Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode of the Midweek Podcast brought to you by A Fresh Wind Church. Each week, our team brings you new content to help you take steps towards Jesus and discover more in Christ. Today's episode is hosted by Pastor Ryan.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. This is Pastor Ryan, joined as always with Pastor Tim, and we are walking through still our series Joyful, and we have been going verse by verse through the book of Philippians, just learning so much from Paul's letter to the Christians there in Philippi about what it means to be full of joy despite everything going on around you. And man Tim, we've been learning a lot. In this sermon on Sunday that you preached, I thought was pretty challenging.

Speaker 3: 1:00

It is Philippians is like a thick swamp. You know my dad, he would.

Speaker 2: 1:07

That's a good picture.

Speaker 3: 1:08

Yeah when we were getting ready to do something tough, he'd say you know, stomp your feet down in your boots. This is going to be tough, you know. And it's just thick, you know. It's not dancing through the meadow. There's some. Paul is talking and this is one thing that you need to understand about philippians. He's talking to people that he sees on his level. He's saying uh, you know, we're not talking about milk here, you know I am yeah, I am.

Speaker 3: 1:42

This is the meat and some of this is a big piece of gristle and you're just, you're going to chew for an hour.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Which I you know. It had to be refreshing for Paul because in so many of his letters he's he's addressing problems and issues and some pretty stupid stuff yeah. And sometimes he's like man. I wish we could move on to the meat. And yet here I am, bottle feeding you milk over and, over and over again. And now to the Philippians. He has a chance to just like you said.

Speaker 3: 2:11

Guys, here's some meat Right and I love it, and I think the Philippians loved it too. Sometimes you know, as a pastor you're talking about forgiveness because you're not going anywhere until you can conquer that in your life.

Speaker 3: 2:27

I remember I told you when you first started with the youth. I told you teach them to forgive and then they can't be anchored. I'll meet people who are 50 years old and they act like 13 years old, like they're 13. And the reason is because something happened and they can't forgive. It stunts you emotionally, it stunts you spiritually. You've got to learn to forgive and give that stuff to God, and so we have to address that. As pastors, it's our job. We've got to talk about bitterness and we've got to talk about unforgiveness and we've got to talk about what TV shows you're watching and stuff like that. And so, yeah, that gets tough. But last week, when I was digging in, I'm like, ooh, I like this stuff.

Speaker 2: 3:21

Yeah, and I'm sure you teach most of our discovery classes here in the Forge and I had a chance to fill in for you this past Saturday at the Forge.

Speaker 2: 3:30

Man, when you get to dive in deep and you get some people who are excited about it, man, it's every teacher's dream you know like oh, man, let's go, and I think it seems like Paul's there with the Philippians, like man, we can get into some stuff now, and then I think they loved it, and man, I just you can tell he loved these people, he loved them, and so you kind of you're supposed to start in verse 12, but you actually backed us up to verse 10 for a pretty important reason. And you know, as we were talking about the podcast before we jumped on here, you were talking about how a lot of people approach this passage kind of disconnected from verse 10. And so, before we jump into that, why don't you kind of walk us through? Why is it so important? Why did you feel the need to jump us back to verse 10?

Speaker 3: 4:22

Well, there's no literary trick here. Paul is having a conversation and then we put numbers on it and then we put headings on it, and that's just somebody's arbitration. The guy who put numbers on the verses in the Bible was riding from church to church on a donkey and he was doing it while he was riding riding the donkey.

Speaker 3: 4:47

And I forget his name. What is his name? It won't come out of my head, it's stuffed down in there, deep Anyways. So sometimes the trick is to read a Bible, like you bought me. My blessed pastor Ryan bought me a set of Bibles. Well, it's the Bible, but it's in several different books.

Speaker 3: 5:16

But it has no numbers, no chapters, no, nothing. It's just Genesis, here you go. It's just Genesis, here you go. And you've got to learn to read the Bible that way and disappear sometimes the numbers that reference you. And it's tough. I know it's tough, especially as a pastor and a teacher. You're like, okay, we're teaching this section and so you want to focus on that. But Paul says this is my goal. And then, down in 12, he says so, I pursue the goal. What's the goal? Yeah, what goal is he talking about? Right, and he says the word perfect. So in a lot of commentaries I'd say 75% of them, a lot of people who talk about this passage, they say well, the goal is perfection to be sanctified, and then they run off on this is about this. No, he already told you the goal, and I think that heading that almost every Bible has right before verse 12 kind of says okay, this separates these two different paragraphs but no, that's what he's talking about.

Speaker 3: 6:29

The goal is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.

Speaker 1: 6:38

Of course we want to leave that one out so I can understand why they would move on from there, and to be conformed to his death, and we're not ready to deal with that either.

Speaker 3: 6:46

So it's you know. Let's talk about sanctification. So I think it's just how we look at the Bible sometimes. And then we have church tradition that says this is what this is about, this is what this is about, and this is what this is about, and if you're not careful you'll fall into the trap. But every now and then the Lord says, hey, read that again.

Speaker 3: 7:15

And so I've had a great teacher that actually his life verse was this one Philippians 3.10. I want to know Jesus and it was my dad, so it was important to him that everybody knows. No, this is the goal, that perfection's not the goal. Sanctification's not the goal. Jesus is the goal.

Speaker 3: 7:39

One of the people walking out I think it was Dominique, she was walking out yesterday and she, she said I get what you're laying down. And uh, I said, man, I hope you do. And she goes I do, says we all, we look at the christian life like I'm checking boxes, you know. And she said if you pursue jesus, if you want to know him, the boxes automatically get checked. And I said that is a great way to look at it. You know, we're always looking.

Speaker 3: 8:11

I got to take this next step. I got to have this next breakthrough. I got to have this, all these and the spiritual disciplines to read my Bible. Tell my friend, you know, fast, pray, all those things. But when you want to know Jesus, all those things get incorporated because you won't lay anything down. That'll get you closer to him and that's where spiritual disciplines and prayer, fasting, giving all those things, if you want to have a relationship with him, you're going to do the things that he did and wants you to do. If you want to have a relationship, you won't do the things that he don't want you to do. You'll love what he loves and you'll hate what he hates, and that is. It seems simple, but it's a lifetime of trying to put this together. I think the most difficult part of it is to apply it to everyday life. You know, uh, when my dad would pull into a parking lot, he'd say lord I don't, I don't want to walk all the way.

Speaker 3: 9:16

Give me something close and um that's my kind of guy and and then, when we get out of parked way out in the middle of the parking lot and we have to walk all the way in, he'd get out and said all right, what's this about? What are you trying to teach me? You know, and, um, I want, I want to know why you did it. I want to know who you are. Why do I have to walk all the way up there? You know, know, my knee's hurting and this is the way he approached walking up to a store and it's something, and that's a lifetime of what is my goal. It's to know Jesus, and if Jesus is sovereign, then I want to know why I got to walk all the way up there.

Speaker 2: 10:01

Man that is so powerful and inspiring and challenging. You know like. I just I can go through life on autopilot. You know, there's so many things to think about, so many things that keep you busy and wrapped up. And, um, there's times when when joy looking at me and be like what do you think about? And I'm like, oh crap, was I supposed to be thinking about something? Because I'm like nothing I have, babe.

Speaker 2: 10:31

I have been clocked out for a long time, almost to the point like it's embarrassing, like I'm like how long have I not been thinking about something? And then to just say, and is something as mundane as having to park way out in the middle of the parking lot and say, lord, what was that for? What are you trying to teach me in this? What am I supposed to be looking for?

Speaker 3: 10:52

And not about teaching me, but what is it about you that would want me to learn this? And a lot of time it's. I want you to fellowship in my suffering, you know, and we don't want to hear that. We want to hear. Ok you know, am I going to pull fire down out of heaven before I get out of this parking lot?

Speaker 1: 11:13

And I want resurrection power.

Speaker 3: 11:15

You know, let's not worry about that fellowship of suffering right now.

Speaker 3: 11:19

But we, we struggle with Applying Jesus to our lives. We don't struggle applying the Bible to our lives. We know what's right and wrong. We know if God had this choice, what would Jesus do? We know what he would do. What we want to know is how do you feel about this Lord? Is this a big thing? Is this a little thing? You know why is this in development now? And and one of the thing it does it it keeps us from. It keeps us on point in our lives. And you've heard me talk about the guy who went to visit in jail and for hitting his wife. And he like I'm gonna start coming back to church and quit smoking. And I was like why don't we start with not hitting your wife? I mean, let's focus.

Speaker 2: 12:15

Let's get our priorities straight here. Buddy right and uh.

Speaker 3: 12:19

So I I think when, when we apply our pursuit of Jesus to our lives, we start to learn about who he is, and that's what builds your faith. I mean the way Moses talked to God and you're like, okay, moses didn't get a lot of time to grow in the faith. You know, he was like, oh, there's a burning bush, all right, you need, I guess I list for you to do. There was no Sunday school and I grew up. You know, I got one away from the Lord when I was in college, but I kind of came back and now I got kids. I thought, and I was growing, now I'm teaching a Sunday school class or I'm. No, it was like, okay get your butt to egypt.

Speaker 3: 13:04

Go talk to pharaoh and uh, but he had this relationship with god where, where he was like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't kill him, kill me instead. Um, he was, um, he begged god for things. And then he was angry, was angry and was mad at God about things and just told him you know, I'm mad.

Speaker 3: 13:31

I don't want you to be like that. I want you to do it like this and I think God is very interested in that with us that back and forth in a relationship, because you never get to know God, someone, until you have a relationship with them, I mean, until you really have a relationship. It's like dating.

Speaker 3: 13:53

It's like a marriage. What I know about my wife now. I didn't know when I married her and at the end of our life I'll probably know things about her that I didn't know. That I don't know right now. We are always growing in that relationship. Listen well, what did he say to Isaiah? He said come on, let's argue this out you know, your sin may be a scarlet, but I can make it white as snow.

Speaker 3: 14:25

I want to argue with you about it, because you know people argue and they get all fired up because they've got a passion for their relationship and the Lord wants some of that. He named his people those who wrestle against God that's what Israelite means and he wants us to wrestle with them, have a relationship with them, and most of us don't. We read about them, we read about them, we learn about them, we try to do what the Bible tells us to do, but we never know him.

Speaker 2: 14:59

Yeah, for better or worse. We talk a lot about spiritual disciplines and it's one of my maybe my passion points is helping people figure out what does it look like to live the Christian life. So a lot of the sermon series that we've done over the years are that you know here's what this practically looks like, and you know, inadvertently, I think, some of those things come out as those boxes that I got to check. All right, so I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and that becomes the Christian life pursuing those check boxes. But, as Dominique said, man, if I would just pursue Jesus, these things will check themselves, because they're the things that bring me closer to him, that help me know him better.

Speaker 2: 15:40

If I want to know what he thinks, God man, what do you think on this? I'm going to turn to his word and I'm going to spend time in prayer. And so boxes got checked, but you weren't pursuing the checkmark, you were pursuing to know him, and I love what Paul's saying here. My goal is to know him. That is the primary thing in my life, the driving force in my life, the thing that compels me day after day after day is I want to know him.

Speaker 3: 16:15

Yeah, it's tough as pastors and I'm going to give you a little insight into your pastor's lives. But we're at a leadership conference this week Brian and I and some of the leaders in the church and pastor got up and this is a secular thing, it's not just about pastors, but it's a leadership conference that has been going on for years. But this pastor got up and he's a pastor of a church that has 45 different churches and I'll just tell you his name Craig Rochelle. When he first got started, he was getting up to preach and before we preach we usually pray. And he started to pray and the thought came to him and he says this is the first time I've prayed. This week is right before I preach on Sunday. I've been so busy running around being a pastor this is the first time and it's easy for us.

Speaker 3: 17:27

A lot of times and I was telling you before we started that a lot of times in my study life I'll sit down and the forge is doing Titus.

Speaker 3: 17:41

We're going through Titus right now and I'll say well, today, lord, I'm going to read Titus and I can almost hear him sigh. It's like and I know what you're thinking. You're thinking why is that a big deal. It's because every time I read the Bible, being a pastor, I'm thinking how would I teach this? Who would I teach it to? How would I preach this? Who would I preach it to? Who would I teach it to? How would I preach this? Who would I preach it to? I need to talk to one of the leaders in the church about this verse so he can apply it to what he's doing. And the Lord is like I want you to read this, to know about me, not to just know about what you should do in this situation or what you teach. And it's so hard for me to turn my mind off and say I am not going to start making notes inside my Bible and putting together another sermon for another because I needed one more sermon to fit in that one slot. It's just a fight.

Speaker 2: 18:55

Yeah, this is an easy trap, particularly for those of us who are in ministry or teacher life, group leaders even. We're so used to having to get a study together, and man Sunday's always coming. It's always on the way, and we know, man, people are looking for content to help them grow and all those things, and so you're constantly thinking about those things, and so you come across Scripture and, yeah, it's hard to turn that off and say all right, lord, what do you want me to know about you?

Speaker 2: 19:30

Even the lay people, people who don't have a ministry leadership position. A lot of times, when we approach scripture, we're still looking for now. What do I do in this situation, god? What would you want me to do? What is your will for me here? And it becomes so much about us and what we're doing. And that's not bad, because God wants to lead you and guide you in all of that?

Speaker 3: 19:57

He absolutely does.

Speaker 2: 19:58

But we have. I don't even know if a lot of us, when we approach scripture, if we even think God, what does this teach me about you? We don't even ask ourselves that, yes, god wants you to know his will for your life and what you should do in that situation. He wants to teach you how to be a great mom or dad, how to be a great kid or a boss, an employee, and he will show you all those things. He'll teach you how to manage your money. I mean, just listen to Dave Ramsey. He's like I just went back to scripture and started doing what it said and look what happened in my life. So God will teach you all those things. But, man, when we open Scripture, have you ever stopped to just say God, what do you want me to know about you? I want to know you more, not what I'm supposed to do in this situation, but just to know you.

Speaker 2: 20:47

Man, when you read Paul's goal, you say, man, how am I doing If I was to make that my goal? Because Paul's a guy who said imitate me as I imitate Christ. Yeah, that's bold, yeah. So if this is Paul's goal to know Christ, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death. That that's his goal. And he says I want you to imitate that, all right. Well, what does that look like if that's my goal, and then how am I doing? And I think for a lot of us, the honest truth is not that great.

Speaker 3: 21:24

Not that great we're not trying to disappoint the Lord. So we're we're trying to add things to our lives that he thinks, that we think he wants us to do, but what he wants to do is have a relationship with you.

Speaker 3: 21:37

Yeah and um, if we can get that in, um, put on that pair of glasses every time we go to the word or every time we pray, um, I it would free. Number one free you up. And number two I think the Holy Spirit will start opening the deep things of God to you. If you want to know him, not about him, then the deep things of God are going to be your purview.

Speaker 2: 22:07

Right and I know, as we're talking through this, this can feel very convicting and you can feel like man I am, I'm failing at this thing, I'm pursuing the wrong things, but I think what you just said was was so important. If, if we would get this right, it's actually freeing Right, because those, those lists become exhausting. We all got those lists. Joyce she's got, I got to get these weeds pulled. You stopped by my house the other day like what's going on back there? I'm like don't even bring it up, don't talk about that. You're pretty passionate. And then we got things we want to get done around the house, things we want to get done at our jobs. There's all these lists and when we feel like man, my relationship with God has become that it just gets exhausting.

Speaker 3: 22:56

Yeah, but don't. That list is important because it's the beginning of the relationship, right? Who is she? Who is she? Who does she know? Does anybody know her? Is she single? Does she know? Does anybody know her? Is she single? Is she looking? Is she available? You know, we want to know everything about her, right? Because we're like, wow, and so we start putting lists together. I'm going to find out about what does she like and I'm going to take her on the first date, you know. Oh, she don't like seafood, so we're going to get steak next time. I'm going to learn these things about them, but the goal in learning about them is to have a relationship with them. And the Lord just says, hey, you've taken that step. I love it. I want you to know about me. Let's take a step now together, right, you to know about me. Let's take a step now together, right?

Speaker 2: 23:54

and and it's, it's a it's it takes a long time to start putting it all together yeah, when we were talking at the forge on on saturday, reed was talking about how you know he reed's been following the lord a long time and and he was talking about just about any situation he goes. I don't know if there's ever a moment or a situation, a decision in my life where I don't know what the Lord wants. He tells me. I've read his word, I know it. I mean, reed knows the word, he goes. I just don't know if there's any of those situations he goes.

Speaker 2: 24:32

But sometimes I still wrestle with the fact that I just want that other thing more, you know, and and that's where where so many of us are, you know, we I and I preached about this a couple weeks ago. You know, most of us are already far more educated than our level of obedience. We don't need another book, we don't need another conference, even though that conference was great. We just need to start doing the things that we know we're supposed to do, and those things are to be done in relationship. Unfortunately, we get wrapped up in this idea that the Christian life, the goal of it, is sinless living. You know, I just got to quit sinning. If I could just get past this sin, if I could just lay that thing down. And we think that's our battle.

Speaker 2: 25:26

That's the thing that, as a Christian, I'm supposed to be focused on right, um, and you know my dad, when I was first starting to drive, we went out and and he was telling me, he said, ryan, when I, you know, it starts getting dark out and there's a car coming at you in the opposite lane, you can't look at that car's headlights because what happens is you, you drift towards the things that you're staring at.

Speaker 2: 25:50

He says, if you're so focused on this car that's coming from the opposite direction and you're looking into their headlights, you'll drift and you'll end up running straight on into that car. And so he would tell me, look at the white line on the side of the road over here and it'll help pull you back into your lane. The problem is we look at sin, this thing that's coming at us, and we're like I got to beat it, I got to beat it, I got to beat it. And so we're so focused on it and what happens is so many of us, we just drift right into it. We're not meaning to, we're trying to get away from it, we're trying to move past this thing, we're trying to avoid it but it's got our attention.

Speaker 3: 26:33

Paul says it, he says the same thing. He says restore them gently, but be careful that you're not tempted for the same thing too. And because we're looking at it, and so we it's I want to make it. Is it as big of a thing as it is? Because the Lord is making us make that transition in his relationship with you.

Speaker 3: 26:55

He's going to help you. We already talked about that. He's working in you for you to pursue him, to make him the goal. That's what he wants from you and that's what he's doing in you. And you're going to learn to desire him. So you're going to desire the things that he wants for you, and that's when you start doing the good works that everybody talks about doing as a Christian. So don't worry about any of that. That's just going to. It's just going to happen. So it's not the we got a note written here it's not the disciplines.

Speaker 3: 27:31

Let me explain that there's some things that church people, churchified language here called spiritual disciplines and their bible study fasting, giving prayer, and there's five types of prayer, starting with confession. You know all these things that, as a Christian, it's like. Here's your list, these things you've got to incorporate into your life and it'll help you grow. Well, what helps you grow is when you do these things in pursuit of Jesus, not just doing these things because it's the Christian thing to do and that's the way.

Speaker 3: 28:16

God wants you to live All right. No One of my dad would say I want the lawn cut by the time I get home today. He meant I want the lawn cut before he got home, not while he was driving in the parking lot. I mean, there were times when I was running behind that push, mower and trying to get it done and um, so spiritual disciplines are kind of like that.

Speaker 3: 28:45

He's like hey, I want you to spend time in prayer, I want you to spend time in my word, I want you to focus on doing what you learn in the word, and when I get back we'll talk about it. I think that relationship with my dad, if the lawn wasn't mowed, got bad, you know. But if I went out and mowed the lawn all day, when my dad got home we were playing catch in the backyard and it was great. So we get this idea that you know. My goal is to get all this stuff down and make sure I do it every day. Show up at church, serve at church all the spiritual disciplines that a Christian is supposed to do, Find my gift, use my gift for the church, all those different things. If I can get all that ironed out, then you know I'll be what God wants me to be. You won't. You'll have a relationship with those things, but you won't have a relationship with him and you miss what it's all about.

Speaker 3: 30:01

And that was what Paul was saying Look, I've taken hold of him. Because he's taken hold of me, I am. I don't have to worry about that anymore. He's taken hold of me. I don't have to worry about, you know, am I being good enough for him or am I doing enough for him, or anything. He's taken hold of me, so I have security in that.

Speaker 3: 30:28

So, since I know that, I am going to forget what's behind Even the good things yeah, even the great things, where God freed me from smoking or drinking or whatever, you know these mountains that I climbed and Paul had all kinds of great things that God had used him for, and then all the bad things. We know about all those two. But he says I'm going to forget all of it to know him more. Right, I want to know him more, more than I want the good old days. I want to know him more, more than I want to experience that thing that I experienced then and I use the example in preaching revival that I was in as a kid and how it was just crazy what God was doing in that and I'd love to see it again. But my focus and my goal should be to know him more and just thank you, god, for letting me experience that. But I want to know you. Right, and paul was he's like hey, this is it, guys. He called them brothers and sisters. This is it.

Speaker 3: 31:48

And he says in down in verse 15, I think it is, he says um, if you don't know this, god's gonna teach you this. He's gonna reveal it to you. He said he's like you don't have to worry if you don't know this or if you don't believe it or if you think it's all about you know, checking the boxes and all the legalistic type things. God's going to get you out of that. He's going to reveal it to you and I love that because it goes right back to that. He's taken hold of me, he's taken hold of this relationship and he's going to teach me what I need to know and what Paul is saying. This is what you need to know. It's about him.

Speaker 2: 32:33

Yeah, it's almost like Paul is saying you know, you're allowed to be wrong, you don't have to agree with me. You can be wrong, but God will straighten you out. I'm right on this. God's going to straighten you out, he'll teach you these things. I love how he worded that. But this idea of knowing him is so important. And and then the question becomes okay, it's not about checking boxes, it's. It's not all these things, it's about knowing him. How do I know him more than? And then, well, here's the things that you got to do, right?

Speaker 2: 33:09

This feels like there's checkboxes again. I remember one of the oh man, I was probably 15, 16 years old and my pastor at the time gave me what's really become a classic work in Christianity the Celebration of Discipline by, I think, richard Foster. I think is who wrote it, and I mean it's not a fun read, necessarily, but, man, there is so much depth to it, but it's a whole book on. You want spiritual growth. This is the things that you do. These are the things that need to be a part of your life, and we said this on the podcast a couple of weeks ago. You know, we're always looking for that next level, that breakthrough, whatever it is.

Speaker 2: 33:57

The fact is, christian life is pretty simple and it's been the same for the past two, really, three, four, 5,000 years. Right, I mean, we need to keep coming back to these things, um, and so we're saying those things are not bad, you need them in your life. You need to know his word, you need to spend time in prayer and in worship, you need to be in fellowship with other believers and gathering together with the saints. You need those things, um. What we're saying is let's take a new perspective and say man, my goal in all of that is I want to know him.

Speaker 3: 34:37

I think we see it in examples all through Scripture, especially in the New Testament, paul talking about it. But we see it in the Old Testament too. King Josiah, he shows up and they're just digging around in the temple and they find all these scrolls and Josiah's like what is this? Oh sorry, this is the word of God.

Speaker 3: 35:03

And he's buried under the rubble and he's like why don't I know this stuff? People need to know this stuff. And they started sitting on the steps of the temple and reading it to the people. And people are like you need to know about God if you're ever going to know God, so that's the first step. I mean, Jeremiah went on to say I want to eat this book. I want to eat this book. Right, I want to know. And so, yeah, the spiritual disciplines are important. That's an important part of the relationship that you're going to have with God. But the goal of spiritual disciplines is not to be pharisaical and say I have arrived, I have the knowledge, I have the spiritual. I want to say macho, but just, you know, I'm pumped up, I've got all the answers. That's not what the Lord is looking for you to do. He wants you to.

Speaker 3: 36:13

I want you to do all that in your pursuit of me and knowing me, and it's just a slight attitude shift. But we know all these people who know all these things and you know right away that there's something wrong when they say god wants you to, or god hates this guy, or god hates that guy, or you know, you know right away it's like they know a lot but they don't know him right. And I you know, you, you sat down and talked to god, god what this guy did a terrible thing, Don't you hate that?

Speaker 3: 36:55

I hate that, I hate that. And he's doomed for destruction. Okay so we're centered. You hate that. You hate that guy. No, I don't hate that guy. Well, you just said he's doomed for destruction. You hate that guy. No, no, no, no, no. I love that guy and if he'd ask my forgiveness and come to me, I'd forgive him in a heartbeat. Wait, how can he be doomed for destruction and you still want to save him and forgive him and bring him home, because that's who?

Speaker 2: 37:30

I am that nun should perish.

Speaker 3: 37:32

Right and we get this idea that when we learn about him, we know him. No, we got to know him. And when Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice, I'm going to teach a course coming up called the Discovering the Enigmatic Christian Life. I was looking for a word.

Speaker 2: 37:56

That's a $5 word.

Speaker 3: 37:58

Yeah, the secret things, the mystery of the Christian life. And I guess the paraphrase would be what are the things that God would like you to know about the Christian life? Not what you want to know about God, but what God would wish that you knew so that you could get to know him better. And there's a lot of things in there.

Speaker 2: 38:28

That's an important class. I mean, our whole purpose here as a church is to help people discover more in Christ. And again we go to the Bible God, I want to know about you, and we'll start picking the things. What if we flip that around and said well, god, what do you want me to know about you? You know, man, I love this idea.

Speaker 3: 38:47

It's important because there's some things that we do all the time. Lord, please forgive me for that. And he's like, yeah, I kind of did that on the cross, remember, you know, and I took care of that already. But I'm glad you confessed it because I demand that you confess and agree with me on it. Now let's go on. You have my forgiveness, you have my grace. You can put that card, lay my card down on the counter and it's going to cover it, and so we get all wrapped up.

Speaker 3: 39:19

oh, god hates me for doing this Well, god created you and he knew you were going to do that before he created you, and he still came and died for you. My biggest struggle in my Christian life growing up was well, if God had a choice.

Speaker 3: 39:38

If he really had a choice, he wouldn't have saved me. You know he has to save me because I came to him and ask him to and he he's kind of he's gotta do it. You know, but if it was just up to him he wouldn't have done it. You know, and it's been a struggle because I somehow, as a kid I got a hold of that and even though all the verses that says you know God draws you and, you know, prepares you to receive the gospel, and just I would just flush it down the toilet because I had this idea that I I had this idea that he wouldn't have picked me.

Speaker 3: 40:18

He had to pick me and I don't know how I got that attitude. I can't even explain it well enough for people to get it. I've never heard of anybody having that.

Speaker 1: 40:30

I'm on an island by yourself. Yeah, I feel like I'm on an island by myself. I'm on an island by yourself. Yeah, I feel like I'm on an island by myself.

Speaker 3: 40:36

But we need to realize that there are some things that we live outside of as Christians and I want to share about 10 of those with everybody and I think it'll push you along towards your pursuit of Jesus. One thing that Teresa was. She says you're going to preach on my favorite verse of Scripture. You got to tell them the Christian life is intentional. It just don't happen. It's an active pursuit of Jesus. You've got, it's got to be on your mind, it's got to be the thing that you're trying to do. You're just not going to coast Now. If you're pursuing Jesus, those boxes or all that stuff, how you're going to live, they're going to get checked and you're going to begin to live that way as you pursue Jesus. But pursuit of Jesus is Paul uses these words through this whole passage of Scripture it's like super intentional. It's like I am striving to pursue my goal to know Jesus.

Speaker 2: 41:51

Yeah, we think eventually this should all get easy right and and it gets easier. I mean there's parts of your Christian life that, as you grow and and mature, you don't struggle with the same things that you used to struggle with. Um, yeah, I, I've gotten to the point where I can forgive most people for most things. That's not something I struggle with Now. There's other things that I still do, but there's a lot of the Christian life that I've developed, some calluses. I know how to do those things now I've got some practice miles in. But, man to know it's an active, intentional fight. This is something that I think of Reed, who was saying man, there's times where I still just want that other thing and I hear God say Reed, you sure you want that? Oh, you know. And Paul, he's constantly using sports terminology. He talks about a race, he talks about a fight. This is how he describes the Christian life. And then we show up and we're like where's the sweet tea and lemonade? I don't know if that's how this works. That's not how Paul thought about it. I mean it was an active fight.

Speaker 2: 43:11

I think about my buddy Caleb. He's running all these marathons, he's. He's the guy that I want to be Cause he is so disciplined to these things. And he, he's, he's going to, you know, get all of his metabolism and his resting heart rate. He's having all this test ran to kind of figure out where he's at. And then, you know, he goes on 10 mile runs, you know, every day, or six, 10 miles, I don't know things, that it makes me tired thinking or listening to the what he does, you know.

Speaker 2: 43:42

But his goal isn't to just run 10 miles and his goal isn't to just get his you know, resting heart rate down or whatever his goal is. He's like I want a place in these marathons. His goal is he's like I want to place in these marathons. Now, I don't just want to run it, I want to place. That's his goal. So he checks a lot of boxes along the way, but none of those boxes are the goal. Placing in the marathon is the goal for him. That's the thing he's striving for and it takes intentionality. What he eats now is important. How much he hydrates is now important. Every single thing he puts in his body matters. The kind of sleep that he gets matters. You know, all these things that the rest of us we're not even thinking about, like we see, you know that oatmeal cream pie, or you know for me Oreos, we're eating it, we don't even think about it.

Speaker 3: 44:32

Yeah, that's not even a cookie an oatmeal cream pie. It's not like I'm just going to eat it. It's a breakfast item.

Speaker 2: 44:40

It's got oatmeal in it.

Speaker 3: 44:44

I think a lot of these guys coming out of college and getting in the NFL and they suddenly realize, okay, I'm not just an athlete anymore, I'm a specific athlete and there's not a summer that I'm off. Every day I'm an NFL wide receiver. Everything I eat, every exercise I do, there's no, I'm going to go on vacation and eat whatever I want and do whatever I want. No, when I go on vacation, is there a gym, is there a…. And the guys who forget that don't last very long.

Speaker 2: 45:26

They don't last very long. I mean, they're on a team today and they're selling used cars tomorrow. Right, and that's what we're saying. And they're selling used cars tomorrow. And that's what we're saying. When your goal is Christ, when it's you know, I want a place in the marathon. I am going to check a lot of boxes in my pursuit, but those aren't the things that I'm pursuing. I want to pursue placing or in the Christian life. I want to pursue Christ, christ to know him as well. As a forgiven sinner can and I'll check whatever boxes I have to check to get to him.

Speaker 3: 46:00

Paul said I'll beat my body into submission. Yeah, and he was telling Timothy, you have to tell me that sounds passive, right? I mean it's like no, you need to get up in the morning and get serious about Jesus every day, Right you?

Speaker 2: 46:15

know every day.

Speaker 3: 46:17

Every day at work, every situation, every conversation. You know every thought, which is very tough, but you know, paul's been teaching this stuff for years. He told the Ephesians oh, it was in the Corinthians. He said you've got to take every thought, captive, captive, the Ephesians.

Speaker 1: 46:35

Oh, it was in the Corinthians.

Speaker 3: 46:36

He said you've got to take every thought captive and then give it to Christ.

Speaker 2: 46:39

Make it obedient to Christ.

Speaker 3: 46:41

And if he don't like it, you're going to put it down. So this is a battle, but it's something that has something at the end of it, which is Jesus. He wants us to our creator, wants us to know him, he wants us to know about him. He wants when someone says, well, you know why did that guy end up in that situation, or whatever we can say, well, I can tell you why. Well, how do you know? Because I know Jesus and he did the same thing to him as he did to me. He gave me what I wanted and then I had to pay for it, and that's so. I know that because I know him.

Speaker 3: 47:31

And when I was in the middle of that, I said, lord, why am I here? Because I know him. And when I was in the middle of that, I said, lord, why am I here? Because you wouldn't listen to me. So I gave you what you wanted. Now you gotta pay for it, but it's okay, come on, let's go um, confess it and let's get on with this relationship. And, uh, that's who he is, and he wants to teach you all those things. And we can circle this wagon and run around it and around it and around it, my dad. You shared it the week before last, I shared it yesterday. I'm going to share it again right here before I make Ryan pray. The goal, what you want to do, is get to know Jesus as well as a forgiven sinner, can, and all this other stuff, all your addictions, all the things that pull you off the path, all the things that you wish were the way they used to be, will start fading away because Jesus is what you want.

Speaker 2: 48:37

My favorite hymn fix your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth grow strangely dim. We want you to know the Christian life isn't just about arriving at perfect.

Speaker 2: 48:48

It is a relentless, a joy-filled pursuit of Jesus, and this is what we want for you.

Speaker 2: 48:54

Let me pray, father. I thank you so much for your word, and, lord, we continue to thank you for this letter to the Philippians and all the truly the gold that we are mining and gleaning from this letter. Lord, we thank you that you are a God who wants to be found and known by us, and, father, I pray that, as you give us the desire and the power to do what pleases you, that you are a God who wants to be found and known by us and, father, I pray that, as you give us the desire and the power to do what pleases you, that you would put a deep hunger and longing to know you more, that, whatever we thought about the Christian life and however we've approached it up till now, that we can say with Paul that my goal is to know you, the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of your suffering. And, father, in that I pray that we would truly get to know you as well as a forgiven sinner can. In Jesus name, amen.

Speaker 1: 49:45

Amen. Thanks again for joining us for this episode of the Midweek Podcast. We'd love to hear from you, let us know how God is using this resource in your life, or send any podcast questions or topic ideas to. If you would like to support this ministry financially and help us continue offering new resources that equip you to discover more in Christ, simply text ANYAMOUNT to the number 84321. We're so grateful for your support. Make sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the Midweek Podcast. Be blessed and have a great week.