WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.919 He may be seated. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:04.719 So our text this morning is from the book of Philippians. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:14.080 We've been working our way through the book of Philippians, this letter that Paul, he's in prison, he's writing back to this church, this group of people are having a hard time, really. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:15.119 They're having a tough time. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:20.960 They're divided, they're arguing with each other, there's a lot of problems, and so he's writing back all this encouragement, all these thoughts. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:30.320 And you get to this passage, and really the first time I saw this passage when I outlined the book maybe a month or so ago, I thought, what am I gonna do with this one? 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:32.479 This doesn't seem like a lot there. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.840 And this week, as I've been studying it, uh I've loved it. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.960 I've just dug into this passage and really, really loved it. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.920 And I think this text is about leadership. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:44.320 And so for some of us, we love leadership. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:50.320 We read books about leadership, and for others of us, you're going, you know, I don't think that's for me. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:54.560 I think that's some for somebody who has like some position or some stage. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:59.439 But really it's it's different than that, it's much more profound than that. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:04.799 So this week, my family and then Sam as well, we were at Blue Skies Camp. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:06.959 So Blue Skies is a camp in our church. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:11.680 So just you as a church, you being here, y'all are a part of Blue Skies Camp. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:13.519 We help support Blue Skies. 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:17.920 And so I get to go serve, Sam gets to go serve down there, my family got to go as well. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:19.519 Financially, we get to support it. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:24.000 And Blue Skies is a camp for families with children with cancer. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:29.120 And so the camp is put on, and the whole idea is you know what, let's give these families some rest. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:40.319 Let's give them a week where they can break away from the constant issues, complexities, uh, stress, difficulties of having a child with cancer. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:53.439 And they can come and they can participate in some chapels if they choose to, and then they can have a good, restful, fun time where the children and the siblings are just showered and showered and showered and showered with fun and love. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:56.879 And then, as well, there's group counseling sessions for the parents. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:58.879 And so I'm there and I lead the chapels. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:06.079 Sam and I lead the chapels, there's devotionals at night for the volunteers, these group counseling sessions, and then as well, you just get to know everybody. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:07.120 You just get to know people. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:19.199 One afternoon, uh, Christy and I sat with one mom, uh, her name is Jamie, and she sat on our couch, and her six-year-old little boy, Brantley, uh, has cancer. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:28.000 And Brantley learned he had cancer about a year ago, that there's a tumor growing in his neck, around his neck, and up into his brain. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:30.560 And uh he's terminal. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:37.120 Um, he has a 0% chance of surviving this, and he has about four months to live. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:48.319 And so he's there and he and he he wobbles when he walks because he's uh he's going blind, and sometimes he's blind, sometimes he's not, sometimes he sees double, sometimes he doesn't, sometimes he hears double, sometimes he doesn't. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:57.199 Um sometimes he just falls down, sometimes he doesn't, um, and he's joyful and he's great to be around. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:14.240 And he was there and he was taking a nap next to his mom just on our couch, and we're just talking with her, and she just starts telling us how he has been coming to her and saying, Hey, mom, you know, he's six years old, hey mom, you know, um, you know, I'm I'm gonna be, I'll be dying and going to heaven before you. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:15.840 And that's okay, and it's okay. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.240 I want to let you know, the six-year-old saying this, I want to let you know it's okay. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.199 God's been telling me it's okay. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.400 God tells me that at night, mom, it's okay. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:29.599 And so she's telling us, and I'm there to be the leader. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:30.719 I'm here to lead, right? 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:31.919 Like I'm the lead, I'm the leader. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:33.520 I'm supposed to be the leader in this situation. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:44.240 She's telling us how she is, she is just in these months leading up to what looks like him passing on. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:50.800 She's just trying to live present, day to day, getting to be his mom. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:52.479 Right? 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.599 And this is what's amazing about this situation. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.400 I'm supposed to be the leader here. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:02.560 But very clearly, she's leading me. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:03.199 Right? 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:14.159 Very clearly she's teaching, she's teaching me something about living present, about loving, about how to deal with difficulty and suffering, right? 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.160 We think leadership is for people on stages. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.360 That's just one kind of, that's just one kind of leadership. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:24.480 Leadership's for all of us. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:34.480 Because listen, here's the secret leadership has little to do with stages and spotlights, and it has everything to do with substance. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.759 And that means it's for all of us. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:45.519 And that's what this text tells us as we dig into this text, because Paul's in prison, and he's gonna send two guys back to this church that's having a hard time. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.240 And you have to imagine, this church, they love Paul. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:05:01.920 Okay, like Paul was their guy, Paul helped the church start, Paul's their guy, they probably want Paul to come back to solve the problems, and Paul's sending two other guys, and he's sort of writing, validating these two guys. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.680 And so the question becomes what are these guys like? 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:12.879 And what is he writing to motivate these people to accept these two guys? 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:13.759 Right? 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:24.800 And I think that's for us where the something deeper comes in because what we see here is he doesn't say, like, hey, Timothy has great stage presence. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:36.959 Like, oh, Epiphroditus, he's got a social media platform, it will help your church, he has a network, oh, it's gonna be like, oh, oh yeah, sheik and admin, like a CEO. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:38.639 Like, like there's none of that. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:49.199 What there is is there's something, something much more profound that hopefully, even if any of those things are true, is the foundation of anything else. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:53.600 So let me reread a few of these verses, Philippians 2, 19 through 24. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:06:07.519 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you, for I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:11.199 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:18.319 But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:26.639 I hope therefore to send him, just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord, that shortly I myself will come also. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:36.639 So Timothy, he what we know about Timothy is uh he was Greek, his his dad was Greek, and we know nothing about his dad's faith. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:58.399 His mom, his granny and his mom, they were Jewish women who believed in Jesus, and Timothy believed in Jesus, and then Timothy, probably in his later teen years, started to follow around with Paul, travel around with Paul and set up churches and help churches form, and Paul would go this way, Timothy would go this way, then they'd come back together, and Paul would send Timothy over here, and then they'd group back up. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:00.800 And this happened for about 13 years. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.920 And so for Paul, Timothy's his boy. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:08.319 I mean, Timothy's been his guy, like his go-to guy. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:14.639 This is like, and not to mention, Paul's in prison, and Timothy's been there helping Paul. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:18.720 Like day in, day out, his needs while he's in prison. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.399 It's not like our prisons, get a TV, three meals a day. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:28.959 Timothy was there to help Paul while he was in prison with his food, with his with the things he needed. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:35.360 So for Paul, he's sending away like his best friend, his confidant, his helper, his son. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:43.279 And Paul says, I know, I know this guy, and here's the thing you need to know most about him, about anything else. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:50.800 He's not mentioning probably a whole bunch of stuff, but the one thing he mentions first is he will genuinely care for you. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.240 And so I have a few points about leadership and leaders. 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.680 Number one, leaders care for people. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:03.040 Like that's it. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:04.959 Leaders care for people. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:14.480 So this week at Blue Skies Camp, I watched one of our church folk, Melinda Mayton, who she she started Blue Skies and she runs Blue Skies. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:15.199 That's her job. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.240 She's, I guess, I don't know, director of Blue Skies might be the title. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:21.199 And she's when she's in town, she comes to church here. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:26.319 And Melinda, years ago, she started another organization, another camp for children with cancer. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.360 Years into that, she found herself outside of the organization. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:34.000 So certainly a put a spot where she could have said, like, that's it, like, I'm done. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:35.600 It's been hard. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:36.879 I'm done. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.039 But no, she just does it again. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:42.960 She just starts, she goes, okay, well, all right, well, not in that one anymore. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:44.320 I will start it anew. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:47.919 I will start another one, and we'll call this one blue skies. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.399 I will do it all over again. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:52.399 And why would you do that? 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.840 I think at that point I might just be like, ah, I'm out. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:57.039 No, she does it. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:58.000 She cares. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:02.799 Like she cares for the kids, she cares for the families. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:04.639 Right? 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.799 She does it again, she rebuilds. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:13.279 And when you're there and you're watching, she clearly knows how to run a camp. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:17.679 But the the great thing is, is like there's Timothy's all over the place at that camp. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:23.039 Like you got, you know, Scott was the camp coach, and he's kind of running the camp. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:30.480 And then you got Abby and Allie and Kay, and you got all these different people, and they're all in charge of different things, and all these different people are doing different things. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:36.639 And you almost never saw Melinda in front of anybody. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:37.919 And she can be. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.360 I mean, she she can hold a stage. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:40.240 She has stage for it. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:40.879 She's hilarious. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:50.879 She can get up in front of people and kill it, but you almost never, I think maybe one time I saw her stand in front of the group. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.120 But three places she surfaced, three places I really noticed her. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:10:02.159 The first was this, is just she constantly walks around during the day and she has this golf cart, and in the golf cart she has candy. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:13.279 And constantly during the day, she walks around and she finds just kids, and she she just piles them into the golf cart and she takes them for rides around the camp and she gives them candy. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:21.039 So at the second, it was beach day, it was pool day, there's games going on, there's all this stuff going on. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:27.200 We're eating, we're playing games, we're swimming, and and you look around and you look at all these different people running different stuff, right? 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.519 And you go, like, oh, where's Melinda? 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.440 She's in the pool the entire time with at least one kid in her arms. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.039 And probably a water gun, squirting other people. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:49.759 And then on the last day, the last chapel, we were serving communion, and she's telling me how they do it at each camp. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:50.799 And what do you want to do? 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:52.799 She said, Well, I hold the cup, is what I do. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.720 And so I said, Oh, that's great, I'll hold the bread. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:56.559 You know, I'm used to that, that's what we do here. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:01.039 And so out of the bread, she holds the cup, and families would come up. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:32.080 So the guest families, the families with one of the children as cancer, they would come up first to take to take communion, and then everybody who served that family would surround them, and so you'd serve the guest family, then you'd serve everybody else, and I would go around and I would serve each person, and then she'd follow around, and then everybody would take, and then after that, I would pray for all of them, and then after that, Melinda would go, because she'd be weeping, and she would hug each parent and cry over them, and she would kiss each child. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:40.879 And she did this not because she's the next, like Cheryl Sandberg or even Andy Stanley. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.759 She just did it because she cares for people. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:47.200 Like that's the big requirement here. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:50.240 Now, now listen to this quote I ran into this week. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:54.960 It was in the New York Times article called Not Leadership Material? 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:55.679 Good. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:57.120 That was the name of the article. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:58.480 Not leadership material? 00:11:58.720 --> 00:11:59.279 Question mark. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:11:59.840 Good. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.600 I like, I liked the title. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:06.639 I don't know if you a bit of a paragraph here, but it's really good. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:15.120 If college admissions offices show us whom and what we value, then we seem to think that the ideal society is composed of type A's. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:16.799 This is perhaps unsurprising. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:24.639 Even these examples come from highly competitive institutions as part of the American DNA to celebrate those who rise above the crowd. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:29.600 Yet a well-functioning student body, not to mention polity, also needs followers. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.960 It needs team players, and it needs those who go their own way. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:37.759 It needs leaders who are called to service rather than status. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:44.480 Whatever the college's intentions, the pressure to lead now defines and constricts our children's adolescence. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:13:01.600 One young woman told me about her childhood as a happy, enthusiastic reader, student, and cellist until freshman year of high school, when college applications loomed on the horizon, and suddenly my every activity was held up against the holy grail of leadership, she recalled. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:14.159 And everyone knew, she added, that it was not the smart people, not the creative people, not the thoughtful people or decent human beings that scored the application letters and the scholarships, but the leaders. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:20.240 It seemed no activity or accomplishment meant squat unless it was somehow connected to leadership. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:30.080 Perhaps the biggest disservice done by the outsize glorification of leadership skills is to the practice of leadership itself. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.600 It hollows it out, it empties it of meaning. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:41.519 It attracts those who are motivated by the spotlight rather by the ideas and people they serve. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:52.159 It teaches students to be a leader for the sake of being in charge rather than in the name of a cause or idea they care about deeply. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:53.600 Right? 00:13:53.840 --> 00:14:07.440 So Cain, the author of that article, is saying the same thing Paul is saying when Paul says about Timothy, I'm sending you a guy, and the thing you need to know the most about him is he cares. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:18.399 And at this point, I almost feel like I needed to say we can't get too prescriptive about this, about what that even means. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:23.039 Or else you'll become quickly judgmental about yourself and judgmental toward anybody else. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:26.720 Because if we go back to the pool at Blue Skies, right? 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:33.039 And Melinda is in the pool and she's carrying around the kids, and you go, what a leader. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:34.159 What a leader. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:35.759 She's incredible. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:37.360 I mean, that's what I did, right? 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:39.840 I'm standing, I'm standing there, I'm observing everything. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:41.279 Wow, she's incredible. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:42.799 That's unbelievable. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:44.720 And but you know what? 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:51.440 Joe got there early to that pool, and he stood in the heat. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:59.840 And he had prepped the ground beef and the hot dogs, and he stood at a grill for three hours grilling. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:13.120 And Kay, she had been on her feet all day long with a camera and just in front of her face, walking around constantly taking pictures for the family. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:21.759 And Jeff wasn't talking to anybody because he was over on this like big boardwalk area setting up games. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:24.639 I don't know if I saw him talk to a kid. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:30.879 And then you didn't even you could get judgmental towards Janet because she was taking a nap. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:50.960 Like she was poolside, she was taking a nap, but what you don't realize is like she drove all night to get there for the next two days because she had been at home, because she needed to be at home for somebody in her family, and she just needed a break just for a moment. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:56.960 And then you don't even see Carl because Carl's not there. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:58.879 Carl's at work. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:03.759 Because he has a company in Locust Grove, and they gave$20,000. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:08.000 Now I made Carl up because I don't know the financials of blue skies. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:10.960 But you don't see that guy. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:12.000 Right? 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:13.519 You see my point at this, right? 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.639 You see my point. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:26.559 We can't get too prescriptive about what care looks like because caring can look like a million things based on how you're wired and what's going on in your life. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:30.240 But leaders care. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:34.159 Point number two, leaders are not perfect, but they are proven. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:36.000 That's verse 22. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.919 It doesn't mean, you know, it doesn't mean that Timothy's perfect. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:43.600 It just means that Timothy doesn't bail, right? 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:53.360 I mean, if you've been ever worked with anybody in an office setting on a project, in a team, a project at school, like you don't need the person perfect, right? 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:54.960 You almost don't want them perfect. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:58.159 That person's really annoying to work with, anybody who's close to that. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.720 Like, you just want them not to bail. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:02.480 Like, are you gonna be here? 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:04.319 Are you in this with me? 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.400 Are you in this project or in this thing? 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.880 Are you in this concern with me? 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:13.440 And Paul is saying, this guy, Timothy, I know this, I know this. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:14.480 He's not perfect. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:20.400 That's why Paul writes two letters to him later to give him a bunch of ideas about what he should do with his life. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:22.079 But he won't bail. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.000 He won't bail on you. 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:29.440 And then we have this other guy, Epiphroditus. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:31.440 There's a name. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.279 One guy got the name Timothy, and then this guy got Epiphroditus. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.240 Verses 25 and 26. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:51.759 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epiphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need, because that church had sent Epiphroditus with a gift to help Paul survive, some financial means, most likely. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:56.160 For he has been longing for you and has been distressed because you heard he was ill. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:01.200 And what the verses that that Sam read, it continue to say is by God's mercy he got better. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:02.720 I'm sending him back to you. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:05.359 And all we get here, I think, is you know what? 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:16.480 We don't know a lot about this guy, but what we do get is the fact that he was willing to take an 800-mile journey from Philippi to where Paul was to bring a gift. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:20.799 And so we get point number three: leaders are willing to help. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:22.400 So leaders care. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:27.119 Leaders are not perfect, but they're proven, and leaders are willing to help. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.240 Now, this week, as a pastor, this passage has given me a lot. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:43.519 I think probably because there's a huge overemphasis of stage and spotlight and what leadership is at the core, at the core of even what of that. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.519 And I think because I can be an introvert. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.319 And so caring for people can be difficult. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.000 I can be very selfish. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.279 I'm I'm good at that. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:57.279 I'm good at selfishness, and I can be an introvert. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.720 I'm good at boundaries, right? 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:05.200 So I can create a very small world very quickly. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.480 And some of you know what I'm talking about because you're probably like me. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:10.640 I I can get I can create a small world. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:14.240 I'm good at boundaries and I'm good at loving my family. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:23.279 And I can do that and a few friends and give me like a DVR with a Seinfeld on it and a lake to swim in. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:24.240 And I'm good. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:25.200 Like I'm good. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:26.319 It's all I need. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.720 I don't need much more than that. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.799 And so this is this is hard. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.720 This pushes, this pushes me. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.759 What's natural for me is that. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.440 And so I really need my wife, who's a helper, to push me. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:48.079 I need the Holy Spirit to push me outside of that world. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.839 And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about because when I just described that, you go, oh, that's that's me. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:53.839 Like I'm good, I'm good in that smaller. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.799 The others of you go, like, you're you're a jerk. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:02.559 Like, I know you, or I'm married to someone I like you, and like I don't get you, because you would give your right arm. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:03.839 No, I don't need it. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.160 I barely use that arm. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.319 You can have it. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:15.920 You can have that arm, and then later, like the next day, like you resent giving your arm to that person. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:21.920 And and then your family resents you because you can't do the dishes anymore, and you can't help them out. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.359 And you see what I'm saying? 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:28.000 Like you, the helper in you actually causes a disservice later, right? 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:34.079 So I just think it's harder than anyone likes to make it out to be. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:50.640 The idea of caring for people is harder because it really requires you learning who you are, what God's calling you to, what it means for you to care for yourself in order to care for somebody else. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:59.519 But that's what leaders do is they they work their way through all of that. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:05.440 So perhaps you're here, you heard everything I just said, and you go, okay, well, I don't have a stage. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:11.920 And when it comes to substance, well, I screwed that up a long time ago, or I screw it up all the time, right now. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.759 Like you go, okay, I don't have the stage, and I don't have substance. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:16.480 Right? 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:22.799 So what we're asking when we say that, or we think that is, how do you care for people when you don't care for people? 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:25.359 Has anybody ever asked that? 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:26.319 No, I'm the only one. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.039 I'm the only one. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:27.519 Okay. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:28.640 Great. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.720 Just revealed it all. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.319 Nobody backed me up. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:47.200 I think the only thing is to keep remembering that it is it's not about perfection, it's it's about the s it's about the substance that's inside of you. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:51.279 Okay, not substance, but the substance inside of you. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.839 And when I say that, I mean the gospel. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:56.319 I don't mean your character. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:01.039 Your character's great, but your character's flawed. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:05.759 The substance inside of you is the very thing that will help rescue you. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:08.480 I mean, do you remember the first two verses of this letter? 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.720 I mean, it set the context for everything. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:22.880 Paul and Timothy, there he is, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:26.160 The whole letter is in the context of grace and peace. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:33.920 The substance of Paul and Timothy is not perfection of leadership, of character, of caring. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:35.119 That's not what it is. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:39.920 The substance, the substance in them is grace and peace. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:45.519 These guys did not lead out of perfection or even the demand of it. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.519 They let out of brokenness and confession and vulnerability. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:51.519 That's what they let out. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.799 That's available to any of us to lead out of that. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:11.440 And the thing that redefined their lives, that rescued them, was the good news that to take risks and love people was not something they had to do to be righteous and beloved by God. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:14.960 That's the paradox of the whole thing. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:47.839 That the truth and power that helps them to love people is the fact that they don't have to love people to be righteous and beloved, and that that grace that you don't have to do it is the thing that gives you peace from the demand of it, which then relieves you of self-justification, and now you have peace, and now you're not so inward-bent and consumed in self-justification, and now you can begin to look up just a bit to see other people and to exist in some way in a non-judgmental presence in somebody's life. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:50.079 Leaders care. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:52.400 Leaders care. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:24:03.839 And the good news is that even when you don't care, even when you don't care, God always, always, always, always cares for you. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:20.160 So my brothers and sisters, may you lead in whatever, whatever way that looks like, and your family or neighbors or friends or companies, may you lead from the substance of the gospel placed deep into the core of who you are. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:22.079 Let's pray together. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:23.920 God, thank you. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:46.319 Though we are not perfect leaders, we are not perfect people who love perfectly you took upon the cross all of our selfishness and apathy, and you put on to us your righteousness. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:57.680 Help us to rest more in your grace that we might know peace, that we might be transformed by your spirit inside the core of who we are. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:06.319 May you create in us, may you create in us eyes to see and to care for people. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:07.680 In Jesus' name. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:08.799 Amen.