The young fellow right here in the gray sweatshirt, he comes up to me. What's his name right there? I'm sorry? Ryu? He comes up to me and he says, Pastor Curtis, I have a joke for you today. I was like, okay. He goes, what book are you coming from this morning? I'm like, whoa. I said, we'll be coming from Philippians. He goes, no, you're not. You're coming from the book of the Bible. I'm like, you're right.

You're right. Sounds like what I would do when I was that age. And my father used to always... That's his best one? Yeah, there you go. My father used to always say, young men are meant to be seen and not heard. I'd say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Remember that, Dad? Oh, yeah. If you've got your Bibles, let's grab our Bibles to the book of Philippians. We have made it to chapter 2. We're going through an expository look at the book of Philippians. It's taken us two months to get through chapter 2.

Chapter 1. But we're not going to be in a hurry. We're going through and taking an expository look verse by verse at the book of Philippians. Again, Paul is writing the book of Philippians from where? Where is he? In jail. He's not in Philippi. He's writing it to the Philippians. To the Philippian church. He's in jail. He's in jail. Yet he's saying, hey, be encouraged.

It's called the book of joy. And you would think if he's in prison, he would not be overwhelmed with joy. But Paul is overwhelmed with joy. And he's like, look, all this stuff's going on, but the gospel's still being furthered. And you know what? I'm in jail, but you know, it's by God's will. It's God's will. I see God's hand in all of this.

And so today we're going to get into chapter 2. We're going to actually make it through the first four verses. But let me ask you a question. Let me see a show of hands. How many of you in here are raising toddlers right now?

Okay. How many of you in here have ever raised toddlers? How many of you in here have ever been a toddler?

Toddler. Okay. Well, we're all on the same page. I didn't see you raise your hand, man. There you go. There you go.

All of us have been at that point in that time in our lives. But I wanted to give you, I wanted to start off this morning.

While I was reading, I found a set of laws. It's called the toddler property laws. These are the top ten toddler property laws.

And I read these to Bobby last Tuesday. And I read them off to Bobby. And Bobby says, man, that's where I'm living.

That's where I'm living right now. But these are the top ten toddler property laws. And maybe you can relate to this.

Number one, if I like it, it's mine. If I like it, it's mine. Second, if it's in my hands, it's mine.

If I can take it from you, it's mine. If I had it a little while ago, it's still mine.

If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine. No matter what.

If it looks like mine, it's mine. If I saw it first, it's mine.

If you were playing with it and put it down for a moment, it automatically becomes mine.

And number ten, if it's broken, it's yours. It's yours.

Those are the top ten toddler laws.

And unfortunately, though, some people never grow out of that philosophy of me first.

Me first. Mine. It's all about me. Taking care of number one.

One. And self has always been a problem since the very beginning.

And today we struggle with it.

We have to be aware of self-actualization.

We have to be aware of their self-realization.

We have our self-esteem. We have to protect our self-esteem.

We have self-help.

We even have a magazine that's called Self.

There's a magazine called Self.

I looked that up. I never read it before, but I saw it.

It's Self.

So where did it all begin?

Well, you can maybe trace it back to Adam and Eve when Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan

and they were deceived to fulfill their own desires at that moment.

But you can actually trace it further back than that to the courts of heaven

when a being named Lucifer, Satan, decided that he would ascend above the stars of God

and he would make it all about him.

That's where it really began.

And in our verses this morning in Philippians 2, verses 1-4,

we're going to discover the cure to the disease of self.

We're going to discover the cure of that.

The cure is when we are able to focus our attention on the needs of other people.

That's when we really are able to reach the point where we're absolutely...

They're going to have to go in day in and day out, be combative for the things of Christ. But there are two forces dividing the church in Philippi. One force is from the outside and one force is from the inside. The force from the outside were the false teachers. And we're going to see them around chapter 3 when we get there. But the dividing force from the inside, we saw a little peek at this last week, was presumably a group of ladies that were mentioned in chapter 4.

They begin an argument, and they begin such an argument that it begins to take up roots in the church. And they begin to get people to divide each other, to pick sides. To pick sides. So all of a sudden, this argument within the church begins to divide the church. Self. I want what I want.

Now listen, the church, this might be news to some of you, but I think most of you know this. The church is not perfect. Okay? We all are aware of that. And if you think that, you're going to be disillusioned over and over and over again.

The church is a society of redeemed people who express their spirituality through imperfect personalities.

And when you put them all together, sometimes it just gets messy. That's just the reality. It just gets messy sometimes. Because we're not all alike.

We kind of went through this last week, the differences that we have. But we can all be together, one in Jesus Christ.

What we're going to discover here, I believe, in its embryonic form, and it will be developed through the remainder of this chapter, but in its most simple form, and that's the title of today's message,

The Building Blocks of Great Relationships.

The building... All of us desire great relationships.

And I believe that Paul gives us the building blocks of these great relationships.

These verses that we're going to cover this morning are going to tell us what and the why.

And later on in this chapter, it will tell us that Jesus Himself exemplifies these very traits.

So let's begin in chapter 2, beginning in verse 1.

So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Now these four verses right here in English, we see that it's laid out in four verses.

In the original Greek, it's one long sentence.

All four of those verses.

Talk about a run-on sentence.

My wife would hate this, okay?

It is one long run-on sentence.

Now Paul was sort of a complex writer in some of his epistles.

And it's written in a form that will actually help us fit all this together this morning.

It is a construct, okay?

You're going to get a little bit of an English lesson here.

It's a construct.

Having a premise with a conditional clause and then a main clause.

Okay, some of you are going, already.

Maybe, is the heat on in here?

Is it hot?

Is it just me?

Is it hot in here?

Yeah, it's hot in here.

Can you make sure the air gets turned on?

Thank you so much.

They're going to do it from the back, Joshua.

They got it.

They got it.

So it's a conditional clause and the main clause.

It's sort of like, well, if this is true, then that is so.

Okay?

If this is true, then that is so.

It's a construction.

I was studying this last week in the Greek.

I was learning about this and I should have put this up on the board.

It's really interesting.

But it's a construction known as a protaceous apotus construction.

Never heard of it in my life.

I thought it was a mammal at first when I looked at it.

But it's not.

Pistaceous apotus construction.

And that is, here is my premise, but here is the main clause.

And since the main clause in these verses that we just read is verse 3 and 4,

and the why, the premise, is verse 1 and 2,

we're going to reverse things this morning.

And first we're going to study verse 3 and 4,

and then we're going to look at verses 1 and 2.

We're going to do this backwards because it really reveals things to us.

Verse 3 and 4 give us the basics of great relationships.

It's just like when you're growing up, your parents used to always tell you, don't do this, don't do this. But they, you know, it's always helpful when they tell you what the expectation is, right? Well, don't do that. What am I supposed to do? Good question. Paul says, don't do this, rather do that. And verse 1 and 2 are going to give us the basis of great relationships. So first we'll have the basics, then the basis. Let's look at verse 3 first. And break this down. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.

Okay? Negatives. Okay? Negatives. Right there. You got the negative first, then the positive. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. So first the two negative aspects. Why people do not get along and what we ought not to do. You know, it's seen here. Number one, don't be selfish. Don't be prideful. Right there. He spells it out there for us.

The two basic things that basically caused Satan not to get along with God from the beginning and get kicked out of heaven. He said, I will exalt myself above the stars of God. I will become like the Most High. I will become like the Most High. So you might say, you might say you are never more like the devil than when you're embodying these two principles. Selfish ambition and conceit.

And you're never more like Jesus than when you embody the second two. Okay? And the proof is in verse 5 all the way down as it shows us that Jesus practiced these very principles.

So, okay. Let's look at the first. Selfishness. It says, do nothing from selfish ambition. Everyone here knows what selfishness is. Okay? We don't have to get...

I mean, we're not selfish, but we know people, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm not... But I know people. And you know people. People. Yeah, we all know what selfishness is. All right?

And so, at the very core of fallen humanity is selfishness. It's the motivating force and the motivating drive.

You know, think about... Think about when Jesus said... The disciples came and said, Lord, teach us how to pray. Teach us how to pray.

And so, He says, okay. Here's what I want you guys to do. When you pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See, that's not natural for us.

Jesus knew that. He's saying, no, you need to ask for God's will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. That's not natural for us to desire those things.

So, Paul says, do nothing out of selfish ambition. Originally, selfish ambition means to cause division in order to get your own way.

In the original text, that's what it means. To cause division in order to get your own way.

So, you know, there might be a situation where there's a conflict between two people, and you insert yourself into that conflict because you have an agenda.

You have an agenda that you want to get pushed across. That is selfish ambition.

You have an agenda in this situation.

Or second on the list of the negative is conceit.

Or don't be conceited or don't be prideful.

Look at the first part of verse 3 again.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.

Now, in 1611, the King James Version really had the best translation of this because he puts it, they put it this way.

Let nothing be done through strife, and I love this, or vainglory.

Vainglory.

Now, I say it's a better translation because the Greek words here is kinedoxion.

And it means the empty pride of living for people's opinions.

The empty pride of living for people's opinions.

What others think about you is so important.

That is vainglory.

When you are so worried about what other people think, and you make all your decisions are based upon that because you're so concerned about that.

This refers to somebody who really cherishes the exaggerated views of his own importance.

You know, he lives for those pats on the back.

You know, oh Curtis, you're so wonderful.

Oh no, stop, stop.

No really, stop.

You know, it's all of us that just really, we live for those pats on the back.

I am Paul, the great theologian studied under Gamaliel. I think you've heard of me. Surely you should know of me by now. No, he said, Paul, a what? Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had every reason to stand on a soapbox, but he said, no, I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, don't be selfish and don't be prideful. And so now we get to the part of the other basics, the two positives. So how can we live? How are we to live?

Be humble and be respectful. Be humble and be respectful. All right. First, it says in this passage, it says, but in humility, you know, this is not natural for us. It's not natural for us to just to desire to walk in humility. A lot of us have a very high opinion of ourselves. And so let me remind you that pride will make God your enemy. Pride will make God your enemy.

The scripture tells us that God resists the proud, but he gives what grace to the humble. When you are prideful, I'm telling you, Paul says, look out though. You think you're all that. The rug is about to be jerked out from underneath you. You had better watch out humility. I mean, so Paul writes about you need to understand the background as Paul writes this, as Paul writes these words and he says that you need to walk in humility.

You need to understand that when that thought hits these people during this time, hits their ears and goes into their brain. It absolutely does something to them because humility was despised. The thought of being humble was despised.

The Greeks prided themselves in being better than everyone else. We're better than everyone else. We are more cultured than everyone else. We are so much better than all these other people.

And the Greeks also, they said if you weren't Greek, you were considered a barbarian. You know where that term comes from? It's because if you did not speak Greek, it was seen as such an eloquent language.

And if you didn't speak Greek, then they said, you sound like you're going bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. So they said you are a barbarian.

And when the Greeks conquered another people group, they said these people are such humble, they are people of humble minds.

It was despised to be thought of, to be in humility with something that was looked upon with disdain.

So what does Paul do? He takes this word humility and he exalts it.

He exalts it. He lifts it up by saying, don't be prideful, don't be conceited, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

That's tough. I get it. We're going to look at this a little bit more.

Then he uses the example of Jesus Christ. He says, I want to give you an example.

And we're going to take a sneak peek. Just look ahead with me a little bit in chapter 2, verse 6.

He gives us how Jesus did it.

Who, though he, Jesus, was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a what? Servant.

Being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

Yes, even death on a cross.

You see, humility, humility is the grease that keeps relationships flowing.

It really is.

You know, if you have, if you know anything about cars and engines, if you don't have oil in the engine, you know what?

It's going to create friction and your engine will absolutely break down.

It will not run well.

If you take your car to the shop, there are certain points on your car that need to be lubed every once in a while.

Because the axles and the wheel bearings and all this other stuff, if they don't have the grease in there, then it's going to cause friction and you're going to have major problems.

Humility is the grease that continues to allow our relationships to flow.

And Jesus says that and that's why he gives us the example.

But then he also says, he says, listen, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Learn from me.

For I am meek and lowly of heart.

And you will find, and if you come to me, you will find what?

Rest for your souls.

And, you know, harsh words stir up anger. I don't want to walk in humility with this person because they rubbed me the wrong way. I don't want to because they don't really deserve it. We're going to get to that in a second. The final trait in this positive is to be respectful. The passage says, but in humility count others more.

More significant than yourselves. We live in a day to day when self-esteem is a hollowed value in our culture. I mean, we are so bent. Don't do anything that will lower someone's self-esteem. Everyone gets a trophy. Everyone gets the same trophy. Because little Johnny doesn't need to know what it means to not win. I love that Kia commercial where the dad's walking his son.

Out there. He says, son, I'm proud of you. And he's looking. He's talking to himself. It says, participant. His trophy says participant. He says, but wait a minute. We got the same trophy that all the other kids did and we beat every other team. So he flicks off the participant and he takes off the sharpie and he writes champs on it. He goes, here you go, champ.

You know, some of the most valuable lessons I learned in my life, especially in athletics, was not winning. I learned how to be a good sport in the face of adversity.

Some of the most valuable lessons I had in my life in sports were coaches who were in my face, always on me about, you know, because they saw the best in me and they were pushing me and pushing me. Some of the best lessons I learned were in school with teachers who didn't want to put up with my junk in class, but saw something greater in me.

And didn't say, well, I'm just going to give you a passing grade just because you're so cute and you always come to class every day and you brown nose me. So I'm going to give you an egg. No.

You know, I'll date myself here. There was an old, Tom will know about this, I'll remember this, and probably Jill will too. Sorry, Tom.

There was an old Saturday Night Live skit where Stuart, I don't know who the actor was, but he played a psychologist, Stuart Smalley.

Yeah, yeah. And he'd get on there and he'd look in the mirror. He'd look in the mirror and he'd say it over and over again.

Because I'm nice enough, I'm good enough, and doggone it, people like me.

He'd say it over and over again to try to boost his self-esteem.

He'd have to continue to say it. I just have to feel better about myself.

And doggone it, people like me.

The Williams translation says, practice treating others more superior than yourself.

That's hard. I get it.

Practice treating others more superior than yourself.

Well, they're not deserving of that.

But you are.

You are.

Who died and made you judge and jury of everyone around?

I didn't know you had that kind of mantle upon you.

You get to decide.

And if you're deciding who sets the bar, you?

Well, then I need to know what the rules are so we can play by the same rules.

As far as I know, this is the rules.

God sets the rules in place.

And He says, think of others more significant than yourselves.

That's not the American way.

You better believe it's not the American way.

That's the biblical way.

That's the biblical way.

He says, so in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

Now, how do we do that?

Alright, He gives us a clue in verse 4.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

The literal translation means to keep an eye on.

To keep an eye on.

And the idea is that you're so in tune with others around you,

you figure out what makes the other person tick.

What is it about that other person?

You're so involved in what other people need.

What can I do?

What would be useful for their personal growth?

For their personal growth.

It's really a matter of how we decide to see relationships.

And may God give us that kind of a vision.

And may God give us that kind of vision.

And may God give us that kind of vision.

And may God give us that kind of vision.

That's the arithmetic. The spiritual arithmetic. That doesn't make sense in our mind. But that's how God works. Is when we are willing to sacrifice ourselves. And be a blessing. Again, he's writing to the church. He's writing to the church. The body of believers. And if we can't get it right. Right here within the church. Then how are we going to make a difference in the world, people? But within the church. We should be able to get it right. Where he says, listen. If you put others ahead of yourself. I know it doesn't make sense. But if you love them unconditionally. Pay attention to the conversation.

That you have with them. And you'll learn about really what they're needing in their life. And what could be a blessing to them in their life. And when you're able to carry that forth. You'll find that you're receiving more blessings than you ever thought possible from the Lord. And you're like, I just can't give it away. Because God keeps blessing me. Because you've become a conduit. Your hands are open. Both hands are open. You're not holding the things of the world. You're receiving from God and you're giving. That's the beauty of the spiritual arithmetic. But it doesn't make sense.

That I should give my money to the church. You're giving your money to the church. You're giving your money to the Lord. You're being faithful and blessing. It's all God's anyways. I didn't know you had money. I don't have money. God allows me to be a steward over certain things. That's all I am. I'm just a steward. Over certain things. I'm telling you. I see it year after year. Generation after generation. We have become such a self-centered people. We're smothering.

ourselves. We're smothering ourselves. We're smothering ourselves. And the church today won't stand up and say, you're selfish. That's selfish. No, brother. We need you to be part of this fellowship.

I'm going to get off on a tangent here. Let's get back.

That's the basics.

So let's go back to this long sentence and we're going to look at the basis.

Here's the why.

Okay.

Let's look at verse 1 and 2.

So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

This is why, again, he's writing to the church, but this is why we should get along.

This is the basis for great relationships.

All of what we said is so important in verse 3 and 4 for four reasons.

I'm going to give you four reasons.

Here's the four reasons right now.

Number one, because the world's not going to provide it.

The world is not going to provide it.

I get this from the beginning of these verses.

It says, so if.

But really what Paul says is therefore.

Therefore.

Okay.

Now you don't begin a new thought or a new story with the word therefore.

Okay.

I don't say, hi Ben, my name's Curtis.

Therefore.

I mean, that sounds stupid, doesn't it?

You don't begin a new thought or a new sentence that way.

And there's a rule, and if you've been part of my studies for any point in time, you know what the rule is.

Whenever there's a therefore, you find out what it's what?

Therefore.

That's exactly right.

Find out what it's there for.

Alright.

So, it's there for a reason.

It's tying you back to a previous thought.

And the previous thought is where we ended last week in verses 27 through 30 in the previous chapter.

And that is that the world is out to persecute you.

They are not going to be sympathetic to your cause.

They are not going to be sympathetic to your love for Jesus Christ.

The world is not going to go down that path with you.

And so, if there's going to be great relationships, especially in the body of Christ, and acceptance for one another,

then you're going to find them, not from the world, but from brothers and sisters in Christ.

From the Christian relationships.

Because the world is not going to provide it.

Therefore, that's the reason, and that's the premise.

That's the premise to all this.

And Jesus says, in this world, you will have what?

Tribulation.

But be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world.

That's good news.

That's good news.

You know, years ago, the most popular shows on TV used to be soap operas.

That's good news.

people just can't get along. And we like to watch it explode in front of our very eyes on TV. Don't we? I mean, you guys, we all watch it. I can't wait to see that. What are they going to do on there this week? You know? And so, show after show, they put all these groups of people together. They put them in different settings. And I just turned my iPad off. How about that? I got so excited. I apologize about that.

Where were we? Yes. Thank you very much. Oh, my word. See, this is why I have notes because if I don't, I'd start chasing islands. Look, they put people in different settings. They put them on different islands. They put them on everything. And they just don't get along. People just don't get along. And we watch it happen all the time. People are at odds with each other.

That's why it's so strange when we see other Christians fighting with each other. Because we look just like the world. We talked about last week. Why do we get our swords out within the body of believers? And we tend to chop each other up on issues that really don't matter. These are molehills. They're not mountains. Yet we like to pull the sword out and be at odds with one another. And so, Paul's first premise is, therefore,

because the world won't accept you. Because the world won't accept you and treat you the way I just told you in all these other verses. That's why you ought to do it with one another. You're not going to get it from the world. So why? Let's get it from the body of believers. Let's be a source of encouragement to one another. Let's love it. Accept each other. Let's forgive one another. Let's not live for our own desires. But let's put the desires of one another ahead of ourselves.

Let's not be prideful. Let's not be conceited. The second reason this is so important is that is because you and I belong to Jesus Christ. He says, therefore, therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, you need to know that that word if right there, it's better translated since.

A better translation is since. A better translation is since. And remember the if-then construction? That's the premise. Then the conditional clause. And then the main clause.

So this is just like saying, since there is encouragement in Christ, and there is, okay? Since there is comfort from love, and there is. Since there is participation in the Spirit, and there is. Since there is affection and sympathy, and there is. Complete my joy. That's the idea here. That's what he's saying here.

And the point is, since we are consoled by the love of Jesus Christ, and we belong to him, and he has forgiven us, and he has accepted us, and that great consolation of being forgiven, and accepted by Jesus Christ, then you know what?

That should wash over us, and we ought to forgive one another.

Since we get to, since we have all of this, since the washing has been part of our lives, we ought to give, pour it out, and give it to others.

Not be puffed up. Not be conceited. But have a humble mind, and count others more significant in ourselves.

Why? Because we belong to Jesus Christ. You are different from the world. You are in the world, but you are not of the world.

We live in a world, where people are going to do, and say harmful things.

We live in a world, where people are going to do, and say hurtful things.

And I'm going to say the S word here. We live in a world. Some of you looked up. No.

Do stupid things. That's the S word. In our house, we told, you can't say the S word. Don't say stupid, okay?

Where people are just going to do stupid things, you know?

And that's why you need to forgive them.

You need to forgive them, because people who say and do harmful things, especially within the body of Christ, they need forgiveness.

We need to forgive one another.

Paul says in Ephesians 4, 32,

Be kind to one another.

Tender-hearted.

People, come on.

Tender-hearted.

Forgiving one another as God is.

It says in here, any comfort from love. That is, if there's any comfort that comes from His love, that what's more comforting than the love of Jesus Christ? Can't you think of those moments when you have really felt the love of Jesus Christ wash over your life? Those times when you've had a hurtful experience and you have felt the love of God, you've gotten devastating news about something, and you've felt the love of God, you've gotten devastating news about something, and you've felt the love of God.

You've felt the love of God wash over you. You know, I was having a conversation with my dad on the phone. He was at home still. And we were talking, and we were laughing about his father passed away a few years ago. Just very, very, they were very close. And he was talking about that time.

And we were laughing about some of the instances that Papa used to do. And he was just that, you're telling his voice, he was still hurting in his heart that his dad was gone. But he could feel the love of God as it washed over him and said, yeah, Papa had a great life. He had a great life. And you could feel the Lord comfort you in those moments.

All of us have felt that. There's nothing like the comfort of the Lord Jesus when he washes over your heart. I remember there was a song that we used to sing when I was younger. Oh, the wonder of it all. Remember the old hymn? The wonder of it all. Just to think that God loves me.

Oh, the wonder of it all. Oh, the wonder of it all. Just to think that God loves me. Now, if you're walking in humility and you're pouring yourself out in love, man, you connect with that song. But if you're living for yourself and you're just walking in pride and conceit and the vain glory and you're selfish and you sing, oh, the wonder of it all. Just to think that God loves me. You're like, I never really got that song. That song just doesn't really connect with me too much.

You know why? You've never experienced the wonder and the love of Jesus Christ. It's a game changer, baby. That's what I'm telling you. It is a game changer. It changes everything. Just to be able to say, God the Creator, God immeasurable in His love and His nature, condescended. He humbled Himself and showed true love to you and to me. That's amazing. That's amazing to me.

You remember the fairy tale when you were a little kid? The fairy tale of the good-looking prince that was turned into a toad. There was a curse and he was turned into a toad. And so the only way to reverse the curse is what? Some beautiful princess had to find this toad, pick him up and kiss him on the mouth.

Now, that's a great story, isn't it? If you're the toad. But if you're the beautiful princess, how many of those big, hairy, nasty frogs? That ain't it. And you've got to put your lipstick lips all over that frog's mouth. And you're searching for that one prince.

But see, here's the thing. God came and He kissed the toad. God came and He kissed the toad. God came from heaven and He consoled us and He comforts us with His great love.

The Scriptures show that to us. For God so what? Loved the world. And He what? He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever.

You're a whosoever. I'm a whosoever. Whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

But you know what? The God that I know, Pastor Curtis, He's a judging God. And He's just a vengeful God.

No. He says, but God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, or to condemn the world, but that the world might what? Be saved through Him.

That's how much God loves us.

You know, I read a story a few years ago. When I read the story, I was like, wow, that makes a lot of sense.

And the story was about this young, little bitty child who needed a heart transplant.

And he was in desperate need of a heart transplant.

And the story, the article said that what they had done, and they did the transplant, and it worked first.

It was successful at first.

But what they did, excuse me, is they took the heart of a baboon, and they put it in this little child to keep him alive.

And I thought, wow, that's pretty amazing.

That's pretty amazing.

And so, I –

We would think, that's outrageous. That is outrageous. How could you even think about that? Now think of God loving us. Seriously, just for a moment, that he would give his only begotten son's perfect life for you and for me. It blows me away. It absolutely – that God would

send his son to send his son to buy us back to him. I don't get it. I'm grateful for it. Praise his name. I don't get it. But see, there had to be a ransom paid. There had to be a price that would be paid to set the record straight, to clean the slate off for every one of us.

And there's nothing that you and I could ever do to be good enough, to be welcomed into the presence of a holy and righteous God. So, God saved the baboons by sending the heart of his son. Some of you are going to send me emails this week about how I called you a baboon. I did not. I'm using an illustration to hopefully make a point with you in this situation.

To me, it's such a comfort of love. And that's another reason why we ought to extend that kind of love and acceptance and humility toward one another. It's just if there is any comfort in his love.

And finally, the fourth reason is because we are all part of a spiritual family. It's family.

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Paul is speaking about fellowship here. Fellowship, true fellowship. The Greek word here, a lot of us know that word for fellowship is what? Koinonia. Koinonia.

And the true definition of koinonia is a partnership in a common interest. We are joined together. We are part of the same family.

We have the same heavenly Father. We have the same Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the same spiritual resources. We have the same spiritual blessings. We are part of the same family.

And so, because we are brothers and sisters, then compassion, love, and humility ought to flow from us. We ought to be eaten up with it.

Compassion, love, and humility. So, how can we be around other people and still be sane?

I know, for some of us, like, some people just drive me nuts. I understand. I understand. And we talked about that in the beginning, how we're all different.

So, how can we have these great relationships by simply and actually placing the value of the other person above our own interests, above our own interests, where my focus becomes, how can I serve you?

What can I do for you? What can I do for you?

This comes from an unknown source. But these words of advice, I read these a while back and I saved them. I want to share this with you this morning.

It is how to be miserable. How to be miserable. And I know some of you think, well, I don't have any interest in that.

And others of you might think, well, I don't need any help with that. I'm pretty miserable myself. I'm fine with that. I don't need to see this.

Here you go. How to be miserable. Talk about yourself.

Think about yourself. Use I as often as possible. Mirror yourself continually in the opinions of others.

Listen greedily to what other people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be suspicious. Be jealous and envious.

Be sensitive to slights. Never forgive criticism. Trust nobody but yourself.

Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement on your point of views on everything.

Sulk if people are not grateful to you for the favor you have shown them.

Never forgive.

How can we be joyful? How can we experience a little bit of heaven here on earth? By the opposite. Think about others. Talk about God and others as much as possible. Use you and Him in your conversation a lot. Listen to what other people say about themselves and show appreciation to them. I remember I was on a mission trip years ago and we were at this little church and they were singing this song. And the lyrics of the song have always stuck with me. It said,

If you want to get to know the power of God, get down at Jesus' feet. If you want to get to know the love of God, get down at Jesus' feet. Get down sinner. Get down saint. Get down at Jesus' feet.

So, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Well, I pretty much know how I'm going to live my life. I've made my choices and I know the direction I'm going. Listen, the life that you have been given, the life that I have been given is a gift from God.

It's a gift from God. Will you make the wise choice of surrendering your life over to Him, your future over to Him for His glory and say, I am going to live for you, Lord. Or maybe you're not. Maybe you're going to be like the toddler and you're going to say, you gave it to me. It's mine. It's mine. I live it how I want to.

It's mine. It's my life. I do what I want.

The smartest thing you could do, the most mature thing you could do is to say, God, you gave it to me. And if you are the creator, then you know my inward thoughts. You know my inner being.

So, you know what makes me tick. And you really do have my best at heart with all the things that are going on in my life.

I'm going to give you my life, Lord, and I'm going to honor you.

And I'm going to live in your power and for your glory.

See, this is a really hard, hard thing for us to do.

And that is to truly sacrifice and to say, I think maybe the beginning of it is just to be able to admit to ourselves, I'm pretty selfish.

I can be pretty selfish.

I admit I have to do a spiritual check in my life all the time.

I get selfish about certain things.

And I can even justify what I'm doing because I want to do it.

And I'll give you three scriptures why it's God's will for me because it's what I want.

I'm good at that.

That's why I know I have to walk in the spirit and not the flesh.

Let me, what time is it right now?

Oh, we got to go. I know.

Let me just wrap this up saying we've got some things coming down the pipe for our church.

It's going to, it's going to not just, it's not going to just give us the opportunity.

It's going to cause us to have to look beyond ourselves, to look, live in love beyond ourselves and to not be, to walk in selfish ambition, pride and conceit.

One of the ministries that you're going to hear about in a couple of months is Faith Bridge.

Faith Bridge Foster Care.

Our elder leadership is, we've talked and prayed about this and we know that this is a direction that our church is going to be moving into.

Faith Bridge Foster Care works with local defects.

I know not everybody is called to be a foster parent.

I get that.

But what I love about Faith Bridge's approach is it's a seven-prong approach on top of being a foster parent.

And that is the church is involved because some of the people come along and say, well, I'm not called to be a foster parent, but here's one ministry.

I can, I can provide a meal.

You know what?

I can provide transportation every once in a while.

You know what?

I can provide, I can provide respite care to where this weekend I'll become Uncle Clark and you can send the kids over to our house and we'll take care so that you guys can actually have a weekend to breathe.

I can help with some school supplies.

And that is part of being unselfish.

And I believe, I believe that James talks about pure and undefiled religion is this.

You want to know what real religion is?

To take care of the orphans and the widows.

And Faith Bridge...

and you're like, I don't even want to be a parent.

Amen to that.

I'm with you on that.

I don't want you to be a parent yet either.

But you can be involved in some way, some hows, in part of this.

Jill and I are walking through this process right now

and we've gone through the training,

gone through the medical studies.

We're almost to the point where they're going to do the home studies

and we're going to be foster parents.

And so this is a big deal for us.

Jill was ready a year ago.

I wasn't ready.

I was a little selfish.

I'm confessing.

I was selfish.

Caitlin was out of the house and we were empty nesters.

Woo-hoo!

I could walk around in my house in my boxers

and I didn't have to apologize for anything.

Can you say that at church?

I don't know.

I just did.

I'm just being real.

But God moved in our heart.

It's not because we have extra bedrooms.

It's because we have extra love that we receive from the Father.

How can I not tell this child,

I'll love on you?

And see, Faith Bridge's ultimate desire is that the family unit would be restored.

Sometimes adoption does take place within the program,

but most of the time the family unit desires so that mom and dad get on a healthy place back again

and so that the family becomes as it should be, as it was designed to be by the Lord.

You want to know how you can be a part of something to where you can put away your own selfish desires

and not live for yourself?

I know it's hard, people.

I know it's hard.

This is not just about Faith Bridge.

This is about being the body of Christ, okay?

I know it's hard.

My needs are real.

I get it.

My bills have to be paid.

I get it.

I hear you.

I hear you.

But as we've talked about this before,

as you look at your journey in life

and you look back at every step that has led you to where you are today,

come on up, worship team.

Let's close this out.

And you look at every step as to where you are today,

you have to admit,

folks, bear with me,

you have to admit,

that God has been faithful to you every step of the way.

Every step.

And it is that love that is overwhelming in your life

and should be the driving force to where you say,

I can't help but to be unselfish.

With my gifts, my times, my talents,

it's all God's.

It's all God's.

And we're just a steward of it.

And when you have that mindset,

it becomes easier to lay it down

because now you're laying it down.

You didn't even realize you were.

You didn't even realize you were.

So today, that's my prayer for you,

is that you would get out of the way

and allow the love of God to arrest your heart today.

That like the Apostle Paul,

I was walking down the road and God has arrested me

and I'm different.

I'm different today.

And I can't help but to serve my Lord and my Savior.

Oh, the wonder of it all.

The wonder of it all.

that my God would love me.

That God would love you.

Father, we love you so much.

I thank you so very much for your word.

Lord, I thank you so very much for the

just the undeniable love that you've arrested my heart with

and that you have

you have and you continue to change me

day by day.

Lord, we don't always get it right.

But just as the psalmist says,

God, search my heart.

Search my heart

and see if there's any wickedness in my heart.

See my motives, Lord.

If there's anything that needs to be adjusted,

we're putting ourselves on the table.

God, we're saying,

yeah, our yes is on the table.

You fill in the blanks for our lives.

Our yes is on the table.

I'm just really feeling it.

There's a few here today that are really struggling with some things individually. I pray that you would come to a meeting place with the Lord Jesus Christ. Not with anyone else, just you and Jesus. And you get some things squared away.

If you've never really fully accepted Jesus and submitted your life unto Him, it'd be an honor and a privilege just to talk to you about that. I'd love to do that today. I'd ask you to come and just touch me on the shoulder, grab my hand. I'd love to talk to you about that.

But God, we just ask you today that you would revive us, that your great love, the understanding of your great love for us would revive us today. And we ask all this in the strong name of your Jesus.