1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,600 Hi, I'm Ryan. Welcome to Bible at the Beach. Today we're going to be in Philippians chapter 2 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:18,320 three, verses nine through 16. Glad you could be with us today. Paul writes, 3 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:25,720 My passion is to be consumed with Him and not cling to my own righteousness. Based in 4 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:32,480 keeping the written law, my only righteousness will be this. Based on the faithfulness of Jesus 5 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:39,480 Christ, the very righteousness that comes from God. Boy, we sure have our own form of righteousness, 6 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:48,520 don't we? Usually comes up in our beliefs, our attitudes, and our norms. Our culture. Every 7 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:53,520 culture tends to think that their culture is better than someone else's culture. That's our 8 00:00:53,520 --> 00:01:00,040 form of self-righteousness. And Paul says, and we know this because prior to this passage, 9 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,880 Paul is dissecting his own elitism that he referenced in his own culture. He says, 10 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:13,520 I'm a Pharisee of Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was talking about his racial elitism. He was 11 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:19,480 talking about his educational elitism. He was talking about his wealth elitism. And Paul makes 12 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:25,160 the argument, this is all garbage. Let's all just get to know Jesus. And then he follows it up again 13 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:31,320 here. And he reminds us that we all have our form of righteousness. You know, it's a powerful thing 14 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:37,920 to just even admit that you have your own righteousness. We tend to be able to see the 15 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:43,640 self-righteousness of others. Let me ask you a question. Can you see your own self-righteousness? 16 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:49,080 The things that you value that you think are better than other people? Those are the things 17 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:57,040 that God wants to bring low so that Jesus can be brought high in your life. He says in verse 10, 18 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:03,200 and I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus and to experience the overflowing power of 19 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:09,080 His resurrection working in me. I will be one with Him and His suffering and become like Him in His 20 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:18,400 death. So the joy in life is found in the suffering, in the identification of the relationship that we 21 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:26,120 have with Jesus in the valleys, in the valleys and in the peaks, in the mountaintops, and at the 22 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:31,960 seashore through every age and through every stage. That is how we get to know Jesus through the ups 23 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,840 and the downs, through the successes, through the sufferings, through all the chapters of our life. 24 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:43,000 We have one goal and it's to experience Jesus in all of His fullness through all of the emotions 25 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:51,680 that we have in this life. That is how we become mature and deep in our character as human beings. 26 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:57,240 He says only then will I be able to experience complete oneness with Him in His resurrection 27 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:02,440 from the realm of death. So we identify closer with the person of Jesus through suffering. We 28 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:09,800 identify deeper in our character through hardship and suffering and hardship have almost always been 29 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:16,960 the tools that God has used in order for our character to be formed, the character of Jesus 30 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:23,480 Christ. He says in verse 12, I admit I haven't yet acquired the absolute fullness of what I'm 31 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:32,120 pursuing. So Paul has an identity issue here. He says, I'm glad for the direction that I'm headed, 32 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:40,640 but I have not yet attained it. Humility. Passion, I like where I'm headed. Humility, I'm not there 33 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:47,080 yet. And we need both in our life. We need passion. We like where we're headed. We need humility. I'm 34 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:54,400 not there yet. I need others. I need God. I need people. I'm not there yet. I'm still striving. 35 00:03:54,400 --> 00:04:03,520 And so he says, but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which 36 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:13,680 Christ Jesus has laid hold of me to make me His own. Now listen, God has a specific race for your 37 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:23,240 life. And it's our job as followers of Jesus to find out the job that God has for us. How do you 38 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:29,800 find it out? Well, you pray a lot. You ask a lot of questions to yourself and to others, and you 39 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:39,680 find out the best way that you can serve God by serving people. I've said many times, I'm called 40 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:49,120 to pastor people, to preach and teach the Bible, to plant churches, and to provide water in my life 41 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,800 for as many people as possible. So that's what I focus on. And I pray every day, now God help me 42 00:04:54,800 --> 00:05:02,160 to do what you've asked me to do the best that I can. Ignore all the noise. Go after you with all 43 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:09,200 of my heart. That's what gets me up every single day. Paul says, I don't depend on my own strength 44 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:15,280 to accomplish this. However, I do have one compelling focus. I forget all of the past, 45 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:21,760 and I fasten my heart to the future. Well, I don't know about you, but I sure have things in my life 46 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:28,840 that I would just as soon forget. There is much of my life that I wish I could get back, time wasted. 47 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:35,040 Well, it's all in the rear view now. And the only vision that I have in my life is the vision to 48 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:42,400 move forward and to do the best that I can for Jesus with the time that I have left, all of my 49 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:50,160 influence, all of my effort, and all of my energy. And so that's my heart. I hope your heart is to 50 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:59,520 maximize your life for Jesus Christ, for the greatest impact, regardless of whatever Jesus 51 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:06,960 has asked you to do. There are no great assignments in the kingdom of God. That's a lie. The word 52 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:18,960 legacy, that's a lie. That's a lie. All assignments from Jesus are of equal value, regardless of our 53 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:26,320 perception of them. There are no super assignments. There are no super saints, and there are no super 54 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:33,680 believers. There are no super churches. There are just assignments. God gives out to people. He asks 55 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:42,720 us to do the best job that we can with what he's asked us to do. May we all be faithful and passionate 56 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:50,400 and endure and fruitful to what God has asked us to do in our life. Paul says, I run straight 57 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:57,040 for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory prize through the 58 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:04,560 anointing of Jesus. So we have a race and we're supposed to run it with God's grace and at the 59 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:14,080 pace that we feel like we can run at in our life. Now we all have a specific race. God gives you a 60 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:21,040 specific grace, and then you have to find the right pace because there are some people that can run 61 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:27,600 a four-minute mile. Other people run a six-minute mile. Other people run a 15-minute mile. You have 62 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:35,920 to find the pace that you're supposed to run your life at. No one can tell you. You have to figure 63 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:40,800 that out through trial and error, and then God will finally say to you, look, you're a seven-minute 64 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:48,320 a mile runner. This is where you crush it. Go do that, and then you settle in and life gets really 65 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:53,680 fun after you get comfortable with who you are. So I encourage you, say, God, how did you make me? 66 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,320 What pace am I supposed to run this race at? And then life will get funner and things will start 67 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,320 to open up for you and opportunities start to come your way. You got to find your race. You got to 68 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:10,480 find your pace, and then it gets fun. He says, verse 15, so let all who are fully mature have the 69 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:16,640 same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them. 70 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:22,080 Look at the last verse, verse 16, and let us all advance together to reach the victory prize 71 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:30,240 following one path with one passion. The vision of every believer is Jesus. The vision of every 72 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:38,080 church is Jesus. The vision of every ministry is Jesus. May we have him as our vision, and may we 73 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:45,760 serve him well, and may we serve him faithfully. Now, in all things, I always pray, God, thank you 74 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:51,840 for your word today. Give me the eyes to see today. Give me the ears to hear. Give me the heart to 75 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,800 feel. Until next time, thanks for joining me at Bible on the Beach. See you next time. 76 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:01,600 You'd like more information about Ocean Water Church, how to join us on an upcoming trip, 77 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:07,200 how to be part of one of our Clean Water projects, how to financially support our movement, 78 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:12,400 or even information on how you can start an Ocean Water Church yourself. 79 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:17,280 Please look us up at OceanWater.com.