Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Not a Hostage, Part 1: Not a Hostage

Episode Date: October 14, 2018

We’re all bound to find ourselves in difficult situations, but we don’t have to be bound to them. You’re Not a Hostage to fear, pain, and doubt when you have hope, peace, and love in your corner. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, Life Church, welcome today to all of our locations, our open network churches, church online. Guess what? You came on the right week. You are in for a very big treat. He is one of the closest friends to our church. He's one of my best friends in the world. He's probably the most listened to pastor around the world. If you've never heard him preach, you will know why today. Would you please help me give the honor of welcoming the pastor of Elevation Church and my very good friend today? Pastor Stephen Ferdick. Hello, Life Church. Now, I want to tell you something real quick before we get into the actual sermon, and that is that you are a part of the church that has influenced our church more than any other church.

So I owe you a big thank you to all of you who come here and pray and serve and give. The entire model of our church is really based on what you have. have pioneered here. And so all the way from Charlotte, North Carolina, I bring you greetings from thousands of people that want to say thank you for your investment because you're paving the way and I'm making a path for us to do great things for God. And on behalf of all the churches that you impact, let's just thank God for your pastors, Pastor Craig and Amy Groschelle. Now, I want to say a few things about him because he's better at everything than me except growing a beard. And one thing I was thinking about a quote that I heard, Pastor Craig, they say,

you'll know that you're getting good at something when people stop complimenting you. You know, like if people are always telling you, thanks for showing up on time. That means you you have punctuality issues. But one of the marks of maturity is someone who can do something consistently. And can I get an amen from the parents real quick? When you're taken for granted, sometimes that's the greatest compliment that you can be paid because it means you are so consistent that we just count on you. And I think, though, even though it's a compliment, it's a sin for us to take for granted, something that God blesses us with. And I want to take a moment at all 7,952 life church locations and thank God for the ministry gift of Pastor Craig and Amy Groschelle.

Would you help me do that? Thank you for your diligence, your discipline, for your selflessness. Thank you for being able to bench press more than any three men in this church put together at any given time. That is a blessing that causes us to be humbled. And for that, we are thankful. How many of you love the Word of God? Let me hear you at every location if you love the Word of God. Don't be holding out because I'm on a screen. I can feel your energy from miles away.

I want to share with you from a passage of scripture that I really love. and I want to say it's my favorite, but you're not supposed to play favorites. The whole Bible's good, but this one's really good. And it's in the New Testament book of Philippians, and I want to share with you a pretty big chunk of this scripture and give you a message today

if you feel stuck in a situation that you didn't choose. And if there are some things in an area of your life that are outside of your control, there are two dynamics of faith in this passage that I think bring great freedom. And it's my privilege to share them today. And I'm not speaking on my own authority. We're going to go to the Apostle Paul, who in his great ministry, exemplifies the kind of faith that very few of us are probably ever going to attain to. But at least we can look at how he approached this subject in Philippians chapter 1, verse 12.

And Paul writing to a church that he loves, that he actually started many years before he wrote this letter, says the following, Philippians 1 verse 12. Now, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am, and this is a really strange phrase, so I had to read it a few times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong, in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord. And there are all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. It is true. Some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

The former preached Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chain. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. Yeah, and I will continue to rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way. be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live as Christ and to die as gain. I know I need to stop reading and preach, but this is so good. I got to keep going. Verse 22.

If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yeah, what should I let's let's choose? I don't know. I'm torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far than to stay here with you, but it's more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you, again, you're boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

Now I need your help. Look at your neighbor and give them my sermon title. Tell them, I'm not a hostage. You didn't say it with any attitude so they don't believe you. Look at the other person on the other side who you really wanted to talk to anyway and tell him I'm not a hostage. Look, it's important we get this right. Because Paul, in this stage of his life, I need you to understand. He has reached that level of progress that he no longer cares what you think about him.

And so he's just really speaking in an unfiltered way. he's a little bit older now, and he's been through some things. And so he's not speaking according to what we might want to hear. He's kind of got some senior swag in Philippians chapter one. Because by this point, he's like, hey, look, I figured some things out. And actually, he's writing to some people who are wondering how it's going for him. And it's interesting, I thought you might find this interesting, that this book is considered by many scholars the happiest book in the Bible, and he's writing it from a prison cell. So it must mean that Paul knows something about the kind of faith that is not dependent upon your situation. And the reason I think that

is because he says in verse 12, I want you to know brothers and sisters about what happened to me, but then he doesn't say anything about what happened to him. And I was confused by that because he gives no details as to how the prison food is or how his living quarters are arranged or how the guards are treating him and really gives them no expectation of when he might get out and come see them again.

And they're worried about this because Paul is very important to the progress of the gospel. I mean, Paul is the one who is carrying the message in a unique way that only he can. And while he's in prison, the gospel isn't going out with the velocity like they've had to shut down his Instagram account, and he can no longer live stream on Facebook, and it's not good, but he says, no, actually, everybody say actually. Some of you never say what the preacher tells you to. When the preacher asks you to say something, you play along, and God will give you extra carbohydrate burning.

Say actually. It's an interesting word because he says, what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. And the word that he uses for advance here isn't a word that means to move along easily, like we often expect the will of God to move along. It's a word that actually means to move forward and to make progress in spite of severe opposition. So what he's saying is I could spend a whole letter telling you about what happened to me, or, and this is what I choose, I could spend the rest of this letter telling you how what happened to me is moving the purpose of God forward, and I would rather focus on what God is doing through me than what's happening to me. I knew y'all wouldn't like this message.

Because we want to spend all of our time telling people what's happening to us. And it seems to me that many of us orient most of our prayer around God changing our situation. But what if God is more interested in changing you than changing your situation? I mean, Paul is like, it would be cool to get out of this prison. But while I'm here, God has something for me to do. This is an interpretation that requires faith to look at what you're going through and know that it's about more than what you feel in the moment. And in fact, sometimes God will use the very situations that we would pray away to do the things that can only be done in situations that we would not choose. I heard a story about a lady one time who didn't have any food in her house.

and she was a woman of great faith. And so she went outside one day, and she was singing and worshiping God, and she was very poor, but she had great faith. And so she was singing, I think she was singing, I got a feeling, everything's going to be all right. Oh, I got a feeling. Oh, I stop. Stop. Got a feeling. Everything's going to be all right.

Be all right. Be all right. I feel like I'm at home here. Be all right. But she had a neighbor who was an atheist, and he hated God and hated the idea that she had of God. So her atheist neighbor thought this would be a good opportunity to prove to her that her God did not exist.

So he went to the grocery store and bought three bags of groceries and dropped them off on her doorstep and knocked on the door and went to hide and watch what her reaction would be when she saw the groceries. And when she saw the groceries, she got happy. And she was like, God did it. God did it. Over and over, she just kept saying, God did it. Have you ever had God do something for you that only he could do? And when he did it, you didn't care what anybody thought about it, but you owed him the praise. That's why I need some of y'all to stop acting so scared in worship at Life Church.

Like, if God brought you out, act like he brought you out. And don't care what anybody next deal thinks about it. She said, God did it. God did it. God did it. God did it. And about the 75th time she said that, the neighbor couldn't take it anymore. And he ran over and he got in her face and he said, God didn't buy the groceries. I bought the groceries. And she looked back at him and said, God did it. God did it. God did it. God did it. God did it. And he said, no, God didn't buy you the groceries because God doesn't exist. I bought the groceries.

Here's the receipt. And she said, God did it. And he made the devil pay for it. Oh, no. What I'm trying to say is some of the stuff that's happening in your life right now that doesn't feel good, somebody shout actually. On the surface, it looks like this is going to take me out. On the surface, I wish it didn't hurt this bad. On the surface, I wish he didn't break up with me.

But maybe the reason he broke up with you is because God knows you need an upgrade and you were settling for something less than his best for your life. I'm going to calm down and be nice. I'm just a guest. Paul said, actually, it's an interesting interpretation, isn't it? Because he said, I'm in chains for Christ. I know it looks like I'm chained. to these guards, but actually these guards are chained to me.

This chain goes both ways. So I've been preaching in this prison and don't worry about Paul and don't circulate a petition to get Paul out of prison because I'm doing work up in here. Now I wonder, can you say the same thing about the situation that you're in today that you feel stuck in? Or are you so busy praying for God to get you out of stuff? God, I need a new job. I need a new husband. Don't look at him right now. It's awkward.

Are you so busy asking God to get you out that you missed the fact that God is trying to get in? Into your pain, into your singleness, into your loneliness. Are you going to keep hopping around to different church every two or three years? Just switching up the scenery as you move from one dysfunctional relationship to another without ever asking God, what do you want to do in and through me? Because Paul has reached that point in his life, and I hope I can get here one day. And I'm not here right now. I'm really not here right now. He's got his priority straight. He says, I am put here, verse 16. I'm put here. Not by Caesar, not by the people who threw me in this prison for preaching. I'm put here. I'm not a hostage.

Say it Allah, I'm not a hostage. I'm not a hostage to how I feel. I'm not a hostage to what I want. I'm not a hostage to what I need to understand to trust God. Because I don't have to understand to trust God. In fact, if I can't understand, then it doesn't take faith. I'm put here for the defense of the gospel. I might have been thrown in here by people,

but this is one thing you learn about God. Even if people mean it for evil, God will use it for good. So I'm not a hostage. I'm not a hostage to what people think about me. I'm not a hostage. This is for a teenager right here, to popularity. I'm not a hostage to needing to be light. You know what you need to do? You need to go to your 20-year high school reunion. I just went and I saw people who I was so desperate to impress and I didn't even remember. their names and they did not look happy. You know how you can tell Paul has reached that point that he's no longer a hostage?

It's because of what he says, and this has turned it in my favorite Bible verse. And I know everybody's got their favorite Bible verse, especially people have been in church a long time. If you haven't been in church very long, I want you to know this is the kind of church that welcomes people who haven't been in church very long. In fact, this kind of church that was built for people who haven't been in church very long. And maybe if you stick around for a little while, somebody might say they have a favorite Bible verse. and they might say like John 316 or Galatians 2.20, these are popular Bible verses. 2 Corinthians 517, if anyone is Christ in new creation. It's good verses, but they're kind of used up.

I'm going to give you a Bible verse that nobody uses and is so good because Paul's like, some people like me, some people don't. Some people say this, some people say that. Sounds like Paul had Facebook in prison. But what he said, I wanted to point out to you, and it's right in the text, and it's my favorite verse in the Bible right now. It may change. But right now this is in the Bible, and it's my favorite one, and I need it in my life. It's verse 18. He says, but what does it matter? Do you know how much stress would go away if you would learn that one Bible verse?

That's not even the whole verse. Just that much of the verse would cause the cortisol levels to dissolve in your body, and you would sleep better, and you would stop worrying about. stuff that God has already worked out. How silly is this? The Bible already says, God never sleeps nor slumbers. Well, if he's going to stay up on the night shift, I might as well get some rest. What does it matter? You know, they have the WWJD bracelets. I'm going to make a new bracelet called WD I.M. What does it matter? And I'm going to look at it all the time, and I'm going to Show it to people when they're saying stupid stuff.

In fact, we're going to take a prayer break right now. I want you to stretch your hands toward the stage, and I've never really do this, but I need it right now. Stretch your hands toward me and pray for me because I struggle sometimes. I worry about stupid stuff, so pray for me. God, out loud people. God, I pray for the guest preacher that he would stop worrying about stupid stuff and stop being so petty and so easily offended. and check in Instagram instead of reading this Bible. I put your hand on the person on either side of you.

They might need it to. Say, God, I pray for him or her that he or she will stop worrying about stupid stuff that won't matter in five years or even five minutes, and they wouldn't let people steal their joy, trying to impress people that didn't die for them and trying to do stuff to get people's attention who aren't even paying attention because they're not thinking about them. They're thinking about themselves anyway,

and I pray that their eyes will get so. fixed on you, that even if the wind and the waves keep raging, that they would stay locked in on what matters and know that your love is greater than all shame and all sin, and if they belong to you, nothing is impossible. It's good. I'm not a hostage. I'm not a hostage. In fact, Paul takes it a step further.

He says, not only am I not a hostage to what I feel or not only am I not a hostage. to what I expected, because some of us cannot receive what God is doing in our lives, because we are too married to our expectation of what we thought God was going to do. But Paul said, I'm not a hostage to my expectations. I'm not a hostage to my plans because I'm committed to God's purpose. Somebody say it out loud, I'm not a hostage. I'm not a hostage. I'm a weapon formed in the hands of God and aimed at the darkness and created to do good works in Christ Jesus. I feel like preaching. This is his interpretation.

This is his interpretation of his situation. He says, what does it matter? I need you to find that radio station this week. W.D. I am. You've been listening to the wrong stations. That's why you've been having all this needless anxiety. And that's why you keep replaying stuff that happened and living in regret and bitterness and replaying things that people said to offend you. Paul said, what does it matter? The important thing is, now listen, whatever you put next after that phrase, that's what your joy is connected to.

And Paul said, for me, the important thing is Christ has preached. The important thing is, and I wonder have we really even figured out what that is yet in our lives. Because whatever comes next, if it's money for you, your joy is connected to your money. Money's up, joy's up. Money's down, joys down. The important thing is if you put a human and the way that that human being feels about you in that blank, especially if you've got teenagers, good luck keeping your joy relatively consistent. My sister, my brother. Paul said, the important thing is the purpose of God is going forward. So even if I'm in this prison, I don't feel sorry for myself because God is using this too. This too. The pain that we would

pray away, the dysfunctions about ourselves that we don't like and we think we could be so much more effective if God would change them, that one little thing about you that you think prohibits you from being greatly used by the kingdom of God, it is in your weakness that his strength is made perfect. So if the situation doesn't change, God change me and use me. And I'm in these chains right now, Paul said. But if God can use these chains of my situation to change somebody else's life, then God use the chains. God, if you don't remove the chains, use them. Use them.

Use this season of my life how you want to use it. Because that's what matters to me. I'm not there yet, but I want to get here. Where I interpret my situation through the lens of God's love and his purpose. But then I want to show you one more thing. This is so good. this is like this right here this shift everybody say shift happens because paul right there in verse you know the bible wasn't originally divided up into chapters and verses that was done later so we could find

it in our bible this was a letter that he wrote to people that he loved and they're circulating this letter around in philippi and they're knocking on lydia's door who helps start to church maybe uh uh if she's still around maybe she's come maybe they're maybe they're meeting at her house to hear how Paul's doing. And if Paul's getting out and Paul's saying in the letter, I'm already out. I'm already out. I'm not out of prison yet, but I'm already free. My situation hasn't changed yet, but my spirit is free. My feet are chained, but my mind is free. And then he makes a shift. He goes from interpretation, which is the first dynamic of faith to anticipation. And it's weird because he doesn't know what's going to happen next.

I mean, you heard him. He's like, might live, might die. Might go see Jesus. Might stay stuck here with you. Either way, whether or I'm good. I'm not a hostage. God's going to use me here. God's going to use me there.

If he leaves me, he has something for me to do. If he takes me, he's done with me. I'm good either way. But watch this. And I want you to help me with this because if we count the number of times in the next 10 verses, Paul says, will. If we count those out loud together, let's see what we get. He says in verse 18B, yes, and I will. That's one.

So you say continue to rejoice. I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus, Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect in hope that I, in no way be ashamed, but have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for me to live as Christ and dies gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what? Shall is kind of like will. We'll count it. I do not know. I am. torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more

necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I remain and I continue with all of you for your progress. Oh, it's not about me. It's not always about me moving up. It's not always about my progress, my feelings, my preference, my convenience, my plans. I remain for your progress and join the faith so that through my being with you again, you're boasting in Christ Jesus 10 verses 10 times. And he can't quite get it across because he doesn't have the kind of faith that is dependent on the outcome. Some of us have a faith that is held hostage to the outcome. And if we see our progress and sense our progress, then we press in and press on.

Paul said, I'm not a hostage to the outcome. I trust God in the process. It's like he can't quite figure out how to get this idea across because it's so foreign, you know, because we usually walk by sight, what we see, what we feel, what we know. When we don't feel progress, we skip church. When we don't feel progress, we skip the gym. When we don't feel progress, we stop praying. When the healing doesn't come, we somehow lose our sense of confidence in the goodness of God. But Paul, he does something that you can only do when you're the Apostle Paul.

He makes up a word and puts it in the Bible. It just makes it up. It's in verse 20. In English, it takes a few words to get the idea across. He says, I eagerly expect and hope. In Greek, it's all one word. And it's not used, but only one other time in the Bible. And Paul's the one who used it again.

Like you're sitting there in that prison and he's like, I know God's going to do it. Not that he's going to get me out. I don't know if he's going to do that or not. But I know that even if he doesn't, he's good. So I'm here, but I'm not really confined to this situation because God is greater than my situation and my hope is not in my situation. It's not in my situation. It's like eagerly expecting hope.

And he makes up a word. And the word in Greek is apocar dokia. Say it? You did that good. I preached this all over the world and nobody ever got it that quick. That was wonderful. It's three words. The prefix, apo. I'll say apo.

It means to turn away. ignoring other interests. I can preach a series on APO. Because sometimes we need to turn away ignoring stuff that seems important, that really isn't important, and fix our eyes on something that will actually matter and actually last. I'm serious. This is not a season for you to be comparing yourself to others,

because you're not seeing their real life anyway. You're seeing an image of their life. And when you compare your behind the scenes with everybody else's highlight reel, no wonder you're miserable. Your life doesn't suck. You just need to stop scrolling for a minute and focus on something higher than what they're doing. Apo. That's the prefix.

Kara. Kara. It means head. And that's all it means. Doki. you're going to love this to stretch forward. So I'm turning my head away. I'm turning away, ignoring other interests.

I could focus on what they're saying about me. I could focus on when my trial's going to be. I could focus on how unfair it was. Did you hear what they said about me? Did you see what they did to me? I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for his dumb financial decision. I told him not to buy that boat. I'm turning away from that.

And I'm stretching my head forward. Apocaro doquia. You need a little apocara doquia in your life. You need to break out a can of apocara doquia on the devil. The next time he starts reminding you of your past and point to the righteousness of God that is in Jesus Christ. And some of us have our heads so far up our past that we are missing. Come on, Life Church.

I will not stay stuck in this cell. I'm stretching my head forward. I'm full of faith. And I know that God will, because he already has. He brought me this far. Why would he leave me now? What does it matter? The important thing is that all things work together.

for the good. So if it takes these chains to change me or to change somebody, bring it on, I'm not a hostage to my situation. I am a weapon in the hands of God. At every location, we want to take a moment and pray. Would you by your head and close your eyes? Because it may be that as this message has gone forth today, it was like God was speaking to you, specifically about a situation and you've been asking him to change the situation and he's been trying to use the situation to change you And maybe this is a moment for you to surrender and maybe God will change it You know, sometimes he does But if in this moment you're ready to surrender and say God, I'm

I'm tired of looking at what used to be and wishing it could be like that or worrying about things I can't control God Would you enter in this moment and give me the peace that passes all understanding? Apokar do kiya kind of faith that can look forward to the future, without anxiety, without that crippling fear. If that's your prayer today at every location, would you just raise your hand right now so I can pray for you? Father, for all of these who have lifted their hands to say, I need that kind of faith, I need my priorities straight again.

I've been looking to the right and to the left, and I haven't been fixing my eyes straight ahead. I pray that in this moment that you would come into whatever prison, whatever cell, whatever situation, whatever limitation, whatever it is that they've been asking you to remove and use it for your glory. At every location today, it may be that God brought you here to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. And right now I want to pray a prayer with you that if you honestly express this prayer from your heart, the Bible guarantees that God will save you.

It's not predicated on your behavior. It's not like if you fix a certain number of things, then God will love you. There's none righteous. Not one of us in here is saved or rescued or brought into relationship with God by something good that we have done. And everything that you need to be saved has already been done for you. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So at all of our locations right now, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And if this expresses the desire of your heart to be saved, repeat this prayer after me.

And we're going to pray out loud together as a church family. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the Savior of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died to forgive my sin and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. On the count of three, if you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand up at every location. We want to celebrate you. One, two, three. As hands are going up, let's celebrate Life Church, the goodness and the greatness of our God.

Come on, let's give him praise.