1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,400 Let Jesus D influence you. Most of our stress comes from 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,440 other people online telling us what we need to be, what we need 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,680 to wear, what we need to buy, where we need to go, or what we 4 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,720 need to do. Jesus frees us from all of that. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,200 This episode is not about unfollowing Christian 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,040 influencers that are not living up to a a standard that the 7 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,720 Bible puts out there. This is about really finding 8 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,720 Christ like people in our lives and then letting their lives 9 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,080 influence us. It's not about canceling people 10 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,000 who aren't living up to a perfect standard. 11 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,960 It's about realizing that there's a standard that God has 12 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,000 that Jesus lives up to perfectly, and then transforms 13 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,120 us into that standard through his Spirit sanctification. 14 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,120 So today we're talking about being the influence from the 15 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:52,000 world completely, but then also being uninfluenceable. 16 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,880 If I can make up that word to anybody who is not like Christ. 17 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,320 Amen. Hello Hon, welcome to Amen 18 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,840 Podcast where we preach the good news of Jesus Christ and how it 19 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,800 applies to everyday life. I'm Lukilani, your host and 20 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,520 let's talk about being the influenced. 21 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,440 Turn to Philippians 2 verses 25 through 30. 22 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,160 I'll read the verses and then Alex is going to take it from 23 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:22,480 there and teach you to how how to be the influenced from the 24 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:24,440 world. Verse 25. 25 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,960 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my 26 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,920 brother, and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your 27 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:34,880 messenger and minister to my need. 28 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,080 For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed 29 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,520 because you heard that he was ill. 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,760 Indeed, he was ill near to death, but God had mercy on him, 31 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,920 and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow 32 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,360 upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, 33 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:58,240 therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I 34 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,400 may be less anxious. So I receive him in the Lord 35 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,160 with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the 36 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,600 work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in 37 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,440 Your service to me. Amen. 38 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,320 This guy that Paul's talking about is a man named 39 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:22,520 Epaphroditus, who was named by his two Gentile, Pagan, 40 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,520 unchristian parents after the Greek God Aphrodite. 41 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,440 And they must have worshipped at her temple. 42 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:36,520 They must have, you know, really loved what she stood for with 43 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,880 love and they modeled their life after her. 44 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:41,920 It's so much so that they named her kid that way. 45 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,040 Now, Epaphrodite is not a real being. 46 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,160 It's just a made-up fantastical God. 47 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,520 But it was very real to the people in the 1st century that 48 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,160 were living in Philippi at the time. 49 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:56,120 And at some point, Epaphroditus through Paul's ministry becomes 50 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,400 a believer, much like the Philippian jailer or the the 51 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,080 girl that was demon possessed we talked about earlier in this 52 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,280 series. And as you've been going through 53 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,880 the stressless series, we've learned how to live a stressless 54 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:13,520 life is to live a life that is a mind that is submissive to 55 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,120 Christ. It's a mind that doesn't look 56 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:20,080 for the world to influence it, but looks to be influenced by 57 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,120 the word of God. And the word of God is the only 58 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,680 one that can free us from following what the world is 59 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,200 following after the fake gods out there, the the idolatry out 60 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,320 there. And so he becomes a Christian. 61 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,360 And then verse 25, it says, I thought it necessary to send to 62 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,080 you Epaphroditus. Now wasn't Epaphroditus from 63 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:39,920 Philippi? Of course he was. 64 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,480 The reason why he's with Paul right now in Rome on house 65 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,760 arrest is because the Philippians sent a love offering 66 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:53,240 a financial gift to Paul through Epaphroditus. 67 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,000 And Epaphroditus takes it to Paul and then when he gets 68 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,280 there, he gets sick. We'll talk about that. 69 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,120 But Paul is like, I want to send him back to you because one, 70 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,440 he's one of the best people I've ever met, right? 71 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,600 He just talked about Timothy in last episode, but now he's 72 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:09,240 bringing up Epaphroditus by name. 73 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,000 And we're going to 1st talk about why we need to be de 74 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,080 influenced. The the problem that we find 75 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:19,399 with being de influenced and how to actually be de influenced, 76 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:24,000 the need is right here in verse 25 he gives 5 titles for a a 77 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,960 Aphroditus and as he's writing out these five titles about his 78 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:33,760 close friend, he's showing us why we need people like this to 79 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,000 influence us. And if they don't meet this list 80 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,840 of titles, then they should not be influencing us. 81 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:42,840 Remember, Paul is an apostle, right? 82 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:45,880 There's not many of those. There's no more of those. 83 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,040 But that to begin, they're all in Scripture. 84 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,160 There is no apostles that are not mentioned in Scripture. 85 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,480 There is qualifications to be an apostle like one of them is that 86 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,320 you have to meet the physical Lord Jesus and he has to call 87 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:05,080 you to his ministry physically to follow him and to preach his 88 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:06,720 word. And so you think of all the 89 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,920 disciples. You think of Matthias who added 90 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,680 on later and took Judas's spot. But Matthias was there from the 91 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,560 beginning of Jesus ministry when he was baptized all the way to 92 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,520 the ascension. You think about James, the half 93 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,080 brother of Jesus who joined the ministry and has a book where he 94 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,800 talks about wisdom and he was also a pastor. 95 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,240 But we also think about Paul, you know, probably the greatest 96 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:35,200 apostle who wrote most of the New Testament, and he was one 97 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,560 that was saying this guy Timothy is awesome. 98 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,560 This guy Epaphroditus is awesome. 99 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,280 And here's why he's awesome. If he, if anybody in your life 100 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:45,680 doesn't meet these five titles, they should not be influencing 101 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,720 you #1 He says Epaphroditus is my brother. 102 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:50,960 What does it mean to be a brother of Paul? 103 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,560 He's saying that we're closer than just friends, that we are. 104 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,000 We're cut from the same cloth that even though he's not called 105 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,360 to be an apostle like I, he is called to serve God in a 106 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,640 different way. But he has been my brother in 107 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,040 the ministry. He's been closer to me. 108 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:07,880 What does the Bible say about brothers? 109 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,520 That a brother is born for adversity. 110 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:15,120 That when times get hard, God gives you siblings to stand up 111 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,040 and help you when nobody else might show up. 112 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,320 So is the person influencing you like a brother to you or someone 113 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,920 that you would call a brother or a sibling or a sister? 114 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,000 But also, and even that right there tells us that most of the 115 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,560 people that need to influence us are not going to be online, 116 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:35,400 right? They need to be physical people 117 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,840 in our lives that can show up in your life when you need them to 118 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:42,000 show up. An influencer that you follow 119 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,440 might be helpful. They may share helpful stuff, 120 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,040 but they cannot and will not show up when you need them. 121 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,800 Here's the problem also with satellite churches, right? 122 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,400 I worked at a satellite church in California and this is 123 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,240 largely influenced by Life Church. 124 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,800 Life Church is a church in Oklahoma that has definitely 125 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,880 pioneered the idea of multi campus satellite pastors. 126 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,520 The idea here is that you have a church on another side of town 127 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,560 that your pastor, head pastor goes to and he preaches on stage 128 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,840 and then they film him and then they send that that video file 129 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,080 to another church also by the same name. 130 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,000 And they give like a flat version of, you know, a screen 131 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,840 version of your pastor. The problem with that is that's 132 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,920 not church. I think we can say that well, 133 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,200 this one pastor is feeding so many other pastors and so many 134 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,560 other people out there. And so there's not a lot of 135 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:37,160 preachers, not a lot of sound doctrine. 136 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,640 And so we have to do a digital pastor to these other multi site 137 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,560 satellite campuses. Do we think that God cannot 138 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,280 equip his church? Do we think that God cannot call 139 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:53,680 up preachers within his body and equip them to pastor churches? 140 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,360 Of course he can. The Holy Spirit of he's been 141 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,640 doing that for 2000 years before we had TV's and cameras. 142 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,080 We don't need multi satellite campus churches. 143 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,120 We need physical pastors who can show up and be a brother to you 144 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,960 in your life or a physical place where people can have leadership 145 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,120 modeled on hope. I mean, it doesn't have to be on 146 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,320 a stage modeled before them. Knowing that I can call, this is 147 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:19,760 a sister in Christ that I can call. 148 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:21,440 This is a brother in Christ that I can call. 149 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,120 So let's keep going. Another thing is he's been a 150 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,000 fellow worker to Paul. Paul is saying Epaphroditus is 151 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,559 the type of Christian that has labored with me, that's got in 152 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,880 the trenches and worked with me. I've seen this at our own church 153 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,960 that we have young men and women who when we have events, when we 154 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:44,039 have stuff, they work hard. They they try their best to just 155 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,080 serve God as if Jesus himself is coming to the party or Jesus 156 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,040 itself is coming to this service or this gathering or this or 157 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,240 this event. And certainly he is because he 158 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,040 is with us everywhere. Do you have people in your life 159 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,480 that are influencing, influencing you, that work 160 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,480 alongside you? But another thing would be he 161 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,600 says he's not just a fellow worker, he's a fellow soldier. 162 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:06,880 So #3 is that he's a fellow soldier. 163 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:09,520 Are the people influencing in your life soldiers? 164 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:14,120 As in are they fighting with you for Christ, fighting with you 165 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:17,280 for the gospel, fighting for the freedom of others because it is 166 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,000 for freedom that Christ has set us free? 167 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,480 Are they fighters? Or are they just, you know, when 168 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,360 life gets hard, when they get persecuted, do they just lie 169 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,000 down and give up or do they keep on fighting? 170 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,520 Have they been there day one? I can think about people that, 171 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,960 you know, we didn't, we received some persecution from doing the 172 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,240 podcast. But because it's online, it's 173 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,960 really easy just not to read comments and emails and stuff 174 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:42,840 like that. But when you do physical 175 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,040 ministry, there is physical persecution, whether it be 176 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:50,320 violent or painful or just emotionally and mentally 177 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,880 painful. But we have have people in our 178 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,560 life who have been here since day one and they've gone through 179 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:57,760 the persecution with us. They stuck it out. 180 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,760 And it's been so encouraging to know them and to be in the fight 181 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:03,680 with them. But the people who influencing 182 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:06,560 you, and I hope, I hope what you're picking up here is that 183 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:10,080 they don't have to be older than you to influence you. 184 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,040 Remember, what does Paul say to Timothy? 185 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,280 Let no one despise you or look down on you because of your age, 186 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,560 but be a good example in your conduct and in your speech and 187 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:22,200 in the purity of your life. So you can have people younger 188 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,760 than you influence you, but or people same age or people older. 189 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,000 The next thing, the 4th 1, is that Epaphroditus, my brother, 190 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,400 my worker, my soldier, also your messenger. 191 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:37,520 He's your messenger. He's been a person that shared 192 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,800 the message of Christ with you and he is also brought a message 193 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:45,760 from the Philippian church to Paul and he's a messenger of the 194 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,720 Philippi church. What a cool thing to say that he 195 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,400 was a messenger in one of the most popular, most influential 196 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,560 churches of all time. Is the person that is 197 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:58,200 influencing you a messenger of Christ? 198 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:03,280 Do they take the message of the gospel to their workplace to 199 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,960 where it needs to be? Do they take it to your 200 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,000 gatherings? Is the message of Christ always 201 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,280 near and dear to their lips and to their heart? 202 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:17,560 And the last title that we need to have the people influence us 203 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:23,200 to have is A minister to my need. 204 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,520 Are the people influencing you meeting the needs of others, 205 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:31,120 ministering to those who are in need? 206 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,800 Paul tells us that true religion is widows and orphans. 207 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:38,560 And I can think of a couple in our life that is has a big 208 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:41,760 influence in our life and they are orphan parents, they are 209 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:46,000 foster parents. Do are there needs in your 210 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,840 community and and are the people influencing you? 211 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:53,960 Are they meeting those needs? That's a big red flag if they're 212 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:58,440 not so, these five things, you can see the need for a person 213 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,720 like this in your life, right? I hope you do look at verse 26 214 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:06,880 through 28, for he has been longing for you all and has been 215 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,200 distressed because you heard he was ill. 216 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,240 Indeed, he was ill near to death. 217 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,560 But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but me also, 218 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:16,880 lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 219 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,880 I am more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice 220 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,040 at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious. 221 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,960 This is revealing to us the problem that we have when we 222 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:31,560 cannot find people to influence us. 223 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:35,600 Good people trice like people. It also reveals to us why we are 224 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,760 so easily influenced by the wrong people and why we need to 225 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,680 be de influenced. The problem with being de 226 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:46,880 influenced is we look for influence in the wrong places, 227 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,720 right? Very easily it's we can look for 228 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,960 influence in those who are successful, wealthy, healthy, 229 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,000 prosperous. And so we think these are the 230 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:58,760 people that need to influence me. 231 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:03,160 But those same people, would you call them a fellow worker? 232 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:05,360 Would you would you call them a fellow brother? 233 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,880 Would you call them a, a minister for your actual 234 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,560 physical and also mental and emotional spiritual needs? 235 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:18,200 Would you call them messengers? They may be a messenger that may 236 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,400 be the only title out of that whole list of five people that 237 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,120 they meet. But if you really look at those 238 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:27,240 titles, do they meet all those? The problem is we don't look for 239 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,880 those to influence us in the space of suffering. 240 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:35,720 You need to look in the space of suffering for those who shall be 241 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,800 influencing you. It was funny when I when me and 242 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:43,640 Lokelani just met, we were going to a Bible study and we would 243 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,440 put on sermons of very popular pastors. 244 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,680 It was 2 that we kept going back to two different, two different 245 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:53,840 pastors and one that we eventually landed on more was 246 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:59,440 the one that got cancer. And I thought that was not 247 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:04,440 insignificant because when a person that is following Christ, 248 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,480 serving Christ, goes through suffering, it is an honor. 249 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:11,200 It is a blessing. I remember the times in the book 250 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,840 of Acts where the apostles are mistreated, stoned, flogged, 251 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,320 hurt, persecuted for the gospel. And it says that they walked 252 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,520 away rejoicing because they were counted as worthy to suffer for 253 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,680 the name. When we go through any type of 254 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,240 suffering while we're following Christ, it is a good thing. 255 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,200 It is to it. It is for us to say, blessed be 256 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,120 the name of the Lord you give and you take away. 257 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,240 It is that we may share and what it looks like to be a Christian 258 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,520 that we may share in the sufferings of Christ. 259 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:46,360 It's important that when you're looking for people to influence 260 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:48,560 you, you don't look in places of prosperity. 261 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,440 You look in places of suffering. Here's a little example just to 262 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,000 bring it home. If you're looking for a trainer 263 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:58,040 to help you get strong, to lose some weight to, you know, become 264 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:02,600 a better physical version of you with health, you're not going to 265 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:09,360 look for somebody who has had a very easy, eat whatever they 266 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,160 want, no discipline. They're not in shape. 267 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,080 They just kind of watch a lot of TV and, and when they go to 268 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,080 Target instead of walking, they they're perfectly healthy, but 269 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,840 they take the little cart that other people actually need and 270 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:25,440 they push around the cart, you know, drive around the cart 271 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,320 around the store. You're not going to look for a 272 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,720 person like that, right? They haven't been through any 273 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:31,360 suffering. They haven't picked up enough 274 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:32,780 dumbbells. They haven't done enough pull 275 00:15:32,780 --> 00:15:34,680 ups. They haven't fasted enough. 276 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,040 They haven't cooked enough healthy meals and sweated 277 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,560 through the kitchen trying to figure out what is healthy, 278 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:42,760 what's what's in a caloric deficit. 279 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,440 They go through the suffering and that's what makes them a 280 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,320 good trainer. That's what makes them someone 281 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,360 that you can look up to and listen to so that you can get to 282 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,000 a different place. It's the same way spiritually. 283 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,800 Why do we think that the people who have the the most biggest 284 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,920 followings, the most amount of money, the coolest clothes, the 285 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:04,600 coolest cars, the frictionless life, why do we think we're 286 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,240 going to really learn a lot from them or that we can trust them 287 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,440 to influence us? Of course we cannot. 288 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,480 We want to look for people like Paul like Apophroditus who have 289 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,880 gone through stuff and you might be thinking what if what is 290 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,920 Apophoditus gone through Just so I know Alex the type of person I 291 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,200 need to look for. That brings us to our last point 292 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:27,480 and that is how to be de influenced verses 2930 So 293 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:32,160 receive him and and the Lord with all joy and honor such men 294 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:36,200 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to 295 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,720 complete what is lacking in you and your service to me. 296 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,520 Excuse me, So what happened? He's delivering this letter to 297 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,560 Paul, and while he's doing so, he gets really sick and almost 298 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,880 dies. But he keeps on going and now 299 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,840 he's better and Paul is saying him back to Philippi. 300 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,760 I want you to notice something. Epaphroditus didn't go through 301 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,800 physical persecution from the hands of the Romans or the hands 302 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,160 of someone who hated Christ. He's going through a persecution 303 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,680 of illness. He's going through a hardship of 304 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:11,319 illness. He is physically sick while he's 305 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:15,359 serving Christ. That is suffering for Christ. 306 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,079 We think that suffering for Christ is only if like you're 307 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:21,280 being jailed up or hurt physically because of what 308 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,280 you're doing for Jesus or preaching the gospel. 309 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,119 No, you could just have a physical element. 310 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,760 I think about my my good friend Jamie Carrington over on 311 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,160 Instagram who is in a wheelchair and has been so the majority of 312 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:34,760 his life, if not all of his life. 313 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:40,720 He has an illness and has a disability, but he is a great 314 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:43,280 preacher and he preaches the Word of God, and he preaches 315 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:44,920 that even through suffering, God is good. 316 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,200 What a powerful message that will certainly never get old and 317 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,080 really resonates with his young audience. 318 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,800 And I know we'll be an older audience as he keeps on serving 319 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,360 the Lord. It's powerful when we see 320 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:00,480 someone in Jamie's condition preaching the good news and 321 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,680 rejoicing in the hope that this life is short and one day I'm 322 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:05,760 going to walk the streets of gold with my Savior. 323 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,320 It's not who's going to be a life in a wheelchair constrained 324 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,440 to these these bindings. How beautiful is that? 325 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,160 That is the type of man Epaphroditus was again, Jamie 326 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,240 Epaphroditus. They're not being done to the 327 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,000 head, chains on their ankles because of Jesus preaching the 328 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,160 gospel. They are going through suffering 329 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:27,520 just as they serve Christ while they serve Christ. 330 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,120 And Paul is saying these are the type of men and the type of 331 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,880 women you need to influence. You need to let it influence 332 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,880 you. So what are we getting out here? 333 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:42,000 This is how Christ lived. The reason why I bring up Jamie, 334 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:44,600 the reason why I bring up Epaphroditus is because they 335 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,040 model Christ. What did Christ do for us? 336 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,000 He didn't come down here and get a throne and a crown and say bow 337 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,680 down, let's have a party and I'm going to be your king. 338 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:54,800 Kingdom of God is here. No, He says the Kingdom of God 339 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,280 is at hand and then he gets nails in his hands. 340 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:00,640 He says the Kingdom of God is near. 341 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,240 God is near. And then he literally comes near 342 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,800 to us and walks in our shoes, is tempted in every way without 343 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,400 sin, and then takes the cross that we deserve that had our 344 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,360 name on it, and he dies instead of us. 345 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:17,160 Talk about God came near. That is our Savior. 346 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,680 If the people influencing you do not walk in the footsteps of 347 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,960 that savior, they are not worthy to influence you. 348 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,320 They're not trustworthy if the people that influence you do not 349 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,240 model Christ if they're not Christ like. 350 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:31,840 That's simply what we're trying to get down to. 351 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,800 And guys don't think somebody is Christ like because they talk 352 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,040 well or because they talk about Jesus. 353 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:43,680 I just saw a podcast episode clip where a girl said you can 354 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:47,240 have a spirit of late, a spirit of lateness upon you. 355 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,400 I was realizing realizing that my church had a demonic 356 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,760 influence, a spirit of tardiness upon them and I had to pray that 357 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:56,800 off of them. So I just started showing up 358 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,080 early. Listen, I know that sounds 359 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,360 really good. That is ridiculous. 360 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,080 We have not where in scripture does it say that there's a 361 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,640 spirit of tardiness in the Bible. 362 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,360 That's it's what does Jesus say that the Pharisees are doing? 363 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,080 They heap up giant. Burdens upon the people that 364 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:16,680 just simply don't need to be on them. 365 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,720 Christ came to free us, right? If you're working out, trying to 366 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:22,880 get somewhere on time, work that out. 367 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:25,520 You're not in sin because you're tardy. 368 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,520 What if you have a toddler? What if you had like a set back 369 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,920 and now this is like a burden? What if you stubbed your toe or 370 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,080 a tackle off the wall and you stepped on it and now your foot 371 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:36,680 hurts and so you're a little bit late? 372 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,080 That's not a demonic influence. That's just life. 373 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:42,960 And if you listen to people like this, what they're going to do 374 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,440 is they're going to put burdens on you that don't need to be 375 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:49,200 there. You don't need another set of 376 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,320 dumbbells. Yeah, your dumbbells aren't 377 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,920 pretty, but they're heavy. And if you pick them up, they'll 378 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,320 give you biceps. You know, The thing is they 379 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:59,480 these influencers will say you need this, you need this 380 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,760 Christian energy drink. No, you don't need that. 381 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,400 You need just to drink water, you know. 382 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:11,400 So this is the problem. If they're not Christ like, we 383 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,160 put a standard on them that the world has come up with to call 384 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,120 them Christ like. And that's a problem because we 385 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:20,040 may call what is Christ like that has nothing to do with 386 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,360 Christ. And then we let those people 387 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:25,760 influence us. There are some things that are 388 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,560 so evil that you can't even see they're evil. 389 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:33,480 They're masked by niceness. And what the Word of God is 390 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:38,080 doing in our hearts is it's untangling that which is 391 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:40,760 confusing to us, or maybe just not clear. 392 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:46,560 We have to let the Word of God get into us so mesmerizingly, 393 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:51,840 meditatively powerful that when we look at anything, we filter 394 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:53,080 it through the Word of God first. 395 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,160 You can live this way. The Spirit of God is going to 396 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,160 make sure that you live this way, the Spirit of God that 397 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:03,240 lives inside of you. So he risked his life to 398 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,560 complete what is lacking in your service to me. 399 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:10,960 The Philippians wanted to serve Paul and as they wanted to do 400 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,400 that, they can only do so much. And so Paffordatis picked up 401 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,760 where they left off. And even if it cost him his 402 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,760 life, he was going to finish the work that this church was doing. 403 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,960 So let me give you a couple application points on how to be 404 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:28,520 de influenced by the world. There's just three things or 405 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,720 maybe 5 #1 are they from the Lord? 406 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,440 Remember Paul says receive Epaphroditus as he comes back to 407 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,840 you and he's saying because such men are from the Lord, honor 408 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,080 such men. We should only receive that 409 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,120 which is from the the Lord, the people in our life that are 410 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:49,680 influencing us. We should only receive them if 411 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,040 they're from the Lord. How do we know they're from the 412 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,800 Lord? How do they handle suffering? 413 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,800 You can tell someone is from the Lord with how they handle 414 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,920 suffering. And I'm not talking about their 415 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,400 kids left out a Lego and they stepped on a Lego and they got a 416 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,120 little angry. You know, I'm not talking about 417 00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:07,920 that. I'm talking about serious 418 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:12,200 suffering where you may be sick while you follow Christ. 419 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,280 You may be barren as you follow Christ. 420 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:19,840 You may be persecuted for following Christ. 421 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,440 You may be made fun of for following Christ. 422 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,800 You may be belittled for following Christ. 423 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,720 Those people who are you're seeing that happen to, how are 424 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,440 they handling it? How are they handling Christ and 425 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:34,240 following Christ in those moments of suffering? 426 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,640 If they're handling it with patience, with the fruit of the 427 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:42,200 Spirit, with kindness, with gentleness, with with boldness, 428 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,000 with courage, if they're handling it like Paul would 429 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,320 handle it, if they're handling it like Jesus would handle it, 430 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,280 they are somebody you need to honor in your life. 431 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,240 When's the last time you honored your pastor or honored if you 432 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,680 have a good set of parents who have modeled this before you? 433 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,440 When's the last time you said thank you? 434 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,120 When's the last time you said to your pastor, to your youth 435 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:10,520 leader, to your young adult leader, to your parents, to your 436 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,840 brother and sister in Christ that is influencing you in a 437 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,800 godly way? When's the last time you said, 438 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,040 hey, I want you to know you've been a huge help in my life and 439 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,040 if you need anything, I'm here to help you out. 440 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:25,520 If you need anything, just call me. 441 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,680 That is what Paul was to Epaphroditus. 442 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,600 That's what Epaphroditus was to the Philippian church. 443 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,600 Honoring them is just telling them how much they've been to 444 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,560 you. It's not about. 445 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,680 Sometimes we think it's like posting them on our story or 446 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,120 bringing them up in front of the church. 447 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,920 You can do that. I'm not saying that's bad. 448 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:51,560 I'm saying that most of the time What the the godly influencers 449 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,920 in your life, what they really want is for you just to come up 450 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:59,440 to them and say, you have been so helpful to me with what 451 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,560 you've done in my life and if you need anything, please tell 452 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:05,360 me. That's how you honor them. 453 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,560 That's the best way to to honor them. 454 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,960 The next thing would be look at their life. 455 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,280 Look at their life. Before you let someone influence 456 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,960 you, look at their life. Is that the life that you want? 457 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,200 Now, I'm not saying look at their stuff. 458 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,360 They may have stuff that you want, right? 459 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:30,240 Like a pair of cool headphones or a car or a house or a really 460 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,600 good looking spouse. You may want those like things. 461 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,840 But mostly that's material, like fleshly things. 462 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,320 I'm talking about. Look at the stuff that you can't 463 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,160 put a price on in their life, right? 464 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:41,720 So let's say they have a lot of kids. 465 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:47,640 Is that what you want? Do you want to be 55 years old 466 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:56,760 with a table of children and grandchildren eating pie and and 467 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:02,200 grass fed beef and seed oil free food, laughing and having a good 468 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:06,600 time? Can't wait to get up and go play 469 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,560 some board games? Can't wait to go play some 470 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,640 cornhole or some some games together. 471 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:13,400 Is that what you want? Is that what you're looking 472 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,080 forward to when you're 55 years old? 473 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:19,640 If the answer is yes, you don't get there by being an 474 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,640 undisciplined person. You don't get there by just 475 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,200 doing whatever feels good or chasing whatever thing the world 476 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,160 is telling you to chase you. And most importantly, godly 477 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:34,360 grandkids and kids are on your around your table praying 478 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:35,640 together, worshiping God together. 479 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,440 You don't get there by following people that are just regularly 480 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,120 on your algorithm. You get there by purposely 481 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,520 choosing physical beings. Not just digital beings, but 482 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,080 physical beings in your life that already are living that 483 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,440 life. Look at their life and ask 484 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,360 yourself, is that the life that I want? 485 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:56,840 Not their stuff, but the life that they have now. 486 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,000 The second. The third thing would be think 487 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:03,200 for yourself. What the Word of God gives us 488 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:08,560 the ability to do is to have our minds so transformed through it 489 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,480 that our mind is renewed to the point where we can think 490 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,960 properly. Do not let the word world think 491 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,280 for you. Don't let influencers think for 492 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,440 you. Let Jesus D influence you by 493 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,800 giving you his spirit and his word so that you can think for 494 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,240 yourself. When you're when you're at 495 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,960 church and your pastor is preaching, you should not just 496 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,920 be taking everything that he's saying without a grain of salt. 497 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,120 You should be Bible open. Scripture knows in scripture 498 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,080 looking at is my pastor lining up to this? 499 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,840 If he's talking more about politics, if he's talking more 500 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:52,360 about himself and the own little little stories of his life, he's 501 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:55,680 not in the word of God, right. If he's using the word of God as 502 00:27:55,680 --> 00:28:00,800 like in a little like extra seasoning on top of his already 503 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,480 manicured message, then that's not preaching. 504 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,000 What you must do is you must be a Berean. 505 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,360 You must be a person of the book. 506 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,840 You must be a person that knows the word of God for yourself. 507 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,680 And of course, allow teachers and preachers, not too many 508 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,720 remember, because Paul says that in the last days that people 509 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,160 will heap up for themselves lots of teachers. 510 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,560 So listen, you shouldn't have more than like you shouldn't 511 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:29,400 have more than like, I don't know, I can't put a number on 512 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,840 this, but it is it probably shouldn't be more than 10. 513 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,840 Like if you know 10 creatures that are really powerful and 514 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:40,040 really biblical, that is good. But they are not going to be as 515 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:46,840 influential or helpful to you than like the three to maybe 5 516 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,600 people that you frequent at some point. 517 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:55,000 It's either a lot of bad teachers in your life, or it's 518 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,080 some good teachers and some bad teachers, or it's a ton of good 519 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,480 teachers, but you can't track with any of them because you 520 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,800 have so much food on your plate. And it could be all good food. 521 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,920 You see what I'm saying? But it could be too much for 522 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,320 you. And so look for the people in 523 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,760 your life that are good solid teachers and, and you don't need 524 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,960 to have dozens of them. Just have a couple. 525 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:22,000 And most importantly, have a physical one in your life. 526 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,360 A physical pastor who is teaching the word of God in your 527 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,360 life or a physical small group leader. 528 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:29,760 If you go to a mega church, you need to be a part of a small 529 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,600 group where you have a physical shepherd over that small group, 530 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,040 over that 10 to 20 people that can check in on you and teach 531 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:45,120 the word of God to you. And as you follow them, think 532 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,800 for yourself, use the word of God to think for yourself and to 533 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,360 walk it out. And lastly, the last thing would 534 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,200 be, are they vain? Are they vain? 535 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,000 This kind of connects to look at their life. 536 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,400 But what I mean by vain is if they spend more time in the 537 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,960 mirror than they do in the word of God, if their if their life 538 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,680 is empty, if, if their words are empty, if they're not getting to 539 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,760 anywhere. But it's just like, look at me, 540 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,400 do I sound cute? Do I look cute? 541 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,080 But I'm also very Christian. I don't cuss, I don't curse, I 542 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:16,720 don't chew, I don't hang with those who do. 543 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,400 I don't smoke any of that. But as you look at their life, 544 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,080 they're all about themselves. Are they vain talking about 545 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,800 themselves, explaining what they've done and who what 546 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,960 they're doing for Jesus? If they're vain, they don't meet 547 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:36,240 the criteria that we just talked about in verse 25 S Ultimately, 548 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,080 do they walk in the shoes of Jesus, walk in the footsteps of 549 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,440 Jesus who laid down his life for us so that we could be 550 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,960 influenced by his Spirit, not by the spirit of this world. 551 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:48,880 Amen. Father, we thank you for an 552 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:53,520 opportunity to open up your Word and to see what you see and to 553 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:58,640 hear what you want us to hear about this world and about the 554 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:00,560 people who would influence us the most. 555 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,880 And we pray that we would have a good discussion online on land 556 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:08,160 now and that You would provide all of our needs in Christ 557 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,240 Jesus. In your name we pray. 558 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:11,080 Amen. Amen. 559 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:14,320 This is the part of the episode called After the Amen where we 560 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:18,560 ask you a question to help apply this message to your life. 561 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:23,600 Our question for you today is how do you need to be de 562 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,760 influenced? How do you need Christ to de 563 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,240 influence you? I'll answer 1st and then it'll 564 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:36,240 be your turn to answer by replying in the comments or 565 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,520 answering the little question on Spotify. 566 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,840 But as always, just as Alex so beautifully said, we need 567 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:50,280 physical people influencing our lives, physically speaking about 568 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:55,280 this answer, answering this question with a friend or mentor 569 00:31:55,280 --> 00:32:01,440 or family member is another great way to apply this and 570 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:09,680 continue to grow in the Lord. How I could be de influenced? 571 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:18,560 I think one thing that I've noticed is very like easy is 572 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:24,240 like as we, I don't know, it's very easy that the more that you 573 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:31,560 take in, like the more that that you become like that person. 574 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:40,920 And I think that there can be like a lot of just like ways of 575 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:45,120 speaking in Christianity that we pick up on and don't even 576 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:50,120 notice. And I think that like in my 577 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:55,000 life, that can very easily happen at times where it's just 578 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,120 like little lingos that I'm saying. 579 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:01,640 And it's not what they're necessarily bad, but maybe it's 580 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,920 unhelpful. Maybe it's like I've I've found 581 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:08,560 in within Christianity, there's like this jokiness that a lot of 582 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,560 Christians kind of like embody. And this is not me saying you 583 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:13,800 shouldn't laugh or have a good time. 584 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,720 There's nothing better than wholesomely laughing with your 585 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,120 brothers and sisters in Christ. Like I feel like it is very 586 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:26,160 bonding to share laughter, but like this flippancy and this 587 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:33,200 like jokiness and I feel like I can and it and it also combines 588 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:38,440 with like this like complaining or like kind of thing. 589 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,040 But it's like said in a joking manner that like, it doesn't 590 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:44,160 seem like you're just outright like complaining or whining. 591 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:50,040 And I can find myself like not always saying things out loud, 592 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:55,600 but thinking it in my head too. And as Alex was like preaching, 593 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,800 I just was thinking about how in order to truly be the 594 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,480 influenced, like he was saying like, run what you're hearing 595 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,920 through the word of God. Run people's lives through the 596 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:11,960 word of God, whatever their life is preaching just physically or 597 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:16,440 like actually audibly like seeping that through the word of 598 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,639 God or sifting that through the word of God. 599 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,520 But it really requires us to slow down. 600 00:34:22,639 --> 00:34:27,800 If we are so busy going to the scene, going to that thing, just 601 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,920 excited to like just say the next thing in conversations, 602 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:32,280 make sure that our voice is heard. 603 00:34:32,639 --> 00:34:37,840 We are going to completely miss the opportunity to be de 604 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:43,560 influenced to go to Christ even in the midst of conversations. 605 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,920 Not in a weird way, like, OK, hold on real quick. 606 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:49,440 I need to pray right now. Like, but just like that whole 607 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,199 praying without ceasing, like just always having the word of 608 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:56,719 God on your mind, always acknowledging that Christ is 609 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:02,360 with you. And yeah, it requires us to slow 610 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:05,040 down. And I think that's just one way 611 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:10,440 that I can like be helped and then just how helpful you can be 612 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:17,200 when you don't engage in that. I think in our past house church 613 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:22,520 sermon that Alex preached, he was saying that the baby sorry, 614 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,320 he was saying that no one to be silent. 615 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:29,960 And so I think that's another way of like, we don't always 616 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,960 have to be so quick to move to action. 617 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,400 And this world wants us to constantly be doing something or 618 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:43,120 buying something or reaching some goal when we've lost kind 619 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:49,040 of this appreciation for just the mundane, for just like the 620 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:58,120 everyday routine ways of life. And yeah, I think I'm just so 621 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,800 grateful for our kids because when you have a lot of kids, you 622 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:04,320 basically have to have a mundane life. 623 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,440 You can't just pack up and go anywhere you want. 624 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:12,120 And you learn to love it. Like I have really learned to 625 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,800 just be home. And I used to think, well, it's 626 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:16,920 really bad that we haven't gotten out and we haven't left 627 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,000 the house. But it's like if you can learn 628 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:24,040 to love your home and work in your home and love who's in your 629 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,520 home with you. Like you don't have to be so 630 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,560 quick to, I have to get out. I have to do something. 631 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,600 I have to experience life. Like life is in the small 632 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:34,520 moments, life is in the small things. 633 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,960 But I think much of what we're influenced by is bigger, better, 634 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:47,800 and like new and novelty, when really at times it's just 635 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,560 continuing to show up and do the same thing over and over. 636 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:59,240 So I think that's what just kind of spoke to me mostly. 637 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:04,120 And yeah, and I think it was all good. 638 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,440 I think I could, like, go through the entire sermon and 639 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:08,960 pick apart different parts that were super helpful. 640 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:14,000 But we want to hear from you and hear whatever however the Lord 641 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,840 is speaking to you through this episode, how you need to be de 642 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:23,120 influenced. Knowing that the only way to 643 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:28,720 truly be de influenced is by sitting at the feet of Christ 644 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:32,640 and remembering the gospel, applying the gospel to our lives 645 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,320 each and every day, dying daily to our flesh and picking up our 646 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:41,800 cross, whether that's physical suffering or any other forms of 647 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,880 suffering that you may be facing right now. 648 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:49,480 But I love that Philippians is all about suffering well and 649 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:53,560 having joy in the midst of it, and this is just another one of 650 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:56,200 those episodes that points that out. 651 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:02,600 Yeah, as, as you're thinking, I'm just thinking about how like 652 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:07,040 one of the sufferings is like parenting. 653 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:12,200 And yeah, I made the joke about like the Lego, you know, but I 654 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,880 think it's, it's not just, yeah, it is stepping on Legos. 655 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:21,000 It is like sleepless nights. It is making finances work or 656 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,600 cooking a fourth meal. You know, it's just a hardship 657 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:28,720 of raising children in a imperfect world. 658 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:32,800 You know, I think that before Adam and Eve's sin, do you know 659 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:34,920 if they would have kids before that? 660 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:39,680 It is as easy as you don't need clothes, you know, there's no 661 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:42,120 like thorns and thistles of life to prick you. 662 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,800 It's like, yeah, go run down to the banana tree and grab some 663 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:48,400 food or go take a shower in the waterfall. 664 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:56,000 You know, it's a lot easier and not that hard is bad. 665 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,960 You know, it's like. But it's the world is a broken 666 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:02,880 place now and being able to raise kids in that is hard. 667 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,840 And so I think that is one of the sufferings that we go 668 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:11,920 through quite often. And I don't think of like the 669 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,400 hard times of parenting. I don't think of them as like 670 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:19,040 what Epaphroditus went through or even what the apostles went 671 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,800 through. But they are hardships. 672 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:26,760 They are like sufferings. And you are, we are doing it 673 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,480 while we serve Jesus, which is very powerful. 674 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,920 And so how we go through those sufferings is and how how we 675 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,280 handle it is very important, whether it is stepping on a Lego 676 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:43,200 or changing at your 10th diaper for the day or having an upset 677 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,400 stomach. But also trying to like play a 678 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,320 video, not a video game because we don't play those. 679 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:54,320 But trying to play a board game with the kids, you know, that's 680 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:58,120 really hard, but I don't always handle it well. 681 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,080 I think that I get really frustrated and I, I think part 682 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,440 of the reason why we get frustrated is because we don't 683 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:05,160 think this is suffering for the Lord. 684 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,400 Like even that I've heard people joke with that. 685 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:13,600 It's like you pull up the church and like a, a beater, like a 686 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:18,240 messed up car and it's breaking on you every week while you're 687 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:20,840 also trying to pay rent and go to work and go to school or 688 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,840 whatever. And people are like, nice car 689 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,160 and you're like, Oh yeah, suffering for the Lord. 690 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:31,400 But like you are, you know, like that the fact that you have a 691 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,320 flat tire every week or that your engine keeps shutting off 692 00:40:34,720 --> 00:40:38,600 at a stoplight, all that is a suffering that you're going 693 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:40,720 through while you serve the Lord. 694 00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:44,080 And if you do it with gladness and joy and patience and 695 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,520 maturity, you are suffering for the Lord. 696 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,800 We shouldn't belittle that or joke about it, because that is 697 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:52,880 what frustrates us. When we think that this is a 698 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,400 meaningless suffering, we get frustrated. 699 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,560 But when we think, no, this is a suffering that I get to portray 700 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:01,400 Christ through, this is a suffering that I'm going through 701 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:03,640 as I serve him. Then now the suffering has 702 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:06,520 meaning, and the meaning is sanctification. 703 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:11,600 The meaning is glorification. So yeah, just revisiting that. 704 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:17,200 And I think that like a lot of times people will see that and 705 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:25,280 they will want that joy that you have through you persevering 706 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,960 through suffering. But I also think that sometimes 707 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,360 through your suffering, you will receive more suffering or more 708 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,920 persecution. Like one example is like, I have 709 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,320 really bad back pain. I've just had a chronic back 710 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:43,320 pain. And every time, every 711 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,400 postpartum, it's just re triggered for some reason. 712 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:49,600 In pregnancy, it's actually not too bad. 713 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:58,160 But in every postpartum it's triggered once again. 714 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:07,160 And I have had people tell me like, well, maybe, you know, do 715 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,720 you think you should have more? Like, what about your back? 716 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,520 Like kind of trying to deter me from having more children 717 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,920 because of this suffering? And it's not like a life 718 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,280 threatening condition where I shouldn't have children through 719 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:22,000 it. You know, it's something that 720 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:29,040 with exercise, I can improve it. But it's there, you know, it's 721 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:30,680 there. And it's constantly been there 722 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:36,560 for the last 15 years. And some seasons better, some 723 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:42,120 seasons worse. But yeah, so just know that, 724 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:48,320 again, filtering everything through the Word of God is so 725 00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,520 important because sometimes you'll get a good reaction, 726 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:54,400 reaction from suffering well, and sometimes you'll get more 727 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,320 suffering on top of that or more persecution on top of that. 728 00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:01,200 So our Christ is our anchor. The Word of God is our anchor. 729 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,760 It's what we can always go to to know how to truly live. 730 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,160 And it's the power of the Holy Spirit, so. 731 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:15,600 Yep. So true. 732 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:18,160 Yeah. Grateful for you. 733 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:20,560 Yeah. Don't belittle your suffering. 734 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:27,200 And, yeah, you know, we have a baby farting on us and, and 735 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,880 crying and ready to eat. And there's a lot that suffering 736 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:33,680 entails. And everybody's different, you 737 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:34,920 know? And so I think sometimes we 738 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,200 think that, well, if we're not being stoned by Steven and we're 739 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:40,840 not going through suffering, but everyone's different and God has 740 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:46,280 a plan for everyone. And yeah, with that said, we 741 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:48,160 love you guys and we're grateful for you. 742 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:52,440 And we pray that you find this episode helpful. 743 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,080 And if you do share it with a friend, follow us on Instagram, 744 00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:57,200 AIM and podcast on Instagram, and go to 745 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,960 aimandpodcast.com/donate if you want to support and keep us 746 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:02,720 going. And we're so grateful for all 747 00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:05,480 our financial supporters allowing us to keep this 748 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:09,320 sponsorship free and to keep these series and these Bible 749 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:13,280 studies coming out every Sunday. We maybe take off 1 Sunday a 750 00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:15,480 year. It's just because we love it. 751 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:18,480 And you guys have been so faithful to help us keep the 752 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:20,520 lights on so that we can continue to do this. 753 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:22,360 And we just want to say thank you. 754 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:27,120 Yes, thank you very much. And until the next episode, go 755 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:28,920 out and be the church. Amen.