- Before the pandemic,
our church was experiencing explosive growth.
Our biggest problem was finding enough parking for everybody.
But then the pandemic hit
and it all stopped.
And then when we started meeting again in person,
we didn't have any problem finding parking for everybody.
I remember thinking,
"This shouldn't be happening.
"This shouldn't be this way."
Now that's not the first time that I've thought like that.
I've had times in my life
where I've second guessed my decisions
or I don't like the circumstances I'm in,
and I can get so angry and frustrated and think,
this shouldn't be this way, this shouldn't be happening.
But that's why I love reading from the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul was a missionary and a pastor,
and he traveled all over the world.
And he started churches wherever he went.
But then one day that all stopped
when he found himself in a Roman prison,
and he couldn't do anything about it.
But instead of saying, this shouldn't happen this way,
he had a positive perspective that he believed
that God was still at work.
This is what he said when he wrote
to the church in Philippi,
You see, although Paul was in prison,
he had this belief that God was using his imprisonment
to advance the gospel throughout the whole Roman Empire.
You see, nothing could get Paul down.
He had this belief instead of worrying about
this shouldn't happen this way,
he had this belief that God was using everything
for the good of His kingdom.
Now it's your turn.
Do you find yourself saying,
today, this shouldn't happen this way,
this shouldn't be happening.
Well, look at how Paul looked at everything.
Take a different perspective
and have this belief that God can use this.
In fact, maybe you could even practice saying that.
Next time you're struggling at work,
say, God could use this.
When your child is having trouble making friends
at school, say, God could use this.
When another crisis comes up in the news,
say, God could use this.
And when you say that you will be filled with joy.
Let's pray,
Lord God,
instead of looking at all of the negative things that are going on,
give us the faith and the confidence
that you can use at all so that we could be filled
with joy no matter what the circumstances.
Amen.
I have a love-hate relationship with the game of golf.
I love being outside,
I love hanging out with friends,
I love the challenge of a difficult hole.
But when it's all over,
I got to count up the score,
and that's when I agonize over the,
the missed shots, the missed opportunities, or
maybe get envious about how somebody else shot better than I did.
When I keep score,
I seem to find unhealthy identity in that number.
And that doesn't just happen with golf
it can happen in anything we keep score in.
It can happen at keep score of our numbers at work
or our numbers in our bank account,
keeping score of our grades at school.
And it's not necessarily wrong to keep track
of those numbers to keep the score.
But it becomes unhealthy when we make that our identity.
When we identify too strongly with those numbers,
we either get puffed up with pride
or fall into crushing despair.
And that's why I love what the Apostle Paul says
when he is writing his letter to the Philippians
from prison.
He talks about how in the past he used to find his identity
in his accomplishments especially his spiritual performance.
But then he became a Christian.
And this is what he said.
Hear what he's saying?
He's saying compared to knowing Jesus
and his accomplishments
and what Jesus has done for me,
I consider everything else a loss.
And because he focused so much on what Jesus had done for him,
he no longer had to keep the score.
He no longer was puffed up with pride or fell into crushing despair.
He had the peace of God
and joy in all circumstances.
In fact that's why he told the Philippians to
rejoice
in the Lord.
And when they would rejoice in the Lord
that would be a safe guard over their heart
keeping them from those unwanted feelings of pride
or despair.
So that's what I want you to do.
Rejoice in the Lord today.
Rejoice in the Lord no matter
what's going on in your life.
Rejoice in the spiritual blessings that you have in Christ.
And when you are rejoicing in the Lord,
you won't get puffed up with pride
or fall into despair.
Let's pray.
Lord God there's all sorts of things
that I could keep track of today.
Could keep track of my golf score, my numbers.
I could keep track of so many different things
but Lord God what I need most of all is your record.
Your perfection, your forgiveness, your love.
And when you give me your perfection,
I won't fall into pride or despair.
Amen.
My favorite movie of all time,
is Back To The Future.
I remember being a kid and always,
if it was on TV I would have to stop everything
and watch the whole thing.
I continue to watch it every few years,
and I think the reason I love that movie,
is I always kind of dreamed,
of going back in time and changing my past.
To be honest,
I think some of the reasons I love that movie,
is to change some of the things I've done wrong.
Some of the sins or mistakes,
or some of the problems I have in my past.
But when I focus too much on changing my past,
I get stuck in this idea that,
unless I change my past,
there's no hope in moving forward.
Does that ever happen to you?
Do you ever feel like that?
That unless somehow you could fix your past,
there's no hope and no motivation to move forward?
Well, if that's how you feel,
I want you to listen to hear,
what the Apostle Paul says from prison.
The Apostle Paul was writing his letter to the Philippians,
and he said,
He had a lot of things,
that he could have dwelt on from his past.
At one time he persecuted Christians, killing Christians.
At one time he was this angry vengeful person.
He could dwell on,
all of the things that led to his imprisonment,
but instead of focusing on the past,
he forgot what was in the past,
and pressed on to focus what was in the future.
Now, how could he do that?
Because he believed that Jesus Christ,
lived for him, died for him and rose for him.
He believed that because Jesus had forgiven his past,
He could forgive himself too.
He believed that because God had forgotten his past,
He could forget it too.
I'm a meeting with somebody a while back,
and I was telling him,
about some of my past mistakes,
and this friend of mine said,
"Do you think Jesus has forgiven you?"
And I said, Yes.
And he said,
"Then why don't you forgive yourself?"
And that's what the Apostle Paul did.
In fact, he always focused on what was ahead.
This is what he said.
He was always pressing on to the goal.
What was the goal?
To become more and more like Jesus.
He got rid of the guilt from the past,
that kept weighing him down,
so that every day he could become,
more and more like Jesus.
Now it's your turn.
You don't need a time machine.
You don't need to change your past.
You can forget what is behind.
Forget the things that are weighing you down,
and now pursue Christ
because you are forgiven loved child of God.
You can press onto the goal,
to become more and more like Jesus every day.
And that will fill your life with joy.
Let's pray.
Lord God there are so many things,
that can weigh us down from our past.
We can believe this, lie that,
unless we forget our fix our past,
we can't move forward.
Lord God you have already,
forgiven our past and forgotten our past.
So help us to forgive ourselves,
and help us to forget what happened before,
so that we can press on to become more and more like you.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
I can get caught up in my emotions.
Sometimes, I feel like I'm on a roller coaster,
that my highs can be really high
and my lows can be really low.
And it's hard to try to get back some balance.
Do you ever feel like that?
That maybe you hear another news media story
or some crisis going on in the world
and you go kind of through the roller coaster of emotions?
Well, I found something
that really seems to be helpful for me.
It's found in Paul's letter to the Philippians
in chapter four.
And this is what he says
when we're dealing with those unwanted emotions.
He said,
Paul says, "Don't be anxious about anything."
And he's saying that,
but not only is he saying that, he lived that.
He's writing these words from prison,
and he had lots of things that he could be anxious about.
He could be anxious about maybe losing his life.
He'd be anxious about his next meal.
But he found the secret to overcoming
these unwanted feelings.
He said, "Present your request to God with thanksgiving."
Say a prayer of thanksgiving.
You see, when we're grateful and thankful,
those are emotions that really tsunami
every other emotion that we're feeling.
When you're grateful and thankful
in presenting those requests to God,
it changes everything else you're thinking.
You see, you can't be anxious, and afraid, and thankful
at the same time.
So, when I feel myself
going through that roller coaster of emotions,
I try to stop and say a prayer of thanksgiving.
I start listing before the Lord those spiritual blessings
that no situation can take away from me,
like I'm a forgiven loved child of God,
I thank God for that.
I thank God that he promises to work out all things
even the evil in this world,
and even my bad decisions for my eternal good.
And as I'm thanking God,
I experience what Paul is promising.
That the peace of God, which goes beyond our understanding,
starts to guard my mind and my heart
from those toxic rollercoaster kind of thoughts.
So, how about you?
Are you on the roller coaster of emotions right now?
Are you maybe angry, or afraid, or upset, or depressed?
Stop everything,
and list before your Lord a prayer of thanksgiving.
Thank God especially for those spiritual things
that can't be taken away from you.
And as you're thankful and grateful before the Lord,
let the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding,
guard your heart and mind from all kind of toxic thoughts,
and you will experience God's joy.
Let's pray.
Lord God,
we thank you that we are forgiven children in Christ.
We thank you
that you promise to work out all things for our good.
We thank you for your word.
We thank you for your promises.
And Lord God,
as we try to have a thankful heart with your help,
we pray right now that you would give us the peace
that goes beyond our understanding.
Amen.
We used to think that when a person was young,
their brain was malleable like wet cement.
But as they grew up,
their brains became more fixed
like the cement was hardening.
That's what we used to think,
but now, because advances in brain research,
we realize that our brains are always changing
and growing throughout our life.
In fact, instead of looking at our brains like cement,
maybe you could compare it more to playdough.
And that's what scientists call neuroplasticity,
that our brains are always making new and different changes.
And that's good news,
that means you don't need to be stuck
in the way you've been thinking before,
the way that your brain has worked before.
You can think differently
and literally change your brain
and heal and move forward.
And that's why I love the way the apostle, Paul,
talks in "Philippians," chapter four.
He actually shows us how we can change our brain
and the things that we should be focusing on
so that our brains will change.
He says this,
Think about things that are positive,
that are praiseworthy,
that are noble,
that are pure,
and when you do,
you will literally change your brain.
Now, the apostle Paul didn't just teach this,
he lived it.
He had lots of things
that were so negative in his life
that he could have been focusing on.
He could have focused on the fact
that he was no longer a world traveling missionary,
but he was stuck in prison.
He could have focused on the fact
that many of the churches that he had started
were dividing and there was arguments going on.
He could have focused on all of the hardships
that he was experiencing.
And if he would have focused on all of those hardships,
it would have changed his brain,
it would have formed his thoughts to be a negative person.
But instead, he focused on the opportunities
that he had in prison to share the gospel,
and how God's word was spreading
throughout the palace guard.
He focused on how God's word was continuing to spread,
even in difficult situations.
And because he focused on the positive
and what was going on that was good,
it changed his brain.
It changed his brain in helpful, healthy ways.
Now it's your turn.
You don't need to be stuck in the thoughts of yesterday,
the negative thoughts.
You can think differently,
you can literally change your brain,
and so you could focus on the negative,
you could focus on the negative crises that are going on
in our world right now,
what's on the latest news report.
And if you do,
you will change your brain to be a negative person.
Or you can walk through a different door
and you can think differently.
You can focus on what is right,
what is pure,
what is lovely,
what is beautiful.
You could focus on Jesus, your savior.
And when you do,
the peace of God will be with you
Let's pray.
Lord God, we have a choice today,
we have a choice either to focus on what is negative,
and that will change our brains,
or we have a choice to focus on what's positive.
Lord God, we pray that you would fill us
with your Holy Spirit
so that we'd focus on you and what is good
and it is right,
and what you are up to in the world.
In your name we pray.
Amen.