Are You Headed In The Right Direction?

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.240 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.760 podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.959 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.080 it gives your perspective to see God is moving. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:14.680 In your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:24.200 I have an exciting word to present to you today. Okay, okay, 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:30.000 well let's do it. Then let's get in Philippians chapter 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.800 one together. I'm just going to share two verses that 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:39.000 introduced two different sections of Philippians chapter one, and then 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:41.440 I can come back and fill it in. I so 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:51.520 enjoyed Holly's message last week. She was preaching on James 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.720 and Ruth and just everybody. Old Testament, New Testament. She 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.360 helped us, she instructed us, she inspired us. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.920 Look good doing it. I'm not gonna lie to you. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.160 I was a little distracted at times and not thinking 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:07.240 about Jesus at all. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.319 But the Lord is good. Touch somebody say he's good. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.600 The Lord is good, and so I want to keep 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.480 on going in the flow that I've been in on 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:21.920 functional faith. I've been hearing people that have been with 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.399 me like nine ten years saying this. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.600 Is my favorite series you've ever done. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.520 I mean, I'm not saying the other ones weren't good, 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.120 but this was really helping me. So I figured, well, 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:33.600 you know, if you've got momentum in an area, just 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:35.160 stay on it. So I'm going to stay on this 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.880 idea of functional faith for however long it takes you 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:40.120 to start living it out. 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:43.920 We might be here a while. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.200 Look at Philippians Chapter one, verse twelve, and I am 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.880 bogged down in this chapter. Can't do it justice in 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.280 the time that's allotted today, But I do my best. 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.200 Where Paul says, now I want you to know, brothers 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:05.720 and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.080 served to advance the gospel. 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:13.720 That's one heading. And then go to verse twenty. 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:20.000 He says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:24.680 in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.520 so that now, as always by, Paul's really sticking his 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:34.440 neck out here, isn't he He's facing a trial before Caesar, and. 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:36.200 He's boasting of the power of God. 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.600 And he said, you know, I have a feeling that 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.640 whatever happens to me, that God's going to use it. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.079 And so I eagerly expect and hope that I will 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:51.000 in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.720 so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in 0:02:54.800 --> 0:03:00.160 my body, just like God sell me through before to 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.919 show himself strong on my behalf in this situation too. 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:08.080 Now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.320 whether by life or by death. Rather than a title today, 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.400 for the message, I'm going to be teaching a little 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.080 bit more than I'm going to be preaching. So I 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.720 want to use a question to get your thinking today. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.919 And the question is are you headed in the right direction? 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.640 Are you headed in the right direction? And we'll do 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.360 our best to consider that and take a look at it. 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.080 But let's pray before we sit down and learn. Lord, 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:37.320 open our hearts. Your word needs good ground if it 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.120 is to grow and produce. So we ask you till 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.600 us open us and make us receptive and ready. 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.560 Somebody say I'm ready. Tell the Lord say I'm ready. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.920 In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated. Thank you, band. 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.800 I just love our worship teams so much. I love 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:04.240 our production teams, parking teams. I love our children's ministry teams. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.960 Somebody told me that the e kids album might have 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.360 been a Billboard album on the chart or something like that. 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.000 That's pretty cool on the Billboard charts with the kids album. 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:17.680 I didn't verify it, but it sounds cool, so I 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:18.560 just thought i'd say it. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:19.880 We'll look it up later. 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.840 Look here because I want to I want to teach 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.440 today and I need a little bit of grace. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:28.440 See about my handwriting. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.920 It's gonna make you question whether or not you can 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:37.560 sit under a pastor with the level of intelligence that 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:41.640 my handwriting indicates. I have sent people birthday cards before, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.240 handwritten birthday cards because I'm a I'm a good man, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.120 I'm a thoughtful person, and they didn't have any more 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.760 courtesy than to respond to me talking about my handwriting 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.080 on the handwritten birthday card. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:51.960 Never mind what. 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.559 I said, the words of life that I spoke into 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.320 their soul. They say things like, wow, do you do 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.400 you do you get your kids to write the birthday 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.880 cards for you? I write that for you, and well, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.960 that's just mean. So I figured that you're not that 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.000 type of people that you are loving and accepting. And 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.280 the message I want to use today requires a little 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.479 bit of writing. I want to write some words on 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.640 the board and kind of teach from that standpoint. So 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.080 I want to plead for your forgiveness of my handwriting, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.159 if you'd be willing to forgive me for my handwriting 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.960 in advance and for anything that I misspell, because there's 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.599 no spell check on a whiteboard, and so we're going 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.479 to try to do it, but you know, just kind 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.320 of to break it down. And I want you in 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.760 the posture of a learner today so the message can 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.800 last past when I finished preaching it and go into 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.280 your week with you. So you may want to write 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.599 some of these things down. And the first thing that 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.039 I want to mention from the text and really from 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:57.479 life is progress. Because they say, they say anything sounds 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:01.680 official if you started with they say. They say that 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:06.799 one of the basic elements and requirements of human happiness 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:08.640 is a sense of progress. 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.920 You can't be happy in a sustained. 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.320 Way if you don't feel like you're making progress in 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.120 life and in different areas of your life. 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:17.159 And I think that's true. 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.520 Maybe I'm a little bit more ambitious than most people. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.680 I don't know, I'm not most people. 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.040 I'm me, but I certainly need a sense of progress 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.000 to stick with something. Yeah, I don't show up for 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.000 something that's not working. I don't just show up again 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.200 and again and again and again. If it's not working, 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.640 I'll just stay home. And by the way, that's why 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.800 some men quit their marriages because it feels like they 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:43.880 never get back to that original state of love that 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:45.880 they had, and so it feels like they're going backwards 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.120 in the relationship. And a man won't show up to 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.040 play a game that he never can win at and 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.600 women too. I mean, it goes both ways, but we 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.919 all need a sense of progress. Everybody say progress. 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:58.680 Yeah, you sound good today, you sound like you want 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.400 to make progress. I sat down with some of. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.080 Our staff members this week and coached them for different areas. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:07.760 You do know that I work between Sundays. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.960 Yeah, so in leading the church one of the things 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.600 that I am privileged to do, not as much as 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.280 I would want to, but sometimes I get to do 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.560 a one on one session or a group session of coaching. 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.560 And three of the staff members who are in their 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.400 twenties asked a variation of the same question. I thought 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.880 it was interesting, and the idea was I do a 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.680 lot in ministry and I work hard, but it's hard 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.280 for me to tell am I making a difference? Or 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.960 is it effective? And essentially they're asking, am I making progress? 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.679 Because I don't mind working hard. I'm a hard worker, 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:41.760 but I need to know that it's working. And in 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.160 ministry that's hard to tell sometimes because you don't often 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.360 go home with a checked off list. It's not like 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.440 you mode seven lawns today and you can see the progress. 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:55.280 And so it's very difficult to see ministerial progress. And 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.280 Paul certainly knows something about that, who's writing in the 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:03.280 Book of Philippians. If progressed, then is essential to human happiness. 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.720 And if we can't feel satisfied and fulfilled in our 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.440 lives without progress, either as moms or as husbands, or 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.400 as employees in a church, or as business owners, or 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.680 as students or as Christians, then then how do we 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:19.480 make progress? And so you would say to me, and 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:26.320 you would be correct, that effort is essential to progress. 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.679 It amazes me by the way how something that sounds 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.400 so simple and seems so obvious seems to have skipped 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:39.160 a whole generation. Talk to me, how in the world 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.680 do you expect progress without effort? How you expect to 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.720 ace what you didn't study for? How you expect to 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:49.240 burn something off when you won't move what you got touch. 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.720 Somebody say effort. So I need effort if I'm going 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.240 to have progress, right, I need to push towards something 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.560 I need. I need to move towards something I need. 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:03.199 I need effort. It's gonna take effort. However, what I 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.080 would suggest to you today kind of my thought pattern 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.000 is that effort alone does not produce progress. 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.960 Effort alone is not enough. Now you know this. 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.760 If you've had a kid with a learning disability, and 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:23.600 some of you are school teachers, you can give. 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.400 A kid more and more and more and more work. 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.560 But if they are not learning correctly the way that 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.840 they need to learn, they'll eventually conclude I'm not a 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:37.040 good student because they're not making progress and the effort 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:38.400 doesn't help it. 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:40.120 Can I tell you another thing. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.200 You won't make progress just because you're passionate about something. 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:49.600 Passion is not enough for progress. You can sincerely want 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.760 to make something better. I see people who sincerely want 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:57.040 to get in better shape but never learned how so 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:58.880 we don't just need effort. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.000 Because you can see p people who go to the 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.960 gym six days a week and don't look like it. 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:11.800 Oh it's quiet. It's quiet because you've been there. Effort 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.440 alone does not produce progress. I give you a little 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:25.760 bit fuller equation. Effort plus direction equals progress. I thought 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.719 y'allould say amen to that. I mean, I know it's real. 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.320 Common sense on one level is that in order to 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:37.680 make progress, I got to know that I'm headed in 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.880 the right direction. 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:42.320 I preach from Charlotte. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.800 If we want to go to Columbia, South Carolina, or Miami, Florida, 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.200 and I head north, I might get there quick, driving 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:54.080 ninety miles an hour, But is it progress? Progress is 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:59.440 determined by destination and my proximity to the destination. I'm 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.960 trying to say that if you get turned around the 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:06.200 wrong way, you'll get there fast. But when you get there, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:11.040 you'll realize this ain't Miami, this ain't Columbia because I 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:12.240 didn't have direction. 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:14.360 Now, I mean, I drove hard. 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.120 I had my hand on ten and my hand on two, 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.000 but I woke up in the wrong place. Because progress 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.480 is more than effort. Progress is effort in the right direction. 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:28.120 Now I bring it up because could it be in 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.040 your life that you've been pointing your effort in the 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:38.640 wrong direction, Feeling tired, feeling frustrated, feeling stressed, feeling feeling 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.040 burned out, feeling like it didn't matter, feeling like it 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.920 didn't work. And sometimes all you need is somebody to 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.719 come along and point you in the right direction. As 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.960 your neighbor, where are you headed? As the other neighbor, 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:58.880 Where are you headed? It's an important question, and I'm 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.720 grateful that Paul get gives us a picture, a picture 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:07.840 of how he sees progress. How cool is it that 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:12.440 we not only get a narrative of Paul's missionary exploits 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.600 in the Book of Acts, but we have the letters 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.240 that he wrote. Because in the Book of Acts we 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.959 see what Paul did. In the letters that he wrote, 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:26.000 we saw how he thought. And to me, that's really 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.120 a privilege to get inside the head of one of 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.400 the greatest thinkers in the world, in the history of 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.840 the world, let alone one of the greatest Christians, one 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.160 of the greatest minds, and we get in his head 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:41.880 and he's writing to the Philippian Church. You know, he 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.720 started this church in eighty fifty. He was going through 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.040 on a missionary journey and Philippi was the first church 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.320 that he found. It, well, was the first one that 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.640 he preached in in Europe, and so he goes through 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.320 there and starts a church, and he visits, and he 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.840 stops back by a few more times. 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.240 But by the time he's writing the Book of Philippians. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:07.680 There has been a turn of events and Paul is 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:12.000 in prison. Scholars debate as to whether Paul was in 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:17.559 Cesarea or whether he was in Rome. I take the 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.920 view that he was in Rome, and in Rome he 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:25.120 rented a house where he taught everybody who came to him. 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.000 He was under a form of house arrest for preaching 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.600 the gospel, and the Philippian church knew that he was 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:37.600 in prison. But these latest developments had the community at 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.880 the church at Philippiles shook up, and they're saying that 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.120 there has been a setback for the gospel because Paul, 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.040 who's kind of like the point guard for their team, 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.080 is locked in prison. That's kind of bad when your 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.160 point guard is on the bench in the championship and 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.480 they're worried about it. And so Paul writes to them 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:01.320 and he says, I need you to know something. 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:19.040 About what has happened. What had happened was Paul might say. 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:24.240 He says, we need to talk about what has happened 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.640 and in that phrase, that that phrase right there, for 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.360 everybody in the room would have a different meaning depending 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:34.160 on the time in. 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:35.440 Your life or the area of your life. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.240 You apply it to what happened when I was young, 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.119 what happened in my first marriage, or what what happened 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.760 that caused me to leave that job, what happened that 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.800 caused that relationship to fail? What what everybody say? 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:51.480 What happened? 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.800 Well, what happened was Paul got moved from his house 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.800 arrest to the palace guard where they would keep the 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.560 prisoners while they were waiting for the trial. And so 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.520 the church at Philippi is hearing secondhand information. There wasn't 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:07.720 good journalism in that day, very different than the day 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:13.040 we live in where the journalism is accurate. But Paul said, no, 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.920 I want you to hear this straight from me, what 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.400 has happened. But then it's interesting because he doesn't go 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.520 on to detail what happened to him, which is weird. 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:25.880 He goes, I want to talk to you about what 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.960 has happened to me. But then and I love this 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.120 and I'm excited to share it with you. I was 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.320 telling him the last time I preached this, that this 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.520 is one of those sermons that if I wrote it 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:40.120 just for myself, it was worth the time. I preach 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.760 this stuff too. I watched this in the imax theater 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.560 of my own mind before I present it to the 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.720 general public viewing audience, and it got to me that Paul, 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.840 instead of going on to describe what happened to him, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:59.040 which is he's falsely accused, he's been in prison for 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.600 his faith, he doesn't describe so much what has happened, 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.720 but instead he gives, and this is so important, an 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.760 interpretation not just of what has happened, because life really 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.320 isn't about what happened to you. Life really isn't about 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:18.320 what has happened. Life is more about what it means 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:28.600 to me. And Paul is not gonna spend the next 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:34.800 fourteen verses describing in detail what happened to it. He 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.840 makes a swift transition, can I teach this message? He 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:43.200 makes a swift transition to say, instead of going into 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.040 the details about what has happened, which is largely outside 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:46.760 of my control. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:48.360 Because there's a lot of things that happen to you 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:49.240 that are in your control. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.640 But sometimes you get in a situation where there's absolutely 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:52.720 nothing you can do about it. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.480 And so Paul said, since I can't change. 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.520 The what, let me talk to you for a moment 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:04.520 about the why. And he starts talking about the very 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:08.320 first thing that your kids want to know, the moment 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:14.280 they start learning to use their words to ruin your life, 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.920 and what they want to know about every decision, every bedtime, 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:24.880 every curfew, every rule, is why. And then you get 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:31.119 to invoke that great parental privilege of the response that 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.280 every parent ought to use every chance you get while 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:38.120 you can. And it starts with because, and it ends with. 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.520 I said so. And it feels good just to look at. 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:47.040 Your kids and say, cause I this is not a courtroom, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.000 this is not a negotiation. I do not have to 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.600 structure logic to help you understand my decision. It has 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.239 been implemented by the highest court in the lean. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.719 I said, so, lest why pick it up? 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.400 And they asked this question because it's the most important 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:08.240 question of life. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:09.640 Why why? 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.680 Why? Why? Why? 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:14.240 Why? Why? 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:16.520 And of course we grow out of this. We never 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.880 ask God why when we go through anything. That's only 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:30.600 children that do that. And so Paul says, life is 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:48.120 less about this and more. You don't realize how long 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:50.040 this word is until you write it in front of 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:54.040 twenty thousand people. He said, let me give you instead 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:58.400 of a description of my current state, let me give 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:04.040 you an interpretation of my state. You know what faith is. 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:14.280 Faith is an interpretation. Faith is an interpretation. Paul's faith 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:24.960 didn't change this, It changed this. Paul's faith didn't affect. 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.800 This, it informed this. Now. 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.399 One of the things I love about the Holy Spirit 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:38.360 in my life is that he is my interpreter. He 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:43.320 helps me take a situation and instead of starting with what, 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:50.520 I start with why. Instead of instead of starting with what, 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:55.040 I start with why. Here's the secret. You can survive 0:19:55.480 --> 0:20:04.600 any what if you have a good enough why. The 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:11.240 reason people quit when all hell breaks loose is because 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:12.000 they didn't have. 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.120 A strong enough why when they started. 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:20.600 The reason that people get so confused when they get 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.879 thrown in prison is because they didn't determine. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.359 Their purpose before they were behind doors. 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.480 I can't tell that this is getting through to you. 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:35.600 So help me and touch somebody next to you and 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:36.320 tell them. 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.440 You need a why. You need a why. And see, 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.560 here's the thing. You can't depend on God to give 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.600 you the why. He's already given you the why. I 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:50.560 put you on earth to glorify Me. So whatever happens 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.240 to you, you already know the why before you see 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:54.680 the why. 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:56.160 Here's the key. 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:03.280 Decide why before the what. Decide the why before the why. 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.880 Decide the why before the why. 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:10.200 I'm gonna repeat it. I'm a redundant preacher. Decide the why. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.120 So if I go into a situation and I don't 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:16.840 know what's gonna happen, I already predetermine the why. I'm 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.640 not waiting to find out why. I predecided why. I'm 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.800 here to glorify God. I'm here to see his goodness revealed. 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.399 In my life. That's my why. Teuch, somebody say, you 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:29.040 can't take my why. 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:31.640 You can throw me in prison, but you can't take 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.359 my why. You can disrupt my financial situation, but you 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:36.680 can't take my why. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:38.080 You might even mess. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.840 With my marriage, but you can't take my why. You 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:43.879 can mess with my car, but you can't take my why. 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.359 My why is my why. You can't have my why. 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.840 I've got a deep motivation, I've got a sense of purpose. 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:54.879 My life has a larger context. I'm here for the Gospel. 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.520 I'm here for his glory. I'm here to bring him pleasure. 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:06.040 That's my why. That's my why. That's my why. There's 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.320 no what in the world that can defeat you if 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:09.800 you know your why. 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.879 I got my why. That's how I survived. I survived 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:14.640 on a why. 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:16.720 The devil threw a lot of what at me, but 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:19.800 I had my why intact before the what started. 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:20.639 Happening, and I can. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:28.440 Make it through the what if I got a good why. 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:31.880 So let's look at how God might want to adjust 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:32.720 our interpretation. 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.200 Touch somebody say why why? That's the question. My dad 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:38.680 had this funny thing he used to do. 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:47.560 He would always interpret someone else's silence as judgment. So 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.800 he would tell me about somebody in the church and 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:54.719 he would say he thinks he's bitter than me. And 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:57.720 I would say why why do you think that? And 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.240 he would say, because he walked right by me and 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:01.199 didn't even speak to me. 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:06.200 Did you consider that perhaps he had something on his mind? 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:09.560 And my dad would hate you for seven years. 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:13.440 In fact, the lady stopped me at the baseball field 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.880 the other day and I had taken one of our 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.840 kids to the bathroom, and I was walking out of 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:22.000 the bathroom trying to get back to the field to 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:24.679 watch my kid play. And the lady said, well, just 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:28.120 walk by me then, and don't even ask how I'm 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:37.679 doing past her. How many want to know My response, 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:47.040 I simply said, right now, I'm dad more than i'm pastor. 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:51.800 I don't care if you like it. That's what I said. 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:58.679 I said, But hello, I didn't notice you. I was 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:08.080 going to the bathroom is private, but hello, it is interpretation. 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:11.199 I wasn't not thinking about her, I wasn't not speaking 0:24:11.240 --> 0:24:11.520 to her. 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:15.000 I was going to the bathroom. Would you please stop. 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:17.320 Drawing thought bubbles over other people's heads. 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:24.440 This was part of Paul's issue. 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:27.080 There were these other preachers who wanted to use his 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:30.359 imprisonment as an opportunity to kind of like get ahead 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:32.760 of Paul, and so they were preaching, but they were 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:35.720 preaching with bad motives, and Paul said, it doesn't even matter. 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:39.040 Doesn't even matter to me. The important thing is they're 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:43.520 preaching christ. Paul said, I'm so focused on my own motives. 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:50.879 I don't have time to worry about anybody Else's A 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:56.840 good marriage requires interpretation. Oh yes, it is a cross 0:24:56.840 --> 0:25:02.760 culture or relationship, and you need an interpreter. You do, 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:05.560 and the Lord will help you interpret it and say, 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:07.760 you know, she didn't really say that because she's mad 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:07.960 at you. 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:09.400 She just under a lot right now. 0:25:09.920 --> 0:25:12.040 And the Lord will help you with that, and it'll 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:14.359 help you to forgive offenses and it'll help you. 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:14.840 I'm telling you. 0:25:15.000 --> 0:25:21.639 Interpretation is everything in relationships. Interpretation is everything when you 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:26.240 face conflict. I can't count the number of times that 0:25:26.320 --> 0:25:28.960 I wake up on a Monday and two things go 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:30.320 wrong and I go, guess, it's going to be that 0:25:30.440 --> 0:25:36.640 kind of week. So I'm interpreting as an inconvenience, as 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:39.320 an omen that the universe has conspired against me with 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:44.000 the help of Lucifer himself, It's gonna be one of 0:25:44.040 --> 0:25:48.760 those weeks. Now, that's an interpretation. You are not experiencing life. 0:25:48.840 --> 0:25:59.760 You are experiencing your interpretation of life. Interpretation is the 0:25:59.800 --> 0:26:02.320 ability that Paul has to say, watch this. 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:05.640 I know you're hearing a lot about what has happened 0:26:05.960 --> 0:26:07.520 to me and. 0:26:07.520 --> 0:26:11.760 The church at Philippi apparently viewed it as a setback, 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:16.040 and it may be corny, but it's true. Paul said, 0:26:16.080 --> 0:26:20.400 It's not a setback, is a setup because it has 0:26:20.640 --> 0:26:23.600 actually served give me verse twelve on the screen. It 0:26:23.680 --> 0:26:27.760 has actually somebody say, actually, actually, if you have the 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:31.240 right interpretation of what I'm going through, it has actually 0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:36.240 served to advance the gospel. The word advance is interesting 0:26:36.280 --> 0:26:40.399 in the original language because it denotes making headway in 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:42.040 spite of severe blows. 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:44.119 It means I'm rolling with. 0:26:44.000 --> 0:26:48.040 The punches, but I'm still making progress. How many of 0:26:48.080 --> 0:26:52.040 you have had to roll with the punches to make progress. Yeah, 0:26:52.200 --> 0:26:55.359 it wasn't a steady straight line. It wasn't a path 0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:59.399 that was unencumbered. You weren't walking along smelling flowers, but 0:26:59.440 --> 0:27:02.720 you had to light uphill. But you may progress. And 0:27:02.720 --> 0:27:06.160 Paul is saying, don't get it twisted. I may look chain, 0:27:06.520 --> 0:27:10.359 but these chains on my ankles are actually serving to 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:13.880 advance God's purpose. Sometimes you got to look at what's 0:27:13.960 --> 0:27:17.280 on you and realize it's subject to what's in you. 0:27:17.600 --> 0:27:20.120 And God is doing something in my life. Right now, 0:27:20.280 --> 0:27:23.320 I'm speaking to somebody by the spirit of God. It 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:27.000 looks like I'm going backwards, but it's propelling me forward. 0:27:27.400 --> 0:27:28.840 It looks like a setback. 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:30.000 It's a set up. 0:27:30.200 --> 0:27:33.600 Touch somebody say, it's a set up. You got to 0:27:33.640 --> 0:27:37.320 get involved in this message. Touch somebody say, I'm moving forward. 0:27:38.320 --> 0:27:39.200 I know I might not. 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:41.919 Look like I'm moving forward. I might be slow and 0:27:42.000 --> 0:27:45.119 steady like the tortoise. But as long as I inch 0:27:45.240 --> 0:27:47.640 my way in the right direction. 0:27:47.600 --> 0:27:48.920 I cannot be stopped. 0:27:49.200 --> 0:27:50.560 I will not be blocked. 0:27:50.720 --> 0:27:54.480 The gospel cannot be contained. Get happy about the praisers. 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:04.240 You got a new interpretation. Oh it's really hard, Well, 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:09.920 God must be in it. You'll keep thinking, if it's 0:28:09.960 --> 0:28:14.080 really hard, it must not be God. Jesus didn't get 0:28:14.119 --> 0:28:16.479 to the cross with that line of logic, and you 0:28:16.560 --> 0:28:18.240 won't get to your destiny either. 0:28:18.680 --> 0:28:21.440 But you have to have a faith interpretation. 0:28:22.560 --> 0:28:27.600 Is as helpful. All right, don't get nervous, But that's 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:31.720 my introduction. Sit down, I'll be quick. But what really 0:28:31.760 --> 0:28:35.439 got me is this shift that Paul makes after talking 0:28:35.480 --> 0:28:39.640 about after talking about his why, he said, I'm in 0:28:39.720 --> 0:28:42.880 chains for Christ. And he said that around here, man, 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:46.160 he said, I got a captive audience, and I'm preaching 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:51.120 to all of them, the guards, the other prisoners. He said, 0:28:51.120 --> 0:28:53.480 don't even worry about it. I know y'all think this 0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:58.320 is a bad event. But faith is an interpretation of 0:28:58.360 --> 0:29:01.480 event that sees progress even in pain. 0:29:02.600 --> 0:29:04.560 My God, this preaching is rich. 0:29:05.040 --> 0:29:06.880 I feel like I need to go on the elevation 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:10.360 app and watch it back on Monday myself to get 0:29:10.480 --> 0:29:16.400 the fullness of this message that God gave me. You know, 0:29:16.520 --> 0:29:19.280 somebody wrote me online one time and said, you shouldn't 0:29:19.320 --> 0:29:21.520 say that you're preaching good when you're preaching, because you know, 0:29:21.560 --> 0:29:23.720 I'll stop preaching every once in a while and say, ah, 0:29:23.760 --> 0:29:26.960 I'm preaching good. And what I wanted to say is 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:30.520 if I don't like it, why in the world should you. 0:29:32.000 --> 0:29:34.200 I mean, I want to preach something that I need 0:29:34.600 --> 0:29:39.600 and that I like. But anyway, by the way, most 0:29:39.600 --> 0:29:41.960 people who criticize you are really just showing you that 0:29:42.000 --> 0:29:50.880 they don't like themselves very much interpretation though, and when 0:29:50.920 --> 0:29:53.240 you see it that way, you can have compassion and say, okay, 0:29:53.880 --> 0:29:55.520 well they must really be going through something. 0:29:55.520 --> 0:29:59.960 How can I help? He makes a shift. 0:30:00.160 --> 0:30:16.560 Everybody say shift happens. 0:30:11.920 --> 0:30:14.440 When he does it. I want to walk you through it. 0:30:14.480 --> 0:30:17.720 He picks up in verse eighteen, and the Bible is 0:30:17.760 --> 0:30:20.160 put in these verses for us. But originally there weren't 0:30:20.200 --> 0:30:22.680 like verses breaking up the different letters. 0:30:22.760 --> 0:30:24.160 It was just there so we can find it. 0:30:24.760 --> 0:30:27.000 But sometimes it jumps in in a weird place. And 0:30:27.040 --> 0:30:29.960 I think that happens in verse eighteen, because Paul says, 0:30:30.440 --> 0:30:33.040 verse eighteen, but what does it matter? And that's a 0:30:33.040 --> 0:30:36.560 phrase that you should use as well. What does it matter? 0:30:37.840 --> 0:30:38.560 What does it matter? 0:30:41.520 --> 0:30:42.400 Y'all pray for me that I. 0:30:42.360 --> 0:30:45.760 Would get better at that because I take little things 0:30:45.800 --> 0:30:46.640 really seriously. 0:30:47.520 --> 0:30:50.200 So he holly laughed when I think that point. That's 0:30:50.240 --> 0:30:54.080 a good sign. And he says, you know, what matters? 0:30:54.120 --> 0:30:57.280 The important thing, the priority is that in every way, 0:30:57.440 --> 0:31:00.960 whether from false motives or true through Christ is preached. 0:31:01.000 --> 0:31:01.880 That's what matters to me. 0:31:03.800 --> 0:31:06.280 And so everything that serves that purpose is fine with me, 0:31:06.320 --> 0:31:07.200 whether I like it or not. 0:31:07.280 --> 0:31:12.120 In the moment, that's what matters to me. What matters 0:31:12.120 --> 0:31:12.360 to you? 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:18.280 What matters to you, because what matters to you will 0:31:18.280 --> 0:31:20.080 determine the direction that you point your life in. 0:31:23.120 --> 0:31:24.880 What matters to you, that's your destination. 0:31:26.200 --> 0:31:28.600 So Paul says, what matters to me is that Christ 0:31:28.600 --> 0:31:31.760 has preached, and that's happening. So you know, whatever they're 0:31:31.800 --> 0:31:37.480 saying about me, that's fine. For the important thing is 0:31:37.520 --> 0:31:39.920 that in every way, whether from false motives or true, 0:31:40.000 --> 0:31:40.719 Christ is preached. 0:31:40.880 --> 0:31:42.120 Because of this, I rejoice. 0:31:42.160 --> 0:31:46.280 Now this next phrase to me should be a different 0:31:46.360 --> 0:31:47.840 verse they put it right. 0:31:47.720 --> 0:31:48.440 In the same verse. 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:51.160 But when Paul makes this next statement, he goes into 0:31:51.200 --> 0:31:55.120 a completely different mode. He goes in a different zone. 0:31:55.480 --> 0:31:56.960 And what I want to show you is the next 0:31:56.960 --> 0:31:59.560 skill that Paul teaches us. And this is not the 0:31:59.560 --> 0:32:10.800 skill of it interpretation. This is the skill come on, 0:32:10.880 --> 0:32:16.800 say it when you got it, anticipation. It feel like 0:32:17.040 --> 0:32:19.760 we'll a fortune up in here today, trying to buy 0:32:19.800 --> 0:32:20.080 a vow. 0:32:20.200 --> 0:32:21.720 Figure out what I'm writing on this court. 0:32:23.240 --> 0:32:26.560 He shifts and he says, now that I've given you 0:32:27.080 --> 0:32:32.480 my interpretation of what has happened, let me give you 0:32:32.640 --> 0:32:35.320 my anticipation of what. 0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:40.640 Say it of what happened. 0:32:40.640 --> 0:32:43.880 And on one level, Paul says, I don't know. They 0:32:44.000 --> 0:32:47.320 might kill me. I might live. I'm not sure about 0:32:47.360 --> 0:32:50.040 that part. But I want you to notice the frame 0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:54.240 of mind and the state of consciousness that Paul engages 0:32:54.640 --> 0:32:57.600 over these ten verses, starting with eighteen B where I 0:32:57.640 --> 0:33:00.120 read to you, where he said yes and I will 0:33:00.120 --> 0:33:01.240 continue to rejoice. 0:33:01.280 --> 0:33:04.240 He uses the word will. He's shifting. 0:33:04.320 --> 0:33:07.440 Now, I've spending off time talking to you about what happened. 0:33:07.720 --> 0:33:08.280 That's over. 0:33:08.600 --> 0:33:11.680 Can't control it, can't do anything about it. Okay, I've 0:33:11.720 --> 0:33:14.080 acknowledged it. I've interpreted it. That's that. 0:33:14.480 --> 0:33:15.959 Now I'm moving forward. 0:33:16.240 --> 0:33:18.440 Now I want to tell you what will happen, and 0:33:18.480 --> 0:33:20.640 I want us to do an exercise, okay, on every campus. 0:33:20.680 --> 0:33:22.560 So this is for those of you at Butler High 0:33:22.560 --> 0:33:24.960 Score Matthew's campus temporarily homeless. 0:33:25.160 --> 0:33:26.760 This is for our uptown location. 0:33:27.240 --> 0:33:31.440 This is for Weddington, This is for University City, this 0:33:31.520 --> 0:33:32.360 is for Lake Norman. 0:33:32.680 --> 0:33:35.000 This is even for those in Raleigh. 0:33:34.640 --> 0:33:38.240 North Carolina, and Toronto, Canada who had record attendance last weekend. 0:33:38.920 --> 0:33:41.200 I want all of you, whether you're good at math 0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:43.880 or not, I want you to count with me the 0:33:44.000 --> 0:33:46.720 number of times that the word will is used in 0:33:46.800 --> 0:33:49.840 these ten verses that start in verse eighteen. There's the 0:33:49.880 --> 0:33:51.760 first one. You already got it, so put your hand up. 0:33:51.960 --> 0:33:55.600 Is one, he said, I will continue to rejoice. 0:33:55.640 --> 0:34:00.960 Count out loud. That's next verse. I know he's. 0:34:00.800 --> 0:34:04.720 Confident about this that through your prayers and God's provision 0:34:04.840 --> 0:34:08.120 of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to 0:34:08.160 --> 0:34:11.200 me will turn out. 0:34:11.040 --> 0:34:12.080 For my deliverance. 0:34:12.600 --> 0:34:16.520 I eagerly expect and hope that I in no way 0:34:16.560 --> 0:34:20.200 be a shame, but have sufficient courage so that now 0:34:20.280 --> 0:34:23.800 as always, Christ be exalted in my body. 0:34:23.840 --> 0:34:25.439 Whether by life or by death. 0:34:25.480 --> 0:34:27.839 I don't know what, but I know why. And so 0:34:27.880 --> 0:34:30.600 for me to live as Christ and to die is gain. 0:34:30.640 --> 0:34:32.600 If I'm to go on living in the body, this 0:34:33.800 --> 0:34:36.400 mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? 0:34:36.480 --> 0:34:37.400 I do not know. 0:34:37.480 --> 0:34:39.440 I'm torn between the two. I desired apart and be 0:34:39.480 --> 0:34:41.640 with Christ. Would have put up with anything anymore, be 0:34:41.640 --> 0:34:44.160 a lot betterfies than heaven, much more necessary that I 0:34:44.239 --> 0:34:46.400 remain in the body for you. The midst of this, 0:34:46.520 --> 0:34:51.399 I know that I remain, and I continue with all 0:34:51.400 --> 0:34:57.920 of you for your progress. Maybe sometimes our life is 0:34:58.000 --> 0:35:00.600 meant to be more about somebody else's price, rest in 0:35:00.600 --> 0:35:01.040 our own. 0:35:06.200 --> 0:35:07.160 Come on, let's keep counting. 0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:08.480 And I just wanted to point that out because I 0:35:08.480 --> 0:35:10.200 was talking about progress, and I wanted you to know 0:35:10.239 --> 0:35:17.120 sometimes it's not all about you, so that through my 0:35:17.239 --> 0:35:21.080 being with you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus abound 0:35:21.120 --> 0:35:28.440 on account of me. Whatever happens, what has happened, whatever happens, 0:35:29.280 --> 0:35:31.080 conduct yourselves in a minute word of the Gospel Christ, 0:35:31.080 --> 0:35:32.120 and one that come see your on and hear about 0:35:32.120 --> 0:35:36.040 you my absence, I will know that you stand firm 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:38.440 in one spirit. Now, only about three of you counted 0:35:38.480 --> 0:35:42.600 with me through the whole time. But if you counted ten, 0:35:44.360 --> 0:35:50.640 you counted right. Ten verses and ten times. He doesn't 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:58.319 say has, he says will. He doesn't say maybe, He 0:35:58.360 --> 0:36:05.480 says will why because he has an eager expectation. Did 0:36:05.560 --> 0:36:08.160 you see it in verse twenty? And this is what 0:36:08.200 --> 0:36:11.239 we need? Okay, he said, I eagerly expect and hope. 0:36:11.280 --> 0:36:19.239 How many are enjoying the Bible lesson today? He said, 0:36:19.239 --> 0:36:25.640 I eagerly twenty expect and hope. I eagerly expect and hope. 0:36:26.200 --> 0:36:30.960 I was interested to learn Jody Jennings that in Greek eagerly, 0:36:31.000 --> 0:36:33.719 expect and hope are not verbs, but they're nouns, and 0:36:33.760 --> 0:36:37.560 they're joined together by the word kai in Greek means and, 0:36:37.560 --> 0:36:40.520 and they have within them the idea. 0:36:42.000 --> 0:36:44.759 And this is where I really need you to focus, because. 0:36:46.600 --> 0:36:50.759 I flunk Greek in college, and then I took it 0:36:50.800 --> 0:36:52.200 again in seminary. 0:36:53.200 --> 0:36:55.280 And I passed with a C plus. 0:36:56.280 --> 0:36:58.560 And I'm only telling you that for full disclosure, to 0:36:58.640 --> 0:37:01.840 let you know that I don't typically. 0:37:01.480 --> 0:37:03.120 Walk around my house quoting Greek. 0:37:05.160 --> 0:37:08.040 But when I saw this in the text, It was 0:37:08.080 --> 0:37:10.440 worth bringing out because when Paul says. 0:37:11.440 --> 0:37:14.560 I eagerly expect. 0:37:14.960 --> 0:37:18.319 He uses a word here's what's crazy, that has never 0:37:18.360 --> 0:37:22.279 been used before. He made up his own word to 0:37:22.400 --> 0:37:24.680 describe the kind of hope that you have to have 0:37:25.800 --> 0:37:27.560 to survive in a situation. 0:37:27.120 --> 0:37:28.560 Where there seems to be no way out. 0:37:30.200 --> 0:37:33.000 Paul said, this is the kind of hope that there 0:37:33.040 --> 0:37:37.560 is no vocabulary for. So Paul had to take three 0:37:37.600 --> 0:37:41.680 words and put them together to make a new word 0:37:41.760 --> 0:37:44.840 to describe the kind of hope that can make you 0:37:44.880 --> 0:37:47.680 look at your kid on drugs and your husband acting 0:37:47.760 --> 0:37:51.759 crazy and your money low and your emotions erect, and 0:37:51.800 --> 0:37:54.480 say I still have an expectation. 0:37:54.239 --> 0:37:55.720 And I still have a hope. 0:37:55.840 --> 0:37:58.360 And so he looks through his vocabulary he goes, I 0:37:58.360 --> 0:37:59.759 can't even I can't even think of. 0:37:59.760 --> 0:38:01.799 How to tell you how I feel about it right now. 0:38:01.960 --> 0:38:04.080 I can't. There's no word. So I'm gonna I'm gonna 0:38:04.080 --> 0:38:04.680 make one up. 0:38:04.880 --> 0:38:07.440 And uh And he makes up this word, and I'm 0:38:07.440 --> 0:38:08.879 gonna give it to you right now, and you're gonna 0:38:08.960 --> 0:38:13.239 use it this week. The word in Greek is it's 0:38:13.239 --> 0:38:26.080 made up of three words. Yeah, come on, let's say 0:38:26.120 --> 0:38:34.320 it together. On the ground kind of three one two three, 0:38:35.520 --> 0:38:35.919 All right. 0:38:35.840 --> 0:38:44.239 We're gonna need some remedial classes. Apo carra. 0:38:45.640 --> 0:38:59.720 Dokia Appo carra Dokia, apacarra, appercara, donkia Come on, apacar 0:38:59.800 --> 0:39:00.200 do you. 0:39:03.080 --> 0:39:03.360 Opo? 0:39:05.040 --> 0:39:11.880 It means to turn away with concentration, ignoring other interests. 0:39:13.120 --> 0:39:13.960 That's the prefix. 0:39:15.000 --> 0:39:16.880 You know. Paul is good because I could preach a 0:39:16.920 --> 0:39:20.880 whole sermon just on his prefix Appo. He said, I'm 0:39:20.920 --> 0:39:23.160 in a situation right now when if I look to 0:39:23.239 --> 0:39:25.719 my left, I see prison walls. If I look to 0:39:25.840 --> 0:39:28.320 my right, I see prison walls. If I look to 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:31.320 my feet, I see a prisoner's chains. So I gotta 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:37.000 turn my head intentionally from what's over here and what's 0:39:37.080 --> 0:39:40.239 over here. Everybody said, Appo, sometimes you got to turn 0:39:40.280 --> 0:39:43.799 your head from what's here and what's here and what's here. 0:39:44.040 --> 0:39:46.680 And so we said, I turn my head on purpose, 0:39:47.239 --> 0:39:53.680 ignoring what I could be focused on. Apo apo apo 0:39:55.120 --> 0:40:01.840 apakarra Karra means head. It doesn't require much explanation. It 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:10.600 literally means head. Apacara Pacara Dokia company that was originally 0:40:11.160 --> 0:40:15.160 founded in Sweden that sells ready to assemble home furniture 0:40:16.080 --> 0:40:24.680 and appliances and accessories dokia. Dokia originally means I'm trying 0:40:24.719 --> 0:40:27.600 man to stretch forward. 0:40:28.239 --> 0:40:31.080 So when you put it together, you get this meaning. 0:40:31.400 --> 0:40:32.440 And I'm gonna teach this to. 0:40:32.480 --> 0:40:36.480 You and we are gonna break it out on whatever 0:40:36.800 --> 0:40:41.880 situation comes up in your life this week that tries 0:40:42.000 --> 0:40:45.719 to break your focus or steal your faith. You need 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:51.239 a little bit of apocara dokia, which means stretching the 0:40:51.520 --> 0:40:53.240 head forward. 0:40:54.080 --> 0:40:57.080 You missed it. I'm coming to this side. He said, 0:40:57.400 --> 0:41:00.879 I'm in a prison cell right now and I can't move. 0:41:01.000 --> 0:41:02.320 I wish I was a better preacher. 0:41:02.520 --> 0:41:04.920 If I was a better preacher, you'd get excited about 0:41:04.960 --> 0:41:08.240 apple caara dokia because he said, I can't move my feet, 0:41:09.280 --> 0:41:14.040 I can't move my body, but I'm stretching my head 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:22.720 forward toward the future, and so I will rejoice because 0:41:22.800 --> 0:41:29.319 I'm stretching my head forward. Would you touch three people, 0:41:29.400 --> 0:41:33.400 tell him stretch your head, stretch your head. See here's 0:41:33.440 --> 0:41:36.360 the problem with a lot of people. A lot of people. 0:41:36.880 --> 0:41:42.279 We have our heads so far up our past that we. 0:41:44.960 --> 0:41:46.000 That we caiss. 0:41:47.840 --> 0:41:49.440 That we can't see our future. 0:41:50.480 --> 0:41:54.920 But God brought you to church today that gets your. 0:41:54.960 --> 0:41:58.880 Head out your past and give you a little apple, 0:41:59.000 --> 0:42:00.240 kara tokyo. 0:42:00.960 --> 0:42:02.560 And ignor expectation. 0:42:03.520 --> 0:42:05.959 I'm stretching my head toward what's next. 0:42:06.520 --> 0:42:08.880 I'm not stuck in what was, I'm not. 0:42:09.000 --> 0:42:10.360 Worried about what's gonna be. 0:42:10.640 --> 0:42:14.879 I'm stretching my head toward Monday. I'm stretching my head 0:42:15.000 --> 0:42:19.439 toward next year. I'm stretching my head toward retirement. I'm 0:42:19.560 --> 0:42:21.680 stretching my head toward fullness. 0:42:22.080 --> 0:42:23.120 I'm stretching my. 0:42:23.280 --> 0:42:27.040 Head toward healing. And I'm stretching my head toward my mission. 0:42:29.320 --> 0:42:32.400 Let's practice. Jump up on your feet. This is a 0:42:32.560 --> 0:42:36.000 series called functional faith. Shove your neighbor, tell them stretch 0:42:36.040 --> 0:42:40.240 your head. If you're gonna be fit, you gotta stretch. 0:42:40.600 --> 0:42:43.400 If you're gonna have faith, you gotta stretch. If you 0:42:43.520 --> 0:42:44.879 don't stretch, you might break. 0:42:45.280 --> 0:42:46.080 So let's stretch. 0:42:46.160 --> 0:42:48.640 Come on, let's stretch our hand strings. First of all, 0:42:48.960 --> 0:42:51.239 I know how to stretch my hand strings. I know 0:42:51.320 --> 0:42:53.880 how to stretch my hand strings. That's about as far 0:42:53.920 --> 0:42:55.520 down as I'm willing to go in this tight suit 0:42:55.880 --> 0:42:56.800 to demonstrat it to you. 0:42:58.080 --> 0:43:02.520 Bad things, man, bad things. But I know how to. 0:43:02.520 --> 0:43:05.839 Stretch my hand strings. I know how to stretch my back. 0:43:06.640 --> 0:43:08.960 I know how to I know how to stretch my body, 0:43:09.239 --> 0:43:14.279 but nobody teaches us how to stretch our head. Appercrudokia. 0:43:14.960 --> 0:43:20.520 Stretch your head, Appercrudokia. There is a brighter day. Appercrudokia. 0:43:20.840 --> 0:43:24.359 It does make a difference. Opper Carudokia. God is working 0:43:24.440 --> 0:43:28.640 in my situation. Come on, say it, Appercrudokia. Tell the 0:43:28.680 --> 0:43:32.640 devil what you got. Tell him devil, I got that, Appercoradokia. 0:43:33.600 --> 0:43:36.640 And the next time you run up on me with discouragement, 0:43:37.040 --> 0:43:39.480 you need to know. I'm turning my head and I'm 0:43:39.640 --> 0:43:40.719 stretching my neck. 0:43:43.560 --> 0:43:46.439 Apa Cardoki, all the dample. 0:43:50.719 --> 0:43:51.000 Come on. 0:43:51.280 --> 0:43:55.560 This is better than Brazilian jiu jitsu. This is better 0:43:55.640 --> 0:43:59.600 than taekwon though. This is gonna teach you how to 0:44:00.040 --> 0:44:02.920 stick your neck out. And I got good news for you. 0:44:03.360 --> 0:44:06.120 Paul said, it doesn't matter if they kill me or 0:44:06.239 --> 0:44:10.439 they let me live, because this is not a situational interpretation. 0:44:14.360 --> 0:44:16.880 This is not a situational anticipation. 0:44:17.320 --> 0:44:20.160 I feel like preaching this. I'm gone teaching now. I'm 0:44:20.239 --> 0:44:22.719 in full all preaching mode. On the count of three, 0:44:23.000 --> 0:44:25.120 when I say three, I want you to start with 0:44:25.239 --> 0:44:29.640 your head to the right. You're of the right. And 0:44:29.719 --> 0:44:32.200 when I say three, I want you to turn your head. 0:44:32.440 --> 0:44:35.399 And the symbolic of all of the distractions that aren't 0:44:35.440 --> 0:44:37.600 going to distract you this week, and all of the 0:44:37.719 --> 0:44:40.120 cynicism that you're not even going to pay any attention 0:44:40.239 --> 0:44:42.279 to this week, I want you to turn your head. 0:44:42.400 --> 0:44:44.319 I want you to give them an APPO on three. 0:44:44.440 --> 0:44:47.480 This is your APO. What two three? Turn it? You 0:44:47.560 --> 0:44:47.880 missed it? 0:44:47.920 --> 0:44:49.960 One't quick enough? Turn your head to the left. Come on, 0:44:50.040 --> 0:44:52.640 we got a practice. I am your spiritual trainer. 0:44:52.920 --> 0:44:55.160 I'm trying to teach you what to do when life 0:44:55.200 --> 0:44:57.320 gets stuff and I'm not here for you. And you 0:44:57.480 --> 0:44:59.319 look into the right and you looking to the left. 0:44:59.480 --> 0:45:01.600 On the count, I want you to jerk your head 0:45:01.680 --> 0:45:03.400 forward and give yourself whiplash. 0:45:03.560 --> 0:45:06.520 One two three APO. Do it again. Head to the right. 0:45:06.840 --> 0:45:08.719 You're looking at that person, trying to see what they 0:45:08.760 --> 0:45:10.840 think of you, looking at that situation. 0:45:10.600 --> 0:45:12.320 Trying to see how that's gonna turn out. But on 0:45:12.400 --> 0:45:14.239 the count of three, we got some APO for the devil. 0:45:14.440 --> 0:45:16.359 On the counter three turn your head, shout OPO one 0:45:16.440 --> 0:45:19.440 two three. That's the first step. Now we need the 0:45:19.520 --> 0:45:22.879 donkie Everybody say donkyo. Now we need that thing where 0:45:22.920 --> 0:45:26.160 you stretch your neck like a giraffe, where you look 0:45:26.280 --> 0:45:29.080 forward to your future and smile at it, where you 0:45:29.200 --> 0:45:32.480 look forward to problems and difficulties and say, I got 0:45:32.600 --> 0:45:35.680 something for you called the Spirit of God for me 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:36.520 to live. 0:45:36.360 --> 0:45:38.640 As Christ and to guy is game? 0:45:39.080 --> 0:45:40.080 What's Paul saying? 0:45:40.400 --> 0:45:44.280 He's saying, either way this turns out, I'm coming out ahead. 0:45:45.920 --> 0:45:48.040 You missed it, he said. 0:45:48.080 --> 0:45:51.080 I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I'm headed 0:45:51.520 --> 0:45:55.680 in the right direction. Somebody shout, somebody shout, somebody shout, 0:45:55.760 --> 0:45:59.680 somebody's shout, somebody shout, somebody's shout somebody. I'm not there yet, 0:46:00.120 --> 0:46:04.480 but I'm headed in the right correction. I got my 0:46:04.680 --> 0:46:08.719 focus on, I got my brave on, I got my 0:46:08.960 --> 0:46:12.560 courage home, I got my whole pong, I got my 0:46:12.760 --> 0:46:13.200 faith on. 0:46:14.040 --> 0:46:15.560 Get your hands out your pocket. 0:46:15.840 --> 0:46:18.440 And when I say three, I want you to stretch 0:46:18.520 --> 0:46:20.040 your neck towards your future. 0:46:20.280 --> 0:46:21.800 W two three strategy. 0:46:22.400 --> 0:46:23.000 You missed it. 0:46:23.280 --> 0:46:24.640 Let's do it on every campus. 0:46:24.760 --> 0:46:25.960 Come on on the counter of. 0:46:26.000 --> 0:46:27.479 Three, stretch your head. 0:46:27.760 --> 0:46:28.719 I put Carl. 0:46:28.640 --> 0:46:32.160 Tokyo and tell the devil I'm coming toward my future 0:46:32.480 --> 0:46:33.040 in faith. 0:46:33.320 --> 0:46:40.000 What two three again? What two three what two three? 0:46:40.360 --> 0:46:40.759 I pull? 0:46:40.920 --> 0:46:44.319 What two three? Dora? What two three? 0:46:44.640 --> 0:46:45.080 Donkyo? 0:46:45.239 --> 0:46:46.480 What two three? 0:46:47.400 --> 0:46:47.440 What? 0:46:47.920 --> 0:46:53.040 Two three? You got it? You got it, you got it, 0:46:54.200 --> 0:46:57.800 you got it, you got it, you got it. 0:46:58.719 --> 0:47:01.840 Clad like you got it, Shout like you got it, 0:47:02.880 --> 0:47:04.160 Rejoice like you gotta. 0:47:05.440 --> 0:47:12.560 I will, God tell you to rejoice thord to. 0:47:12.719 --> 0:47:15.360 Me, I feel cud about it. 0:47:15.800 --> 0:47:21.040 To live is Christ the dying guy, And I'm coming 0:47:21.120 --> 0:47:34.879 out ahead. Yeah, wha two three? Whoa two three? 0:47:35.680 --> 0:47:39.600 This your new cadence this week. You're not going into 0:47:39.680 --> 0:47:43.560 this week like thinking about what happened when you were thirteen. 0:47:47.200 --> 0:47:53.840 I got some for regret. It's called applecara, donkia turn. 0:47:53.760 --> 0:47:56.640 My head from that. If I think about that too long, 0:47:56.680 --> 0:47:57.480 I get depressed. 0:47:58.360 --> 0:48:00.359 If I think about that too long, I start get bitter. 0:48:01.360 --> 0:48:03.920 If I look over here, I might get jealous. If 0:48:03.960 --> 0:48:06.440 I look over there, I might get discouraged. So I 0:48:06.520 --> 0:48:12.240 got stretch my head toward my future in faith. 0:48:13.520 --> 0:48:21.759 I will, I will, I will riduals now. Stretch your 0:48:21.800 --> 0:48:24.600 hands to heave it. You stretch your head now, stretch 0:48:24.640 --> 0:48:28.360 your hands to let the Lord know. 0:48:29.920 --> 0:48:32.000 That what matters to me is what matters to you. 0:48:35.200 --> 0:48:44.160 I have an eager expectation Applecarudokia. My expectation creates my hope. 0:48:45.800 --> 0:48:50.520 And I don't know what, but I know why, and 0:48:50.640 --> 0:48:53.480 I can survive the why when I know the why. 0:48:53.640 --> 0:48:58.439 Lift your hands, Lord, We thank you for the word 0:48:58.520 --> 0:49:02.520 that you gave us today. We thank you for the 0:49:02.640 --> 0:49:07.400 instruction that you gave us through Paul. He told us 0:49:07.480 --> 0:49:12.440 that we got to stretch our heads forward. 0:49:13.719 --> 0:49:15.719 Forward, that we. 0:49:15.760 --> 0:49:17.799 Can't do anything about the time that we've lost. We've 0:49:17.800 --> 0:49:22.400 got to forget what's behind us and strained toward what's ahead. 0:49:24.320 --> 0:49:26.160 That we got to get our eyes fixed on where 0:49:26.160 --> 0:49:34.240 we're headed, to get our lives headed in the right direction. 0:49:36.120 --> 0:49:38.480 And I pray it over your people now in Jesus' name, 0:49:40.800 --> 0:49:46.440 that they would experience this week significant steps forward. 0:49:47.560 --> 0:49:51.160 Everybody, say forward forward, look at me for a moment. 0:49:51.440 --> 0:49:54.160 I asked a race car driver one time, if you 0:49:54.200 --> 0:49:56.960 were going to teach one thing about driving that people 0:49:57.000 --> 0:50:00.000 wouldn't know, what would it be? He said, You've always 0:50:00.040 --> 0:50:02.160 he's got to keep your eyes where you want to go. 0:50:02.800 --> 0:50:04.759 When you're on a track, you tend to look at 0:50:04.800 --> 0:50:06.759 what you don't want to hit and what you don't 0:50:06.760 --> 0:50:09.560 want to happen. He said that will always cause you 0:50:09.640 --> 0:50:12.359 to crash every single time. 0:50:14.200 --> 0:50:20.480 What was he talking about? Applecaradokia? Stretch your head. 0:50:22.320 --> 0:50:22.720 Forward. 0:50:24.400 --> 0:50:27.640 Forward. I can just see it this week that you're 0:50:27.680 --> 0:50:29.920 going to preach this back to the people that. 0:50:29.960 --> 0:50:32.320 You love, and you're going to preach it without words 0:50:32.719 --> 0:50:35.800 when they start talking about what went wrong, And I 0:50:35.920 --> 0:50:36.360 just want. 0:50:36.239 --> 0:50:38.600 You to look at him and like a turtle coming 0:50:38.600 --> 0:50:39.160 out of his shell. 0:50:39.320 --> 0:50:46.399 Just I want moms to do this to your daughter 0:50:46.480 --> 0:50:51.680 this week, But most importantly, I want you to do 0:50:51.760 --> 0:51:05.680 it for yourself. I've already been practicing this in my 0:51:05.800 --> 0:51:08.880 own life as I've prepared to preach it to you, 0:51:10.000 --> 0:51:13.279 and it's amazing how just a quick shift stretch of 0:51:13.320 --> 0:51:17.279 the head can get you out of discouragement, can get 0:51:17.320 --> 0:51:22.440 you out of defeat, can get you out of despair. Forward, everybody, 0:51:22.520 --> 0:51:26.920 say forward. That's where I'm looking. I'm looking forward. I 0:51:27.000 --> 0:51:29.160 can't go into this week like this. I can't go 0:51:29.280 --> 0:51:31.719 into this week like this. How am I going into 0:51:31.760 --> 0:51:36.520 this week? I'm going say it forward? Are there any 0:51:36.600 --> 0:51:38.760 forward thinkers in the house? 0:51:42.480 --> 0:51:43.520 Thank you for joining us. 0:51:43.880 --> 0:51:46.320 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:51:46.440 --> 0:51:49.880 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:51:50.360 --> 0:51:52.560 You can click the link in the description to give 0:51:52.640 --> 0:51:56.560 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:51:56.640 --> 0:51:57.760 more information. 0:51:57.840 --> 0:52:00.920 And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You 0:52:01.040 --> 0:52:02.160 can share it with your friends. 0:52:02.480 --> 0:52:04.759 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:52:04.840 --> 0:52:06.920 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:52:06.960 --> 0:52:07.799 Elevation Church. 0:52:07.920 --> 0:52:09.520 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.