WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:06.320 So Philippians 1 is our passage this morning as we work our way to the book of Philippians in the next couple of months. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:12.400 So if you remember, Paul is sitting in prison when he writes this letter, these words that Sam just read. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:17.760 He's sitting in prison and he is writing to a group of people, a church in Philippi. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:23.440 These are friends of his, and he's writing to them, and these people are in a difficult situation. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:24.800 We talked about it last week. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:28.320 These people have had some of their leaders almost die. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:32.240 These people have had divisions, they have enemies, they have arguing. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:39.840 There's lots going on in their community where there's just divisions and splitting and a lot of discord going on. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:46.079 So maybe your difficult situation is not prison. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:50.560 Maybe your difficult situation is not like the Philippians. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.399 But we all have difficult situations. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.479 I don't suppose this morning we're gonna be able to solve the problem of suffering. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.200 Nobody's solved the problem of suffering yet. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.520 So we're not gonna be able to solve it this morning. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:04.799 And I definitely cannot solve your suffering. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:06.879 I certainly can't solve that. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:14.079 And I know, I know, I know, I know that we have all at times felt like we are in prison. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:16.239 Whether maybe you've even been in prison, right? 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.840 I'm not won't have you raise your hand, but we've all felt like it. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:35.840 That feeling like you are bound in and you are stuck, and you can feel this because you've been sick, you can feel this because your your spouse is sick or your friend is sick, you can feel this because you lost somebody, you can feel this because somebody left you, you can feel this because life hasn't worked out like you thought. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.680 The job didn't work out, the deal didn't work out, Randy got the job, you didn't get the job. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.159 You thought you were gonna get it, but Randy got it. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.280 And you can feel this feeling, right? 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:48.879 Like you're just stuck, like it's not gonna happen, nothing's gonna happen. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:53.439 The thing I want to happen won't happen, and it's this feeling of being stuck. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.400 Like this, this is horrible. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:58.640 And maybe it's a legitimate tragedy, right? 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:01.040 Like a like an actual legitimate tragedy. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:04.480 This is horrible, and this won't get any better. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.879 This difficult thing, this is what's so easy to start to think. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:14.879 This difficult thing has no good in it, right? 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:24.800 I mean, some of you have gone through depression, illness, lose somebody, and it I mean it's so easily in that horror, legitimate horror. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:29.360 It's so easy to think there's nothing good inside of this. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.599 Now, and what's also easy to do is to think, well, I'm gonna fight my way out of it. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:37.759 Like that, the way out of this is to fight. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:43.680 The immediate, the immediate reaction is that I will fight my way out, I will fight out of this, I will fight harder. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:51.120 And what's clear in this text, with Paul in prison in because of a situation, he can't fight his way out of this. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.840 He's forced into another path, another way. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:59.280 And his beginning point is not to fight his way out of the situation, to implement some sort of plan. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.159 His beginning point is to know something. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:03.439 Right? 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:06.400 Before doing something, he's knowing something. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:08.240 So, what is that something? 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:14.080 What is that something that Paul knows that enables him to write this text? 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.039 What is that something that we could know? 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:22.639 That we could know that when life is difficult, it just makes it a little bit easier. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:30.639 It doesn't solve it, the pain won't go away, but perhaps it could be a bit easier, perhaps a bit of hope. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:33.120 So let me reread a few of these verses. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:41.280 Philippians 1, 12 through 14, Paul writing, I want you to know, brothers, you would say, brothers and sisters, if you're comfortable with that, brothers and sisters, he's saying family. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:46.960 I want you to know, family, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:04:01.439 So that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ, and most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.439 So he's in prison, I would say, difficult situation. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:08.000 Not good situation, tough. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:13.759 And he's saying, I'm in this, but I'm seeing, in this, I'm seeing good things. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.759 Inside of this, I'm seeing good things. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:17.920 The guards are learning some stuff. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:22.800 The brothers that are out there and they are preaching, they are encouraged. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:28.879 So Paul's saying, I'm in this difficult situation, but I'm seeing good inside of the difficulty. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.079 Okay, and then he does it again in verses 15 through 18. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.000 You'll see the same thing, does the same exact thing. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:35.040 Verse 15. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:40.720 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:45.600 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:52.720 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:57.680 Now I'll pause here because if I'm Paul, I know how I would react to those people. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:04:58.639 Right? 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.959 You are coming against me to afflict me? 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:04.000 I'm in prison? 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.399 And now you're out there and you're saying stuff about me? 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:07.120 And I'm in prison. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:08.399 I know how I'm reacting. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:14.560 I know what I'm going to publish in my letter toward you, and it is not this next sentence. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:23.519 He says, What then only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:41.040 So he says, There's even people out there that are proclaiming Christ, but they're doing it out of rivalry, and they're doing it to in some way manipulate people, to turn them against me, and cause a division, and instead of just blasting them, right? 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:41.680 Right? 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:52.480 Just to hit the reply to the reply all email or to post the thing because somebody posted something against you, and you just let them know a little bit that you're gonna blast them. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:53.439 He says, you know what? 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:56.720 It at least at least Christ is proclaimed. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:03.759 See, in in both situations, he's able to see in the midst of difficulty and legitimate bad. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.600 Legitimate difficulty and bad. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.600 These are not good situations, but he can see something good. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.199 So this is point number one. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:13.839 Point number one is this is there is good and there's bad. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:14.480 There is. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:15.680 Prison, bad. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:16.240 Okay? 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:20.800 Uh people preaching out of rivalry, bad. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:23.759 There is good and there is bad, and there is good in the good. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:24.399 We know that part. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.480 There's good in the good, but there is also good in the bad. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:30.879 So that was a long point. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:38.160 There is good and there is bad, and there's good in the good, but there's also good in the bad. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:39.759 And he's not naive. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:41.040 Paul's not naive. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:42.399 He's not blind. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.600 I mean, he sees the situation for exactly what it is. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:46.480 And we need that. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:47.680 That's comforting, right? 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.160 Like we need to see our depression for exactly what it is. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:52.480 We need to see our joblessness for exactly what it is. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.680 We need to see whatever our difficult, our anxiety or fear. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:58.000 We need to see that for exactly what it is. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.199 So he sees the situation for exactly what it is, right? 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:03.839 That line is drawn between right and wrong, good and bad. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:13.759 He draws the line, and then he says, oh yeah, over on that bad side, that that side that is deemed bad, I'm seeing a few, I'm seeing a few good things over there. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:24.319 I mean, this is a this is a the term, the the wording that came to me this week was like a like a mature nuance to like seeing life. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:26.879 I mean, it's eyes of faith, is what it is. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:31.279 It's having eyes of faith to see good on the side of bad. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:33.920 I mean, this is profoundly deep. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:35.199 This takes a moment. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:36.720 This takes a moment. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.040 We've all heard the cliche. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:40.160 Uh, here we go. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:41.680 This is the image that came to me this week. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:43.040 We've we've all heard the cliche. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.600 You know, with the lemons of life make lemonade. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:48.720 Very good, thank you. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.399 Heather was ready for that. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:50.959 Okay. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.959 All right, with the lemons of life make lemonade. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:59.920 What Paul does, and this is incredible. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:00.720 And you know what? 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:02.560 That's a good cliche, right? 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:04.560 We'd all go, like, that's a good thing. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:05.040 All right. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:06.639 I mean, what's your other option? 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.639 Just let lemon stay horrible? 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:09.519 Like, okay. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.360 We would all say, that's good. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:12.399 Let's do that. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.399 Let's make lemonade out of lemons. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:16.160 We are all for that. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:21.839 But it can feel like a bit of pressure every time I have a lemon that I have to redeem this. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:29.439 It can feel a little pressurized there, that I alone in my finitude have to somehow redeem this tragedy. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.439 And Paul's not really doing that here. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:32.639 That's the amazing thing here. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.679 He's not, he's not making lemonade out of lemons. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.600 He's seeing, and we're getting philosophical here with lemons. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:47.679 He's seeing, he's seeing that lemonade is inside the lemon. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:49.679 He hadn't done anything. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:51.519 He hadn't made lemonade. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:09:00.480 He's seeing the he's seeing the difficult situation, and then he's seeing that there's lemonade inside the lemon. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.600 So at times we make lemonade. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:04.559 We do. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:06.320 At times we make lemonade out of lemons. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:06.639 We do that. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:07.919 That's a good thing. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:12.320 But eyes of faith is to see that the lemonade's already in the lemon. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:16.159 Like that's already going on for us. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.080 This is how there's hope and difficulty. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:31.440 The hope and difficulty is not that I'm going to generate all the good out of the bad, and that I am responsible for bringing the kingdom to come in my life. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:34.799 That is a lot of pressure on you. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:36.000 You can't do it. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:36.799 You don't have the ability. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:38.240 You don't have the power. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:50.879 Hope and difficulty is to know that inside the bad, the difficulty of life, God is actually working in our heartache. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:54.000 Inside of our hurt. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.759 And then you just think, imagine what that would be like. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.600 Like imagine what it would be like the next week. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:05.759 Like the next week that comes around, and it's just a bad week. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.519 Like it's that the thing happened or whatever went down. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:16.000 You revisit that place, you keep thinking you're gonna get out of, and you revisit it again, you're stuck in that again. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:22.399 Just imagine when you're in that week or that season of life or that day, or even the afternoon, you're frazzled, you're let down, you're lonely. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:26.799 Imagine if you could know, like even in this, something else is going on. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.159 Something else. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.759 You don't know what it is, you don't know how it's all gonna work out, but just that you know inside this lemon, there is lemonade. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:39.519 And see, that's a gift. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:41.200 That's that is a gift to know that. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:43.279 And that's what Paul is doing here, right? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:44.080 We see him doing it. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:49.200 He says, prison, there's prison, and here's what I'm seeing inside of this imprisonment. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:50.480 I'm seeing this. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:58.159 And then he says, you know what, there's these guys out there and they're talking trash about me, and inside of that, I see, I see this. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:10:59.840 Right? 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:15.200 And he knows what he knows is that there's a good, sovereign, and yes, mysterious God that somehow, somehow works, works amidst our heartache. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.759 When I was 17 years old, I was a junior in high school. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.399 It was a Friday, it was sunny out. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.879 I remember it so clearly because it was my first varsity basketball game. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.639 Every day in my entire life had been built up to this day. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.960 This was the biggest day of my life at that point. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.840 Maybe even now it was the biggest day of my life. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:36.960 I'm willing to say that. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.360 I'm still living out of my high school years. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:44.720 So I'm a junior high school Friday varsity game, small town USA. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:46.000 It's a big deal. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:54.639 I'm gonna celebrate this day because I'm gonna take my 1985 Toyota four-wheel drive truck off-road for the first time. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:55.840 I am so excited. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:59.279 I've ridden with friends, and now it's it's my day. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.840 Varsity game, sunny outside, I got Alabama's greatest hits going. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.279 I mean I redneck. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:07.200 There's some red going on. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:12.240 So I turn off the road, I go down a trail over some power lines. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:14.399 I mean, we're talking redneck, you know what I'm talking about. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:15.279 Some of you know what I'm talking about. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:17.759 If you've been on some power lines, you know what I'm talking about. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:23.200 Power lines, I see an open field, a little muddy, and I'm gonna rip through it. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.879 I'm thinking I'm I'm gonna rip through this, I'm gonna turn it, I'm gonna crane. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.559 I mean, we're gonna have this and be so by myself, but I'm having a blast. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:39.360 I go, I head into this field, and sure enough, sure enough, I get a third of the way into it, and the mud just grabs my wheels. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:41.200 I am stuck. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:42.240 I'm stuck. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:43.679 I'm going nowhere. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:44.799 I'm getting nowhere. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:50.080 I'm going, I'm in there, I'm reverse, throwing reverse, throwing it reverse, throwing reverse, and I'm back and forth. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.240 I'm it's in four-wheel drive down there. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:54.320 I don't I get out. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:59.759 I'd seen friends like when they get stuck, they go get like branches and like shove it under the tires and all this stuff. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:00.639 And I'm doing that. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.159 And I have a game that night. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.759 Coach did not uh tell us to spend our energy this way. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.360 He'd also go home and rest. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:14.559 I'm gathering limbs, I'm shoving it under the tires, I'm sweaty, I'm muddy, I'm looking at I can't figure it out. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:15.360 I don't understand. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:17.679 Like, why can't I drive out of this? 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:21.360 It's pre-cell phone, okay, pre-cell phone days. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:32.000 So now I'm walking back out, out of the field, up the trail, back to the main road, and I know I can walk, and this is really redneck, I can walk the power lines back to my house to get to a phone. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:44.320 And so I walk the power lines back to my house, I get to a phone, I call my friend Kyle, he picks me up, we go back to my truck, he walks up to my truck, immediately he walks up to it, he looks at the front tire, he turns his little red knob down there, which I didn't know about. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:51.279 Some of you know about it right now, turns this red knob to lock in the four-wheel drive, and he says, just uh just drive on out, you'll be fine. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.240 Uh sure and I get in my truck, I drive right out. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:55.919 Like I'm I'm unstuck immediately. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:57.120 I'm I'm unstuck. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:58.159 Here's my point. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:58.799 Long story. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:13:59.759 Here's my point. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.960 I could have stared at that truck forever. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.600 I could have stood there and stared at it forever. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:16.720 But unless I received a change of perspective on this situation and knew something, and knew something different, it was just gonna stay stuck. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:23.039 And my friend Kyle, he had eyes to see something because he knew something. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:33.039 He knew this little bit of information that would have been so great for me to know, and that is there's a little knob on the front tire, and if you turn it, it locks in your four-wheel drive. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.240 It would have been very helpful for me to know that before. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:38.399 But I would need that, right? 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:42.000 To have the eyes to see it, I needed to know something. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.360 And that's the point here. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:45.039 The same with Paul. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:49.440 Paul had eyes to see because he knew something. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.360 He knew that God was bigger than him circumstances. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:15:02.240 He knew that God was good, and he knew that good, good does not end because bad begins. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:04.080 And that's point number two. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.879 Good does not end because bad begins. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:12.000 See, hope is about remembering, just remembering that something else is going on. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:13.840 Something else is going on. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:15.919 You don't always know what it is. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:24.480 There's been tragedies in my life, and during the tragedy, I get to sort of figure that out and get that eyes of faith to figure that out. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:31.519 There's been tragedies in my life that I feel like a month later or a year later, you get those eyes of faith, you go, oh yeah, kind of, wow, okay. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:32.720 That was horrible. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:33.519 That was horrible. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.480 That was hard, but wow, that was interesting how that came out of that. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:37.919 There's been tragedies in my life. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.120 I'm still going, like, God, I would like to have some eyes of faith on that one. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:43.279 That would be, it would be nice to figure that one out. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:50.000 But I do know, I do know that good does not end because bad begins. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:55.039 Paul sees his imprisonment, and that's a legitimate bad. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:56.799 And he says, I see something in it. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:58.240 He sees this rivalry. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.360 That's the legitimate bad. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.120 He says, I see something in it. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:01.600 Right? 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:06.159 It's the lemonade in the lemon, even before the lemonade has been made. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:10.559 Well, do you remember, every for me, everything goes back to Seinfeld. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.840 Do you remember the episode where Mr. 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.559 Pitt, Mr. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:15.919 Pitt was Elaine's boss. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.120 She had lost her job in publishing, and she ends up being Mr. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.399 Pitt's assistant. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.720 And he gets a stereogram. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:24.080 Do you know what a stereogram is? 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.399 It's that computer-generated image. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:27.200 Do you remember these? 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:28.000 Do you remember these things? 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:41.519 There's like big, I was gonna get one up here, and then I realized that none of you would pay attention to me if it was up here, because it's a computer-generated image with all different shapes, but then like hidden inside the image is like a 3D image. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:46.320 And if you like look at it long enough and you like unf unfo Mr. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:47.279 Pitt could never do it. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:51.919 The whole episode's about him being addicted to this picture, and I can't do it either. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.320 It's extremely, extremely frustrating if you cannot do it. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.519 And I can look at that thing, I can never do it. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.919 Oh, it's a spaceship and it's coming at it. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.360 I'm like, no, I see nothing. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:02.159 I don't see it. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:02.480 Mr. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:09.279 Pitt can well, I kept, I spent an hour watching uh the Seinfeld clips of that episode just over and over and over again. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.759 Had a good hour that day. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.200 Here's the point. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:30.000 Paul is sort of doing that here, where he sees this situation that it'd be so easy just to see confusion and uh you're not sure how this will work out, but like he can see something else going on inside of it. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.519 Like he sees, he sees it, right? 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:38.160 He sees prison and then he sees further. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:40.160 Right? 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:41.440 And that's eyes of faith. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:43.839 To see your thing. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:49.359 I don't I don't know what your thing is, to see your situation and then to see further. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.640 See, hope is about remembering something, something else is going on. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:56.400 Something else is going on. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:59.680 I do think there's probably a couple practical things that could help. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:10.079 Not a I don't like to prescribe too much here, but I think remembering that God is faithful in the past can be very helpful in the present. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.759 That can be very, very good. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:13.359 Go like God is faithful. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.519 He's faithful here, he's faithful here, he's faithful here. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:17.359 Then you got a present situation. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:26.720 That can be very helpful to slow down enough to remember to be, to remember his faithful, but also to slow down enough to reflect on all the aspects of the situation, right? 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:33.359 Like you get a situation, it's so easy to always just see the situation from one side and to forget to view it from the other way, because that's what Paul's doing. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:35.920 He's sort of, he has this like like a cube, right? 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:41.279 And let's call this cube prison, and it'd be so easy to view that as a in one way, right? 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:42.799 And it's like he turns it, right? 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.319 He sees it in one way, and we would go prison, horrible, horrible, right? 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:56.559 We would see it in one way, and he just turns it for us and goes, Oh, like all the guards know about Jesus because I'm here. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.839 Oh, oh, all the all the brothers out there are being encouraged. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.920 He just takes, he takes it and he just turns it for us. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:12.240 And I think deeper than that is to know that the same truth that I've been talking about the past 10 or 15 minutes is also true about you. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:14.319 Same thing's true about you. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:15.279 And this is what I mean. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:16.720 Point number three, last point. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:22.559 Just as something else is true in any difficulty, something else is true in you. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:30.880 Meaning your your difficult, you being difficult, me being difficult is not our entire story. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.480 God doesn't just view you and go, oh, he's she's difficult. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.480 End of story. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:50.000 It's not your sin, like the sin meaning your self-saving practices to feel redeemed and valued and maybe earn your way out of forgiveness. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:56.000 I'll be a good enough person, or I'll redeem myself and feel valuable by accomplishing whatever in the world. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:05.440 All these practices that we put in place are sin, anything other than relying on Christ for our righteousness and justification and value. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.279 Anything else, that is sin. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:08.160 That's what sin is. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.599 It's the motive of the heart to be inward bent by our own self-justification. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.960 All of that difficulty is not our whole story. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.880 Oh, that's such good news, right? 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:18.160 That is such good news. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:24.000 And that is what Paul is calling here good news, gospel in this passage. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:29.200 And you have to remember when Paul uses this word gospel, he's using it to a particular people, right? 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:33.119 He's using it to these people who live in Philippi, which is in the Roman Empire. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.279 The Roman Empire is ruled by Caesar. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:41.440 Caesar is not just a politician, Caesar is a proclaimed God, and they have the saying. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:48.559 They had the saying, this word, the gospel of Caesar, the good news of Caesar. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:03.359 So when Paul uses this word and says, hey, the gospel of Jesus, when he says this, this would cause a remembrance in their minds to go like, oh yeah, we are not saved by a politician. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:12.000 Our circumstances, our value, our safety, our security is not in a system and it is not in a politician. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.480 It is in Jesus. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:16.960 God incarnate to us. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.319 That is good news. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:20.319 See, this is a different message. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:26.559 It's a message that no person, no circumstance, a better circumstance, a better behavior can't save you. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.960 None of that can deliver you out of inner difficulty, shame. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:33.279 None of it can absolve you or forgive you. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:39.759 None of it can make you feel finally at peace, secure as a loved child of God. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:42.720 Only the finished work of Jesus can. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:44.799 That's the gospel. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.759 Our saving is a righteousness apart from the law. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:51.920 It's in God's work for us in Jesus. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:53.359 That's gospel. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:22:01.279 The gospel is that God works the good and the bad in circumstances and in you. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:05.759 And you and I are quite difficult, aren't we? 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:07.519 If we get honest. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:09.119 Quite difficult. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.759 And so we need the gospel. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:24.079 We need that there is a good inside of difficulty and bad, and that God is a redeeming God, who though we are imperfect and broken, He loves us perfectly. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:32.400 My brothers and sisters, may you be at peace in the love of Christ, and may you have eyes of faith to see the good and the bad. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:33.599 Let's pray together. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:43.119 God, thank you that you are somehow mysteriously sovereign over all things. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.119 And we confess we don't understand that and our love for control. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:51.440 We would love to know so many things in our lives. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:58.160 What is going on and how you will bring about good out of it? 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:03.279 Would you help us to slow down enough to remember your faithfulness? 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:07.359 Would you help us to slow down enough to reflect on the situation? 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:14.799 Would we continue to open our hearts wide to your love for us? 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:25.200 The only thing that heals and brings acceptance and security to all the places in our hearts that love to self-justify and find security in other places. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:38.960 Forgive us for the paths of self-righteousness that we love to use to feel prideful in our own work and not your work for us, and also to stack ourselves up against other people to live in comparison and judgment. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:59.519 There is no situation on earth or a person or politician or leader that can say that you will not try to.