WEBVTT - The God Of Pieces 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:07.760 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:19.000 Enjoy the message. I'm gonna do something I never did. 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:25.360 Holly preached so good last week. I hate if you missed. 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:31.480 It, and she preached so good that for the first 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.720 time I ever, I want to take the verse that 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:38.239 she ended on and do a tag team off of 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.400 the verse that she ended on. Okay, so come tag 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:42.960 me bed. 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:46.479 I used to watch wrestling. 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.640 I'm gonna come flying off the turnbuckle, maw the fabulous Ferdick. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.680 So I'm gonna drop an elbow on the devil's head today. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.080 Praise the Lord, and I'll give you one verse to 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:00.800 start with. Would you go? Ah, didn't bring out my 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:05.160 screen please so I can really put the verse in context. 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.200 This screen is my way of pretending like you and 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.360 I are having a conversation together and we're just looking 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:13.000 at the Bible and studying it together. So I pray 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:14.880 that it'll feel that way to you. Let's welcome our 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:15.919 Epham all over. 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:20.320 The world joining us online. 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.800 Here we come, and I'm going to share with you 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:29.560 from Philippians chapter four, the last verse she read. 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:31.560 She read several verses, but the. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.160 One that she ended on is the one I want 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.120 to pick up on. In Philippians four, chapter nineteen. Excuse me, 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.120 chapter nine, verse nine. 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:42.240 Let's try that again. 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.160 Philippians chapter four, verse nine. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:54.919 The Word of the Lord Philippians, chapter four, verse nine. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:58.600 A little message that I know is going to help 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:03.760 you today. 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:11.800 Right there, Paul says, whatever you have learned or received 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.320 or heard from me or seen in me, put it 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:22.000 into practice, and the God of Peace will be with you. 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:25.040 And the God of peace. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:31.120 Last week Holly spoke about the peace of God, and 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.080 she was speaking about the peace of God. But today 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:35.600 I want to take a little bit of a different 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.880 approach to what she shared, and I want to talk 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.880 about this verse and the God of Peace will be 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:44.920 with you and remind you that he is the God 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.120 of peace. He can speak peace to every situation in 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:53.000 this room, no matter how scattered or chaotic your life 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:53.680 is right now. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.079 But I want to talk about the God. 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.239 Of Peace will be with you, and I want to 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.120 speak about how the God of peace is also. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:08.760 The God of pieces. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:13.760 I want to talk to you today for just a 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.800 few moments about the God of peaces. 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:19.480 Pieces. 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:26.040 Father, when you speak, wind and waves, obey speak Now, 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.680 still our hearts before you make every storm in this 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.120 room a sanctuary where your presence can be felt. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.480 I think of each person that you brought here today. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.680 I thank you that you know their situations, and I 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.880 thank you that you have solutions. Moreover, I thank you 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:49.200 that you are the solution, the God of peace, the 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:50.080 God of peaces. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.240 In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated, You may 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:55.920 be seated. 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:07.320 Me and Holly got in a fight Friday of my fault. 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.360 We don't fight that much, but we fought Friday, only 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:13.480 about a five minute fight. 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.360 But it was you know, I'll scale a one to ten. 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.240 It might have been a three. But I didn't like it. 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.400 And I didn't like it because I knew I caused it. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.039 And the reason I caused it is because I did 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:35.200 not practice what she preached last week. Last week, Holli 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.520 was preaching about peace and she asked a very important question. 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:44.320 She said, do your practices promote peace? And she shared 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:49.240 a little extra biblical illustration about the instrument of torture 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:54.280 known as Instagram. 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:53.279 The one that the devil invented. 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.920 You know, I know that God created the heavens and 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.440 the earth, but the Devil's created a lot of stuff 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.479 since then, Instagram being one of the platforms that he created. Amen, 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:05.440 And I post sermons on it, but I know. 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:08.680 Not to go look at the. 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:15.800 Comments, and I never do except Friday. I went on 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.400 those comments Friday, and I thought I can handle it. 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.919 I just looked for a minute, and of course I 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:29.000 couldn't handle it. And I was very worked up about 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:31.680 some of the things that I saw. And I'm just 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.960 starting my sermon in a very candid place because it's 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.200 interesting to me how I live with a preacher who 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.200 just preached about peace, and even in her message, she said, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.840 you've got to be careful that your practices don't pollute 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:47.520 your peace. 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:49.720 Do you remember when she said that. 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.240 She didn't say that exactly, but I added it on 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.159 for my message today. She said, she said, make sure 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.919 that your practices don't pollute your piece. And the reason 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.880 that we were getting into an argument, to me closely, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.200 was because it's very hard to have peace when you 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:10.680 drink poison. And I'm not telling you whether or not 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.680 you should ever look at Instagram or any of the 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.719 social media platforms. In fact, I'm going to try not 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.440 to mention social media for the rest of this message. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.719 I just wanted to set up for you that what 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.040 Paul is saying here, he says it is the things 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:29.919 that you put into practice, that you learn, receive, and 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:37.160 hear or see that produces the peace of God. And 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:38.640 since we're going to go over here and take a 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.960 Nibbel on verse six real quick, where it says, do 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.440 not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.000 prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to. 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:48.880 God, and the peace. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.480 Of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:57.200 and minds in Christ Jesus. And something that's really convicting 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:02.240 to me lately is that I think we all want this, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:10.920 the peace of God, but sometimes we resist the God 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:11.440 of Peace. 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:15.960 And so the question becomes, how can I. 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:20.360 Expect the peace of God in my life if I 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.080 reject the God of Peace when he comes to show 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.840 me how to live. In other words, that he's showing 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.520 me something that I need to let go of. If 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.720 he's showing me something that I need to keep limited, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.840 if he's showing me something that I need to walk 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.360 around and not engage. If he's showing me something that. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.320 I need to add or subtract from. 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.680 My life, and I insist on being stubborn, How can 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.000 I expect the peace to come to my heart if 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:54.000 I ignore the source who gives it, the peace of God. 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.360 We all want it. Everybody in here wants to feel 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.440 better about your future. Everybody wants to feel confident that 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.400 things are coming together. Everybody in here wants to feel 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.080 like I'm on the right path. Things are going to 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.640 work out. Everybody in here wants to peace of God. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.560 Paul makes it very clear that in order to experience 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:17.400 the peace of God, and I just want to lay 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.520 this foundation one more time, you must embrace the God 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.480 of Peace. And I want to remind you that he 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.680 is Jehovah Shalom. Shalom means peace or wholeness, and he 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.360 is the God of peace. He is the God of 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.880 peace in the midst of panic attacks. He is the 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:41.040 god of peace in the midst of downsizing in your industry. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:42.400 He is the God of peace. 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.080 When your best client just didn't sign up for another year, 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:47.720 and you don't know how you're going to make up 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:48.439 the contract. 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:50.200 He is the God of peace. 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.480 When thoughts assail you, telling you that your life has 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.480 reached its zenith and everything from here is just going 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:58.720 to be nothing but less than what it was. 0:08:59.120 --> 0:08:59.400 He is. 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.400 I feel like reaching to somebody today that the God 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.160 of Peace is in this place. 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.120 Say it. The God of Peace is in this place. 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.320 And you can say that about any place you ever 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.199 find yourself. You can say that in the third row 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.840 of church on a Sunday morning. You can say that 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.440 when you're pulling out of your driveway on Monday going 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.280 to the job, to look at the people that try 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.760 to steal your peace. I'm not walking into this office 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.960 by myself. I'm walking in with the God of Peace. 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.559 He said he would be with me. He said he 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:31.400 would walk with me. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:32.280 He said he. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.319 Would never leave me nor forsake me. He is more 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:38.400 than enough for me. He is the all sufficient one. 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.680 There's nothing I will ever encounter that will surprise him. 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.520 He doesn't scratch his head or shake his head or 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.480 hang his head. He doesn't turntail and run when the 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.240 enemy surrounds me. For when the enemy surrounds me. God 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.040 surrounds the enemy. I'm fenced in by fire, even in 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.400 my darkest night, even when I wake up and didn't 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.880 expect the attack. Have God who anticipated the attack and 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.680 put the provision in place, because he is the God 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.480 of peace and he's in this place. We saw a 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.160 testimony how the God of Peace reached in a prison 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.520 cell and rescued a brother in a prison cell. The 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.360 God of Peace will make a prison visit. The God 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.480 of Peace will pull up alongside a hospital bed. The 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:24.800 God of Peace will show up in a divorce court. 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:26.359 The God of Peace. 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.760 Will reach your child that isn't living under your roof 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.199 right now, the God of Peace. 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:37.680 Is in this place now. 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.800 The process by which we experience this peace is what 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.360 Paul is talking about in Philippians for nine and now. 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.680 I want to give you this principle and then give 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.640 you two or three pictures. Whatever you have learned or 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:56.840 received or heard from me or seen in me, think 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:57.319 about this. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:58.400 Paul says. 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:03.400 If you do what you saw me do, you will 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.640 have the peace that only God can give. And I'm 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:09.920 afraid I couldn't say that about my life A lot 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.680 of the times, even as a leader you know. Graham 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:16.640 said something really interesting a few days ago. He said, 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:18.560 when I look back on when I was a little 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.400 boy and I first started wrestling, For those of you 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.079 who haven't heard yet, we like to brag about it 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.199 every chance we get. He is a two time state 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.079 champion in the state of North Carolina for the sport 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:32.440 of wrestling, not tag team wrestling, like wrestling, like real wrestling. 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:33.120 You know what I'm saying. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.280 And when he first started wrestling, I've been a wrestler 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.320 for a few years when I was in middle school, 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.120 and so he thought I was the man because I 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:42.080 didn't tell him any different. 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.880 And that's really fun. 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.920 When they're little, their understanding of you is limited, so 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:50.520 you can kind. 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.079 Of build it all up to be whatever you want 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:52.280 to be. 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.080 And he said something he goes, now that I'm really 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.800 more advanced as a wrestler, and I look back on 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.400 when I was little, it's crazy how much you coached 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:05.760 me with. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:06.640 How little you knew. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.200 And I don't think he meant that as a compliment, 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.600 Like man, Dad, you really went all in, and I 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.040 appreciate it. I think what you're saying is, now that 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:23.160 I know something about what I'm doing, I can't believe 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:24.960 that I thought the stuff you were screaming from the 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.760 stands had any merit or value whatsoever. You really just 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.840 screamed the same things over and over again. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.439 But it worked for that stage, isn't it crazy? 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.959 He said, how much you coached me with how little 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:43.560 you knew. And if you look at your life, there 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.400 are some things about your life that are amazing how 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:48.720 far God has brought you. 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.400 If you really think about how little you started with. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.280 I'm going to say that again, and the devil can 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.240 pop my mic and I'll say it a third time. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.880 It is amazing how far God has brought you in 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:05.920 some of the things that he has done in your life. 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.400 When you consider where you came from, how little you 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:14.560 started with, it is amazing. Look at somebody and say 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:19.680 it's amazing. Come on, tell them, say it's amazing that 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.880 you're in church today. Now, just clap your hands for him, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.120 give them a little round of applause. 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:34.000 Come on, look at him. Say after the week you've had, after. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:38.160 The news you got, after the mounting to do lists 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:42.080 that you have to go home to, it's amazing. It's 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.880 amazing the progress that you've made when you consider the 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:50.800 pattern that you were exposed to. It is amazing that 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:54.000 you even stayed as a dad when your dad didn't. 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.760 It is amazing that you are apologizing as a husband, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.040 even though you get mad when you never saw the 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.400 pattern of apology in your own home. 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:05.880 And the truth of it. 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:07.720 Is, if some of us were honest, and if we 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.280 could do way with the shame that the devil throws 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.440 on us. For just about five minutes, Yes, there is 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.320 a long way we still have to go, but it's 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:20.720 pretty amazing the advancements that we've made to be here today. 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.160 Stand up if you never would have thought you'd be 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.720 in church on a Sunday morning three years ago. 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:29.400 Stand up if there was a season in. 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.440 Your life where you thought God was done with you, 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:33.720 but you feel something starting to beat in. 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.560 Your heart again. Stand up. 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.800 If you're praising God today was a miracle because you 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.760 went through a season of depression where you couldn't lift 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:44.200 your head off the pillow. 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:45.560 Let alone lift your hands. 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:51.320 In church, somebody shout, it's amazing. And the enemy wants 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.200 to keep us from being amazed at the ways that 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.080 God has made in our life. He wants to keep 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.640 us from being amazed from the place that we stand. 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.240 And so Paul says. 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:05.960 Look, when you don't know what to do, and you 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.880 don't know what's next, and you're standing in a place 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.160 where you don't really have the full picture of how 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:12.840 your life. 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.080 Is going to turn out, listen to me. 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:20.600 Remember what you heard, learned and saw in me, and 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.200 practice that, and the God of Peace will be with you. 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:27.640 And I thought that was even better than him saying 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.520 the Peace of God will be with me, because it 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:32.960 means that even if I don't feel the Peace of God, 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.560 I can believe that the God of Peace is with me. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:42.880 That's the principle. Now let's break it down for just 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.680 a moment or two. If he says this, whatever you've 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.840 learned or received, or heard or seen in me, put 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.040 it into practice, and the God of Peace will be 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.960 with you, it stands the reason that we are not 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.480 going to learn, receive, hear, or see everything about God 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.200 all at once. He's telling us that this is going 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.800 to take practice. And so sometimes we need more patience 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:12.120 with ourselves to realize that even God reveals himself to 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:13.160 us progressively. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.880 God never grows, but he does. 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.120 Not give you every glimpse of Him all at once, 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.000 and that's a mercy because we could never see His 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:26.080 glory and live. And so what God is doing in 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:31.240 your life right now is he's showing you things in stages, 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.160 and he is teaching you things. Watch this in pieces, 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.120 in pieces, He's teaching you in pieces. I'm so glad 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:42.880 you came today because when you first start showing me 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.560 to play tennis, you did not show me all the 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.600 cool stuff. I remember the first thing you said to 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.840 me was show me how you hold the racket. I'm like, dude, 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.000 I am not out here with seventy five dollars for 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:55.920 you to say, show me how you hold a racket. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:57.320 I know the price has gone. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.360 Up since then, but I get in on that bottom rate, 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.600 and I'm thinking, like, if we're going to spend twenty 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.080 minutes holding the racket. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:07.040 I was trying to learn to play tennis. 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:09.920 I thought, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna never get 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.720 anywhere with this. But it was a kindness of him 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.520 that he didn't show me Roger Federer highlight clips on 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.520 my first lesson. And it is a kindness of God 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.560 that he teaches you in pieces so that you can 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:31.080 get a piece and practice and get a piece and practice, 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.200 and get a piece and practice. 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.120 So this time we learned how to hold the racket. 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.600 In about three weeks, I'll show you how to swing it. 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.920 And I'm doing this for your own good, because if 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.280 you swing it but don't know how to grip it, 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.480 that ball is gonna fly every direction every time. 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.159 So Paul is teaching in pieces. 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.360 Not only is he teaching them in pieces, but he's 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:56.160 teaching them. 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.480 Without his physical presence. 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.280 He's writing this letter from a prison, so he's teaching 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:05.840 in pieces from prison. Now this church that he founded 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.159 is having to put into practice things that they've heard, 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.720 learn or seen from his life, but he is not 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:16.119 present to show them the practice. They are having to 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.960 draw from what they saw, even though right now they 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.639 can't see it. And I wonder, is there anybody in 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.880 here today who is having to draw from something right 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:29.879 now even though you can't exactly see what God is 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.280 doing in your life, even though you don't have an 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.720 exact model for it in your life, even though you 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.199 don't have somebody to look at it and say, I'm 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.440 going to imitate or emulate that. Paul says, I'm teaching 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:45.800 you in pieces, And think about all the pieces that 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.679 Paul had to teach from, not only the fact that 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.399 he was writing the Bible. So when Paul said, like, 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.080 you can do all things through Christ to strengthens you 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.239 Philippin's four thirteen, they were like, how do you know that? 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.560 He's like, because it's in the Bible, what's gonna be. 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.439 It's going to be in the Bible in just a 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:10.760 few verses. But to teach like Paul, that's very different 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.440 than teaching like you, because for those of us who 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.200 are parents in the room, we are trying to coach 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:23.880 them knowing so little and still wrestling ourselves. And so 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.159 Paul is teaching us the great apostle, Paul who was 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:31.080 writing the illuminated inspired word of God, the great missionary statesman, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.920 and he's telling this church at Philippi, whatever you saw 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.280 and heard and learned from me, do that and the. 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.600 God of Peace will be with you. Well, that's different 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.600 for us, because we're not writing the Bible. As far 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.000 as I can tell, we're not. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.520 The example of grace that God has raised up for 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:51.400 this century. I think I think that for the majority 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.480 of us in here, it's amazing how much we're coaching 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.440 with how little we know. But if Paul was coaching you, 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.000 he could teach you about pieces that I couldn't teach you. 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.440 So when Paul says, hold on to what you've heard 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:08.879 from me, hold on to what you've learned from me, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.879 hold on to what you've seen in me. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.960 There were scenes in Paul's life. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.840 That we are privy to that would have served as 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.240 examples for them to follow. 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.760 And so when he's telling them, hold on and. 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.680 The God of Peace will be with you, you got 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:30.840 to understand that Paul is speaking this from. 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:32.080 A place of deep experience. 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.560 Paul is like a Division one NCAA champion showing you 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:42.280 how to wrestle. Paul survived stonings and still stayed stable 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:48.760 in his faith. Paul survived a shipwreck even just before 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:50.640 he wrote this letter. Let me tell you a story 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.120 real quick. In Acts, chapter twenty seven, Paul tells about 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.080 a trip that he was making as he was awaiting 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.960 his sentencing for preaching the gospel. And while he was 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.000 on the ship, he had a meeting with an angel 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:04.720 and the angel said, Paul, don't be afraid. 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:06.080 I'm going to. 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:10.360 Preserve your life. The boat that you're on is going 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.159 to go through a storm, but you are going to 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.000 make it. I don't know who that was for, but 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.960 that was just the whole word right now, just that 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.359 the boat that you are on is going to go 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:30.200 through a storm, but you're going to make it. It's 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:32.680 going to be rocky for a little while. You might 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.800 have to take some dramamine, but you're going to make it. 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:39.200 There might be some jonahs that have to go overboard, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.600 relationships that aren't good for you, but you're going to 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.919 make it. It might not look like exactly what it 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:47.320 looked like when you set out. 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:49.040 You might not be able to do it like you 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:50.560 did it when you did it like you did it. 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:52.600 But if you'll do it like God is telling you 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:55.680 to do it right now, you are going to make it. 0:21:56.960 --> 0:21:58.800 And you might have to vomit over the side of 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.560 the boat, and you might have to hold your stomach 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:03.919 for a little while while it rocks and reels, and 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:06.800