wasn't the case.
18:15-18:18
But we're also not talking about church discipline issues either.
18:22-18:40
There is a time when if an issue comes up in the church and the leadership tries to address it, tries to deal with it, and it's not happening, it's not being resolved, and people as a result are being continually divisive.
18:40-18:42
And I'm not going to let this go.
18:42-18:45
I'm going to keep fighting about it, but it's not a major issue.
18:45-18:47
I know it's not a major issue, but I'm going to keep fighting about it.
18:49-18:52
there is a time that people have to be shown the door.
18:53-18:54
You're like, where do you get that?
18:54-18:55
Well, Titus 3.10.
18:56-19:01
You warn a divisive person once and then twice and then have nothing to do with that person.
19:02-19:04
That's not a pleasant thing.
19:04-19:11
But when someone is continually divisive, they're shown the door, biblically.
19:13-19:17
So again, what we're talking about here is over minor issues.
19:17-19:22
Do you have a little minor issue that you're dealing with someone You're like, "Well, I'm not sure if this is minor or not." Well, jot this down.
19:22-19:24
Here's three questions to ask.
19:24-19:31
If you're like bent out of shape over some kind of a conflict, three questions to ask yourself.
19:33-19:40
And actually, this is better if you're not in one of these conflicts now, because ask yourself when you're tempted to get into a conflict with someone.
19:41-19:44
First question is this, is it a matter of eternal importance?
19:45-19:47
Is it a matter of eternal importance?
19:52-19:55
You're like, "Well, how do you know that?" Here's how you gauge that.
19:55-19:58
In 5,000 years, will we still be talking about it?
20:00-20:00
No.
20:01-20:06
If the answer is no, then here's my counsel to you.
20:06-20:07
Let it go.
20:08-20:10
You don't need to say anything.
20:10-20:14
You don't need to email that person and tell them you don't quite approve of the decision they made.
20:16-20:17
I could go on and on.
20:17-20:23
I've heard it all from people on their heads about people wearing blue jeans to church.
20:23-20:25
I picked the wrong Sunday to use that illustration.
20:26-20:28
People wearing cargo shorts to church.
20:28-20:32
And you know, that guy wore sandals to church.
20:34-20:35
You mean like Paul.
20:38-20:39
Is it a matter of eternal importance, really?
20:39-20:46
Are we gonna be sitting around in heaven and Jesus is like, I can't believe you didn't address that blue jeans in church question.
20:47-20:48
Like, let's talk about, no!
20:52-20:52
Ridiculous.
20:53-20:54
Is it a matter of eternal importance?
20:54-20:55
No, let it go.
20:56-20:58
Second question, is it a matter of personal conviction?
21:01-21:02
Is it a matter of personal conviction?
21:04-21:06
Look, we all have personal convictions.
21:08-21:09
We all do.
21:09-21:10
I do, you do.
21:12-21:17
We run into legalism when we start enforcing our personal convictions on other people.
21:17-21:20
That's when you get in some of those blue jeans and sandals and all those kinds of things.
21:21-21:22
Well, that's my conviction.
21:22-21:24
Okay, well then don't wear jeans to church.
21:25-21:28
But when we start enforcing that on others, that's legalism.
21:32-21:36
And then the third question to ask, is it a matter that we must agree on?
21:36-21:38
Is it a matter that we must agree on?
21:39-21:42
As in the church isn't going to take a step forward until we get on the same page here.
21:43-21:45
If the answer is no, let it go.
21:49-21:51
So conflict, resolve it.
21:51-22:05
One other thing I wanna say about that, if you know of two people that are having a conflict, biblically, you can step in and help resolve that.
22:05-22:07
That's exactly what Paul was calling for here.
22:09-22:15
When it becomes a church issue, When it becomes a church issue, he says, "Help these women.
22:17-22:19
"Get in there and help." Okay?
22:20-22:21
So conflict, resolve it.
22:23-22:26
You're not going to have peace as long as you have conflict.
22:27-22:34
When there are people in your life that I still have this issue with that person, I'm still angry with this person, I haven't forgiven this person.
22:35-22:37
If you still have that in your life, you're not gonna have peace.
22:37-22:38
You're just not.
22:40-22:40
Resolve it.
22:42-22:45
because forgiven people forgive.
22:48-22:48
So let it go.
22:51-22:56
The second roadblock to receiving peace, negativity, replace it.
22:57-22:58
Negativity.
23:03-23:07
Okay, so you had these ladies that were having this little bit of a tiff.
23:07-23:08
Now step in, let's get this resolved.
23:09-23:10
We're all on the same team.
23:10-23:24
And then the apostle Paul says it again, "Rejoice in the Lord always." Again, I will say rejoice.
23:26-23:27
What is joy?
23:29-23:35
Joy is the supernatural delight in the person of God, the purposes of God and the people of God.
23:35-23:36
That's what joy is.
23:39-23:40
We've been talking about this all year.
23:42-23:44
But negativity, replace it.
23:46-23:48
Acts chapter 16, jot that reference down.
23:48-23:51
You can look it up later, but in Acts chapter 16, do you remember the story?
23:51-23:54
Paul and Silas were thrown in prison, by the way, in Philippi.
23:56-24:00
And they had a lot of song options they could have sung, right?
24:00-24:04
So Paul and Silas were sitting in prison and they were gonna pass the time.
24:08-24:09
What were they gonna sing?
24:10-24:13
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, right?
24:15-24:16
They could have.
24:16-24:21
They could have sung some "Woe is Me." What does your Bible say?
24:22-24:27
Acts 16.25 says that they chose to pray and to sing hymns.
24:32-24:35
That's why Paul here in Philippians 4.4 gives a command.
24:37-24:38
It's a command, it's an imperative.
24:39-24:40
Rejoice in the Lord always.
24:42-24:43
Seriously?
24:43-24:46
Again, I will say rejoice.
24:48-24:49
Well, how can I do that?
24:51-24:52
How can I?
24:54-24:57
Okay, you're telling me it's a command, but you tell me how that happens.
24:57-25:04
Like I said, we've been talking about death and job loss and health issues and problems with children.
25:06-25:10
and you're standing up there, oh, you know, your life must be just so perfect.
25:11-25:12
Telling me to rejoice.
25:12-25:14
How in the world do I do that?
25:14-25:20
Well, notice, he doesn't say rejoice in your circumstances.
25:23-25:25
Your circumstances change, right?
25:25-25:28
So you can't rejoice in your circumstances always.
25:29-25:31
There are times that I can rejoice in my circumstances.
25:31-25:39
I'm having a good day, having a good time with my wife, having a good time with my kids, having a good time with my friends and things are fun, I'm feeling good.
25:41-25:44
Problem is I'm probably not gonna feel that way tomorrow.
25:45-25:47
Things change in an instant.
25:47-25:50
So I can't rejoice in my circumstances always.
25:52-25:54
I can't rejoice in pain.
25:57-25:58
Like, what am I, sick?
26:00-26:04
He's not telling you to rejoice in pain, Rejoice in your suffering.
26:05-26:08
When you're having a hard time, just rejoice in your suffering.
26:09-26:10
You're gonna be sick in the head.
26:12-26:16
Like, yeah, I slammed the car door on my hand.
26:16-26:18
Praise the Lord for that.
26:19-26:20
What is your problem?
26:22-26:24
He's not saying to rejoice in your pain.
26:28-26:30
He's not saying rejoice in discouragement.
26:32-26:34
'cause honestly, I just don't feel like it.
26:36-26:36
What's he saying?
26:37-26:37
Tell me.
26:40-26:41
Rejoice, where?
26:43-26:44
Rejoice in the Lord.
26:46-26:46
Do you see the difference?
26:48-26:53
Rejoice in the Lord, because your circumstances are going to change, but he's never going to change.
26:57-27:01
Pain and discouragement, those things drag me down.
27:01-27:02
He lifts me up.
27:05-27:08
So our rejoicing is in the Lord.
27:09-27:10
And when do we do that?
27:12-27:14
Look at your Bible and tell me, when do we do it?
27:14-27:17
Always, always.
27:20-27:26
As I reminded you before, I remind you again, you cannot focus on two things at once.
27:26-27:32
And just like Paul and Silas in prison, You have the choice on what song you're going to sing.
27:36-27:43
You can sing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" or you can sing "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord." You have a choice.
27:45-27:50
You have a choice on what your mind is going to dwell on and we're going to be tackling that next week.
27:53-27:56
You need a checkup from the neck up because you're tore up from the floor up.
27:56-27:59
So we need to get in there and fix some stinking thinking.
28:00-28:01
We're going after that next week.
28:07-28:09
So negativity, replace it.
28:10-28:11
Rejoice in the Lord always.
28:14-28:16
Things aren't going to be like they are forever.
28:17-28:19
We talked about that last week, didn't we?
28:19-28:20
Our best days are ahead of us.
28:21-28:23
We have a real living hope in Jesus Christ.
28:25-28:32
We have an eternal destination of perfection and glory in eternity, in heaven forever and ever.
28:36-28:37
We have a God who loves us.
28:42-28:44
So negativity, replace it.
28:45-28:49
Thirdly, look at verse five.
28:51-29:06
Paul says, "Let your reasonableness "Be known to everyone, the Lord is at hand." Let your reasonableness be known to everyone, the Lord is at hand.
29:07-29:21
So in your outline, jot this down, "Unreasonableness, reject it." "Unreasonableness, reject it." This word for reasonableness literally means gentleness.
29:23-29:26
is talking about not being overly rigorous.
29:34-29:40
This is hardcore demanding your rights in all matters, that's what he's speaking against.
29:41-29:44
People that demand their rights in all matters.
29:48-29:52
It's never giving people the benefit of the doubt, it's never showing grace.
29:54-29:57
He's teaching here against people that are bent about everything.
29:58-29:59
That's being unreasonable.
30:02-30:04
Do you know somebody like that? No pointing.
30:05-30:07
But do you know somebody that just is like...
30:08-30:10
They get a fuse this long.
30:12-30:15
And the slightest thing turns them into Yosemite Sam.
30:16-30:18
You know what I'm talking about? The slightest thing.
30:21-30:23
They just, they fly off the handle.
30:26-30:37
You know, they, you drive up the parking lot in Target because you see a really good parking place and you pull in and it says, "For new and expectant mothers only." Oh, I can't believe it, a new and expectant mother.
30:41-30:42
Well, there's a spot over there.
30:43-30:47
Then, "For fuel efficient vehicles only." I can't believe it, these green people.
30:48-30:49
Really?
30:50-30:52
That's what he's talking about here.
30:52-30:54
Some people just fly off the handle about everything.
30:55-30:55
Everything.
30:58-30:59
There's no...
31:00-31:01
Let me stop and think.
31:03-31:05
Is this really something to scream about?
31:06-31:07
It's just knee-jerk reaction.
31:08-31:09
It's unreasonable.
31:10-31:11
That's what he's talking about.
31:13-31:17
It's so funny, through the week, I'm constantly thinking about how can I illustrate this?
31:17-31:21
and what can I share to kind of bring flavor and color to this?
31:21-31:23
And I was thinking about this yesterday.
31:23-31:27
I took the kids swimming at this gym, of which I'm a member.
31:29-31:31
And I was thinking about this, and in walks this guy.
31:31-31:32
I'm not going to say his name.
31:33-31:34
But this guy walked in.
31:34-31:36
And I remember the first time I met this guy.
31:38-31:43
He was actually somewhat attending the church that I used to belong to.
31:43-31:46
And I didn't know that, because I was new at the time when I first met him.
31:47-31:54
And so just being friendly, I made conversation with him, again, not knowing who he was, his background, where he went to any of that.
31:56-32:00
So I'm lifting, he walks in and I'm just like, "Hey, how are you doing?
32:00-32:14
And what do you do?" I get talking to the guy and he says, "Well, what do you do for a living?" And I said, "Well, actually I'm a pastor." He said, "You are not a pastor.
32:14-32:18
"Listen, the Greek word for pastor means this." And he gave me some Greek lesson.
32:19-32:25
He goes, "Technically, you're an evangelist because when you study with the..." He just like went off on me, like yelling at me in the weight room.
32:25-32:33
And I'm just like, "The pleasure was all mine, sir." Like, really?
32:34-32:35
That's what he's talking about here.
32:36-32:37
Be reasonable.
32:39-32:44
Okay, so we leave the gym and I take my kids to McDonald's.
32:44-32:48
just spending some father-son's time together while Aaron was getting things ready for our trip.
32:50-32:51
We're going on this week.
32:52-33:00
I go to McDonald's and I'm in line and this guy comes up beside me and just starts like barking at the girl working behind the counter, like yelling.
33:00-33:02
And he was all animated and fired up.
33:04-33:12
And she was just like, I didn't quite hear what was going on, but she was just like, okay, turn around and gave him one of those like little like to-go bags.
33:13-33:15
and he grabbed it out of her hand and like took off.
33:15-33:22
I'm like, he was that mad and had to scream at her to get a to-go bag?
33:23-33:24
You know what I'm talking about?
33:24-33:26
It's just constantly mad about everything.
33:28-33:29
I'm always looking for a reason to be offended.
33:31-33:38
You know, you get shortchanged 30 cents and you're screaming and hollering and you're ripping me off.
33:39-33:42
Sorry, that was more than a 30 cent reaction to that though.
33:44-33:45
That's what he's talking about here.
33:45-33:47
Constantly bent about everything.
33:50-33:53
Well, obviously this attitude forfeits a peace of mind.
33:54-33:59
It forfeits peace of mind and it leads to conflict.
34:00-34:12
So he says, "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone." Just be chill, all right?
34:13-34:13
Settle down.
34:16-34:19
Everything's not like life and death, right?
34:20-34:22
Then he reminds us the Lord is at hand.
34:24-34:26
You know, the classic psychological question, right?
34:27-34:30
People say, "Well, I can't control my behavior." And they teach you in counseling.
34:31-34:40
You know, when you teach people that they're able to control their behavior, you say, "Well, would you have acted like that "if there was a police officer present?" Well, no.
34:43-34:51
Well, Paul here is sort of talking like that, only he's not talking about a police officer, he's talking about the King of Kings.
34:51-34:54
Would you act like that if Jesus were standing beside you?
34:55-34:56
Because he is.
34:56-34:58
The Lord is at hand, all right?
35:00-35:01
Let's just relax a little bit.
35:02-35:13
He says, "Let your reasonableness," I'm having a hard time with that word, "be known to everyone." I'm going to let people see that I don't lean on the panic button.
35:14-35:14
Okay?
35:14-35:16
I don't lean on the panic button.
35:17-35:18
Let's calm down.
35:20-35:20
Be reasonable.
35:21-35:28
And finally, last roadblock of peace.
35:29-35:30
This is a big one, anxiety.
35:31-35:32
Release it.
35:34-35:34
Anxiety.
35:35-35:37
Look at verses six and seven.
35:39-35:42
A lot of you probably have these verses memorized, and that's fantastic.
35:44-36:07
Paul says, "Do not be anxious about anything, "but in everything, by prayer and supplication "with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Anxiety, release it.
36:10-36:16
This word for anxious literally means dividing care, dividing care.
36:20-36:21
You know what that means.
36:22-36:26
You can tell when somebody's burdened about something that they're just distracted.
36:26-36:27
Have you ever noticed that?
36:27-36:28
They're just distracted.
36:28-36:30
They're like there, but they're not there, you know?
36:31-36:33
Like, man, what's going on?
36:33-36:35
Like, you seem like something's really bothering you.
36:36-36:45
Well, they're having a hard time being in this moment because their mind is on some kind of a trial they're going through.
36:47-36:51
And you're like, yeah, we're gonna get this worrying passage but you know what?
36:52-36:53
I get a pass on that.
36:56-37:01
There's something in my life that I should genuinely be worrying about, right?
37:02-37:04
Well, let's see what the Bible says.
37:04-37:06
Do not be anxious about anything.
37:12-37:18
Sometimes I have little footnotes in the bottom of my Bible, and there's no footnote that like has your name on it.
37:20-37:23
You know, with the exception of so-and-so, they should be anxious about some things.
37:24-37:26
Do not be anxious about anything.
37:29-37:31
What are some things that people get anxious about?
37:34-37:35
We've already talked about some of them.
37:35-37:36
What are some things that people get anxious about?
37:37-37:37
Shout them out.
37:39-37:39
Money.
37:41-37:43
So should we be anxious about money?
37:44-37:45
It falls under the anything category.
37:45-37:46
So the answer is no.
37:46-37:48
What else do people get anxious about?
37:49-37:50
The future, right?
37:50-37:51
The future, what's gonna happen?
37:52-37:53
What's gonna happen?
37:54-37:56
The future falls under the anything category.
37:57-37:59
I'm not gonna be anxious about that.
37:59-38:04
What else falls under the, or what else do people get anxious about rather?
38:05-38:06
Relationships, right?
38:07-38:16
Whether it's with your spouse or with your children or with your friends or with your boss or whatever, that falls under the anything category.
38:17-38:17
What else?
38:18-38:21
Can anybody think of something that doesn't fall under the anything category?
38:23-38:36
So whatever it is that's troubling you, The Bible says, "Don't let that divide your care." Meaning, don't worry about it.
38:39-38:43
Well, you're like, well, you know, some people, some people worry about stuff that never happens.
38:43-38:44
You know what I'm talking about?
38:45-38:45
You know what I'm talking about?
38:45-38:47
Some people worry about stuff that never happens.
38:47-38:49
They're always like, well, what if I get in an accident?
38:49-38:50
And they don't get in an accident.
38:50-38:52
Like, well, you wasted your time worrying.
38:52-39:00
And some people are like, well, what if my kid goes off to college make some bad decisions and they don't, but I was worried about it, it didn't happen.
39:00-39:10
Like yeah, some people worry about things that don't happen but I'm worried about something that actually is happening because I got this family member that has cancer, I'm worried about that.
39:11-39:13
I'm not worried that he don't get cancer, he has it.
39:14-39:16
So I should be worried about that, right?
39:17-39:18
My stuff is real.
39:21-39:23
My stuff is real.
39:23-39:24
Well, let's see what the Bible says.
39:26-39:31
in everything by prayer and supplication.
39:36-39:38
Notice this, with thanksgiving.
39:41-39:42
With thanksgiving.
39:45-39:47
That's a missing ingredient in a lot of prayers.
39:48-39:52
God, I'm worried about this, I don't like this, and I'm praying for this person, amen.
39:53-39:57
Thanksgiving, pray with the spirit of Thanksgiving.
39:58-40:01
Tell God specifically things that you are thankful for.
40:02-40:04
Thank him for those things.
40:06-40:09
He says, let your request be made known to God.
40:11-40:13
I want you to do something on your outline.
40:16-40:17
I want you to do something in your outline.
40:17-40:19
I want you to rate yourself.
40:20-40:22
How anxious are you right now?
40:23-40:29
Like, if I were to ask you, how much worry do you have in your life right now?
40:29-40:31
I want you to rate that on a scale of one to 10.
40:33-40:37
One is, calm, cool, and collected.
40:38-40:39
I got no worries, man.
40:41-40:43
My English is bad, but I got no worries, man.
40:45-40:46
That's one.
40:48-40:52
10 is, I'm sitting on the panic button.
40:53-40:58
I can't sleep because I'm worried about something and I'm freaking out here.
40:59-41:00
Okay, give yourself a one to 10.
41:01-41:02
Go ahead, write it down in your outline.
41:08-41:09
Rate your anxiety.
41:09-41:11
One is calm, 10 is nervous wreck.
41:13-41:16
Five is average worry.
41:18-41:19
Do you have that number down?
41:21-41:21
Do you have it down?
41:23-41:28
Okay, now I want you to give yourself a rating on your prayer life right now.
41:29-41:32
One is I don't pray at all, and 10 is I pray without ceasing.
41:34-41:35
Give yourself a number there.
41:39-41:58
I'm not going to collect your papers, but I have a pretty good guess that if I would and would look at it, those numbers would be inversely proportional, meaning this, if you have a 10 in anxiety, I would guess that you probably have like a one or a two in prayer.
42:00-42:05
And if you have a 10 in prayer, I would guess that you'd have like a one or two in anxiety.
42:08-42:10
There's a correlation there.
42:13-42:14
Anxiety, release it.
42:14-42:16
Do you want peace in your heart?
42:17-42:25
You're gonna have to let go of some things "I'm worrying you." Notice what he says, we'll close with this.
42:26-42:29
"And the peace of God," I love that.
42:32-42:39
Not the peace of the world, not the peace of Paul, peace of God.
42:41-42:46
He says, "Surpasses all understanding." Do you know what that means?
42:46-42:48
That means it just doesn't make sense.
42:50-42:57
That means you see this guy that's going through what looks like the worst trial in his life, and you're like, why is he so calm?
42:57-43:02
Why isn't he like loading himself on prescription medication?
43:02-43:03
He should be a nervous wreck.
43:04-43:05
And he's just saying, you know what?
43:06-43:11
I am going through a really hard time right now, but God has been so good to me, and I'm gonna trust him to see me through this.
43:12-43:15
And the world looks at a guy like that and says, you're crazy.
43:16-43:17
You know why they say that?
43:17-43:19
because this peace surpasses all understanding.
43:21-43:24
It doesn't make sense to them because it's of God.
43:26-43:27
It doesn't make sense.
43:29-43:32
So this peace of God is beyond, and you know what?
43:34-43:35
Can you describe it to me?
43:35-43:39
Well, go through a huge trial and experience the peace of God.
43:40-43:41
There's no way to really describe it.
43:45-43:47
So what will this piece of God do?
43:47-43:51
Notice he says it will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
43:55-43:56
What does that mean?
43:58-44:02
Well, as born again believers, we have confidence in God, don't we?
44:02-44:03
Amen. We have confidence in God.
44:04-44:05
I believe God is who he said he is.
44:06-44:08
I believe God will do what he said he will do.
44:08-44:09
Do you have that confidence?
44:09-44:12
God's going to do what he said he's going to do.
44:13-44:16
But when the trials come in, they sort of attack that confidence.
44:17-44:25
Right? When trials come in, you're sort of like, "Maybe God's not really going to come through here.
44:28-44:35
Maybe God's going to disappoint me." Well, when you have the peace of God, He said it guards your hearts and minds.
44:36-44:40
It puts a wall up around that confidence that we have in God.
44:40-44:41
That's what the peace of God does.
44:41-44:48
He puts this wall up so when these trials come, they hit that wall and you say, hey, I have peace.
44:49-44:55
My confidence in God has not been shaken because his peace is guarding my heart and mind.
44:58-45:01
So I close as I close rather, let me ask you, is there peace in your heart?
45:04-45:06
Is there peace in your heart right now?
45:07-45:08
(sighing)
45:11-45:14
Is there a conflict that you need to resolve?
45:19-45:20
Have you been dwelling on the negative?
45:25-45:27
Have you been set off by everything?
45:30-45:31
Or is there something worrying you?
45:35-45:41
It's our prayer today rather that this is a day of letting some things go.
45:43-45:51
Offenses, grudges, negativity, anxiety.
45:52-45:53
Let's leave them here.
45:56-45:57
Bow your heads with me, please.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 4:2-7

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

January 20, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

Watch Out!

Jeff Miller

January 20, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

3 Things growing Christians watch out for:

Watch Who you’re following! (3:17-19)

Watch Where you’re going! (3:20-21)

Watch What you’re doing! (4:1)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
Sermon Audio: (no recording)

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 3:17-4:1

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

January 13, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

Pressing On

Jeff Miller

January 13, 2013

Know Christ Know Joy

  
    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?
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Here's how I define the Christian life.
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Drop this phrase down.
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The Christian life is the process of becoming what you are.
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That's what the Christian life is.
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It's the process of becoming what you are.
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You go, "That doesn't make any sense." Well, sure it does.
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God says about you in Christ, now understand I'm talking to those that are in Christ, okay?
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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.
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You're spiritually dead and you need Jesus Christ.
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But for those of you that have received Christ, God says this about you.
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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.
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Did you know that?
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And your walk, your Christian walk, is God growing you into what He says you are.
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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.
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So the Christian life is God growing you into what he says you are, into who he says you are.
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It's the process of becoming what you are.
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Now, this year, our ministry theme, tell our friends from Pittsburgh East, Your ministry theme is what this year?
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It's joy, right?
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And you're like, well, where's the joy in this?
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Where is the joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Well, we've surveyed 100 people, top three answers on the board.
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My son loves the family feud.
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Why is there a joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Here it is.
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Number three, it's a sign of life.
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That's why it is a joy knowing that I need to grow.
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It is a sign of life.
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Why?
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Because dead things neither grow nor care that they need to grow.
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However, living things grow.
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And one of the perks of being a new creation is the desire to grow is built right into that.
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So that's encouraging.
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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?
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Do you feel that?
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Do you experience that?
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Well, that's good news.
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That's a sign of life.
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Number two, why is there joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Number two is this, I won't be so quick to judge others.
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Talk about an area that God's grown me.
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I won't be so quick to judge others.
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It's grace.
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It's grace.
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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.
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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.
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And it's like, hey, how about a mirror, pal?
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That's me.
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That's me sometimes.
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And when I realized, you know what?
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God's still growing me.
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God's still working on my heart.
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It's a reminder that he's working on you too.
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And I just ask for your grace.
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You know, sometimes as a pastor, people think of me as being, well, you're like Paul, right?
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You're perfect and have it all figured out.
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I do not.
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You talk to the two people that know me best, talk to my wife and talk to my brother.
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I do not.
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But God's still growing me.
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God's still changing me.
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God's still teaching me some things.
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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.
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I won't be so quick to judge others.
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And number one answer, why is there joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Well, I won't be discouraged when I fail.
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I won't be discouraged when I fail.
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Christians, how many times have we, we've done the very thing that we knew we shouldn't have done.
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And then we walk away and we say, I should have known better.
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What's wrong with me?
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Well, apparently this is an area that God is growing me.
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And this reminds me of reality.
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It makes me long for heaven.
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So I won't be discouraged when I fail.
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I don't make excuses for it.
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That's a reality check for me.
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God's still growing me.
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So this concept of growing in the Lord, there's a big fancy theological term for it.
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You see it in God's word.
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It's called sanctification.
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And literally it means being set apart in your character and in your attitude and in your action.
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And how does it happen?
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How does sanctification happen?
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How does growth happen?
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Now listen closely, this growth, this sanctification, it's like a plant.
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I can't make a plant grow.
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Do you know that?
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I can't make a plant grow.
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What I can do is I can put it in a position to maximize its growth potential, right?
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And it's true for you.
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I can't make you grow spiritually.
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You can't make you grow spiritually either.
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What you can do is put yourself in a position to maximize your growth potential.
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What does that mean?
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Well, there are two ways that you are sanctified.
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Not two like separate paths, understand that.
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Like, well, there's path A or path B.
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No, there's one path, but there's two things on that path that work together for your sanctification.
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And here are the two things.
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First of all, it's the word of God.
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John 17, 17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth.
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"Your word is truth." Jesus said the thing that would sanctify us, church, is the Word of God.
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But then Romans 15, 16 says that we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
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That's how God grows you.
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It's by the power of his indwelling spirit within you at work with the Word.
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That's why we tell you to read your Bibles.
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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.
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That's why we preach from the Bible.
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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?
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The Bible.
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Aw, you talked about that last week.
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Well, I hate to spoil next week for you.
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The Bible.
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Why do we preach from the Bible?
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Because this is what God uses, his spirit, his word, to provide his results.
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What does Paul tell us in Romans?
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Faith comes by hearing.
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The Holy Spirit takes it and works it through you.
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So first of all, I press on because I realize I have room to grow.
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Secondly, jot this down, I press on because that is what Jesus wants from me.
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That is what Jesus wants for me.
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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.
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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.
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He says, "I saved you so that you would grow in a relationship with me." That's why He saved us.
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And knowing Him is becoming like Him.
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Romans 8, 29 tells us that he predestined us to be conformed into the image of his son.
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That's why he saved you, it's for his glory, that's number one, that's obvious.
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It's all about God's glory.
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You got that right.
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But if you're like, well, why did he why would he save me?
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Because he wants you to know him.
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He wants you to grow in him.
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He wants you to experience his love and mercy and forgiveness and know what kind of a God he is.
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But you know what can seem frustrating?
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Going after a goal that we will never achieve.
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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.
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Do you think that Paul ever got to a point in his life that he was like, got it?
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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?
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I don't.
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Five minutes before he died, I think Paul would have said something like, "Yes, hey, I'm pressing on.
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I'm pressing on to know Jesus Christ." So in that regard, you could say, "Well, man, isn't it frustrating?
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We're going after something we were never going to achieve." Well, here's the thing, you are going to achieve it.
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In glory.
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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.
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Did you catch that?
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That's one of the sentences I wrote it.
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I'm like, man, that sentence is so confusing.
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I'm not even sure how it started.
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Let me run that by you again.
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Christ's goal is for us to be in pursuit of the goal, which is growing in our relationship with him.
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So why do we press on?
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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.
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I press on because the past is irrelevant.
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The past is irrelevant.
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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.
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You have to let go of the past.
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You have to let it go.
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You have to let it go.
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He's using this runner analogy.
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Now think, let's carry this analogy out a little bit, can we?
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Here's the runners at the starting block.
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And you're just about ready to run this race.
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You're waiting, you're waiting for the gun to go off because you're going after this.
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And the gun goes off.
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and the runners start running and you just turn to the guy beside you and you say, "You know what?
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"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.
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Like, "Hey, come here and sit down.
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"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.
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"You're in a race now.
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"Why are you sitting down talking about something "that happened in the past?
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How much is that going to help you run this race?
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Zero?
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Or the runner gets in the starting blocks, and he's like, OK, the race is about to start.
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But you know what?
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The last time I ran, I didn't do very good.
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Last time I ran, I really failed.
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And I'm not sure if running's really for me.
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Maybe I shouldn't be running.
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Maybe because I've failed in the past, maybe I shouldn't be running now.
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How much is that attitude going to help him in the race that he's in right now?
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How much is that attitude going to help?
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So tell me, what should the attitude of the runner be?
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The gun goes off and he's like, "I am going to go after this with everything that I got.
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"It doesn't matter how fast I was in '86, "and it doesn't matter that I lost my last race.
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What matters is that I'm in a race right now.
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The past is irrelevant.
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And that's what Paul is reminding us Christians in our spiritual race, in our spiritual pressing on.
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The past can be debilitating.
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And even some Christians get stuck, and I would suggest to you, even some Christians get obsessed about their past.
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There are some Christians that they're obsessed.
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They can't have a conversation, you know, like, "Hey, how's the weather?" "Oh, the weather's fine.
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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?
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What are we forgetting?
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I'm gonna give you another list.
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Top three answers on the board.
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You're like, "Two lists in the same sermon." He's gone off the deep end.
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Somebody needs to stop him.
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What are we forgetting?
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Three things, you ready?
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Number one, we're gonna go one, two, three on this one.
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Number one, we're forgetting regrets or sins or things I put down in my notes, things of me.
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That's what we're forgetting.
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We're forgetting regrets and sins.
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Some Christians are stuck.
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And listen, as a pastor, please hear my heart.
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My heart aches for you.
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My heart aches for you.
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When you, you know what, Pastor Jeff?
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Eight years ago, I did something really bad.
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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.
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I've done a lot of things I regret, man.
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You know what?
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Me too.
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I have too.
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Don't underestimate the wickedness of my sin because it took the death of the Son of God to pay for my sin.
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But neither underestimate the work of Christ because his death destroyed the penalty of sin.
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So number one, forget your regrets, your past sins.
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Please hear me.
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I'm not making light of this, but you can't go through life holding on.
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Number two, what are we forgetting?
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Worldly pursuits, worldly acclaim, worldly victory.
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I put down in my notes, things by me.
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I'm forgetting things of me, but I'm also forgetting things by me.
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All these things on my resume.
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You know, Paul said, "I got this list." And guess what?
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I have my list.
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And it's so easy to evaluate my life by looking at the best of, right?
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If you would go down to the, I almost said record store.
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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?
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You're getting like their best music, right?
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And if that was all you knew of them, you would think, man, all they can do is like crank out the good ones.
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You know what?
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I could make my Christian life look like a best of album.
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Let me tell you about some of the things that I've done.
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Let me tell you about some of the amazing ways that God's used me.
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And that's exactly what we talked about last week.
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Paul was like, "Pfft, rubbish.
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"Rubbish, it's all in the past." And these successes can be even more debilitating.
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So the third thing to forget, please hear me, wrong things done to me.
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Wrong things done to me.
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Remember, forgiven people forgive, right?
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Forgiven people forgive.
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And your past has nothing to do with your future because there is nothing you can do about it.
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Every sin has been paid for.
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Every highlight has nothing to do with making God love you more than he already does.
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Holding grudges does nothing but put a burden on your own hearts.
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We choose to forget.
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Why?
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Well, here's one more thing before we wrap up.
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Why do we choose to forget?
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Because God chooses to forget.
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Did you know that?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Paul reminds us, look at verse 15 and 16 again.
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He says, "Let those of us who are mature think this way." He says, "This is mature thinking." Immaturity is found on the extremes.
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Here are the two Christian race extremes.
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One is this, "I'm just a sinner.
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I'm just a sinner." Do you know who says that?
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Somebody that wants to make excuse for their sin.
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I'm just a sinner.
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Well, just a sinner.
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Not in Christ.
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In Christ, you're a child of God.
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You act like the very thing you identify yourself with.
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So walking around saying, "Well, I'm just a sinner," that's not gonna get you anywhere.
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Here's the other extreme, walking around saying, "I am perfect." You're like, "Pastor Jeff, do people really do that?" Yeah.
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The Bible college that I attended, I was a very young Christian at the time, so basically I had no clue about anything.
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I didn't even know there was a difference between one Bible college and another.
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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.
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The penalty of sin is removed.
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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.
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and you live the rest of your life completely devoid of temptation.
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That's what this school taught.
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Take a guess how many head-butting matches I got into with the school.
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And a lot of them circled around this text that we're looking at right here.
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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.
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You haven't been tempted to sin, you haven't made one mistake, you haven't spoken one harsh word in 73 years, really?
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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.
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"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.
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It's okay, you keep seeking the Lord, He'll reveal it to you.
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You're not a sinner and you're not perfect, Christian.
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This is just how it is.
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You're like, "Well, you know what?
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"I hear what you're saying, but you know, a lot of this seems overwhelming.
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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.
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And wow, there's like a lot of stuff here.
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So you're like, what do I do?
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There's like a lot of stuff to process.
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Well, here it is, last verse.
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"Only let us hold true to what we have attained." Why does Paul close this little section with this command?
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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.

The Secret of Contentment

Some Things to Think About

Peace!

Watch Out!

Pressing On

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

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Audio Transcript

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Audio Transcript