September 15, 2025 • 25 mins
The study of Philippians 3 offers a refreshing counterpoint to our culture's constant pursuit of novelty. When Paul writes, "For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe," he strikes at the heart of effective spiritual leadership.
Drawing from basketball analogies, this episode explores how the greatest NBA players—Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan—never outgrew practicing free throws. Similarly, spiritual maturity isn't about discovering exotic new truths but mastering foundational ones. Just as championship games often come down to free throws, our spiritual effectiveness depends on consistently returning to basic gospel truths.
The Apostles' Creed serves as a powerful example. These twelve simple statements weren't elementary teachings to eventually outgrow—they were core truths Christians would "repeat until the day we go to glory." From God as Creator to the resurrection of the body, these fundamentals provide spiritual protection in a world constantly pulling us away from truth.
Paul's stern warnings against "dogs," "evil workers," and "the mutilation" reveal his concern about legalism creeping into the church. Those imposing religious requirements missed the essence of true faith. Paul counters with a beautiful definition of genuine believers as those who "worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
This tension between legalism and grace remains relevant today. As leaders, we must guard against both legalistic tendencies and the temptation to seek novelty over substance. Our cultural drift away from foundational truths makes Paul's message more urgent than ever—repeating core values isn't tedious; it creates safety for those we lead.
What free throws of faith do you need to keep practicing? Which foundational truths need renewed emphasis in your leadership? This episode challenges us to embrace the power of spiritual repetition in an age obsessed with the new and novel.
My hope is that this podcast helps grow your faith and equips you to accomplish your dreams and goals!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to another part of my Philippian study that
I have been doing with ourstaff at Staff Chapel.
If you haven't listened to theother parts, you might want to
go back deeper into my podcast,check out those episodes and
catch yourself up to join wherewe're at today.
Okay, jumping into the study,we're going to be in Philippians
(00:32):
3.
Philippians, chapter 3.
If you want to turn in yourBibles, you can go there.
Just a reminder of the overallflow of the Bible, because we
don't learn truth, we remembertruth and it's the truth that we
remember that sets us free.
And so we've got the beginningof the Bible is God's law, and
then it's canonized into God'speople.
(00:53):
Then we have God's wisdom, thenwe have God's prophets, which
is God calling back his people,then we have God's son, then we
have God's church and then,ultimately, in revelation, we
are told that God is coming back.
So Philippians, chapter three,verse one, told that God is
coming back.
So Philippians, chapter three,verse one, he says, finally, my
brethren.
So this he's like transitioningthought.
That finally should make usthink.
(01:13):
He's like hey, in closing, I'mabout to wrap this thing up,
finally, but we all know there'stwo more chapters, so this is
like the closing accident.
This is like a typicalChristian.
You know how you say bye, likemany times, like you say bye in
the lobby and then you walkoutside the lobby doors and then
you say bye again, and then youwalk out to your car and you
say bye again, only to just liketalk at your car and say bye
(01:35):
again, and then you go meet eachother at the restaurant Like
it's all.
Just to get to that point.
That's basically what he'sdoing here and so it's uh.
So he begins with thetransitional phrase of finally
but actually jumps into a longdiscussion that isn't actually
his closing remarks.
In fact it's believed that he'sput so much praise on them, so
much exhortation to actuallytransition into like the meat of
(01:57):
what he's wanting to say.
And so he says finally, mybrethren rejoice, so we've got
joy again, which my joy countsat 10.
It may be off, because there'sso many times he says rejoice
and so rejoice, so we've got joy, count number 10, rejoice in
the Lord.
And so he comes back to Godbeing in central view,
(02:18):
contrasting this to verse 18 inchapter two.
He says the same reason youalso be glad and rejoice with me
.
And so before he's he's talkedabout joy and all these
different places, but now he'sgot God back in central focus.
We're going to rejoice in theLord.
And he says uh, in the Lord,for me to write the same things
to you is not tedious, but foryou it is safe, and so write the
(02:43):
same things.
It's questioned if there'sanother letter that has been
sent that we actually didn'thave and if Philippians just is
actually a part of a grouping ofletters that had been sent.
And so, basically, paul'ssaying, like this meme right
here.
He's like hey, it's me, I'mjust checking, did you get my
email?
Like legit.
He's like do you ever feel likethat with your team?
(03:05):
Sometimes you're like, hey,it's me saying the same thing
again, like sending the sameemail again.
And then people come up to youand they ask you questions.
You're like did you read youremail?
And they're like no, but whatis it?
And you're like check youremail, I already told you all
this in an email.
Like, let me help you go intoyour inbox, you can do it.
(03:27):
But if you feel that way justknow Paul felt that way too
Because he's like hey, I'msending you the same thing again
.
And sometimes, as leaders, canwe just be honest for a second.
Sometimes we're doing the samemessage again.
We're saying the same culturevalues again.
We're pointing them back to thesame thing again.
We're saying, hey, we don't dothat.
Here again we're saying thesame culture values again.
We're pointing them back to thesame thing again.
We're saying, hey, we don't dothat.
Here again we're saying, hey,get in a group.
(03:49):
Again we're saying join GrowthTrack, come on, go through
Growth Track, get on the dreamteam.
Again.
And I love that he says here.
He says it's not tedious, likeit's not tedious, like sometimes
I think we get off in our viewof like oh, I get so sick of
saying the same thing over andover again and it becomes
(04:10):
tedious.
And Paul's perspective is it'snot tedious, but for you it's
safe, for you it's safe.
Like I would just say that wecan't grow tired of saying the
same things over and over again,because it actually is bringing
safety to our people, likereminding them that Jesus is our
(04:30):
message.
It's not tedious, it's actuallysafe.
Like every election season,somebody wants us to get on the
stage and endorse the candidate.
We're not going to do it.
We're going to remind themJesus is our message.
And you know what?
Doing that isn't tedious, it'ssafe, it's keeping the main
thing, the main thing.
We're keeping the focus, and sofor us there's going to be
(04:51):
basics that we're going to haveto continuously cover.
Braylee and I, when we went tothe Mavericks game, we were
sitting there watching them dofree throws.
And she's like mom, isn't itfunny?
Because how many times have wewatched Lily and Sophie do the
same thing?
Like, how many times have weseen them shoot free throws
right?
Like, how many times how manygames have we watched Bear get
(05:14):
to the free throw line and shoota free throw?
How many games at HCA have beenpredicated upon whether or not
they make a free throw?
And isn't it interesting that,right when you join basketball,
the very first thing they haveyou do is free throws.
And in fact, kobe Bryant talksabout how many free throws he
would shoot every single morning.
(05:34):
And here he is an NBA playerlike the top of the game.
Michael Jordan was the same way.
So let me just say that SophieSy and Lily Sy's training
schedule is all based on thebasics, and Kobe Bryant is still
doing the basics.
And what's wild is we go to thegame and you've got people like
Luca shooting a free throw andthey still miss sometimes and
(05:59):
it's basic and she goes.
Mom, isn't it interesting thatthe whole game can come down to
something that's the same thingas what's coming down to at a
little league game, as basic asa free throw.
And a lot of times, can I justtalk to us?
Can we just be honest for asecond?
We're looking to mature intosomething bigger and God's like,
just keep shooting free throws,like with our teams, like we're
(06:22):
not looking for this deeper,big revelation of Christ that
nobody's ever preached before.
It's actually the basics andthe foundations of our faith
that we continuously rehearseand those are the things that we
keep coming back to.
Those are the things that wehave to continually point
towards.
Because here's the thing isthat whatever we don't
(06:43):
continuously monitor and givevalue behind, it's going to
drift.
Culture is going to pull usaway from Jesus.
Is our message?
Culture is going to pull usaway from excellence.
Is our spirit?
Culture is going to pull usaway.
And the reason why the earlychurch came up with the
Apostles' Creed was because theywere like we need to have 12
things, these 12 lines of theApostles' Creed was because they
were like we need to have 12things.
(07:03):
These 12 lines of the Apostles'Creed are finalizing, inside of
people, the main things thatwe're going to continuously come
back to, and we're going torepeat these until the day we go
to glory.
And so those things, just toremind us of the 12 things, or
not the 12 things, but remindersof the main emphasis of the
Apostles' Creed is number one isGod the Father?
(07:23):
But we believe in one, god theFather, almighty maker of heaven
and earth.
And that sounds silly, but ourmessages should have these
things from the Apostles' Creed.
It should be woven within them.
The way we pray, the way wepoint to people is no, we serve
one Lord and he is the creatorof everything.
Number two Jesus Christ.
The affirmation of theincarnation, crucifixion,
(07:46):
resurrection and the ascensionof Jesus Christ, the son of God.
So we're never going to growtired of preaching about the
resurrection.
We're never going to grow tiredof preaching about the
ascension of Christ.
We're never going to grow tiredtalking about he's the son of
God.
That was given for us.
Like these things.
If we're looking for somethingdeeper, we're going to get weird
.
Come on, these are our freethrows as as team.
(08:07):
The next, as it goes on, is theHoly spirit, belief in the Holy
spirit, the giver of thespiritual life and power in our
lives.
So, come on, we're weaving thisinto what we're talking about.
You've got the Holy ghost onyour life.
I'm back there with kids teamon on Wednesday and I'm
reminding them hey, you're notjust kids team, you're full of
the Holy Spirit and God'sanointed you for this.
(08:27):
Like you're not just checkingkids in at the door.
Like every interaction, you'reimparting value, you're
imparting purpose, like God'sgifted you for this.
Nobody can vacuum these floorslike you.
Nobody can do this dry eraseboard like you.
Carolina Teal, nobody can teachthe lesson like you.
We're reminding them of thegift of the Holy Spirit on their
lives.
The church, affirmation of thechurch, the community of
(08:50):
believers, and so this is whatit comes down to.
Like we, we love the localchurch.
Is it flawed?
Yes, do we?
Do?
People inside the church makemistakes?
A hundred percent?
Am I?
Is your pastor going to fallshort?
Short, 100%?
I promise you I'll fall shortevery day.
But we still believe in theecclesia, the body of Christ,
the family of God, and so weaffirm these things of
(09:11):
forgiveness of sins, that webelieve in the forgiveness of
sins through faith in JesusChrist, and so it's not by my
works, it's not by what I do,but we believe in forgiveness.
So we're reminding people thatyou're not saved by works,
you're saved by faith.
And that sounds like a basicand you're like man.
I want to get a deeperrevelation from God.
If you start getting intotrying to be deep, you start
(09:33):
getting weird.
You're not shooting free throwsanymore and we're losing the
game.
I need you at the free throwline.
I need you reminding people hey, you're not more loved by God
because you showed up and servedon Dream Team today.
You're not more loved by Godbecause you got to lead the song
today.
You're not more loved by Godbecause you got to do camera one
today.
No, you're loved by God becausehis grace, he chose you, he
(09:55):
picked you out since thefoundations of the earth.
You're loved by God just as youare.
You're a son, you're a daughterof God.
Do y'all see what I'm saying?
It's not tedious to me.
The next is resurrection of thebody.
The belief of the resurrectionof the body at the end of time.
So we believe that there's thislife.
When my heart stops beatinghere it starts beating again.
(10:15):
In eternity.
We believe in the resurrectionof the body, we believe that
Christ is going to come backagain, that we're going to be
the dead and Christ will risefirst, that there's more to this
life than this earthly life,that there's a life we're
pre-gaming right now, literallyLike your dream team.
You let them know like we'regoing to be serving at the
marriage supper of the lamb forall of time.
(10:37):
So we're just pre-gaming rightnow.
We're just learning how toserve on this side.
We're getting ready for thenext side, because our purpose
doesn't stop here.
We're gonna have purpose forall eternity, and so that
resurrection by that eternalmindset.
It shifts things.
In fact, the early church, thereason what, one of the reasons
why christianity spread so much,even with how many people were
(10:59):
being killed for their faith,was the way they died.
Literally, people were moved tocome to faith watching the way
they died, because they diedsinging hymns and praise to God
while being burned alive, whilebeing crucified, while watching
their children be murdered.
I don't understand that, Idon't know that level, and so
(11:22):
I'll say we need to make surethat we have an eternity mindset
that this isn't all there is,like where you're at right now.
This isn't all there is.
God's got more on the otherside.
The next thing is eternal life,a belief in eternal life with
God after death.
And so these are some of thebasics that we have core
foundationally as faith.
But for us as team, as part ofthe church, it's the values.
(11:45):
It's always coming back tothose values and we lead with
those.
And he says it's not tediousfor me, it's not tedious for me,
it's safety for you.
And so where have we drifted?
Like, make sure that you're notdrifting.
You keep getting on that freethrow line, keep shooting those
shots.
Oh man, I'm getting so sick ofsaying this.
(12:08):
Say it again.
I feel like I've told them thisbefore.
Say it again.
I feel like I've already sentan email about this.
Talk to them about it andhuddle.
I feel like I've already toldthem three times like, hey, you
need to get in marriagecounseling.
Say it again, like does thismake sense?
Like we're just gonna keepshooting those free throws
because that's what wins thegames in the end.
So everything we do as a churchto point back to these things,
like to the basics, it's thebasics of who we are.
(12:30):
So he says they're not tediousfor me but for you is safe.
Verse two he goes savage.
He goes beware of dogs, bewareof evil workers, beware of the
mutilation.
And so the threefold repetitionhere of the Greek word is for
(12:52):
beware, and so he's repeatingthis three times.
He's actually doing like analliteration moment here that we
miss in the English translation, and I just think it's cool
whenever you see it, becausewhenever you see like Pastor
Brian, like doing a sermonseries and or if you see me
doing it, and it's like got allKs in the beginning or all
whatever, paul was the OG atthis, and so he's like I feel
(13:22):
like you're going to correct me,and so what he's saying is
beware, like watch out.
And he's saying it in threedifferent ways, but all in a
catchy way for them to be ableto remember, and so he's naming
off these different groups ofpeople, warning them about what
they're going to do.
So the first one is I'm sorry,the first one is watch out for
(13:48):
those dogs.
So the metaphor is full of bite,since dogs were zoological low
life scavengers that weregenerally designed by the
Greco-Roman society andconsidered unclean by Jews.
So him calling them dogs wasactually like the biggest slap
in the face, because Jews were,like we're clean, we're not dogs
(14:09):
, like actually, we look down onunclean.
They would call Gentiles dogs.
But he's flipping the scriptand he's saying that they're
full of bite.
They're, these unclean animals,and so he's calling them this
because they're Judaizers, andso they're trying to put all
these like religious rules onthem.
They're trying to encumber themwith all these rules and
(14:30):
restrictions.
Like you're going to come tofaith?
Well, you've got to do allthese things.
Be careful that we're not thatway.
Amen.
And so a dog should be someonewho doesn't understand
Christianity.
So this is a person that justdoesn't get it.
This is a.
A dog would be any person thatjust doesn't get it.
Like and they're they're tryingto either bind people with
(14:50):
rules or they're so checked outduring a holy moment.
Yeah, have y'all ever beenfrustrated?
Like the spirit of God is likemoving and somebody's over there
playing words with friends ontheir phone.
You're just like Jesus, right,and all it is is they're just
(15:10):
spiritually, they're like a dog.
They're just unclean.
They don't understand theholiness of the moment they're
in and that's what he's sayingis like they don't get what God
is doing.
And I will say like havecompassion on them, meet them
where they're at right, justextend grace.
But it's not that the problemisn't.
I can take away their phone andthey can still be checked out
mentally.
The phone isn't the problem,your heart is the problem.
(15:32):
And if you start realizing whatthe spirit of God is doing, in
that moment you'll lean in, likeif you can watch 116 people get
baptized and your heart isn'tmoved.
The problem isn't how you'rechecking out or numbing.
In that moment the problem isyour heart.
Posture Like you've forgottenthe basics.
Somebody needs to take you backto the free throw line and
remind you what it's all about.
(15:53):
Is this good, okay?
The second is he calls themevil doers.
The clue to this usage is in aposition between dogs and
mutilation, since both are termsexpressed of reversals, and so
it's arguable that this one doesas well.
And so the irony derives fromthe designation of the wicked as
(16:14):
those who work iniquity, tryingto make the Gentiles submit to
the Torah observance.
Judaizers and their contemporarycounterparts, the legalists, do
the work of righteousness, donot do the work of righteousness
at all, but they're doing evil,just as those that would come
and they would reject God andthe Pharisees that pushed away
(16:38):
God.
It's the same thing.
They're just evildoers.
They're just evildoers, justlet them be who they are.
He's like saying beware.
He's not saying to state yourcase to them.
He's not saying, he's justsaying their heart posture, they
think they're doing somethinggood, and a lot of times I found
those people that are supervocal, that are trying to bind
people up into all this legalism.
They are cloaking it inrighteousness, but actually what
(17:01):
they're doing is evil.
And that's what Paul's sayinghere.
It's like they may make it looklike so good on the outside,
but they're evildoers.
The third, and changing frommasculine pearl to a prerogative
description of the Judaizersactivity, paul warns beware of
the mutilation, an ironicreference to Gentile
circumcision.
(17:22):
And so what he's saying is theword for circumcision is
different than mutilation, andliterally what he's doing is
it's like this is where it'skind of fun in the Greek,
because this word that he'susing is actually pointing back
to Leviticus, and in Leviticus,any priests that would mutilate
themselves were not able to dothe work of a priest inside the
(17:45):
tabernacle.
It actually disqualified you.
Now, to be circumcised wasn'tto be mutilated, but if you were
to cut yourself or do some kindof mutilation to yourself.
You are now unfit to do thework of a priest.
So what he's saying is you arenow the priests, you as the
believers, you're now thepriests.
(18:07):
If you start doing these thingsthat they're trying to put on
you to be deemed clean andworthy to do the work of Christ,
you're actually disqualifyingyourself.
You're mutilating yourself.
And so this in their mindsetwhenever they would have heard
this word being spoken, they'rerealizing what Paul's doing.
He's pointing them back.
They're pointing you toLevitical law to try to justify
(18:27):
what they're doing, but let metell you that at that time, you
were required to be circumcised.
Now, if you do this, whatyou're doing is mutilating
yourself.
And so I'll just say this iswhat happens when we begin to
put Old Testament law onourselves as believers and we
start saying, okay, well, thisis what is said in the Old
Testament, so I'm'm gonna startdoing that.
You see, a lot of this blendingthat tries to happen.
(18:49):
I think there's a beauty andappreciation for Jewish customs
and tradition, but when thatstarts becoming our law, what
we're doing is we're mutilatingourselves, and in mutilating
ourselves, we're not able to dothe work of the priest that
we're actually called by God todo.
And so Paul says here, beware,beware of them, for we are the
circumcision.
For we are the circumcision.
(19:12):
So this should make us questionlike what is the word the
circumcision?
And so he's going to explainthis.
Are we okay?
If I go like three minutes over?
I'm going to try to get throughverse three, is that okay?
Okay, so if you have to walkout at 930, that's fine, it
won't hurt my feelings.
So, for we are the circumcisionwho worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus and haveno confidence in the flesh.
(19:36):
So we have joy.
Count number 11 right here wehave joy again.
And what's beautiful is he'sgoing to explain the
circumcision and he says here,number one is those who worship
slash, serve in the spirit.
This, this word, I think itwould have been better
transliterated as serve in thespirit.
But you can have worship in thespirit.
(19:58):
But it stands as an ironiccontrast to Philippians.
Three.
Two the people, the mutilatedpriests, could not serve or
worship in the temple.
So he's saying hey, guys, likethey're saying that they're able
to do it, but they're mutilated, they're not able to serve and
worship in the temple, butbecause you have the
circumcision of the spirit,you're able to serve and worship
(20:19):
in the temple of God.
And so, as the rest of thesentence makes clear that Paul
hasn't viewed neithercongregational worship nor
internal spiritual service,personal piety over against
external right, but two ways ofexisting in the flesh, meaning
life centered in the creature,as over against God, and by the
spirit, as people of the future,of whom all life, the present,
(20:42):
is now service and devotion toGod.
Number two we rejoice in Christ.
He's like guys, we're, we'reable to.
The circumcision of God lookslike we're able to serve, like
we're our.
Our circumcision, our spiritualcircumcision, is for service.
It's for worship unto God.
But we get to rejoice in Christ, meaning my.
(21:03):
My joy doesn't come in mysituation.
My joy doesn't come in mycircumstance.
My joy doesn't come on theeconomy.
My joy doesn't happen withTrump and Elon Musk.
My joy doesn't happen.
But although the memes rightnow are just absolutely gold,
I'm here for every single one.
Can't get enough.
It makes me laugh so hard.
It's great.
I'm like I can't wait for thenext thing, because they just
(21:24):
keep giving out more content.
It's fantastic, it makes melaugh really hard.
But each one of these, my joyis in Christ, right.
So keep in mind, one of thefirst names for Christians was
believers.
They were called believers, andthis stood in opposition of
everyone in Rome.
In fact, in Rome during thistime, they said that there was
more gods, more statues like togods, than there were people.
(21:47):
And what stood out aboutChristians is they didn't have a
statue to the God that theyserved, and it looked so
different to everybody.
So that's why they startedcalling them believers, because
they didn't have a God that theycould see, and so even their
rejoicing was in a circumstancesthat could not be seen.
We rejoice in Christ, we findjoy in him.
(22:09):
So he's pointing back to thisand he says we have no
confidence in the flesh, so myrighteous deeds are not what
gets the favor or forgivenessfrom God, so I have no
confidence in the flesh, and allof these things he's literally
line for line, he is correcting.
With each one of these he'sstanding in opposition.
Oh hi, that was great, thankyou, that was great.
(22:31):
He's going in opposition of theJudaizers previously, and so
each thing that he's talkingabout them being evildoers, them
being dogs, them being the onesthat are mutilating he's coming
up against that and he's sayinghey guys, this is who you are
and so our circumcision.
What does that mean?
When we say that we'recircumcised by the spirit, it
(22:53):
means that because of ourcircumcision, it looks like
service to God, it looks likeworship beyond what I see in the
natural and it looks like mebeing able to not have
confidence in the flesh.
So my confidence doesn't comein my righteous deeds, my
righteous acts, how I feel Causecome on somebody.
Sometimes you feel like serving, sometimes you don't.
(23:14):
Sometimes you feel likepreaching, sometimes you don't.
Brian and I always laugh.
People go are you ready topreach the gospels of Jesus
Christ?
I'm like I don't know.
I'm getting up there in threeminutes.
I better be ready.
Like I don't know.
But it doesn't matter what Ifeel.
Does that make sense?
Like it doesn't, I don't putany confidence in the flesh.
So what does the circumcisionof the spirit look like?
(23:35):
Well, paul kind of plays it outfor us.
Those are a few things of whatit looks like.
Next time we'll pick it up onverse four and talk about Paul.
He just pops off really hardabout if anybody could be
confident.
He should be confident and heisn't.
He doesn't use those things inthe natural to give him
confidence, but his confidenceis in Christ.
So let's pray real quick andwe'll finish up.
Jesus, we just thank you for whoyou are, lord, we just step up
(23:58):
to the free throw line again.
Lord, I thank you that we'recarrying a message that's been
entrusted for over 2000 years.
Lord, give us new ways toexplain the gospel, lord, new
ways to keep shooting that freethrow of God, the Father, of
Jesus, your Son, the Holy Spiritbeing given.
Lord, I thank you that, as weare talking to team, as we're
(24:20):
doing things that God, I thankyou that we're pointing them
back to the basics of faith,that we're pointing them back to
the values of our house.
Lord, I thank you that peoplein this house, lord, they know
that they can grow safelybecause of those basics, lord,
that those basics actuallyproduce safety inside our flock.
And so, lord, we just thank youfor those.
Lord, we thank you for all thatyou're going to do this week,
(24:42):
lord, on Sunday, lord, we giveyou thanks in advance, lord, for
every salvation, for every lifechange that Lord you know in
advance.
Lord, for every salvation, forevery life change.
That Lord, you know every name,you know every story.
And so, lord, we just thank youthat you're a speaking God and
one church is full of listeningpeople in Jesus name, and
somebody who believed it saidAmen.
I love you guys.
Have a great week.
Thanks so much for hanging outhere on my podcast.
(25:04):
Do me a favor and hit thesubscribe button if you haven't
done so already, so you nevermiss out on anything here on my
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Also, one of the best ways forus to begin to reach other
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, family member or maybe on yoursocial media, help us get the
word out so we can help others.
Welcome to another part of my Philippian study that
I have been doing with ourstaff at Staff Chapel.
If you haven't listened to theother parts, you might want to
go back deeper into my podcast,check out those episodes and
catch yourself up to join wherewe're at today.
Okay, jumping into the study,we're going to be in Philippians
(00:32):
3.
Philippians, chapter 3.
If you want to turn in yourBibles, you can go there.
Just a reminder of the overallflow of the Bible, because we
don't learn truth, we remembertruth and it's the truth that we
remember that sets us free.
And so we've got the beginningof the Bible is God's law, and
then it's canonized into God'speople.
(00:53):
Then we have God's wisdom, thenwe have God's prophets, which
is God calling back his people,then we have God's son, then we
have God's church and then,ultimately, in revelation, we
are told that God is coming back.
So Philippians, chapter three,verse one, told that God is
coming back.
So Philippians, chapter three,verse one, he says, finally, my
brethren.
So this he's like transitioningthought.
That finally should make usthink.
(01:13):
He's like hey, in closing, I'mabout to wrap this thing up,
finally, but we all know there'stwo more chapters, so this is
like the closing accident.
This is like a typicalChristian.
You know how you say bye, likemany times, like you say bye in
the lobby and then you walkoutside the lobby doors and then
you say bye again, and then youwalk out to your car and you
say bye again, only to just liketalk at your car and say bye
(01:35):
again, and then you go meet eachother at the restaurant Like
it's all.
Just to get to that point.
That's basically what he'sdoing here and so it's uh.
So he begins with thetransitional phrase of finally
but actually jumps into a longdiscussion that isn't actually
his closing remarks.
In fact it's believed that he'sput so much praise on them, so
much exhortation to actuallytransition into like the meat of
(01:57):
what he's wanting to say.
And so he says finally, mybrethren rejoice, so we've got
joy again, which my joy countsat 10.
It may be off, because there'sso many times he says rejoice
and so rejoice, so we've got joy, count number 10, rejoice in
the Lord.
And so he comes back to Godbeing in central view,
(02:18):
contrasting this to verse 18 inchapter two.
He says the same reason youalso be glad and rejoice with me
.
And so before he's he's talkedabout joy and all these
different places, but now he'sgot God back in central focus.
We're going to rejoice in theLord.
And he says uh, in the Lord,for me to write the same things
to you is not tedious, but foryou it is safe, and so write the
(02:43):
same things.
It's questioned if there'sanother letter that has been
sent that we actually didn'thave and if Philippians just is
actually a part of a grouping ofletters that had been sent.
And so, basically, paul'ssaying, like this meme right
here.
He's like hey, it's me, I'mjust checking, did you get my
email?
Like legit.
He's like do you ever feel likethat with your team?
(03:05):
Sometimes you're like, hey,it's me saying the same thing
again, like sending the sameemail again.
And then people come up to youand they ask you questions.
You're like did you read youremail?
And they're like no, but whatis it?
And you're like check youremail, I already told you all
this in an email.
Like, let me help you go intoyour inbox, you can do it.
(03:27):
But if you feel that way justknow Paul felt that way too
Because he's like hey, I'msending you the same thing again
.
And sometimes, as leaders, canwe just be honest for a second.
Sometimes we're doing the samemessage again.
We're saying the same culturevalues again.
We're pointing them back to thesame thing again.
We're saying, hey, we don't dothat.
Here again we're saying thesame culture values again.
We're pointing them back to thesame thing again.
We're saying, hey, we don't dothat.
Here again we're saying, hey,get in a group.
(03:49):
Again we're saying join GrowthTrack, come on, go through
Growth Track, get on the dreamteam.
Again.
And I love that he says here.
He says it's not tedious, likeit's not tedious, like sometimes
I think we get off in our viewof like oh, I get so sick of
saying the same thing over andover again and it becomes
(04:10):
tedious.
And Paul's perspective is it'snot tedious, but for you it's
safe, for you it's safe.
Like I would just say that wecan't grow tired of saying the
same things over and over again,because it actually is bringing
safety to our people, likereminding them that Jesus is our
(04:30):
message.
It's not tedious, it's actuallysafe.
Like every election season,somebody wants us to get on the
stage and endorse the candidate.
We're not going to do it.
We're going to remind themJesus is our message.
And you know what?
Doing that isn't tedious, it'ssafe, it's keeping the main
thing, the main thing.
We're keeping the focus, and sofor us there's going to be
(04:51):
basics that we're going to haveto continuously cover.
Braylee and I, when we went tothe Mavericks game, we were
sitting there watching them dofree throws.
And she's like mom, isn't itfunny?
Because how many times have wewatched Lily and Sophie do the
same thing?
Like, how many times have weseen them shoot free throws
right?
Like, how many times how manygames have we watched Bear get
(05:14):
to the free throw line and shoota free throw?
How many games at HCA have beenpredicated upon whether or not
they make a free throw?
And isn't it interesting that,right when you join basketball,
the very first thing they haveyou do is free throws.
And in fact, kobe Bryant talksabout how many free throws he
would shoot every single morning.
(05:34):
And here he is an NBA playerlike the top of the game.
Michael Jordan was the same way.
So let me just say that SophieSy and Lily Sy's training
schedule is all based on thebasics, and Kobe Bryant is still
doing the basics.
And what's wild is we go to thegame and you've got people like
Luca shooting a free throw andthey still miss sometimes and
(05:59):
it's basic and she goes.
Mom, isn't it interesting thatthe whole game can come down to
something that's the same thingas what's coming down to at a
little league game, as basic asa free throw.
And a lot of times, can I justtalk to us?
Can we just be honest for asecond?
We're looking to mature intosomething bigger and God's like,
just keep shooting free throws,like with our teams, like we're
(06:22):
not looking for this deeper,big revelation of Christ that
nobody's ever preached before.
It's actually the basics andthe foundations of our faith
that we continuously rehearseand those are the things that we
keep coming back to.
Those are the things that wehave to continually point
towards.
Because here's the thing isthat whatever we don't
(06:43):
continuously monitor and givevalue behind, it's going to
drift.
Culture is going to pull usaway from Jesus.
Is our message?
Culture is going to pull usaway from excellence.
Is our spirit?
Culture is going to pull usaway.
And the reason why the earlychurch came up with the
Apostles' Creed was because theywere like we need to have 12
things, these 12 lines of theApostles' Creed was because they
were like we need to have 12things.
(07:03):
These 12 lines of the Apostles'Creed are finalizing, inside of
people, the main things thatwe're going to continuously come
back to, and we're going torepeat these until the day we go
to glory.
And so those things, just toremind us of the 12 things, or
not the 12 things, but remindersof the main emphasis of the
Apostles' Creed is number one isGod the Father?
(07:23):
But we believe in one, god theFather, almighty maker of heaven
and earth.
And that sounds silly, but ourmessages should have these
things from the Apostles' Creed.
It should be woven within them.
The way we pray, the way wepoint to people is no, we serve
one Lord and he is the creatorof everything.
Number two Jesus Christ.
The affirmation of theincarnation, crucifixion,
(07:46):
resurrection and the ascensionof Jesus Christ, the son of God.
So we're never going to growtired of preaching about the
resurrection.
We're never going to grow tiredof preaching about the
ascension of Christ.
We're never going to grow tiredtalking about he's the son of
God.
That was given for us.
Like these things.
If we're looking for somethingdeeper, we're going to get weird
.
Come on, these are our freethrows as as team.
(08:07):
The next, as it goes on, is theHoly spirit, belief in the Holy
spirit, the giver of thespiritual life and power in our
lives.
So, come on, we're weaving thisinto what we're talking about.
You've got the Holy ghost onyour life.
I'm back there with kids teamon on Wednesday and I'm
reminding them hey, you're notjust kids team, you're full of
the Holy Spirit and God'sanointed you for this.
(08:27):
Like you're not just checkingkids in at the door.
Like every interaction, you'reimparting value, you're
imparting purpose, like God'sgifted you for this.
Nobody can vacuum these floorslike you.
Nobody can do this dry eraseboard like you.
Carolina Teal, nobody can teachthe lesson like you.
We're reminding them of thegift of the Holy Spirit on their
lives.
The church, affirmation of thechurch, the community of
(08:50):
believers, and so this is whatit comes down to.
Like we, we love the localchurch.
Is it flawed?
Yes, do we?
Do?
People inside the church makemistakes?
A hundred percent?
Am I?
Is your pastor going to fallshort?
Short, 100%?
I promise you I'll fall shortevery day.
But we still believe in theecclesia, the body of Christ,
the family of God, and so weaffirm these things of
(09:11):
forgiveness of sins, that webelieve in the forgiveness of
sins through faith in JesusChrist, and so it's not by my
works, it's not by what I do,but we believe in forgiveness.
So we're reminding people thatyou're not saved by works,
you're saved by faith.
And that sounds like a basicand you're like man.
I want to get a deeperrevelation from God.
If you start getting intotrying to be deep, you start
(09:33):
getting weird.
You're not shooting free throwsanymore and we're losing the
game.
I need you at the free throwline.
I need you reminding people hey, you're not more loved by God
because you showed up and servedon Dream Team today.
You're not more loved by Godbecause you got to lead the song
today.
You're not more loved by Godbecause you got to do camera one
today.
No, you're loved by God becausehis grace, he chose you, he
(09:55):
picked you out since thefoundations of the earth.
You're loved by God just as youare.
You're a son, you're a daughterof God.
Do y'all see what I'm saying?
It's not tedious to me.
The next is resurrection of thebody.
The belief of the resurrectionof the body at the end of time.
So we believe that there's thislife.
When my heart stops beatinghere it starts beating again.
(10:15):
In eternity.
We believe in the resurrectionof the body, we believe that
Christ is going to come backagain, that we're going to be
the dead and Christ will risefirst, that there's more to this
life than this earthly life,that there's a life we're
pre-gaming right now, literallyLike your dream team.
You let them know like we'regoing to be serving at the
marriage supper of the lamb forall of time.
(10:37):
So we're just pre-gaming rightnow.
We're just learning how toserve on this side.
We're getting ready for thenext side, because our purpose
doesn't stop here.
We're gonna have purpose forall eternity, and so that
resurrection by that eternalmindset.
It shifts things.
In fact, the early church, thereason what, one of the reasons
why christianity spread so much,even with how many people were
(10:59):
being killed for their faith,was the way they died.
Literally, people were moved tocome to faith watching the way
they died, because they diedsinging hymns and praise to God
while being burned alive, whilebeing crucified, while watching
their children be murdered.
I don't understand that, Idon't know that level, and so
(11:22):
I'll say we need to make surethat we have an eternity mindset
that this isn't all there is,like where you're at right now.
This isn't all there is.
God's got more on the otherside.
The next thing is eternal life,a belief in eternal life with
God after death.
And so these are some of thebasics that we have core
foundationally as faith.
But for us as team, as part ofthe church, it's the values.
(11:45):
It's always coming back tothose values and we lead with
those.
And he says it's not tediousfor me, it's not tedious for me,
it's safety for you.
And so where have we drifted?
Like, make sure that you're notdrifting.
You keep getting on that freethrow line, keep shooting those
shots.
Oh man, I'm getting so sick ofsaying this.
(12:08):
Say it again.
I feel like I've told them thisbefore.
Say it again.
I feel like I've already sentan email about this.
Talk to them about it andhuddle.
I feel like I've already toldthem three times like, hey, you
need to get in marriagecounseling.
Say it again, like does thismake sense?
Like we're just gonna keepshooting those free throws
because that's what wins thegames in the end.
So everything we do as a churchto point back to these things,
like to the basics, it's thebasics of who we are.
(12:30):
So he says they're not tediousfor me but for you is safe.
Verse two he goes savage.
He goes beware of dogs, bewareof evil workers, beware of the
mutilation.
And so the threefold repetitionhere of the Greek word is for
(12:52):
beware, and so he's repeatingthis three times.
He's actually doing like analliteration moment here that we
miss in the English translation, and I just think it's cool
whenever you see it, becausewhenever you see like Pastor
Brian, like doing a sermonseries and or if you see me
doing it, and it's like got allKs in the beginning or all
whatever, paul was the OG atthis, and so he's like I feel
(13:22):
like you're going to correct me,and so what he's saying is
beware, like watch out.
And he's saying it in threedifferent ways, but all in a
catchy way for them to be ableto remember, and so he's naming
off these different groups ofpeople, warning them about what
they're going to do.
So the first one is I'm sorry,the first one is watch out for
(13:48):
those dogs.
So the metaphor is full of bite,since dogs were zoological low
life scavengers that weregenerally designed by the
Greco-Roman society andconsidered unclean by Jews.
So him calling them dogs wasactually like the biggest slap
in the face, because Jews were,like we're clean, we're not dogs
(14:09):
, like actually, we look down onunclean.
They would call Gentiles dogs.
But he's flipping the scriptand he's saying that they're
full of bite.
They're, these unclean animals,and so he's calling them this
because they're Judaizers, andso they're trying to put all
these like religious rules onthem.
They're trying to encumber themwith all these rules and
(14:30):
restrictions.
Like you're going to come tofaith?
Well, you've got to do allthese things.
Be careful that we're not thatway.
Amen.
And so a dog should be someonewho doesn't understand
Christianity.
So this is a person that justdoesn't get it.
This is a.
A dog would be any person thatjust doesn't get it.
Like and they're they're tryingto either bind people with
(14:50):
rules or they're so checked outduring a holy moment.
Yeah, have y'all ever beenfrustrated?
Like the spirit of God is likemoving and somebody's over there
playing words with friends ontheir phone.
You're just like Jesus, right,and all it is is they're just
(15:10):
spiritually, they're like a dog.
They're just unclean.
They don't understand theholiness of the moment they're
in and that's what he's sayingis like they don't get what God
is doing.
And I will say like havecompassion on them, meet them
where they're at right, justextend grace.
But it's not that the problemisn't.
I can take away their phone andthey can still be checked out
mentally.
The phone isn't the problem,your heart is the problem.
(15:32):
And if you start realizing whatthe spirit of God is doing, in
that moment you'll lean in, likeif you can watch 116 people get
baptized and your heart isn'tmoved.
The problem isn't how you'rechecking out or numbing.
In that moment the problem isyour heart.
Posture Like you've forgottenthe basics.
Somebody needs to take you backto the free throw line and
remind you what it's all about.
(15:53):
Is this good, okay?
The second is he calls themevil doers.
The clue to this usage is in aposition between dogs and
mutilation, since both are termsexpressed of reversals, and so
it's arguable that this one doesas well.
And so the irony derives fromthe designation of the wicked as
(16:14):
those who work iniquity, tryingto make the Gentiles submit to
the Torah observance.
Judaizers and their contemporarycounterparts, the legalists, do
the work of righteousness, donot do the work of righteousness
at all, but they're doing evil,just as those that would come
and they would reject God andthe Pharisees that pushed away
(16:38):
God.
It's the same thing.
They're just evildoers.
They're just evildoers, justlet them be who they are.
He's like saying beware.
He's not saying to state yourcase to them.
He's not saying, he's justsaying their heart posture, they
think they're doing somethinggood, and a lot of times I found
those people that are supervocal, that are trying to bind
people up into all this legalism.
They are cloaking it inrighteousness, but actually what
(17:01):
they're doing is evil.
And that's what Paul's sayinghere.
It's like they may make it looklike so good on the outside,
but they're evildoers.
The third, and changing frommasculine pearl to a prerogative
description of the Judaizersactivity, paul warns beware of
the mutilation, an ironicreference to Gentile
circumcision.
(17:22):
And so what he's saying is theword for circumcision is
different than mutilation, andliterally what he's doing is
it's like this is where it'skind of fun in the Greek,
because this word that he'susing is actually pointing back
to Leviticus, and in Leviticus,any priests that would mutilate
themselves were not able to dothe work of a priest inside the
(17:45):
tabernacle.
It actually disqualified you.
Now, to be circumcised wasn'tto be mutilated, but if you were
to cut yourself or do some kindof mutilation to yourself.
You are now unfit to do thework of a priest.
So what he's saying is you arenow the priests, you as the
believers, you're now thepriests.
(18:07):
If you start doing these thingsthat they're trying to put on
you to be deemed clean andworthy to do the work of Christ,
you're actually disqualifyingyourself.
You're mutilating yourself.
And so this in their mindsetwhenever they would have heard
this word being spoken, they'rerealizing what Paul's doing.
He's pointing them back.
They're pointing you toLevitical law to try to justify
(18:27):
what they're doing, but let metell you that at that time, you
were required to be circumcised.
Now, if you do this, whatyou're doing is mutilating
yourself.
And so I'll just say this iswhat happens when we begin to
put Old Testament law onourselves as believers and we
start saying, okay, well, thisis what is said in the Old
Testament, so I'm'm gonna startdoing that.
You see, a lot of this blendingthat tries to happen.
(18:49):
I think there's a beauty andappreciation for Jewish customs
and tradition, but when thatstarts becoming our law, what
we're doing is we're mutilatingourselves, and in mutilating
ourselves, we're not able to dothe work of the priest that
we're actually called by God todo.
And so Paul says here, beware,beware of them, for we are the
circumcision.
For we are the circumcision.
(19:12):
So this should make us questionlike what is the word the
circumcision?
And so he's going to explainthis.
Are we okay?
If I go like three minutes over?
I'm going to try to get throughverse three, is that okay?
Okay, so if you have to walkout at 930, that's fine, it
won't hurt my feelings.
So, for we are the circumcisionwho worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus and haveno confidence in the flesh.
(19:36):
So we have joy.
Count number 11 right here wehave joy again.
And what's beautiful is he'sgoing to explain the
circumcision and he says here,number one is those who worship
slash, serve in the spirit.
This, this word, I think itwould have been better
transliterated as serve in thespirit.
But you can have worship in thespirit.
(19:58):
But it stands as an ironiccontrast to Philippians.
Three.
Two the people, the mutilatedpriests, could not serve or
worship in the temple.
So he's saying hey, guys, likethey're saying that they're able
to do it, but they're mutilated, they're not able to serve and
worship in the temple, butbecause you have the
circumcision of the spirit,you're able to serve and worship
(20:19):
in the temple of God.
And so, as the rest of thesentence makes clear that Paul
hasn't viewed neithercongregational worship nor
internal spiritual service,personal piety over against
external right, but two ways ofexisting in the flesh, meaning
life centered in the creature,as over against God, and by the
spirit, as people of the future,of whom all life, the present,
(20:42):
is now service and devotion toGod.
Number two we rejoice in Christ.
He's like guys, we're, we'reable to.
The circumcision of God lookslike we're able to serve, like
we're our.
Our circumcision, our spiritualcircumcision, is for service.
It's for worship unto God.
But we get to rejoice in Christ, meaning my.
(21:03):
My joy doesn't come in mysituation.
My joy doesn't come in mycircumstance.
My joy doesn't come on theeconomy.
My joy doesn't happen withTrump and Elon Musk.
My joy doesn't happen.
But although the memes rightnow are just absolutely gold,
I'm here for every single one.
Can't get enough.
It makes me laugh so hard.
It's great.
I'm like I can't wait for thenext thing, because they just
(21:24):
keep giving out more content.
It's fantastic, it makes melaugh really hard.
But each one of these, my joyis in Christ, right.
So keep in mind, one of thefirst names for Christians was
believers.
They were called believers, andthis stood in opposition of
everyone in Rome.
In fact, in Rome during thistime, they said that there was
more gods, more statues like togods, than there were people.
(21:47):
And what stood out aboutChristians is they didn't have a
statue to the God that theyserved, and it looked so
different to everybody.
So that's why they startedcalling them believers, because
they didn't have a God that theycould see, and so even their
rejoicing was in a circumstancesthat could not be seen.
We rejoice in Christ, we findjoy in him.
(22:09):
So he's pointing back to thisand he says we have no
confidence in the flesh, so myrighteous deeds are not what
gets the favor or forgivenessfrom God, so I have no
confidence in the flesh, and allof these things he's literally
line for line, he is correcting.
With each one of these he'sstanding in opposition.
Oh hi, that was great, thankyou, that was great.
(22:31):
He's going in opposition of theJudaizers previously, and so
each thing that he's talkingabout them being evildoers, them
being dogs, them being the onesthat are mutilating he's coming
up against that and he's sayinghey guys, this is who you are
and so our circumcision.
What does that mean?
When we say that we'recircumcised by the spirit, it
(22:53):
means that because of ourcircumcision, it looks like
service to God, it looks likeworship beyond what I see in the
natural and it looks like mebeing able to not have
confidence in the flesh.
So my confidence doesn't comein my righteous deeds, my
righteous acts, how I feel Causecome on somebody.
Sometimes you feel like serving, sometimes you don't.
(23:14):
Sometimes you feel likepreaching, sometimes you don't.
Brian and I always laugh.
People go are you ready topreach the gospels of Jesus
Christ?
I'm like I don't know.
I'm getting up there in threeminutes.
I better be ready.
Like I don't know.
But it doesn't matter what Ifeel.
Does that make sense?
Like it doesn't, I don't putany confidence in the flesh.
So what does the circumcisionof the spirit look like?
(23:35):
Well, paul kind of plays it outfor us.
Those are a few things of whatit looks like.
Next time we'll pick it up onverse four and talk about Paul.
He just pops off really hardabout if anybody could be
confident.
He should be confident and heisn't.
He doesn't use those things inthe natural to give him
confidence, but his confidenceis in Christ.
So let's pray real quick andwe'll finish up.
Jesus, we just thank you for whoyou are, lord, we just step up
(23:58):
to the free throw line again.
Lord, I thank you that we'recarrying a message that's been
entrusted for over 2000 years.
Lord, give us new ways toexplain the gospel, lord, new
ways to keep shooting that freethrow of God, the Father, of
Jesus, your Son, the Holy Spiritbeing given.
Lord, I thank you that, as weare talking to team, as we're
(24:20):
doing things that God, I thankyou that we're pointing them
back to the basics of faith,that we're pointing them back to
the values of our house.
Lord, I thank you that peoplein this house, lord, they know
that they can grow safelybecause of those basics, lord,
that those basics actuallyproduce safety inside our flock.
And so, lord, we just thank youfor those.
Lord, we thank you for all thatyou're going to do this week,
(24:42):
lord, on Sunday, lord, we giveyou thanks in advance, lord, for
every salvation, for every lifechange that Lord you know in
advance.
Lord, for every salvation, forevery life change.
That Lord, you know every name,you know every story.
And so, lord, we just thank youthat you're a speaking God and
one church is full of listeningpeople in Jesus name, and
somebody who believed it saidAmen.
I love you guys.
Have a great week.
Thanks so much for hanging outhere on my podcast.
(25:04):
Do me a favor and hit thesubscribe button if you haven't
done so already, so you nevermiss out on anything here on my
podcast.
Also, one of the best ways forus to begin to reach other
people is by you sharing.
So if you do me a favor andshare this podcast with a friend
, family member or maybe on yoursocial media, help us get the
word out so we can help others.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.