1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:02,760 Aloha and welcome back to Amen podcast. 2 00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:07,360 I'm lucky Lani and I'm joined by my husband Alex and I've been 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:11,480 thinking about something a lot lately and I realized that a lot 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:16,680 of my stress comes from when I'm thinking about myself more. 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:18,440 Am I getting the credit I deserve? 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:23,920 Am I being seen by those in my family and outside of my family? 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,720 Am I being appreciated for the things that I do? 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,760 It's very exhausting. I'm sure you can relate. 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,800 And this week in Philippians 2, we're talking about self 10 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,480 forgetfulness. Not thinking less of yourself, 11 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:43,560 but thinking of yourself less. And the beautiful thing is, it's 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:47,840 not one more thing that we have to achieve because Jesus loved 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,200 us first. So he makes it possible for us. 14 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:55,600 We're free in Him and free from needing the last word, free from 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,960 needing attention. So let's dive in. 16 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:06,000 Philippians, chapter 2, verses 5 through 11. 17 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,160 All right, you want to read it? You want me to? 18 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:15,400 I can read it. Have this mind among yourselves 19 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,440 which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form 20 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,520 of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 21 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,720 but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. 22 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,560 Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human 23 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,600 form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point 24 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:38,000 of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,720 him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,560 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, and 27 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:50,560 on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that 28 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,960 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God our Father. 29 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,640 Amen. Probably one of the biggest 30 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,560 lessons about being a parent is you have to learn to forget 31 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,560 about yourself. And like today, our kids are at 32 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,280 the pool down the road at a hotel, a nice, lovely couple 33 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,120 that comes to Houston every year on vacation. 34 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,560 They offered us some wristbands to take the kids to the pool. 35 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,960 So their grandparents took them to the pool this morning. 36 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,840 And we still have the youngest girls with us. 37 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,400 Liv is taking a nap and Lola, of course, is with us. 38 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,520 And of course, this makes podcasting a lot harder, right? 39 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,840 You have to podcast when you can, not when you want to. 40 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,880 And when nap time happens or you may have to podcast with a baby 41 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,920 on your shoulder. All of it is about learning to 42 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:39,400 forget about yourself and not to always think about what feels 43 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,640 right or what feels good. I have been meditating on the 44 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:50,120 last like 48 hours that feelings are often they feel more 45 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:51,640 trustworthy than the word of God. 46 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,840 Then God's promises, but they're not and God's God's purposes, 47 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,680 his promises, they never change. But our feelings do change. 48 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,280 And part of the reason why we need to learn self forgetfulness 49 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,360 is because we can't trust our feelings. 50 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,760 How we feel about ourselves changes from day-to-day. 51 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,960 And so if we rely on that, then we're going to be very unhappy. 52 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,040 We're going to be very we're going to lose joy. 53 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,600 But if we learn the freedom of self forgetfulness, which is the 54 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,440 title actually of a really good book by Tim Keller, we get just 55 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,960 that. We get freedom and we see more 56 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,280 of Christ and experience more of who he is. 57 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,480 And that's what we're talking about today. 58 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,360 It's not about white knuckling it and trying harder. 59 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:35,200 It's about just resting in the fact that we get to live self 60 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,360 forgetfully because of Christ. And that's what it says in verse 61 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,680 5. It says having I got it. 62 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,040 Have this mind among yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus. 63 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,040 He's saying you have the ability to have this attitude of self 64 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:51,160 forgetfulness. Why? 65 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,240 Because you are in Christ and in Christ we have the way that he 66 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,840 thinks. We have that type of mind. 67 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,920 So when you think about Peter, right, Peter is, you know, just 68 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,520 like all of us, very selfish. When Christ meets him, he wants 69 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,080 to get his opinions out. He wants to do his way and 70 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,680 history, church history tells us that he was crucified upside 71 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,640 down because he didn't think he was worthy to be crucified or 72 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,760 killed the same way Christ was. Talk about a person who has 73 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,320 forgotten about himself and what felt good and what's made sense 74 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,000 to him. He'd learned his self 75 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,960 forgetfulness over his life. And we see that transformation 76 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,560 in in Peter as we read the gospels and as we read his 77 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,000 letters and read the book of Acts. 78 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,360 We need to get there because there is a freedom there. 79 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,560 And also we don't have the the good news is that we don't have 80 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,920 to try. It's not about trying to self 81 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,800 forget or trying to be more humble. 82 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:48,280 It's we have the ability because he says have this mind in you, 83 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:50,880 which is also in Christ Jesus. And don't forget the context. 84 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,360 The context is Paul is writing from house arrest to a young 85 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,280 church and he's saying this church will be filled with the 86 00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:01,640 same mind, the same love, the same unity if you guys learn to 87 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:03,800 forget about yourself. And it's going to tell us how 88 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,480 that is possible. Now, the problem that we find in 89 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,360 trying to have this type of mind or to activate or to walk in the 90 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,360 same mind that Christ had, knowing that it's ours already, 91 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,440 we have it, but we just don't tap into it. 92 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:19,600 We don't think that way. We listen to our feelings 93 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,120 instead of listening to Him. Here is the problem that we find 94 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,600 verses 6 through 8 who, talking about Jesus, though he was in 95 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,080 the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be 96 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,920 grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. 97 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,000 Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human 98 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:39,560 form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point 99 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:44,040 of death, even death on a cross. So we see three steps down, 100 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:49,400 three steps into descent that Christ takes to come down and to 101 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,280 give us this mind, to give us his freedom of self 102 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:53,680 forgetfulness. He does three things. 103 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,840 Number 1, He did not count equality with God a thing to be 104 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:02,240 grasped or held on to or clenched. 105 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,880 He emptied himself and he humbled himself. 106 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:10,360 So let's break those things down to not clinch or hold on to his 107 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,760 equality with God. Jesus is equal with God 100%. 108 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,040 God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are all 109 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,600 equal. They are all one. 110 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:22,760 They're not parts of a God. They are all God, three and one. 111 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,880 It's a beautiful mystery of the Trinity, the community of the 112 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,840 Trinity, the everlasting existence of the Kennedy. 113 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,040 Jesus is just as much God as God the Father is. 114 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:36,440 And yet when he got down here, he did not use that to his 115 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,920 advantage. He did not flaunt that around. 116 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,000 I think about the picture of like Moses in the Old Testament, 117 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,600 when he veils himself, it says that he goes into the glory of 118 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,680 God. The presence of God in shining 119 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,720 bright comes back down and the people are like, please cover 120 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:52,600 yourself. We can't bear to look at this 121 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,840 glory, even though it was a fading glory, because the 122 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:58,600 covenant that they were a part of was a fading covenant. 123 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:02,640 It was just making a, a point to the new everlasting covenant 124 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,800 that was going to be in Christ. But he gives the commandments 125 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,440 and then he veils himself and he'll go back up and he'll 126 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,920 unveil himself and he'll look to God and talk to God. 127 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,360 Look at the glory of God. And so the veiling of Moses 128 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:19,040 shows us that, you know, Moses could be there and just shine 129 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,720 bright and just really put the fear of God and everybody by 130 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,240 just not veiling his face, but he veils himself. 131 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,000 And Jesus does the same thing when he comes to earth. 132 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:32,000 He doesn't put his like he doesn't put his Godhead aside, 133 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,280 like he doesn't stop being God when he's on earth. 134 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,400 He is still 100% God while he's on earth, but he, he bails it, 135 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,880 He doesn't tap into it. He doesn't grasp on or clinch on 136 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,960 his equality with God, but he walks in obedience to the 137 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:52,560 Father's plan and walks just like you and I literally walks 138 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,240 in our shoes, 100% God, 100% human. 139 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,800 So that's step one. Step 2 He empties himself taking 140 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,960 the form of a servant, meaning that he doesn't empty his deity. 141 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,880 He's still 100% God, but he empties by adding. 142 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,320 He empties by adding when Christ came to earth, he emptied 143 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:17,400 himself by adding on this place and heart posture of a servant. 144 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:22,160 He said I came not to serve and I came not to be served but to 145 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:23,160 serve. Excuse me. 146 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,800 He emptied himself by saying when I am down here it is not to 147 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:32,000 make people, make people do what I tell him to do and, and, and 148 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,840 and carry me around so I my feet don't have to touch the ground. 149 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:40,080 He come down down here, He comes down here, He takes a bowl, He 150 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,720 washes his disciples feet and he does the same for us 151 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,360 spiritually. And then lastly, he humbled 152 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:48,680 himself by being obedient to the point of death. 153 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,360 He humbled himself. This is what is hard for us and 154 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,080 why we don't often tap into self forgetfulness and the freedom 155 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,520 that we have in it and why we walk so stressfully through this 156 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,800 life constantly thinking about ourselves is because we will not 157 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,960 humble ourselves. But Christ shows us that the way 158 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,000 to self forgetfulness is through humility. 159 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,280 He and CS Lewis says humility is not thinking less of yourself, 160 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:16,800 it is thinking of yourself less. Christ came to what to serve, 161 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,960 not to be served. And so think of the example of 162 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,080 cars. When you get to the movie Cars, 163 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:28,200 you see Doc Hudson, who is like the unofficial mayor, or maybe 164 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,600 official mayor of Radiator Springs, very grumpy. 165 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:33,880 Why? He's constantly thinking about 166 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,520 himself, why he has been forgotten. 167 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,480 Nobody knows who the Hudson Hornet is anymore. 168 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:43,160 He was an old famous race car and he he just is so resentful 169 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,840 and regretful that people don't remember him. 170 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:50,400 And so he's grumpy. Mader, on the other side of 171 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,720 things, is very happy. Why he, along with Doc Hudson 172 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,760 and everybody else in Radiator Springs has been forgotten. 173 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,920 If you know the story they they had this old road still exists 174 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,440 today called the route, the Route 66. 175 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:06,960 Well, they made highways around it, faster highways to save an 176 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,760 hour of traffic. And the whole town of Radiator 177 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,720 Springs, which is a fictional town has been forgotten along 178 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,760 with Mater and everybody in it. Mater could care less. 179 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:18,720 He has learned the freedom of self forgetfulness. 180 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,440 I know this is just a movie and I'm maybe thinking, reading too 181 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,080 much into it, but you see the point I'm trying to make, the 182 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,320 point I'm trying to make is the way to have joy is just not to 183 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:31,240 think about yourself is to think about what I'm I'm alive today. 184 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,760 I get to do what I love today. I get the people that I love. 185 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,440 I get there's so much to be had, so much to be grateful for. 186 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,320 That is self forgetfulness. But it comes at a price. 187 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,880 You have to lose yourself. Jesus says if anybody wants to 188 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,480 save his life, he must lose it is to lose yourself by taking on 189 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,240 the form of a servant, by becoming humble. 190 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,400 And we again, we don't do that by trying harder to do it. 191 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:58,240 Can't go out after this episode and say I'm going to do that 192 00:10:58,240 --> 00:10:59,400 more. I'm going to serve everyone in 193 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,840 my in my vicinity. It's not that what Paul is 194 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,560 saying is will be in church. If you guys are going to have 195 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:07,720 unity, if you guys are going to put each other first and have a 196 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:12,680 beautiful community in your church, you have to just 197 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:15,600 understand that it already is yours in Christ Jesus. 198 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,400 This mind already belongs to you. 199 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,600 When you became a new creation in Christ, this mind is in you. 200 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,240 But because of pride, because of whatever it may be, we're not 201 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,080 putting, we're not tapping into it, we're not walking in that. 202 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:31,960 So how do we do it? Verses 9 or 11. 203 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:36,080 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on Him the name 204 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,160 that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every 205 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,080 knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and 206 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,960 every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of 207 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,200 God the Father. So this tells us that because of 208 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,800 Jesus's obedience, because His active and passive obedience, 209 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:55,360 because He has walked, He emptied Himself by adding on 210 00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:02,560 this position of a servant, and because He did not forget us, 211 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,640 the whole cross, the whole gospel, the whole reason why 212 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,280 Christ is going to be exalted and already is, already is 213 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,280 exalted to the highest point, the highest name. 214 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,120 And every knee on heaven and earth will bow, which is echoing 215 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:21,040 Isaiah 4523 when it's talking about Yahweh. 216 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,480 Everyone will bow before Him every He will, He will be the 217 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,160 highest name in all the earth. Paul takes Isaiah 45 verse 23 218 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,800 which he would have known very well as a Pharisee and applies 219 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:35,080 it to Jesus. And then he says it's not that 220 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:40,720 Jesus is more honorable or more glory for more worthy of glory 221 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,800 than God the Father. Because he says at the end verse 222 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,280 11, every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of 223 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,160 the Father. Because this was the Father and 224 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:55,880 the Son's magnificent plan that since the found before the 225 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,920 foundation of the earth, he would send his Son to not forget 226 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:00,680 about us. It doesn't matter how many 227 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:03,840 thousands of years of all the things that went wrong, the 228 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,280 whole point, the whole gospel is that God did not forget about 229 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:09,880 you. And because Jesus perfectly 230 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:15,240 walked out the Father's plan, he is the one who is the servant of 231 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,240 all. And thus it's lifted above all. 232 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:20,760 That's what we get to look forward to, but it also shows us 233 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:25,960 the pattern of humility. James the half brother of Jesus 234 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:30,800 says in chapter 4 verse six that God opposes the proud and gives 235 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:36,720 grace to the humble. When you see that we get the 236 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,160 power to self forget because we were not forgotten. 237 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:42,720 When you see that. When you see that the cross 238 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,680 means no matter what you did. No matter what has happened to 239 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:47,560 you. No matter how many times your 240 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:51,160 parents as a kid have forgotten you in a certain part of the 241 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,360 store. No matter how many times people 242 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,920 have forgotten your birthday. No matter how many times people 243 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,600 have turn their backs on you and forgotten you, no matter how 244 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,800 many times you experienced that, the most important person in the 245 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:04,480 universe has never forgotten you. 246 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,400 No matter what you did, no matter how far from God you 247 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:12,400 thought you were, If the cross happened and in the resurrection 248 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,080 happened, what that means is even thousands and thousands of 249 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,280 years in eternity past when God chose you and set His love on 250 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:24,520 you, even through all that, He never once forgot your name, 251 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,400 never once forgot how many hairs are on your head, how many tears 252 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,760 are falling from your eyes. All these things are backed up 253 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:31,520 in Scripture. And This is why we can't trust 254 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:33,720 in our feelings, because even though they feel trustworthy, at 255 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,840 times, feelings change. But God's promises and His 256 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,880 purpose and who He is in His Word is the same yesterday, 257 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,400 today, and forever, just like Christ is. 258 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:47,160 And so through all that, we have a God who will not forget us. 259 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:52,280 And if that is true, we do not have to live for the remembrance 260 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:53,960 of others or the acceptance of others. 261 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,520 We don't have to fight within each other or try to battle for 262 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:00,600 position within our church community. 263 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:02,520 Why? We can have the same mind and 264 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,240 the same love because Christ did not forget about us. 265 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,160 And if that is true, then we do not have to constantly grasp for 266 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:16,440 straws to try to be important. Four questions to end with. 267 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,560 Do you always have to have credit? 268 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,880 Do you need people to know that you're the guy, that you're the 269 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:26,960 girl? Do you need always to have 270 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:28,800 credit? If that's true, you're not 271 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:30,720 walking in the freedom of self forgetfulness. 272 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,520 What does it matter if people know that you are the reason for 273 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,680 whatever that reason is? If God knows your story, if God 274 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:44,840 is Elroy, if God sees you, if God is Elizabeth, if he 275 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,360 remembers, God remembers. I'm sorry. 276 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,840 Zechariah means God remembers and Elizabeth means his promise. 277 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,480 Remember in Christmas Story, when John the Baptist comes on 278 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:01,560 the scene and is magnificently, miraculously brought to life in 279 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,800 Elizabeth's womb, Zechariah and Elizabeth, they're expecting 280 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,680 this baby and their names mean God remembers his promise. 281 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,120 John the Baptist was going to be the forerunner of Jesus to bring 282 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,440 in this new covenant. Did God forget? 283 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,040 Of course not. So he sends John the Baptist, 284 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,120 the two parents whose names translate into God remembers his 285 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,320 Promise. Do you always need validation? 286 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:26,160 Right. If you're looking for validation 287 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,760 of others and what you wear and what you post and how you act 288 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,800 and how you talk and how you look and what people think about 289 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,080 you, are you consumed with that? Are you looking for validation? 290 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,640 Do you feel like you need it? If that's true, you're not 291 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:40,400 walking in the freedom of self forgetfulness. 292 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,080 God did not forget you, so you do. 293 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:44,720 That's all the validation you need. 294 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:47,600 That's the validation that can get you out of bed in the 295 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,200 morning. That's the validation that can 296 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:51,320 absolutely change a person's life forever. 297 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,640 Are you consumed with how people see you? 298 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,240 Is your first and last thought of the day? 299 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,000 How do people see me? What are they thinking about me? 300 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,640 That is a enslaving way to live, an enslaving thought pattern. 301 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,280 And do you feel? Lastly, do you feel overwhelmed? 302 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:15,280 Do you feel an overwhelming need to always be understood? 303 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,119 You feel this overwhelming need for people to understand you, to 304 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,520 understand your case, your side of things, where you're coming 305 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,800 from, how you see the world? Is that you? 306 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,560 Again? If that is, you're not walking 307 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,880 in the freedom of self forgetfulness you don't have. 308 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,000 You don't actually need everyone to understand you because you've 309 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,280 been understood. And not only that, Jesus has 310 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:44,960 literally walked in your shoes. He literally knows why, why you 311 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:50,440 do what you do and and how you come to those conclusions. 312 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,360 We have a God who is extremely compassionate. 313 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,360 The first thing that comes to God's mind when He sees you even 314 00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:03,160 in your sin is mercy is to not give you what you deserve. 315 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,800 That is the nature and the character of our God. 316 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:13,360 He understands what it means. I love the verse that says God 317 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:18,560 remembers that we are just dust. He remembers his covenant. 318 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,640 He remembers who you are and he's he is completely 319 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:23,360 compassionate. He suffers with you. 320 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,400 And if that is true, you're not going to get that anywhere else. 321 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,840 You're not going to get, even if you perfectly articulate and 322 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,520 explain yourself to the most active listener in your life 323 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:39,440 that is human, they will not ultimately know what it really 324 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:44,000 feels like to be you. Only Christ, only Jesus Christ 325 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,880 answers that and he will not ever change the way he feels 326 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:51,760 about you. If all this is true, we have to 327 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,720 keep on bringing ourselves back to this place. 328 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,800 If if you're stressed, it is because you're constantly 329 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,760 thinking about me and what about my situation and what about this 330 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:04,080 and how is this going to affect me. 331 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,000 And if that is you, your stress is always going to stay there. 332 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,120 But only Christians get the opportunity to say, listen, I 333 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:15,200 can let go of all that because God knows exactly where I'm at 334 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,560 and he will take care of all my needs according to his riches 335 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,440 and mercy in Christ Jesus. I'll end with this. 336 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:29,600 There's this viral video of this guy who is standing and his legs 337 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:35,160 have become deep purple. He's been standing for years and 338 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,800 years and years and worship to this false God. 339 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,440 And he thinks that if I just stand for over 12 years that 340 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,560 that this false God will pay attention to me. 341 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,280 It would be very easy to just like poke fun at this, and I 342 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:50,680 think a lot of Christians have. But I want you to see the 343 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,320 devastating nature of this type of religion. 344 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:58,480 This man, God bless his soul, he thinks he has to mutilate his 345 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:02,520 body and hurt himself in order for God to see him and to pay 346 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:04,760 attention to him. It's the same as the guys that 347 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,720 Elijah is fighting against the prophets of Baal who are cutting 348 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,800 themselves and crying out, thinking, God, my God will hear 349 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,000 me if I do these things. The Bible tells us that because 350 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,800 God is sovereign, He already had a plan to come and save us and 351 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,400 he would not forget about us. The Bible tells us that because 352 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,800 God is merciful, he doesn't give us what he deserves, what we 353 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:26,080 deserve. And because God is gracious, He 354 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,400 overwhelmingly pours out His love and blessings upon us, not 355 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,360 because we deserve it, but because that is who He is. 356 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:35,160 And because of all these things, it's true. 357 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,440 Because God is love. That means there absolutely 358 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,760 isn't anything that we have to do in order for God to accept 359 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:44,640 us. And in fact, the more we do 360 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,280 stuff to try to get His attention, we're just hurting 361 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:48,600 ourselves. We're just harming ourselves. 362 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,640 It's when we realize that God sent his only Son because He 363 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,440 loves us to take our place and to die instead of us, that we 364 00:20:55,440 --> 00:21:01,480 realize I'm free from having to do anything in order for God to 365 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,360 love me. And what we get now is to step 366 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,280 into this place of self forgetfulness. 367 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:09,680 I don't even have to think about myself when I when I get to come 368 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,600 to God, I can say, God, I know you hear me. 369 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,880 I know my sin is before you. I confess it to you and that is 370 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,560 that. I can leave it at that. 371 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,920 And now I get to forget, just like God forgets our sins. 372 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,560 He throws them into the sea of forgetfulness. 373 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:30,640 We get to forget all the things that make us this broken, messed 374 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,160 up part of us. We get to let go of that and 375 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,720 step into this righteous, beautiful, forgiving 376 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:38,800 relationship with God. That is the good news. 377 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,240 That's the good news that I hope this man hears one day. 378 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:44,880 Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for 379 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,000 the goodness of who you are. We thank You that Your Word 380 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,800 reveals who You are to us and we pray that it would transform us 381 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,600 from the inside out and that You would bless us with the freedom 382 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,240 of self forgetfulness and not have to try to get there but 383 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,160 realize it is ours in Christ Jesus and just really meditate 384 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:03,440 on who He is. In Your name we pray. 385 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,040 Amen. Amen. 386 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,280 This is the part of the episode called After the Amen where we 387 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,880 ask you a question to help apply this message to your life. 388 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,000 So many good application points with this one. 389 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,440 Our question for you today is how can you think of yourself 390 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,880 less? How can you think of yourself 391 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:25,040 less? Not thinking less of yourself, 392 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,560 just a reminder, but thinking of yourself less. 393 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,320 I'll answer 1st and then it'll be your turn to answer down in 394 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:35,440 the comments in your notebook, just in conversation with the 395 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:42,840 Lord or with a friend. Yeah, I, I mean, I think I can 396 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:48,880 think of myself less by applying what you just said. 397 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:55,640 And I think the difference between or the key to this is 398 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:01,400 instead of desiring like you're saying, like recognition or 399 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:07,240 understanding or whatever it is, knowing that you already have 400 00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:10,560 that in Christ, knowing that he sees you fully. 401 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,640 He knew you before you were even in your mother's womb. 402 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:19,480 He is omniscient. So he sees and knows you now. 403 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:24,600 And he is just. Although Jesus is fully human, 404 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:30,720 he's also fully God, and that is just so different from us as 405 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,560 humans. And we will never, we will never 406 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,880 fully know the grandeur of God until we're with him face to 407 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,320 face. And so we shouldn't even spend 408 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:45,480 our time trying to understand how God so intimately and deeply 409 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:50,160 knows us. But I think that we have 410 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,560 experienced this through our testimony, through just the 411 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,240 continued testimonies in our life of God's faithfulness and 412 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,800 his richness and mercy in our lives. 413 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,440 That is proof that he is so different from us and he is so 414 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,360 big. And we can just rest easy in 415 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:14,560 that instead of continuing to strive and, and look for the 416 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,560 ways in which it's possible that God could, could truly love us. 417 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:24,320 You know, it's fully displayed on the cross through what Jesus 418 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:28,600 willingly did for us. And so I think that's the key. 419 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,600 And that's a shift in perspective in my mind that I 420 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,800 have to make when I am feeling this way. 421 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:41,080 Or I'm letting this fear of being misunderstood turn into 422 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:46,760 worry instead of just knowing like I've done everything in my 423 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:55,080 power to do the right thing and represent Christ in a good way. 424 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,440 And if people don't understand that, that's OK because I am 425 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:03,640 fully known by Him. And if I mess up, I can take the 426 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:09,360 responsibility of apologizing or making right whatever I did 427 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:15,440 wrong and know know that I'm still fully loved by Him. 428 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,000 And so I think that's just so beautiful. 429 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,240 I love this idea of thinking of yourself less. 430 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:28,320 And one thing that you brought up like, you know, like maybe 431 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,840 you were, you're the type of person who might be sad if 432 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:40,320 someone forgets your birthday. And I just love like one of our 433 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,760 sons, an older one, like a couple days ago was like, hey 434 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,760 mom, I remember what day my birthday is on. 435 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,920 And I was like, OK, what is it? And he told me the wrong day. 436 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,440 It was the same month and within the same like week, but it was 437 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,200 the wrong day. And I don't know what it is, but 438 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,280 our kids do not remember their birthdays. 439 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,000 They know the month that it's in, but they don't ever remember 440 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:05,360 the date. And I think it's just it's so 441 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:07,720 beautiful. They are still very excited for 442 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,520 their birthdays. They still ask like, how much 443 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,320 closer is my birthday? But it's this like celebration 444 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,360 that we all do as a family that is just so fun. 445 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:19,600 And they don't they on their birthdays aren't like what's 446 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,040 next for me? What else are you like? 447 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:22,240 What else are you going to do for me? 448 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,880 You know, they just want to have fun and do special things with 449 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,640 their siblings. And if, you know, we're having a 450 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:32,000 birthday party then with their friends and aunties and uncles 451 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,840 and we don't do huge, huge elaborate things, you know, 452 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,120 sometimes we go on little trips or sometimes we have a birthday 453 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:42,600 party, but it's never anything like so crazy. 454 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,760 Yet they still, I think they know that we know their 455 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,080 birthdays. And that's the the difference 456 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:50,480 there. Like they can rest and like 457 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:52,600 mom's not going to forget my birthday because we never have. 458 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:54,360 We've never forgotten any of their birthdays. 459 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:59,960 And when, when, when it gets close to their birthdays, you 460 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:02,920 know, we're like 5 more days a month away, you know, stuff like 461 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,400 that to get them excited and everyone gets excited together. 462 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,400 And so, yeah, I think that is just so beautiful. 463 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,480 And just like the type of heart posture we should have towards 464 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,640 the Lord. It's like I don't have to be 465 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:22,600 fully misunderstood or I don't even have to like worry so much 466 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:27,480 about myself because God fully knows me and he takes care of 467 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,680 me. And when I need something, when 468 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:34,040 it's my birthday, when I need something and I need his 469 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,800 provision for it, like he'll take care of it because he fully 470 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,440 knows us. And that just allows us to serve 471 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:47,240 others more because we're not so worried about ourselves, you 472 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,040 know? And so I think it's just like a 473 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,640 beautiful thing that I can remember now when I'm maybe 474 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:59,840 thinking of myself a little too much, is remembering just like 475 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:04,640 how just the beauty of a child's dependence. 476 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,120 Yeah, that's really good. I've definitely forgotten their 477 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:11,440 birthdays. But you never do. 478 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,800 And I think that that's exactly right. 479 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,880 I think they think my parents know my birthday and my parents, 480 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,760 when it is time for my birthday, they will tell me it's time for 481 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,720 my birthday. So I don't have to think about 482 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,920 when's my birthday because I trust that my parents will give 483 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:28,360 me that information when I need it. 484 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,720 And I think we have to do the same with God, that we just if, 485 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,840 if God needs you to think about yourself, his Holy Spirit will 486 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,440 tell you, you need to think about this. 487 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:43,520 You need to remember who you are because of who I am or you need 488 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:47,280 to remember to run away from this particular sin like he will 489 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,600 tell you to to bring the attention back on yourself and I 490 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,880 love that TS Lewis says don't ever think about it. 491 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:55,680 He doesn't say don't ever think about yourself. 492 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,680 He says think about yourself less. 493 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,960 There is a level of as a man thinketh, so is he like we need 494 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,200 to think about ourselves and our and our past and our sin and who 495 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:07,920 we are and how God how far God has brought us. 496 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,240 But we have become obsessed with it. 497 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,160 Just one of the simple ways I think to answer your question, 498 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,240 how can I think of myself less is because we're always seeing 499 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,240 our own reflection through the phone or through the mirrors in 500 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,000 our house or even just how shiny our cars are. 501 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,880 I think about like, you know, 2000 years ago, you couldn't see 502 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,800 your reflection in the reflection of your 503 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,720 transportation. Like you could look at the 504 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,520 backside of a donkey. You're not going to see 505 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,240 yourself, right? But if you look at the backside 506 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,840 of your car, you see yourself and you can do your hair a 507 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:41,920 little bit and there's a bunch of mirrors in your car and a 508 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,840 bunch of mirrors in our house. And to your point, even with 509 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:49,120 that, I think we see our cars as a reflection of us, not even 510 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:53,600 like our actual, but like, OK, what type of car am I driving 511 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:57,880 and how, how are people going to perceive me because of said 512 00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,120 vehicle? I just feel like there's so much 513 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:00,200 idolatry in cars. Yeah. 514 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:02,760 No, there is I. Don't think anyone ever talks 515 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,840 about that but. There is, and I have so many 516 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,640 cars on Instagram save that I'm never going to be able to afford 517 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:11,040 and they're not having nice cars. 518 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,600 They're cars from like 40 years ago. 519 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,040 But one thing I can do is just that, right? 520 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:19,200 Like stop saving all these cars. Like you're not going to buy 521 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,320 them. Be like just fantasizing about, 522 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,440 oh, how, how are we going to see me if I'm driving this around or 523 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,720 I have an outdoor gym in my backyard and have this big 524 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,520 mirror back there that's from underneath the house like an old 525 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:33,600 mirror. And I just don't even need a 526 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,880 mirror back there. Because again, the more we look 527 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,360 at ourselves, the more we think about ourselves and then we 528 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,800 think highly of ourselves or we think, or even if you don't like 529 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,960 the way that you look, you're still thinking about yourself 530 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,120 too much because your value and your importance isn't wrapped up 531 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,520 in how you look. And so, you know, if there's 532 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,440 some extra mirrors around the house that we can get give away 533 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,440 or put, you know, get rid of, I think that's healthy. 534 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,400 Because again, what does Paul say? 535 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,160 He says, though, right now we look in a mirror dimly. 536 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,200 He was saying that we can't see the full picture of who God is 537 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,720 very clearly. And he was using an example of 538 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:12,440 the type of mirrors that they had back then. 539 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:17,000 They didn't have good mirrors. They had very rusty, dirty, 540 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:23,440 cloudy, dim, like pieces of metal or even like reflections 541 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,240 in the water that they would use to get an idea of how big their 542 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:29,560 nose was or something. You know, it was like they 543 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:31,440 weren't standing around looking in front of mirrors. 544 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,400 And then these mirrors started popping up whenever they started 545 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,400 doing it on the last couple centuries. 546 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,520 And now we are addicted to seeing how we look. 547 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,560 And even if you weren't thinking about yourself in the moment, 548 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:43,920 you turn around, there's a mirror there. 549 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:45,400 Now you're thinking about yourself. 550 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,720 And the point of all this is just that we think about 551 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,640 ourselves too much. That is why we're unhappy. 552 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,280 And that it's it's pride. And so walking in humility is 553 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,400 saying, I will do what I need to do to stop thinking about 554 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:00,640 myself. But that means I buy less 555 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,000 clothes and I'm not constantly thinking how I'm going to how am 556 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,560 I going to look in this? How am I going to look in that, 557 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,000 whether it's that or we as Christians, because we have the 558 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,120 freedom of self forgetfulness and we have this mind. 559 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,760 It doesn't mean we have to. It means we get to make 560 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,880 practical decisions to think about ourselves less so that we 561 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:22,040 can think about each other less. Well, Paul, the whole point of 562 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,680 this is Paul is saying, thinking about what your church would be 563 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,920 like if we live this way, thinking about how we would love 564 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,920 each other and serve each other and give good gifts to each 565 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:34,480 other, take care of each other if we were constantly thinking 566 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,680 about the other person. I just one more example. 567 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:42,920 I, I, there's a young couple at our church that we are 568 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,040 supporting through FCA. They're called, they're called, 569 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:56,000 they're named Jared and Jamie Zeel ZUEHL on Instagram. 570 00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:00,840 And they're a lovely couple and they bought us like protein and 571 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,360 electrolytes from one of our favorite companies and they're 572 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,520 raising support right now, right? 573 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:11,680 But they would take the liberty to spend money on this gift for 574 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:14,040 us simply just because they were thinking about us. 575 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,200 And every time I've drank the protein or the electrolytes, 576 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:22,200 I've thought about them and I thought about like what a treat 577 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,920 this is. This isn't a protein and 578 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,840 electrolytes that we're going to buy every month because it's a 579 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,640 bit expensive, but it's the best tasting and it's the most 580 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:31,800 healthy. And so every once in a while 581 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,080 it's a nice little like monthly treat that we can get. 582 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:36,280 And they went ahead and just blessed us with that. 583 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:41,280 And I think about like the level of self forgetfulness that it 584 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,560 would take to do that. They didn't post about it. 585 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,640 They didn't ring the bell and come up and give it to us in 586 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,560 front of church, in front of the whole church, which some 587 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:52,320 churches do. They have these like times where 588 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,520 they want to just look at what I'm giving to the pastor. 589 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,080 You know, that's just not their heart. 590 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:57,880 It was simply like, hey, we have a gift for you. 591 00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,760 We're going to come over and we're going to share it with 592 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,320 you. And it was not elaborate. 593 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,920 It was just a simple, we're thinking about you guys and we 594 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,159 value you guys. That type of experience is an 595 00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:10,719 experience that Paul wants all those in the Philippian church 596 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,360 to have. And it comes from just not 597 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,239 thinking about yourself so much and not having terrible low self 598 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:21,239 esteem, but just not thinking about yourself so much so. 599 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,040 Yeah, I was thinking about that too. 600 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:28,440 Like with the mirrors, like in that world with less mirrors, 601 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,480 we're we're thinking like, well, how will we know if like our 602 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:33,920 hair is all messed up or we have a booger or whatever. 603 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,600 It's like we'd live. And I believe before mirrors 604 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,719 existed, I'm sure that it was like, instead of this awkward 605 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,560 encounter, like, oh, you have a booger or you have something in 606 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:47,920 your teeth or your hair is, like, sticking up, Like, we 607 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,239 would just help each other out. And it would be this normal 608 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,480 thing of us just serving each other in that way and taking 609 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,040 care of each other in that way. And it wouldn't be so like, oh, 610 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,720 she had to point out my booger. Like, oh, now, like, what does 611 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:00,400 everyone think of me? It was just like, oh, OK, yeah, 612 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,440 I had a booger. That's a part of being a human, 613 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,720 you know. And I think, yeah, there's just 614 00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:06,840 a lot. It's not just mirrors. 615 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,040 We're not saying you need to get rid of all your mirrors. 616 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:12,320 But there are a lot of things in this life that make us very 617 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:15,480 self-centered. And we miss out on these little 618 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,640 opportunities with our brothers and sisters in Christ or just 619 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:23,400 humans in general of just being human and thinking of ourselves 620 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:28,320 less and helping each other out. And so I just thought of that as 621 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,720 you were by explaining that. Totally. 622 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,560 I think that like, yeah, if Paul had a booger, Lydia would 623 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,360 totally be like, oh, you just have something right there, I'll 624 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:37,360 get it for you, you know, and just flicked it out of his nose 625 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,040 or something. Because yeah, we just, we loved 626 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,200 people loved each other more because they thought about each 627 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:43,840 other more and didn't think about themselves. 628 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,880 And it's just funny because that same couple also, like, took out 629 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,200 all their mirrors one month and this like, took a break from 630 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,000 mirrors for a while. And so, yeah, they're good 631 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,920 friends of ours. And if you know FCA and you love 632 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,040 FCA, if you just don't know what FCA is, Fellowship of Christian 633 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:01,920 Athletes, like pay no attention to this. 634 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,000 But if you do know FCA and FCA has been a blessing to you or 635 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,000 someone in your life, I'll put the link to their support. 636 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:15,640 They are the first, Jared is the first Hawaii FCA director on our 637 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,880 island. So basically, FCA is starting 638 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,440 because on this island, because me and Jared had a little 639 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,200 conversation and we're like, hey, bro, you play college 640 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,000 football. You're a great man of God. 641 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,560 I think you should start FCA. And I, I throw a lot of ideas 642 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:30,680 out there. I thought he was just going to 643 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,760 brush it aside, but he was like, yeah, I'll do. 644 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:34,240 I've never heard about this, but I'll do it. 645 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,960 And he's doing a great job. And we're looking forward to 646 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,520 seeing what he's going to do in our community. 647 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,160 He also serves at our church as a worship leader. 648 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,120 And Jamie is a young mom. So if you know FCA and this is 649 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,360 ringing a bell and you want to bless Kauai, it's not about 650 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,240 blessing Jamie and Jared, It's about blessing what God is doing 651 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:54,000 on Kauai. There's a lot of young boys who 652 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,480 know everything about football and nothing about the Bible. 653 00:36:57,240 --> 00:36:58,720 And so it is where other sports as well. 654 00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:01,560 So I'll put the link down below if you want to give a one time 655 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:07,600 gift or a reoccurring gift. But again, it's about we, we 656 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:09,880 don't always do this kind of stuff in our podcast, but again, 657 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,080 to practice what we preach. It's not about Eamonn podcast. 658 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:14,400 It's not about Alex and Mokiwani. 659 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,040 It's not about how far our reach is or what we can do. 660 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,960 When the Maui fires happened, you guys stepped up, right? 661 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:23,320 And there's been other times you guys have stepped up and helped 662 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,560 out in different ways. And we like to be really 663 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,800 selective with the stuff that we share on this platform when it 664 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,920 comes to like giving and stuff. But you can of course, always 665 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,160 give to aim and podcast. We can't do this without our 666 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:37,040 monthly supporters, but there's other people in our close 667 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,360 community, in our Philippian community that need that as 668 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:43,280 well. So I'll put that link below. 669 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:45,400 But we love you guys. Thank you for being here and 670 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:47,920 we'll see you in the next one. Until then, go out and be the 671 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:49,280 church. Amen.