Lights in the World - Ben Stuart - Breakaway Ministries

howdy welcome to the breakaway podcast thanks for joining us as we study the book of Philippians for more information on break away visit breakaway ministries org we hope you enjoy the talk and stick around for more at the end tonight's scripture is Philippians 2:14 through 30 do all things without grumbling or disputing do you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the world Word of Life so then the day of Christ I may be proud that I'd not run in vain or labor in vain even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering Capone among the sacrificial offering of your faith I'm gladder and Joy's with you all likewise and you also should be glad and rejoice with me I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you for I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare for they all seek their own interests not those of Christ Jesus but you know Timothy's proven worth how is the son with the father he has served with me in the gospel I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also I've thought it necessary to send you like a Pafford itís my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need free has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill indeed he was ill near to death but God had mercy on him not only on him but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow I am the more eager to send him therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious so receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men for he he nearly died for the work of Christ risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me well a few years ago I took the breakaway staff to the Guadalupe Mountains out in West Texas and we went out there just to kind of get in the wild for a few days and so we drove out there and once we got out there we realized there's not many campsites at the National Park and so they were all full so we were wondering okay so what do we do and the park ranger at the Guadalupe Mountains said well you can just drive over the border New Mexico and stay on BLM land and we were like on excuse me what what are you saying what is that word and he said BLM Bureau of Land Management he said in New Mexico they have hundreds of acres of land that just anyone can camp on anywhere so just driving to New Mexico whenever you feel good about it stop and stay there and I'm like are you serious like we're just gonna pause on some property in New Mexico and set up camp and stay there it's like yeah I'm like and no one's gonna arrest us or shoot us or anything no okay so we went out there and literally just drove on what could barely be called a road just out in New Mexico bumping along in the desert until we thought I guess we'll stop and we got out there and there's a whole lot of nothing I mean it was a desert there's no trees I mean it's just kind of dust and sky a lot of sky right and so we were out there and as we began to set up camp we we didn't even notice what was happening around us we were busy putting tents up and cooking food and etc until finally one of us called out that as the Sun began to go down the stars came out and in that place where there's no artificial light anywhere because you're miles from civilization I remember one person looked up and went look at the stars right and we looked up and it was shocking how bright they were it was a dark sky filled with headlights beaming down on us it was unbelievable and we just hadn't realized that man this whole life of artificial lights of lampposts and cell phone lights and everything else had kept us from seeing this but we looked up at the sky and it was beaming down on us and we didn't have a quiet moment we just paused to take in the immensity we weren't losing it out loud we're like that is incredible just freaking out because instantly we felt connected to our ancestors we're like this is what they saw every night this is unbelievable and suddenly it made sense you know because when you're a kid someone was like there's the Big Dipper and you're like I guess like at that point though we were like no the a spoon in space it's obvious and that's clearly a guy with a bow and arrow like it was beaming out at us oh my gosh this is unbelievable and we realized this is how they did it this was so critical for our ancestors who most of human history that this kept them safe that they could see where things were were at night they could walk without bumping into things that this isn't just beautiful it's important to give you your bearings it's how they navigate it across deserts and across oceans because they could look up at fixed points and say that light is leading me home it's showing me the way forward and man we looked up and thought wow the impact the difference these luminaries in the night sky make for those who have eyes to see them and I don't know if I can communicate I mean I mean I can talk about it and try to get you excited about it but the truth is it's hard to even bring a cross just how significant it was at night so just if you can just imagine a pitch-black room get your mind around total darkness we don't have that for safety reasons but if you're in pitch blackness I mean they make horror movies about that I remember seeing one that it was like here's the premise it's really dark right and that's pretty terrifying and so imagine in the midst of the darkness not just how beautiful or attractive a light becomes but how important it is how necessary it is to keep you safe to give you your bearings to show you where you are to give you a sense of direction of that's the way to go to give you warning of here's things that are coming at you you need to avoid and not run into a light becomes critical to guide people home and when you got a group of lights a bunch of lights shining together filling a night sky you change a culture you change a world that way now why am I saying is why are we talking about illumination for this reason this is what the Christian Church is meant to be Paul's been talking to the Philippians and he's been telling them God is building a family God's building a community that he's coming to disparate people all different kinds and you saw it in the book of Philippians he went to successful business women and burnt out and abused slave girls and blue-collar working guys and gods just grabbing people and pulling them into his family and what Paul told us in second Corinthians is that the same God who led said let light shine in the darkness and created the Sun lets light shine into our hearts to give us a knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus that that's what it is to become a Christian God turns the lights on in you and not just in you that you can see I'm in need and I'm broken and can't fix me and Jesus is the answer you see that but Paul says in officience ephesians not only do you see the light of the beauty of jesus he says you become light to the world and so jesus said in matthew five you're the light of the world this is your a city on a hill you don't hide that you don't light a lamp and put it under a bowl you set that thing up to illuminate the house and he says a Christian is meant to be a light to the world to be something different that in the midst of a dark and twisted generation we would shine like stars in the world that's what Paul said right and not just so we can be different from everybody else yes we shine apart from the people but Christians shine for the people we're not just a light separate from the people we're a light for the people that Jesus said that we're a light so that people could see your good works and glorify God in heaven that the Christian life is supposed to be so radically altered by Jesus that it becomes an illumination for people to see God through you that's the Christian life and that's what he's talking about here he says that there's a way for the Christian community to be a bright shining light to the world showing them the way home to God so I was in a meeting not long ago with guys from literally all over the country men that had been deeply woven into some addiction and some broken practices that had devastated their life and they were talking about their past and one after another talked about the abuse they suffered his children horrible stories and yet they weren't there just wallowing in that pain they were talking through it to process it because they wanted to move on and to freedom and the person leading the group had been one of them had been someone who had come from a very difficult path and made some very destructive decisions as a way of trying to cope with the pain in his heart and had felt the consequences of that for years and yet by the grace of God he found forgiveness and healing and hope and life and he was changed and sitting there watching this guy you go you were darkness and now you are light and you're a light to these men leading them home to God that is amazing and that's what the Christian Church is meant to be the only question we have left to answer tonight is how do we do it if I just say to you Christian be a light to the world showing people the beauty of God you go okay how well Paul tells us how in it's mind-blowing in verse 14 he do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world did you catch that you catch the the key to it he says you get to shine like a luminaries like a light in the universe how Paul he puts that at the beginning of verse 15 so that it's a result if you do what's in verse 14 the result will be that you shine like a light in the universe leading your roommate's dorm-mates suitemates people to know and love Jesus what's the key Paul how do I do it he says do all things without grumbling or questioning disputing that's the key which is fascinating to me he doesn't say if you want to shine like a star in the universe give all your money to the poor surrender your body to the flames what does he say he says you want to shine like a light in the universe don't be a cry cry that's what he says if you do all things without grumbling and questioning the result is that you'll shine like a star in the universe how do you shine our universe might not be to cry cry not grumbling and complaining it sounds so anticlimactic until you go live in the real world and realize how hard that really is because most of our conversation is grumbling and complaining you know that right read an article on Huffington Post recently that said thirty to forty percent of all your conversations are complaining about something did you know that that's mind blowing there was a report in New York Times recently that said ninety-five percent of all consumers of products if they don't like the product will not tell the company that built it in order to help them improve it but they will tell 10 to 15 friends not unbelievable ninety-five percent of consumers I hate this thing but rather than tell the person who can fix it let me tell all you people who can't just to make your day a little bit less great we all do it we all complain we all whine it's the language of our culture listen to it tomorrow and see if not 34 to 40 percent of your conversations are whining they are you won't even know what to say I mean the way we build relationships when you sit down and contact someone hey man how's it going good and then someone ago you know I hate this class what do you say dude me too even if you kind of don't like oh I'm totally gonna fail you're a great even if you're doing fine Shriya tomorrow don't complain I promise you you won't know what to say you'll be like but my shoes are comfortable like you're not going to know it's so hard wired in us to whine about things to just point out negativity without in any way pointing out a positive way to change it it's interesting the word grumbling in Greek give you a little Greek lesson tonight is the word Gong guzmán and it's an onomatopoeia onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the sound it makes like POW or Bam or something like that right so Gong Guzman doesn't have an etymological meeting it was a word in Greek going Guzman is grumbling because it sounds like grumbling we just walk around go go go go and that's what we do we whine about self right I read through the Twitter feeds of celebrities recently and just found complaints about their private jet the stress of wearing brand new sneakers Burger King being compared to Hitler and I thought forget celebrities let's just pull up some of your Twitter feeds right now I'm just kidding I'm not going to do that but it scares you doesn't it and let me tell you why it's bad it's an entirely useless activity it's not gonna help anybody it doesn't solve anything it doesn't help anyone and some of you go well bin I mean I could just feel some of your defensive you're like well yeah I complain Ben yes I've complained but look everybody does and just listen to that if there's a voice in you rising up that's pushing back against me that's saying yeah I complain listen to the argumentation of that voice because it's probably saying hey everybody complains exactly that's the point you don't stand out you don't shine because everybody does that but the Christian is meant to be something different you're meant to have a totally different way of communicating that is attractive to people it's attractive to people west virginia beat baylor last weekend to celebrate fans began destroying street signs lighting things on fire and doing thousands of dollars of damage to their own town until police had to fire tear gas to break it up I don't think anybody read that and went man that's neat that's so great I want to be a part of that how do I get there our team had a tougher time in Alabama but I had a friend from Alabama tweet this to the whole world he's in ministry there and he tagged me on it but we did it to everybody and this is what he said very impressed with Am's fanbase staying until the end and continuing to do their cheers very cool and even though he's an Alabama guy and an Alabama minister he just had said hey I need to let everybody know something going on they're special and it's different positivity is attractive it's attractive right and so we're meant to be that way and here's the thing it's not just that complaining is a worthless activity it hurts people it's not just a NetZero when you complain about things it hurts people it's a bad thing while we're on the subject of football I remember a few years ago we had one of our volunteers in ministry a breakaway do what a lot of students do when to a football game was frustrated by the performance of some of the players I think some receiver wasn't handling his job the way she thought he should so she did what a lot of people did just went to her social media deal and just slashed off he needs to figure this out whatever whatever just kind of said something about it and so my wife pulled her aside and said hey I just want to clue you in on something you've got that big breakaway logo on everything about you on social media and so you represent breakaway you're a leader at breakaway and breakaway that's significant but breakaway is a voice that's pointing people to Jesus to the Son of God who loves people and while we were his enemies Christ died for us that's the message you're putting out and so with that voice you you bashed a student a fellow student who attends breakaway and so I just need you to hear that that you had an opportunity to speak life and you spoke hurt into his world for no good reason and when she heard that she did what any good Christian person would do she absolutely wept at the thought of hurting somebody like that she thought she was just doing what everybody else was doing just slashing off commentary about people and that the truth is it is what everybody else is doing but that doesn't make it good it makes it terrible and it's not something we do it's not something we do and we had a good talk with our leaders about the fact that we love our students and we love our student-athletes and when we speak we will speak life we won't speak like this right because it doesn't shine it's not innocent that means unmixed that's what that means I don't want mixture of the praise of Jesus and cutting remarks to you that mix doesn't make sense it's painful so you want to shine like a star in the universe you stop complaining and not just stop complaining but stop disputing or questioning is what the text says because bling turns into disputing this is the language from the book of Exodus and what happens is when you grumble it dilutes the message when you dispute resist Authority pushback it derails the cause that's what happened in the book of Exodus that they were meant to walk to the promised land that those people of God but as soon as everything didn't go their way they didn't get the water the way they wanted it the food wasn't quite how they liked it they began to grumble and complain and the grumbling got louder and then they complained against the leadership they pushed back against Moses full-on rebellion complete forfeiture of their purpose and life to shine to the nation's the glory of God because they were cracker eyes and they kept doing it and it hurt the message derailed the cause right there's a holy site in Jerusalem called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher it's the traditional site of the crucifixion of Jesus and a big church has been built there there are six denominations of Christians that all feel a sense of ownership of that building and so every year there's a holy day they go to honor the crucifixion of Jesus on our behalf and on several occasions full-on fights and broke it out and you can watch them on YouTube little old men in robes with beards punching and then just stomping on other little old men in robes with beards because I was trying to worship Jesus and you got in my way and so I'm taking you out son let me ask you something it gets so bad there that they actually had to take the keys away the government took the keys to the building away from the Christians and had to give it to two Muslim families to coordinate that place because the Christians couldn't get along how effective do you think their witness to Jesus is in that neighborhood will you come and know the grace and love of Jesus Christ that love that permeates my heart and spreads out to my brothers what did you do over there I'll kill ya right it hurts the message right I remember showing up at a church in California once and I was walking up to the church and they had greeters from the parking lot to the front door and all the way from the parking lot walking up every greeter looked me in the eye said hey man glad you're here and it wasn't like in a fake way like glad you're here doing clickers you know they were they were looking at me like hey I'm so glad you're welcome and I came in and I meant there's people at an info booth like can I help you find something oh my gosh where are you guys from oh that's so cool just super friendly people and then when I sat down and heard the message and the guy talked about a God who loves me I thought if that God exists then this would be the most normal way to treat people and all these people the way they treated me amplified his message about Jesus do you go to a church have you been to a church are you a part of a church where you stand around and complain and you say I wish they would do that different or I don't like that worship guy or the worship here is just not as authentic isn't my back home Church and kind of do that do your friends hear you at the workplace in your office and your classrooms and your dorm rooms complain complain complain and then come to them and say but why don't you come worship the Christ whose revolutionising my life it's gonna work against the message you want to shine like a star in the universe we don't complain we don't grumble we come out at a totally different way that we may be innocent blameless children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world the world is a dark and broken place and when we are positive we adorn the gospel we do I remember it when I was in college I went to lunch with some friends and we were there and the waitress was terrible at waiting tables and as a waiter I was just like well you know it just wasn't going well and but one of the sweet girls at the table with us was a group of Christian people it was like after church or something she was like you know what the service has been less than stellar but you know what she's gonna see us all pray before we eat and so let's just make sure we're overboard sweet to her and we all thought that makes sense totally cool and so she come to the table and just mess up everything and we'd be like thank you what's your name oh my gosh all right all right take care of whatever and so we were just sweet to this waitress it's fine it's okay and so at the end when we were getting ready to pay the bill she walked up to the table and she started to cry and sat down in the booth with us which is not a normal thing for a waitress to do I don't know it's normal for you what normal for me she cries and sits down and she said can I just let y'all know I've had a very difficult set of circumstances back home that I've been trying to process and I showed up to work and some people ditched we're short-staffed and so they gave me way too many tables and so I'm running around doing the best I can and everybody's mad at me and she says this has been the worst day and I've done terrible service for you guys and y'all have been so sweet to me and when I saw you praying I just thought I just need to sit down and say something to you and I was so grateful at that moment I wasn't a cry cry about the pancakes being three minutes late because we got a chance to change the world because we used our voice to breathe words of life that's what he says in the next verse holding on to the word of life we shine like stars in the universe I'm gonna speak life-giving words not life taking words do you see it that's how you shine so you go well then if I'm not gonna complain what am I gonna say I mean you just knocked out 30 to 40 percent of everything I talk about let me give you an alternative and here's the thing to give you an altar well I mean let me just do it to give you an alternative not grumbling and complaining if I'm not gonna do that what do I give you genuine concern for people a genuine concern for people because complaining is an inherently selfish act right I just wanted to vent to make me feel better okay that was just about you that wasn't about let me use these few sentences I have to speak to you to build you up right and so complaining is a selfish thing rather than grumbling and complaining Paul flips it and says was about genuine concern for people and he starts showing them a picture of what that might look like and he starts with himself in verse 17 he says of himself even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith I'm glad and rejoice with you all likewise you should be glad and rejoice with me Paul's in prison but he doesn't have time to complain why not because he has a genuine concern for God and others he does that's what fills Paul's life and the imagery Paul uses here is of a priest that a priest in the Old Testament when they would come to worship God they would bring a sacrifice and Paul says here in this section as a New Testament minister I'm not sacrificing bulls and goats when I come to God I want to worship God I want to honor God and he says the best thing I can bring God is you it's you people that I've invested in people have spoken the gospel to people I've encouraged when they struggle what I'm gonna bring to him is you the sacrificial offering of your faith that I want to walk up to God and when I reach the end of my life I want to say here are the people God that I encouraged I blessed I built up I loved every Christian should have these people that you could walk forward and say this is my sacrifice god this is my offering I love you you loved them so I poured out my life for them and then Paul looks at himself and says if I'm gonna be poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice of your faith I rejoice it I'm glad the drink offering was the last offering of the day it was the wine you would pour out the libation at the end and you would empty the cup and you'd say it's over lights out end of the day and Paul's using it he uses it in second Timothy as a metaphor for his death what he's saying is my whole life is bent towards a genuine concern for you and he said so in that sense if my life is a pouring out my blood in my life to the very end and all my life was was a way of helping you trust God more and enjoy God more what is he saying I rejoice and I'm glad the best way to live life is to use my mouth and to use my hands and to use my life to help you trust God more he says that's the most deeply satisfying way to live I would be glad I would rejoice and you should likewise be glad and rejoice with me he says you should be just like this I remember not long after I went came to break away as a director one of our board members a sweet woman Cathy Jackson passed away and I remember we used to do our board meetings in her house because she was so weak by the end that one of the other board members would literally have to pick her to move her from interior to the different spots in her house and I went to her funeral and I remember being surprised because I only knew her in that state but seeing at the funeral these pictures of her vibrant and healthy and full of life and I showed up at Grace Bible Church in Grace Bible was packed packed out with people testifying celebrating the encouragement they had gotten in their life from Kathy Jackson that from the time they knew her until the moment she was gone she poured out her life for others and the room was filled with people testifying I'm a better person because of her words in my life I'm a better person because of the way she would call me because of the note she wrote scuzz of the way she would speak for me for me as a leader I remember having to have a really hard conversation with a staff member and I called Kathy and said will you sit by me as a leader I remember Kathy sitting by me as I had to make some tough leadership calls we should all have that that at the end of our life who are the people that will have lost a voice of truth because you're gone we should have this that I have a sacrifice and offering to God and it's dem right it's my people how do you get that some of you go okay Ben you're telling me not to grumble and complain but have a genuine concern for people how do I do that well here's the thing we could end this talk by giving you a bunch of pointers on how to not grumble and complain like just try to keep your mouth shut think about something else you know I don't know that that's real helpful I could try to give you reasons why complainings not all that beneficial like it leads to depression and less work productivity and makes people not want to hang out with you but at the end of the day I don't think that's really gonna solve it for a lot of us because the reality is Jesus said under the overflow of the heart the mouth will speak and so what you need is not just a change of tactics when someone hurts your feelings just say something else serenity now that's not the key you need to change a heart and you have been if you're telling me not to grumble and complain when I walk into a conversation not to take the 10 sentences I have and use them to just spew out meaninglessness but to rather step and say how do I speak words that'll build you up and breathe life then how do I do that well what's interesting is what Paul does to close out is he just points the let camera lens a tattoo people rather than give them a bunch of advice he just gives them some models to follow and he's given them some basic things like I want to send Timothy to you but he says way more than that he says I thought it necessary to send to you Timothy but then he just goes off on Timothy for a while they know Timothy but he says I have no one like him who be genuinely concerned for your welfare they all seek their own interests not those of Jesus Christ but you know Timothy's proven worth how has a son with a father he served me in the gospel that was not necessary if all he wanted to communicate was I'm sending Timothy to you if I tell you hey I'm gonna send somebody to deliver a package I don't say hey I'm gonna send Brent over to call you Brent my fellow worker who I love deeply who you know is proven Worth and all others don't care about the cause of Jesus and yet there is Brent he'd be like why is he doing this because he's trying to show the model if you go well Ben I don't want to be a complainer I want to be someone with compassion genuine concern how do I do it he shows you Timothy and what does he show you he says everyone else cares he says I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare they all seek their own interests not those of Christ and he does something really interesting he parallels the sentences but he doesn't say I have no one like him who will be genuinely interested in your welfare for all or selfish but he cares about you that's not what he says he says he's genuinely interested in you because he's interested in Jesus Christ it's a genuine concern for Christ that will become a genuine concern for people how do I become someone who complains less and spreads life to people you fix your eyes on Jesus that's what happened to Timothy that is he contemplates the Jesus you saw earlier in this chapter who abandoned all the benefits of their glories or comforts of godhood to serve us hey that would take away his glory and take on the place of a servant if that guy if I fixed my eyes on him it becomes easier for me to say I want to be like him when I walk out into the world right it's a change of heart not many do this because all seek their own interests what's interesting about that is if you're a Christian then Jesus Christ has put his very spirit in you you have affection for Jesus in your heart I heard a pastor comment on this section this way and I thought it was so challenging he says what made Timothy so different than them they were seeking their own interests and then he said this it is not the deception of false doctrine or the disqualification of gross sin but it is the distraction of the world that keeps them from making a difference that when Paul looks around he says it's not that these people are suddenly believing lies about Jesus it's not that they've gotten into some really gross illegal sin he said what's keeping them from really making a difference for Christ they're just distracted with their own interests and if you're a Christian you have a heart for Jesus but that passion for him may have gone cold not because you're doing anything particularly evil but because you're not doing anything particularly beautiful either and so I want to challenge you press into Jesus because to see him is to love him and when he has your hearts affections he will get the work of your hands when you focus in on him you'll become someone who focuses on others that's what a Pafford itis did Paul talks about a Pafford itis a password that is who they know upon for dieter's who they sent to Paul so Paul doesn't need to describe him they sent him to Paul and yet Paul says you know app afroditi so I'm sending him back my brother fellow worker fellow soldier your messenger and ministered my Mead and they just goes on about how amazing this guy is why Paul he says in verse 29 receive him in the Lord with all joy honor such man for he nearly died for the work of Christ risking his life to complete your service what was lacking in your service to me he says when Christ has your heart when Christ interests are your interests then he'll have your hands when he has the affections of your heart he'll have the work of your hands and you look at a password itis he was consumed with and so the work of Christ became his own even to the point of death and that's where we'll be you fix your eyes on Jesus the god man who humbled himself to come to us love us forgive us serve us and I promise you what will happen is that when you step out to your roommate your sweet mate your door mate you'll say I want to be a breath of life to them as well that's how I want to live my life and you can make a difference that way I've told the story here before I don't remember when but it bears repeating I remember once one of the few opportunities I had to walk around in the concourse at break away talking with one of our resource team volunteers I remember visiting with her and I asked her how'd we get you as a volunteer like how did you arrive I'm always fascinated by that question and she said well it's wild I was an atheist and found a lot of joy in stressing out Christians just harassing them to death and I'm like okay like I'm locked in the story now she said yeah so most of my high school was just getting Christians mad because they talked about love and love but all I had to do is say a few sentences before they would just lose their Jesus and go crazy and she said I thought it was fun to sort of poke holes in their testimony that way and she said and then I got to college and I was sitting in a class and this girl sat next to me and she was one of those girls that was just a little too nice to be real you know kind of like hey how are you and you're like okay fake you know and she said but she said it didn't go away she was really like that she was really nice she was genuinely interested in me she said and then she invited me to have pancakes at her house because she does a little breakfast with her friends she said who does that and she said so I went and I hung out and had pancakes with these people and she said they were the nicest sweetest people I thought what an amazing group of PR y'all even real she said and then she was in class one day on a Tuesday and the girl came bouncing into class with a breakaway volunteer shirt on and she went oh you're one of them but she couldn't make fun of her she couldn't attack her because she was so nice and sure enough she invited her to break away and she found herself saying yes and she said I would go and sit next to her and the message you were talking about about a Jesus Christ who would love even his enemies made total sense in the light of how I was treated and she said and it broke through to me and then she told me one day driving back from break away they were sitting in the car and she said okay what do I gotta do to be baptized and they were like what and she said I'm in what's the rules what's the game I'm in I got it and she said I wanted to know the Jesus who had changed their lives and I wanted him to change mine and she said so now I'm here on the resource team trying to help people know Jesus who came to a wretch like me I go that's how it's done right there no more grumbling no more complaining but a genuine concern for God that becomes a genuine concern for people when he has the affections of my heart he gets the work of my hands and oh the difference it could make when you and I began to shine like stars and our dorm rooms and our sororities in the core Oh what God can do with Christians who speak words of life for his glory and their good well howdy and welcome to the breakaway podcast my name is Elizabeth and I am sitting here with Ben in Reed Arena after another Tuesday night breakaway so yeah tonight we are in Philippians 2 and cover verses 14 through 30 and really focused in on what it is to be a light and that imagery in Scripture and to be like shining stars and in what Paul tells us and just very clear terms is you don't grumble I do don't dispute and you don't question which I think it's just a super convicting thing if we're honest to sit there and go man like that's practical and that intersects with my daily life even just like you said 30 to 40 percent of our conversation is complaining and so I think for me and for everyone I talked to you tonight it was like yeah gotta work on an atom which is great it's it's good to be convicted and and to see just what Paul says about that and the result of that but I feel like you you got a lot of notes there Ben there's a lot more to say about it yeah well I think you're right it is for me it's helpful to think in terms of when I step into a conversation and I literally think about that way like if I walk up into a circle of people or walk into a moment with you I'm gonna get a certain number of sentences even you know maybe 10 sentences in a conversation or three minutes or an hour whatever go what will the net result of my having spoken be if I'm consistently a net negative or a zero like I just just kind of complain then you go that's not who I want to be in life I don't want to be that person and so for me that's the what I'm pushing forwards going I want to be a life-giving person that when you walk away people go he wasn't being fake wasn't like trying to fake like everything's great at us I'm trying today like he's is not being real but I want a real authentic from the heart love of life and belief that God is sovereign over all of it and it's a gift and and my wife is a gift and my kids after my friendships our gift and I love our staff and I love what I get to do for a living and I want to really feel that and speak from that place you know and so that's why I really focused in on the end of just not trying to just attack some fake language on to a heart that's really dissatisfied but really press your heart into Jesus and by that I mean really coming to him honestly and that's what I do devotional iego Lord hears my fears concerns frustrations and I don't want to operate out of these and then as I read the Word of God and listen to the Word of God taught I want him to change my perspective because that'll change my practice right yeah but you're right I got a lot of notes so let me roll through about five things for clarifications sake number one is by saying not to complain I don't mean you never say anything negative what Paul is advocating in this text is there's two kind of ways to live life there's negative and a positive a constructive and a destructive way to use your mouth in your life and in a constructive life I can I can call out things that aren't done well or I can say to somebody hey I don't like the way this is happening here I think we need to change that but even when I'm pointing out something I'm doing it I think the then the question you need to ask is is my goal redemptive am i aiming to improve a state of things by saying it that way you know there's a way to come into a situation when I just ate something negatively or I can state it positively you know someone could walk up to me I was thinking about just the other day when I speak sometimes I'll drop real low and people say they have a hard time hearing me someone could just walk up to me and say hey I hate your voice okay there's nothing I can do with that you see what I mean you've helped me zero this was a net negative conversation this helped no one but someone can come up and say hey when you drop lower we have a hard time hearing you and I know you're saying something that's valuable could you speak up and I go okay that helps me yeah point number two is thought about disputing I had someone come up and say does that mean you can never disagree with somebody he said what if my boss is asking me to do something I think it's unethical said no it's not that you can certainly say I don't know if I agree with that idea or can I not do that but I told him in that work context I said your wanting to come in and go I want to be a positive force in in this work environment and I said so read the Book of Daniel where Daniel could disagree with the King but say Oh King may you live forever I won't bow before that statue I respect the man while disagreeing with the activity and refusing to do it but in a respectful way or like in Daniel chapter one creating another Avenue I don't want to eat this way because it violates my relationship with God can I try it this way was that acceptable to you and you see Daniel pushing forward ideas what he means by disputing in this passage is he's really talking about in the Christian community people that enter into the church in the community of faith and you're not a force for good you just complain you criticize the way the church is this and that but you're not helpful you're not greeting people you're not encouraging people you're just pushing back against the leadership and anyone who's been on a sports team knows if you have a player that complains and grumbles and pushes back against the coaches your team can't win that destroys unity yeah and it's the same with a church and that's what Paul is pressing forward here all right number three is a note on healing surprised no because you're somebody you're thinking what happened to Pat for nightís he was sick all I want to say about this is Paul says I'm sending out PAP aphrodite's back to you part of it which was so beautiful he says because he's been longing for you all and he was distressed because he heard because you heard that he was ill which i think is so sweet about a Pafford itis he's worried about you because you heard he's sick that's how that's how sweet this guy is and Paul says indeed he was ill he almost died they had sent up afroditi stew to minister to Paul and by Minister he means bring him like food supplies probably money while he's in prison and to do that back then you didn't catch a plane the guy walked maybe wrote a donkey definitely got on a boat got into a caravan I mean this was a trek yes and he did it for the sake of Paul and Paul said it almost killed him and so Paul said I'm sending him back to you so you'll be happy to see him he'll be happy and I'll be less worried because the dude almost died but what's interesting is Paul says he was ill and he almost died but Paul didn't say and so I used my super healing powers and just healed him did Paul heal people yes did that mean Paul has the ability to heal indiscriminately no God heals God used Paul in a lot of powerful ways to do powerful miracles and I just think it's worth emphasizing that can God use you to lay hands on someone and heal them yes can God use a particular person to do that maybe more than other people yes but does that mean any person has a complete power within themselves to heal or not heal based on their discretion Paul didn't have that did Paul heal yes could he always in every situation no yeah but and you see that where he had to leave trophic trophimus sick at Meletis and second Timothy he's like I just sometimes it rolls that way and that doesn't negate the way God gifts people it just means the gifts are God's to give so yeah totally unrelated to the topic but it's right there in the text and as someone who loves the Bible I've just got to talk about it okay how many was that is that three or four that's three well then we'll just do one more the last thing I was going to talk about was you know at the end I threw in that story about the sweet girl and I know I've told it before I don't remember when I actually had different stories lined up of of missionaries some I'll save for later but one was John Wesley you know when he was coming to America for the first time was coming as a chaplain but he wasn't a Christian and he wrote it in his journals his journal I'm coming to convert the heathen but who will convert me you know a little dramatic but he knew I'm not a Christian but it was on the boat to America that he was leading a service on the boat and the waves began to crash over it broke the mainsail he thought was going to kill everybody he said they the English began to full-on panic but they're a group of people from Germany the Moravians who he said all boat ride long they would do the kind of serving that nobody wanted to do they would when people would shove them or were rude to them they weren't rude back he said and then when the waves came in we were in the middle of the service he said all the English started shrieking he said but the Germans kept singing and he said so I asked him later how did you do that and they said because we're not afraid to die and he said well how did you keep your women and children under control and they said because our women and children aren't afraid to die and Wesley went back to the English and said that's what it is to fear God alone to be someone who really knows God he said look at their lives it's unbelievable and he had a terrible ministry in America because it's hard to administer when you're not a Christian so he left and went back to Europe and the first thing he did was found the Moravians and they read him the book of Romans and he became a Christian and became a powerful force for good in America one of the most prolific evangelist on the face of the planet and how did it happen because the Moravians were positive worshipful loving serving people and he examined their life saw it and said my goodness they have something I don't and they shown they shined I don't know they were luminaries and it changed John Wesley and arguably America quite honestly so I hope that encourage different challenges that's right yeah yeah and I think that's such a cool illustration that when you look at this text you know in so many words Paul makes it clear it's not that you don't grumble because God said so and you do it it's because you can trust that he's good and you can you can trust him and in that confidence fills you up with his light and and it shines so yeah convicting message but encouraging as well and just a great reminder that that through Christ and through his spirit in us we do have light and why would you cover that so yeah thankful for another great night and read thankful for really just a great semester and you mentioned tonight that we're just over the midway point which is crazy to think about but we've still got a lot of great breakaways too countin so keep tuning in and next week we will be at Elson field excited about that you're some good Texas fall weather I don't think you can really call it fall weather but the Texas version so it'll be a great night to come join us it'll be fun well pray for us that there's no trains that go by yes well I'm preaching and number two it's it's a message that really is gonna aim at explaining Christianity and so it really aims that the non-believer in a lot of ways so be praying for us we challenge students to bring their friends not so we could break attendance records or something but so that their friends could hear the gospel and so pray for us that that will happen alright that's our hope that that ball field will be a pretty special place for people to to meet God for the first time so be praying with us and keep listening in and thanks you

Channel: Sheila L.

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Id: TRZ9E4KwD-E

Length: 51min 14sec (3074 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 24 2014