August 26, 2025 • 38 mins
What would our world look like if Christians truly lived lives worthy of imitation? In this powerful exploration of Philippians 3 and 4:1, we dig into Paul's bold invitation to "join in imitating me" and what that means for believers today.
The conversation unpacks Paul's remarkable relationship with the Philippian church—how he addresses them as "my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters" and "my joy and crown." This warmth stands in stark contrast to his approach with other churches and reveals something profound about spiritual leadership and discipleship.
We tackle the uncomfortable challenge of living authentically in an age where self-deprecation has become our default. While humility is essential, constantly undercutting ourselves can prevent others from seeing what genuine Christ-following looks like. When we've experienced transformation in an area, there's no shame in acknowledging God's work and inviting others to learn from our journey.
The discussion gets especially relevant as we examine Paul's warning about those whose "god is their belly"—a prophetic description of our consumer culture where momentary pleasures and clickbait dominate our attention. In this environment, people desperately need examples of what it means to "stand firm" in faith and live with heaven in view rather than being slaves to earthly desires.
Whether you're struggling with feeling qualified to lead others, battling the pull of consumer culture, or simply wanting to grow in authentic discipleship, this episode offers both challenge and encouragement. Listen in and consider what might happen if you committed to living in such a way that you could confidently say, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined with PastorTim and we are in week nine of
our sermon series, joyful.
And then each week we've beenwalking through the book of
Philippians and we have finallyTim.
After this past Sunday we havefinished up chapter three.
Only two weeks to go.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That's one of the biggest chapters in the Bible, I
think, and it's deep stuff.
Sometimes you just got to getout in the swamp and get in the
mud and get it all over.
You, yeah, roll around in it alittle bit, right, right,
skipping or prancing through theyou know field of lilies and
(01:07):
flowers, and that's all good.
But sometimes you got to dig inand find out what God is really
doing in our lives, and this isa great chapter for that.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, it's great to read, great to study.
It's a little hard to preach attimes because I don't tell
enjoy.
I'm like there's so much here.
She's like, how's your sermoncoming?
And I'm like there's so muchhere.
She's like, how's your sermoncoming?
And I'm like it's so long, itis so long, how do I start
chopping some of this stuff?
I'm like you could have atleast two, if not three, sermons
(01:37):
out of just what did I useyesterday?
Four, five verses.
Like you could almost preach asermon off of each verse.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, you can preach whole sermons on just how he
addresses the Philippians.
You can tell he sees them aspeers and not like he saw the
Corinthians.
You guys are all messed up.
You got to listen to me and yougot to do what I say, because
(02:06):
I'm the boss, but in thePhilippians he's like you guys.
You know what I'm talking about.
We're all in this together.
You know you're doing the samething, I am and, and you can,
you can teach.
You can teach that, let aloneall the the meat that's in this.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I didn't even get a chance to cover it in depth,
that section or part of chapter4, verse 1.
I kind of honed in on the standfirm to kind of wrap up what
he's been talking about.
But listen to how he refers tothe Philippians, my dearly loved
and longed for brothers andsisters.
(02:46):
I mean, you just feel thewarmth of the relationship he
has with these people and thenhe refers to them as my joy and
crown.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, that is awesome to have started the church and
and share Jesus with thesepeople and then for them to grow
and become what they become inChrist.
Right in front of them theykind of take our that little
phrase you and I've been battingaround, you know discover more
(03:19):
in Christ, because there'salways more to know and more to
grow, more to see and more to be.
And that's what they did rightin front of them and we'd all
love for our children just tograb a hold of that, grab a hold
of Jesus and just grow likethat and so they would be our
(03:40):
joy and our crown.
It references the way Jesusthinks of us in Hebrews, chapter
12, verse 1.
It says I got to get throughverse 1 first in my head it says
focusing on Jesus, the authorand finisher of our faith, for
(04:03):
the joy set before him and thatjoy was us.
He went after us.
That's why he came to earth anddid what he did, because he was
chasing us down, because wewere his joy.
And then Paul reflects that tothese people that's growing
right in front of him and he'staken on, um, this relationship
(04:27):
with them.
They're they're brothers andsisters, um.
And he says in in a previouschapter join in imitating me,
brothers and sisters, let's notfall off the track Like you, you
said Sunday.
Stand firm, because you know itjust takes uh, one little rumor
(04:48):
uh of your influencer.
You know the guy who's teachingyou to ride on trains.
I took a train a couple yearsago to get up to Maddie and and
um, so I of course you jumponline, you find out what it's
all and there's people who taketrains all over the United
States and they tell you whichcar to get in.
(05:10):
And then you find out that thetrain company, the one who owns
the cars, is giving them moneyto get you to say good things
about them.
And then you're like hmm, arethey telling me the truth, Are
they not telling me the truth,and we need to stand firm in
that.
And when we're living a lifethat's worthy of imitation, we
(05:34):
need to stand firm so thatpeople never can second-guess us
like TV evangelists First theystart out, I'm all about you,
and then they start saying, ifyou'll.
First they start out, I'm allabout you, and then they start
saying, if you'll just send inthis money, I'll get you this
book or whatever.
And then you're like well, Idon't know who's influencing who
(05:55):
now you know, first he wasinfluencing me and it was all
good and it was about my growthand um about my walk with Jesus.
And now he's saying if I buythis book, you know it's really
going to help me.
I don't know.
You know I go online all thetime and I look, for I hurt my
(06:18):
knee last week and I'm lookingfor something that would tell me
what I should do, and I findeverybody's talking about this
BPC 157.
It's something that your bodyproduces but you don't produce
much and it helps heal yourjoints and your bones and does
(06:41):
all these crazy things.
And you know, you grow hugemuscles and you gain like three
inches on your height and and um, you can.
Some people's actually flown,you know, just flown through the
sky like superman I'll sell myhouse.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Where do I get it?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
it's supposed to be great stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
But you know, when you you you see all that stuff
and they're like, if you just dothis, it's funny.
There's this AI group onlinethat has the workouts that you
need over 50, that'll changeyour life.
(07:20):
Okay, here's five workouts thatyou got to do, it'll change
your life.
Okay, here's five workouts thatyou got to do.
It'll change your life.
And then the next week theyhave another five workouts to do
that'll change your life.
That has nothing to do with thefirst one.
It's like okay, is it betterthan the last one?
Well, you know, where are we onthis?
It's just like no, this is whateverybody clicks on, so these
(07:41):
are the best exercises.
So you get kind of jaded on thatkind of stuff.
But I come to church and someguy came up to me and said hey
look, pastor, I got in a bad caraccident.
I was crushed, all kinds ofterrible things happened to me
and I tried this BPC-157, and itchanged my life and I think it
(08:07):
was the one thing that broughtme back.
So now I have a testimony frommy brother and sister.
You know, he's my brother and Ican trust it because he's been
through it.
He did it.
I don't have to sit online andsay hmm, Right, right.
(08:28):
is it his sponsor, is it?
You know I, you know what.
So this is a.
This is a great thing and it'sit's hard, uh, to look at living
in the consumer age and whatyou taught that our stomach is
our god.
Yeah, uh, it's hard to figureout who's true and who's not
true, but paul's got this groupin philippians and you guys are
(08:50):
my brothers and sisters andthat's the way we're supposed to
beat each other, just like mybrother on sunday came up and
said yes, this works, use this,it'll help you.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
So I'm gonna try it yeah, we need those people in
our life and the internet,especially with AI.
It is such a clickbait machine,you know, and Paul's talking
about.
You know their God is theirbelly.
I don't know if he knowsanything about AI when he writes
(09:19):
that, but my gosh.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
AI knows that our God is our belly.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, because it does .
I look at all these articlesand you know it'll be about the
Browns or something andso-and-so said this and this and
this and this.
And I'm looking at the pictureand I'm like that's an AI
generated picture.
I think this whole quote is AIgenerated.
This is fake.
No one said this.
But, man, you look at the likesor the comments underneath that
post, thousands of people areare fired up over this one thing
(09:48):
.
I'm like some bot made that.
A bot did that, you know, andit it's hard to to be able to
stand firm in anything.
And so paul's laying this stuffout and he's saying, yeah to my
brothers and sisters, this iswhat you stand firm in, imitate
me.
And then he goes beyond justhimself, which is what I love
about Paul in this letter,because in the Corinthians he
(10:12):
says imitate me as I imitateChrist.
And that around here is that'sone of our driving verses.
You know, I don't know if achurch can have a life verse,
but it's our life verse.
You know one of them Imitate meas I imitate Christ.
That's who we want to be as apeople, people that live with
that kind of integrity.
But Paul doesn't just point tohimself.
(10:32):
He says pay careful attentionto these guys over here, to the
example that they have, thatyou've seen in them, that we've
left behind, and so what do theydo that helps them walk close
to Jesus?
And then you need to go, dothose things, imitate those
(10:53):
things.
Are they waking up early sothat they can pray?
You should start waking upearly so you can pray.
When they're walking down thestreet, do they take time to
notice people who are in needand and stop to pray with them?
Or or, to, you know, give thema few bucks so they can get a
sandwich at, you know,mcdonald's.
Well, you should do thosethings.
This is what it looks like towalk close to Christ and you
(11:18):
know, I challenged everybody onSunday.
It's.
It's so much easier when welive in a culture, culture and a
society where it's just easierto say do as I say, not as I do.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And we give ourselves , we let ourselves off the hook.
I don't need to be responsiblefor what I'm saying.
I know what I'm talking aboutand I think you should do it.
But if I really believed in it,wouldn't I be doing it, you
know.
And Paul man should do it.
But if I really believed in it,wouldn't I be doing it?
And Paul man, imitate me as Iimitate Christ, follow this
(11:53):
pattern, follow this example.
And I was just struck by thatand I got up at the very end of
the message and I justchallenged our church.
I said what if we quit livingwith excuses?
What if we quit lettingourselves off the hook?
And we said it's worth it tolive this way.
(12:16):
My family's worth it, mymarriage is worth it.
The type of employee or thetype of boss that I am, the type
of citizen I am in this country, it's worth it for me to live
in a way that I could look atother people and say, man, if
you want to grow in relationshipwith Jesus, just live like this
.
They're worth it.
And I had gotten off the stageand, man, I was in emotional
(12:40):
wreck after preaching thatsermon.
That didn't.
It happens to you a lot.
It doesn't happen to me as much, but Joey and I we went to
dinner Sunday night and shelooked at me and she goes.
So why were you so emotional?
Coming off the stage today, Iwas like I think it's just this
idea of like man, what if ourpeople grabbed a hold of that?
(13:02):
What could happen in theirmarriages, because I know that
there's people in our churchwhose marriages are struggling
right now.
What could happen with theirkids, because I know there's
people in our church who arestruggling with their kids right
now.
Man, what could this churchlook like if we just, as a body,
(13:23):
said man, we're going to getserious about this thing and
live lives worthy of imitation?
And, man, I was just thinkingabout the ripple effect I guess
that that could have as itspread from person to person,
family to family, all across theauditorium.
As I was looking out on thepeople on Sunday and I was like,
man, if we could get this, itcould change everything.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's been building since we started Philippians
first, um, live your life worthyof the gospel.
And how do you do that?
Well, last week, live up to thelight that you have just do
what you know to do.
A quick questioning and all thetime, should I help my neighbor
here, or um, and my, mybrother's not been very good to
(14:06):
me and um, but now he's introuble and should I help him
out?
You know Well, yeah, you shouldhelp him out, help him out.
You might have to put up someboundaries and, um, if he goes
off on you or whatever, and youcan say, look, I'm helping you,
yeah, I don't have to listen toyour mess.
(14:26):
It says here take the hill.
And that idea that Paul issaying to his brothers and
sisters is this is not difficult, it's not rocket science, just
do what you know to do.
Do what you know to do, andthen God last week, if you don't
(14:47):
believe this, if you don't havethis right, god will fix that
in you.
God will fix that I do too.
He said this is the maturething, and if you think
differently about anything, godwill reveal this to you also.
I just I love that idea.
(15:08):
You guys, you guys know what todo.
Just do it, keep doing it.
And um, and we need to do itfor each other Um, just living
in a with a group of people,having community with a group of
people I know we're, you knowwe just go to church together
and we're not that close and andwe're not best friends.
But, man, when you're walkingside by side with someone and
(15:32):
you start to fall out, you runinto them and they're like no,
no, no, we're going this way,let's keep going, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So in the message, one of the things I brought up
was you know, we talk a lotabout sharing the gospel or um,
and it's usually in the contextof evangelism.
But I was like man, we, we needto share it to those who are
already saved, those are alreadyconverted.
We need to show them what afaithful life looks like, what
it looks like to walk worthy.
And I remember one of the veryfirst things that you had taught
(16:01):
me when, when I started herecause I, you know, I was trying
to be self-deprecating.
I guess, in sermons I'm with you, I'm among the people and
there's truth to that, right,right.
But at the same time we needpeople that we can look up to,
that say this is what a life offollowing Jesus is supposed to
(16:25):
look like.
And you kept telling me, if youkeep cutting your legs out from
under yourself, nobody's goingto follow you.
And so I mean I still want tobe transparent and vulnerable in
sermons and people get a wholelot more of my life than
probably they should at times,because I'll just say stuff and
I get myself in a mess all thetime up there.
But that whole idea of man, whoare those people that we can
(16:50):
look up to and again thatself-deprecating.
It almost gives us again achance to let ourselves off the
hook.
I don't need to live up to this.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah, let me see if I can.
If you've got something, if theLord has taught you something
and you've got it and you'reliving it, if the Lord has
taught you something and you'vegot it and you're living it,
there's no reason why you can'texpect another Christian to live
that way too.
I mean, let's face it, ryan, ifyou can do it, we all can.
(17:19):
Right, if I can do it, right.
And I think sometimes we'reself-deprecating because we know
that that thing in our life wasa real struggle for us, but we
whooped it.
The holy spirit came in, drugus out of that and we were
(17:39):
walking on and but then we'reafraid to put that challenge on
someone else and paul's sayingno, this is what it's all about
is to say, guys, we can overcomethis.
We can overcome the fact thatthe stomach is our God, that we
live in a consumerist psychologyin the United States, that
everything is about what youhave and where you go and what
(18:00):
you can buy and what you canexperience.
It's not about that.
You know we forget thateverything that you can buy on
this planet if you were a sheikin saudi arabia everything you
can buy is going to be nothingwhen we get to heaven, it's
going to be worthless.
(18:20):
The roads are made of gold.
That's how worthless it is inheaven.
Yeah, so we need to man.
We got to shake ourselves free,you know, hey, um, I know carl
marx said that, um, oh, now thatquote comes out that, uh,
(18:42):
religion is the uh bomb of themasses, or whatever, because
they feel like that they can besomething in heaven one day,
even though their life ismiserable here.
And you know what I say to that?
You're exactly right.
You're exactly right.
Jesus is your bomb.
(19:03):
I mean, you've got somethingwaiting for you.
No matter how tough this lifeis, no matter what you're going
through, you're going to walkinto reward and you can walk
worthy of the gospel in whateversituation you are, and lead
others to do the same thing.
And when you get to heaven,you're going to see your reward.
(19:27):
And I think we give up on thattoo quick.
I think we've become.
You know, I got to showeverybody that I'm doing well,
and let's face it, we're notalways doing well, but we can
still live up to the light thatGod has given us.
We can still live a life that'sworthy of the gospel, even
(19:50):
though we're struggling.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, and I'm not talking about a fake it till you
make it thing, where I'm sayingyou know, if you're struggling
in something, you need to notlet anybody know about that.
No, I think that you need tohave wisdom and discernment in
who you share that stuff with,and oftentimes from a stage or
pulpit isn't the place.
But what we're saying here isif, when you have learned how to
(20:17):
follow God in any particulararea, there's no reason for you
to get up and trash the workthat God's done in your life.
You know you need to.
We need listen, I need thischurch needs.
We need you to live up to thelight that you have Not walking
around.
Well, I'm a screw up, just likeeverybody else.
(20:39):
Yeah, there's things that youstruggle with, but God has
brought you out of some stuffand we need to look at you and
say, man, if he can walk out ofthat mess, then I can walk out
of that mess.
If he can be disciplined inthis area, or if she can be
disciplined in this area, then Ican live that way.
But so often we're cutting ourfeet out from under ourselves in
(21:01):
a way to not put that challengeon other people or to make it
seem like we're not better thanthem.
We're all in it together.
We are all in it together, butwe need people that we can look
at.
Before we started recording thepodcast, one of the things I was
telling Pastor Tim is, in thisinfluencer culture that we live,
(21:23):
it's hard to find people whostayed faithful to the end and
maybe, yeah, some of them, theyget those sponsors in there and
instead of who stayed faithfulto the end, right, you know, and
maybe, yeah, you know, some ofthem, they get those sponsors in
there and, you know, instead ofbeing beholden to the
scriptures and to, you know,impacting people's lives, buy
this book or buy this bottle ofKleenex or this thing Like we're
doing all this stuff because wegot to make sure the bills are
(21:45):
getting paid.
So, who knows?
But, man, there's so many ofthem, and even people that I've
looked up to in my life, thatbefore they die, just I mean
they'll blow up their wholeministry.
Yeah, and man, we need thoseBilly Grahams who are faithful
to the end.
(22:07):
John Maxwell's been one of myheroes, one of those guys who,
at least thus far, been faithful, just walking the life that God
has called him to, impactingpeople's lives, and John Maxwell
doesn't get up on stage andjust cut his legs off.
He says I know the way.
Come follow me, I'll show you.
And that's what Paul's doinghere.
(22:28):
Join in imitating me as Iimitate Christ, and if at any
point I ever stop imitatingChrist, you need to stop
imitating me.
But thankfully Paul was one ofthose guys who walked worthy to
the end.
He could say man if you want togrow in relationship with Jesus,
come do this and I want tochallenge our church.
Let's be those people.
(22:48):
I don't often ask people tostand up on a Sunday, you know,
I usually just have people raisetheir hands.
But as I got to that part ofthe response time, the Lord just
said you need to have peoplestand in this commitment, and
maybe it was coming off ofchapter 4, verse 1, stand firm
in this.
I don't know, but I was likepeople need to stand up for this
(23:10):
.
If I'm making this decision andone of the things Joy's like, I
think you said something that,like all Christians should stand
for, and I'm like we should.
This is something we should allstand for.
But I hope people wereintrospective enough to say am I
going to be committed to it?
And if not, I'm not going tostand.
You know this.
(23:31):
By standing, I'm taking thatstand that this is who I'm going
to be.
And then all across the room,people stood up to say I want to
live a life worthy of thegospel, to be someone who, who
people can imitate and discovermore in Christ.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I love that.
I loved how you did that.
We um, I think we live in aculture that is uh, likes to
tear down people who will make astand like that and uh, we, we
see that happening.
(24:06):
Of course, we see it happeningonline all the time.
I mean, that's most of theclickbait that you see is
someone did something wrong andwe're all gonna um, of course,
we talk about the browns a lotand we saw that, gabriel, he
said some of us are competitorsand some of us are.
(24:27):
What did he use?
entertainers entertainers yeahand um, if you just took what
everybody said about that, youwould say, oh, he's talking
about that other quarterback andum, but he wasn't.
He was talking.
He was a little aggravated, ifyou see the whole interview that
someone came over and wanted totalk to him while he was
(24:48):
supposed to be paying attentionto the game and he was.
And you know, I know he's incompetition with Shadur Sanders,
but he basically said look, youguys don't matter, he was
talking about the media.
You're just entertainers andyou'll say anything you can say
(25:08):
to get somebody to click on you,but I'm a competitor, you know,
and I I've got a job to do, andthat's what he said.
So they twisted it all aroundand now he's everybody's like
pointing his finger at.
Everybody loves to do that.
You know, this is what's goingon there.
Well, that's not what's goingon there.
(25:28):
Um, I think that since we're inthat culture, we're afraid to
stand up because someone's goingto come along and try to take
our feet out from under you.
But it can't happen.
This can't happen because theonly thing, the only one you
have to answer to, is Jesus.
(25:48):
He's the only one.
And if you're stuck in youranger and you're mad, you can
still stand firm.
You can stand up and say I'mangry, I'm mad, I'm mad at God,
I'm mad that he didn't figurethis out for me, I'm mad, but I
am going to live a life worthyof the gospel anyway.
Amen, and that's um.
(26:10):
That's that's who we gotta be.
And are we going to trip up?
Most likely you will, but youknow what?
There'll be some things thatyou never trip up on that other
people are falling all overthemselves and you're going to.
God is going to use you, thegrace that he's given you to
(26:30):
give that grace to other people,and he promises that that's how
he's going to use you.
And we need to be careful.
We don't want to tell no lies Ifwe're like I'm going to live a
life worthy of the gospel afterWednesday, because I'm planning
on this thing I'm going to doand I know it's wrong Then then
(26:54):
we need to sit down, yeah, butif you, if you feel like I want
to go I know I got that thingplanned on Wednesday, but by the
time I get there I want to notwant to do it, you know and then
stand firm, stand firm, live alife, uh, that your heroes lived
(27:14):
and and don't fall.
Uh, we, I think we, um, I don'tlike that word fall.
We are always talking aboutfalling.
You can't fall, you can't.
He's got you, he's got you.
You can do some stuff thatyou'll have to pay for, and you
can want some stuff that Goddoesn't want, and guess what?
(27:35):
He'll give it to you and thenyou'll have to pay the
consequences.
But he's going to take you oninto heaven and, uh, but we need
to.
There is a part of us thatwants to say Jesus, do it all
for me.
I'm just going to lay here likea slug and let my God be my
(27:56):
stomach and go with whatevermakes me feel good and you do it
all for me, but if you'rereally saved, that's going to be
the most miserable way you canlive your life, Because he's not
going to let you enjoy that.
He's not.
He's just going to keep feedingyou all the stuff and it's
(28:16):
going to drive you crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, paul talks.
You know verse 18, and I talkedabout how it's kind of shocking
, you know, to hear all of asudden Paul in this letter
that's been so full of joy.
Now he says, as I say this, Isay it with tears Many live as
enemies of the cross, and thereason we need people who will
stand firm and walk worthy, bethe kind of people that other
(28:41):
people can look up to andimitate, is because there's many
who are enemies of the crossand live their lives that way.
We have the opposite influencein our life.
You know we got enough of it.
Well, please, we don't need anymore.
We need those people who willwalk the narrow way and say, hey
, this is how you do it.
Yeah, it involves denyingyourself, yes, it involves
(29:01):
picking up your cross daily andfollowing Jesus.
Let me show you how to do it,let me show you what that looks
like, and then, as you struggle,I'm going to be here to lift
you back up.
We need those people in ourlives.
Paul says these enemies of thecross man.
He says their end isdestruction.
This is all they get.
What's awaiting them?
(29:23):
I mean momentary pleasure aftermomentary pleasure.
Is that what you want your lifeto be?
I mean just chasing that onehigh to the next, momentary
pleasure after momentarypleasure.
Is that what you want your lifeto be?
I mean just chasing that onehigh to the next.
It's not in Philippians.
But Paul says what have wegained from those things that
we're now ashamed of?
Right, and I know in the momentyou thought you weren't hurting
(29:45):
anybody.
In the moment you thought thiswould make you happy, in the
moment you thought you wouldfind some sort of relief.
What have you gained from thosethings?
We get so blind.
We are that horse with blinderson where this is the only thing
I can see and I won't stopuntil I have it.
(30:07):
Hindsight says, man, that wasridiculous.
And so look back and just seewhat did I gain from that when I
compromised here?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
what did I?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
gain when I didn't follow through on my commitment
over here?
What did I gain from that?
When I compromised here?
What did I gain when I didn'tfollow through on my commitment
over here?
What did I actually gain fromthat?
And I would say most of uswould say nothing.
I didn't gain anything apartfrom shame and regret and guilt
and do-overs that I wish I couldhave, but I can't have.
(30:41):
Those are the things that Igained.
And when our we live this way,where our, our God is our
stomach, and we just becomeslaves to our desires Cause
that's what we are.
We're just slaves to ourdesires, and it pulls us around.
You know, by our nose, from onething to the next, this is what
you're going to focus on.
(31:01):
You know, by our nose, from onething to the next, this is what
you're going to focus on.
We live a, a life that is allabout the here and the now, and
and you hit the nail on the headjust a little bit ago the end
of all this isn't going to meananything.
You know, when we get to heaven, none of this is going to
compare.
I can't take any of it with me,jesus, why would you store up
(31:21):
for yourself treasures on earthwhere moth and rust come in and
decay those things.
Store instead treasures inheaven where moth and rust can't
even touch it.
We are so focused on that hereand now.
I would challenge you, asyou're listening today, to think
about those, those desires,where that earthly focus, that,
(31:46):
those gods of your stomach youknow that that pull you away.
What, what is it about?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
that that's so enticing to you and let me, um,
add this to that there is no joyin that life.
And I know we, we, I've, I'vehad a lot of people who just
rail on the sidelines.
I'm not worthy, I'm such asinner I'm, I'm this, I'm that
(32:13):
and I'm saying listen, god canchange you and you can have a
life of joy.
You can have a life of joy.
Will you live that life?
There was a lady in our churchwhose life was transformed by
going through Financial PeaceUniversity and she said I locked
(32:35):
it down, I took control and Iwent through that.
It has changed my life, myfinancial life, and it's not
like she is a billionaire oranything, but she says I'm free
and I have joy.
I want other people to havethat joy and she has paid for
(32:56):
the first 10 people to gothrough Financial Peace
University.
That is what we're talkingabout to go through Financial
Peace University.
That is what we're talkingabout.
We're talking about standing up, taking a stand and letting the
Lord transform you.
It's transformed her and shewants to see that in other
people and that's what thechurch is all about?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, absolutely.
And so, as you think aboutthose things that have kind of
stolen your focus or yourattention, I wonder if you could
be intentional this week aboutreplacing one of those earthly
highs with a heavenly pursuit.
You know, maybe it could besomething as simple as you know
(33:39):
binge watching a show on Netflixand you know, I'm going to
watch one episode and you lookup seven hours later it's four
o'clock in the morning.
You got to get up at 630 forwork.
You could replace that thingand spend some time reading
scripture, watching a sermon,just spending some time.
(34:00):
Go outside, sit in yourbackyard, look at the sky and
just spending some time.
Go outside, sit in yourbackyard, look at the sky and
just spend some time with God.
You could replace those thingsand just watch how God begins to
use those habits in your lifeto move you from that earthly
focus to a heavenly focus sothat you can begin to think
about things above, not onearthly things focus, so that
(34:22):
you can begin to think aboutthings above, not on earthly
things.
Paul says the people who are sofocused on the earth, their end
is destruction.
But as you begin to build someof these habits, you look at
some of those faithfulChristians in your life.
You know and we got people allover this church been following
Jesus a long time and you canlook at their lives and be like
man.
(34:42):
I want to do what they do.
I want to serve people the waythat Amy serves people.
I want to study God's word likeread studies God's word.
I want to share my faith theway that Dave Meyer shares his
faith with people.
We got some of these people inthis church that you can just
look up to and say, man, I wantto go and do what they do.
You start doing those thingsand watch how God just begins to
(35:10):
transform your life and it'sgoing to happen right in front
of your family's eyes.
They're going to be watching,and maybe not tomorrow or maybe
not next month, but six months,a year, two years from now, five
years from now, you're going tobe able to look at your kids
and say, hey, why don't youimitate me as I imitate Christ?
Right, imagine what that woulddo for your family.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
And that's what all those people are doing.
They're following Jesus and wesee those things in them when we
say, oh man, I wish I was likehim.
Well, he's just being likeJesus and you have the power of
the Holy Spirit in your life,that resurrection power that
we've been talking about.
That can make you like him.
Why don't you pray for us, ryan?
(35:52):
Pray for all those people whofeel like they've already
disqualified themselves to livea life worthy of imitation.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Well, father, I thank you for again, just Paul's
letter to the Philippians.
It has been so encouraging butalso so challenging.
Paul's writing some hard truthhere that we are to live lives
worthy of imitation.
And, god, I know that there isso many of us.
I think of so many of theconversations I've had with
(36:27):
people, particularly men, overthe years, god, I think of the
own chatter in my own mind,those things that seem to
disqualify us from living thelife that you have called us to.
But, father, I pray that youwould help us to lay aside every
hindrance, to take a new gripand strengthen our weak knees so
(36:48):
that we can run the race thatyou have set before us.
God, we need your spirit togive us the power to do what
pleases you, to give us even thedesire to do what pleases you,
the desire more than these otherthings.
And so help us to take our mindoff of just the here and now,
(37:10):
these earthly things.
Help our desires and appetitesnot be ruled by our stomachs,
this just insatiable craving formore.
But, father, may we desiretruly to discover more in you.
There is more to see, there'smore to grow, there's more to be
, there's more to do and, father, I pray that you would help us
(37:32):
pursue that above all things, inJesus' name, amen, amen and
amen.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life, or
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afreshwindorg.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
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(38:01):
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Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined with PastorTim and we are in week nine of
our sermon series, joyful.
And then each week we've beenwalking through the book of
Philippians and we have finallyTim.
After this past Sunday we havefinished up chapter three.
Only two weeks to go.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That's one of the biggest chapters in the Bible, I
think, and it's deep stuff.
Sometimes you just got to getout in the swamp and get in the
mud and get it all over.
You, yeah, roll around in it alittle bit, right, right,
skipping or prancing through theyou know field of lilies and
(01:07):
flowers, and that's all good.
But sometimes you got to dig inand find out what God is really
doing in our lives, and this isa great chapter for that.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, it's great to read, great to study.
It's a little hard to preach attimes because I don't tell
enjoy.
I'm like there's so much here.
She's like, how's your sermoncoming?
And I'm like there's so muchhere.
She's like, how's your sermoncoming?
And I'm like it's so long, itis so long, how do I start
chopping some of this stuff?
I'm like you could have atleast two, if not three, sermons
(01:37):
out of just what did I useyesterday?
Four, five verses.
Like you could almost preach asermon off of each verse.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, you can preach whole sermons on just how he
addresses the Philippians.
You can tell he sees them aspeers and not like he saw the
Corinthians.
You guys are all messed up.
You got to listen to me and yougot to do what I say, because
(02:06):
I'm the boss, but in thePhilippians he's like you guys.
You know what I'm talking about.
We're all in this together.
You know you're doing the samething, I am and, and you can,
you can teach.
You can teach that, let aloneall the the meat that's in this.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I didn't even get a chance to cover it in depth,
that section or part of chapter4, verse 1.
I kind of honed in on the standfirm to kind of wrap up what
he's been talking about.
But listen to how he refers tothe Philippians, my dearly loved
and longed for brothers andsisters.
(02:46):
I mean, you just feel thewarmth of the relationship he
has with these people and thenhe refers to them as my joy and
crown.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, that is awesome to have started the church and
and share Jesus with thesepeople and then for them to grow
and become what they become inChrist.
Right in front of them theykind of take our that little
phrase you and I've been battingaround, you know discover more
(03:19):
in Christ, because there'salways more to know and more to
grow, more to see and more to be.
And that's what they did rightin front of them and we'd all
love for our children just tograb a hold of that, grab a hold
of Jesus and just grow likethat and so they would be our
(03:40):
joy and our crown.
It references the way Jesusthinks of us in Hebrews, chapter
12, verse 1.
It says I got to get throughverse 1 first in my head it says
focusing on Jesus, the authorand finisher of our faith, for
(04:03):
the joy set before him and thatjoy was us.
He went after us.
That's why he came to earth anddid what he did, because he was
chasing us down, because wewere his joy.
And then Paul reflects that tothese people that's growing
right in front of him and he'staken on, um, this relationship
(04:27):
with them.
They're they're brothers andsisters, um.
And he says in in a previouschapter join in imitating me,
brothers and sisters, let's notfall off the track Like you, you
said Sunday.
Stand firm, because you know itjust takes uh, one little rumor
(04:48):
uh of your influencer.
You know the guy who's teachingyou to ride on trains.
I took a train a couple yearsago to get up to Maddie and and
um, so I of course you jumponline, you find out what it's
all and there's people who taketrains all over the United
States and they tell you whichcar to get in.
(05:10):
And then you find out that thetrain company, the one who owns
the cars, is giving them moneyto get you to say good things
about them.
And then you're like hmm, arethey telling me the truth, Are
they not telling me the truth,and we need to stand firm in
that.
And when we're living a lifethat's worthy of imitation, we
(05:34):
need to stand firm so thatpeople never can second-guess us
like TV evangelists First theystart out, I'm all about you,
and then they start saying, ifyou'll.
First they start out, I'm allabout you, and then they start
saying, if you'll just send inthis money, I'll get you this
book or whatever.
And then you're like well, Idon't know who's influencing who
(05:55):
now you know, first he wasinfluencing me and it was all
good and it was about my growthand um about my walk with Jesus.
And now he's saying if I buythis book, you know it's really
going to help me.
I don't know.
You know I go online all thetime and I look, for I hurt my
(06:18):
knee last week and I'm lookingfor something that would tell me
what I should do, and I findeverybody's talking about this
BPC 157.
It's something that your bodyproduces but you don't produce
much and it helps heal yourjoints and your bones and does
(06:41):
all these crazy things.
And you know, you grow hugemuscles and you gain like three
inches on your height and and um, you can.
Some people's actually flown,you know, just flown through the
sky like superman I'll sell myhouse.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Where do I get it?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
it's supposed to be great stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
But you know, when you you you see all that stuff
and they're like, if you just dothis, it's funny.
There's this AI group onlinethat has the workouts that you
need over 50, that'll changeyour life.
(07:20):
Okay, here's five workouts thatyou got to do, it'll change
your life.
Okay, here's five workouts thatyou got to do.
It'll change your life.
And then the next week theyhave another five workouts to do
that'll change your life.
That has nothing to do with thefirst one.
It's like okay, is it betterthan the last one?
Well, you know, where are we onthis?
It's just like no, this is whateverybody clicks on, so these
(07:41):
are the best exercises.
So you get kind of jaded on thatkind of stuff.
But I come to church and someguy came up to me and said hey
look, pastor, I got in a bad caraccident.
I was crushed, all kinds ofterrible things happened to me
and I tried this BPC-157, and itchanged my life and I think it
(08:07):
was the one thing that broughtme back.
So now I have a testimony frommy brother and sister.
You know, he's my brother and Ican trust it because he's been
through it.
He did it.
I don't have to sit online andsay hmm, Right, right.
(08:28):
is it his sponsor, is it?
You know I, you know what.
So this is a.
This is a great thing and it'sit's hard, uh, to look at living
in the consumer age and whatyou taught that our stomach is
our god.
Yeah, uh, it's hard to figureout who's true and who's not
true, but paul's got this groupin philippians and you guys are
(08:50):
my brothers and sisters andthat's the way we're supposed to
beat each other, just like mybrother on sunday came up and
said yes, this works, use this,it'll help you.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
So I'm gonna try it yeah, we need those people in
our life and the internet,especially with AI.
It is such a clickbait machine,you know, and Paul's talking
about.
You know their God is theirbelly.
I don't know if he knowsanything about AI when he writes
(09:19):
that, but my gosh.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
AI knows that our God is our belly.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, because it does .
I look at all these articlesand you know it'll be about the
Browns or something andso-and-so said this and this and
this and this.
And I'm looking at the pictureand I'm like that's an AI
generated picture.
I think this whole quote is AIgenerated.
This is fake.
No one said this.
But, man, you look at the likesor the comments underneath that
post, thousands of people areare fired up over this one thing
(09:48):
.
I'm like some bot made that.
A bot did that, you know, andit it's hard to to be able to
stand firm in anything.
And so paul's laying this stuffout and he's saying, yeah to my
brothers and sisters, this iswhat you stand firm in, imitate
me.
And then he goes beyond justhimself, which is what I love
about Paul in this letter,because in the Corinthians he
(10:12):
says imitate me as I imitateChrist.
And that around here is that'sone of our driving verses.
You know, I don't know if achurch can have a life verse,
but it's our life verse.
You know one of them Imitate meas I imitate Christ.
That's who we want to be as apeople, people that live with
that kind of integrity.
But Paul doesn't just point tohimself.
(10:32):
He says pay careful attentionto these guys over here, to the
example that they have, thatyou've seen in them, that we've
left behind, and so what do theydo that helps them walk close
to Jesus?
And then you need to go, dothose things, imitate those
(10:53):
things.
Are they waking up early sothat they can pray?
You should start waking upearly so you can pray.
When they're walking down thestreet, do they take time to
notice people who are in needand and stop to pray with them?
Or or, to, you know, give thema few bucks so they can get a
sandwich at, you know,mcdonald's.
Well, you should do thosethings.
This is what it looks like towalk close to Christ and you
(11:18):
know, I challenged everybody onSunday.
It's.
It's so much easier when welive in a culture, culture and a
society where it's just easierto say do as I say, not as I do.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And we give ourselves , we let ourselves off the hook.
I don't need to be responsiblefor what I'm saying.
I know what I'm talking aboutand I think you should do it.
But if I really believed in it,wouldn't I be doing it, you
know.
And Paul man should do it.
But if I really believed in it,wouldn't I be doing it?
And Paul man, imitate me as Iimitate Christ, follow this
(11:53):
pattern, follow this example.
And I was just struck by thatand I got up at the very end of
the message and I justchallenged our church.
I said what if we quit livingwith excuses?
What if we quit lettingourselves off the hook?
And we said it's worth it tolive this way.
(12:16):
My family's worth it, mymarriage is worth it.
The type of employee or thetype of boss that I am, the type
of citizen I am in this country, it's worth it for me to live
in a way that I could look atother people and say, man, if
you want to grow in relationshipwith Jesus, just live like this
.
They're worth it.
And I had gotten off the stageand, man, I was in emotional
(12:40):
wreck after preaching thatsermon.
That didn't.
It happens to you a lot.
It doesn't happen to me as much, but Joey and I we went to
dinner Sunday night and shelooked at me and she goes.
So why were you so emotional?
Coming off the stage today, Iwas like I think it's just this
idea of like man, what if ourpeople grabbed a hold of that?
(13:02):
What could happen in theirmarriages, because I know that
there's people in our churchwhose marriages are struggling
right now.
What could happen with theirkids, because I know there's
people in our church who arestruggling with their kids right
now.
Man, what could this churchlook like if we just, as a body,
(13:23):
said man, we're going to getserious about this thing and
live lives worthy of imitation?
And, man, I was just thinkingabout the ripple effect I guess
that that could have as itspread from person to person,
family to family, all across theauditorium.
As I was looking out on thepeople on Sunday and I was like,
man, if we could get this, itcould change everything.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's been building since we started Philippians
first, um, live your life worthyof the gospel.
And how do you do that?
Well, last week, live up to thelight that you have just do
what you know to do.
A quick questioning and all thetime, should I help my neighbor
here, or um, and my, mybrother's not been very good to
(14:06):
me and um, but now he's introuble and should I help him
out?
You know Well, yeah, you shouldhelp him out, help him out.
You might have to put up someboundaries and, um, if he goes
off on you or whatever, and youcan say, look, I'm helping you,
yeah, I don't have to listen toyour mess.
(14:26):
It says here take the hill.
And that idea that Paul issaying to his brothers and
sisters is this is not difficult, it's not rocket science, just
do what you know to do.
Do what you know to do, andthen God last week, if you don't
(14:47):
believe this, if you don't havethis right, god will fix that
in you.
God will fix that I do too.
He said this is the maturething, and if you think
differently about anything, godwill reveal this to you also.
I just I love that idea.
(15:08):
You guys, you guys know what todo.
Just do it, keep doing it.
And um, and we need to do itfor each other Um, just living
in a with a group of people,having community with a group of
people I know we're, you knowwe just go to church together
and we're not that close and andwe're not best friends.
But, man, when you're walkingside by side with someone and
(15:32):
you start to fall out, you runinto them and they're like no,
no, no, we're going this way,let's keep going, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So in the message, one of the things I brought up
was you know, we talk a lotabout sharing the gospel or um,
and it's usually in the contextof evangelism.
But I was like man, we, we needto share it to those who are
already saved, those are alreadyconverted.
We need to show them what afaithful life looks like, what
it looks like to walk worthy.
And I remember one of the veryfirst things that you had taught
(16:01):
me when, when I started herecause I, you know, I was trying
to be self-deprecating.
I guess, in sermons I'm with you, I'm among the people and
there's truth to that, right,right.
But at the same time we needpeople that we can look up to,
that say this is what a life offollowing Jesus is supposed to
(16:25):
look like.
And you kept telling me, if youkeep cutting your legs out from
under yourself, nobody's goingto follow you.
And so I mean I still want tobe transparent and vulnerable in
sermons and people get a wholelot more of my life than
probably they should at times,because I'll just say stuff and
I get myself in a mess all thetime up there.
But that whole idea of man, whoare those people that we can
(16:50):
look up to and again thatself-deprecating.
It almost gives us again achance to let ourselves off the
hook.
I don't need to live up to this.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah, let me see if I can.
If you've got something, if theLord has taught you something
and you've got it and you'reliving it, if the Lord has
taught you something and you'vegot it and you're living it,
there's no reason why you can'texpect another Christian to live
that way too.
I mean, let's face it, ryan, ifyou can do it, we all can.
(17:19):
Right, if I can do it, right.
And I think sometimes we'reself-deprecating because we know
that that thing in our life wasa real struggle for us, but we
whooped it.
The holy spirit came in, drugus out of that and we were
(17:39):
walking on and but then we'reafraid to put that challenge on
someone else and paul's sayingno, this is what it's all about
is to say, guys, we can overcomethis.
We can overcome the fact thatthe stomach is our God, that we
live in a consumerist psychologyin the United States, that
everything is about what youhave and where you go and what
(18:00):
you can buy and what you canexperience.
It's not about that.
You know we forget thateverything that you can buy on
this planet if you were a sheikin saudi arabia everything you
can buy is going to be nothingwhen we get to heaven, it's
going to be worthless.
(18:20):
The roads are made of gold.
That's how worthless it is inheaven.
Yeah, so we need to man.
We got to shake ourselves free,you know, hey, um, I know carl
marx said that, um, oh, now thatquote comes out that, uh,
(18:42):
religion is the uh bomb of themasses, or whatever, because
they feel like that they can besomething in heaven one day,
even though their life ismiserable here.
And you know what I say to that?
You're exactly right.
You're exactly right.
Jesus is your bomb.
(19:03):
I mean, you've got somethingwaiting for you.
No matter how tough this lifeis, no matter what you're going
through, you're going to walkinto reward and you can walk
worthy of the gospel in whateversituation you are, and lead
others to do the same thing.
And when you get to heaven,you're going to see your reward.
(19:27):
And I think we give up on thattoo quick.
I think we've become.
You know, I got to showeverybody that I'm doing well,
and let's face it, we're notalways doing well, but we can
still live up to the light thatGod has given us.
We can still live a life that'sworthy of the gospel, even
(19:50):
though we're struggling.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, and I'm not talking about a fake it till you
make it thing, where I'm sayingyou know, if you're struggling
in something, you need to notlet anybody know about that.
No, I think that you need tohave wisdom and discernment in
who you share that stuff with,and oftentimes from a stage or
pulpit isn't the place.
But what we're saying here isif, when you have learned how to
(20:17):
follow God in any particulararea, there's no reason for you
to get up and trash the workthat God's done in your life.
You know you need to.
We need listen, I need thischurch needs.
We need you to live up to thelight that you have Not walking
around.
Well, I'm a screw up, just likeeverybody else.
(20:39):
Yeah, there's things that youstruggle with, but God has
brought you out of some stuffand we need to look at you and
say, man, if he can walk out ofthat mess, then I can walk out
of that mess.
If he can be disciplined inthis area, or if she can be
disciplined in this area, then Ican live that way.
But so often we're cutting ourfeet out from under ourselves in
(21:01):
a way to not put that challengeon other people or to make it
seem like we're not better thanthem.
We're all in it together.
We are all in it together, butwe need people that we can look
at.
Before we started recording thepodcast, one of the things I was
telling Pastor Tim is, in thisinfluencer culture that we live,
(21:23):
it's hard to find people whostayed faithful to the end and
maybe, yeah, some of them, theyget those sponsors in there and
instead of who stayed faithfulto the end, right, you know, and
maybe, yeah, you know, some ofthem, they get those sponsors in
there and, you know, instead ofbeing beholden to the
scriptures and to, you know,impacting people's lives, buy
this book or buy this bottle ofKleenex or this thing Like we're
doing all this stuff because wegot to make sure the bills are
(21:45):
getting paid.
So, who knows?
But, man, there's so many ofthem, and even people that I've
looked up to in my life, thatbefore they die, just I mean
they'll blow up their wholeministry.
Yeah, and man, we need thoseBilly Grahams who are faithful
to the end.
(22:07):
John Maxwell's been one of myheroes, one of those guys who,
at least thus far, been faithful, just walking the life that God
has called him to, impactingpeople's lives, and John Maxwell
doesn't get up on stage andjust cut his legs off.
He says I know the way.
Come follow me, I'll show you.
And that's what Paul's doinghere.
(22:28):
Join in imitating me as Iimitate Christ, and if at any
point I ever stop imitatingChrist, you need to stop
imitating me.
But thankfully Paul was one ofthose guys who walked worthy to
the end.
He could say man if you want togrow in relationship with Jesus,
come do this and I want tochallenge our church.
Let's be those people.
(22:48):
I don't often ask people tostand up on a Sunday, you know,
I usually just have people raisetheir hands.
But as I got to that part ofthe response time, the Lord just
said you need to have peoplestand in this commitment, and
maybe it was coming off ofchapter 4, verse 1, stand firm
in this.
I don't know, but I was likepeople need to stand up for this
(23:10):
.
If I'm making this decision andone of the things Joy's like, I
think you said something that,like all Christians should stand
for, and I'm like we should.
This is something we should allstand for.
But I hope people wereintrospective enough to say am I
going to be committed to it?
And if not, I'm not going tostand.
You know this.
(23:31):
By standing, I'm taking thatstand that this is who I'm going
to be.
And then all across the room,people stood up to say I want to
live a life worthy of thegospel, to be someone who, who
people can imitate and discovermore in Christ.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I love that.
I loved how you did that.
We um, I think we live in aculture that is uh, likes to
tear down people who will make astand like that and uh, we, we
see that happening.
(24:06):
Of course, we see it happeningonline all the time.
I mean, that's most of theclickbait that you see is
someone did something wrong andwe're all gonna um, of course,
we talk about the browns a lotand we saw that, gabriel, he
said some of us are competitorsand some of us are.
(24:27):
What did he use?
entertainers entertainers yeahand um, if you just took what
everybody said about that, youwould say, oh, he's talking
about that other quarterback andum, but he wasn't.
He was talking.
He was a little aggravated, ifyou see the whole interview that
someone came over and wanted totalk to him while he was
(24:48):
supposed to be paying attentionto the game and he was.
And you know, I know he's incompetition with Shadur Sanders,
but he basically said look, youguys don't matter, he was
talking about the media.
You're just entertainers andyou'll say anything you can say
(25:08):
to get somebody to click on you,but I'm a competitor, you know,
and I I've got a job to do, andthat's what he said.
So they twisted it all aroundand now he's everybody's like
pointing his finger at.
Everybody loves to do that.
You know, this is what's goingon there.
Well, that's not what's goingon there.
(25:28):
Um, I think that since we're inthat culture, we're afraid to
stand up because someone's goingto come along and try to take
our feet out from under you.
But it can't happen.
This can't happen because theonly thing, the only one you
have to answer to, is Jesus.
(25:48):
He's the only one.
And if you're stuck in youranger and you're mad, you can
still stand firm.
You can stand up and say I'mangry, I'm mad, I'm mad at God,
I'm mad that he didn't figurethis out for me, I'm mad, but I
am going to live a life worthyof the gospel anyway.
Amen, and that's um.
(26:10):
That's that's who we gotta be.
And are we going to trip up?
Most likely you will, but youknow what?
There'll be some things thatyou never trip up on that other
people are falling all overthemselves and you're going to.
God is going to use you, thegrace that he's given you to
(26:30):
give that grace to other people,and he promises that that's how
he's going to use you.
And we need to be careful.
We don't want to tell no lies Ifwe're like I'm going to live a
life worthy of the gospel afterWednesday, because I'm planning
on this thing I'm going to doand I know it's wrong Then then
(26:54):
we need to sit down, yeah, butif you, if you feel like I want
to go I know I got that thingplanned on Wednesday, but by the
time I get there I want to notwant to do it, you know and then
stand firm, stand firm, live alife, uh, that your heroes lived
(27:14):
and and don't fall.
Uh, we, I think we, um, I don'tlike that word fall.
We are always talking aboutfalling.
You can't fall, you can't.
He's got you, he's got you.
You can do some stuff thatyou'll have to pay for, and you
can want some stuff that Goddoesn't want, and guess what?
(27:35):
He'll give it to you and thenyou'll have to pay the
consequences.
But he's going to take you oninto heaven and, uh, but we need
to.
There is a part of us thatwants to say Jesus, do it all
for me.
I'm just going to lay here likea slug and let my God be my
(27:56):
stomach and go with whatevermakes me feel good and you do it
all for me, but if you'rereally saved, that's going to be
the most miserable way you canlive your life, Because he's not
going to let you enjoy that.
He's not.
He's just going to keep feedingyou all the stuff and it's
(28:16):
going to drive you crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, paul talks.
You know verse 18, and I talkedabout how it's kind of shocking
, you know, to hear all of asudden Paul in this letter
that's been so full of joy.
Now he says, as I say this, Isay it with tears Many live as
enemies of the cross, and thereason we need people who will
stand firm and walk worthy, bethe kind of people that other
(28:41):
people can look up to andimitate, is because there's many
who are enemies of the crossand live their lives that way.
We have the opposite influencein our life.
You know we got enough of it.
Well, please, we don't need anymore.
We need those people who willwalk the narrow way and say, hey
, this is how you do it.
Yeah, it involves denyingyourself, yes, it involves
(29:01):
picking up your cross daily andfollowing Jesus.
Let me show you how to do it,let me show you what that looks
like, and then, as you struggle,I'm going to be here to lift
you back up.
We need those people in ourlives.
Paul says these enemies of thecross man.
He says their end isdestruction.
This is all they get.
What's awaiting them?
(29:23):
I mean momentary pleasure aftermomentary pleasure.
Is that what you want your lifeto be?
I mean just chasing that onehigh to the next, momentary
pleasure after momentarypleasure.
Is that what you want your lifeto be?
I mean just chasing that onehigh to the next.
It's not in Philippians.
But Paul says what have wegained from those things that
we're now ashamed of?
Right, and I know in the momentyou thought you weren't hurting
(29:45):
anybody.
In the moment you thought thiswould make you happy, in the
moment you thought you wouldfind some sort of relief.
What have you gained from thosethings?
We get so blind.
We are that horse with blinderson where this is the only thing
I can see and I won't stopuntil I have it.
(30:07):
Hindsight says, man, that wasridiculous.
And so look back and just seewhat did I gain from that when I
compromised here?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
what did I?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
gain when I didn't follow through on my commitment
over here?
What did I gain from that?
When I compromised here?
What did I gain when I didn'tfollow through on my commitment
over here?
What did I actually gain fromthat?
And I would say most of uswould say nothing.
I didn't gain anything apartfrom shame and regret and guilt
and do-overs that I wish I couldhave, but I can't have.
(30:41):
Those are the things that Igained.
And when our we live this way,where our, our God is our
stomach, and we just becomeslaves to our desires Cause
that's what we are.
We're just slaves to ourdesires, and it pulls us around.
You know, by our nose, from onething to the next, this is what
you're going to focus on.
(31:01):
You know, by our nose, from onething to the next, this is what
you're going to focus on.
We live a, a life that is allabout the here and the now, and
and you hit the nail on the headjust a little bit ago the end
of all this isn't going to meananything.
You know, when we get to heaven, none of this is going to
compare.
I can't take any of it with me,jesus, why would you store up
(31:21):
for yourself treasures on earthwhere moth and rust come in and
decay those things.
Store instead treasures inheaven where moth and rust can't
even touch it.
We are so focused on that hereand now.
I would challenge you, asyou're listening today, to think
about those, those desires,where that earthly focus, that,
(31:46):
those gods of your stomach youknow that that pull you away.
What, what is it about?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
that that's so enticing to you and let me, um,
add this to that there is no joyin that life.
And I know we, we, I've, I'vehad a lot of people who just
rail on the sidelines.
I'm not worthy, I'm such asinner I'm, I'm this, I'm that
(32:13):
and I'm saying listen, god canchange you and you can have a
life of joy.
You can have a life of joy.
Will you live that life?
There was a lady in our churchwhose life was transformed by
going through Financial PeaceUniversity and she said I locked
(32:35):
it down, I took control and Iwent through that.
It has changed my life, myfinancial life, and it's not
like she is a billionaire oranything, but she says I'm free
and I have joy.
I want other people to havethat joy and she has paid for
(32:56):
the first 10 people to gothrough Financial Peace
University.
That is what we're talkingabout to go through Financial
Peace University.
That is what we're talkingabout.
We're talking about standing up, taking a stand and letting the
Lord transform you.
It's transformed her and shewants to see that in other
people and that's what thechurch is all about?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, absolutely.
And so, as you think aboutthose things that have kind of
stolen your focus or yourattention, I wonder if you could
be intentional this week aboutreplacing one of those earthly
highs with a heavenly pursuit.
You know, maybe it could besomething as simple as you know
(33:39):
binge watching a show on Netflixand you know, I'm going to
watch one episode and you lookup seven hours later it's four
o'clock in the morning.
You got to get up at 630 forwork.
You could replace that thingand spend some time reading
scripture, watching a sermon,just spending some time.
(34:00):
Go outside, sit in yourbackyard, look at the sky and
just spending some time.
Go outside, sit in yourbackyard, look at the sky and
just spend some time with God.
You could replace those thingsand just watch how God begins to
use those habits in your lifeto move you from that earthly
focus to a heavenly focus sothat you can begin to think
about things above, not onearthly things focus, so that
(34:22):
you can begin to think aboutthings above, not on earthly
things.
Paul says the people who are sofocused on the earth, their end
is destruction.
But as you begin to build someof these habits, you look at
some of those faithfulChristians in your life.
You know and we got people allover this church been following
Jesus a long time and you canlook at their lives and be like
man.
(34:42):
I want to do what they do.
I want to serve people the waythat Amy serves people.
I want to study God's word likeread studies God's word.
I want to share my faith theway that Dave Meyer shares his
faith with people.
We got some of these people inthis church that you can just
look up to and say, man, I wantto go and do what they do.
You start doing those thingsand watch how God just begins to
(35:10):
transform your life and it'sgoing to happen right in front
of your family's eyes.
They're going to be watching,and maybe not tomorrow or maybe
not next month, but six months,a year, two years from now, five
years from now, you're going tobe able to look at your kids
and say, hey, why don't youimitate me as I imitate Christ?
Right, imagine what that woulddo for your family.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
And that's what all those people are doing.
They're following Jesus and wesee those things in them when we
say, oh man, I wish I was likehim.
Well, he's just being likeJesus and you have the power of
the Holy Spirit in your life,that resurrection power that
we've been talking about.
That can make you like him.
Why don't you pray for us, ryan?
(35:52):
Pray for all those people whofeel like they've already
disqualified themselves to livea life worthy of imitation.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Well, father, I thank you for again, just Paul's
letter to the Philippians.
It has been so encouraging butalso so challenging.
Paul's writing some hard truthhere that we are to live lives
worthy of imitation.
And, god, I know that there isso many of us.
I think of so many of theconversations I've had with
(36:27):
people, particularly men, overthe years, god, I think of the
own chatter in my own mind,those things that seem to
disqualify us from living thelife that you have called us to.
But, father, I pray that youwould help us to lay aside every
hindrance, to take a new gripand strengthen our weak knees so
(36:48):
that we can run the race thatyou have set before us.
God, we need your spirit togive us the power to do what
pleases you, to give us even thedesire to do what pleases you,
the desire more than these otherthings.
And so help us to take our mindoff of just the here and now,
(37:10):
these earthly things.
Help our desires and appetitesnot be ruled by our stomachs,
this just insatiable craving formore.
But, father, may we desiretruly to discover more in you.
There is more to see, there'smore to grow, there's more to be
, there's more to do and, father, I pray that you would help us
(37:32):
pursue that above all things, inJesus' name, amen, amen and
amen.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life, or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at
afreshwindorg.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(38:01):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
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