Chains or Joy? — Philippians & the Choice That Changes Everything

In this episode, Cody, Ryan, and Mark talk about Cyle's new series through the book of Philippians — one of the most joyful letters in all of Scripture, written by Paul from prison. The guys explore the difference between joy and happiness, why gratitude is the birthplace of real joy, and what it looks like to choose peace in the middle of chaos. Plus, they celebrate Ryan's official ordination as pastor and share some powerful personal stories along the way. What are you going to focus on — the chains, or the joy?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome back to another episode of the Huddlecast. I'm Cody Moorhead and I am joined by Ryan and Mark. That's right. Mark is here. I'm the only one that said my last name. It's fine. Uh I'm gonna get doxxed online. But uh so this was uh the first week of Kyle's series, Philippians. He started it off. Uh, but also something else special happened this week. Uh Mark, what what happened this week?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Ryan is a pastor dude now, officially as of our church.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Like you've been you've been officially it's been for about a month, but now it's officially a public statement, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

We we officially christened you on Sunday morning and celebrated you, and um I think we're very excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

I mean like broke the bottle on the boat and everything.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Exactly. I'm very I'm very excited because you know how much I love you and I know our people love you and adore ya. So it's always a great thing. So it's real good, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

So it's cool, it's exciting. It's you know, it's it's you know, yeah, it's got stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Do you feel any different? You feel any different?

SPEAKER_02 1:07

No. I I I feel like I've already been doing this for quite a while. So now I feel like people people are like, oh, congratulations, Pastor. I'm like, yeah, that's that's cool. I've is what I've been doing. So doesn't really change a whole lot. I'm still gonna keep doing what I've been doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Yeah. Exactly. So yeah, no, I mean it's really cool though. I mean, it's definitely being a um being a pastor, a lot of times people get this idea that it's a little bit more grandiose. That like, you know, we the the things that we do, you know, it's like I I was actually having a conversation with somebody up north this weekend about this, and they're just like, well, you know, you're a pastor, so like, you know, it's just really like you know, you guys just get to have fun and like do all this other. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I don't disagree with you. I I really enjoy what I do. I love my job, but it's also it's a it's a heavy burden to care and love people and in the midst of their kind of chaos and their craziness, and and it's uh it's a lot, it's a heavy toll, right? Like I think you know this especially in counseling, like it's heavy to sit with people in the mess, right? And to walk through that and love them through that. And the joy is when they're on the other side of it, but not every story is a success story, right? And sometimes people don't listen to advice, right? Or they don't lit they they want to do their own thing and they don't listen to scripture, so they just want to go, I'm gonna do whatever I want, and like I, you know, whatever the consequences are. But uh so yeah, so it's like what what's the difference between like before and now? It's like it's funny. I talked to somebody on the school board and they're like the the difference between the school board is that uh you go from being sworn in to sworn at. So I feel like I was like, I can relate to that. We don't get sworn at necessarily, but it's just funny because you you go like, oh, okay, yeah. So but speaking, speaking of sitting with people and things being heavy, Kyle kicked off this Philippians series talking about Paul in like the first two chapters of Philippians. So, and Paul wrote Philippians, and it's it it is widely regarded as one of the most joyful epistles, right? The letters to the churches. And Paul wrote all of this while he was in the prison. That is wild to me. That is wild to me. Have you ever had a moment like that where like every everything should feel like it's in despair and it's chaotic, but you're just like weirdly at peace and you're like it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Well, I'm sure I've had those moments where where everything was chaotic and externally and internally. Yeah, you know, um, but I I mean I don't know. Sometimes I think that feels like my life now, right? Like, you know, just the the idea of of staying busy with you know um through church and and also through save a warrior, and also being a father of four and trying to balance. I mean, you mean you get this, right? Like balance, balance the the balance between being a an effective father and a and a a godly husband and also a a pastor, but then also a a elder in a in a community of of warriors, yeah. And and ensuring that that balance stays balanced, right? Because it's always being pulled one way or the other. Yeah. And it can feel chaotic, but it can also it it's also beautiful, right? Like it's a it's a sense like I was I was having this discussion yesterday with my brother, and I was like, it's like just amazed, like it's so beautiful, you know. Yeah. So yeah. What do you think, Mark?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

I have I have a story, it's a little uh cra it was crazy in the moment. It wasn't like a long-term chaos, but it was as it was happening, I was like, oh my goodness, and I was amazed at how calm I was. So it was last year. Um we were getting ready, Brie was getting ready at her house for her family to come over and have their like Easter dinner that they have for every year. And she had her niece with her, and I was with her too. And her niece had just had tonsil surgery and had the stitches in still and was like taking a nap in the like living room while Brie and I were like getting food ready and getting stuff prepped and making sure everything was ready for everybody. All of a sudden, we heard Raya start to like freak out. Well, her stitches came undone, and she started like bleeding in her mouth in quite a bit, so she's freaking out, and for some reason, Bri and I managed to calmly do all the things we needed to do. I was with her having her cough it up every chance she could, and I was standing there with her with paper towel, just refreshing it as it was coming out. Bree went to call 911 and make sure that an ambulance was coming. If the bleeding stopped by the time that like the ambulance actually got there, it clotted up. But I remember like the whole situation felt insanely terrifying, and I felt oddly calm at what I needed to do and how I needed to keep this kid calm because if she starts freaking out, it's only gonna make it worse, and I need to make sure that we have a place for her to spit it out, to put it, to send it. So, like afterwards, Brie and I like looked at each other, we're like, that was crazy. That was crazy. We were surprisingly efficient at like making sure stuff was getting taken care of, and she ended up being fine, she's all good now. But I remember in the moment it's like, what's happening? What's going on? Like, this is I didn't even realize that she had the surgery, so I just saw all this stuff happening, and yeah, I felt this weird level of peace and calmness and drive with what I needed to do.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

So I'd say when I was in the hospital for my surgery, I did have I had a significant amount of joy in the hospital, not uh in it like a joy that I didn't uh understand. Not not a joy like yay, I'm here. Like I I think that's the hard part is so many people have miscategorized joy as happiness or like gleefulness, and that's not what it is. Like joy is a a a peaceful um a peaceful positivity, I would say that comes directly from the Lord. Like it's it's a okay, no, I've I I have joy. I I choose joy, like in the moments that are most crazy. And and um you know I think that when people identify it as happiness, I think it cheapens the idea of what joy really is because it's not something you're able to produce on your own. Right? Like happiness you can you can supplement, you can go do things and like you can go to movies and you can go to you know to board game stores for us, or like go get good food or or sports games, like like any anything that any any of those things like they can produce happiness, right? Like but the thing is the Bible's pretty clear that like joy is a separate thing, it's just fruit of the spirit that's separate. So when I think about like Paul being in despair, but also still having joy and like and having this this exuberance about like the j the joy that he has, even in the midst of what most people would consider hopeless. That's that's what I think. Like it this is something that scripture is pretty pretty pretty clear on that that is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit inside of you and a choice that you make, you choose joy. And so like it doesn't shock me. It doesn't shock me that Paul was at that place where you know I I know a lot of people have that sticker shock of like wow, I can't believe given everything he was going through, he was in prison, this is what was happening, he was in chained, but he saw joy. Um people go like I can't believe that, I go, I before everything, I would have agreed with you. Now I go, no, I get it. Because like there isn't what it you have two options in that moment. You can choose despair, you can just choose that you're gonna be full of contempt, anger, frustration, bitterness, or you can go, this is this is something happening to me, but I don't have to let it affect me. Like I I can choose to be joyful with the people I'm with, with the people that are around. I can have gratitude, I can have patience. Like I don't have to, I don't have to allow what all these things, this chaos that's going on in my brain to affect the output of like my output, like what I'm giving to other people. And so I when I I go, okay, I get it, I kind of get it. Not not saying that I mastered it, because I think Paul masters it in when he writes the book uh uh to the church in Philippi, but like just to know that when there's chaos, the ability to choose joy. I mean, Kyle talks about it like when they lost peace, like that he it was like there were, you know, it's not that there was no despair, there's absolute despair, but also readily choosing to to be positive, to to to have put my hope in the Lord, not in the situations or the things that are going on in the world. And I think I think that that is a big difference maker, you know, for for followers of Christ. And um I give you I give you a good example. Like, can I give you an example that you and I had just from a couple weeks ago? Yes. You I think you know what I'm talking about, right? So, like, so a couple weeks ago there was a big scare in Napoleon schools and uh terrifying terrifying and like multiple felony counts from a what what they call it's a swatting event, is what they they refer to it as. And so it was a false uh false call to pull put to the authorities that there was a an emergency happening at a level that was gonna affect kids in that school system. Um and there was this incredible thing that I noticed is that everybody there there was despair, but the reality is all these people are driving towards this event, like because of their fear, right? Like their fear of like what's going to happen, like but also because like they realized like they needed in the despair, there was this community of people there. Now they might not have recognized that, but I did. I mean, we're we're sitting at that Cali Express mart, and that there's I mean, there's more cars than I've ever seen in that parking lot ever.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

People parked on the grass, people parked in the road, like they're you know, and and everybody just waiting, waiting, you know, and and doing what they're supposed to be doing, but exactly. You know, I mean, probably a lot of brain out.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

And and you're I mean, the reality is like that fear of like oh the unknown and the craziness, right? You still like I showed up and like Kyle's gonna be there, we couldn't make it because he was he was too far away, and he's like he called me. I showed up. The first thing you did was came and gave me a big hug and just thanked me. You're just thankful. You're just like, Thank you for being here, and like I haven't done anything. It's not like you know, I didn't storm the beaches, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Like, there's so much power in that though. The the amount of gratitude that exists in me for that, Cody, like gets my tubes going right now as we're talking, right? Like I can feel I can feel my eyes well up because in that moment of despair, um gosh, I I I felt so loved and so supported and so taken care of that it was like, yeah, this this is this is what it's all about. Like, thank you so much, God.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Well, exactly. And it's that extreme gratitude. It is, it's that extreme gratitude that in the middle of despair, like I do think that joyfulness is birthed from extreme gratitude. I think when we're thankful for what God has done, when we're thankful for the Holy Spirit's work in our life, when we're thankful for the the community of believers that God has put around us, I think it it does produce joy. Like it just has to. When we're bitter or we're butt, I mean, I know they're talking about butt hurt, church hurt, people have. That's what we're talking about next week, right? Like, so like, but like I mean, when we talk about that, when you're focused on that stuff, where you're not gonna find your joy. The the the the things that the hurt that you choose, right? Like the hurt you're choosing, like there's hurt that you don't choose, but there is also most certainly hurt that you do choose. Like, and when you choose that over the gratitude, that's what keeps you from the joy that God has decided for you. And when we talk about like Paul writing the letter to the to the church in Philippi, like that that joy, that that that joy that Paul has is a choice for gratitude versus giving into despair. And I think I think that's the biggest thing, the biggest difference.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

I think of it like a scab, where if we're trusting that it's gonna heal, we're trusting that God's gonna take care of something, it will heal, it will get taken care of. But if you keep picking at it and pulling that away, it's just gonna keep reopening that wound and building another scab, and it's just gonna stay there.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

And it's gonna scar.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

And it's gonna scar. And so, not that the injury didn't happen, not that the problem didn't happen, but when we lock into it and stay in it and only focus on it and keep picking at the problem and getting bitter about it and getting angry about it, you're just making that wound keep growing. Is what I don't know why that popped in in my brain, and it felt really like it matches up to how we handle those problems and the sins and or even the hurt that we have. Where it's like, but this happened, and you keep dwelling on it and dwelling on it and dwelling on it and dwelling on it, and you staying in that place just hurts you more. It doesn't help you. God's got a plan, it's gonna heal, it will be okay. It may take longer or shorter depending on what happened, but ultimately God has a plan, and trusting in that is what grants you that peace, being like, oh no, yeah, God's got this. Like, I think that's where that like a peace that can come from nothing else comes from, because there is a plan that we know that God has, there is a purpose that God has for everything.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

So, yeah, well, and what's and that's cool, like connected with that, right? Like, what you know, we know that Paul like has like an affinity for the Philippine people, like he loves them. They're like they're you know, like his, you know, he's they're like his tribe, they're the special place in his heart for them. And and is also also like Kyle talked about is it is it's all this story that we make up about what's happened, right? And and really like Paul's going, hey, look, this is great. Like now I got these Roman guards, they are literally tied to me, they are literally chained to me. So they're they're unless they're gonna plug their ears, they have to listen to me. And so he's essentially telling them, like, hey, I got a I got my hand on the pulse of the of the Capitol, and and old boy that I'm kicking with, he's I get to kick it with three or four different guards every day, and they're going in home to tell their family, and they're telling the other guards, and and I'm getting such a beautiful opportunity to to preach the gospel in a way that maybe these guys never had an opportunity to. And you know, it's that that beautiful gratitude, like, oh, thank you for this opportunity, God. And he's waiting to die, essentially, you know. I mean, he's not getting out of prison.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

So I think it I this just occurred to me. Think about how many other prisoners those Romans had dealt with before, right? Think about how many people, how many responses they had, like the begging and the pleading, like the bargaining, the you know, and or the anger, like the the disdain, the the hatred. And to to have Paul come along and just be so different, I believe I have to believe it was so jarring. Like it, it, it's like it, and I think about it and I I when I I kind of bring it back to like how does it how does it affect me, how does it affect us, like as the body of Christ. And I go, I I don't know about everybody else, but my heart is like I I don't I can't speak for every person or every experience, but it has been pretty overwhelming for me as a pastor for you know the better part of two decades, that most people have a disdain towards followers of Christ or Christians because they've had a bad experience or because they know you know they've had an experience that they go, nah, I'm good. Like, you know, I don't want that in my life. And I'm my in the back of my head, I always go back to I'm not going to ever be perfect and I'm gonna let these people down. But if my I want my interactions to be as close to what Jesus would have wanted as possible. So like if if it's if they're expecting me to respond in anger, I want to respond with patience and love and and composure. If they're expecting that I'm gonna respond in despair, I want to respond with joy, like or hopefulness. If they're expecting me to respond and badmouth somebody, I want to I want to heap praises on that person, right? And to go, like, no, this is who I this is this person, right? Or I want to be quiet, right? Like I just want to keep my mouth shut. Like, and I think I think when it comes down to it, the the message, there's so many things to pull out of this. Is but one of the things is like when we choose joy, it's jarring for the people around us who are not used to that.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Like, oh, you should totally be like all chaotic outward and inwardly and outwardly, and you're like, Yeah, I mean, I you know, I could see how you could think that. So it's it's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, it's like I could I could totally see how you would you logic reasonably you would go, I can understand why you'd be better and mad and frustrated. Like that's reasonable, right? And and it's like, but I don't have to let whatever's going on in here come out, you know, like whatever's going on in my brain, I don't have to, or the conversations I've had with myself, or the things I'm fighting internally, I don't have to let that be exposed to other people in a way that harms them, right? Or harms the view that they have of Jesus. That's most important, right? So I think I think that's the coolest. Uh to me, that's one of the coolest things that comes out of this. I this this conversation about Paul and in Philippians and what Kyle talks about, you know, like choosing joy. He chose joy, right? He's in chains, he chose joy. Like, so what do you what do you choose to focus on? The chains or the joy? And I I I love that. So yeah. Yeah. So well, anyways, I mean, I I think uh your your your bottom line this week is what are you gonna focus on? The chains or the joy, the gratitude, what God's done for you. So go out there and love God and love people, right? Let's do it. Yep. Until next time,