June 27, 2025 • 52 mins
We love comfort. But it may be getting in the way of God’s plan for our lives. See why being comfortable may not be what God wants for us.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I have an exciting word to present to you today. Okay, okay,
well let's do it. Then let's get in Philippians chapter
one together. I'm just going to share two verses that
introduced two different sections of Philippians chapter one, and then
(00:39):
I can come back and fill it in. I so
enjoyed Holly's message last week. She was preaching on James
and Ruth and just everybody. Old Testament, New Testament. She
helped us, she instructed us, she inspired us.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Look good doing it. I'm not gonna lie to you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I was a little distracted at times and not thinking
about Jesus at all.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
But the Lord is good. Touch somebody say he's good.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The Lord is good, and so I want to keep
on going in the flow that I've been in on
functional faith. I've been hearing people that have been with
me like nine ten years saying this.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Is my favorite series you've ever done.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I mean, I'm not saying the other ones weren't good,
but this was really helping me. So I figured, well,
you know, if you've got momentum in an area, just
stay on it. So I'm going to stay on this
idea of functional faith for however long it takes you
to start living it out.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
We might be here a while.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Look at Philippians Chapter one, verse twelve, and I am
bogged down in this chapter. Can't do it justice in
the time that's allotted today, But I do my best.
Where Paul says, now I want you to know, brothers
and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually
(02:06):
served to advance the gospel.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
That's one heading. And then go to verse twenty.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
He says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will
in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage
so that now, as always by, Paul's really sticking his
neck out here, isn't he He's facing a trial before Caesar, and.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
He's boasting of the power of God.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And he said, you know, I have a feeling that
whatever happens to me, that God's going to use it.
And so I eagerly expect and hope that I will
in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage
so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in
my body, just like God sell me through before to
(03:00):
show himself strong on my behalf in this situation too.
Now as always Christ will be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death. Rather than a title today,
for the message, I'm going to be teaching a little
bit more than I'm going to be preaching. So I
want to use a question to get your thinking today.
And the question is are you headed in the right direction?
(03:23):
Are you headed in the right direction? And we'll do
our best to consider that and take a look at it.
But let's pray before we sit down and learn. Lord,
open our hearts. Your word needs good ground if it
is to grow and produce. So we ask you till
us open us and make us receptive and ready.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Somebody say I'm ready. Tell the Lord say I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated. Thank you, band.
I just love our worship teams so much. I love
our production teams, parking teams. I love our children's ministry teams.
Somebody told me that the e kids album might have
been a Billboard album on the chart or something like that.
(04:11):
That's pretty cool on the Billboard charts with the kids album.
I didn't verify it, but it sounds cool, so I
just thought i'd say it.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
We'll look it up later.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Look here because I want to I want to teach
today and I need a little bit of grace.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
See about my handwriting.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's gonna make you question whether or not you can
sit under a pastor with the level of intelligence that
my handwriting indicates. I have sent people birthday cards before,
handwritten birthday cards because I'm a I'm a good man,
I'm a thoughtful person, and they didn't have any more
courtesy than to respond to me talking about my handwriting
on the handwritten birthday card.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Never mind what.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I said, the words of life that I spoke into
their soul. They say things like, wow, do you do
you do you get your kids to write the birthday
cards for you? I write that for you, and well,
that's just mean. So I figured that you're not that
type of people that you are loving and accepting. And
the message I want to use today requires a little
bit of writing. I want to write some words on
(05:13):
the board and kind of teach from that standpoint. So
I want to plead for your forgiveness of my handwriting,
if you'd be willing to forgive me for my handwriting
in advance and for anything that I misspell, because there's
no spell check on a whiteboard, and so we're going
to try to do it, but you know, just kind
of to break it down. And I want you in
(05:35):
the posture of a learner today so the message can
last past when I finished preaching it and go into
your week with you. So you may want to write
some of these things down. And the first thing that
I want to mention from the text and really from
life is progress. Because they say, they say anything sounds
(05:57):
official if you started with they say. They say that
one of the basic elements and requirements of human happiness
is a sense of progress.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You can't be happy in a sustained.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Way if you don't feel like you're making progress in
life and in different areas of your life.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And I think that's true.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Maybe I'm a little bit more ambitious than most people.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I don't know, I'm not most people.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I'm me, but I certainly need a sense of progress
to stick with something. Yeah, I don't show up for
something that's not working. I don't just show up again
and again and again and again. If it's not working,
I'll just stay home. And by the way, that's why
some men quit their marriages because it feels like they
never get back to that original state of love that
(06:43):
they had, and so it feels like they're going backwards
in the relationship. And a man won't show up to
play a game that he never can win at and
women too. I mean, it goes both ways, but we
all need a sense of progress. Everybody say progress.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, you sound good today, you sound like you want
to make progress. I sat down with some of.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Our staff members this week and coached them for different areas.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
You do know that I work between Sundays.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, so in leading the church one of the things
that I am privileged to do, not as much as
I would want to, but sometimes I get to do
a one on one session or a group session of coaching.
And three of the staff members who are in their
twenties asked a variation of the same question. I thought
it was interesting, and the idea was I do a
(07:27):
lot in ministry and I work hard, but it's hard
for me to tell am I making a difference? Or
is it effective? And essentially they're asking, am I making progress?
Because I don't mind working hard. I'm a hard worker,
but I need to know that it's working. And in
ministry that's hard to tell sometimes because you don't often
go home with a checked off list. It's not like
you mode seven lawns today and you can see the progress.
(07:51):
And so it's very difficult to see ministerial progress. And
Paul certainly knows something about that, who's writing in the
Book of Philippians. If progressed, then is essential to human happiness.
And if we can't feel satisfied and fulfilled in our
lives without progress, either as moms or as husbands, or
as employees in a church, or as business owners, or
(08:12):
as students or as Christians, then then how do we
make progress? And so you would say to me, and
you would be correct, that effort is essential to progress.
It amazes me by the way how something that sounds
so simple and seems so obvious seems to have skipped
(08:33):
a whole generation. Talk to me, how in the world
do you expect progress without effort? How you expect to
ace what you didn't study for? How you expect to
burn something off when you won't move what you got touch.
Somebody say effort. So I need effort if I'm going
to have progress, right, I need to push towards something
(08:56):
I need. I need to move towards something I need.
I need effort. It's gonna take effort. However, what I
would suggest to you today kind of my thought pattern
is that effort alone does not produce progress.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Effort alone is not enough. Now you know this.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
If you've had a kid with a learning disability, and
some of you are school teachers, you can give.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
A kid more and more and more and more work.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
But if they are not learning correctly the way that
they need to learn, they'll eventually conclude I'm not a
good student because they're not making progress and the effort
doesn't help it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Can I tell you another thing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
You won't make progress just because you're passionate about something.
Passion is not enough for progress. You can sincerely want
to make something better. I see people who sincerely want
to get in better shape but never learned how so
we don't just need effort.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Because you can see p people who go to the
gym six days a week and don't look like it.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Oh it's quiet. It's quiet because you've been there. Effort
alone does not produce progress. I give you a little
bit fuller equation. Effort plus direction equals progress. I thought
y'allould say amen to that. I mean, I know it's real.
(10:29):
Common sense on one level is that in order to
make progress, I got to know that I'm headed in
the right direction.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I preach from Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
If we want to go to Columbia, South Carolina, or Miami, Florida,
and I head north, I might get there quick, driving
ninety miles an hour, But is it progress? Progress is
determined by destination and my proximity to the destination. I'm
trying to say that if you get turned around the
wrong way, you'll get there fast. But when you get there,
(11:06):
you'll realize this ain't Miami, this ain't Columbia because I
didn't have direction.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Now, I mean, I drove hard.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I had my hand on ten and my hand on two,
but I woke up in the wrong place. Because progress
is more than effort. Progress is effort in the right direction.
Now I bring it up because could it be in
your life that you've been pointing your effort in the
wrong direction, Feeling tired, feeling frustrated, feeling stressed, feeling feeling
(11:38):
burned out, feeling like it didn't matter, feeling like it
didn't work. And sometimes all you need is somebody to
come along and point you in the right direction. As
your neighbor, where are you headed? As the other neighbor,
Where are you headed? It's an important question, and I'm
(11:58):
grateful that Paul get gives us a picture, a picture
of how he sees progress. How cool is it that
we not only get a narrative of Paul's missionary exploits
in the Book of Acts, but we have the letters
that he wrote. Because in the Book of Acts we
(12:19):
see what Paul did. In the letters that he wrote,
we saw how he thought. And to me, that's really
a privilege to get inside the head of one of
the greatest thinkers in the world, in the history of
the world, let alone one of the greatest Christians, one
of the greatest minds, and we get in his head
(12:39):
and he's writing to the Philippian Church. You know, he
started this church in eighty fifty. He was going through
on a missionary journey and Philippi was the first church
that he found. It, well, was the first one that
he preached in in Europe, and so he goes through
there and starts a church, and he visits, and he
stops back by a few more times.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
But by the time he's writing the Book of Philippians.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
There has been a turn of events and Paul is
in prison. Scholars debate as to whether Paul was in
Cesarea or whether he was in Rome. I take the
view that he was in Rome, and in Rome he
(13:22):
rented a house where he taught everybody who came to him.
He was under a form of house arrest for preaching
the gospel, and the Philippian church knew that he was
in prison. But these latest developments had the community at
the church at Philippiles shook up, and they're saying that
(13:42):
there has been a setback for the gospel because Paul,
who's kind of like the point guard for their team,
is locked in prison. That's kind of bad when your
point guard is on the bench in the championship and
they're worried about it. And so Paul writes to them
and he says, I need you to know something.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
About what has happened. What had happened was Paul might say.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
He says, we need to talk about what has happened
and in that phrase, that that phrase right there, for
everybody in the room would have a different meaning depending
on the time in.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Your life or the area of your life.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
You apply it to what happened when I was young,
what happened in my first marriage, or what what happened
that caused me to leave that job, what happened that
caused that relationship to fail? What what everybody say?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
What happened?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Well, what happened was Paul got moved from his house
arrest to the palace guard where they would keep the
prisoners while they were waiting for the trial. And so
the church at Philippi is hearing secondhand information. There wasn't
good journalism in that day, very different than the day
we live in where the journalism is accurate. But Paul said, no,
(15:13):
I want you to hear this straight from me, what
has happened. But then it's interesting because he doesn't go
on to detail what happened to him, which is weird.
He goes, I want to talk to you about what
has happened to me. But then and I love this
and I'm excited to share it with you. I was
telling him the last time I preached this, that this
(15:34):
is one of those sermons that if I wrote it
just for myself, it was worth the time. I preach
this stuff too. I watched this in the imax theater
of my own mind before I present it to the
general public viewing audience, and it got to me that Paul,
instead of going on to describe what happened to him,
(15:54):
which is he's falsely accused, he's been in prison for
his faith, he doesn't describe so much what has happened,
but instead he gives, and this is so important, an
interpretation not just of what has happened, because life really
isn't about what happened to you. Life really isn't about
what has happened. Life is more about what it means
(16:19):
to me. And Paul is not gonna spend the next
fourteen verses describing in detail what happened to it. He
makes a swift transition, can I teach this message? He
makes a swift transition to say, instead of going into
(16:43):
the details about what has happened, which is largely outside
of my control.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Because there's a lot of things that happen to you
that are in your control.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
But sometimes you get in a situation where there's absolutely
nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And so Paul said, since I can't change.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
The what, let me talk to you for a moment
about the why. And he starts talking about the very
first thing that your kids want to know, the moment
they start learning to use their words to ruin your life,
(17:15):
and what they want to know about every decision, every bedtime,
every curfew, every rule, is why. And then you get
to invoke that great parental privilege of the response that
every parent ought to use every chance you get while
you can. And it starts with because, and it ends with.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I said so. And it feels good just to look at.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Your kids and say, cause I this is not a courtroom,
this is not a negotiation. I do not have to
structure logic to help you understand my decision. It has
been implemented by the highest court in the lean.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I said, so, lest why pick it up?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
And they asked this question because it's the most important
question of life.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Why why?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Why? Why? Why?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Why? Why?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And of course we grow out of this. We never
ask God why when we go through anything. That's only
children that do that. And so Paul says, life is
less about this and more. You don't realize how long
(18:48):
this word is until you write it in front of
twenty thousand people. He said, let me give you instead
of a description of my current state, let me give
you an interpretation of my state. You know what faith is.
Faith is an interpretation. Faith is an interpretation. Paul's faith
(19:14):
didn't change this, It changed this. Paul's faith didn't affect.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
This, it informed this. Now.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
One of the things I love about the Holy Spirit
in my life is that he is my interpreter. He
helps me take a situation and instead of starting with what,
I start with why. Instead of instead of starting with what,
(19:50):
I start with why. Here's the secret. You can survive
any what if you have a good enough why. The
reason people quit when all hell breaks loose is because
(20:11):
they didn't have.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
A strong enough why when they started.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
The reason that people get so confused when they get
thrown in prison is because they didn't determine.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Their purpose before they were behind doors.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I can't tell that this is getting through to you.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
So help me and touch somebody next to you and
tell them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You need a why. You need a why. And see,
here's the thing. You can't depend on God to give
you the why. He's already given you the why. I
put you on earth to glorify Me. So whatever happens
to you, you already know the why before you see
the why.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Here's the key.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Decide why before the what. Decide the why before the why.
Decide the why before the why.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I'm gonna repeat it. I'm a redundant preacher. Decide the why.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So if I go into a situation and I don't
know what's gonna happen, I already predetermine the why. I'm
not waiting to find out why. I predecided why. I'm
here to glorify God. I'm here to see his goodness revealed.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
In my life. That's my why. Teuch, somebody say, you
can't take my why.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You can throw me in prison, but you can't take
my why. You can disrupt my financial situation, but you
can't take my why.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You might even mess.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
With my marriage, but you can't take my why. You
can mess with my car, but you can't take my why.
My why is my why. You can't have my why.
I've got a deep motivation, I've got a sense of purpose.
My life has a larger context. I'm here for the Gospel.
I'm here for his glory. I'm here to bring him pleasure.
(22:00):
That's my why. That's my why. That's my why. There's
no what in the world that can defeat you if
you know your why.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
I got my why. That's how I survived. I survived
on a why.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
The devil threw a lot of what at me, but
I had my why intact before the what started.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Happening, and I can.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Make it through the what if I got a good why.
So let's look at how God might want to adjust
our interpretation.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Touch somebody say why why? That's the question. My dad
had this funny thing he used to do.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
He would always interpret someone else's silence as judgment. So
he would tell me about somebody in the church and
he would say he thinks he's bitter than me. And
I would say why why do you think that? And
he would say, because he walked right by me and
(23:00):
didn't even speak to me.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Did you consider that perhaps he had something on his mind?
And my dad would hate you for seven years.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
In fact, the lady stopped me at the baseball field
the other day and I had taken one of our
kids to the bathroom, and I was walking out of
the bathroom trying to get back to the field to
watch my kid play. And the lady said, well, just
walk by me then, and don't even ask how I'm
doing past her. How many want to know My response,
(23:41):
I simply said, right now, I'm dad more than i'm pastor.
I don't care if you like it. That's what I said.
I said, But hello, I didn't notice you. I was
going to the bathroom is private, but hello, it is interpretation.
(24:08):
I wasn't not thinking about her, I wasn't not speaking
to her.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I was going to the bathroom. Would you please stop.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Drawing thought bubbles over other people's heads.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
This was part of Paul's issue.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
There were these other preachers who wanted to use his
imprisonment as an opportunity to kind of like get ahead
of Paul, and so they were preaching, but they were
preaching with bad motives, and Paul said, it doesn't even matter.
Doesn't even matter to me. The important thing is they're
preaching christ. Paul said, I'm so focused on my own motives.
I don't have time to worry about anybody Else's A
(24:50):
good marriage requires interpretation. Oh yes, it is a cross
culture or relationship, and you need an interpreter. You do,
and the Lord will help you interpret it and say,
you know, she didn't really say that because she's mad
at you.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
She just under a lot right now.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
And the Lord will help you with that, and it'll
help you to forgive offenses and it'll help you.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Interpretation is everything in relationships. Interpretation is everything when you
face conflict. I can't count the number of times that
I wake up on a Monday and two things go
wrong and I go, guess, it's going to be that
kind of week. So I'm interpreting as an inconvenience, as
(25:36):
an omen that the universe has conspired against me with
the help of Lucifer himself, It's gonna be one of
those weeks. Now, that's an interpretation. You are not experiencing life.
You are experiencing your interpretation of life. Interpretation is the
(25:59):
ability that Paul has to say, watch this.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I know you're hearing a lot about what has happened
to me and.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The church at Philippi apparently viewed it as a setback,
and it may be corny, but it's true. Paul said,
It's not a setback, is a setup because it has
actually served give me verse twelve on the screen. It
has actually somebody say, actually, actually, if you have the
(26:27):
right interpretation of what I'm going through, it has actually
served to advance the gospel. The word advance is interesting
in the original language because it denotes making headway in
spite of severe blows.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
It means I'm rolling with.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
The punches, but I'm still making progress. How many of
you have had to roll with the punches to make progress. Yeah,
it wasn't a steady straight line. It wasn't a path
that was unencumbered. You weren't walking along smelling flowers, but
you had to light uphill. But you may progress. And
Paul is saying, don't get it twisted. I may look chain,
(27:06):
but these chains on my ankles are actually serving to
advance God's purpose. Sometimes you got to look at what's
on you and realize it's subject to what's in you.
And God is doing something in my life. Right now,
I'm speaking to somebody by the spirit of God. It
looks like I'm going backwards, but it's propelling me forward.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
It looks like a setback.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
It's a set up.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Touch somebody say, it's a set up. You got to
get involved in this message. Touch somebody say, I'm moving forward.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
I know I might not.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Look like I'm moving forward. I might be slow and
steady like the tortoise. But as long as I inch
my way in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I cannot be stopped.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
I will not be blocked.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
The gospel cannot be contained. Get happy about the praisers.
You got a new interpretation. Oh it's really hard, Well,
God must be in it. You'll keep thinking, if it's
really hard, it must not be God. Jesus didn't get
(28:14):
to the cross with that line of logic, and you
won't get to your destiny either.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
But you have to have a faith interpretation.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Is as helpful. All right, don't get nervous, But that's
my introduction. Sit down, I'll be quick. But what really
got me is this shift that Paul makes after talking
about after talking about his why, he said, I'm in
chains for Christ. And he said that around here, man,
(28:43):
he said, I got a captive audience, and I'm preaching
to all of them, the guards, the other prisoners. He said,
don't even worry about it. I know y'all think this
is a bad event. But faith is an interpretation of
event that sees progress even in pain.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
My God, this preaching is rich.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I feel like I need to go on the elevation
app and watch it back on Monday myself to get
the fullness of this message that God gave me. You know,
somebody wrote me online one time and said, you shouldn't
say that you're preaching good when you're preaching, because you know,
I'll stop preaching every once in a while and say, ah,
I'm preaching good. And what I wanted to say is
(29:27):
if I don't like it, why in the world should you.
I mean, I want to preach something that I need
and that I like. But anyway, by the way, most
people who criticize you are really just showing you that
they don't like themselves very much interpretation though, and when
(29:50):
you see it that way, you can have compassion and say, okay,
well they must really be going through something.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
How can I help? He makes a shift.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Everybody say shift happens.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
When he does it. I want to walk you through it.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
He picks up in verse eighteen, and the Bible is
put in these verses for us. But originally there weren't
like verses breaking up the different letters.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It was just there so we can find it.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
But sometimes it jumps in in a weird place. And
I think that happens in verse eighteen, because Paul says,
verse eighteen, but what does it matter? And that's a
phrase that you should use as well. What does it matter?
What does it matter?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Y'all pray for me that I.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Would get better at that because I take little things
really seriously.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So he holly laughed when I think that point. That's
a good sign. And he says, you know, what matters?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
The important thing, the priority is that in every way,
whether from false motives or true through Christ is preached.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
That's what matters to me.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And so everything that serves that purpose is fine with me,
whether I like it or not.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
In the moment, that's what matters to me. What matters
to you?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
What matters to you, because what matters to you will
determine the direction that you point your life in.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
What matters to you, that's your destination.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
So Paul says, what matters to me is that Christ
has preached, and that's happening. So you know, whatever they're
saying about me, that's fine. For the important thing is
that in every way, whether from false motives or true,
Christ is preached.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Because of this, I rejoice.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Now this next phrase to me should be a different
verse they put it right.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In the same verse.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
But when Paul makes this next statement, he goes into
a completely different mode. He goes in a different zone.
And what I want to show you is the next
skill that Paul teaches us. And this is not the
skill of it interpretation. This is the skill come on,
(32:10):
say it when you got it, anticipation. It feel like
we'll a fortune up in here today, trying to buy
a vow.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Figure out what I'm writing on this court.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
He shifts and he says, now that I've given you
my interpretation of what has happened, let me give you
my anticipation of what.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Say it of what happened.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And on one level, Paul says, I don't know. They
might kill me. I might live. I'm not sure about
that part. But I want you to notice the frame
of mind and the state of consciousness that Paul engages
over these ten verses, starting with eighteen B where I
read to you, where he said yes and I will
continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
He uses the word will. He's shifting.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Now, I've spending off time talking to you about what happened.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
That's over.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Can't control it, can't do anything about it. Okay, I've
acknowledged it. I've interpreted it. That's that.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Now I'm moving forward.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Now I want to tell you what will happen, and
I want us to do an exercise, okay, on every campus.
So this is for those of you at Butler High
Score Matthew's campus temporarily homeless.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
This is for our uptown location.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
This is for Weddington, This is for University City, this
is for Lake Norman.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
This is even for those in Raleigh.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
North Carolina, and Toronto, Canada who had record attendance last weekend.
I want all of you, whether you're good at math
or not, I want you to count with me the
number of times that the word will is used in
these ten verses that start in verse eighteen. There's the
first one. You already got it, so put your hand up.
Is one, he said, I will continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Count out loud. That's next verse. I know he's.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Confident about this that through your prayers and God's provision
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to
me will turn out.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
For my deliverance.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I eagerly expect and hope that I in no way
be a shame, but have sufficient courage so that now
as always, Christ be exalted in my body.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Whether by life or by death.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
I don't know what, but I know why. And so
for me to live as Christ and to die is gain.
If I'm to go on living in the body, this
mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I do not know.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I'm torn between the two. I desired apart and be
with Christ. Would have put up with anything anymore, be
a lot betterfies than heaven, much more necessary that I
remain in the body for you. The midst of this,
I know that I remain, and I continue with all
of you for your progress. Maybe sometimes our life is
(34:58):
meant to be more about somebody else's price, rest in
our own.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Come on, let's keep counting.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
And I just wanted to point that out because I
was talking about progress, and I wanted you to know
sometimes it's not all about you, so that through my
being with you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus abound
on account of me. Whatever happens, what has happened, whatever happens,
(35:29):
conduct yourselves in a minute word of the Gospel Christ,
and one that come see your on and hear about
you my absence, I will know that you stand firm
in one spirit. Now, only about three of you counted
with me through the whole time. But if you counted ten,
you counted right. Ten verses and ten times. He doesn't
(35:50):
say has, he says will. He doesn't say maybe, He
says will why because he has an eager expectation. Did
you see it in verse twenty? And this is what
we need? Okay, he said, I eagerly expect and hope.
(36:11):
How many are enjoying the Bible lesson today? He said,
I eagerly twenty expect and hope. I eagerly expect and hope.
I was interested to learn Jody Jennings that in Greek eagerly,
expect and hope are not verbs, but they're nouns, and
(36:33):
they're joined together by the word kai in Greek means and,
and they have within them the idea.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
And this is where I really need you to focus, because.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I flunk Greek in college, and then I took it
again in seminary.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
And I passed with a C plus.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
And I'm only telling you that for full disclosure, to
let you know that I don't typically.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Walk around my house quoting Greek.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
But when I saw this in the text, It was
worth bringing out because when Paul says.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I eagerly expect.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
He uses a word here's what's crazy, that has never
been used before. He made up his own word to
describe the kind of hope that you have to have
to survive in a situation.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Where there seems to be no way out.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Paul said, this is the kind of hope that there
is no vocabulary for. So Paul had to take three
words and put them together to make a new word
to describe the kind of hope that can make you
look at your kid on drugs and your husband acting
crazy and your money low and your emotions erect, and
(37:51):
say I still have an expectation.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And I still have a hope.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And so he looks through his vocabulary he goes, I
can't even I can't even think of.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
How to tell you how I feel about it right now.
I can't. There's no word. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
make one up.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
And uh And he makes up this word, and I'm
gonna give it to you right now, and you're gonna
use it this week. The word in Greek is it's
made up of three words. Yeah, come on, let's say
(38:26):
it together. On the ground kind of three one two three,
All right.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
We're gonna need some remedial classes. Apo carra.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Dokia Appo carra Dokia, apacarra, appercara, donkia Come on, apacar
do you.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Opo?
Speaker 2 (39:05):
It means to turn away with concentration, ignoring other interests.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
That's the prefix.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
You know. Paul is good because I could preach a
whole sermon just on his prefix Appo. He said, I'm
in a situation right now when if I look to
my left, I see prison walls. If I look to
my right, I see prison walls. If I look to
my feet, I see a prisoner's chains. So I gotta
turn my head intentionally from what's over here and what's
(39:37):
over here. Everybody said, Appo, sometimes you got to turn
your head from what's here and what's here and what's here.
And so we said, I turn my head on purpose,
ignoring what I could be focused on. Apo apo apo
apakarra Karra means head. It doesn't require much explanation. It
(40:02):
literally means head. Apacara Pacara Dokia company that was originally
founded in Sweden that sells ready to assemble home furniture
and appliances and accessories dokia. Dokia originally means I'm trying
(40:24):
man to stretch forward.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
So when you put it together, you get this meaning.
And I'm gonna teach this to.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You and we are gonna break it out on whatever
situation comes up in your life this week that tries
to break your focus or steal your faith. You need
a little bit of apocara dokia, which means stretching the
head forward.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
You missed it. I'm coming to this side. He said,
I'm in a prison cell right now and I can't move.
I wish I was a better preacher.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
If I was a better preacher, you'd get excited about
apple caara dokia because he said, I can't move my feet,
I can't move my body, but I'm stretching my head
forward toward the future, and so I will rejoice because
(41:22):
I'm stretching my head forward. Would you touch three people,
tell him stretch your head, stretch your head. See here's
the problem with a lot of people. A lot of people.
We have our heads so far up our past that we.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
That we caiss.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
That we can't see our future.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
But God brought you to church today that gets your.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Head out your past and give you a little apple,
kara tokyo.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And ignor expectation.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I'm stretching my head toward what's next.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
I'm not stuck in what was, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Worried about what's gonna be.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
I'm stretching my head toward Monday. I'm stretching my head
toward next year. I'm stretching my head toward retirement. I'm
stretching my head toward fullness.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
I'm stretching my.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Head toward healing. And I'm stretching my head toward my mission.
Let's practice. Jump up on your feet. This is a
series called functional faith. Shove your neighbor, tell them stretch
your head. If you're gonna be fit, you gotta stretch.
If you're gonna have faith, you gotta stretch. If you
(42:43):
don't stretch, you might break.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
So let's stretch.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Come on, let's stretch our hand strings. First of all,
I know how to stretch my hand strings. I know
how to stretch my hand strings. That's about as far
down as I'm willing to go in this tight suit
to demonstrat it to you.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Bad things, man, bad things. But I know how to.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Stretch my hand strings. I know how to stretch my back.
I know how to I know how to stretch my body,
but nobody teaches us how to stretch our head. Appercrudokia.
Stretch your head, Appercrudokia. There is a brighter day. Appercrudokia.
It does make a difference. Opper Carudokia. God is working
(43:24):
in my situation. Come on, say it, Appercrudokia. Tell the
devil what you got. Tell him devil, I got that, Appercoradokia.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
And the next time you run up on me with discouragement,
you need to know. I'm turning my head and I'm
stretching my neck.
Speaker 5 (43:43):
Apa Cardoki, all the dample.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Come on.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
This is better than Brazilian jiu jitsu. This is better
than taekwon though. This is gonna teach you how to
stick your neck out. And I got good news for you.
Paul said, it doesn't matter if they kill me or
they let me live, because this is not a situational interpretation.
(44:14):
This is not a situational anticipation.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
I feel like preaching this. I'm gone teaching now. I'm
in full all preaching mode. On the count of three,
when I say three, I want you to start with
your head to the right. You're of the right. And
when I say three, I want you to turn your head.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
And the symbolic of all of the distractions that aren't
going to distract you this week, and all of the
cynicism that you're not even going to pay any attention
to this week, I want you to turn your head.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
I want you to give them an APPO on three.
This is your APO. What two three? Turn it? You
missed it?
Speaker 2 (44:47):
One't quick enough? Turn your head to the left. Come on,
we got a practice. I am your spiritual trainer.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
I'm trying to teach you what to do when life
gets stuff and I'm not here for you. And you
look into the right and you looking to the left.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
On the count, I want you to jerk your head
forward and give yourself whiplash.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
One two three APO. Do it again. Head to the right.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
You're looking at that person, trying to see what they
think of you, looking at that situation.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Trying to see how that's gonna turn out. But on
the count of three, we got some APO for the devil.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
On the counter three turn your head, shout OPO one
two three. That's the first step. Now we need the
donkie Everybody say donkyo. Now we need that thing where
you stretch your neck like a giraffe, where you look
forward to your future and smile at it, where you
look forward to problems and difficulties and say, I got
something for you called the Spirit of God for me
(45:35):
to live.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
As Christ and to guy is game?
Speaker 1 (45:39):
What's Paul saying?
Speaker 2 (45:40):
He's saying, either way this turns out, I'm coming out ahead.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
You missed it, he said.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I'm headed
in the right direction. Somebody shout, somebody shout, somebody shout,
somebody's shout, somebody shout, somebody's shout somebody. I'm not there yet,
but I'm headed in the right correction. I got my
focus on, I got my brave on, I got my
(46:08):
courage home, I got my whole pong, I got my
faith on.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Get your hands out your pocket.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
And when I say three, I want you to stretch
your neck towards your future.
Speaker 5 (46:20):
W two three strategy.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
You missed it.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Let's do it on every campus.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
Come on on the counter of.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Three, stretch your head.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
I put Carl.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Tokyo and tell the devil I'm coming toward my future
in faith.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
What two three again? What two three what two three?
Speaker 2 (46:40):
I pull?
Speaker 3 (46:40):
What two three? Dora? What two three?
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Donkyo?
Speaker 3 (46:45):
What two three?
Speaker 2 (46:47):
What?
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Two three? You got it? You got it, you got it,
you got it, you got it, you got it.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Clad like you got it, Shout like you got it,
Rejoice like you gotta.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
I will, God tell you to rejoice thord to.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Me, I feel cud about it.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
To live is Christ the dying guy, And I'm coming
out ahead. Yeah, wha two three? Whoa two three?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
This your new cadence this week. You're not going into
this week like thinking about what happened when you were thirteen.
I got some for regret. It's called applecara, donkia turn.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
My head from that. If I think about that too long,
I get depressed.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
If I think about that too long, I start get bitter.
If I look over here, I might get jealous. If
I look over there, I might get discouraged. So I
got stretch my head toward my future in faith.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
I will, I will, I will riduals now. Stretch your
hands to heave it. You stretch your head now, stretch
your hands to let the Lord know.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
That what matters to me is what matters to you.
I have an eager expectation Applecarudokia. My expectation creates my hope.
And I don't know what, but I know why, and
(48:50):
I can survive the why when I know the why.
Lift your hands, Lord, We thank you for the word
that you gave us today. We thank you for the
instruction that you gave us through Paul. He told us
that we got to stretch our heads forward.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
Forward, that we.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
Can't do anything about the time that we've lost. We've
got to forget what's behind us and strained toward what's ahead.
That we got to get our eyes fixed on where
we're headed, to get our lives headed in the right direction.
(49:36):
And I pray it over your people now in Jesus' name,
that they would experience this week significant steps forward.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Everybody, say forward forward, look at me for a moment.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
I asked a race car driver one time, if you
were going to teach one thing about driving that people
wouldn't know, what would it be? He said, You've always
he's got to keep your eyes where you want to go.
When you're on a track, you tend to look at
what you don't want to hit and what you don't
want to happen. He said that will always cause you
to crash every single time.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
What was he talking about? Applecaradokia? Stretch your head.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Forward.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Forward. I can just see it this week that you're
going to preach this back to the people that.
Speaker 2 (50:29):
You love, and you're going to preach it without words
when they start talking about what went wrong, And I
just want.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
You to look at him and like a turtle coming
out of his shell.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Just I want moms to do this to your daughter
this week, But most importantly, I want you to do
it for yourself. I've already been practicing this in my
(51:05):
own life as I've prepared to preach it to you,
and it's amazing how just a quick shift stretch of
the head can get you out of discouragement, can get
you out of defeat, can get you out of despair. Forward, everybody,
say forward. That's where I'm looking. I'm looking forward. I
(51:27):
can't go into this week like this. I can't go
into this week like this. How am I going into
this week? I'm going say it forward? Are there any
forward thinkers in the house?
Speaker 1 (51:42):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I have an exciting word to present to you today. Okay, okay,
well let's do it. Then let's get in Philippians chapter
one together. I'm just going to share two verses that
introduced two different sections of Philippians chapter one, and then
(00:39):
I can come back and fill it in. I so
enjoyed Holly's message last week. She was preaching on James
and Ruth and just everybody. Old Testament, New Testament. She
helped us, she instructed us, she inspired us.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Look good doing it. I'm not gonna lie to you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I was a little distracted at times and not thinking
about Jesus at all.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
But the Lord is good. Touch somebody say he's good.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The Lord is good, and so I want to keep
on going in the flow that I've been in on
functional faith. I've been hearing people that have been with
me like nine ten years saying this.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Is my favorite series you've ever done.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I mean, I'm not saying the other ones weren't good,
but this was really helping me. So I figured, well,
you know, if you've got momentum in an area, just
stay on it. So I'm going to stay on this
idea of functional faith for however long it takes you
to start living it out.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
We might be here a while.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Look at Philippians Chapter one, verse twelve, and I am
bogged down in this chapter. Can't do it justice in
the time that's allotted today, But I do my best.
Where Paul says, now I want you to know, brothers
and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually
(02:06):
served to advance the gospel.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
That's one heading. And then go to verse twenty.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
He says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will
in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage
so that now, as always by, Paul's really sticking his
neck out here, isn't he He's facing a trial before Caesar, and.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
He's boasting of the power of God.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And he said, you know, I have a feeling that
whatever happens to me, that God's going to use it.
And so I eagerly expect and hope that I will
in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage
so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in
my body, just like God sell me through before to
(03:00):
show himself strong on my behalf in this situation too.
Now as always Christ will be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death. Rather than a title today,
for the message, I'm going to be teaching a little
bit more than I'm going to be preaching. So I
want to use a question to get your thinking today.
And the question is are you headed in the right direction?
(03:23):
Are you headed in the right direction? And we'll do
our best to consider that and take a look at it.
But let's pray before we sit down and learn. Lord,
open our hearts. Your word needs good ground if it
is to grow and produce. So we ask you till
us open us and make us receptive and ready.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Somebody say I'm ready. Tell the Lord say I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated. Thank you, band.
I just love our worship teams so much. I love
our production teams, parking teams. I love our children's ministry teams.
Somebody told me that the e kids album might have
been a Billboard album on the chart or something like that.
(04:11):
That's pretty cool on the Billboard charts with the kids album.
I didn't verify it, but it sounds cool, so I
just thought i'd say it.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
We'll look it up later.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Look here because I want to I want to teach
today and I need a little bit of grace.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
See about my handwriting.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's gonna make you question whether or not you can
sit under a pastor with the level of intelligence that
my handwriting indicates. I have sent people birthday cards before,
handwritten birthday cards because I'm a I'm a good man,
I'm a thoughtful person, and they didn't have any more
courtesy than to respond to me talking about my handwriting
on the handwritten birthday card.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Never mind what.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I said, the words of life that I spoke into
their soul. They say things like, wow, do you do
you do you get your kids to write the birthday
cards for you? I write that for you, and well,
that's just mean. So I figured that you're not that
type of people that you are loving and accepting. And
the message I want to use today requires a little
bit of writing. I want to write some words on
(05:13):
the board and kind of teach from that standpoint. So
I want to plead for your forgiveness of my handwriting,
if you'd be willing to forgive me for my handwriting
in advance and for anything that I misspell, because there's
no spell check on a whiteboard, and so we're going
to try to do it, but you know, just kind
of to break it down. And I want you in
(05:35):
the posture of a learner today so the message can
last past when I finished preaching it and go into
your week with you. So you may want to write
some of these things down. And the first thing that
I want to mention from the text and really from
life is progress. Because they say, they say anything sounds
(05:57):
official if you started with they say. They say that
one of the basic elements and requirements of human happiness
is a sense of progress.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You can't be happy in a sustained.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Way if you don't feel like you're making progress in
life and in different areas of your life.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And I think that's true.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Maybe I'm a little bit more ambitious than most people.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I don't know, I'm not most people.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I'm me, but I certainly need a sense of progress
to stick with something. Yeah, I don't show up for
something that's not working. I don't just show up again
and again and again and again. If it's not working,
I'll just stay home. And by the way, that's why
some men quit their marriages because it feels like they
never get back to that original state of love that
(06:43):
they had, and so it feels like they're going backwards
in the relationship. And a man won't show up to
play a game that he never can win at and
women too. I mean, it goes both ways, but we
all need a sense of progress. Everybody say progress.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, you sound good today, you sound like you want
to make progress. I sat down with some of.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Our staff members this week and coached them for different areas.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
You do know that I work between Sundays.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, so in leading the church one of the things
that I am privileged to do, not as much as
I would want to, but sometimes I get to do
a one on one session or a group session of coaching.
And three of the staff members who are in their
twenties asked a variation of the same question. I thought
it was interesting, and the idea was I do a
(07:27):
lot in ministry and I work hard, but it's hard
for me to tell am I making a difference? Or
is it effective? And essentially they're asking, am I making progress?
Because I don't mind working hard. I'm a hard worker,
but I need to know that it's working. And in
ministry that's hard to tell sometimes because you don't often
go home with a checked off list. It's not like
you mode seven lawns today and you can see the progress.
(07:51):
And so it's very difficult to see ministerial progress. And
Paul certainly knows something about that, who's writing in the
Book of Philippians. If progressed, then is essential to human happiness.
And if we can't feel satisfied and fulfilled in our
lives without progress, either as moms or as husbands, or
as employees in a church, or as business owners, or
(08:12):
as students or as Christians, then then how do we
make progress? And so you would say to me, and
you would be correct, that effort is essential to progress.
It amazes me by the way how something that sounds
so simple and seems so obvious seems to have skipped
(08:33):
a whole generation. Talk to me, how in the world
do you expect progress without effort? How you expect to
ace what you didn't study for? How you expect to
burn something off when you won't move what you got touch.
Somebody say effort. So I need effort if I'm going
to have progress, right, I need to push towards something
(08:56):
I need. I need to move towards something I need.
I need effort. It's gonna take effort. However, what I
would suggest to you today kind of my thought pattern
is that effort alone does not produce progress.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Effort alone is not enough. Now you know this.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
If you've had a kid with a learning disability, and
some of you are school teachers, you can give.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
A kid more and more and more and more work.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
But if they are not learning correctly the way that
they need to learn, they'll eventually conclude I'm not a
good student because they're not making progress and the effort
doesn't help it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Can I tell you another thing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
You won't make progress just because you're passionate about something.
Passion is not enough for progress. You can sincerely want
to make something better. I see people who sincerely want
to get in better shape but never learned how so
we don't just need effort.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Because you can see p people who go to the
gym six days a week and don't look like it.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Oh it's quiet. It's quiet because you've been there. Effort
alone does not produce progress. I give you a little
bit fuller equation. Effort plus direction equals progress. I thought
y'allould say amen to that. I mean, I know it's real.
(10:29):
Common sense on one level is that in order to
make progress, I got to know that I'm headed in
the right direction.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I preach from Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
If we want to go to Columbia, South Carolina, or Miami, Florida,
and I head north, I might get there quick, driving
ninety miles an hour, But is it progress? Progress is
determined by destination and my proximity to the destination. I'm
trying to say that if you get turned around the
wrong way, you'll get there fast. But when you get there,
(11:06):
you'll realize this ain't Miami, this ain't Columbia because I
didn't have direction.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Now, I mean, I drove hard.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I had my hand on ten and my hand on two,
but I woke up in the wrong place. Because progress
is more than effort. Progress is effort in the right direction.
Now I bring it up because could it be in
your life that you've been pointing your effort in the
wrong direction, Feeling tired, feeling frustrated, feeling stressed, feeling feeling
(11:38):
burned out, feeling like it didn't matter, feeling like it
didn't work. And sometimes all you need is somebody to
come along and point you in the right direction. As
your neighbor, where are you headed? As the other neighbor,
Where are you headed? It's an important question, and I'm
(11:58):
grateful that Paul get gives us a picture, a picture
of how he sees progress. How cool is it that
we not only get a narrative of Paul's missionary exploits
in the Book of Acts, but we have the letters
that he wrote. Because in the Book of Acts we
(12:19):
see what Paul did. In the letters that he wrote,
we saw how he thought. And to me, that's really
a privilege to get inside the head of one of
the greatest thinkers in the world, in the history of
the world, let alone one of the greatest Christians, one
of the greatest minds, and we get in his head
(12:39):
and he's writing to the Philippian Church. You know, he
started this church in eighty fifty. He was going through
on a missionary journey and Philippi was the first church
that he found. It, well, was the first one that
he preached in in Europe, and so he goes through
there and starts a church, and he visits, and he
stops back by a few more times.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
But by the time he's writing the Book of Philippians.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
There has been a turn of events and Paul is
in prison. Scholars debate as to whether Paul was in
Cesarea or whether he was in Rome. I take the
view that he was in Rome, and in Rome he
(13:22):
rented a house where he taught everybody who came to him.
He was under a form of house arrest for preaching
the gospel, and the Philippian church knew that he was
in prison. But these latest developments had the community at
the church at Philippiles shook up, and they're saying that
(13:42):
there has been a setback for the gospel because Paul,
who's kind of like the point guard for their team,
is locked in prison. That's kind of bad when your
point guard is on the bench in the championship and
they're worried about it. And so Paul writes to them
and he says, I need you to know something.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
About what has happened. What had happened was Paul might say.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
He says, we need to talk about what has happened
and in that phrase, that that phrase right there, for
everybody in the room would have a different meaning depending
on the time in.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Your life or the area of your life.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
You apply it to what happened when I was young,
what happened in my first marriage, or what what happened
that caused me to leave that job, what happened that
caused that relationship to fail? What what everybody say?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
What happened?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Well, what happened was Paul got moved from his house
arrest to the palace guard where they would keep the
prisoners while they were waiting for the trial. And so
the church at Philippi is hearing secondhand information. There wasn't
good journalism in that day, very different than the day
we live in where the journalism is accurate. But Paul said, no,
(15:13):
I want you to hear this straight from me, what
has happened. But then it's interesting because he doesn't go
on to detail what happened to him, which is weird.
He goes, I want to talk to you about what
has happened to me. But then and I love this
and I'm excited to share it with you. I was
telling him the last time I preached this, that this
(15:34):
is one of those sermons that if I wrote it
just for myself, it was worth the time. I preach
this stuff too. I watched this in the imax theater
of my own mind before I present it to the
general public viewing audience, and it got to me that Paul,
instead of going on to describe what happened to him,
(15:54):
which is he's falsely accused, he's been in prison for
his faith, he doesn't describe so much what has happened,
but instead he gives, and this is so important, an
interpretation not just of what has happened, because life really
isn't about what happened to you. Life really isn't about
what has happened. Life is more about what it means
(16:19):
to me. And Paul is not gonna spend the next
fourteen verses describing in detail what happened to it. He
makes a swift transition, can I teach this message? He
makes a swift transition to say, instead of going into
(16:43):
the details about what has happened, which is largely outside
of my control.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Because there's a lot of things that happen to you
that are in your control.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
But sometimes you get in a situation where there's absolutely
nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
And so Paul said, since I can't change.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
The what, let me talk to you for a moment
about the why. And he starts talking about the very
first thing that your kids want to know, the moment
they start learning to use their words to ruin your life,
(17:15):
and what they want to know about every decision, every bedtime,
every curfew, every rule, is why. And then you get
to invoke that great parental privilege of the response that
every parent ought to use every chance you get while
you can. And it starts with because, and it ends with.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I said so. And it feels good just to look at.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Your kids and say, cause I this is not a courtroom,
this is not a negotiation. I do not have to
structure logic to help you understand my decision. It has
been implemented by the highest court in the lean.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I said, so, lest why pick it up?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
And they asked this question because it's the most important
question of life.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Why why?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Why? Why? Why?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Why? Why?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And of course we grow out of this. We never
ask God why when we go through anything. That's only
children that do that. And so Paul says, life is
less about this and more. You don't realize how long
(18:48):
this word is until you write it in front of
twenty thousand people. He said, let me give you instead
of a description of my current state, let me give
you an interpretation of my state. You know what faith is.
Faith is an interpretation. Faith is an interpretation. Paul's faith
(19:14):
didn't change this, It changed this. Paul's faith didn't affect.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
This, it informed this. Now.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
One of the things I love about the Holy Spirit
in my life is that he is my interpreter. He
helps me take a situation and instead of starting with what,
I start with why. Instead of instead of starting with what,
(19:50):
I start with why. Here's the secret. You can survive
any what if you have a good enough why. The
reason people quit when all hell breaks loose is because
(20:11):
they didn't have.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
A strong enough why when they started.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
The reason that people get so confused when they get
thrown in prison is because they didn't determine.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Their purpose before they were behind doors.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I can't tell that this is getting through to you.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
So help me and touch somebody next to you and
tell them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You need a why. You need a why. And see,
here's the thing. You can't depend on God to give
you the why. He's already given you the why. I
put you on earth to glorify Me. So whatever happens
to you, you already know the why before you see
the why.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Here's the key.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Decide why before the what. Decide the why before the why.
Decide the why before the why.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I'm gonna repeat it. I'm a redundant preacher. Decide the why.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So if I go into a situation and I don't
know what's gonna happen, I already predetermine the why. I'm
not waiting to find out why. I predecided why. I'm
here to glorify God. I'm here to see his goodness revealed.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
In my life. That's my why. Teuch, somebody say, you
can't take my why.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You can throw me in prison, but you can't take
my why. You can disrupt my financial situation, but you
can't take my why.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You might even mess.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
With my marriage, but you can't take my why. You
can mess with my car, but you can't take my why.
My why is my why. You can't have my why.
I've got a deep motivation, I've got a sense of purpose.
My life has a larger context. I'm here for the Gospel.
I'm here for his glory. I'm here to bring him pleasure.
(22:00):
That's my why. That's my why. That's my why. There's
no what in the world that can defeat you if
you know your why.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
I got my why. That's how I survived. I survived
on a why.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
The devil threw a lot of what at me, but
I had my why intact before the what started.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Happening, and I can.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Make it through the what if I got a good why.
So let's look at how God might want to adjust
our interpretation.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Touch somebody say why why? That's the question. My dad
had this funny thing he used to do.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
He would always interpret someone else's silence as judgment. So
he would tell me about somebody in the church and
he would say he thinks he's bitter than me. And
I would say why why do you think that? And
he would say, because he walked right by me and
(23:00):
didn't even speak to me.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Did you consider that perhaps he had something on his mind?
And my dad would hate you for seven years.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
In fact, the lady stopped me at the baseball field
the other day and I had taken one of our
kids to the bathroom, and I was walking out of
the bathroom trying to get back to the field to
watch my kid play. And the lady said, well, just
walk by me then, and don't even ask how I'm
doing past her. How many want to know My response,
(23:41):
I simply said, right now, I'm dad more than i'm pastor.
I don't care if you like it. That's what I said.
I said, But hello, I didn't notice you. I was
going to the bathroom is private, but hello, it is interpretation.
(24:08):
I wasn't not thinking about her, I wasn't not speaking
to her.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I was going to the bathroom. Would you please stop.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Drawing thought bubbles over other people's heads.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
This was part of Paul's issue.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
There were these other preachers who wanted to use his
imprisonment as an opportunity to kind of like get ahead
of Paul, and so they were preaching, but they were
preaching with bad motives, and Paul said, it doesn't even matter.
Doesn't even matter to me. The important thing is they're
preaching christ. Paul said, I'm so focused on my own motives.
I don't have time to worry about anybody Else's A
(24:50):
good marriage requires interpretation. Oh yes, it is a cross
culture or relationship, and you need an interpreter. You do,
and the Lord will help you interpret it and say,
you know, she didn't really say that because she's mad
at you.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
She just under a lot right now.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
And the Lord will help you with that, and it'll
help you to forgive offenses and it'll help you.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Interpretation is everything in relationships. Interpretation is everything when you
face conflict. I can't count the number of times that
I wake up on a Monday and two things go
wrong and I go, guess, it's going to be that
kind of week. So I'm interpreting as an inconvenience, as
(25:36):
an omen that the universe has conspired against me with
the help of Lucifer himself, It's gonna be one of
those weeks. Now, that's an interpretation. You are not experiencing life.
You are experiencing your interpretation of life. Interpretation is the
(25:59):
ability that Paul has to say, watch this.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I know you're hearing a lot about what has happened
to me and.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The church at Philippi apparently viewed it as a setback,
and it may be corny, but it's true. Paul said,
It's not a setback, is a setup because it has
actually served give me verse twelve on the screen. It
has actually somebody say, actually, actually, if you have the
(26:27):
right interpretation of what I'm going through, it has actually
served to advance the gospel. The word advance is interesting
in the original language because it denotes making headway in
spite of severe blows.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
It means I'm rolling with.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
The punches, but I'm still making progress. How many of
you have had to roll with the punches to make progress. Yeah,
it wasn't a steady straight line. It wasn't a path
that was unencumbered. You weren't walking along smelling flowers, but
you had to light uphill. But you may progress. And
Paul is saying, don't get it twisted. I may look chain,
(27:06):
but these chains on my ankles are actually serving to
advance God's purpose. Sometimes you got to look at what's
on you and realize it's subject to what's in you.
And God is doing something in my life. Right now,
I'm speaking to somebody by the spirit of God. It
looks like I'm going backwards, but it's propelling me forward.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
It looks like a setback.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
It's a set up.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Touch somebody say, it's a set up. You got to
get involved in this message. Touch somebody say, I'm moving forward.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
I know I might not.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Look like I'm moving forward. I might be slow and
steady like the tortoise. But as long as I inch
my way in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I cannot be stopped.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
I will not be blocked.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
The gospel cannot be contained. Get happy about the praisers.
You got a new interpretation. Oh it's really hard, Well,
God must be in it. You'll keep thinking, if it's
really hard, it must not be God. Jesus didn't get
(28:14):
to the cross with that line of logic, and you
won't get to your destiny either.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
But you have to have a faith interpretation.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Is as helpful. All right, don't get nervous, But that's
my introduction. Sit down, I'll be quick. But what really
got me is this shift that Paul makes after talking
about after talking about his why, he said, I'm in
chains for Christ. And he said that around here, man,
(28:43):
he said, I got a captive audience, and I'm preaching
to all of them, the guards, the other prisoners. He said,
don't even worry about it. I know y'all think this
is a bad event. But faith is an interpretation of
event that sees progress even in pain.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
My God, this preaching is rich.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I feel like I need to go on the elevation
app and watch it back on Monday myself to get
the fullness of this message that God gave me. You know,
somebody wrote me online one time and said, you shouldn't
say that you're preaching good when you're preaching, because you know,
I'll stop preaching every once in a while and say, ah,
I'm preaching good. And what I wanted to say is
(29:27):
if I don't like it, why in the world should you.
I mean, I want to preach something that I need
and that I like. But anyway, by the way, most
people who criticize you are really just showing you that
they don't like themselves very much interpretation though, and when
(29:50):
you see it that way, you can have compassion and say, okay,
well they must really be going through something.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
How can I help? He makes a shift.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Everybody say shift happens.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
When he does it. I want to walk you through it.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
He picks up in verse eighteen, and the Bible is
put in these verses for us. But originally there weren't
like verses breaking up the different letters.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It was just there so we can find it.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
But sometimes it jumps in in a weird place. And
I think that happens in verse eighteen, because Paul says,
verse eighteen, but what does it matter? And that's a
phrase that you should use as well. What does it matter?
What does it matter?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Y'all pray for me that I.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Would get better at that because I take little things
really seriously.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So he holly laughed when I think that point. That's
a good sign. And he says, you know, what matters?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
The important thing, the priority is that in every way,
whether from false motives or true through Christ is preached.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
That's what matters to me.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And so everything that serves that purpose is fine with me,
whether I like it or not.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
In the moment, that's what matters to me. What matters
to you?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
What matters to you, because what matters to you will
determine the direction that you point your life in.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
What matters to you, that's your destination.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
So Paul says, what matters to me is that Christ
has preached, and that's happening. So you know, whatever they're
saying about me, that's fine. For the important thing is
that in every way, whether from false motives or true,
Christ is preached.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Because of this, I rejoice.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Now this next phrase to me should be a different
verse they put it right.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In the same verse.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
But when Paul makes this next statement, he goes into
a completely different mode. He goes in a different zone.
And what I want to show you is the next
skill that Paul teaches us. And this is not the
skill of it interpretation. This is the skill come on,
(32:10):
say it when you got it, anticipation. It feel like
we'll a fortune up in here today, trying to buy
a vow.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Figure out what I'm writing on this court.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
He shifts and he says, now that I've given you
my interpretation of what has happened, let me give you
my anticipation of what.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Say it of what happened.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And on one level, Paul says, I don't know. They
might kill me. I might live. I'm not sure about
that part. But I want you to notice the frame
of mind and the state of consciousness that Paul engages
over these ten verses, starting with eighteen B where I
read to you, where he said yes and I will
continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
He uses the word will. He's shifting.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Now, I've spending off time talking to you about what happened.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
That's over.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Can't control it, can't do anything about it. Okay, I've
acknowledged it. I've interpreted it. That's that.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Now I'm moving forward.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Now I want to tell you what will happen, and
I want us to do an exercise, okay, on every campus.
So this is for those of you at Butler High
Score Matthew's campus temporarily homeless.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
This is for our uptown location.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
This is for Weddington, This is for University City, this
is for Lake Norman.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
This is even for those in Raleigh.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
North Carolina, and Toronto, Canada who had record attendance last weekend.
I want all of you, whether you're good at math
or not, I want you to count with me the
number of times that the word will is used in
these ten verses that start in verse eighteen. There's the
first one. You already got it, so put your hand up.
Is one, he said, I will continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Count out loud. That's next verse. I know he's.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Confident about this that through your prayers and God's provision
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to
me will turn out.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
For my deliverance.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I eagerly expect and hope that I in no way
be a shame, but have sufficient courage so that now
as always, Christ be exalted in my body.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Whether by life or by death.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
I don't know what, but I know why. And so
for me to live as Christ and to die is gain.
If I'm to go on living in the body, this
mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I do not know.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I'm torn between the two. I desired apart and be
with Christ. Would have put up with anything anymore, be
a lot betterfies than heaven, much more necessary that I
remain in the body for you. The midst of this,
I know that I remain, and I continue with all
of you for your progress. Maybe sometimes our life is
(34:58):
meant to be more about somebody else's price, rest in
our own.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Come on, let's keep counting.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
And I just wanted to point that out because I
was talking about progress, and I wanted you to know
sometimes it's not all about you, so that through my
being with you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus abound
on account of me. Whatever happens, what has happened, whatever happens,
(35:29):
conduct yourselves in a minute word of the Gospel Christ,
and one that come see your on and hear about
you my absence, I will know that you stand firm
in one spirit. Now, only about three of you counted
with me through the whole time. But if you counted ten,
you counted right. Ten verses and ten times. He doesn't
(35:50):
say has, he says will. He doesn't say maybe, He
says will why because he has an eager expectation. Did
you see it in verse twenty? And this is what
we need? Okay, he said, I eagerly expect and hope.
(36:11):
How many are enjoying the Bible lesson today? He said,
I eagerly twenty expect and hope. I eagerly expect and hope.
I was interested to learn Jody Jennings that in Greek eagerly,
expect and hope are not verbs, but they're nouns, and
(36:33):
they're joined together by the word kai in Greek means and,
and they have within them the idea.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
And this is where I really need you to focus, because.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I flunk Greek in college, and then I took it
again in seminary.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
And I passed with a C plus.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
And I'm only telling you that for full disclosure, to
let you know that I don't typically.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Walk around my house quoting Greek.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
But when I saw this in the text, It was
worth bringing out because when Paul says.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I eagerly expect.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
He uses a word here's what's crazy, that has never
been used before. He made up his own word to
describe the kind of hope that you have to have
to survive in a situation.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Where there seems to be no way out.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Paul said, this is the kind of hope that there
is no vocabulary for. So Paul had to take three
words and put them together to make a new word
to describe the kind of hope that can make you
look at your kid on drugs and your husband acting
crazy and your money low and your emotions erect, and
(37:51):
say I still have an expectation.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And I still have a hope.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
And so he looks through his vocabulary he goes, I
can't even I can't even think of.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
How to tell you how I feel about it right now.
I can't. There's no word. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
make one up.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
And uh And he makes up this word, and I'm
gonna give it to you right now, and you're gonna
use it this week. The word in Greek is it's
made up of three words. Yeah, come on, let's say
(38:26):
it together. On the ground kind of three one two three,
All right.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
We're gonna need some remedial classes. Apo carra.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Dokia Appo carra Dokia, apacarra, appercara, donkia Come on, apacar
do you.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Opo?
Speaker 2 (39:05):
It means to turn away with concentration, ignoring other interests.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
That's the prefix.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
You know. Paul is good because I could preach a
whole sermon just on his prefix Appo. He said, I'm
in a situation right now when if I look to
my left, I see prison walls. If I look to
my right, I see prison walls. If I look to
my feet, I see a prisoner's chains. So I gotta
turn my head intentionally from what's over here and what's
(39:37):
over here. Everybody said, Appo, sometimes you got to turn
your head from what's here and what's here and what's here.
And so we said, I turn my head on purpose,
ignoring what I could be focused on. Apo apo apo
apakarra Karra means head. It doesn't require much explanation. It
(40:02):
literally means head. Apacara Pacara Dokia company that was originally
founded in Sweden that sells ready to assemble home furniture
and appliances and accessories dokia. Dokia originally means I'm trying
(40:24):
man to stretch forward.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
So when you put it together, you get this meaning.
And I'm gonna teach this to.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You and we are gonna break it out on whatever
situation comes up in your life this week that tries
to break your focus or steal your faith. You need
a little bit of apocara dokia, which means stretching the
head forward.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
You missed it. I'm coming to this side. He said,
I'm in a prison cell right now and I can't move.
I wish I was a better preacher.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
If I was a better preacher, you'd get excited about
apple caara dokia because he said, I can't move my feet,
I can't move my body, but I'm stretching my head
forward toward the future, and so I will rejoice because
(41:22):
I'm stretching my head forward. Would you touch three people,
tell him stretch your head, stretch your head. See here's
the problem with a lot of people. A lot of people.
We have our heads so far up our past that we.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
That we caiss.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
That we can't see our future.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
But God brought you to church today that gets your.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Head out your past and give you a little apple,
kara tokyo.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And ignor expectation.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I'm stretching my head toward what's next.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
I'm not stuck in what was, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Worried about what's gonna be.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
I'm stretching my head toward Monday. I'm stretching my head
toward next year. I'm stretching my head toward retirement. I'm
stretching my head toward fullness.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
I'm stretching my.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Head toward healing. And I'm stretching my head toward my mission.
Let's practice. Jump up on your feet. This is a
series called functional faith. Shove your neighbor, tell them stretch
your head. If you're gonna be fit, you gotta stretch.
If you're gonna have faith, you gotta stretch. If you
(42:43):
don't stretch, you might break.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
So let's stretch.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Come on, let's stretch our hand strings. First of all,
I know how to stretch my hand strings. I know
how to stretch my hand strings. That's about as far
down as I'm willing to go in this tight suit
to demonstrat it to you.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Bad things, man, bad things. But I know how to.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Stretch my hand strings. I know how to stretch my back.
I know how to I know how to stretch my body,
but nobody teaches us how to stretch our head. Appercrudokia.
Stretch your head, Appercrudokia. There is a brighter day. Appercrudokia.
It does make a difference. Opper Carudokia. God is working
(43:24):
in my situation. Come on, say it, Appercrudokia. Tell the
devil what you got. Tell him devil, I got that, Appercoradokia.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
And the next time you run up on me with discouragement,
you need to know. I'm turning my head and I'm
stretching my neck.
Speaker 5 (43:43):
Apa Cardoki, all the dample.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Come on.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
This is better than Brazilian jiu jitsu. This is better
than taekwon though. This is gonna teach you how to
stick your neck out. And I got good news for you.
Paul said, it doesn't matter if they kill me or
they let me live, because this is not a situational interpretation.
(44:14):
This is not a situational anticipation.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
I feel like preaching this. I'm gone teaching now. I'm
in full all preaching mode. On the count of three,
when I say three, I want you to start with
your head to the right. You're of the right. And
when I say three, I want you to turn your head.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
And the symbolic of all of the distractions that aren't
going to distract you this week, and all of the
cynicism that you're not even going to pay any attention
to this week, I want you to turn your head.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
I want you to give them an APPO on three.
This is your APO. What two three? Turn it? You
missed it?
Speaker 2 (44:47):
One't quick enough? Turn your head to the left. Come on,
we got a practice. I am your spiritual trainer.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
I'm trying to teach you what to do when life
gets stuff and I'm not here for you. And you
look into the right and you looking to the left.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
On the count, I want you to jerk your head
forward and give yourself whiplash.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
One two three APO. Do it again. Head to the right.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
You're looking at that person, trying to see what they
think of you, looking at that situation.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Trying to see how that's gonna turn out. But on
the count of three, we got some APO for the devil.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
On the counter three turn your head, shout OPO one
two three. That's the first step. Now we need the
donkie Everybody say donkyo. Now we need that thing where
you stretch your neck like a giraffe, where you look
forward to your future and smile at it, where you
look forward to problems and difficulties and say, I got
something for you called the Spirit of God for me
(45:35):
to live.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
As Christ and to guy is game?
Speaker 1 (45:39):
What's Paul saying?
Speaker 2 (45:40):
He's saying, either way this turns out, I'm coming out ahead.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
You missed it, he said.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I'm headed
in the right direction. Somebody shout, somebody shout, somebody shout,
somebody's shout, somebody shout, somebody's shout somebody. I'm not there yet,
but I'm headed in the right correction. I got my
focus on, I got my brave on, I got my
(46:08):
courage home, I got my whole pong, I got my
faith on.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Get your hands out your pocket.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
And when I say three, I want you to stretch
your neck towards your future.
Speaker 5 (46:20):
W two three strategy.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
You missed it.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Let's do it on every campus.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
Come on on the counter of.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Three, stretch your head.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
I put Carl.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Tokyo and tell the devil I'm coming toward my future
in faith.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
What two three again? What two three what two three?
Speaker 2 (46:40):
I pull?
Speaker 3 (46:40):
What two three? Dora? What two three?
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Donkyo?
Speaker 3 (46:45):
What two three?
Speaker 2 (46:47):
What?
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Two three? You got it? You got it, you got it,
you got it, you got it, you got it.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Clad like you got it, Shout like you got it,
Rejoice like you gotta.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
I will, God tell you to rejoice thord to.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Me, I feel cud about it.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
To live is Christ the dying guy, And I'm coming
out ahead. Yeah, wha two three? Whoa two three?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
This your new cadence this week. You're not going into
this week like thinking about what happened when you were thirteen.
I got some for regret. It's called applecara, donkia turn.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
My head from that. If I think about that too long,
I get depressed.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
If I think about that too long, I start get bitter.
If I look over here, I might get jealous. If
I look over there, I might get discouraged. So I
got stretch my head toward my future in faith.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
I will, I will, I will riduals now. Stretch your
hands to heave it. You stretch your head now, stretch
your hands to let the Lord know.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
That what matters to me is what matters to you.
I have an eager expectation Applecarudokia. My expectation creates my hope.
And I don't know what, but I know why, and
(48:50):
I can survive the why when I know the why.
Lift your hands, Lord, We thank you for the word
that you gave us today. We thank you for the
instruction that you gave us through Paul. He told us
that we got to stretch our heads forward.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
Forward, that we.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
Can't do anything about the time that we've lost. We've
got to forget what's behind us and strained toward what's ahead.
That we got to get our eyes fixed on where
we're headed, to get our lives headed in the right direction.
(49:36):
And I pray it over your people now in Jesus' name,
that they would experience this week significant steps forward.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Everybody, say forward forward, look at me for a moment.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
I asked a race car driver one time, if you
were going to teach one thing about driving that people
wouldn't know, what would it be? He said, You've always
he's got to keep your eyes where you want to go.
When you're on a track, you tend to look at
what you don't want to hit and what you don't
want to happen. He said that will always cause you
to crash every single time.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
What was he talking about? Applecaradokia? Stretch your head.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Forward.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Forward. I can just see it this week that you're
going to preach this back to the people that.
Speaker 2 (50:29):
You love, and you're going to preach it without words
when they start talking about what went wrong, And I
just want.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
You to look at him and like a turtle coming
out of his shell.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Just I want moms to do this to your daughter
this week, But most importantly, I want you to do
it for yourself. I've already been practicing this in my
(51:05):
own life as I've prepared to preach it to you,
and it's amazing how just a quick shift stretch of
the head can get you out of discouragement, can get
you out of defeat, can get you out of despair. Forward, everybody,
say forward. That's where I'm looking. I'm looking forward. I
(51:27):
can't go into this week like this. I can't go
into this week like this. How am I going into
this week? I'm going say it forward? Are there any
forward thinkers in the house?
Speaker 1 (51:42):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You
can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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