August 26, 2025 • 50 mins
Pastors Ryan and Tim explore Paul's letter to the Philippians, focusing on how the Christian life is about pursuing Jesus rather than checking spiritual boxes. They unpack Philippians 3:10-12 to reveal that Paul's true goal was knowing Christ, not achieving spiritual perfection.
• Many Christians mistakenly see the goal as sinless living or completing spiritual disciplines
• Spiritual growth happens when we pursue Jesus, not when we focus on the disciplines themselves
• The Christian life is intentional, requiring active pursuit rather than passive participation
• Knowing about God is different from truly knowing God in relationship
• Focusing on sin often leads us directly into it, while fixing our eyes on Jesus transforms us
• God Himself initiates our relationship and works in us to create both desire and power to pursue Him
• When we make Jesus our goal, all other aspects of spiritual growth naturally follow
Join us next week for another episode of the Midweek Podcast as we continue our journey through the book of Philippians.
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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):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
This is Pastor Ryan, joined asalways with Pastor Tim, and we
are walking through still ourseries Joyful, and we have been
going verse by verse through thebook of Philippians, just
learning so much from Paul'sletter to the Christians there
in Philippi about what it meansto be full of joy despite
(00:49):
everything going on around you.
And man Tim, we've beenlearning a lot.
In this sermon on Sunday thatyou preached, I thought was
pretty challenging.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It is Philippians is like a thick swamp.
You know my dad, he would.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's a good picture .
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah when we were getting ready to do something
tough, he'd say you know, stompyour feet down in your boots.
This is going to be tough, youknow.
And it's just thick, you know.
It's not dancing through themeadow.
There's some.
Paul is talking and this is onething that you need to
(01:29):
understand about philippians.
He's talking to people that hesees on his level.
He's saying uh, you know, we'renot talking about milk here,
you know I am yeah, I am.
This is the meat and some ofthis is a big piece of gristle
and you're just, you're going tochew for an hour.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Which I you know.
It had to be refreshing forPaul because in so many of his
letters he's he's addressingproblems and issues and some
pretty stupid stuff yeah.
And sometimes he's like man.
I wish we could move on to themeat.
And yet here I am, bottlefeeding you milk over and, over
and over again.
And now to the Philippians.
He has a chance to just likeyou said.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Guys, here's some meat Right and I love it, and I
think the Philippians loved ittoo.
Sometimes you know, as a pastoryou're talking about
forgiveness because you're notgoing anywhere until you can
conquer that in your life.
I remember I told you when youfirst started with the youth.
I told you teach them toforgive and then they can't be
(02:35):
anchored.
I'll meet people who are 50years old and they act like 13
years old, like they're 13.
And the reason is becausesomething happened and they
can't forgive.
It stunts you emotionally, itstunts you spiritually.
You've got to learn to forgiveand give that stuff to God, and
(02:57):
so we have to address that.
As pastors, it's our job.
We've got to talk aboutbitterness and we've got to talk
about unforgiveness and we'vegot to talk about what TV shows
you're watching and stuff likethat.
And so, yeah, that gets tough.
But last week, when I wasdigging in, I'm like, ooh, I
(03:19):
like this stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, and I'm sure you teach most of our discovery
classes here in the Forge and Ihad a chance to fill in for you
this past Saturday at the Forge.
Man, when you get to dive indeep and you get some people who
are excited about it, man, it'severy teacher's dream you know
like oh, man, let's go, and Ithink it seems like Paul's there
(03:42):
with the Philippians, like man,we can get into some stuff now,
and then I think they loved it,and man, I just you can tell he
loved these people, he lovedthem, and so you kind of you're
supposed to start in verse 12,but you actually backed us up to
verse 10 for a pretty importantreason.
And you know, as we weretalking about the podcast before
(04:03):
we jumped on here, you weretalking about how a lot of
people approach this passagekind of disconnected from verse
10.
And so, before we jump intothat, why don't you kind of walk
us through?
Why is it so important?
Why did you feel the need tojump us back to verse 10?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, there's no literary trick here.
Paul is having a conversationand then we put numbers on it
and then we put headings on it,and that's just somebody's
arbitration.
The guy who put numbers on theverses in the Bible was riding
from church to church on adonkey and he was doing it while
(04:44):
he was riding riding the donkey.
And I forget his name.
What is his name?
It won't come out of my head,it's stuffed down in there, deep
Anyways.
So sometimes the trick is toread a Bible, like you bought me
(05:05):
.
My blessed pastor Ryan boughtme a set of Bibles.
Well, it's the Bible, but it'sin several different books.
But it has no numbers, nochapters, no, nothing.
It's just Genesis, here you go.
It's just Genesis, here you go.
(05:25):
And you've got to learn to readthe Bible that way and
disappear sometimes the numbersthat reference you.
And it's tough.
I know it's tough, especiallyas a pastor and a teacher.
You're like, okay, we'reteaching this section and so you
want to focus on that.
But Paul says this is my goal.
(05:46):
And then, down in 12, he saysso, I pursue the goal.
What's the goal?
Yeah, what goal is he talkingabout?
Right, and he says the wordperfect.
So in a lot of commentaries I'dsay 75% of them, a lot of
people who talk about thispassage, they say well, the goal
(06:08):
is perfection to be sanctified,and then they run off on this
is about this.
No, he already told you thegoal, and I think that heading
that almost every Bible hasright before verse 12 kind of
says okay, this separates thesetwo different paragraphs but no,
that's what he's talking about.
(06:29):
The goal is to know Christ andthe power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of hissuffering.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Of course we want to leave that one out so I can
understand why they would moveon from there, and to be
conformed to his death, andwe're not ready to deal with
that either.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So it's you know.
Let's talk about sanctification.
So I think it's just how welook at the Bible sometimes.
And then we have churchtradition that says this is what
this is about, this is whatthis is about, and this is what
this is about, and if you're notcareful you'll fall into the
(07:07):
trap.
But every now and then the Lordsays, hey, read that again.
And so I've had a great teacherthat actually his life verse was
this one Philippians 3.10.
I want to know Jesus and it wasmy dad, so it was important to
(07:30):
him that everybody knows.
No, this is the goal, thatperfection's not the goal.
Sanctification's not the goal.
Jesus is the goal.
One of the people walking out Ithink it was Dominique, she was
walking out yesterday and she,she said I get what you're
laying down.
And uh, I said, man, I hope youdo.
(07:50):
And she goes I do, says we all,we look at the christian life
like I'm checking boxes, youknow.
And she said if you pursuejesus, if you want to know him,
the boxes automatically getchecked.
And I said that is a great wayto look at it.
You know, we're always looking.
(08:11):
I got to take this next step.
I got to have this nextbreakthrough.
I got to have this, all theseand the spiritual disciplines to
read my Bible.
Tell my friend, you know, fast,pray, all those things.
But when you want to know Jesus, all those things get
incorporated because you won'tlay anything down.
(08:31):
That'll get you closer to himand that's where spiritual
disciplines and prayer, fasting,giving all those things, if you
want to have a relationshipwith him, you're going to do the
things that he did and wantsyou to do.
If you want to have arelationship, you won't do the
things that he don't want you todo.
(08:51):
You'll love what he loves andyou'll hate what he hates, and
that is.
It seems simple, but it's alifetime of trying to put this
together.
I think the most difficult partof it is to apply it to
everyday life.
You know, uh, when my dad wouldpull into a parking lot, he'd
(09:14):
say lord I don't, I don't wantto walk all the way.
Give me something close and umthat's my kind of guy and and
then, when we get out of parkedway out in the middle of the
parking lot and we have to walkall the way in, he'd get out and
said all right, what's thisabout?
What are you trying to teach me?
You know, and, um, I want, Iwant to know why you did it.
(09:37):
I want to know who you are.
Why do I have to walk all theway up there?
You know, know, my knee'shurting and this is the way he
approached walking up to a storeand it's something, and that's
a lifetime of what is my goal.
It's to know Jesus, and ifJesus is sovereign, then I want
(09:59):
to know why I got to walk allthe way up there.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Man that is so powerful and inspiring and
challenging.
You know like.
I just I can go through life onautopilot.
You know, there's so manythings to think about, so many
things that keep you busy andwrapped up.
And, um, there's times whenwhen joy looking at me and be
(10:23):
like what do you think about?
And I'm like, oh crap, was Isupposed to be thinking about
something?
Because I'm like nothing I have, babe.
I have been clocked out for along time, almost to the point
like it's embarrassing, like I'mlike how long have I not been
thinking about something?
And then to just say, and issomething as mundane as having
(10:43):
to park way out in the middle ofthe parking lot and say, lord,
what was that for?
What are you trying to teach mein this?
What am I supposed to belooking for?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
And not about teaching me, but what is it
about you that would want me tolearn this?
And a lot of time it's.
I want you to fellowship in mysuffering, you know, and we
don't want to hear that.
We want to hear.
Ok you know, am I going to pullfire down out of heaven before
(11:12):
I get out of this parking lot?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
And I want resurrection power.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
You know, let's not worry about that fellowship of
suffering right now.
But we, we struggle withApplying Jesus to our lives.
We don't struggle applying theBible to our lives.
We know what's right and wrong.
We know if God had this choice,what would Jesus do?
(11:36):
We know what he would do.
What we want to know is how doyou feel about this Lord?
Is this a big thing?
Is this a little thing?
You know why is this indevelopment now?
And and one of the thing itdoes it it keeps us from.
It keeps us on point in ourlives.
(11:57):
And you've heard me talk aboutthe guy who went to visit in
jail and for hitting his wife.
And he like I'm gonna startcoming back to church and quit
smoking.
And I was like why don't westart with not hitting your wife
?
I mean, let's focus.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Let's get our priorities straight here.
Buddy right and uh.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So I I think when, when we apply our pursuit of
Jesus to our lives, we start tolearn about who he is, and
that's what builds your faith.
I mean the way Moses talked toGod and you're like, okay, moses
didn't get a lot of time togrow in the faith.
(12:42):
You know, he was like, oh,there's a burning bush, all
right, you need, I guess I listfor you to do.
There was no Sunday school andI grew up.
You know, I got one away fromthe Lord when I was in college,
but I kind of came back and nowI got kids.
I thought, and I was growing,now I'm teaching a Sunday school
class or I'm.
No, it was like, okay get yourbutt to egypt.
(13:04):
Go talk to pharaoh and uh, buthe had this relationship with
god where, where he was like no,no, no, no, no, no, no, don't
kill him, kill me instead.
Um, he was, um, he begged godfor things.
And then he was angry, wasangry and was mad at God about
(13:26):
things and just told him youknow, I'm mad.
I don't want you to be like that.
I want you to do it like thisand I think God is very
interested in that with us thatback and forth in a relationship
, because you never get to knowGod, someone, until you have a
(13:48):
relationship with them, I mean,until you really have a
relationship.
It's like dating.
It's like a marriage.
What I know about my wife now.
I didn't know when I marriedher and at the end of our life
I'll probably know things abouther that I didn't know.
That I don't know right now.
We are always growing in thatrelationship.
(14:11):
Listen well, what did he say toIsaiah?
He said come on, let's arguethis out you know, your sin may
be a scarlet, but I can make itwhite as snow.
I want to argue with you aboutit, because you know people
argue and they get all fired upbecause they've got a passion
(14:33):
for their relationship and theLord wants some of that.
He named his people those whowrestle against God that's what
Israelite means and he wants usto wrestle with them, have a
relationship with them, and mostof us don't.
We read about them, we readabout them, we learn about them,
we try to do what the Bibletells us to do, but we never
(14:58):
know him.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, for better or worse.
We talk a lot about spiritualdisciplines and it's one of my
maybe my passion points ishelping people figure out what
does it look like to live theChristian life.
So a lot of the sermon seriesthat we've done over the years
are that you know here's whatthis practically looks like, and
you know, inadvertently, Ithink, some of those things come
(15:21):
out as those boxes that I gotto check.
All right, so I'm going to dothis, I'm going to do this, I'm
going to do this, and thatbecomes the Christian life
pursuing those check boxes.
But, as Dominique said, man, ifI would just pursue Jesus,
these things will checkthemselves, because they're the
things that bring me closer tohim, that help me know him
better.
If I want to know what he thinks, God man, what do you think on
(15:43):
this?
I'm going to turn to his wordand I'm going to spend time in
prayer.
And so boxes got checked, butyou weren't pursuing the
checkmark, you were pursuing toknow him, and I love what Paul's
saying here.
My goal is to know him.
That is the primary thing in mylife, the driving force in my
(16:04):
life, the thing that compels meday after day after day is I
want to know him.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Yeah, it's tough as pastors and I'm going to give
you a little insight into yourpastor's lives.
But we're at a leadershipconference this week Brian and I
and some of the leaders in thechurch and pastor got up and
this is a secular thing, it'snot just about pastors, but it's
(16:38):
a leadership conference thathas been going on for years.
But this pastor got up and he'sa pastor of a church that has
45 different churches and I'lljust tell you his name Craig
Rochelle.
When he first got started, hewas getting up to preach and
(17:01):
before we preach we usually pray.
And he started to pray and thethought came to him and he says
this is the first time I'veprayed.
This week is right before Ipreach on Sunday.
I've been so busy runningaround being a pastor this is
the first time and it's easy forus.
(17:27):
A lot of times and I was tellingyou before we started that a
lot of times in my study lifeI'll sit down and the forge is
doing Titus.
We're going through Titus rightnow and I'll say well, today,
lord, I'm going to read Titusand I can almost hear him sigh.
(17:52):
It's like and I know whatyou're thinking.
You're thinking why is that abig deal.
It's because every time I readthe Bible, being a pastor, I'm
thinking how would I teach this?
Who would I teach it to?
How would I preach this?
Who would I preach it to?
Who would I teach it to?
How would I preach this?
(18:12):
Who would I preach it to?
I need to talk to one of theleaders in the church about this
verse so he can apply it towhat he's doing.
And the Lord is like I want youto read this, to know about me,
not to just know about what youshould do in this situation or
(18:33):
what you teach.
And it's so hard for me to turnmy mind off and say I am not
going to start making notesinside my Bible and putting
together another sermon foranother because I needed one
more sermon to fit in that oneslot.
It's just a fight.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, this is an easy trap, particularly for those of
us who are in ministry orteacher life, group leaders even
.
We're so used to having to geta study together, and man
Sunday's always coming.
It's always on the way, and weknow, man, people are looking
for content to help them growand all those things, and so
(19:19):
you're constantly thinking aboutthose things, and so you come
across Scripture and, yeah, it'shard to turn that off and say
all right, lord, what do youwant me to know about you?
Even the lay people, people whodon't have a ministry leadership
position.
A lot of times, when weapproach scripture, we're still
(19:39):
looking for now.
What do I do in this situation,god?
What would you want me to do?
What is your will for me here?
And it becomes so much about usand what we're doing.
And that's not bad, because Godwants to lead you and guide you
in all of that?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
He absolutely does.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But we have.
I don't even know if a lot ofus, when we approach scripture,
if we even think God, what doesthis teach me about you?
We don't even ask ourselvesthat, yes, god wants you to know
his will for your life and whatyou should do in that situation
.
He wants to teach you how to bea great mom or dad, how to be a
great kid or a boss, anemployee, and he will show you
(20:21):
all those things.
He'll teach you how to manageyour money.
I mean, just listen to DaveRamsey.
He's like I just went back toscripture and started doing what
it said and look what happenedin my life.
So God will teach you all thosethings.
But, man, when we openScripture, have you ever stopped
to just say God, what do youwant me to know about you?
I want to know you more, notwhat I'm supposed to do in this
(20:43):
situation, but just to know you.
Man, when you read Paul's goal,you say, man, how am I doing If
I was to make that my goal?
Because Paul's a guy who saidimitate me as I imitate Christ.
Yeah, that's bold, yeah.
So if this is Paul's goal toknow Christ, the power of his
(21:05):
resurrection, the fellowship ofhis suffering being conformed to
his death.
That that's his goal.
And he says I want you toimitate that, all right.
Well, what does that look likeif that's my goal, and then how
am I doing?
And I think for a lot of us,the honest truth is not that
great.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Not that great we're not trying to disappoint the
Lord.
So we're we're trying to addthings to our lives that he
thinks, that we think he wantsus to do, but what he wants to
do is have a relationship withyou.
Yeah and um, if we can get thatin, um, put on that pair of
glasses every time we go to theword or every time we pray, um,
(21:49):
I it would free.
Number one free you up.
And number two I think the HolySpirit will start opening the
deep things of God to you.
If you want to know him, notabout him, then the deep things
of God are going to be yourpurview.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Right and I know, as we're talking through this, this
can feel very convicting andyou can feel like man I am, I'm
failing at this thing, I'mpursuing the wrong things, but I
think what you just said waswas so important.
If, if we would get this right,it's actually freeing Right,
because those, those listsbecome exhausting.
(22:31):
We all got those lists.
Joyce she's got, I got to getthese weeds pulled.
You stopped by my house theother day like what's going on
back there?
I'm like don't even bring it up, don't talk about that.
You're pretty passionate.
And then we got things we wantto get done around the house,
things we want to get done atour jobs.
There's all these lists andwhen we feel like man, my
(22:52):
relationship with God has becomethat it just gets exhausting.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, but don't.
That list is important becauseit's the beginning of the
relationship, right?
Who is she?
Who is she?
Who does she know?
Does anybody know her?
Is she single?
Does she know?
Does anybody know her?
Is she single?
Is she looking?
Is she available?
You know, we want to knoweverything about her, right?
(23:17):
Because we're like, wow, and sowe start putting lists together
.
I'm going to find out aboutwhat does she like and I'm going
to take her on the first date,you know.
Oh, she don't like seafood, sowe're going to get steak next
time.
I'm going to learn these thingsabout them, but the goal in
(23:38):
learning about them is to have arelationship with them.
And the Lord just says, hey,you've taken that step.
I love it.
I want you to know about me.
Let's take a step now together,right, you to know about me.
Let's take a step now together,right?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
and and it's, it's a it's it takes a long time to
start putting it all togetheryeah, when we were talking at
the forge on on saturday, reedwas talking about how you know
he reed's been following thelord a long time and and he was
talking about just about anysituation he goes.
I don't know if there's ever amoment or a situation, a
(24:16):
decision in my life where Idon't know what the Lord wants.
He tells me.
I've read his word, I know it.
I mean, reed knows the word, hegoes.
I just don't know if there'sany of those situations he goes.
But sometimes I still wrestlewith the fact that I just want
(24:36):
that other thing more, you know,and and that's where where so
many of us are, you know, we Iand I preached about this a
couple weeks ago.
You know, most of us arealready far more educated than
our level of obedience.
We don't need another book, wedon't need another conference,
even though that conference wasgreat.
(24:57):
We just need to start doing thethings that we know we're
supposed to do, and those thingsare to be done in relationship.
Unfortunately, we get wrappedup in this idea that the
Christian life, the goal of it,is sinless living.
You know, I just got to quitsinning.
(25:17):
If I could just get past thissin, if I could just lay that
thing down.
And we think that's our battle.
That's the thing that, as aChristian, I'm supposed to be
focused on right, um, and youknow my dad, when I was first
starting to drive, we went outand and he was telling me, he
(25:37):
said, ryan, when I, you know, itstarts getting dark out and
there's a car coming at you inthe opposite lane, you can't
look at that car's headlightsbecause what happens is you, you
drift towards the things thatyou're staring at.
He says, if you're so focused onthis car that's coming from the
opposite direction and you'relooking into their headlights,
you'll drift and you'll end uprunning straight on into that
(25:58):
car.
And so he would tell me, lookat the white line on the side of
the road over here and it'llhelp pull you back into your
lane.
The problem is we look at sin,this thing that's coming at us,
and we're like I got to beat it,I got to beat it, I got to beat
it.
And so we're so focused on itand what happens is so many of
us, we just drift right into it.
(26:19):
We're not meaning to, we'retrying to get away from it,
we're trying to move past thisthing, we're trying to avoid it
but it's got our attention.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Paul says it, he says the same thing.
He says restore them gently,but be careful that you're not
tempted for the same thing too.
And because we're looking at it, and so we it's I want to make
it.
Is it as big of a thing as itis?
Because the Lord is making usmake that transition in his
(26:53):
relationship with you.
He's going to help you.
We already talked about that.
He's working in you for you topursue him, to make him the goal
.
That's what he wants from youand that's what he's doing in
you.
And you're going to learn todesire him.
So you're going to desire thethings that he wants for you,
and that's when you start doingthe good works that everybody
(27:16):
talks about doing as a Christian.
So don't worry about any ofthat.
That's just going to.
It's just going to happen.
So it's not the we got a notewritten here it's not the
disciplines.
Let me explain that there's somethings that church people,
(27:36):
churchified language here calledspiritual disciplines and their
bible study fasting, givingprayer, and there's five types
of prayer, starting withconfession.
You know all these things that,as a Christian, it's like.
(27:59):
Here's your list, these thingsyou've got to incorporate into
your life and it'll help yougrow.
Well, what helps you grow iswhen you do these things in
pursuit of Jesus, not just doingthese things because it's the
Christian thing to do and that'sthe way.
God wants you to live All right.
No One of my dad would say Iwant the lawn cut by the time I
(28:24):
get home today.
He meant I want the lawn cutbefore he got home, not while he
was driving in the parking lot.
I mean, there were times when Iwas running behind that push,
mower and trying to get it doneand um, so spiritual disciplines
are kind of like that.
(28:45):
He's like hey, I want you tospend time in prayer, I want you
to spend time in my word, Iwant you to focus on doing what
you learn in the word, and whenI get back we'll talk about it.
I think that relationship withmy dad, if the lawn wasn't mowed
(29:07):
, got bad, you know.
But if I went out and mowed thelawn all day, when my dad got
home we were playing catch inthe backyard and it was great.
So we get this idea that youknow.
My goal is to get all thisstuff down and make sure I do it
(29:28):
every day.
Show up at church, serve atchurch all the spiritual
disciplines that a Christian issupposed to do, Find my gift,
use my gift for the church, allthose different things.
If I can get all that ironedout, then you know I'll be what
God wants me to be.
(29:48):
You won't.
You'll have a relationship withthose things, but you won't
have a relationship with him andyou miss what it's all about.
And that was what Paul wassaying Look, I've taken hold of
him.
Because he's taken hold of me,I am.
(30:11):
I don't have to worry aboutthat anymore.
He's taken hold of me.
I don't have to worry about,you know, am I being good enough
for him or am I doing enoughfor him, or anything.
He's taken hold of me, so Ihave security in that.
So, since I know that, I amgoing to forget what's behind
(30:36):
Even the good things yeah, eventhe great things, where God
freed me from smoking ordrinking or whatever, you know
these mountains that I climbedand Paul had all kinds of great
things that God had used him for, and then all the bad things.
We know about all those two.
(30:57):
But he says I'm going to forgetall of it to know him more.
Right, I want to know him more,more than I want the good old
days.
I want to know him more, morethan I want to experience that
thing that I experienced thenand I use the example in
(31:18):
preaching revival that I was inas a kid and how it was just
crazy what God was doing in thatand I'd love to see it again.
But my focus and my goal shouldbe to know him more and just
thank you, god, for letting meexperience that.
But I want to know you.
(31:39):
Right, and paul was he's likehey, this is it, guys.
He called them brothers andsisters.
This is it.
And he says in down in verse 15,I think it is, he says um, if
you don't know this, god's gonnateach you this.
He's gonna reveal it to you.
(31:59):
He said he's like you don'thave to worry if you don't know
this or if you don't believe itor if you think it's all about
you know, checking the boxes andall the legalistic type things.
God's going to get you out ofthat.
He's going to reveal it to youand I love that because it goes
right back to that.
He's taken hold of me, he'staken hold of this relationship
(32:25):
and he's going to teach me whatI need to know and what Paul is
saying.
This is what you need to know.
It's about him.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, it's almost like Paul is saying you know,
you're allowed to be wrong, youdon't have to agree with me.
You can be wrong, but God willstraighten you out.
I'm right on this.
God's going to straighten youout, he'll teach you these
things.
I love how he worded that.
But this idea of knowing him isso important.
And and then the questionbecomes okay, it's not about
(32:56):
checking boxes, it's.
It's not all these things, it'sabout knowing him.
How do I know him more than?
And then, well, here's thethings that you got to do, right
?
This feels like there'scheckboxes again.
I remember one of the oh man, Iwas probably 15, 16 years old
(33:19):
and my pastor at the time gaveme what's really become a
classic work in Christianity theCelebration of Discipline by, I
think, richard Foster.
I think is who wrote it, and Imean it's not a fun read,
necessarily, but, man, there isso much depth to it, but it's a
(33:43):
whole book on.
You want spiritual growth.
This is the things that you do.
These are the things that needto be a part of your life, and
we said this on the podcast acouple of weeks ago.
You know, we're always lookingfor that next level, that
breakthrough, whatever it is.
The fact is, christian life ispretty simple and it's been the
same for the past two, really,three, four, 5,000 years.
(34:05):
Right, I mean, we need to keepcoming back to these things, um,
and so we're saying thosethings are not bad, you need
them in your life.
You need to know his word, youneed to spend time in prayer and
in worship, you need to be infellowship with other believers
and gathering together with thesaints.
(34:25):
You need those things, um.
What we're saying is let's takea new perspective and say man,
my goal in all of that is I wantto know him.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
I think we see it in examples all through Scripture,
especially in the New Testament,paul talking about it.
But we see it in the OldTestament too.
King Josiah, he shows up andthey're just digging around in
the temple and they find allthese scrolls and Josiah's like
(34:58):
what is this?
Oh sorry, this is the word ofGod.
And he's buried under the rubbleand he's like why don't I know
this stuff?
People need to know this stuff.
And they started sitting on thesteps of the temple and reading
it to the people.
And people are like you need toknow about God if you're ever
(35:25):
going to know God, so that's thefirst step.
I mean, Jeremiah went on to sayI want to eat this book.
I want to eat this book.
Right, I want to know.
And so, yeah, the spiritualdisciplines are important.
That's an important part of therelationship that you're going
(35:49):
to have with God.
But the goal of spiritualdisciplines is not to be
pharisaical and say I havearrived, I have the knowledge, I
have the spiritual.
I want to say macho, but just,you know, I'm pumped up, I've
got all the answers.
That's not what the Lord islooking for you to do.
(36:12):
He wants you to.
I want you to do all that inyour pursuit of me and knowing
me, and it's just a slightattitude shift.
But we know all these peoplewho know all these things and
you know right away that there'ssomething wrong when they say
(36:35):
god wants you to, or god hatesthis guy, or god hates that guy,
or you know, you know rightaway it's like they know a lot
but they don't know him right.
And I you know, you, you satdown and talked to god, god what
this guy did a terrible thing,Don't you hate that?
(36:55):
I hate that, I hate that.
And he's doomed for destruction.
Okay so we're centered.
You hate that.
You hate that guy.
No, I don't hate that guy.
Well, you just said he's doomedfor destruction.
You hate that guy.
No, no, no, no, no.
I love that guy and if he'd askmy forgiveness and come to me,
(37:17):
I'd forgive him in a heartbeat.
Wait, how can he be doomed fordestruction and you still want
to save him and forgive him andbring him home, because that's
who?
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I am that nun should perish.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Right and we get this idea that when we learn about
him, we know him.
No, we got to know him.
And when Jesus came to be theultimate sacrifice, I'm going to
teach a course coming up calledthe Discovering the Enigmatic
(37:53):
Christian Life.
I was looking for a word.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
That's a $5 word.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Yeah, the secret things, the mystery of the
Christian life.
And I guess the paraphrasewould be what are the things
that God would like you to knowabout the Christian life?
Not what you want to know aboutGod, but what God would wish
(38:19):
that you knew so that you couldget to know him better.
And there's a lot of things inthere.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
That's an important class.
I mean, our whole purpose hereas a church is to help people
discover more in Christ.
And again we go to the BibleGod, I want to know about you,
and we'll start picking thethings.
What if we flip that around andsaid well, god, what do you
want me to know about you?
You know, man, I love this idea.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
It's important because there's some things that
we do all the time.
Lord, please forgive me forthat.
And he's like, yeah, I kind ofdid that on the cross, remember,
you know, and I took care ofthat already.
But I'm glad you confessed itbecause I demand that you
confess and agree with me on it.
Now let's go on.
You have my forgiveness, youhave my grace.
(39:10):
You can put that card, lay mycard down on the counter and
it's going to cover it, and sowe get all wrapped up.
oh, god hates me for doing thisWell, god created you and he
knew you were going to do thatbefore he created you, and he
still came and died for you.
My biggest struggle in myChristian life growing up was
(39:34):
well, if God had a choice.
If he really had a choice, hewouldn't have saved me.
You know he has to save mebecause I came to him and ask
him to and he he's kind of he'sgotta do it.
You know, but if it was just upto him he wouldn't have done it
(39:54):
.
You know, and it's been astruggle because I somehow, as a
kid I got a hold of that andeven though all the verses that
says you know God draws you and,you know, prepares you to
receive the gospel, and just Iwould just flush it down the
toilet because I had this ideathat I I had this idea that he
(40:18):
wouldn't have picked me.
He had to pick me and I don'tknow how I got that attitude.
I can't even explain it wellenough for people to get it.
I've never heard of anybodyhaving that.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I'm on an island by yourself.
Yeah, I feel like I'm on anisland by myself.
I'm on an island by yourself.
Yeah, I feel like I'm on anisland by myself.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
But we need to realize that there are some
things that we live outside ofas Christians and I want to
share about 10 of those witheverybody and I think it'll push
you along towards your pursuitof Jesus.
One thing that Teresa was.
She says you're going to preachon my favorite verse of
(40:59):
Scripture.
You got to tell them theChristian life is intentional.
It just don't happen.
It's an active pursuit of Jesus.
You've got, it's got to be onyour mind, it's got to be the
thing that you're trying to do.
You're just not going to coastNow.
If you're pursuing Jesus, thoseboxes or all that stuff, how
(41:25):
you're going to live, they'regoing to get checked and you're
going to begin to live that wayas you pursue Jesus.
But pursuit of Jesus is Pauluses these words through this
whole passage of Scripture it'slike super intentional.
It's like I am striving topursue my goal to know Jesus.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Yeah, we think eventually this should all get
easy right and and it getseasier.
I mean there's parts of yourChristian life that, as you grow
and and mature, you don'tstruggle with the same things
that you used to struggle with.
Um, yeah, I, I've gotten to thepoint where I can forgive most
people for most things.
(42:14):
That's not something I strugglewith Now.
There's other things that Istill do, but there's a lot of
the Christian life that I'vedeveloped, some calluses.
I know how to do those thingsnow I've got some practice miles
in.
But, man to know it's an active, intentional fight.
This is something that I thinkof Reed, who was saying man,
(42:37):
there's times where I still justwant that other thing and I
hear God say Reed, you sure youwant that?
Oh, you know.
And Paul, he's constantly usingsports terminology.
He talks about a race, he talksabout a fight.
This is how he describes theChristian life.
(42:57):
And then we show up and we'relike where's the sweet tea and
lemonade?
I don't know if that's how thisworks.
That's not how Paul thoughtabout it.
I mean it was an active fight.
I think about my buddy Caleb.
He's running all thesemarathons, he's.
He's the guy that I want to beCause he is so disciplined to
(43:19):
these things.
And he, he's, he's going to,you know, get all of his
metabolism and his resting heartrate.
He's having all this test ranto kind of figure out where he's
at.
And then, you know, he goes on10 mile runs, you know, every
day, or six, 10 miles, I don'tknow things, that it makes me
tired thinking or listening tothe what he does, you know.
(43:42):
But his goal isn't to just run10 miles and his goal isn't to
just get his you know, restingheart rate down or whatever his
goal is.
He's like I want a place inthese marathons.
His goal is he's like I want toplace in these marathons.
Now, I don't just want to runit, I want to place.
That's his goal.
So he checks a lot of boxesalong the way, but none of those
(44:02):
boxes are the goal.
Placing in the marathon is thegoal for him.
That's the thing he's strivingfor and it takes intentionality.
What he eats now is important.
How much he hydrates is nowimportant.
Every single thing he puts inhis body matters.
The kind of sleep that he getsmatters.
You know, all these things thatthe rest of us we're not even
(44:23):
thinking about, like we see, youknow that oatmeal cream pie, or
you know for me Oreos, we'reeating it, we don't even think
about it.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Yeah, that's not even a cookie an oatmeal cream pie.
It's not like I'm just going toeat it.
It's a breakfast item.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
It's got oatmeal in it.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
I think a lot of these guys coming out of college
and getting in the NFL and theysuddenly realize, okay, I'm not
just an athlete anymore, I'm aspecific athlete and there's not
a summer that I'm off.
Every day I'm an NFL widereceiver.
(45:07):
Everything I eat, everyexercise I do, there's no, I'm
going to go on vacation and eatwhatever I want and do whatever
I want.
No, when I go on vacation, isthere a gym, is there a….
And the guys who forget thatdon't last very long.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
They don't last very long.
I mean, they're on a team todayand they're selling used cars
tomorrow.
Right, and that's what we'resaying.
And they're selling used carstomorrow.
And that's what we're saying.
When your goal is Christ, whenit's you know, I want a place in
the marathon.
I am going to check a lot ofboxes in my pursuit, but those
(45:47):
aren't the things that I'mpursuing.
I want to pursue placing or inthe Christian life.
I want to pursue Christ, christto know him as well.
As a forgiven sinner can andI'll check whatever boxes I have
to check to get to him.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Paul said I'll beat my body into submission.
Yeah, and he was tellingTimothy, you have to tell me
that sounds passive, right?
I mean it's like no, you needto get up in the morning and get
serious about Jesus every day,Right you?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
know every day.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Every day at work, every situation, every
conversation.
You know every thought, whichis very tough, but you know,
paul's been teaching this stufffor years.
He told the Ephesians oh, itwas in the Corinthians.
He said you've got to takeevery thought, captive, captive,
the Ephesians.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh, it was in the Corinthians.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
He said you've got to take every thought captive and
then give it to Christ.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Make it obedient to Christ.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
And if he don't like it, you're going to put it down.
So this is a battle, but it'ssomething that has something at
the end of it, which is Jesus.
He wants us to our creator,wants us to know him, he wants
(47:02):
us to know about him.
He wants when someone says,well, you know why did that guy
end up in that situation, orwhatever we can say, well, I can
tell you why.
Well, how do you know?
Because I know Jesus and he didthe same thing to him as he did
(47:22):
to me.
He gave me what I wanted andthen I had to pay for it, and
that's so.
I know that because I know him.
And when I was in the middle ofthat, I said, lord, why am I
here?
Because I know him.
And when I was in the middle ofthat, I said, lord, why am I
here?
Because you wouldn't listen tome.
So I gave you what you wanted.
Now you gotta pay for it, butit's okay, come on, let's go um,
(47:44):
confess it and let's get onwith this relationship.
And, uh, that's who he is, andhe wants to teach you all those
things.
And we can circle this wagonand run around it and around it
and around it, my dad.
You shared it the week beforelast, I shared it yesterday.
I'm going to share it againright here before I make Ryan
(48:07):
pray.
The goal, what you want to do,is get to know Jesus as well as
a forgiven sinner, can, and allthis other stuff, all your
addictions, all the things thatpull you off the path, all the
(48:28):
things that you wish were theway they used to be, will start
fading away because Jesus iswhat you want.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
My favorite hymn fix your eyes upon Jesus and the
things of earth grow strangelydim.
We want you to know theChristian life isn't just about
arriving at perfect.
It is a relentless, a joy-filledpursuit of Jesus, and this is
what we want for you.
Let me pray, father.
I thank you so much for yourword, and, lord, we continue to
(48:58):
thank you for this letter to thePhilippians and all the truly
the gold that we are mining andgleaning from this letter.
Lord, we thank you that you area God who wants to be found and
known by us, and, father, Ipray that, as you give us the
desire and the power to do whatpleases you, that you are a God
who wants to be found and knownby us and, father, I pray that,
as you give us the desire andthe power to do what pleases you
(49:19):
, that you would put a deephunger and longing to know you
more, that, whatever we thoughtabout the Christian life and
however we've approached it uptill now, that we can say with
Paul that my goal is to know you, the power of your resurrection
and the fellowship of yoursuffering.
And, father, in that I praythat we would truly get to know
(49:44):
you as well as a forgiven sinnercan.
In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Amen.
Thanks again for joining us forthis episode of the Midweek
Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you, letus know how God is using this
resource in your life, or sendany podcast questions or topic
ideas to.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
(50:06):
discover more in Christ, simplytext ANYAMOUNT to the number
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.
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):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
This is Pastor Ryan, joined asalways with Pastor Tim, and we
are walking through still ourseries Joyful, and we have been
going verse by verse through thebook of Philippians, just
learning so much from Paul'sletter to the Christians there
in Philippi about what it meansto be full of joy despite
(00:49):
everything going on around you.
And man Tim, we've beenlearning a lot.
In this sermon on Sunday thatyou preached, I thought was
pretty challenging.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It is Philippians is like a thick swamp.
You know my dad, he would.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's a good picture .
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah when we were getting ready to do something
tough, he'd say you know, stompyour feet down in your boots.
This is going to be tough, youknow.
And it's just thick, you know.
It's not dancing through themeadow.
There's some.
Paul is talking and this is onething that you need to
(01:29):
understand about philippians.
He's talking to people that hesees on his level.
He's saying uh, you know, we'renot talking about milk here,
you know I am yeah, I am.
This is the meat and some ofthis is a big piece of gristle
and you're just, you're going tochew for an hour.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Which I you know.
It had to be refreshing forPaul because in so many of his
letters he's he's addressingproblems and issues and some
pretty stupid stuff yeah.
And sometimes he's like man.
I wish we could move on to themeat.
And yet here I am, bottlefeeding you milk over and, over
and over again.
And now to the Philippians.
He has a chance to just likeyou said.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Guys, here's some meat Right and I love it, and I
think the Philippians loved ittoo.
Sometimes you know, as a pastoryou're talking about
forgiveness because you're notgoing anywhere until you can
conquer that in your life.
I remember I told you when youfirst started with the youth.
I told you teach them toforgive and then they can't be
(02:35):
anchored.
I'll meet people who are 50years old and they act like 13
years old, like they're 13.
And the reason is becausesomething happened and they
can't forgive.
It stunts you emotionally, itstunts you spiritually.
You've got to learn to forgiveand give that stuff to God, and
(02:57):
so we have to address that.
As pastors, it's our job.
We've got to talk aboutbitterness and we've got to talk
about unforgiveness and we'vegot to talk about what TV shows
you're watching and stuff likethat.
And so, yeah, that gets tough.
But last week, when I wasdigging in, I'm like, ooh, I
(03:19):
like this stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, and I'm sure you teach most of our discovery
classes here in the Forge and Ihad a chance to fill in for you
this past Saturday at the Forge.
Man, when you get to dive indeep and you get some people who
are excited about it, man, it'severy teacher's dream you know
like oh, man, let's go, and Ithink it seems like Paul's there
(03:42):
with the Philippians, like man,we can get into some stuff now,
and then I think they loved it,and man, I just you can tell he
loved these people, he lovedthem, and so you kind of you're
supposed to start in verse 12,but you actually backed us up to
verse 10 for a pretty importantreason.
And you know, as we weretalking about the podcast before
(04:03):
we jumped on here, you weretalking about how a lot of
people approach this passagekind of disconnected from verse
10.
And so, before we jump intothat, why don't you kind of walk
us through?
Why is it so important?
Why did you feel the need tojump us back to verse 10?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, there's no literary trick here.
Paul is having a conversationand then we put numbers on it
and then we put headings on it,and that's just somebody's
arbitration.
The guy who put numbers on theverses in the Bible was riding
from church to church on adonkey and he was doing it while
(04:44):
he was riding riding the donkey.
And I forget his name.
What is his name?
It won't come out of my head,it's stuffed down in there, deep
Anyways.
So sometimes the trick is toread a Bible, like you bought me
(05:05):
.
My blessed pastor Ryan boughtme a set of Bibles.
Well, it's the Bible, but it'sin several different books.
But it has no numbers, nochapters, no, nothing.
It's just Genesis, here you go.
It's just Genesis, here you go.
(05:25):
And you've got to learn to readthe Bible that way and
disappear sometimes the numbersthat reference you.
And it's tough.
I know it's tough, especiallyas a pastor and a teacher.
You're like, okay, we'reteaching this section and so you
want to focus on that.
But Paul says this is my goal.
(05:46):
And then, down in 12, he saysso, I pursue the goal.
What's the goal?
Yeah, what goal is he talkingabout?
Right, and he says the wordperfect.
So in a lot of commentaries I'dsay 75% of them, a lot of
people who talk about thispassage, they say well, the goal
(06:08):
is perfection to be sanctified,and then they run off on this
is about this.
No, he already told you thegoal, and I think that heading
that almost every Bible hasright before verse 12 kind of
says okay, this separates thesetwo different paragraphs but no,
that's what he's talking about.
(06:29):
The goal is to know Christ andthe power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of hissuffering.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Of course we want to leave that one out so I can
understand why they would moveon from there, and to be
conformed to his death, andwe're not ready to deal with
that either.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So it's you know.
Let's talk about sanctification.
So I think it's just how welook at the Bible sometimes.
And then we have churchtradition that says this is what
this is about, this is whatthis is about, and this is what
this is about, and if you're notcareful you'll fall into the
(07:07):
trap.
But every now and then the Lordsays, hey, read that again.
And so I've had a great teacherthat actually his life verse was
this one Philippians 3.10.
I want to know Jesus and it wasmy dad, so it was important to
(07:30):
him that everybody knows.
No, this is the goal, thatperfection's not the goal.
Sanctification's not the goal.
Jesus is the goal.
One of the people walking out Ithink it was Dominique, she was
walking out yesterday and she,she said I get what you're
laying down.
And uh, I said, man, I hope youdo.
(07:50):
And she goes I do, says we all,we look at the christian life
like I'm checking boxes, youknow.
And she said if you pursuejesus, if you want to know him,
the boxes automatically getchecked.
And I said that is a great wayto look at it.
You know, we're always looking.
(08:11):
I got to take this next step.
I got to have this nextbreakthrough.
I got to have this, all theseand the spiritual disciplines to
read my Bible.
Tell my friend, you know, fast,pray, all those things.
But when you want to know Jesus, all those things get
incorporated because you won'tlay anything down.
(08:31):
That'll get you closer to himand that's where spiritual
disciplines and prayer, fasting,giving all those things, if you
want to have a relationshipwith him, you're going to do the
things that he did and wantsyou to do.
If you want to have arelationship, you won't do the
things that he don't want you todo.
(08:51):
You'll love what he loves andyou'll hate what he hates, and
that is.
It seems simple, but it's alifetime of trying to put this
together.
I think the most difficult partof it is to apply it to
everyday life.
You know, uh, when my dad wouldpull into a parking lot, he'd
(09:14):
say lord I don't, I don't wantto walk all the way.
Give me something close and umthat's my kind of guy and and
then, when we get out of parkedway out in the middle of the
parking lot and we have to walkall the way in, he'd get out and
said all right, what's thisabout?
What are you trying to teach me?
You know, and, um, I want, Iwant to know why you did it.
(09:37):
I want to know who you are.
Why do I have to walk all theway up there?
You know, know, my knee'shurting and this is the way he
approached walking up to a storeand it's something, and that's
a lifetime of what is my goal.
It's to know Jesus, and ifJesus is sovereign, then I want
(09:59):
to know why I got to walk allthe way up there.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Man that is so powerful and inspiring and
challenging.
You know like.
I just I can go through life onautopilot.
You know, there's so manythings to think about, so many
things that keep you busy andwrapped up.
And, um, there's times whenwhen joy looking at me and be
(10:23):
like what do you think about?
And I'm like, oh crap, was Isupposed to be thinking about
something?
Because I'm like nothing I have, babe.
I have been clocked out for along time, almost to the point
like it's embarrassing, like I'mlike how long have I not been
thinking about something?
And then to just say, and issomething as mundane as having
(10:43):
to park way out in the middle ofthe parking lot and say, lord,
what was that for?
What are you trying to teach mein this?
What am I supposed to belooking for?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
And not about teaching me, but what is it
about you that would want me tolearn this?
And a lot of time it's.
I want you to fellowship in mysuffering, you know, and we
don't want to hear that.
We want to hear.
Ok you know, am I going to pullfire down out of heaven before
(11:12):
I get out of this parking lot?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
And I want resurrection power.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
You know, let's not worry about that fellowship of
suffering right now.
But we, we struggle withApplying Jesus to our lives.
We don't struggle applying theBible to our lives.
We know what's right and wrong.
We know if God had this choice,what would Jesus do?
(11:36):
We know what he would do.
What we want to know is how doyou feel about this Lord?
Is this a big thing?
Is this a little thing?
You know why is this indevelopment now?
And and one of the thing itdoes it it keeps us from.
It keeps us on point in ourlives.
(11:57):
And you've heard me talk aboutthe guy who went to visit in
jail and for hitting his wife.
And he like I'm gonna startcoming back to church and quit
smoking.
And I was like why don't westart with not hitting your wife
?
I mean, let's focus.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Let's get our priorities straight here.
Buddy right and uh.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So I I think when, when we apply our pursuit of
Jesus to our lives, we start tolearn about who he is, and
that's what builds your faith.
I mean the way Moses talked toGod and you're like, okay, moses
didn't get a lot of time togrow in the faith.
(12:42):
You know, he was like, oh,there's a burning bush, all
right, you need, I guess I listfor you to do.
There was no Sunday school andI grew up.
You know, I got one away fromthe Lord when I was in college,
but I kind of came back and nowI got kids.
I thought, and I was growing,now I'm teaching a Sunday school
class or I'm.
No, it was like, okay get yourbutt to egypt.
(13:04):
Go talk to pharaoh and uh, buthe had this relationship with
god where, where he was like no,no, no, no, no, no, no, don't
kill him, kill me instead.
Um, he was, um, he begged godfor things.
And then he was angry, wasangry and was mad at God about
(13:26):
things and just told him youknow, I'm mad.
I don't want you to be like that.
I want you to do it like thisand I think God is very
interested in that with us thatback and forth in a relationship
, because you never get to knowGod, someone, until you have a
(13:48):
relationship with them, I mean,until you really have a
relationship.
It's like dating.
It's like a marriage.
What I know about my wife now.
I didn't know when I marriedher and at the end of our life
I'll probably know things abouther that I didn't know.
That I don't know right now.
We are always growing in thatrelationship.
(14:11):
Listen well, what did he say toIsaiah?
He said come on, let's arguethis out you know, your sin may
be a scarlet, but I can make itwhite as snow.
I want to argue with you aboutit, because you know people
argue and they get all fired upbecause they've got a passion
(14:33):
for their relationship and theLord wants some of that.
He named his people those whowrestle against God that's what
Israelite means and he wants usto wrestle with them, have a
relationship with them, and mostof us don't.
We read about them, we readabout them, we learn about them,
we try to do what the Bibletells us to do, but we never
(14:58):
know him.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, for better or worse.
We talk a lot about spiritualdisciplines and it's one of my
maybe my passion points ishelping people figure out what
does it look like to live theChristian life.
So a lot of the sermon seriesthat we've done over the years
are that you know here's whatthis practically looks like, and
you know, inadvertently, Ithink, some of those things come
(15:21):
out as those boxes that I gotto check.
All right, so I'm going to dothis, I'm going to do this, I'm
going to do this, and thatbecomes the Christian life
pursuing those check boxes.
But, as Dominique said, man, ifI would just pursue Jesus,
these things will checkthemselves, because they're the
things that bring me closer tohim, that help me know him
better.
If I want to know what he thinks, God man, what do you think on
(15:43):
this?
I'm going to turn to his wordand I'm going to spend time in
prayer.
And so boxes got checked, butyou weren't pursuing the
checkmark, you were pursuing toknow him, and I love what Paul's
saying here.
My goal is to know him.
That is the primary thing in mylife, the driving force in my
(16:04):
life, the thing that compels meday after day after day is I
want to know him.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Yeah, it's tough as pastors and I'm going to give
you a little insight into yourpastor's lives.
But we're at a leadershipconference this week Brian and I
and some of the leaders in thechurch and pastor got up and
this is a secular thing, it'snot just about pastors, but it's
(16:38):
a leadership conference thathas been going on for years.
But this pastor got up and he'sa pastor of a church that has
45 different churches and I'lljust tell you his name Craig
Rochelle.
When he first got started, hewas getting up to preach and
(17:01):
before we preach we usually pray.
And he started to pray and thethought came to him and he says
this is the first time I'veprayed.
This week is right before Ipreach on Sunday.
I've been so busy runningaround being a pastor this is
the first time and it's easy forus.
(17:27):
A lot of times and I was tellingyou before we started that a
lot of times in my study lifeI'll sit down and the forge is
doing Titus.
We're going through Titus rightnow and I'll say well, today,
lord, I'm going to read Titusand I can almost hear him sigh.
(17:52):
It's like and I know whatyou're thinking.
You're thinking why is that abig deal.
It's because every time I readthe Bible, being a pastor, I'm
thinking how would I teach this?
Who would I teach it to?
How would I preach this?
Who would I preach it to?
Who would I teach it to?
How would I preach this?
(18:12):
Who would I preach it to?
I need to talk to one of theleaders in the church about this
verse so he can apply it towhat he's doing.
And the Lord is like I want youto read this, to know about me,
not to just know about what youshould do in this situation or
(18:33):
what you teach.
And it's so hard for me to turnmy mind off and say I am not
going to start making notesinside my Bible and putting
together another sermon foranother because I needed one
more sermon to fit in that oneslot.
It's just a fight.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, this is an easy trap, particularly for those of
us who are in ministry orteacher life, group leaders even
.
We're so used to having to geta study together, and man
Sunday's always coming.
It's always on the way, and weknow, man, people are looking
for content to help them growand all those things, and so
(19:19):
you're constantly thinking aboutthose things, and so you come
across Scripture and, yeah, it'shard to turn that off and say
all right, lord, what do youwant me to know about you?
Even the lay people, people whodon't have a ministry leadership
position.
A lot of times, when weapproach scripture, we're still
(19:39):
looking for now.
What do I do in this situation,god?
What would you want me to do?
What is your will for me here?
And it becomes so much about usand what we're doing.
And that's not bad, because Godwants to lead you and guide you
in all of that?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
He absolutely does.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But we have.
I don't even know if a lot ofus, when we approach scripture,
if we even think God, what doesthis teach me about you?
We don't even ask ourselvesthat, yes, god wants you to know
his will for your life and whatyou should do in that situation
.
He wants to teach you how to bea great mom or dad, how to be a
great kid or a boss, anemployee, and he will show you
(20:21):
all those things.
He'll teach you how to manageyour money.
I mean, just listen to DaveRamsey.
He's like I just went back toscripture and started doing what
it said and look what happenedin my life.
So God will teach you all thosethings.
But, man, when we openScripture, have you ever stopped
to just say God, what do youwant me to know about you?
I want to know you more, notwhat I'm supposed to do in this
(20:43):
situation, but just to know you.
Man, when you read Paul's goal,you say, man, how am I doing If
I was to make that my goal?
Because Paul's a guy who saidimitate me as I imitate Christ.
Yeah, that's bold, yeah.
So if this is Paul's goal toknow Christ, the power of his
(21:05):
resurrection, the fellowship ofhis suffering being conformed to
his death.
That that's his goal.
And he says I want you toimitate that, all right.
Well, what does that look likeif that's my goal, and then how
am I doing?
And I think for a lot of us,the honest truth is not that
great.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Not that great we're not trying to disappoint the
Lord.
So we're we're trying to addthings to our lives that he
thinks, that we think he wantsus to do, but what he wants to
do is have a relationship withyou.
Yeah and um, if we can get thatin, um, put on that pair of
glasses every time we go to theword or every time we pray, um,
(21:49):
I it would free.
Number one free you up.
And number two I think the HolySpirit will start opening the
deep things of God to you.
If you want to know him, notabout him, then the deep things
of God are going to be yourpurview.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Right and I know, as we're talking through this, this
can feel very convicting andyou can feel like man I am, I'm
failing at this thing, I'mpursuing the wrong things, but I
think what you just said waswas so important.
If, if we would get this right,it's actually freeing Right,
because those, those listsbecome exhausting.
(22:31):
We all got those lists.
Joyce she's got, I got to getthese weeds pulled.
You stopped by my house theother day like what's going on
back there?
I'm like don't even bring it up, don't talk about that.
You're pretty passionate.
And then we got things we wantto get done around the house,
things we want to get done atour jobs.
There's all these lists andwhen we feel like man, my
(22:52):
relationship with God has becomethat it just gets exhausting.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, but don't.
That list is important becauseit's the beginning of the
relationship, right?
Who is she?
Who is she?
Who does she know?
Does anybody know her?
Is she single?
Does she know?
Does anybody know her?
Is she single?
Is she looking?
Is she available?
You know, we want to knoweverything about her, right?
(23:17):
Because we're like, wow, and sowe start putting lists together
.
I'm going to find out aboutwhat does she like and I'm going
to take her on the first date,you know.
Oh, she don't like seafood, sowe're going to get steak next
time.
I'm going to learn these thingsabout them, but the goal in
(23:38):
learning about them is to have arelationship with them.
And the Lord just says, hey,you've taken that step.
I love it.
I want you to know about me.
Let's take a step now together,right, you to know about me.
Let's take a step now together,right?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
and and it's, it's a it's it takes a long time to
start putting it all togetheryeah, when we were talking at
the forge on on saturday, reedwas talking about how you know
he reed's been following thelord a long time and and he was
talking about just about anysituation he goes.
I don't know if there's ever amoment or a situation, a
(24:16):
decision in my life where Idon't know what the Lord wants.
He tells me.
I've read his word, I know it.
I mean, reed knows the word, hegoes.
I just don't know if there'sany of those situations he goes.
But sometimes I still wrestlewith the fact that I just want
(24:36):
that other thing more, you know,and and that's where where so
many of us are, you know, we Iand I preached about this a
couple weeks ago.
You know, most of us arealready far more educated than
our level of obedience.
We don't need another book, wedon't need another conference,
even though that conference wasgreat.
(24:57):
We just need to start doing thethings that we know we're
supposed to do, and those thingsare to be done in relationship.
Unfortunately, we get wrappedup in this idea that the
Christian life, the goal of it,is sinless living.
You know, I just got to quitsinning.
(25:17):
If I could just get past thissin, if I could just lay that
thing down.
And we think that's our battle.
That's the thing that, as aChristian, I'm supposed to be
focused on right, um, and youknow my dad, when I was first
starting to drive, we went outand and he was telling me, he
(25:37):
said, ryan, when I, you know, itstarts getting dark out and
there's a car coming at you inthe opposite lane, you can't
look at that car's headlightsbecause what happens is you, you
drift towards the things thatyou're staring at.
He says, if you're so focused onthis car that's coming from the
opposite direction and you'relooking into their headlights,
you'll drift and you'll end uprunning straight on into that
(25:58):
car.
And so he would tell me, lookat the white line on the side of
the road over here and it'llhelp pull you back into your
lane.
The problem is we look at sin,this thing that's coming at us,
and we're like I got to beat it,I got to beat it, I got to beat
it.
And so we're so focused on itand what happens is so many of
us, we just drift right into it.
(26:19):
We're not meaning to, we'retrying to get away from it,
we're trying to move past thisthing, we're trying to avoid it
but it's got our attention.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Paul says it, he says the same thing.
He says restore them gently,but be careful that you're not
tempted for the same thing too.
And because we're looking at it, and so we it's I want to make
it.
Is it as big of a thing as itis?
Because the Lord is making usmake that transition in his
(26:53):
relationship with you.
He's going to help you.
We already talked about that.
He's working in you for you topursue him, to make him the goal
.
That's what he wants from youand that's what he's doing in
you.
And you're going to learn todesire him.
So you're going to desire thethings that he wants for you,
and that's when you start doingthe good works that everybody
(27:16):
talks about doing as a Christian.
So don't worry about any ofthat.
That's just going to.
It's just going to happen.
So it's not the we got a notewritten here it's not the
disciplines.
Let me explain that there's somethings that church people,
(27:36):
churchified language here calledspiritual disciplines and their
bible study fasting, givingprayer, and there's five types
of prayer, starting withconfession.
You know all these things that,as a Christian, it's like.
(27:59):
Here's your list, these thingsyou've got to incorporate into
your life and it'll help yougrow.
Well, what helps you grow iswhen you do these things in
pursuit of Jesus, not just doingthese things because it's the
Christian thing to do and that'sthe way.
God wants you to live All right.
No One of my dad would say Iwant the lawn cut by the time I
(28:24):
get home today.
He meant I want the lawn cutbefore he got home, not while he
was driving in the parking lot.
I mean, there were times when Iwas running behind that push,
mower and trying to get it doneand um, so spiritual disciplines
are kind of like that.
(28:45):
He's like hey, I want you tospend time in prayer, I want you
to spend time in my word, Iwant you to focus on doing what
you learn in the word, and whenI get back we'll talk about it.
I think that relationship withmy dad, if the lawn wasn't mowed
(29:07):
, got bad, you know.
But if I went out and mowed thelawn all day, when my dad got
home we were playing catch inthe backyard and it was great.
So we get this idea that youknow.
My goal is to get all thisstuff down and make sure I do it
(29:28):
every day.
Show up at church, serve atchurch all the spiritual
disciplines that a Christian issupposed to do, Find my gift,
use my gift for the church, allthose different things.
If I can get all that ironedout, then you know I'll be what
God wants me to be.
(29:48):
You won't.
You'll have a relationship withthose things, but you won't
have a relationship with him andyou miss what it's all about.
And that was what Paul wassaying Look, I've taken hold of
him.
Because he's taken hold of me,I am.
(30:11):
I don't have to worry aboutthat anymore.
He's taken hold of me.
I don't have to worry about,you know, am I being good enough
for him or am I doing enoughfor him, or anything.
He's taken hold of me, so Ihave security in that.
So, since I know that, I amgoing to forget what's behind
(30:36):
Even the good things yeah, eventhe great things, where God
freed me from smoking ordrinking or whatever, you know
these mountains that I climbedand Paul had all kinds of great
things that God had used him for, and then all the bad things.
We know about all those two.
(30:57):
But he says I'm going to forgetall of it to know him more.
Right, I want to know him more,more than I want the good old
days.
I want to know him more, morethan I want to experience that
thing that I experienced thenand I use the example in
(31:18):
preaching revival that I was inas a kid and how it was just
crazy what God was doing in thatand I'd love to see it again.
But my focus and my goal shouldbe to know him more and just
thank you, god, for letting meexperience that.
But I want to know you.
(31:39):
Right, and paul was he's likehey, this is it, guys.
He called them brothers andsisters.
This is it.
And he says in down in verse 15,I think it is, he says um, if
you don't know this, god's gonnateach you this.
He's gonna reveal it to you.
(31:59):
He said he's like you don'thave to worry if you don't know
this or if you don't believe itor if you think it's all about
you know, checking the boxes andall the legalistic type things.
God's going to get you out ofthat.
He's going to reveal it to youand I love that because it goes
right back to that.
He's taken hold of me, he'staken hold of this relationship
(32:25):
and he's going to teach me whatI need to know and what Paul is
saying.
This is what you need to know.
It's about him.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, it's almost like Paul is saying you know,
you're allowed to be wrong, youdon't have to agree with me.
You can be wrong, but God willstraighten you out.
I'm right on this.
God's going to straighten youout, he'll teach you these
things.
I love how he worded that.
But this idea of knowing him isso important.
And and then the questionbecomes okay, it's not about
(32:56):
checking boxes, it's.
It's not all these things, it'sabout knowing him.
How do I know him more than?
And then, well, here's thethings that you got to do, right
?
This feels like there'scheckboxes again.
I remember one of the oh man, Iwas probably 15, 16 years old
(33:19):
and my pastor at the time gaveme what's really become a
classic work in Christianity theCelebration of Discipline by, I
think, richard Foster.
I think is who wrote it, and Imean it's not a fun read,
necessarily, but, man, there isso much depth to it, but it's a
(33:43):
whole book on.
You want spiritual growth.
This is the things that you do.
These are the things that needto be a part of your life, and
we said this on the podcast acouple of weeks ago.
You know, we're always lookingfor that next level, that
breakthrough, whatever it is.
The fact is, christian life ispretty simple and it's been the
same for the past two, really,three, four, 5,000 years.
(34:05):
Right, I mean, we need to keepcoming back to these things, um,
and so we're saying thosethings are not bad, you need
them in your life.
You need to know his word, youneed to spend time in prayer and
in worship, you need to be infellowship with other believers
and gathering together with thesaints.
(34:25):
You need those things, um.
What we're saying is let's takea new perspective and say man,
my goal in all of that is I wantto know him.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
I think we see it in examples all through Scripture,
especially in the New Testament,paul talking about it.
But we see it in the OldTestament too.
King Josiah, he shows up andthey're just digging around in
the temple and they find allthese scrolls and Josiah's like
(34:58):
what is this?
Oh sorry, this is the word ofGod.
And he's buried under the rubbleand he's like why don't I know
this stuff?
People need to know this stuff.
And they started sitting on thesteps of the temple and reading
it to the people.
And people are like you need toknow about God if you're ever
(35:25):
going to know God, so that's thefirst step.
I mean, Jeremiah went on to sayI want to eat this book.
I want to eat this book.
Right, I want to know.
And so, yeah, the spiritualdisciplines are important.
That's an important part of therelationship that you're going
(35:49):
to have with God.
But the goal of spiritualdisciplines is not to be
pharisaical and say I havearrived, I have the knowledge, I
have the spiritual.
I want to say macho, but just,you know, I'm pumped up, I've
got all the answers.
That's not what the Lord islooking for you to do.
(36:12):
He wants you to.
I want you to do all that inyour pursuit of me and knowing
me, and it's just a slightattitude shift.
But we know all these peoplewho know all these things and
you know right away that there'ssomething wrong when they say
(36:35):
god wants you to, or god hatesthis guy, or god hates that guy,
or you know, you know rightaway it's like they know a lot
but they don't know him right.
And I you know, you, you satdown and talked to god, god what
this guy did a terrible thing,Don't you hate that?
(36:55):
I hate that, I hate that.
And he's doomed for destruction.
Okay so we're centered.
You hate that.
You hate that guy.
No, I don't hate that guy.
Well, you just said he's doomedfor destruction.
You hate that guy.
No, no, no, no, no.
I love that guy and if he'd askmy forgiveness and come to me,
(37:17):
I'd forgive him in a heartbeat.
Wait, how can he be doomed fordestruction and you still want
to save him and forgive him andbring him home, because that's
who?
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I am that nun should perish.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Right and we get this idea that when we learn about
him, we know him.
No, we got to know him.
And when Jesus came to be theultimate sacrifice, I'm going to
teach a course coming up calledthe Discovering the Enigmatic
(37:53):
Christian Life.
I was looking for a word.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
That's a $5 word.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Yeah, the secret things, the mystery of the
Christian life.
And I guess the paraphrasewould be what are the things
that God would like you to knowabout the Christian life?
Not what you want to know aboutGod, but what God would wish
(38:19):
that you knew so that you couldget to know him better.
And there's a lot of things inthere.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
That's an important class.
I mean, our whole purpose hereas a church is to help people
discover more in Christ.
And again we go to the BibleGod, I want to know about you,
and we'll start picking thethings.
What if we flip that around andsaid well, god, what do you
want me to know about you?
You know, man, I love this idea.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
It's important because there's some things that
we do all the time.
Lord, please forgive me forthat.
And he's like, yeah, I kind ofdid that on the cross, remember,
you know, and I took care ofthat already.
But I'm glad you confessed itbecause I demand that you
confess and agree with me on it.
Now let's go on.
You have my forgiveness, youhave my grace.
(39:10):
You can put that card, lay mycard down on the counter and
it's going to cover it, and sowe get all wrapped up.
oh, god hates me for doing thisWell, god created you and he
knew you were going to do thatbefore he created you, and he
still came and died for you.
My biggest struggle in myChristian life growing up was
(39:34):
well, if God had a choice.
If he really had a choice, hewouldn't have saved me.
You know he has to save mebecause I came to him and ask
him to and he he's kind of he'sgotta do it.
You know, but if it was just upto him he wouldn't have done it
(39:54):
.
You know, and it's been astruggle because I somehow, as a
kid I got a hold of that andeven though all the verses that
says you know God draws you and,you know, prepares you to
receive the gospel, and just Iwould just flush it down the
toilet because I had this ideathat I I had this idea that he
(40:18):
wouldn't have picked me.
He had to pick me and I don'tknow how I got that attitude.
I can't even explain it wellenough for people to get it.
I've never heard of anybodyhaving that.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I'm on an island by yourself.
Yeah, I feel like I'm on anisland by myself.
I'm on an island by yourself.
Yeah, I feel like I'm on anisland by myself.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
But we need to realize that there are some
things that we live outside ofas Christians and I want to
share about 10 of those witheverybody and I think it'll push
you along towards your pursuitof Jesus.
One thing that Teresa was.
She says you're going to preachon my favorite verse of
(40:59):
Scripture.
You got to tell them theChristian life is intentional.
It just don't happen.
It's an active pursuit of Jesus.
You've got, it's got to be onyour mind, it's got to be the
thing that you're trying to do.
You're just not going to coastNow.
If you're pursuing Jesus, thoseboxes or all that stuff, how
(41:25):
you're going to live, they'regoing to get checked and you're
going to begin to live that wayas you pursue Jesus.
But pursuit of Jesus is Pauluses these words through this
whole passage of Scripture it'slike super intentional.
It's like I am striving topursue my goal to know Jesus.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Yeah, we think eventually this should all get
easy right and and it getseasier.
I mean there's parts of yourChristian life that, as you grow
and and mature, you don'tstruggle with the same things
that you used to struggle with.
Um, yeah, I, I've gotten to thepoint where I can forgive most
people for most things.
(42:14):
That's not something I strugglewith Now.
There's other things that Istill do, but there's a lot of
the Christian life that I'vedeveloped, some calluses.
I know how to do those thingsnow I've got some practice miles
in.
But, man to know it's an active, intentional fight.
This is something that I thinkof Reed, who was saying man,
(42:37):
there's times where I still justwant that other thing and I
hear God say Reed, you sure youwant that?
Oh, you know.
And Paul, he's constantly usingsports terminology.
He talks about a race, he talksabout a fight.
This is how he describes theChristian life.
(42:57):
And then we show up and we'relike where's the sweet tea and
lemonade?
I don't know if that's how thisworks.
That's not how Paul thoughtabout it.
I mean it was an active fight.
I think about my buddy Caleb.
He's running all thesemarathons, he's.
He's the guy that I want to beCause he is so disciplined to
(43:19):
these things.
And he, he's, he's going to,you know, get all of his
metabolism and his resting heartrate.
He's having all this test ranto kind of figure out where he's
at.
And then, you know, he goes on10 mile runs, you know, every
day, or six, 10 miles, I don'tknow things, that it makes me
tired thinking or listening tothe what he does, you know.
(43:42):
But his goal isn't to just run10 miles and his goal isn't to
just get his you know, restingheart rate down or whatever his
goal is.
He's like I want a place inthese marathons.
His goal is he's like I want toplace in these marathons.
Now, I don't just want to runit, I want to place.
That's his goal.
So he checks a lot of boxesalong the way, but none of those
(44:02):
boxes are the goal.
Placing in the marathon is thegoal for him.
That's the thing he's strivingfor and it takes intentionality.
What he eats now is important.
How much he hydrates is nowimportant.
Every single thing he puts inhis body matters.
The kind of sleep that he getsmatters.
You know, all these things thatthe rest of us we're not even
(44:23):
thinking about, like we see, youknow that oatmeal cream pie, or
you know for me Oreos, we'reeating it, we don't even think
about it.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Yeah, that's not even a cookie an oatmeal cream pie.
It's not like I'm just going toeat it.
It's a breakfast item.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
It's got oatmeal in it.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
I think a lot of these guys coming out of college
and getting in the NFL and theysuddenly realize, okay, I'm not
just an athlete anymore, I'm aspecific athlete and there's not
a summer that I'm off.
Every day I'm an NFL widereceiver.
(45:07):
Everything I eat, everyexercise I do, there's no, I'm
going to go on vacation and eatwhatever I want and do whatever
I want.
No, when I go on vacation, isthere a gym, is there a….
And the guys who forget thatdon't last very long.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
They don't last very long.
I mean, they're on a team todayand they're selling used cars
tomorrow.
Right, and that's what we'resaying.
And they're selling used carstomorrow.
And that's what we're saying.
When your goal is Christ, whenit's you know, I want a place in
the marathon.
I am going to check a lot ofboxes in my pursuit, but those
(45:47):
aren't the things that I'mpursuing.
I want to pursue placing or inthe Christian life.
I want to pursue Christ, christto know him as well.
As a forgiven sinner can andI'll check whatever boxes I have
to check to get to him.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Paul said I'll beat my body into submission.
Yeah, and he was tellingTimothy, you have to tell me
that sounds passive, right?
I mean it's like no, you needto get up in the morning and get
serious about Jesus every day,Right you?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
know every day.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Every day at work, every situation, every
conversation.
You know every thought, whichis very tough, but you know,
paul's been teaching this stufffor years.
He told the Ephesians oh, itwas in the Corinthians.
He said you've got to takeevery thought, captive, captive,
the Ephesians.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh, it was in the Corinthians.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
He said you've got to take every thought captive and
then give it to Christ.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Make it obedient to Christ.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
And if he don't like it, you're going to put it down.
So this is a battle, but it'ssomething that has something at
the end of it, which is Jesus.
He wants us to our creator,wants us to know him, he wants
(47:02):
us to know about him.
He wants when someone says,well, you know why did that guy
end up in that situation, orwhatever we can say, well, I can
tell you why.
Well, how do you know?
Because I know Jesus and he didthe same thing to him as he did
(47:22):
to me.
He gave me what I wanted andthen I had to pay for it, and
that's so.
I know that because I know him.
And when I was in the middle ofthat, I said, lord, why am I
here?
Because I know him.
And when I was in the middle ofthat, I said, lord, why am I
here?
Because you wouldn't listen tome.
So I gave you what you wanted.
Now you gotta pay for it, butit's okay, come on, let's go um,
(47:44):
confess it and let's get onwith this relationship.
And, uh, that's who he is, andhe wants to teach you all those
things.
And we can circle this wagonand run around it and around it
and around it, my dad.
You shared it the week beforelast, I shared it yesterday.
I'm going to share it againright here before I make Ryan
(48:07):
pray.
The goal, what you want to do,is get to know Jesus as well as
a forgiven sinner, can, and allthis other stuff, all your
addictions, all the things thatpull you off the path, all the
(48:28):
things that you wish were theway they used to be, will start
fading away because Jesus iswhat you want.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
My favorite hymn fix your eyes upon Jesus and the
things of earth grow strangelydim.
We want you to know theChristian life isn't just about
arriving at perfect.
It is a relentless, a joy-filledpursuit of Jesus, and this is
what we want for you.
Let me pray, father.
I thank you so much for yourword, and, lord, we continue to
(48:58):
thank you for this letter to thePhilippians and all the truly
the gold that we are mining andgleaning from this letter.
Lord, we thank you that you area God who wants to be found and
known by us, and, father, Ipray that, as you give us the
desire and the power to do whatpleases you, that you are a God
who wants to be found and knownby us and, father, I pray that,
as you give us the desire andthe power to do what pleases you
(49:19):
, that you would put a deephunger and longing to know you
more, that, whatever we thoughtabout the Christian life and
however we've approached it uptill now, that we can say with
Paul that my goal is to know you, the power of your resurrection
and the fellowship of yoursuffering.
And, father, in that I praythat we would truly get to know
(49:44):
you as well as a forgiven sinnercan.
In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Amen.
Thanks again for joining us forthis episode of the Midweek
Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you, letus know how God is using this
resource in your life, or sendany podcast questions or topic
ideas to.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
(50:06):
discover more in Christ, simplytext ANYAMOUNT to the number
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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