The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Relationships Matter

Episode Date: February 12, 2023

The theological reality of the gospel is that Jesus’s life, death and resurrection has reconciled you to the Father. The relational reality of the gospel is that the gospel should connect you to the body of Christ. If you are in Christ, you should be a part of His family, the church.  

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing good? You look great. If you got your Bibles and you better. Grab them, go to Philippians. Philippians. If you didn't bring your own Bible, you can grab one in the seat back in front of you.

If you don't have one, that's our gift to you. If you've got one at home, it looks like King James wrote it himself. Or Shakespeare, the thee before thine, except after thou, then grab one of these. It's in a translation that you can understand. We are studying the book of Philippians, and the reason that we're doing this is because, at the beginning of the year, we declare that this is the year of life, and life abundantly. And I didn't make those words up.

Jesus did in John chapter 10. He says that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus, the good shepherd, has come that we may have life and have it abundantly. And we live in a world, and the best thing this world can offer is happiness. And happiness is okay, but happiness is rooted in your happening. So when the happenings change, your happiness can go with it. But joy is rooted in Jesus, and he never changes or our joy never has to go away. Joy is not a feeling.

Joy is a lifestyle. And to understand this letter, it's really a letter. We call it a book, but it's only this big, okay? In my Bible, it's only this big. But I use the EOP, the extra large print version. So some of you, it's like the whole letter is like fits in your pocket. And God bless you and your eyesight, all right? In fact, I can't even get a study Bible in the font that I need it

because they would say like in the beginning. Okay, that's how it would go. And you've got to understand that the Apostle Paul writes this to his friends in Philippi from prison. And this is the book of joy. The word joy or rejoice or some derivative of joy is going to be in here 14 times

in just those two pages in my Bible. Because it's not his circumstances that dictate his life. It is his walk with Jesus that has changed everything. And this world needs some joy, amen? And so here's how he starts. He starts with the introduction.

We covered two verses last week. We're going to be real aggressive to do like eight or nine this week. Verse three starts this way. way, he's going to start with prayer. He's also going to end with prayer. This whole message, it's just bookend in prayer. He says this, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

Now, this is significant. If you were here last week, you remember that as a good Orthodox Jewish guy, that he would wake up every day and he would have a certain prayer that he would pray. And the prayer started out this way. God, I thank you that I, which, by the way, at the beginning of your prayer, is to thank God for you, you're not doing it right. Now he's not praying for about himself anymore. Now he is praying for some other people.

And what he was praying is what the Orthodox prayer would be is, God, I thank you that I am not a woman, am not a slave, am not a Gentile. And then the Spirit of God brings him into Philippi. You can read about it in Acts 16. And the first three people that God saves in Philippi is a woman, a slave, and a Gentile. Why?

Because this gospel movement is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, 10 years later, as Paul is in prison, he is writing a letter to his friends back at Philippi, and now he's not praying about how great he is. He's praying for his friends and about his friends. Let me ask you this. Who's praying for you? You have people really praying for you?

And don't give me this when my mom prays for me. She don't know what to pray about because you lie to her all the time, man. You ain't telling her the truth. Okay? You got to have people that are praying for you. I mean really going before God, our maker on your behalf and pouring it out. By the way, you have a church that wants to pray for you. In the seatbacks in front of you is a little connect card, and there's stuff that you can contact us and connect with us about.

But the most important thing on that card is that prayer request section. We have an army of volunteers that gathers every single week and prays over every single one of those prayer requests. And sometimes your bad theology keeps you for asking for a prayer request because you'll begin to think, that's not that big a deal. Well, is it a big deal to you? Because if it's a big deal to you, it's a big deal to God because you were a big deal to God. And he's got plenty of time. It's not like you're going to distract him. You understand? In fact, the Bible says this. In Revelation chapter 8, people always ask me, when are you going to teach on Revelation? It's at the end of the book, okay? So we'll get there eventually. I don't know if you've read the Revelation before.

There's a lot going on. It's kind of crazy. There's dragons. There's trumpets. There's locusts. There's parades. It's noisy. It's very, very noisy. And when you get to chapter 8, verse 1, God says to all of heaven, hush. And the Bible says that he silences heaven for 30 minutes. Michael, put your trumpet up. Locusts stop. Horses, whoa, all right? Why?

Why does he want it quiet for 30 minutes so that he can hear the prayers of his people? Amen. Think about this, man. Every time you pray, you get God's attention. Did you realize that? When my daughter was real little and she would be talking to me, and I would have like one eye on the sports center and one eye on the daughter,

she would grab my face and turn it and say, look at me with your face. That's what she was saying. Did you know you never have to grab the face of God and say, would you pay attention to me? You always have his attention. And the apostle Paul knows this, and so he's saying, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

Are there people that when you think about them, you thank God for them? Are there people in your life? and when you think about them, you thank God for them. Well, let me just let you know this. Have you told them lately? Unspoken gratitude is worthless. Husbands, unspoken gratitude is worthless.

Valentine's Day is coming up. I know it stupid, Hallmark made it up. Unspoken gratitude is worthless. I want to put this into practice right now. I'm going to admonish you, church, to do what the word says, okay? Don't merely hear the word and deceive yourself, but do what it says right now. Get out your phone. If there is a person that when you think about them, you thank God for them, then send them a text right now and say,

I thank my God every single time I remember you. Are you praying for people? Are people praying for you? These are the kind of gospel relationships that we are supposed to be in. He says, I thank my God. In all my remembrance of you, verse four, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy. Again, 14 times in this letter, he talks about joy.

How can he have so much joy for his friends? You ever get jealous of your friends? You ever get jealous? Get that phone call, and you're like, oh, no, good, sister-in-law. Another raise. That's so, God bless you so much. And you're like, how in the world that crooked and depraib? Do you ever do that?

Just me? Cool. You see, here's the thing, man. Not my sister-in-law. She's great. but here's the thing. Here's how he can have joy in his relationships. First and foremost, there is no comparison.

Paul never compares his life to anybody else's life. Because when you fall into that comparison trap, it will rob you of joy every single time. You will begin to really be offended by God thinking, you gave her too much and me not enough. The other thing that Paul never does is Paul never tries to take credit for what God is doing in their life. You ever met that person that needs all the credit?

It will rob you of joy. And yet what Paul does here is he thanks God in all of his remembrance of his friends, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy. Verse 5, because of your partnership in the gospel. Underline those words in your Bible. Partnership in the gospel. From the first day until now. That word partnership there is the Greek word coinania.

Some of you Bible nerd types, you know what that means, okay? We translate that word in most places, fellowship. All right now, if you're Baptist, you don't even know what fellowship is. You think it's a hall where you eat other people's casserole and it smells weird all the time. That's not what fellowship is. This is gospel partnership. This is deep and abiding friendships. Let me ask you this.

Are your deepest relationships rooted in Christ? Are they just based on your hobbies? I mean, do you have a band of brothers or do you just have buddies? And buddies are all right, better than nobody. But buddies are just rooted in your hobbies. Like you got golf buddies and surf buddies and, you know, that kind of tennis buddies. But this is not what we're talking about here. We're not talking about when the hobby is over and then the relationship is over.

We're talking about gospel partnerships, deep and abiding friendships. Because let me tell you what you need way more than a buddy, man. You need a band of brothers that loves you, that cares about you, that knows you. You need some people with refrigerator rights. You know what refrigerator rights are? That's the kind of people

that they just Kramer. They just walk into door if you don't know who Kramer is. He was an evangelist back in the 90s. Pretty good guy. And they don't have to ask. They just roll up in your house. They know where the K-cups are.

They know where the coffee is. You know what I mean? They just go straight to it. And they don't only have refrigerator rights to your house. They got like refrigerator rights to your heart. And they would love you more than they love you.

being your buddy. So they don't mind having the difficult conversation. They don't mind pointing at you and say, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on in here? Do you have those kind of people in your life? Because that's what we were created for. We were wired for that. Do you have a band of brothers or a band of sisters that's willing to go to war on your behalf because our battle is not against flesh and blood? It is against the demonic powers and evils and principalities. Who's got your back in that situation. You see, the Apostle Paul says, I consider you partners in the gospel. It takes a lot to be a partner in the gospel. It means at least four things. First and foremost, you have to have received the gospel, that you have taken part in the gospel. Have you received

the gospel? Have you believed, have you trusted that God sent his only begotten son, Jesus, on a rescue mission to live a perfect life, to die in your place? And when he pushed up on his nail pierce feet and says, it is finished. that somehow that counted for you. Have you received it? It's not just being a part of church. It's not just showing up to an event, but it's receiving the gospel.

I've told you a million times, man, going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than putting your head in the oven makes you a biscuit? That is not how this thing works, man. It is from the inside out that you have been redeemed by the good news of Jesus.

Have you done that? He also means not only have you received the gospel, but that you are a partner. You are a part of the body. Listen, you are not saved by the church, but you are saved into the church. There is no such thing as Solah Christianity. It's a team sport. To say that you don't need a church to really grow in Jesus as being like a dude saying,

I'm a baseball player, I just don't have a team. No, you're not. You're just a weird guy in tight pants. You understand? And I know we live in a world right now that's like, I don't need the church because I can just grow with God and the beach and I can just worship online and do that. No, no, no, no, man. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 12

that the church is one body with many parts. And all of us are connected to Christ the head through the body of Christ called His church. Now, not just this local church, but this is the Big C church. Did you have to be connected? Because what happens to a disconnected body part? I've told you this a million times.

If you were walking to your car and you got to your car and there was just at toe, just a singular toe, Here's what you would think. First of all, you would think, that's gross. Even connected ones aren't great, true? And here's what you would think. Something has gone horribly wrong here.

You would not look at that toe and be like, oh, you individual toe. Who am I to tell you that you have to be a part of a body? No, no. You would look at that toe and go, something has gone horribly wrong, not only for the toe, but there's also some non-toe guy hopping around here and something's going horribly wrong for him too. And you would know, you don't even have to be a a doctor or sleep at a holiday in express to diagnose the future of the tub.

It's going to shrivel up, stink, and die. When you get disconnected from the body of Christ, your future is you're going to shrivel up, stink, and die. You are to be a part of the body. And listen, and I know some of you are like, yeah, but I have church hurt. Man, that word is thrown around a lot. For sure, there are people that have been abused at a church, and there are people that have been hurt at church. and let me tell you, people hurt people, man. And this place is full of sinners.

Look around. Look around. And people are going to disappoint you and people are going to let you down. And the church didn't hurt you. There were some people at church that hurt you. Trust me, I'm the boss of this place. Never once have we gathered together

and be like, let's get Tammy in the road three, you know? No, man. Nobody's conspiring against you, all right? It's not how it works. And if you had a bad church experience, that doesn't mean you give up on church. You've had a bad haircut. You didn't give up on haircuts, did you? You've eaten a bad meal.

You didn't give up on meals, obviously, did you? Right. You see, we are to be connected to the body. We were to be a part of the body. There is no such thing as a lone partner. And so let me talk to you real quick about our 1122 online crowd. We love you. And there's some things I want to say to you.

Because there's a bunch of different groups in our online crowd. For some of you, you're just out of town this week. You miss this week, no problem. Thanks for keeping up. We'll see you next week. For some of you, you're just checking it out, and you may attend, and it's like the front porch. You're kind of peered in the window, see if you want to come in.

I hope you'll show up. For some of you, you're a member of another church somewhere, and you just can't get enough church. Well, God bless your ministry. So you listen to me, you listen to a bunch of my friends. We hope this is a supplement to you. No problem. For some of you, we are your home.

church and you don't live close enough to come here right now. And so you have just raised your hand and said, would you disciple me? And our answer is yes. We would gladly disciple you. However, you've got to take an extra step too. Join an online group. Take vacation. You better be here for Beach baptism, going on a mission trip. If this is your church, you do the things your church does, all right? And then lastly, all those are fine. And then some of you are just lazy. You just gotten into bad habits. so set an alarm put on some pants and come out right and all these people aren't judging you they're welcoming you in now and it's not because we need more people here look around right everybody appreciates a chair or two in between you it's not because we need more people in the buildings

it's because you need to be a part of the body 59 times in the new testament we are told to one another one another like love one another pray for one another lay hands on one greet one another with a holy kiss. You can't do that online, okay? So you've got to be a part of the body. So what it means to be a partner in the gospel is you receive the gospel, you're part of the body. Later on, he's going to say that a part of what it means to be a partner in the gospel is that the people partnered in the preaching of the gospel. What they understood is that it was not just Paul's job. But the people in Philippi partnered in preaching the gospel. they were partakers in grace in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

We'll get there in a little while. And so let me just tell you this, 1122. Good job in partnering in preaching the gospel and sharing your faith. Because you guys understand that it's not just my job, it's your job too, to share your faith. Now, when I say share your faith, it can mean a whole bunch of different things. Because I know sometimes when you hear the word share your faith, you think, ooh, I don't think I can do that. Because the last time somebody shared their faith with you was on the

way to the Jags game, the guy with the bullhorn was like, you're going to hell. I'm like, no, I'm going to the Jags game. You used to feel like hell. Now it feels better. All right, go Doug Peterson. So sometimes all that means, sometimes all that means is that you share an invitation. Hey, would you come to church with me? Now, please don't say a nonvitation.

Do you know what a non-vite is? A non-vite is when you say, you should come to my church sometime. There's no some time on your calendar. It's like if you get invited to a thing, if you say, yeah, let me think about that and get back with you. You've already thought about it. I think I'm not going, but I'm just not going to tell you yet. You've already determined that. Yeah, that's what a non-vite is.

In fact, my wife Gretchen has a sweatshirt and it says, sorry I was late, I didn't want to come. I love it so much, I don't let her wet it in public because she's offensive, okay? So don't, not an invitation. An invitation is, I go to 1122 at Say Your Campus and why don't we meet at 10 o'clock, do brunch, then we'll come to the 1122 service, and you can sit with me. That is an invitation. And you guys do a remarkable job at this. Because all these people that we're baptized in right now, they're your one more's. They're your one more's. So you're doing an amazing job. In fact, we have so many people

getting baptized that the baptisms were supposed to stop in the last series, but we just have so many people coming to the class that we're just going to keep going and keep going and I'd be good if we did it forever. And way to go. celebrating. I mean, here at San Pablo, we had two baptisms today, and you stood up and sat down and stood up. The Catholic's all right. Finally, man, I get my work out in, all right? But it's so good, man. Great way to go there. And sometimes it's sharing an invitation. Sometimes it's sharing prayer. And here's what I mean. You're in your office, man, and you have made it clear, or you've just asked the people, can I pray for you? How can I be praying for you? Don't make them feel

weird right in that moment. And here's what happens. Even the most atheistic person in your cubicle section. When Kathy's life falls apart and it's going to fall apart, guess who she's going to come talk to? She's going to come talk to the praying person just in case. So sometimes it's as simple as saying, hey, how can I pray for you? Sometimes you share your testimony. Sometimes people ask you a question like, you seem different. What's going on? Oh my goodness. This is a soft. fall, they're like, please share the gospel with me. And all you do is share your story. Because

you might not know all the theological concepts of substitutionary atonement. That's okay. But you know that you used to be blind. Then you met Jesus and now you can see. And here's what's great about it, man. You can argue about the creation. You can argue about Noah. You can argue about many paths to heaven. You can argue about all that kind of stuff.

You can be wrong. But you can't argue about it. But you can't argue with your story. You can't argue with your story. So sometimes you just share your story. Sometimes you do the whole thing, man. Sometimes you share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That he came on a rescue mission, lived the perfect life, died on the cross in our place, was resurrected on the third day, and one day is coming to claim us and take us home.

And then sometimes you share just another cup of coffee. Because they're not ready yet, and you cannot motivate another human's heart to do anything. I promise you. Trust me. Trust me. You think it's my words that save anybody? I cannot even convince the other three people in my house. have my last name to eat at the same place.

Surely I can't convince them of eternity. But when people realize that they are a person that you love, not a project that you were trying to accomplish, when the scubilion hits the fan and it will hit the fan, they will come to that person you that was willing to care for them and listen to them. What it means to be a partner in the gospel, is to receive the gospel, to be a part of the body,

to partner in the preaching. And then fourthly, he's going to talk about this in a later chapter, is that the church in Philippi partnered in generosity to push the gospel forward. He's saying thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your generosity. There were many times where nobody would support Paul's ministry, but the church at Philippi graciously and generously took money and said, here, we want to advance the gospel. Listen, church of 1122, thank you, thank you, thank you for your gospel generosity.

I mean, it's amazing how generous you. are. The reason that we've been able to plant almost 500 churches around the world, grow to 10 campuses here, lead almost 10,000 people to Jesus is because you didn't make it all about you, but you were a conduit of God's blessing instead of a cul-de-sac of God's blessing. And so, when you are ready to move from being a Christian consumer to a gospel partner, then you should become a covenant member of the Church of 1122. The reason that we have men is, you know, is because the Bible talks about membership, that we are one body with many parts. And if this is your church, man, if Jesus is your Lord and you buy into the mission and vision and values of what we do,

then you should take that step and say, I am all in. I want to partner in the gospel from the first day until now. And then with that in mind, Paul says this in verse six. He says, and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Now this is our memory verse. This verse matters. There have been several times in my life where I've had to cling to this verse.

You see, Paul is doing ministry with people and has he thinks about how awesome they are and how much he loves them, he also has to remind himself that he is confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. day of Jesus Christ. And here's why he has to remind him, because it is not complete yet.

You see, the thing about progressive sanctification means that we have not arrived yet. The word sanctification just simply means to be made more and more like Jesus, that over time, not overnight, the Holy Spirit with the Word of God, like a hammer and a chisel, chisels everything in your life that doesn't look like Jesus out. And let me tell you three times in your life that you're probably going to have to cling to this verse. Number one is if you ever disciple people, if you ever do ministry with people, you know what the problem with ministry is? People. I had no gray hairs before I met you people. I need you to know this. You're doing this to me. You know, my wife has aged like a fine wine. I'm aging like milk. Just chunky and white. That's what's

happening to me, okay? So it's your fault. And here's what I mean, man. people will always let you down. You pour into people and pour into people and pour into people regardless of what the ministry is. And I'm just telling you, you know what people will do? They will sin because they're sinners. And what you have to be confident of is not in your inability to make everybody perfect, but you've got to be confident that is he who began the good work. And God always finishes what he started.

And when God started with them and they put their faith in Christ, when they stumble and when they fall, they're still going to fall on the same grace that got them into his family to begin with, and he ain't done with him yet. Another place you've got to cling to this is if you're a parent, if you're a parent trying to raise your kid in the gospel,

listen, nothing to reveals your insecurity and ego like being a parent. Now, if you've got little, it's like little tini's right now, you know, and you have to carry them around and feed them, okay, memorize this for the future because right now they're just precious little angels, all right? Let me tell you what's going to happen to your angel, okay? They're going to rise up out of Sunday school like a demonic, crazy person and try to murder you in your sleep.

That's coming your way, right? Yeah, we call that middle school. And here's what I need to tell you, man, that it was, that you can be confident in this. If your kid has put their faith in Jesus Christ, it is Jesus that started that good work. And it is Jesus that will bring that good work to completion. and the good work that you will be evaluated on when you stand before him and hear the word, well done, good and faithful sermon,

is not how great of a parent you are, but what a great father he is. And listen, man, you got to remember. We got to remember, I'm just preaching to me right now. We got to remember this is a journey, not a snapshot. Because there's one little moment in their life where they surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And now it is a journey.

It is a journey. And when we talk about salvation, it is past, present, and future. When you get saved, when you put your faith in Jesus, you have been saved from the penalty of sin. That's called justification. And you are currently being saved from the power of sin in your life. That's called sanctification.

And one day you will be saved from the very presence of sin. That's called glorification. But we ain't there yet. So if you take one little snapshot of your kid's life when they're a sophomore in high school, it may not look like they're on fire for Jesus. It may look like they're going to be on fire forever. But you don't take a picture of just that one moment. That you can be confident of this, that he, Jesus,

Who began a good work? We'll bring it to completion in the day of Jesus. And for some of you parents, I just want to let you off the mat a little bit. I was doing a men's conference in North Carolina last year. Standing on stage with some giants of the faith, man. J.D. Greer, John Tyson, Brian Larritz, and me. And Brian Larritz to a bunch of dad says this. In Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal, what did the dad do wrong?

The answer is nothing. The dad represents God. And yet even that man's child ran from him, but praise God. God wasn't done with him. He came back home. You see, I mean, think about it. God himself, his first two children in Adam and Eve, they screwed it up for all of us. And then their kids, one of them killed the other one.

So you may be doing a better job than you thought. And you might have to cling to this verse. The third time I find myself clinging to this verse, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ is this, it's in my own sanctification. It's in my own sanctification. I've been a professional Christian for 30 years. I've been on church staff since I was 19. I'm 49 this year. I'm going to be honest. Is this a place? Can we be honest here? I thought I'd be a lot further down the road than I am. I thought I'd be a lot more sanctified than I am. You ever been there?

you ever look at yourself in the mirror and go, what is wrong with you? And here's the answer, you? Everything's wrong with you. You realize that? That's why Jesus had to come and die on the cross because everything is wrong with you. Anytime I don't do much premarital counseling anymore, but when I did, I would look at the two people and I'd be like, all right, there's only two reasons this thing might fail. It's husband and wife.

Other than you two, this thing's going to be great. Because we are the problem. And when you stumble and when you fall, You fall on the same grace that saved you, and he's not done with you. Because listen, man, I turned 50 this year, right? In September, I'll turn 50. And the problem is we look forward with such hope and anticipation about the giants and the fate that we're going to be. I mean, I would look at myself, when I was 30, I thought for sure when I'm 50, I'm going to be mature.

I don't know why you laugh. I hurt my one feeling, man. I appreciate it, but isn't it true? You ever look back at your life five years ago and be like, what an immature little jerk? Guess what you're going to think five years from now about you right now, the same? But the good news is, man, it's not your effort and striving that's going to change you, but you can be confident of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Because, man, we are prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. Somebody sent me this video this week, and it said, this is literally my way. walk with Jesus. And the video was this sheep stuck in this ditch and the farmer shepherd is down there muddy trying to get the sheep out of the ditch. It's probably like an eight foot ditch and he's climbed down in there and he's all messy and dirty and he gets the sheep out and he puts him in the field and the sheep does a big old arc and comes back around. Maybe you can jump it this time and then head on right back into the ditch. And I just, me too, man. Me too. But I am confident of this. I'm not confident in this. I'm confident of this.

That he who began a good work and you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. So are you confident? Are you sure? Are you sure of your salvation? Sometimes I'll get asked this question. By the way, Calvin wrote this as the perseverance of the saints. People will ask me this, pastor, can somebody lose their salvation? It's the wrong question. The question is not can you lose your salvation. It's the question. It's not, can you lose your salvation? It's not like car keys that you found and be like, where did I put my salvation? Can't find them? Nope. The question is, can God lose one of his children?

And the answer is absolutely not. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God. There is nothing that could snatch you out of the hand of God because your confidence is not in your ability to choose right things. Your confidence is in the finish work of Christ, and he always finishes what he starts. C.S. Lewis says some version of, I could no more turn away from Christ than I could deny the sense. It's not that I merely see the sun, but I see everything by it.

Man, when you've been run over by the grace train of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it changes everything about you and you cannot deny it. He says, I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And then he gets a little emotional here. He says, and it is right for me to feel this way about you all. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but Paul, it knows. the most like feeling guy.

I mean, he's shipwrecked, he's beaten, he's snake-bitten, he's been stoned to death, I think, one time, came back and still preaches. He's the kind of man that's in prison and says things, we'll talk about it next week, to live as Christ, to die his game. Do you know how hard do you have to be? The jailer comes in and be like, if you don't shut up,

we're going to kill you. Come on, man. To die his gain. I'll be face to face with my Heavenly Father, please. Okay, we'll let you live. All right, neat. Can I share the gospel? with you because you probably need to get saved too. Well, we're going to beat you. I can't even

compare my current suffering with a glory that I'll experience by being beaten in his name. Okay, that's a hard dude. And yet when he's talking about his friends and Philippa, he says, it's right for me to feel this way about you all. Now, when he says you all, okay, I know we've had a bunch of Yankees move here, so let me explain this word, you all. There's three versions of the word. There's you, and that just means one you. Then there's y'all, and it's just like some of y'all right here. You know what the plural for y'all is? All y'all.

This is all y'all. He's saying it's right for me to feel this way about all y'all in Philippi. Now, does he know every name in Philippi? Has he been to lunch with everybody in Philippi? No, no, no. It was 10 years ago when he planted the church, but God has given this special place in his heart, and it's right for him to feel this way

about every single person that is a part of this church. I'm going to tell you, man, I feel this way about all y'all. I don't know if it's me getting old or just years of being the lead pastor, but, man, I'm telling you, I don't have the words to adequately express the place in my heart that all y'all have. Man, Friday night, at night to shine, when all y'all were there. It's incredible, man. Like my man, Kate is right here on the front row. Kate is one of our worship leaders, and he leads worship every time he's here, right? Now, Cade and his family has had some experiences at other churches, for whatever reason, they said,

maybe not the front row for y'all. We say, no, no, no, no, Cade's one of our worship leaders. I saw Cade do three laps on the red carpet at night to shine, praise God. And my favorite one is he finally slowed down long enough to hug my neck, all right? I saw so many of all y'all at night to shine. In fact, at one point, I was standing when Mr. and Mrs. Tebow, and Mr. Tebow looks at me, he goes, how many of your people are here how many of these people go to 1122 and i was like pretty much all of them is what it looks like i mean i'm just telling you you our people are the best listen man by god's grace

i get to do this for a living and it's one of the greatest honors of my entire life and for whatever reason i get to invite i get invited to speak everywhere i mean all the famous conferences all the famous churches, I get to preach it. And every time I do, I kind of feel like something's kind of missing. I mean, all the famous, I don't tell my friends when I bring them to saturated and I tell you that their church is awesome, but I'm just telling you, when I get back here from one of my friends' church, I think, that's kind of JV compared to 1122, man. I'm telling you guys are the best. You are the best. And it is right for me to feel this way about you all. Because I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace.

You see, I hope you realize, man, what we're doing is not new is just our turn. I mean, what God is doing here is unbelievable, but it's undeniable. And the reason he's doing it through us, it ain't because of us. What we're doing is not new. It's just our turn. We stand on the shoulders of faithful men and women who have gone before us. I mean, for generations, there are people in this city, in Jacksonville, who have been praying for a revival.

And I hope you know that we are harvesting the seeds that they planted a generation ago. This thing is just a big old relay race. And when it was our turn, we just took the baton, and we promised we're going to run as hard and fast as we can by the power of the Holy Spirit, standing on the authority of God's Word. And then there will come a day. Well, we'll hand it to the next generation. And we're going to be a bunch of curmudgens, man. We're going to be the biggest cheerleaders ever.

And they're going to change a whole bunch of stuff as long as they don't change the gospel. And we're going to spur them on to continue. to build the kingdom of God. That's what Paul's talking about with Philippi. He says, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, Paul's saying, I'm not using you as a poem for my own advancement that we partnered together

in this thing for the glory of God. So listen, I love this church, I love being a part of this church. He says, for God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. So a request I would have, don't ever apologize for saying hi to me or me and Gretchen if we see each other out and about.

We're family, man. We're in this thing together. It's why I stand in the lobby. I'm the last one to leave. So I just want to meet people and pray for people. If Gretchen and I didn't want to be interrupting when we went out to dinner, we'd just grub up it and stay at our house. And honestly, she can't keep her hands off of you because I could use the break.

You understand? So I just have one request. I hope you could feel the sarcasm there because I was layering on pretty thick, okay? The one thing is just when you come up and say hi, just don't say I go to your church because it's not my church. It's not my church.

Ultimately, it's Jesus's the church, he's the senior pastor, the chief shepherd. I just work here for a little while, hopefully 20 more years or so. You're here and I'm here, so we go to church together. So just say that. So, hey, we go to church together. And then I don't know who's paying attention to,

so I know how to talk to you. So that'll help. And he says, for God is my witness. He's like, you don't believe me? You don't believe these feelings I have for you? For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Pastor Olson texted me this week as he was preparing for the service. And he says, how do you think Paul knew the affections of Christ Jesus?

Because he wasn't like a walk-around disciple with Jesus for three years. He was the disciple untimely born. Like he saw Jesus face-to-face on the road to Damascus. but he didn't get to do the last supper and he didn't get his feet washed and he didn't get to feed the 5,000, okay? And I think the answer to it, the reason, the way that Paul could know the affection of Christ Jesus, is the same way that you and I are invited to know the affection of Christ Jesus. In John chapter 15, there's this beautiful promise from Jesus. He says this, he says, how about this invitation?

Jesus says, abide in me and I will abide in you. That's like relationship terms, man. They didn't just believe that. That didn't just show up to church. says like, come here, come here, come here, come here. Get real close to me, and I'll stay real close to you. You go, how do I do that? He goes, well, it's like a branch and a vine, and where the branch meets the vine, you can't even tell where the vine ends and the branch begins, and all your nourishment is going to come from me and go, well, how do I do that? And he says this,

he says, listen, abide in my word, and I will abide in you. Do you know why we teach the Bible here and encourage you to read the Bible and be in a disciple group to learn the Bible? Because this is not just some historical document that was preserved over the last few thousand years. This thing is a gift of God. It is living. It is active. It is supernatural. It will do things in your life that mere words cannot do. And he says this, the brother of Jesus, how about this is it a promise? The brother of Jesus says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Later, John, he's going to say that we love because he first loved us. that you are not going to be able to rightly be in these kind of gospel partnerships if you are not abiding in the vine, knowing Jesus.

The love of God comes through us into our relationships with one another. And we got a relationship problem in our world right now, man. I mean a big-time relationship problem. In fact, I did a little study recently on the effects of the pandemic. and loneliness. And I would just say this, man, if you're a younger person like 25 or under, my generation failed you. Failed you. Now, the pandemic was real and people got sick and people died, but loneliness is real too, and mental health is real. And it is a pandemic right now. You see, here's what some stats say. 36% of people survey reported serious loneliness,

feeling lonely frequently or almost all the time. This included, listen to this, 61% of young people ages 18 to 25, and 51% of mothers with young children. They're one of the loneliest groups of people on the planet right now, or 18 to 25 year olds. 43% of young adults reported increases in loneliness since the outbreak of the pandemic. And about half of lonely young adults in our survey reported that no one in the past few years. weeks had taken more than just a few minutes to ask how they are doing in a way that made them feel like the person genuinely cared. But they probably liked their social media posts.

The church could cure this one this week to actually look people in the eye and care about people and ask people how they're doing. Young adults suffer high rates of both loneliness and anxiety and depression. And according to a recent CDC survey, so maybe like 50-50 on if this is true, I'm not sure, but 63% of young adults are suffering significant symptoms of anxiety and depression. They go on to say, there is now substantial evidence that having a lack of social connections significantly increases the risk of premature mortality. Loneliness increases the likelihood of mortality by 26%. The effect of loneliness in isolation on mortality is comparable to the

impact of well-known risk factors like obesity and has a similar influence as cigarette smoking. Loneliness is associated with increased in heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, progression of frailty, cognitive decline, dementia, depression, suicide, poor cognitive function. It's unbelievable. An evolutionary biologist did a study. I love it when the evolutionary biologist finally catch up with the scriptures, don't you? He said that the key to contentment and longevity is how social you are. He said, loneliness is the equivalent on your health of smoking 17 cigarettes a day.

Apparently, according to this doctor, you could cut it down to a pack a day and you'd do better as long as you smoke with some buddies. How many cigarettes are in a pack? 20? Of course, our deacons, no, that's cool. Now, listen, I am not promoting cigarette smoking, okay? It's dumb, don't do it.

Cigar, it's pretty cool. Let's be honest, all right, no problem there. Caregivers live the longest. their health benefits to being engaging in other people's lives. Why? Because of community. They have community and they have a cause. They have people and they have a purpose. That one in seven men in America don't have a single friend. We're talking about buddies, about people that know you. My opinion, I think this is why Joe Rogan is so popular. Why? Because men don't have actual friends. So you get a fake friend right around in the car with you and talk to you about nothing for three

hours. Listen, man, is there anything with Joe Rogan? Yeah, everything, but here's the thing, though, when your marriage falls apart, Rogan ain't going to help you. When your life falls apart, Joe ain't praying for you. Do you have gospel partnerships? It says close relationships more than money or fame are what keep people content through their lives. 58% of Americans often felt like no one in their life knew them well. It's crazy, man. Now, why do you think the enemy would attack us with loneliness?

Why is loneliness such a significant impact on a human being? Because you and I are image bearers of God. And God in and of himself is a perfect relationship. God the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God in a perfect love relationship. And you were created to be in those kinds of relationships. It matters a lot. And I'm going to tell you this, man, and these things right here are killing us.

They are killing our relationships. and I'm not anti-phone, but what it's doing, the problem is, I mean, all the studies make it very, very clear that a high use and addiction to social media are weakening our ability to have in-person relationships with one another. It creates an anxiety, listen, man,

if you can't go to the bathroom without your phone, there's a problem. Thursday night somebody said, well, what do you do? You'll go to the bathroom. And here's the problem is that this addiction to social media and to our phones and always being available. It attacks us from both sides.

That's the problem. Because when you're with people, you can't be fully attentive to the people because every time the thing goes, it gets your attention. Even if you turn it upside down. And then when you're alone, you're actually still available to the whole world and you don't know what solitude with the Lord is like because everybody is. tethered to you. And it's beating you down from both sides. And isolation and loneliness is one of the key tools of the enemy. Peter says it.

Peter says, watch out, be on guard. Because the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. We've all seen animal planet. Which one does the lion take? He doesn't run to the middle and grab one out of the middle. He gets that one that's way out there isolated by itself. This is why you need gospel partnerships. I mean, you need them.

And so he finishes this way. He says, and it is my prayer. He starts with prayer, he ends with prayer. Do you have people praying for you? Do you have people in community with you that are praying? I want to tell you about one thing that we're doing in the 10-10 life. A whole bunch of what it means to live an abundant life is to have the kind of relationships that God has designed for you.

And I'm not saying relationships are easy because they're with humans and they're very complicated, but it's pretty simple around here to get yourself in an environment where you could be around some people that would partner up in the gospel with you. There's one of our ministry partners called Seymark Ranch. Seymark Ranch is, Seymart Ranch is down south of our Fleming Island campus. And Seymart Ranch is a place for children and teenagers that just through a series of, honestly, because of the fallen world that we live in, they have found themselves without a place. and Seymart Ranch exists so that kids and teenagers can be raised in a nurturing Christian home

and in a family system. And so we support them in a very significant way. And I need you to know about this thing. I need you to write it down. This is an invitation on March the 20th at 7 p.m. I want you to come right here to San Pablo. And we are doing a concert slash worship event to raise money for Seymart Ranch. guy named Gary LaVox is going to be here to sing.

You know that name? Brascal Flats. That dude? Like, so if you're into cars, life is the highway, that guy? Or if God bless the broken road. Either one, okay? It's for all ages. I want you to go online to seemartranch.com, buy tickets,

buy all the tickets, and then you need friends who can invite them to come here. And we're going to worship. You're going to hear a story from one of my dear friends and see how God has used an incredible tragedy in his life to build the kingdom. And we're going to worship our faces off and raise as much money. as we can to support this ministry, Seymart Ranch, that is fighting against the dark one that is trying to take out one more generation by creating these family homes in a Christian environment that's partnered with our church so that he can't take any more of these little ones.

Amen? So be there for that. March 20th, 7 p.m. And then Paul closes with the prayer. You praying for people? I ain't talking about a little unspoken. I don't know who made that up. That's dumb.

down his prayer and says, this is what I am praying for you. Listen, I pray for you all the time. I need you to pray for me too. I need you to pray for me. Man, the enemy would love to take me up. Pray for my family, pray for my children. It costs them a lot to be with me. I promise it does.

Pray for clarity of vision. Pray for obedience to whatever he tells me to do. Here's Paul's prayer for you. Sometimes what I do tomorrow morning, I will be in a tree stand, and I will pray for all y'all. Sometimes I just rip off Paul and I pray these words, This is a good prayer. He says, and it is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment

so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. There are some things that I consistently pray for you. I don't even have time to unpack them. I'm just going to tell you what they are. There are seven things that I've been praying over and over and over for all y'all. one is I pray that you'd quit playing church and be overcome by the goodness of Jesus Christ. And what I mean by that is I quit, I pray that you would just quit attending church like it's an event,

and you would be overwhelmed with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray that you would get one foot in this world and one foot in the kingdom, that you would quit straddling the fence, and today you would make a decision. I pray that you can live out Galatian 614, but far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and not to the world. I pray that for you, man, that if church is a hobby, you'd get a new hobby, but you would fall in love with your Heavenly Father. Secondly, I pray that you would learn the freedom of radical generosity, because so many of

you are bound up by the stuff of this world. The Bible says that the rich roll over the poor and the debtor is slave to the lender, and I have people go, I'm not a slave. Okay, cool. Then give your entire next paycheck to the kingdom of God. can't do that, right, because you ain't in charge of it. You've already made decisions that the things that you think you own actually own you. And I pray that you would learn the freedom of radical generosity that you could wake up every single day and go, my life is a blank check. You send me wherever you want,

I'll do whatever you tell me to do. I pray that God would bless you. This is a tough one. I pray that God would bless you or break you, whatever it takes to draw you to him. And over 10 years, man, I've been walking with some people that have been through some breakings. And my testimony and their testimony would be, and it's worth it. Now, I would hope that you get blessed into the kingdom of heaven. It rarely happens. But whatever it takes for you to know him, I pray that you'd see yourself the way God sees you. A.W. Tozer says, the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God.

And some of you think God's face looks like my face, like kind of, you know? He don't look at you with a scowl. not if you're in Christ Jesus. And the reason is because this is love, not that we love him, but he loved us and sent his son as the propitiation for our sin. And propitiation means a payment that satisfies, which means if you're in Christ,

he cannot be dissatisfied in you. He's a good dad. And when you begin to understand that he's a good dad, he knew what he was getting when he paid for you. He's never been surprised by you, and he wants to bless you, then you could receive the goodness that God has for you. I pray you'd know that.

I pray that you would have. would know that you've not been given a spirit of fear. Mamas of young children, I pray that you would know fear is not a feeling. Fear is a spirit that does not come from God. And fear paralyzes, and it's keeping you from stepping out in obedience and doing all the things God has called you to do. And I pray that you would no longer be a slave to fear, but you would understand that you're a son or you're a daughter of the Most High King. And what he has given you is a spirit of power and of love and of self-control. And I pray that you would find your place. in the Great Commission, and that you would reject the idea of the American dream and what this

world says success in. I just pray that you wouldn't be defined by success. Now, I'm not saying you can't leverage it. If you were good at making money, you should make all the money and invest it in the kingdom of God. The enemy has been in charge of it for long enough. But the moment you begin to find your place in the Great Commission, guess what? Two things will never happen in your life.

You'll never be bored, and you'll never be confused about what you're supposed to do tomorrow. I don't ever wake up bored. You know why? We've got to save the whole world. We've got a lot of work to do. And I never scratched my hand by. Wonder what we're going to do today. No, no, no, no.

Why? Because I know what God has called me to. I want that for you. And then the seventh thing I pray for you is this, that you would find the kind of relationships that Jesus said you're supposed to have. He modeled it in John 15. He washes his disciple's feet and 13.

By the time you get to 15, he says this, I call you friends. that the almighty sovereign king of the universe, second person of the Trinity, would look at me and you and say, we're friends. And then he prays for it in John 17, the high priestly prayer.

He says, you know what's going to change the world? When you, when the people that believe in Jesus, when we are one, when we have gospel partnerships like Jesus and the Father are one. That's what I pray for you. So what do you do with this? Here's what you do with this. You walk out of here and you join a disciple group today.

And here's why. The theological reality of the gospel is that Jesus's life, death, and resurrection has reconciled you to the Father. The relational reality of the gospel is that the gospel should connect you to the body of Christ. If you were in Christ, you should be a part of his family, the church. So get connected. It doesn't have to be one of our groups, but you need gospel partnerships in your life. Because what I don't want to happen is five years from now, I have to look at you and go, I told you. because let me tell you what happens

it happens all the time man people come up to me and they're like pastor my life's falling apart can you help me I go I did help you man five years ago I said you should get in a group did you get in a group no

well how am I going to help you now gospel partnerships it's like a retirement account if you wait until you need it to build it it is too late and so you've got to build these kinds of gospel partnerships friendships and I don't know some of you're like

well, everything's going good in my life. I don't really need one. Okay, you were obviously awesome. And imagine what a gift you're robbing of everybody else by not joining in and learning from all of your wisdom. So if you want to live the abundant life, you've got to be part of the body. You've got to be connected.

Not just theologically, but at the heart level. And it is right for you to feel this way about one another. we were not created to do this thing alone that we were created as image bears of God to be in this thing together Paul starts this passage with a prayer he ends this passage with a prayer and so the way we're going to close today

we're going to do what we normally do we're going to sing we're going to bring we're going to pray but this time when we pray I would encourage you to not pray alone that maybe you would be bold enough that if you need prayer that you would ask somebody hey would you come and pray with me. And if somebody asked you to pray over them, don't freak out. The music is so loud up here. They can't even hear what you're saying anyway. You can't screw it up. God knows, okay?

And this is bold. If you know somebody in this church and you know that they need prayer, why don't you go to them and say, hey, I just want to pray for you. Husbands, you want to lead? It's to be a great opportunity to take your wife by the hand and say, hey, can I pray for you? And she's like, about what? Just come down here. Just pray. Just pray. pray over her. And if you're here by yourself, you don't have to be alone. Look, we're here. And you can just, this is 1122, man. It's crazy people in here. Just grab some rando person. You single guys, don't you try to use this for your own crooked ways. That's another time, another place, all right?

If you don't have anybody, you come down here, if you just raise your hand, we've got deacons and prayer team people and pastors, we'll just come pray with you. There's no need to pray alone. We weren't supposed to do this alone. We're in this thing together. We stand. Let me pray for you. Our good and graceless, Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us and God I thank you I thank you that we were created in your image to give and receive love God I pray against the spirit of loneliness because it don't belong here because Jesus you promised and lo I will be with you to the very end of the age and Jesus you promised that you would send

the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to comfort us and to draw us towards one another God I pray for forgiveness. I pray for reconciliation. Lord, I pray for the people that feel lonely right now that you would give them the courage to step into a disciple group, to put themselves in the kind of environments where they can build gospel partnerships, not for our name, but for the glory of God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, we're going to sing. We're going to bring our ties and offerings, and won't you come and pray? Don't come along. Bring somebody.

with you and won't you come and pray.