1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,360 Hello everyone, welcome back to the podcast. 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,680 I'm Alex and I'm here with. Hello, Kehlani. 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:11,240 And where are we right now? We are in my parents backyard. 4 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:13,200 I thought you were going to say Kawaii I. 5 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,760 I was like, maybe that's what he wants me to say, but or maybe he 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,400 wants me to be very specific. We are in her parents backyard 7 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,920 which we used to live in this house and we filmed. 8 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,680 When I was setting this up, I was thinking of the Amen Church 9 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,080 Live episode that we did back here with Chad Smith. 10 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,000 It's a lot of fun. But we're back here years later 11 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,080 in the Stressless Philippians series. 12 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:40,560 And today we're talking about Unity. 13 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,960 And I guess I'll just start off telling a little story. 14 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,240 Like one of our favorite trilogy's is The Dark Knight 15 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,440 trilogy. And you remember the part with 16 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:55,000 Joker when he puts the whole city in this like moral dilemma, 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,000 the social dilemma, and he puts them half the city or a bunch of 18 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,320 people on the city in one boat and then all the criminals on 19 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:04,000 another boat. And do you remember what the 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,120 situation was? Vaguely, yes. 21 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:15,520 They had to like, choose. They both had detonators. 22 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:20,080 Yeah, they had detonators. So they had to like choose to 23 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,160 basically kill everyone on the other boat. 24 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,800 And if they didn't come to a decision in 30 minutes or 25 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,560 something like that, he would kill both boats. 26 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:33,760 So it was like sacrifice the other boat and live or both. 27 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:37,040 Everyone's going to die. Yeah, it's like lose, lose 28 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,560 basically. And yeah, they both had 29 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,800 detonators on their boat. And like she said, like if, if 30 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,800 we, if I'm on the people boat with all the people of the city 31 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,560 and I hit my detonator, it'll blow up the other boat, but I 32 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:49,480 get to live. And then the criminals of course 33 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,480 have their own detonator and everything like that. 34 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,480 And neither side hits the boat and it kind of backfires on 35 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,480 Joker. And I thought about that because 36 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,600 today's text is about unity. It's the first 4 verses of 37 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:08,720 Philippians chapter 4 or chapter 2 and it's all about unity. 38 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,039 Paul is like writing to this little church in Philippi and 39 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,400 he's like, I want you guys to just have the same mind and the 40 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,480 same heart and have the same love for each other. 41 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:19,800 And unity is the goal. And Joker wasn't expecting that. 42 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,760 He wasn't expecting the the the Church of Gotham, but the city 43 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,160 of Gotham to be unified and be on the same level. 44 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:28,840 He expected them to divide and conquer. 45 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,600 That pride would take over and like we deserve, we didn't do 46 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:33,560 anything wrong. They're criminals or they're 47 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:35,560 criminals to be like we're in here already. 48 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,680 We might as well be criminals more and kill everybody. 49 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:44,040 So could you read Philippians chapter 2 verses one through 4? 50 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,600 Yes, I'd love to. So if there is any encouragement 51 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,600 in Christ, any comfort in from love, any participation in the 52 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,600 Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by 53 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,320 being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full 54 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,440 accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition 55 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:08,320 or conceit, but in humility. Count others more significant 56 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,200 than yourselves. Let each of you not look only to 57 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,760 his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 58 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,320 So I just want to talk about like how to be unified. 59 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,600 Like as we look, do you see a lot of disunity in your world 60 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,520 today or in our world today? And if so, like, where would it 61 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,720 be? Or we can even just keep it on 62 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:30,880 the church. Like, do you see a lot of 63 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,000 disunity within the church? Oh, yeah, absolutely. 64 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:41,080 And I think, yeah, it's just going to continue to have to be 65 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,000 something that the church makes a priority to work on. 66 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:51,240 Yeah, just because the world wants to continue to 67 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:56,280 compartmentalize or separate us. And so I definitely see it 68 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,720 within the church. And a lot of the ways of the 69 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,200 world can bleed into the church just totally. 70 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,800 We are imperfect people at different areas on our journey 71 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,920 with the Lord. And so the world can influence 72 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,240 the church, which is not, I believe it's not God's 73 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:15,120 intention. I believe he wants the church to 74 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,160 influence the outside world, but that requires the church to 75 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,800 function as a healthy body and not just one person leading that 76 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,360 charge by themselves, but everyone collectively working 77 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,000 together, you know? There's something that you 78 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,320 brought up earlier today that I want to share later, but let's 79 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,160 get into the first verse because I thought it was so good. 80 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,000 But so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any 81 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,400 comfort in love, any participation in the Spirit, any 82 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:44,240 affection and sympathy, He's not saying like if there is these 83 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,480 things he's saying, because I know you are comforted by Christ 84 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:49,840 and encouraged by Christ, shouldn't we share that with 85 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:52,000 each other? Like there's a comfort that we 86 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,680 get from Christ and knowing that he's taking care of our sins, 87 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,760 He's went to prepare a home for us in heaven. 88 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,200 And if that is true, then we should share that comfort care. 89 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,480 Comfort is something that's meant to be shared, right? 90 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,440 When someone comes to your house, you want them to be 91 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,360 comfortable because you're comfortable in your home when 92 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,680 people are not there. But also encouragement. 93 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,080 We're encouraged by Christ and participating in the same 94 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,560 spirit, having the same affection and sympathy. 95 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,080 Those are two different words that mean tenderness and 96 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,720 compassion. Like being tender and 97 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:24,760 compassionate should mark a Christian. 98 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,840 That should be a part of When people think of us as a 99 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:30,440 Christian, they should think that person is tender and that 100 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:35,160 person is compassionate. OK being so. 101 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,200 That's talking about a fellowship within believers that 102 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,600 is felt. I think that sometimes you can 103 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,160 go to a church or to a Bible, say to a small group, and there 104 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,440 is fellowship happening, but you don't feel it, right? 105 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,520 Fellowship should be felt, comfort should be shared, and 106 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:52,760 compassion should mark a Christian. 107 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,200 Now sports teams, just to wrap this up, why we need unity in 108 00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,680 our life? Why the church needs to be 109 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,960 unified? Because the church is meant to 110 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,360 look more like a sports team when you think about a sports 111 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,680 team. So there's there's non team 112 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,200 sports. Like skateboarding can be seen 113 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,280 as a non team sport. Even though like Adidas has a 114 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,440 team, Nike has a team. Those are technical technically 115 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,200 teams, but it's pretty much an individual sport. 116 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,000 But cross country is a team sport, right? 117 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,000 Low Kelani ran cross country. Oh yeah, it could either be all 118 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,200 your time time combined, like if somebody finished in one hour, 119 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:32,880 another person finishes in two hours, then they could add that 120 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,760 up, and then it could be whatever the lowest score wins. 121 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:37,720 Yeah. Or it could be. 122 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:39,480 I think it's you. Get a certain amount of points 123 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,360 for finishing within a certain time limit. 124 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:44,520 But I do know it's a team sport, right? 125 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:49,680 So it has to be combined, right? Why do people do team sports? 126 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,760 It's because this sport brings a certain amount of comfort to 127 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,720 them, like running and cross country gives them comfort. 128 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:58,000 Football players, they have comfort in it. 129 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,040 Soccer players get comfort in it and they share that comfort 130 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,000 within each other. And they have a that team has a 131 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,960 fellowship that is felt right when they have pizza parties, 132 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,760 when they have championships, when they do long bus rides, 133 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,080 they're feeling this fellowship because they're sharing in this 134 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,920 comfort and they suffer with each other. 135 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,400 That's what compassion is. To suffer with the the suffering 136 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,000 with each other marks that team. Like, you know, that team is a 137 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,200 team because they suffer together and they feel that 138 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,080 fellowship together. They're comforted by the same 139 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:30,880 sport. That's how it is with Christ. 140 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:34,280 What Paul is saying is as a church in Philippi, you guys 141 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,560 should share. You should be like a team sport. 142 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:39,960 You're on the same team. You should suffer together. 143 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,440 You should feel a fellowship, not just do it just to knock off 144 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:45,840 the list. Like this is what we do, but you 145 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:47,200 just share in that comfort with each other. 146 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,800 OK. The problem is in verse 3. 147 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,320 So we did verse one and two, but first three it says do nothing 148 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,240 from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count 149 00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:58,880 others more significant than yourselves. 150 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,080 So the problem, the reason why we don't have unity in verse 151 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,600 three-part A is what I read the whole thing. 152 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,960 But why don't we have unity according to Paul in verse 3? 153 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,080 Selfishness. Yep, selfishness, selfish 154 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,920 ambition. This actually means party 155 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,120 spirit. The reason why there's disunity, 156 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,160 the reason why there's divorce, the reason why there's 157 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,040 dislocation within the church is because of there's the party 158 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,559 spirit alive in that church. Philippi was of one mind and the 159 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,080 same mind. And what that means is he's 160 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,080 saying unity is the idea that we all share the same way of 161 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:41,600 thinking about the world and about each other. 162 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,720 And so there's no division. That's what unity is. 163 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:47,160 And and it doesn't mean that we won't have little tiny 164 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,160 disagreements or whatever, but it means when I think about 165 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,840 house church, most of us think, no, not most of us. 166 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,080 All of us have the same thinking when it comes to like 167 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,640 homosexuality, right? Most of us, overwhelming 168 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,240 majority of us at house church, we think the same about family. 169 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:08,000 You know, we think the same about the type of foods that we 170 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,440 should be eating and not eating. That's what makes you house 171 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,080 church such a unified church is because like he says in verse 172 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:20,520 one and two same mind, same one mind, one love, but he says mine 173 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,120 twice, which means he really wants us to know that who we are 174 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,240 comes from what we think, right? The Bible says as a man think if 175 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,400 so, is he? So Paul is like, if you guys 176 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:33,400 think similarly about the things of God, things of Scripture, the 177 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,480 things of the culture, you will be unified. 178 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,000 And verse three he says, but the reason why you're not unified is 179 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,560 because of this selfish ambition or party spirit. 180 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,920 It literally translates into party spirit and both of us were 181 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:49,800 saved out of that past. When you have the party spirit, 182 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,000 you are at these parties for one reason, one reason only, 183 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,040 selfishness. What I can get out of the party, 184 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,400 who can make me feel better about myself, how much 185 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,480 substances I can take to make me feel comforted. 186 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,040 You're there to serve one purpose and you are that 187 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,320 purpose. It's a very selfish way to live. 188 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,200 And Paul is saying that type of party spirit does not exist and 189 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:15,800 cannot exist, or does exist, but it should not exist in the 190 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,120 church. For me, Lokelani and I were 191 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,360 completely different partygoers, even though we didn't know each 192 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:23,960 other at the time. I had to be the life of the 193 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,680 party, right? Loki Alani wanted to go to 194 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:28,720 parties and like disappear, right? 195 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,680 She wanted to be in the background, right and and feel 196 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:35,120 comforted by all the things, these false comforts from the 197 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,200 from the party. But I wanted to be. 198 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,080 I wanted the parties to revolve around me, right? 199 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:44,560 And so you can imagine both of those party spirits in the 200 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:47,280 church today if she attends church that way, but she's just 201 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:48,760 in the background. I'm not going to be really a 202 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:50,360 part of this. I'm just here to get what I can 203 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,280 get out of it and leave, right? Or me, if everything has to be 204 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,720 about me, me, me, me, me, me, me, and I'm the life of the 205 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,000 party. I have to be this and I have to 206 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,760 be that, then that's going to tear up the church, right? 207 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:02,920 And I, I, this has been something that's been really 208 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:07,880 weird and hard for me to, to balance because it's very easy 209 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,640 to be like with a church our size, it's very easy to be like, 210 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:12,280 well, Alex, you're preaching every week. 211 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,640 Is that mean? This is all about you? 212 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,640 It's different because it's a house church and it's my house. 213 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,440 And according to church history, it was the person that, the host 214 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:23,880 of the house or the person that lived in the house, the husband 215 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,320 of the house that would usually lead the gathering and share the 216 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,280 scripture. And so I have to fight that. 217 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,000 Like, am I being selfish by preaching? 218 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:38,120 And I realized that preaching is dying, right? 219 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:39,880 I have to. If I get up there and it's all 220 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:42,800 about me and this is the stuff I like and the stuff that I want 221 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,320 to talk about and tell some jokes and make everyone love me, 222 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,040 then of course, that's the party spirit. 223 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,160 But then real preaching is dying to yourself, sharing stuff you 224 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,320 don't want to say or being vulnerable. 225 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:56,640 And so in the church, the party spirit should not exist. 226 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,360 But it does exist. And he's saying, let's kill it 227 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,680 now so it doesn't tear down this Philippian church. 228 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:05,720 And if you see that in your life, you got to call it out. 229 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:11,160 Have you seen that in any church you've been a part of or any 230 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:13,200 Bible study you've been a part of? 231 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:15,680 And how has it affected that group? 232 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,880 Yeah, I, I think I've definitely seen this. 233 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:28,560 And I think that when this party spirit exists, it the church 234 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:33,640 operates a little bit less like a church and more like a social 235 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,960 club. Or I mean, I think it's hard 236 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:42,000 because you said at the beginning of this fellowship is 237 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,720 felt like it's something that we need, but it could also just be 238 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,160 more of like a. Club OR. 239 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:52,400 Yeah, yeah, like a. Fellowship or like instead of a 240 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:54,000 fellowship, it's like a Country Club. 241 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,000 Like, yeah, I think about a Country Club because you got 242 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:58,480 these like, nice, it's raining. It's raining. 243 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,440 You go to these nice like golf courses and it's like, I know 244 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:04,560 you guys are friends, but it seems like you just guys just 245 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,440 get around and talk about your stuff and how rich you are and 246 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,480 how powerful you are and how good your golf is. 247 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:11,720 Yeah. And I think like to your 248 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:16,560 original question, yeah, like the the party spirit aspects in 249 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:21,480 certain churches that I have been a part of for however long 250 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:25,080 the time is. I think what is so interesting 251 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:30,360 to me is like it's almost like pulling teeth to actually talk 252 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,000 about God. Like outside of the actual like 253 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,880 service that is planned and put on by the leadership. 254 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,360 It's like, OK, the fellowship time, like there's not a lot of 255 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:46,360 like just not like spontaneous prayer, but just like, you know, 256 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,040 like spontaneous prayer in the way of like, oh, OK, like you're 257 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,400 going through that. Let's pray, you know, like or 258 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,400 just bringing up the Lord or his goodness or like how you see him 259 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,840 working in your life naturally, because as children of God we 260 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,200 should it says the. Word should be on our lips. 261 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,200 Yeah, so he should be on our lips and especially like right 262 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,960 after like worshipping him collectively in the gathering 263 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,080 slash service in America. It's more like a service, but 264 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:18,760 yeah. And I I find that so 265 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:20,000 interesting. It does. 266 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,640 And that's like verse 2. It says same mind, same love. 267 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:25,080 Like we all may have the same mind because we go to the same 268 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,840 church, we think the same way, we vote the same way, we're 269 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,560 conservative the same way or Democrat the same way, but we 270 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,240 don't have the same love. A lot of us are here because we 271 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,280 love different things and that same love is not Christ. 272 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,320 So you can have the same mind but not the same love. 273 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,840 And that's why he's saying in verse 2, I pray that you'd have 274 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,640 the same mind and same love. That way you'll be really, truly 275 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,120 unified, you know, super good. OK, so the solution, what is the 276 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:49,360 solution? How do we become unified? 277 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:51,840 The solution is verse 4, humility. 278 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,000 And next week we're going to talk about probably the most 279 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,960 famous passage in the Bible about the humility of Christ. 280 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,800 But this week, just a little sneak peek. 281 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,160 The humility is the way to be unified. 282 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,040 If we're going to be unified, we have to be humble. 283 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:05,800 We talk about God. Why? 284 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,400 Because we love God. We love God because we need God. 285 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:10,600 We don't talk about God. It's because we don't love him 286 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:12,320 and we don't love him. It's because we feel like we 287 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,280 don't need him. You have to have the humility to 288 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,880 realize we do need him. Every hour. 289 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,720 I need thee. Let each of you look not only to 290 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,120 his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 291 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,280 And we're going to talk about what this looks like in Christ's 292 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:30,480 life. But just a little sneak peek. 293 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,720 Christ was selfless. He had no selfish ambition. 294 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:38,280 I think about the time where he says I did not come to serve or 295 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:42,960 I did not come to be served, but to serve and to lay my life down 296 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,240 as ransom for many. He's saying I came to earth to 297 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,400 serve and here's what it's going to look like. 298 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:50,680 I'm going to use my life as a ransom. 299 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:51,920 That's how I'm going to serve people. 300 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,520 I'm going to use my life to pay to get you out of the grip of 301 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:56,880 the devil, the grip of sin and death. 302 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:02,040 And why does Jesus say I came not to be served, but to serve? 303 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,240 It's because before he made anything, before the earth was 304 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,360 made, before Adam and Eve, before anything, God the Father 305 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,080 and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit had already had a plan. 306 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,400 Knowing that we would break it, knowing that we'd break our 307 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:21,520 break our covenant, break our God's heart. 308 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:24,080 He already had a plan to save us. 309 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,240 And so it wasn't like Jesus like in in the middle of Leviticus 310 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:29,520 was like, oh, why don't we do this? 311 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:34,880 God, the Trinity already had a plan to come and save us. 312 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,360 And so when Jesus says I come not to be served, but to serve, 313 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:44,280 he was like, this is has always been the plan that God would 314 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,760 send me to come and serve you. There was. 315 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:52,960 So what I'm trying to say is never, ever in the history of 316 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:58,720 mankind or in eternity past has God had an even a sliver of 317 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:04,520 selfish ambition in him. He has always been selfless, 318 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:08,280 completely selfless. And the most selfless thing God 319 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:13,880 can do is to give you himself for his own glory, because he 320 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,280 alone deserves the glory, as sinless and perfect as He is. 321 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:25,040 So thinking about Christ's beautiful selflessness and how 322 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:29,160 while we were still sinners, while we were selfish, he came 323 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,040 and selflessly laid down his life that we would be free from 324 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,040 sin. Have a path to follow, a life to 325 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,280 follow, a light on that path, forgiveness of everything, a 326 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:42,080 future and a hope, a heaven that's filled with the fullness 327 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:44,400 of satisfaction. If that is where we're headed, 328 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,640 then where do you see unity in your life? 329 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,160 If you look at your life everywhere, you see unity, 330 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:57,680 humility will be there as well. Humility will be there as well 331 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,480 everywhere. So for example, the Knicks, 332 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:02,200 right? They're about to go into, well, 333 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,360 Game 5 is already happening by the time this episode posts, 334 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:07,240 they're about to go into game five. 335 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,040 There is so much unity within the city of New York. 336 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:15,480 Why? Because for 20, for what, over 337 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:17,840 two decades? I mean, I'm not a Knicks fan, 338 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,200 but over 2 decades, a long time, they have lost every year. 339 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:24,960 They have got not gotten a championships since I believe 340 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,720 the 70s. I want to say it's been a very, 341 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,640 very long time. That is humiliating, right? 342 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,400 I think about Spike Lee. He has sat on courtside for so 343 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:39,640 many Knicks games year after year, loss after loss after 344 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:41,120 loss. You know the amount of humility 345 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,520 it takes to do that a lot. And that is why there is such 346 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,760 great unity in the city because they share that humility. 347 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,840 They were down in the dirt together and now they get to 348 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,720 rise together. They share in that unity because 349 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:57,880 of their humility. Where else? 350 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,960 What are some other places that you see unity in the world or in 351 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:08,840 culture or families or anything? Yeah, well, I see. 352 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,840 I feel like I just because you brought up family, like, I 353 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:17,760 think, I don't know, I there's not just like one way to do it, 354 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:23,240 but I'm seeing some of the fruit of like homeschooling and how at 355 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,640 least at this stage with our oldest almost being 11, so we're 356 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,360 not in the teenagers yet. So stay tuned. 357 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:33,000 No, I'm not. Yeah. 358 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:39,080 Anyway, I just see a lot of unity within just our immediate 359 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:44,280 family, you know, because we home school, we're together, 360 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,520 we're not separating the family. Even with church, you know, 361 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,000 obviously you all know if you follow us in house church, the 362 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:58,040 kids are a part of the service. And so not being separated, I 363 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:06,960 think has allowed just our ideals and all of that to be on 364 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,960 the same accord. Because we're not getting 365 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,680 outside influence from all these other spaces and then coming in 366 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:18,280 and trying to like live amongst each other. 367 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,600 And I'm not saying that you should always just stay in a 368 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,800 bubble and be sheltered and only stay with your people and never 369 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,120 learn. We can definitely learn from 370 00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:31,120 people who are different from us or in different situations. 371 00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:36,000 But children, you know, need their parents and they're so 372 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,840 easily influenced. And so I, yeah, I guess I'm just 373 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:44,880 seeing the fruit from this lifestyle and just how we're, 374 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,400 there's not a lot of pushback right now, at least on the 375 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:50,680 thing. Like when we talk about the 376 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,160 things of God or the way the world works or all that within 377 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:56,520 our family. And also because of that, it's 378 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,520 not just our ideals that are aligned. 379 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:04,040 It's just there's a lot less competition within our family. 380 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:09,280 Like I was talking to a friend earlier about that, like Sybil 381 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,720 sibling rivalry just doesn't exist. 382 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,520 There's definitely moments of selfishness. 383 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:17,200 There's definitely arguments that happened, especially with 384 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,560 the really little ones because they're learning. 385 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:26,840 But I'm just blown away just by how for each other the kids are 386 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:32,600 and how they love to share. They love to just see each other 387 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,320 succeed. And I think that is just part of 388 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:40,080 like just as being unified as family. 389 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:42,320 Right. You know, and that's a part of 390 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:46,080 that first four where he says look out for the interests of 391 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,200 others. Like that is what humility looks 392 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:53,720 like is being interested in you, not myself, you know, like, yes, 393 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,640 taking interest in other people. And one of the things that 394 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,560 commentary was pointed out was how boring it is to be around 395 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:02,520 people who only talk about themselves. 396 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,560 Oh yeah, it's not boring. It's a little frustrating. 397 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,440 Yeah, he's saying be the type of church where when you guys get 398 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,080 together, you become interested in the what the people around 399 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:15,160 you are interested in. So going up to someone and 400 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,320 saying, hey, I heard you went fishing this week. 401 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:18,840 Like what kind of fish did you get? 402 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,800 Or just taking an interest in whatever, listening to people so 403 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,000 that when it's time to buy them a gift, it's like, oh I know the 404 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,880 perfect gift for this person because I remember this 405 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,440 conversation 3 weeks ago, they talked about this or they said 406 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,640 that this was important to them and taking note of that. 407 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,000 That is how you share in humility, which means your 408 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,880 church will be a unified place. And I think house church does 409 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:48,000 that really well. I see a lot of people taking 410 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:52,480 interest in each other. Do you think that's why we have 411 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,120 share so much unity in our family? 412 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,920 What part? Taking interest in each other. 413 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:01,880 Oh yeah, I think so. You see that with the. 414 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,840 Kids ever? Yeah, definitely. 415 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:10,720 Yeah, I see, like Amos, like if Lola cries, all of the kids, 416 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:12,000 like, can I get her? Can I pick her up? 417 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,600 Can I go get her? It's not like, oh, I'm reading 418 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,360 right now or I'm drawing or I'm eating. 419 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,400 It's like I take an interest in my little sister and what she's 420 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,520 going through. Again, also compassionate and to 421 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,360 stop what they're doing and want to help out with that. 422 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:30,240 That does there's so much humility in that and it does 423 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,280 unify the family. So yeah, grateful for that 424 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:34,920 picture and all the mini pictures that we brought up 425 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,320 today. But in your life, where do you 426 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:43,680 see unity or maybe lack of unity and but to remember how powerful 427 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,560 the humility of Christ can be. And with that said, next week 428 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,440 we're going to dive deeper into what the humility of Christ 429 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,560 looks like. He certainly it has that piece 430 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,760 we talked about today where he takes an interest in his sheep. 431 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:57,880 He takes an interest in the loss, right? 432 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,160 So much so that he would come down and quiet literally walk on 433 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,120 our shoes, share and our experiences tempted in every way 434 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,800 yet without sin knows what it feels like to be human and right 435 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,040 now human 100% God, 100% man on the throne. 436 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,040 Talk about taking an interest in US and looking to the interest 437 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:22,000 of us. And so he models that for us. 438 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:23,440 But we'll look at more next week. 439 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,880 And I didn't really say this, but I hope that it was an 440 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,920 implied it was implied. This is the way to a stress less 441 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,040 life. This is a way to a stress free 442 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,480 life. The reason why there's just or 443 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,840 if there's disunity within your church, that's a stressful 444 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,520 church to be a part of. If there's humility in the 445 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,760 church, if there's laying down in your life, if there's look 446 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,280 into the interests of others, that is a peaceful beautiful 447 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:53,160 church to be a part of. And so yeah, appears to live in 448 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,280 this dress less life and looking forward to next week going to be 449 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,160 good. Yes. 450 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,160 Oh, by the way, if you're watching the video, we are 451 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,400 drinking sweet tea. Yeah, they probably. 452 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:10,440 Forgot to mention that they're in like little koozies, but very 453 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,800 refreshing because it's been pretty hot here on Kawhi lately. 454 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,600 We're in summer. Summer starts early for us, like 455 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,600 in May and last until November, so. 456 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:23,800 Yeah, it's a longer. Summer, Yeah. 457 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:26,760 So just wanted to throw that out there. 458 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:32,920 But yeah, I'm excited to jump in to next week's episode. 459 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,040 Next week, Yep. Amen. podcast.com to keep up 460 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,400 with us. And you hear us talk about house 461 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,960 church a lot. There's a house church podcast 462 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:45,160 where I post my sermons from our church that meets in our garage. 463 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,000 And we are in a series called Maturity. 464 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,920 So it's going to pair beautifully with this stressless 465 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,120 series. And yeah, that's a whole other 466 00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:56,080 podcast if you want to listen to those live sermons. 467 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:01,560 But I also started a series on my channel called the David 468 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,600 series. We look at the life of David and 469 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:06,560 that's going to be a lot of fun too. 470 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,280 Episode 1 is already out on the Alex Wilson channel and yeah, 471 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,800 there's lots of ways to stay involved with us and follow us 472 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:14,600 on Instagram, like and subscribe. 473 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,240 A big way to support us non financially is to like and turn 474 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,000 on notifications and that kind of stuff, hype us up, whatever 475 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,920 on YouTube. That's a big way to support and 476 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,320 helps us reach more people. And then of course, you can 477 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:37,560 support.bygivingfinancially@amenpodcast.com/donate anything else you want to say? 478 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,560 Nope, Nope. But we love you guys. 479 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:43,480 Have a good day and we'll see you in the next one. 480 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:45,720 Until then, go out and be the church. 481 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:46,880 Amen.