1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Welcome to everybody that's online. Glad you're able to join us. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,000 And for everybody who's here, it's good to be able to have you all here. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:16,000 And oftentimes, I feel like for myself, you know me, I'm Pastor Jason, 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,000 and I've been here for about four years doing discipleship and the like 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,000 and doing lead pastor stuff these days. 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,000 But there's been a lot of stuff that I've had to do before. 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:33,000 And one of the things that I did was a small person prison keeper. 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,000 I mean middle school teacher. 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,000 And with it is that as a middle school teacher, I would teach math, science, 10 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 all sorts of random stuff. 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000 And one of the things that I always saw was especially when I would teach sixth graders, 12 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,000 is that teaching sixth grade was not just about teaching math. 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000 It was also about dealing with young people that didn't always know how to get along. 14 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Because I remember there were a couple of these students, 15 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,000 the ones that seemed to have the most trouble getting along with everybody else. 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:11,000 And I remember that one of them came up and was just crying and was like, 17 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,000 I got to tell you, this other guy over here, and he was just being mean to me. 18 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:21,000 And he saw that he was being tattled on, because as we know, according to middle school, 19 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,000 snitches get stitches. 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,000 So it just got up there, and he was like, oh, well you didn't know what he did to me beforehand. 21 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,000 And he starts talking about it, and the first guy was like, no, no, no, no, no, 22 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,000 there was a reason I did that. 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 And they just kept going back and forth, back and forth. 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 And they knew, see that was my mistake, was I actually asked them what happened, 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,000 and you never asked middle schoolers what happened. 26 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Oh my word. 27 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000 And that's the thing with this, is that at the end of the day though, it's like, 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000 just stop, can you two maybe try to get along right now? 29 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,000 I guess. 30 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Well if he just doesn't, okay, okay. 31 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,000 But could you try? 32 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Yes, I guess. 33 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 And the thing with this is that it could stood out to me as realizing that at the end of the day, 34 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000 I had absolutely no idea who had done what to whom first or where, 35 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,000 but that probably didn't matter anyway. 36 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:20,000 Now, the reason I say that is because as we look at our first two verses, 37 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:28,000 see before our New Testament passage, this is how the chapter was really beginning. 38 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Euodia and Sintiqi. 39 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Imagine that you are sitting there with the entire church around you, 40 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:46,000 and you got a letter from Paul, one of the most well-known of the evangelists, the preachers, the apostles, 41 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:53,000 and all of a sudden out of nowhere, your name is being spoken in the middle of the entire church, 42 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:59,000 where Paul is telling you and this other person that you all need to finally get along. 43 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Now, here's the thing about this. 44 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:08,000 How often does a pastor come up in front of the congregation and start calling you all out by name 45 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 and making sure everybody's dirty laundry gets aired out? 46 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Nah, yeah, I don't think a lot of people would be staying too long if that were the case. 47 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,000 See, that's one of the fun parts about this is that at that moment in time, could you imagine 48 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:28,000 what it is that your argument has become so big 49 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,000 that not only does some guy in prison have to spend his time writing about it, 50 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 but now it's going not only in front of your whole church, 51 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,000 but now every church from then on for the next 2,000 years is going to know your name 52 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,000 just because you are having an argument. 53 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:53,000 With that, what stands out about this is the fact that it stands out. 54 00:03:53,000 --> 00:04:00,000 You see, a pathoditis had come from Philippi and was making sure that he's giving all the news to Paul 55 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 and what ends up happening. 56 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,000 Well, you have to talk about Eodia and Sintiqi. 57 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:11,000 And there's Paul trying to figure out how do I deal with this. 58 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Now, does he take sides? 59 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Does he say, oh, Eodia, you need to stop being mean to Sintiqi? 60 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Or Sintiqi, you got to stop saying bad things about Eodia. 61 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,000 It's like, look, if they want your cookie recipe, just share it, okay? 62 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,000 It's okay. 63 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 And her matzabal soup was better than you pretended it was, okay? 64 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000 No, that's not what the point was. 65 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,000 And he says, can you learn to live in peace? 66 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Just find a way to get over it. 67 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:47,000 See, that is what ends up leading us into our passage from today. 68 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:53,000 See, all this stuff about being joyful and considerate and being immersed in the peace of God, 69 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,000 it's not just random ways of trying to finish a letter, okay? 70 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,000 I got nothing else to say. 71 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,000 It was only three chapters. 72 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,000 I probably need a fourth one. 73 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Nobody wants another philemon. 74 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,000 I mean, come on. 75 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Okay, so let me just say, no. 76 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:14,000 Why was it that dealing with the argument was such a big deal? 77 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,000 Because it was stealing their focus and their joy. 78 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:23,000 Some years ago, it was like maybe the mid-2000 aughts. 79 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,000 I guess that's what we're calling it. 80 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:29,000 So sometime, I don't know, 2005, 2007, somewhere in there. 81 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:33,000 There was a song that was coming out that was pretty popular. 82 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,000 I think it might have been in a Disney movie somewhere along the way. 83 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 I'm not sure. 84 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:44,000 But some of you know that, yes, I have a soft spot for Taylor Swift, yes. 85 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,000 I also have a soft spot for Sarah Bareilles, okay? 86 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000 I mean, I don't know what it is, but she just sings to me all day long. 87 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:54,000 I don't care. 88 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:55,000 I'm putting it down. 89 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:56,000 It's amazing, okay? 90 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:02,000 And the thing is, it's like she writes this song, and the whole thing is about making sure 91 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,000 that you have the courage to stand up for who you are and be honest about yourself. 92 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Say what you want to say and let the words fall out. 93 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Honestly, I want to see you be brave. 94 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,000 And it's like, okay, it's a pretty good song. 95 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,000 Well, less than a year later, another song comes out. 96 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,000 And I remember hearing it on the radio. 97 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,000 I'm like, huh, did they change the pitch of Sarah Bareilles' song Brave? 98 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:33,000 And found out it was a whole other song by Katy Perry called Roar. 99 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:40,000 The two songs are so similar that you can literally put them on top of each other in YouTube 100 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,000 and you can't tell the difference when you switch from one song to the other. 101 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:52,000 And the whole content of the song Roar is almost the exact same type of song as Brave. 102 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,000 If anybody wants to pretend that one's not copying the other, I don't know what else to say to you. 103 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000 The thing is, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. 104 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000 And Sarah Bareilles' fans were saying, you've got to go do something. 105 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,000 You can't let them do that to you. 106 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:16,000 And all that Sarah Bareilles posted about it was, it's all love, guys. 107 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 And that was it. 108 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,000 The only thing that she ever said about the whole thing. 109 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:29,000 And that was the thing that really stood out to me is that if Sarah Bareilles had gone in 110 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:36,000 and started attacking Katy Perry and focusing on how dare you take my intellectual property rights, 111 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:41,000 it probably wouldn't have changed anything to do with Katy Perry's song. 112 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:52,000 But also, all the people who looked to Bareilles for inspiration, for who she is, for her heart, for what matters to her, 113 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,000 what would they be watching from then on? 114 00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:02,000 See, that's the thing is that in the midst of whenever we end up being hurt or harmed, 115 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:07,000 whenever there are times, whenever things are done to us that we know we don't deserve, 116 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:14,000 at the same time, what's worse about it is that it ends up distracting us from the things that do matter. 117 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:20,000 The things that can actually bring us satisfaction and hope and peace and joy. 118 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:28,000 Whenever it is speaking and it says, you know, whatever things are honorable, commendable, true, right, just, 119 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,000 it's because when we let all these other things pull us away, 120 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:39,000 it not only betrays what other people see in us, but it hurts us. 121 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:45,000 See, that's one of the things that we end up seeing is that Paul is over there in prison. 122 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:53,000 And of all the people who could say, I am such a great guy, I've worked hard, I've been a good person, 123 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,000 I don't deserve what I'm going through, it would be Paul. 124 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:05,000 Paul would be the guy who could end up having every reason in the world to be upset or hurt or frustrated. 125 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,000 But what does he end up doing? 126 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 127 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:21,000 He's not trying to get something from anybody, but he's also not trying to get at anybody. 128 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:26,000 He's not angry at the guards, he's ministering to them, telling them about Jesus. 129 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,000 We even find out that not all the churches had actually even helped him out. 130 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:36,000 And he's like, yeah, it would have been nice, but I'm okay. 131 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:44,000 And that's the piece that we end up seeing here that ends up transforming what we're supposed to see in these struggles. 132 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Switch to the next slide real quick. 133 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:51,000 See, the thing is that Paul is being sponsored by Philippi. 134 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:59,000 They knew that he needed things, food, probably money for the fact that people have to be bribed when you're in prison, 135 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,000 apparently back then or probably today. 136 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:06,000 The thing is that at that point in time, he even just needed people to talk to. 137 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:12,000 And they sent over a pathroditus who was giving him some sort of interaction with the churches because he can't see anybody. 138 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,000 He can't leave, he can't go anywhere. 139 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:20,000 You're probably going to start to lose it a little bit if you're by yourself the whole time. 140 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:29,000 But instead of focusing on, you know, I really would have liked to have had a sandwich. 141 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 I would have really liked it if you could have brought me some soup. 142 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,000 You know, I haven't had any good dessert in a while. 143 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,000 Some baklava would have been nice. 144 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,000 You know, I've been sitting here for forever and nobody brought me baklava. 145 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,000 It would have been great. 146 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:51,000 The thing is, is that instead, I know what it's like to have little and I know what it has to be to have a lot. 147 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:56,000 But either way, God has still given me everything. 148 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:02,000 And that's the piece with this, is that it's clear not everyone remembers Paul. 149 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Not everybody is thinking about this guy who's, well, often prisoned. 150 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Well, where's Paul? 151 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,000 Well, he's in prison again. 152 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,000 Oh, well, too bad. 153 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:16,000 Kind of sad he keeps managing to get himself thrown in there again. 154 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,000 But the people didn't forget him from Philippi. 155 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:24,000 And that by itself was all that he really needed. 156 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:33,000 See, a lot of times we can look at what we don't have or what we think we're supposed to have and let that be the thing that steals away all of our joy. 157 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:39,000 Or even the times whenever we've been hurt and ignored or the times whenever others have let us down. 158 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 You know what? It's easy to get caught up in that. 159 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:51,000 But when we do, we miss out on who's actually been watching us and loving us the whole time. 160 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:56,000 But more than that, also the one who has given us everything. 161 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:05,000 But you see, this also goes even beyond the fact that instead of looking toward what we think we could get, 162 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:12,000 we're focused on what others need is instead, is that it goes even further. 163 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,000 Slide. 164 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:25,000 Is that as Christians, we need to make sure that we're not so focused on the message that we miss the people. 165 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,000 We oftentimes feel we need to stand for something. 166 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:30,000 We need to fight for something. 167 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,000 We need to make ourselves heard. 168 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,000 We need to make sure that people get what they have coming to them. 169 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,000 We need to make sure, fill in the blank. 170 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:48,000 But we get so caught up in what we think we're supposed to stand up for that we miss the people that we're standing up for. 171 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:57,000 And the reason I say that right now is because you must have had your head under a rock if you have not heard about what's happening with Israel and Palestine. 172 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:04,000 The thing is, is that at this moment in time, there are people going through much more than any of us have ever seen. 173 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:10,000 There are people losing their lives and going through worse. 174 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,000 You can look it up online. 175 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,000 I don't want to share all the grizzly details. 176 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,000 The thing is, is that right now there are terrible things that are happening. 177 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,000 And at the same time, there are a lot of people over here that are spending their time. 178 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,000 You know what? That's why that group of people shouldn't exist anymore. 179 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:36,000 Or, well, you know, they had it coming to them because of this. 180 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Or even more than that, all of this proves that all of our prophecies in the church were correct. 181 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:49,000 So now, come over to the church so we can stare from a distance and wait for the second coming. 182 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:59,000 You said, at this moment in time, whatever side of a border you may be on, there are people who are losing their homes, losing their lives, losing everything they've ever known. 183 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:08,000 And somebody said at one point in time, you know, I sometimes can't tell the difference between someone who is Israeli and someone who is Palestinian. 184 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:13,000 Yeah, that's kind of the point. 185 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:22,000 See, there are a lot of people right now that are doing terrible harm to others, and they're going to need to be punished, and they're going to need to be stopped, and all these things are going to happen. 186 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:39,000 But when everything pauses, there are going to be people of all sorts of backgrounds that are suffering, and all of them need to know, not just Christ in our words, but also in what we do. 187 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:48,000 That's going to be hard, because it's going to be easy to say, well, that group needs to be taught a lesson, or they should have known better. 188 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,000 But at the end of the day, there are people. 189 00:14:54,000 --> 00:15:06,000 And if we get so caught up in trying to make a point or stand for something that we forget the people who need Christ, then we've missed the point. 190 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,000 So I don't know how all this is going to shake out. 191 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,000 I don't know things in the Middle East right now. 192 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000 I don't know what's going to be happening right now. 193 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:20,000 Over here, what I do know is that there are people who are going to need us. 194 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:31,000 So wherever your heart is right now, let it not be so consumed with whatever people are trying to say back and forth, and whatever bumper stickers people have, or whatever people post on their Facebook. 195 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:39,000 Let that part go and ask God, how are you going to let me bless all of those people suffering? 196 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:49,000 Because at the end of the day, that's how we share Christ, by sharing Christ with everyone. 197 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:54,000 No matter what may have happened before. 198 00:15:54,000 --> 00:16:04,000 Thanks be to God.