Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
Speaker 2: podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 2: it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: I have an exciting word to present to you today. Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: well let's do it. Then let's get in Philippians chapter
Speaker 2: one together. I'm just going to share two verses that
Speaker 2: introduced two different sections of Philippians chapter one, and then
Speaker 2: I can come back and fill it in. I so
Speaker 2: enjoyed Holly's message last week. She was preaching on James
Speaker 2: and Ruth and just everybody. Old Testament, New Testament. She
Speaker 2: helped us, she instructed us, she inspired us.
Speaker 1: Look good doing it. I'm not gonna lie to you.
Speaker 2: I was a little distracted at times and not thinking
Speaker 2: about Jesus at all.
Speaker 1: But the Lord is good. Touch somebody say he's good.
Speaker 2: The Lord is good, and so I want to keep
Speaker 2: on going in the flow that I've been in on
Speaker 2: functional faith. I've been hearing people that have been with
Speaker 2: me like nine ten years saying this.
Speaker 1: Is my favorite series you've ever done.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not saying the other ones weren't good,
Speaker 2: but this was really helping me. So I figured, well,
Speaker 2: you know, if you've got momentum in an area, just
Speaker 2: stay on it. So I'm going to stay on this
Speaker 2: idea of functional faith for however long it takes you
Speaker 2: to start living it out.
Speaker 1: We might be here a while.
Speaker 2: Look at Philippians Chapter one, verse twelve, and I am
Speaker 2: bogged down in this chapter. Can't do it justice in
Speaker 2: the time that's allotted today, But I do my best.
Speaker 2: Where Paul says, now I want you to know, brothers
Speaker 2: and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually
Speaker 2: served to advance the gospel.
Speaker 1: That's one heading. And then go to verse twenty.
Speaker 2: He says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will
Speaker 2: in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage
Speaker 2: so that now, as always by, Paul's really sticking his
Speaker 2: neck out here, isn't he He's facing a trial before Caesar, and.
Speaker 1: He's boasting of the power of God.
Speaker 2: And he said, you know, I have a feeling that
Speaker 2: whatever happens to me, that God's going to use it.
Speaker 2: And so I eagerly expect and hope that I will
Speaker 2: in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage
Speaker 2: so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in
Speaker 2: my body, just like God sell me through before to
Speaker 2: show himself strong on my behalf in this situation too.
Speaker 2: Now as always Christ will be exalted in my body,
Speaker 2: whether by life or by death. Rather than a title today,
Speaker 2: for the message, I'm going to be teaching a little
Speaker 2: bit more than I'm going to be preaching. So I
Speaker 2: want to use a question to get your thinking today.
Speaker 2: And the question is are you headed in the right direction?
Speaker 2: Are you headed in the right direction? And we'll do
Speaker 2: our best to consider that and take a look at it.
Speaker 2: But let's pray before we sit down and learn. Lord,
Speaker 2: open our hearts. Your word needs good ground if it
Speaker 2: is to grow and produce. So we ask you till
Speaker 2: us open us and make us receptive and ready.
Speaker 1: Somebody say I'm ready. Tell the Lord say I'm ready.
Speaker 2: In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated. Thank you, band.
Speaker 2: I just love our worship teams so much. I love
Speaker 2: our production teams, parking teams. I love our children's ministry teams.
Speaker 2: Somebody told me that the e kids album might have
Speaker 2: been a Billboard album on the chart or something like that.
Speaker 2: That's pretty cool on the Billboard charts with the kids album.
Speaker 2: I didn't verify it, but it sounds cool, so I
Speaker 2: just thought i'd say it.
Speaker 1: We'll look it up later.
Speaker 2: Look here because I want to I want to teach
Speaker 2: today and I need a little bit of grace.
Speaker 1: See about my handwriting.
Speaker 2: It's gonna make you question whether or not you can
Speaker 2: sit under a pastor with the level of intelligence that
Speaker 2: my handwriting indicates. I have sent people birthday cards before,
Speaker 2: handwritten birthday cards because I'm a I'm a good man,
Speaker 2: I'm a thoughtful person, and they didn't have any more
Speaker 2: courtesy than to respond to me talking about my handwriting
Speaker 2: on the handwritten birthday card.
Speaker 1: Never mind what.
Speaker 2: I said, the words of life that I spoke into
Speaker 2: their soul. They say things like, wow, do you do
Speaker 2: you do you get your kids to write the birthday
Speaker 2: cards for you? I write that for you, and well,
Speaker 2: that's just mean. So I figured that you're not that
Speaker 2: type of people that you are loving and accepting. And
Speaker 2: the message I want to use today requires a little
Speaker 2: bit of writing. I want to write some words on
Speaker 2: the board and kind of teach from that standpoint. So
Speaker 2: I want to plead for your forgiveness of my handwriting,
Speaker 2: if you'd be willing to forgive me for my handwriting
Speaker 2: in advance and for anything that I misspell, because there's
Speaker 2: no spell check on a whiteboard, and so we're going
Speaker 2: to try to do it, but you know, just kind
Speaker 2: of to break it down. And I want you in
Speaker 2: the posture of a learner today so the message can
Speaker 2: last past when I finished preaching it and go into
Speaker 2: your week with you. So you may want to write
Speaker 2: some of these things down. And the first thing that
Speaker 2: I want to mention from the text and really from
Speaker 2: life is progress. Because they say, they say anything sounds
Speaker 2: official if you started with they say. They say that
Speaker 2: one of the basic elements and requirements of human happiness
Speaker 2: is a sense of progress.
Speaker 1: You can't be happy in a sustained.
Speaker 2: Way if you don't feel like you're making progress in
Speaker 2: life and in different areas of your life.
Speaker 1: And I think that's true.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm a little bit more ambitious than most people.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm not most people.
Speaker 2: I'm me, but I certainly need a sense of progress
Speaker 2: to stick with something. Yeah, I don't show up for
Speaker 2: something that's not working. I don't just show up again
Speaker 2: and again and again and again. If it's not working,
Speaker 2: I'll just stay home. And by the way, that's why
Speaker 2: some men quit their marriages because it feels like they
Speaker 2: never get back to that original state of love that
Speaker 2: they had, and so it feels like they're going backwards
Speaker 2: in the relationship. And a man won't show up to
Speaker 2: play a game that he never can win at and
Speaker 2: women too. I mean, it goes both ways, but we
Speaker 2: all need a sense of progress. Everybody say progress.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you sound good today, you sound like you want
Speaker 1: to make progress. I sat down with some of.
Speaker 2: Our staff members this week and coached them for different areas.
Speaker 1: You do know that I work between Sundays.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so in leading the church one of the things
Speaker 2: that I am privileged to do, not as much as
Speaker 2: I would want to, but sometimes I get to do
Speaker 2: a one on one session or a group session of coaching.
Speaker 2: And three of the staff members who are in their
Speaker 2: twenties asked a variation of the same question. I thought
Speaker 2: it was interesting, and the idea was I do a
Speaker 2: lot in ministry and I work hard, but it's hard
Speaker 2: for me to tell am I making a difference? Or
Speaker 2: is it effective? And essentially they're asking, am I making progress?
Speaker 2: Because I don't mind working hard. I'm a hard worker,
Speaker 2: but I need to know that it's working. And in
Speaker 2: ministry that's hard to tell sometimes because you don't often
Speaker 2: go home with a checked off list. It's not like
Speaker 2: you mode seven lawns today and you can see the progress.
Speaker 2: And so it's very difficult to see ministerial progress. And
Speaker 2: Paul certainly knows something about that, who's writing in the
Speaker 2: Book of Philippians. If progressed, then is essential to human happiness.
Speaker 2: And if we can't feel satisfied and fulfilled in our
Speaker 2: lives without progress, either as moms or as husbands, or
Speaker 2: as employees in a church, or as business owners, or
Speaker 2: as students or as Christians, then then how do we
Speaker 2: make progress? And so you would say to me, and
Speaker 2: you would be correct, that effort is essential to progress.
Speaker 2: It amazes me by the way how something that sounds
Speaker 2: so simple and seems so obvious seems to have skipped
Speaker 2: a whole generation. Talk to me, how in the world
Speaker 2: do you expect progress without effort? How you expect to
Speaker 2: ace what you didn't study for? How you expect to
Speaker 2: burn something off when you won't move what you got touch.
Speaker 2: Somebody say effort. So I need effort if I'm going
Speaker 2: to have progress, right, I need to push towards something
Speaker 2: I need. I need to move towards something I need.
Speaker 2: I need effort. It's gonna take effort. However, what I
Speaker 2: would suggest to you today kind of my thought pattern
Speaker 2: is that effort alone does not produce progress.
Speaker 1: Effort alone is not enough. Now you know this.
Speaker 2: If you've had a kid with a learning disability, and
Speaker 2: some of you are school teachers, you can give.
Speaker 1: A kid more and more and more and more work.
Speaker 2: But if they are not learning correctly the way that
Speaker 2: they need to learn, they'll eventually conclude I'm not a
Speaker 2: good student because they're not making progress and the effort
Speaker 2: doesn't help it.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you another thing.
Speaker 2: You won't make progress just because you're passionate about something.
Speaker 2: Passion is not enough for progress. You can sincerely want
Speaker 2: to make something better. I see people who sincerely want
Speaker 2: to get in better shape but never learned how so
Speaker 2: we don't just need effort.
Speaker 1: Because you can see p people who go to the
Speaker 1: gym six days a week and don't look like it.
Speaker 2: Oh it's quiet. It's quiet because you've been there. Effort
Speaker 2: alone does not produce progress. I give you a little
Speaker 2: bit fuller equation. Effort plus direction equals progress. I thought
Speaker 2: y'allould say amen to that. I mean, I know it's real.
Speaker 2: Common sense on one level is that in order to
Speaker 2: make progress, I got to know that I'm headed in
Speaker 2: the right direction.
Speaker 1: I preach from Charlotte.
Speaker 2: If we want to go to Columbia, South Carolina, or Miami, Florida,
Speaker 2: and I head north, I might get there quick, driving
Speaker 2: ninety miles an hour, But is it progress? Progress is
Speaker 2: determined by destination and my proximity to the destination. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to say that if you get turned around the
Speaker 2: wrong way, you'll get there fast. But when you get there,
Speaker 2: you'll realize this ain't Miami, this ain't Columbia because I
Speaker 2: didn't have direction.
Speaker 1: Now, I mean, I drove hard.
Speaker 2: I had my hand on ten and my hand on two,
Speaker 2: but I woke up in the wrong place. Because progress
Speaker 2: is more than effort. Progress is effort in the right direction.
Speaker 2: Now I bring it up because could it be in
Speaker 2: your life that you've been pointing your effort in the
Speaker 2: wrong direction, Feeling tired, feeling frustrated, feeling stressed, feeling feeling
Speaker 2: burned out, feeling like it didn't matter, feeling like it
Speaker 2: didn't work. And sometimes all you need is somebody to
Speaker 2: come along and point you in the right direction. As
Speaker 2: your neighbor, where are you headed? As the other neighbor,
Speaker 2: Where are you headed? It's an important question, and I'm
Speaker 2: grateful that Paul get gives us a picture, a picture
Speaker 2: of how he sees progress. How cool is it that
Speaker 2: we not only get a narrative of Paul's missionary exploits
Speaker 2: in the Book of Acts, but we have the letters
Speaker 2: that he wrote. Because in the Book of Acts we
Speaker 2: see what Paul did. In the letters that he wrote,
Speaker 2: we saw how he thought. And to me, that's really
Speaker 2: a privilege to get inside the head of one of
Speaker 2: the greatest thinkers in the world, in the history of
Speaker 2: the world, let alone one of the greatest Christians, one
Speaker 2: of the greatest minds, and we get in his head
Speaker 2: and he's writing to the Philippian Church. You know, he
Speaker 2: started this church in eighty fifty. He was going through
Speaker 2: on a missionary journey and Philippi was the first church
Speaker 2: that he found. It, well, was the first one that
Speaker 2: he preached in in Europe, and so he goes through
Speaker 2: there and starts a church, and he visits, and he
Speaker 2: stops back by a few more times.
Speaker 1: But by the time he's writing the Book of Philippians.
Speaker 2: There has been a turn of events and Paul is
Speaker 2: in prison. Scholars debate as to whether Paul was in
Speaker 2: Cesarea or whether he was in Rome. I take the
Speaker 2: view that he was in Rome, and in Rome he
Speaker 2: rented a house where he taught everybody who came to him.
Speaker 2: He was under a form of house arrest for preaching
Speaker 2: the gospel, and the Philippian church knew that he was
Speaker 2: in prison. But these latest developments had the community at
Speaker 2: the church at Philippiles shook up, and they're saying that
Speaker 2: there has been a setback for the gospel because Paul,
Speaker 2: who's kind of like the point guard for their team,
Speaker 2: is locked in prison. That's kind of bad when your
Speaker 2: point guard is on the bench in the championship and
Speaker 2: they're worried about it. And so Paul writes to them
Speaker 2: and he says, I need you to know something.
Speaker 1: About what has happened. What had happened was Paul might say.
Speaker 2: He says, we need to talk about what has happened
Speaker 2: and in that phrase, that that phrase right there, for
Speaker 2: everybody in the room would have a different meaning depending
Speaker 2: on the time in.
Speaker 1: Your life or the area of your life.
Speaker 2: You apply it to what happened when I was young,
Speaker 2: what happened in my first marriage, or what what happened
Speaker 2: that caused me to leave that job, what happened that
Speaker 2: caused that relationship to fail? What what everybody say?
Speaker 1: What happened?
Speaker 2: Well, what happened was Paul got moved from his house
Speaker 2: arrest to the palace guard where they would keep the
Speaker 2: prisoners while they were waiting for the trial. And so
Speaker 2: the church at Philippi is hearing secondhand information. There wasn't
Speaker 2: good journalism in that day, very different than the day
Speaker 2: we live in where the journalism is accurate. But Paul said, no,
Speaker 2: I want you to hear this straight from me, what
Speaker 2: has happened. But then it's interesting because he doesn't go
Speaker 2: on to detail what happened to him, which is weird.
Speaker 2: He goes, I want to talk to you about what
Speaker 2: has happened to me. But then and I love this
Speaker 2: and I'm excited to share it with you. I was
Speaker 2: telling him the last time I preached this, that this
Speaker 2: is one of those sermons that if I wrote it
Speaker 2: just for myself, it was worth the time. I preach
Speaker 2: this stuff too. I watched this in the imax theater
Speaker 2: of my own mind before I present it to the
Speaker 2: general public viewing audience, and it got to me that Paul,
Speaker 2: instead of going on to describe what happened to him,
Speaker 2: which is he's falsely accused, he's been in prison for
Speaker 2: his faith, he doesn't describe so much what has happened,
Speaker 2: but instead he gives, and this is so important, an
Speaker 2: interpretation not just of what has happened, because life really
Speaker 2: isn't about what happened to you. Life really isn't about
Speaker 2: what has happened. Life is more about what it means
Speaker 2: to me. And Paul is not gonna spend the next
Speaker 2: fourteen verses describing in detail what happened to it. He
Speaker 2: makes a swift transition, can I teach this message? He
Speaker 2: makes a swift transition to say, instead of going into
Speaker 2: the details about what has happened, which is largely outside
Speaker 2: of my control.
Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of things that happen to you
Speaker 1: that are in your control.
Speaker 2: But sometimes you get in a situation where there's absolutely
Speaker 2: nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 1: And so Paul said, since I can't change.
Speaker 2: The what, let me talk to you for a moment
Speaker 2: about the why. And he starts talking about the very
Speaker 2: first thing that your kids want to know, the moment
Speaker 2: they start learning to use their words to ruin your life,
Speaker 2: and what they want to know about every decision, every bedtime,
Speaker 2: every curfew, every rule, is why. And then you get
Speaker 2: to invoke that great parental privilege of the response that
Speaker 2: every parent ought to use every chance you get while
Speaker 2: you can. And it starts with because, and it ends with.
Speaker 1: I said so. And it feels good just to look at.
Speaker 2: Your kids and say, cause I this is not a courtroom,
Speaker 2: this is not a negotiation. I do not have to
Speaker 2: structure logic to help you understand my decision. It has
Speaker 2: been implemented by the highest court in the lean.
Speaker 1: I said, so, lest why pick it up?
Speaker 2: And they asked this question because it's the most important
Speaker 2: question of life.
Speaker 1: Why why?
Speaker 3: Why? Why? Why?
Speaker 1: Why? Why?
Speaker 2: And of course we grow out of this. We never
Speaker 2: ask God why when we go through anything. That's only
Speaker 2: children that do that. And so Paul says, life is
Speaker 2: less about this and more. You don't realize how long
Speaker 2: this word is until you write it in front of
Speaker 2: twenty thousand people. He said, let me give you instead
Speaker 2: of a description of my current state, let me give
Speaker 2: you an interpretation of my state. You know what faith is.
Speaker 2: Faith is an interpretation. Faith is an interpretation. Paul's faith
Speaker 2: didn't change this, It changed this. Paul's faith didn't affect.
Speaker 1: This, it informed this. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the things I love about the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: in my life is that he is my interpreter. He
Speaker 2: helps me take a situation and instead of starting with what,
Speaker 2: I start with why. Instead of instead of starting with what,
Speaker 2: I start with why. Here's the secret. You can survive
Speaker 2: any what if you have a good enough why. The
Speaker 2: reason people quit when all hell breaks loose is because
Speaker 2: they didn't have.
Speaker 1: A strong enough why when they started.
Speaker 2: The reason that people get so confused when they get
Speaker 2: thrown in prison is because they didn't determine.
Speaker 1: Their purpose before they were behind doors.
Speaker 2: I can't tell that this is getting through to you.
Speaker 1: So help me and touch somebody next to you and
Speaker 1: tell them.
Speaker 2: You need a why. You need a why. And see,
Speaker 2: here's the thing. You can't depend on God to give
Speaker 2: you the why. He's already given you the why. I
Speaker 2: put you on earth to glorify Me. So whatever happens
Speaker 2: to you, you already know the why before you see
Speaker 2: the why.
Speaker 1: Here's the key.
Speaker 2: Decide why before the what. Decide the why before the why.
Speaker 2: Decide the why before the why.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna repeat it. I'm a redundant preacher. Decide the why.
Speaker 2: So if I go into a situation and I don't
Speaker 2: know what's gonna happen, I already predetermine the why. I'm
Speaker 2: not waiting to find out why. I predecided why. I'm
Speaker 2: here to glorify God. I'm here to see his goodness revealed.
Speaker 1: In my life. That's my why. Teuch, somebody say, you
Speaker 1: can't take my why.
Speaker 2: You can throw me in prison, but you can't take
Speaker 2: my why. You can disrupt my financial situation, but you
Speaker 2: can't take my why.
Speaker 1: You might even mess.
Speaker 2: With my marriage, but you can't take my why. You
Speaker 2: can mess with my car, but you can't take my why.
Speaker 2: My why is my why. You can't have my why.
Speaker 2: I've got a deep motivation, I've got a sense of purpose.
Speaker 2: My life has a larger context. I'm here for the Gospel.
Speaker 2: I'm here for his glory. I'm here to bring him pleasure.
Speaker 2: That's my why. That's my why. That's my why. There's
Speaker 2: no what in the world that can defeat you if
Speaker 2: you know your why.
Speaker 1: I got my why. That's how I survived. I survived
Speaker 1: on a why.
Speaker 2: The devil threw a lot of what at me, but
Speaker 2: I had my why intact before the what started.
Speaker 1: Happening, and I can.
Speaker 2: Make it through the what if I got a good why.
Speaker 2: So let's look at how God might want to adjust
Speaker 2: our interpretation.
Speaker 1: Touch somebody say why why? That's the question. My dad
Speaker 1: had this funny thing he used to do.
Speaker 2: He would always interpret someone else's silence as judgment. So
Speaker 2: he would tell me about somebody in the church and
Speaker 2: he would say he thinks he's bitter than me. And
Speaker 2: I would say why why do you think that? And
Speaker 2: he would say, because he walked right by me and
Speaker 2: didn't even speak to me.
Speaker 1: Did you consider that perhaps he had something on his mind?
Speaker 1: And my dad would hate you for seven years.
Speaker 2: In fact, the lady stopped me at the baseball field
Speaker 2: the other day and I had taken one of our
Speaker 2: kids to the bathroom, and I was walking out of
Speaker 2: the bathroom trying to get back to the field to
Speaker 2: watch my kid play. And the lady said, well, just
Speaker 2: walk by me then, and don't even ask how I'm
Speaker 2: doing past her. How many want to know My response,
Speaker 2: I simply said, right now, I'm dad more than i'm pastor.
Speaker 2: I don't care if you like it. That's what I said.
Speaker 2: I said, But hello, I didn't notice you. I was
Speaker 2: going to the bathroom is private, but hello, it is interpretation.
Speaker 2: I wasn't not thinking about her, I wasn't not speaking
Speaker 2: to her.
Speaker 1: I was going to the bathroom. Would you please stop.
Speaker 2: Drawing thought bubbles over other people's heads.
Speaker 1: This was part of Paul's issue.
Speaker 2: There were these other preachers who wanted to use his
Speaker 2: imprisonment as an opportunity to kind of like get ahead
Speaker 2: of Paul, and so they were preaching, but they were
Speaker 2: preaching with bad motives, and Paul said, it doesn't even matter.
Speaker 2: Doesn't even matter to me. The important thing is they're
Speaker 2: preaching christ. Paul said, I'm so focused on my own motives.
Speaker 2: I don't have time to worry about anybody Else's A
Speaker 2: good marriage requires interpretation. Oh yes, it is a cross
Speaker 2: culture or relationship, and you need an interpreter. You do,
Speaker 2: and the Lord will help you interpret it and say,
Speaker 2: you know, she didn't really say that because she's mad
Speaker 2: at you.
Speaker 1: She just under a lot right now.
Speaker 2: And the Lord will help you with that, and it'll
Speaker 2: help you to forgive offenses and it'll help you.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you.
Speaker 2: Interpretation is everything in relationships. Interpretation is everything when you
Speaker 2: face conflict. I can't count the number of times that
Speaker 2: I wake up on a Monday and two things go
Speaker 2: wrong and I go, guess, it's going to be that
Speaker 2: kind of week. So I'm interpreting as an inconvenience, as
Speaker 2: an omen that the universe has conspired against me with
Speaker 2: the help of Lucifer himself, It's gonna be one of
Speaker 2: those weeks. Now, that's an interpretation. You are not experiencing life.
Speaker 2: You are experiencing your interpretation of life. Interpretation is the
Speaker 2: ability that Paul has to say, watch this.
Speaker 1: I know you're hearing a lot about what has happened
Speaker 1: to me and.
Speaker 2: The church at Philippi apparently viewed it as a setback,
Speaker 2: and it may be corny, but it's true. Paul said,
Speaker 2: It's not a setback, is a setup because it has
Speaker 2: actually served give me verse twelve on the screen. It
Speaker 2: has actually somebody say, actually, actually, if you have the
Speaker 2: right interpretation of what I'm going through, it has actually
Speaker 2: served to advance the gospel. The word advance is interesting
Speaker 2: in the original language because it denotes making headway in
Speaker 2: spite of severe blows.
Speaker 1: It means I'm rolling with.
Speaker 2: The punches, but I'm still making progress. How many of
Speaker 2: you have had to roll with the punches to make progress. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it wasn't a steady straight line. It wasn't a path
Speaker 2: that was unencumbered. You weren't walking along smelling flowers, but
Speaker 2: you had to light uphill. But you may progress. And
Speaker 2: Paul is saying, don't get it twisted. I may look chain,
Speaker 2: but these chains on my ankles are actually serving to
Speaker 2: advance God's purpose. Sometimes you got to look at what's
Speaker 2: on you and realize it's subject to what's in you.
Speaker 2: And God is doing something in my life. Right now,
Speaker 2: I'm speaking to somebody by the spirit of God. It
Speaker 2: looks like I'm going backwards, but it's propelling me forward.
Speaker 1: It looks like a setback.
Speaker 3: It's a set up.
Speaker 1: Touch somebody say, it's a set up. You got to
Speaker 1: get involved in this message. Touch somebody say, I'm moving forward.
Speaker 3: I know I might not.
Speaker 2: Look like I'm moving forward. I might be slow and
Speaker 2: steady like the tortoise. But as long as I inch
Speaker 2: my way in the right direction.
Speaker 1: I cannot be stopped.
Speaker 3: I will not be blocked.
Speaker 2: The gospel cannot be contained. Get happy about the praisers.
Speaker 2: You got a new interpretation. Oh it's really hard, Well,
Speaker 2: God must be in it. You'll keep thinking, if it's
Speaker 2: really hard, it must not be God. Jesus didn't get
Speaker 2: to the cross with that line of logic, and you
Speaker 2: won't get to your destiny either.
Speaker 1: But you have to have a faith interpretation.
Speaker 2: Is as helpful. All right, don't get nervous, But that's
Speaker 2: my introduction. Sit down, I'll be quick. But what really
Speaker 2: got me is this shift that Paul makes after talking
Speaker 2: about after talking about his why, he said, I'm in
Speaker 2: chains for Christ. And he said that around here, man,
Speaker 2: he said, I got a captive audience, and I'm preaching
Speaker 2: to all of them, the guards, the other prisoners. He said,
Speaker 2: don't even worry about it. I know y'all think this
Speaker 2: is a bad event. But faith is an interpretation of
Speaker 2: event that sees progress even in pain.
Speaker 1: My God, this preaching is rich.
Speaker 2: I feel like I need to go on the elevation
Speaker 2: app and watch it back on Monday myself to get
Speaker 2: the fullness of this message that God gave me. You know,
Speaker 2: somebody wrote me online one time and said, you shouldn't
Speaker 2: say that you're preaching good when you're preaching, because you know,
Speaker 2: I'll stop preaching every once in a while and say, ah,
Speaker 2: I'm preaching good. And what I wanted to say is
Speaker 2: if I don't like it, why in the world should you.
Speaker 2: I mean, I want to preach something that I need
Speaker 2: and that I like. But anyway, by the way, most
Speaker 2: people who criticize you are really just showing you that
Speaker 2: they don't like themselves very much interpretation though, and when
Speaker 2: you see it that way, you can have compassion and say, okay,
Speaker 2: well they must really be going through something.
Speaker 1: How can I help? He makes a shift.
Speaker 2: Everybody say shift happens.
Speaker 1: When he does it. I want to walk you through it.
Speaker 2: He picks up in verse eighteen, and the Bible is
Speaker 2: put in these verses for us. But originally there weren't
Speaker 2: like verses breaking up the different letters.
Speaker 1: It was just there so we can find it.
Speaker 2: But sometimes it jumps in in a weird place. And
Speaker 2: I think that happens in verse eighteen, because Paul says,
Speaker 2: verse eighteen, but what does it matter? And that's a
Speaker 2: phrase that you should use as well. What does it matter?
Speaker 2: What does it matter?
Speaker 1: Y'all pray for me that I.
Speaker 2: Would get better at that because I take little things
Speaker 2: really seriously.
Speaker 1: So he holly laughed when I think that point. That's
Speaker 1: a good sign. And he says, you know, what matters?
Speaker 2: The important thing, the priority is that in every way,
Speaker 2: whether from false motives or true through Christ is preached.
Speaker 1: That's what matters to me.
Speaker 2: And so everything that serves that purpose is fine with me,
Speaker 2: whether I like it or not.
Speaker 1: In the moment, that's what matters to me. What matters
Speaker 1: to you?
Speaker 2: What matters to you, because what matters to you will
Speaker 2: determine the direction that you point your life in.
Speaker 1: What matters to you, that's your destination.
Speaker 2: So Paul says, what matters to me is that Christ
Speaker 2: has preached, and that's happening. So you know, whatever they're
Speaker 2: saying about me, that's fine. For the important thing is
Speaker 2: that in every way, whether from false motives or true,
Speaker 2: Christ is preached.
Speaker 1: Because of this, I rejoice.
Speaker 2: Now this next phrase to me should be a different
Speaker 2: verse they put it right.
Speaker 1: In the same verse.
Speaker 2: But when Paul makes this next statement, he goes into
Speaker 2: a completely different mode. He goes in a different zone.
Speaker 2: And what I want to show you is the next
Speaker 2: skill that Paul teaches us. And this is not the
Speaker 2: skill of it interpretation. This is the skill come on,
Speaker 2: say it when you got it, anticipation. It feel like
Speaker 2: we'll a fortune up in here today, trying to buy
Speaker 2: a vow.
Speaker 1: Figure out what I'm writing on this court.
Speaker 2: He shifts and he says, now that I've given you
Speaker 2: my interpretation of what has happened, let me give you
Speaker 2: my anticipation of what.
Speaker 1: Say it of what happened.
Speaker 2: And on one level, Paul says, I don't know. They
Speaker 2: might kill me. I might live. I'm not sure about
Speaker 2: that part. But I want you to notice the frame
Speaker 2: of mind and the state of consciousness that Paul engages
Speaker 2: over these ten verses, starting with eighteen B where I
Speaker 2: read to you, where he said yes and I will
Speaker 2: continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1: He uses the word will. He's shifting.
Speaker 2: Now, I've spending off time talking to you about what happened.
Speaker 1: That's over.
Speaker 2: Can't control it, can't do anything about it. Okay, I've
Speaker 2: acknowledged it. I've interpreted it. That's that.
Speaker 1: Now I'm moving forward.
Speaker 2: Now I want to tell you what will happen, and
Speaker 2: I want us to do an exercise, okay, on every campus.
Speaker 2: So this is for those of you at Butler High
Speaker 2: Score Matthew's campus temporarily homeless.
Speaker 1: This is for our uptown location.
Speaker 2: This is for Weddington, This is for University City, this
Speaker 2: is for Lake Norman.
Speaker 1: This is even for those in Raleigh.
Speaker 2: North Carolina, and Toronto, Canada who had record attendance last weekend.
Speaker 2: I want all of you, whether you're good at math
Speaker 2: or not, I want you to count with me the
Speaker 2: number of times that the word will is used in
Speaker 2: these ten verses that start in verse eighteen. There's the
Speaker 2: first one. You already got it, so put your hand up.
Speaker 2: Is one, he said, I will continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1: Count out loud. That's next verse. I know he's.
Speaker 2: Confident about this that through your prayers and God's provision
Speaker 2: of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to
Speaker 2: me will turn out.
Speaker 1: For my deliverance.
Speaker 2: I eagerly expect and hope that I in no way
Speaker 2: be a shame, but have sufficient courage so that now
Speaker 2: as always, Christ be exalted in my body.
Speaker 1: Whether by life or by death.
Speaker 2: I don't know what, but I know why. And so
Speaker 2: for me to live as Christ and to die is gain.
Speaker 2: If I'm to go on living in the body, this
Speaker 2: mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose?
Speaker 1: I do not know.
Speaker 2: I'm torn between the two. I desired apart and be
Speaker 2: with Christ. Would have put up with anything anymore, be
Speaker 2: a lot betterfies than heaven, much more necessary that I
Speaker 2: remain in the body for you. The midst of this,
Speaker 2: I know that I remain, and I continue with all
Speaker 2: of you for your progress. Maybe sometimes our life is
Speaker 2: meant to be more about somebody else's price, rest in
Speaker 2: our own.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's keep counting.
Speaker 2: And I just wanted to point that out because I
Speaker 2: was talking about progress, and I wanted you to know
Speaker 2: sometimes it's not all about you, so that through my
Speaker 2: being with you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus abound
Speaker 2: on account of me. Whatever happens, what has happened, whatever happens,
Speaker 2: conduct yourselves in a minute word of the Gospel Christ,
Speaker 2: and one that come see your on and hear about
Speaker 2: you my absence, I will know that you stand firm
Speaker 2: in one spirit. Now, only about three of you counted
Speaker 2: with me through the whole time. But if you counted ten,
Speaker 2: you counted right. Ten verses and ten times. He doesn't
Speaker 2: say has, he says will. He doesn't say maybe, He
Speaker 2: says will why because he has an eager expectation. Did
Speaker 2: you see it in verse twenty? And this is what
Speaker 2: we need? Okay, he said, I eagerly expect and hope.
Speaker 2: How many are enjoying the Bible lesson today? He said,
Speaker 2: I eagerly twenty expect and hope. I eagerly expect and hope.
Speaker 2: I was interested to learn Jody Jennings that in Greek eagerly,
Speaker 2: expect and hope are not verbs, but they're nouns, and
Speaker 2: they're joined together by the word kai in Greek means and,
Speaker 2: and they have within them the idea.
Speaker 1: And this is where I really need you to focus, because.
Speaker 2: I flunk Greek in college, and then I took it
Speaker 2: again in seminary.
Speaker 1: And I passed with a C plus.
Speaker 2: And I'm only telling you that for full disclosure, to
Speaker 2: let you know that I don't typically.
Speaker 1: Walk around my house quoting Greek.
Speaker 2: But when I saw this in the text, It was
Speaker 2: worth bringing out because when Paul says.
Speaker 1: I eagerly expect.
Speaker 2: He uses a word here's what's crazy, that has never
Speaker 2: been used before. He made up his own word to
Speaker 2: describe the kind of hope that you have to have
Speaker 2: to survive in a situation.
Speaker 1: Where there seems to be no way out.
Speaker 2: Paul said, this is the kind of hope that there
Speaker 2: is no vocabulary for. So Paul had to take three
Speaker 2: words and put them together to make a new word
Speaker 2: to describe the kind of hope that can make you
Speaker 2: look at your kid on drugs and your husband acting
Speaker 2: crazy and your money low and your emotions erect, and
Speaker 2: say I still have an expectation.
Speaker 1: And I still have a hope.
Speaker 2: And so he looks through his vocabulary he goes, I
Speaker 2: can't even I can't even think of.
Speaker 1: How to tell you how I feel about it right now.
Speaker 1: I can't. There's no word. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make one up.
Speaker 2: And uh And he makes up this word, and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna give it to you right now, and you're gonna
Speaker 2: use it this week. The word in Greek is it's
Speaker 2: made up of three words. Yeah, come on, let's say
Speaker 2: it together. On the ground kind of three one two three,
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: We're gonna need some remedial classes. Apo carra.
Speaker 4: Dokia Appo carra Dokia, apacarra, appercara, donkia Come on, apacar
Speaker 4: do you.
Speaker 1: Opo?
Speaker 2: It means to turn away with concentration, ignoring other interests.
Speaker 1: That's the prefix.
Speaker 2: You know. Paul is good because I could preach a
Speaker 2: whole sermon just on his prefix Appo. He said, I'm
Speaker 2: in a situation right now when if I look to
Speaker 2: my left, I see prison walls. If I look to
Speaker 2: my right, I see prison walls. If I look to
Speaker 2: my feet, I see a prisoner's chains. So I gotta
Speaker 2: turn my head intentionally from what's over here and what's
Speaker 2: over here. Everybody said, Appo, sometimes you got to turn
Speaker 2: your head from what's here and what's here and what's here.
Speaker 2: And so we said, I turn my head on purpose,
Speaker 2: ignoring what I could be focused on. Apo apo apo
Speaker 2: apakarra Karra means head. It doesn't require much explanation. It
Speaker 2: literally means head. Apacara Pacara Dokia company that was originally
Speaker 2: founded in Sweden that sells ready to assemble home furniture
Speaker 2: and appliances and accessories dokia. Dokia originally means I'm trying
Speaker 2: man to stretch forward.
Speaker 1: So when you put it together, you get this meaning.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna teach this to.
Speaker 2: You and we are gonna break it out on whatever
Speaker 2: situation comes up in your life this week that tries
Speaker 2: to break your focus or steal your faith. You need
Speaker 2: a little bit of apocara dokia, which means stretching the
Speaker 2: head forward.
Speaker 1: You missed it. I'm coming to this side. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm in a prison cell right now and I can't move.
Speaker 1: I wish I was a better preacher.
Speaker 2: If I was a better preacher, you'd get excited about
Speaker 2: apple caara dokia because he said, I can't move my feet,
Speaker 2: I can't move my body, but I'm stretching my head
Speaker 2: forward toward the future, and so I will rejoice because
Speaker 2: I'm stretching my head forward. Would you touch three people,
Speaker 2: tell him stretch your head, stretch your head. See here's
Speaker 2: the problem with a lot of people. A lot of people.
Speaker 2: We have our heads so far up our past that we.
Speaker 3: That we caiss.
Speaker 1: That we can't see our future.
Speaker 3: But God brought you to church today that gets your.
Speaker 5: Head out your past and give you a little apple,
Speaker 5: kara tokyo.
Speaker 1: And ignor expectation.
Speaker 2: I'm stretching my head toward what's next.
Speaker 1: I'm not stuck in what was, I'm not.
Speaker 2: Worried about what's gonna be.
Speaker 5: I'm stretching my head toward Monday. I'm stretching my head
Speaker 5: toward next year. I'm stretching my head toward retirement. I'm
Speaker 5: stretching my head toward fullness.
Speaker 1: I'm stretching my.
Speaker 2: Head toward healing. And I'm stretching my head toward my mission.
Speaker 2: Let's practice. Jump up on your feet. This is a
Speaker 2: series called functional faith. Shove your neighbor, tell them stretch
Speaker 2: your head. If you're gonna be fit, you gotta stretch.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna have faith, you gotta stretch. If you
Speaker 2: don't stretch, you might break.
Speaker 1: So let's stretch.
Speaker 2: Come on, let's stretch our hand strings. First of all,
Speaker 2: I know how to stretch my hand strings. I know
Speaker 2: how to stretch my hand strings. That's about as far
Speaker 2: down as I'm willing to go in this tight suit
Speaker 2: to demonstrat it to you.
Speaker 1: Bad things, man, bad things. But I know how to.
Speaker 2: Stretch my hand strings. I know how to stretch my back.
Speaker 2: I know how to I know how to stretch my body,
Speaker 2: but nobody teaches us how to stretch our head. Appercrudokia.
Speaker 2: Stretch your head, Appercrudokia. There is a brighter day. Appercrudokia.
Speaker 2: It does make a difference. Opper Carudokia. God is working
Speaker 2: in my situation. Come on, say it, Appercrudokia. Tell the
Speaker 2: devil what you got. Tell him devil, I got that, Appercoradokia.
Speaker 1: And the next time you run up on me with discouragement,
Speaker 1: you need to know. I'm turning my head and I'm
Speaker 1: stretching my neck.
Speaker 5: Apa Cardoki, all the dample.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 2: This is better than Brazilian jiu jitsu. This is better
Speaker 2: than taekwon though. This is gonna teach you how to
Speaker 2: stick your neck out. And I got good news for you.
Speaker 2: Paul said, it doesn't matter if they kill me or
Speaker 2: they let me live, because this is not a situational interpretation.
Speaker 2: This is not a situational anticipation.
Speaker 1: I feel like preaching this. I'm gone teaching now. I'm
Speaker 1: in full all preaching mode. On the count of three,
Speaker 1: when I say three, I want you to start with
Speaker 1: your head to the right. You're of the right. And
Speaker 1: when I say three, I want you to turn your head.
Speaker 2: And the symbolic of all of the distractions that aren't
Speaker 2: going to distract you this week, and all of the
Speaker 2: cynicism that you're not even going to pay any attention
Speaker 2: to this week, I want you to turn your head.
Speaker 1: I want you to give them an APPO on three.
Speaker 1: This is your APO. What two three? Turn it? You
Speaker 1: missed it?
Speaker 2: One't quick enough? Turn your head to the left. Come on,
Speaker 2: we got a practice. I am your spiritual trainer.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to teach you what to do when life
Speaker 1: gets stuff and I'm not here for you. And you
Speaker 1: look into the right and you looking to the left.
Speaker 2: On the count, I want you to jerk your head
Speaker 2: forward and give yourself whiplash.
Speaker 1: One two three APO. Do it again. Head to the right.
Speaker 2: You're looking at that person, trying to see what they
Speaker 2: think of you, looking at that situation.
Speaker 1: Trying to see how that's gonna turn out. But on
Speaker 1: the count of three, we got some APO for the devil.
Speaker 2: On the counter three turn your head, shout OPO one
Speaker 2: two three. That's the first step. Now we need the
Speaker 2: donkie Everybody say donkyo. Now we need that thing where
Speaker 2: you stretch your neck like a giraffe, where you look
Speaker 2: forward to your future and smile at it, where you
Speaker 2: look forward to problems and difficulties and say, I got
Speaker 2: something for you called the Spirit of God for me
Speaker 2: to live.
Speaker 3: As Christ and to guy is game?
Speaker 1: What's Paul saying?
Speaker 2: He's saying, either way this turns out, I'm coming out ahead.
Speaker 1: You missed it, he said.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I'm headed
Speaker 2: in the right direction. Somebody shout, somebody shout, somebody shout,
Speaker 2: somebody's shout, somebody shout, somebody's shout somebody. I'm not there yet,
Speaker 2: but I'm headed in the right correction. I got my
Speaker 2: focus on, I got my brave on, I got my
Speaker 2: courage home, I got my whole pong, I got my
Speaker 2: faith on.
Speaker 1: Get your hands out your pocket.
Speaker 2: And when I say three, I want you to stretch
Speaker 2: your neck towards your future.
Speaker 5: W two three strategy.
Speaker 3: You missed it.
Speaker 1: Let's do it on every campus.
Speaker 3: Come on on the counter of.
Speaker 1: Three, stretch your head.
Speaker 3: I put Carl.
Speaker 2: Tokyo and tell the devil I'm coming toward my future
Speaker 2: in faith.
Speaker 3: What two three again? What two three what two three?
Speaker 2: I pull?
Speaker 3: What two three? Dora? What two three?
Speaker 1: Donkyo?
Speaker 3: What two three?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: Two three? You got it? You got it, you got it,
Speaker 3: you got it, you got it, you got it.
Speaker 1: Clad like you got it, Shout like you got it,
Speaker 1: Rejoice like you gotta.
Speaker 3: I will, God tell you to rejoice thord to.
Speaker 1: Me, I feel cud about it.
Speaker 3: To live is Christ the dying guy, And I'm coming
Speaker 3: out ahead. Yeah, wha two three? Whoa two three?
Speaker 2: This your new cadence this week. You're not going into
Speaker 2: this week like thinking about what happened when you were thirteen.
Speaker 2: I got some for regret. It's called applecara, donkia turn.
Speaker 1: My head from that. If I think about that too long,
Speaker 1: I get depressed.
Speaker 2: If I think about that too long, I start get bitter.
Speaker 2: If I look over here, I might get jealous. If
Speaker 2: I look over there, I might get discouraged. So I
Speaker 2: got stretch my head toward my future in faith.
Speaker 1: I will, I will, I will riduals now. Stretch your
Speaker 1: hands to heave it. You stretch your head now, stretch
Speaker 1: your hands to let the Lord know.
Speaker 2: That what matters to me is what matters to you.
Speaker 2: I have an eager expectation Applecarudokia. My expectation creates my hope.
Speaker 2: And I don't know what, but I know why, and
Speaker 2: I can survive the why when I know the why.
Speaker 2: Lift your hands, Lord, We thank you for the word
Speaker 2: that you gave us today. We thank you for the
Speaker 2: instruction that you gave us through Paul. He told us
Speaker 2: that we got to stretch our heads forward.
Speaker 1: Forward, that we.
Speaker 2: Can't do anything about the time that we've lost. We've
Speaker 2: got to forget what's behind us and strained toward what's ahead.
Speaker 2: That we got to get our eyes fixed on where
Speaker 2: we're headed, to get our lives headed in the right direction.
Speaker 2: And I pray it over your people now in Jesus' name,
Speaker 2: that they would experience this week significant steps forward.
Speaker 1: Everybody, say forward forward, look at me for a moment.
Speaker 2: I asked a race car driver one time, if you
Speaker 2: were going to teach one thing about driving that people
Speaker 2: wouldn't know, what would it be? He said, You've always
Speaker 2: he's got to keep your eyes where you want to go.
Speaker 2: When you're on a track, you tend to look at
Speaker 2: what you don't want to hit and what you don't
Speaker 2: want to happen. He said that will always cause you
Speaker 2: to crash every single time.
Speaker 1: What was he talking about? Applecaradokia? Stretch your head.
Speaker 2: Forward.
Speaker 1: Forward. I can just see it this week that you're
Speaker 1: going to preach this back to the people that.
Speaker 2: You love, and you're going to preach it without words
Speaker 2: when they start talking about what went wrong, And I
Speaker 2: just want.
Speaker 1: You to look at him and like a turtle coming
Speaker 1: out of his shell.
Speaker 2: Just I want moms to do this to your daughter
Speaker 2: this week, But most importantly, I want you to do
Speaker 2: it for yourself. I've already been practicing this in my
Speaker 2: own life as I've prepared to preach it to you,
Speaker 2: and it's amazing how just a quick shift stretch of
Speaker 2: the head can get you out of discouragement, can get
Speaker 2: you out of defeat, can get you out of despair. Forward, everybody,
Speaker 2: say forward. That's where I'm looking. I'm looking forward. I
Speaker 2: can't go into this week like this. I can't go
Speaker 2: into this week like this. How am I going into
Speaker 2: this week? I'm going say it forward? Are there any
Speaker 2: forward thinkers in the house?
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 2: more information.
Speaker 1: And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
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Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.