Virtue: Love Letters - Lesson 12 (Cathe Laurie)

philippians 2 is really a look at jesus and um i just love the fact that paul laid it out so clearly for us but uh you know i was thinking about how in this day and age of reality talk shows and and reality shows you know how many of you have watched reality shows come on don't be ashamed i have to yeah i used to watch survivor when i thought i was pretty fit now i don't watch it anymore because they all are seriously way too fit and and then i you know american idol and then you know now i don't watch american idol anymore but uh the apprentice how many of you have watched the apprentice it's kind of all these shows are really interesting because what makes a reality show so interesting and so appealing is that you kind of see these people in their ordinary lives or off you know what you would normally think of a script but i hope you realize that there are cameras and microphones following them around and no matter when you have a camera pointed at you and a microphone that is recording you you are not really being off guard you are still performing to a degree but anyway you know we like reality shows and we watch them because we sort of think we're seeing sort of stuff behind the scenes of what we normally get to see in a in a script but you know just for the pure salaciousness of it we're intrigued to know what is going on in these characters minds behind the scenes but you know what is really fascinating about this passage in philippians 2 is we get to read not only what christ did but what was in his mind when he did it and it's as if that curtain is being pulled back and we are not only going to look at and learn about the things that jesus did but we're going to see what jesus thought when he did these things for us and so that is not just for us to have information in our heads that we might understand the doctrine of the incarnation though that's one of the cornerstones of our belief but it's in order that that information would get down deep into our hearts ladies and that if you knew the love and the mind of god behind the incarnation behind the crucifixion behind the the serving of jesus in this fallen world if we could get into his heart and into his mind that would transform us it would be so rooted it would become part of us and that's the goal really of studying god's word is not just so that we might have the information but that it would be organic and that it would become part of the whiff and warp of us in order that our minds might be conformed and be transformed by renewing and focusing on jesus really is what it is that is the key to this chapter well you know one thing that is very interesting is how paul has laid out and last week we all understood actually it was two weeks ago right because last week was open house two weeks ago when we studied philippians 1 we we got to see that philippi was a very special church to the apostle paul this is the only church that he is not having to deal with false teachings and horrible problems right and even the language that paul uses as we've been reading you you can see the warmth and the love and affection that he has for this group of people i mean it's it's unusual compared to the other epistles like corinth and others where he wrote galatians where he's addressing some real issues philippi had this this really special place it's there's a warmth throughout all of what he is writing here it is probably the healthiest of all the new testament churches in the epistles that we read but what this chapter is telling us the beginning of this chapter is that even in the healthiest churches even in the lives of the best people there is always the chance that we could go off that we could become petty and that we could become conceited and that we would become selfish and self-absorbed and paul is kind of cutting them off at the past you know paul had addressed an issue in corinth in a letter to them not that many years previous to the writing of the philippians and what he saw in corinth although they had all the the spiritual gifts and had so many things that they were blessed with what he saw in corinth was a divided church a church filled with rivalries there was a tremendous amount of pride there and paul didn't want that to happen in philippi and he begins in chapter two with just that that warning for us and it's important that we would see it that way in our lives as well you know i've loved this church and i love the virtue ministry and i love the harmony and the joy with which we have been blessed and i can honestly say as a pastor's wife we have been exceptionally blessed by a united and supporting and loving church for over 42 years it has been remarkable i know many pastors wives that don't have that story so i sort of feel like i've been blessed with a church like philippi but as paul is writing to this beautiful church and to these beautiful people and perhaps in his mind he's already beginning to address a problem that he saw brewing in chapter four we're going to get to two women interestingly enough two individuals yodya and suntakei who were two women who were serving the lord in ministry alongside the apostle paul and yet they were having a disagreement and it was so in is so important to paul that it actually reached the highest levels it had reached him all the way to where he was when he was writing this letter and wanted to address it so we're kind of getting a jump start on something that we're going to see a glimpse of in chapter four but just know this even in the best churches this is something we have to guard against and you know we have been calling this um series love letters so as we are continuing on in the thought of love and loving relationships and with greg having just taught on first corinthians 13 i sort of see how the spirit is moving a theme throughout our ministry and that is that we are to continue in love but how do we do that and as we all know those of us who have ever fallen and loved anybody fallen in love or had a crush on somebody i mean come on ladies i know someone out there has you know those early stages of falling in love are relatively easy aren't they i mean we all you know there's you only see the good things you only see the best things in that person you uh or in that church for that matter you know when you start going to a church you see all the things you love about that church all the things you love perhaps about the person you have the crush on and as they say love is blind and falling in love is relatively easy wouldn't you say i mean all you need is a pulse basically to fall in love that is you know love at first sight is no miracle but what is a miracle is staying in love sticking out in commitment and in service and in sacrifice that's when it gets hard and you know like i said falling in love is easy and there's so many ways nowadays that we have um at our fingertips that we could connect with each other you know we all want meaningful relationships in our lives don't we we all want a meaningful friendship we all want to serve in ministry side by side with others who are like-minded who have the same heart we want in our marriages to have a united front because the whole world seems to be against us at times and it seems the whole world is falling apart isn't it and we look at culture we look at marriages even marriages within the church we look at divisions within the church we look at divisions in our own country and yet it's never been easy easier to connect with people you know you have facebook you have instagram you have twitter you have organizations that are life coaches that are trying and and at our fingertips on the computer to help us to connect with each other yet never has it been more difficult to maintain those relationships easy to connect to make superficial um bonds but how easy it is today to have those bonds broken you know right it's never been easier to fall in love but it's never been harder to stay in love to stay united to maintain that unity of the spirit and the bond of peace and in every relationship in every church it's going to get hard it is going to get hard there are going to be times when you will be hurt and it will cost you says you know the song love hurts loves scars it does all we have to do is look at the cross and look with the love of god for this broken world and how he was treated though he loved us perfectly i want to ask you is ladies and your relationships today what are you willing to do to maintain that love to maintain that unity are you willing to go the extra mile or how long is it going to be before you say and it's so easy to say these things whatever i am over it i'm done i'm walking away i i'm washing my hands of that relationship of that situation of that person of that group of people of that church it's so easy to do that isn't it but ecclesiastes 7 8 says better is the end of a thing than the beginning and the patient in spirit is better than the proud it is worth sticking it out it is worth not throwing in the towel but how do we do that how do we stay in love how do we stay in peaceful relationships it's so easy to fight it's so easy to keep track of wrongs done and things said against us and you know there is that it's just too simple to walk away we're almost encouraged it's almost like standing for your individual rights you have a right you have a right to be treated perfectly you have a right to be given those opportunity you have a right yes we may say that but if we all are so intent on holding on to our rights as individuals how will we ever stay together because sooner or later we are going to hurt each other how do we stay in love you know despite what we see out there despite the fact that the divorce rates are skyrocketing despite the fact that we see quarrels and fights in countries in our world today in families and friendships despite all that there's something deep down inside of us it just says i want to give it another try i know it's possible and sometimes we think oh if i could just find the right circumstance find the right person find the right church it's going to be all good but you know what the problem is not outside of us the problem is inside of us and that's why i say when we look at this chapter we have to see it and get it rooted in us it has to become part of us it has to be organic the tendency to forgive and to love and to overlook wrongs done is not natural to our human nature to our fallen human nature we are so sick with the disease called sin and pride and selfishness that it's got to be something that we take in from god himself a cure that we apply to our hearts and to our lives we want this but we ask many times is this even possible is it possible for us to stick it out and i'm not just talking about tolerating one another you know there's a difference between being in love and just hanging on for dear life not just you know saying that we're gonna stick together no matter what and not enjoying the richness of fellowship and love that we all are looking for you know my grandmother and my grandfather on my father's side they were married and lived until their 90s together but there was one thing i knew about their relationship and that was they were together but they were really not together they sat at the same table and lived under the same roof but he had his crossword puzzles and she had her women's club in her gardening and very rarely did i ever see them engage or take interest in the other one's life very few words were spoken that were not absolutely necessary words and that was not my goal in my marriage i know it's not the goal that you are looking for when you fall in love or when you start a relationship with someone it's not just to tolerate one another but it's to stay in love you know when i when i fell in love with greg and i did um i did i did like him from a distance i saw him teaching at a bible study and i thought oh he's cute and he's funny and he certainly holds my attention but you know i i never realized that when i fell in love with greg and got married that it was it was we were so opposite in so many ways i mean he had his strengths i had my strengths and we were really not at all alike whatsoever and we had so many quarrels after we got married and i will tell you honestly there is a house on vandini avenue an old farmhouse a victorian farmhouse that's over a hundred years old and if those walls could talk i am not proud of some of the things i said and did as a young married woman now i mean i remember very clearly one coral we had in this big farmhouse kitchen and i don't even remember what we were quarreling about but i do remember that we were exchanging fast sharp words and i know some of you think oh kathy she seems so mellow and so easy and you know the word sweet i hear that a lot you're so sweet well you have no idea what is what is in my mind what is in my heart and what can come out of my mouth at the right time so the wrong times and we were arguing and i remember that um greg had had enough of my verbal argument and he turned around to walk out and he's walking through the doorway i was so angry because you know women have a tendency we're very verbal um and men often will just shut down well we don't we don't want to shut down we want to keep going and he was walking away and i was mad and i grabbed the closest thing that i could find and it was one of those blue enamel spackled uh coffee pots those tin ones that you take camping with you and it was it was a piece of decoration thank god it was not full of hot coffee because i grabbed that and without even thinking i threw it at him and now i have terrible aim i couldn't hit the side of a barn with anything believe me and i had no intention of actually hitting my mark but i mean it wasn't even you know there wasn't time to think i just threw it and i hit him and it hit him on the back of the head and you know he graciously did not come after me with a kitchen knife because you know there are times when people get really angry and you're not thinking i certainly wasn't thinking but those were just this i only say that because love is hard at times falling in love starting relationship is so easy isn't it it's so easy you do and say all the right things in those beginning stages but falling in love is is very difficult and i want to begin before we start philippians 2 with a background of john chapter 13 and if you would flip back there to john 13 i'm going to read from verse 32 where it says god is glorified in him god will glorify him in himself and glorify him at once little children a little while i am with you and you will seek me and just as i said to the jews so now i also say to you where i am going you cannot come a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you you also are to love one another by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another jesus is telling them to love as he loved we all may not be familiar but i'm going to let you know the the backdrop to this story is this is the night before jesus crucifixion and the they had celebrated the last supper together jesus had broke bread and they had shared the cup and after supper jesus took a towel and a basin and he got on his hands and knees and he washed their feet and that is the background to what he is saying love one another as i have loved you this is so crazy think about this we you know try to imagine the eternal immortal omnipotent omniscient god of the ages the god who appeared in lightnings and thunders and and all of that on mount sinai to moses that god in human form on his hands and knees think of who he is and what he is doing and not only think about who he is but think about what he is facing the next day he is about to be crucified he is going to bear the judgment and the wrath of god an eternity of hells for every one of us that was what was you know how it is when you have something big on your calendar how distracted you are how absorbed you are in yourself and your own suffering and your own problems jesus had some major stuff think of who he was think of what he's facing and then think of what they were think of who we are and he gets on his hands and knees and serves them not even a jewish slave could be ordered to wash the feet of someone else it was so that that job was fine for the gentiles but it was not something that was ever heard of not in greek or roman literature was there ever a master or a teacher who would ever get on his hands and knees and do this the lowest of jobs but he did and then he says i have a new commandment for you guys and you know how they might have thought oh great another commandment you know we can't keep the 10 that we have or the 600 that moses gave us in leviticus and how are we going to have one how are we going to handle one more commandment when we can't keep track of all the 600 ones that we're supposed to keep track of jesus and peter looks up and says how are we going to do this and james puts his pen down and says seriously another one but he says love one another now that's not a new commandment but this is what makes it new is he gives the scope of it and he says as i have loved you as i have loved you jesus is saying i want you to take this word this concept this commandment and i want you to go and practice it like you never have before with a whole new mindset that you have never had before ladies this is the secret to loving and lasting relationships in your family and your marriage in the church and your friendships that is the scope to love as jesus loved that's a tall order not as culture tells us to love not as the latest trends tell us that we are to love not as your grandmother loved your grandfather or your mother or your dad as good as a role model as she may have been but to love and then let's look at philippians 2 now let's let's go there in philippians 2 paul elaborates on how this is supposed to work he says if there's any encouragement in christ is there absolutely any comfort from love any participation in the spirit if you have any of these things any affection or 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 rivalry or conceit but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves verse 3 says do nothing out of rivalry or vain conceit don't compete with one another don't be selfish in your outlook don't put someone else down in order to feel better about yourself don't act out of your insatiable need for attention and vain glory which means you know this is we're empty of glory and so the way in which we try to fill ourselves up is with importance and with being paid attention to and with being the center of attention no no no he says do nothing with that in mind nothing don't compete but rather in humility consider as more important and i want you to underline that more important you know it's really fun to watch our grandchildren you know um fun to watch about a two three or four year old at someone else's birthday party have you ever seen little ones at someone else's birthday party i have very active grandchildren and um probably the one who reminds me the most of christopher is his little girl lucy christopher laurie and uh she is such a hoot i tell you um this girl is the center of attention if i were i don't remember if i don't know if you remember when we did a demo at a open house one time and lucy or at a girl talk one time where she we were teaching little ones manners she is totally all about lucy now this was her this was her grandfather's birthday it was greg's birthday and she was invited to the house to celebrate his birthday party and we had the cake and we had the presents we had the candles and lucy um had you know you know she's like appreciating the fact that this is all party and but in her mind she's thinking this is all about me and greg was given a birthday card and i know you all know how much he adores cats and someone thought it was very funny to give him a birthday card not a cat but a birthday card with a cat on the cover and now this cat birthday card was adorable he was a cat with the you know crown on its head and and as you open it up it's a cat meowing the happy birthday tune and it was adorable you know and very funny and we all got the we all got the irony of this and lucy and all the grandchildren were enamored with the card you know because you opened it up and you could hear the the audio of a cat meowing and i'm not going to meow the happy birthday song for you because i have in mind hillary clinton barking like a dog lately and it's like that went wild on the internet and last thing they need is a pastor's wife losing her mind meowing up on stage but so just imagine a cat meowing the happy birthday song and lucy is carrying this card around and every so often we would hear the happy birthday tune in cat and so it came time for greg to open his gifts and to blow out the candles and lucy was very distracted and very upset because she wanted to blow out the candles on the cake and she said it's my birthday and i said no lucy it's not your birthday it's papa's birthday your birthday was in november and papa's birthday is today she says no it's my birthday today i said no lucy it's not remember you had your party this is papa's party and lucy says no it's my birthday the cat told me it's hard for a three-year-old or a four-year-old to get it and it's hard for us to get it too and we may not act it out but we certainly have that craving and that need to be the center and it's not this we're not to be the center we're told here that you are to see as others and their needs as more important than your own as so counter-cultural right now ladies have you ever been somewhere and of course you have where you are not the most important person in the room have you ever been to a wedding where it wasn't your wedding and you weren't the bride absolutely now what happens at a wedding who is the most important person in the room at a wedding it's the bride not the groom even it's the bride it's her day it's all about her and the dress and the wedding march and when she walks in to the wedding who stands up everybody stands up it is about her she is the most important person in the room not you when you walked in nobody stood up it didn't matter what you were wearing that day it's all about that white dress right she's the most important person in that room in those situations we know it's not our turn it's not about us it's not about us you know i was raised by a very old-fashioned mother who she loved to teach us and all our children she had five children and one thing that we learned from the time we were old enough to understand anything and that was to respect we had to respect her we had to respect the people who were older than we were and when and she drilled this into our head and to this day we we were never to call them by their first name when they when an older person or a relative walked into the room it didn't matter what we were preoccupied with doing it did not matter it was not about us at that moment we were to stand to our feet we were to walk to that person we were to make eye contact with them often it was all about a hug and a kiss and when they sat down we were to pay attention when they told their stories or had a joke it wasn't our job to correct their stories or to look away or to be bored it was our job to defer and to respect it wasn't about us i don't know it's that's something that is very hard to teach nowadays because you know older people are often the stupid ones it's all about youth and it's all about being young and it's all about being edgy but i was told differently and i think that the idea of respect is a very hard one for us to lay hold of in the day and age in which we are living in but i do know that if we were to take this idea of respecting people seeing them as more important than we are not allowing the familiarity that is in our relationships to breed contempt to start diminishing people even though they deserve to be respected you know that we could bring into our relationships a degree of love that that isn't there we could mend broken friendships we could heal marriages if we were to show that kind of respect that we're seeing here that they are more important and i know what you're sitting there thinking i know because i thought it myself i thought but kathy they aren't more important they aren't more important but that isn't the issue paul is not saying treat them because they treat them well because they're more important he says treat them as if they were more important that little word as if they were more important you know we all know how we ourselves love to be treated don't we that we're the most important person in the room you know and in our lives there may be people who are wonderful to us friends who treat us nicely who when we come to their house they've they've thought ahead they've prepared ahead they've they they serve us first they give us the best place to sit they treat us in a wonderful way with respect with deference with concern with an interest and you know what it is about people like that and i know it's true for me i love to be around people like that i want to lean their way because they've been so sweet and so loving we are drawn to that kind of love and acceptance in our lives we respond to that kind of love and accept and acceptance and it's it's brings about a more gracious environment and atmosphere but it's because someone has taken the time now do we deserve those things probably not do they have the same rights as we do to to sit in the best place to have the first choice absolutely we all are equal in the eyes of god no one is better than anyone else but we've been treated with grace and with love now think about that we are drawn to that now you would not say of that person who treats you so well you're saying you know i just hate being around them they're always doing such nice things for me i just can't stand it when she gives me all those gifts and says those compliments and and goes out of her way you know absolutely not we love being around people like that we don't even realize why we love it it's because they've shown us love they've shown us preference they've respected us jesus says and paul is saying i want you to treat others not because they are more important but because as if they were more important than yourself keep that in mind that sense of respect that you once had you know we all remember that sense of awe entering into a relationship entering into a marriage go back and think you know what it was like why you found yourself attracted to that other person why they were attracted to you and determine if i continued to treat them the way i treated them in the beginning that i will bend their way i will defer i will show an interest i will care i will sacrifice for that person don't you think that person would always be leaning your direction as well and if we stopped right there and applied that truth alone to treat others as more important than ourselves we would revolutionize all of the relationships in our life i guarantee it if we would see it through that single lens but we don't stop there we don't stop there paul gives us more not only are we to think of others is more important verse 4 tells us look not on your own interests but to the interests of others that word implies that we are to look out with special attention at the interests of others wow you know i have noticed that in healthy relationships and loving lasting marriages and in people's lives that i have observed and respected for years that there is this aspect to their life they have a habit of expressing genuine interest in other people there's nothing more boring than a person who only wants to talk about themselves isn't that the truth who wants to be around them there's no given change there's no no opportunity for you to open your heart there's no none of that it's all about them all the time that's a boar is a person who's obsessed with themselves but those people that we love and we we know and certain people will come to our minds even as we sit here how loving and interesting they are to be around because they're always so interested in us that's what it boils down to they've taken the time to show that interest and this is really really hard for us because frankly we are interested in the things that we are interested in and we are not interested in the things that other people are interested in perhaps you know i i am not interested in certain things you know i have my likes i have my interests i have my hobbies my favorite pastimes that i am indulged in or i'm i am involved in and i want other people to be interested in those things but you know what if we all looked out just for ourselves what a boring place the world would be what a boring and uninteresting and divided place the world would be you know greg and i have been married for 41 years and forgive me for those of you who are single but if this doesn't apply in marriage i don't know the first place this should apply the easiest place to practice these things should be in marriage because that is a commitment that is a vow that is someone that we're not going to walk out on that we cannot escape from you know it should begin right there and for 41 years i have seen greg take an interest in me even though my interests keep changing and evolving i mean 41 years ago i lived in a victorian house and i loved antiquing and i love doilies and i love figurines and i love all that stuff that was cluttering every surface in my house that was what i was interested in you know what greg showed interest in those things now not so much now i like i don't want to dust all that stuff anymore i don't have time to dust all that stuff your anthropology is i love watching the young girls and all the stuff that they you know layer upon layer and pattern upon pattern and all i said i've been there done that you dust it you know i've changed i've changed and many other areas as well i've changed but he's shown an interest in every phase you know for me it's a little easier greg hasn't changed all that much he uh he likes old vintage cars he likes beetles music and we have listened to every rendition and every possible release of the beatles tracks they've remixed it they've gone back to the old ones they've gotten stripped down this is something they've never played we have bought and bought and bought beatles that's i know every beatles song and all the words he loves loud motorcycles he likes technology i mean he was the first one to buy an apple computer he had absolutely no idea how to work it but he had to have it and big screen tvs those are the things that interest him do they interest me i could go the rest of my life and never hear another beatles song i have had my quota of beatles songs do i like riding on the back of a loud motorcycle i do not with my face flapping in the wind no that's so sad you know you peek around you know just sort of see where you're going and you catch the reflection of your face in that mirror and it's like it's not a pretty sight it's not but you know i try i'm trying i'm trying just to continue to show interest why because i want to leverage i want to leverage my opportunity to show him that i love him the question is are we willing to take this passage to heart take it out of theory take it out of you know out of our bibles and start living it in our lives start putting it into practice to show an interest in other people in things that don't necessarily interest you learn to do that don't tell me it's beneath you to do that because god in heaven is interested in every detail of your life in the things that you're interested in he is interested in those things as well jesus says love as i have loved you look out for others interests and i know that sitting in this room i guarantee there are people who are saying kathy you pastor's wife you think it's hard you know nothing about what's hard you don't know how hard it is to get along with this person you don't know the things they've said and done to me you don't know how they've hurt me you don't know what they've said behind my back you don't know how they've treated me and you could come up here on stage and we could interview every single one of you because i guarantee somewhere in our lives we have some sad story on why we cannot show that other person love treat them as they are the most important person in the room and i could say okay well you have your sad story here's a pass you get a pass you don't have to practice this you're the one person and we would probably fill the entire stage with passes wouldn't we every one of us has a sad story a situation where we are being tested to the nth degree to love as christ has loved us you know i've been in ministry here at harvest for over 40 years and i have heard the sad stories trust me and i know for every sad story you have i could probably match you two or three it is difficult loving one another with the love of jesus it is not easy it is a tall order it seems like a wall so high and so wide that you could never get over it and paul knows that we must be having a hard time with this he gives us this show interest treat others is more important jesus says love as i have loved you and now we want to start with our excuses we want to start compartmentalizing the people in our lives well here's these are these people that i'm willing to try one more time but these are these people i have written off 100 but paul wants us to do something even more deep than just think it out he wants us to look and to see the mind of god here in philippians 2 5. he says in your relationships with one another i want you to have this mind this same attitude is what your bible may say have this mind and this attitude i want you to approach them the way jesus has approached us and how did he do that how did he do that verse 6 says who being in the very nature god this means that when jesus went to the wedding guess who was the most important person in the room then it was jesus it was jesus who was the most important person in the room he was the most important person even though people didn't treat him like he was the most important person he really was who being in the very nature the very form of god did not think or count equality with god something to be used to his own advantage or grasped or held onto now check this out even though he was always the most important person in the room he never leveraged that to his own advantage did he he never went into the restaurant and said i demand the best table in the house right he never went to stand in front of the line and say everybody get behind me because i am the most important person in the room and i should go first you know there's something inside you and me we all have it that is a hard time with that because in our world we are the most important person aren't we in our minds we always are we're always thinking about ourselves we always can quote the verse as to what they're doing wrong and yet we ignore these very verses here these very verses here not to treat somebody because they are the most important but because as if they were the most important love is jesus loved in every relationship that you're in today in your friendships in your marriage in your church in your ministry think how jesus thought even though he was god in the flesh i love this phrase he made himself nothing he emptied himself what a contrast to us who are so full of ourselves jesus completely emptied himself and this is how paul says this is the standard that we're being asked to live that is the mindset and we when you see this mindset in practice in another person's life it is the most beautiful thing ever obviously the most incredible example of all is if we let our imaginations go wild in the scripture and see jesus in every circumstance and see him in his humility emptying himself of pride now that doesn't mean that he was a pushover and a doormat he could be humble and yet so certain about who he was he could be loving and yet never feel that he was being trounced on and defeated and that he was worthless or anything no he always knew who he was but he didn't make it all about himself he took the very nature of the servant and you know i know that being formed being found in appearance as a human being jesus humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death of the cross jesus made the decision and as a result god has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name the most powerful dynamic in the universe you know you say is splitting the atom or whatever it is that's where the power lies no no no let me tell you the most powerful dynamic transforming dynamic in the universe is when we bow and love and serve one another if it's not beneath the dignity of the second person of the triune godhead to humble himself and love us and give his life away in order to have a relationship with us how could it be beneath us how could it be beneath us and this is this is how it works ladies in a very funny and humorous way i'm gonna try to portray this i'm gonna go home tonight and i'm gonna say to greg hey greg how are you doing um let's get on the harley let's go for a ride and he's going to say oh no no no no kathy let's stay home and watch something with a british accent on tv and i'm going to say no no no you're the most important person in the room you really are you need to say no you're the most important person in this room you really are if we would just begin begin in big and small ways to do do things like that do you know how that would mend relationships how it would heal broken hearts how it would pull together marriages let's do that ladies not only in our marriages but in our friendships in our ministries let's prefer one another let's put the other person first let's do it in the hard places where things are just hanging by a thread remember how jesus humbled himself how did he do it he did it by dying on a cross for us dying the most shameful death that one could die why because he chose relationship with us above his own glory stop being upset by your little snubs stop being upset by what people think of you whether or not they've criticized you be the first one to put the hand out and say hey let's make it right let go of that list of hurts and wrongs done only you can take that initiative really it is a battle that is within our own hearts and the only way to do it is to get into the mind of christ and to see what was in his heart and in his mind when he hung on a cross bleeding and dying and sweating and crying father forgive them they know not what they do that is the mind that if we get it inside us rooted in our hearts we'll begin to transform our lives and transform every relationship we have in our lives let's pray father i know that in this room there are women who are struggling really hard over this they are rehearsing in their minds the things that have been said and that have been done to them and from the inside we feel trapped by our emotions we feel trapped and we can't get out we feel like we can't give in we can't go that way no cannot do that i'll try it in some relationships but i will not apply it to that one father i pray that the gospel and the truths that we have read today would so penetrate our hearts that in some way we will see with new eyes and be transformed in those behaviors in which we have made a habit of treating others a certain way that we don't have to let this defeat us you are mighty when we allow you to have full reign in our hearts lord we really want to relinquish our rights we want to see others is more important than we are we want to make it about them we know this is the heartbeat of heaven help us we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: Harvest Virtue

Views: 96

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: WoiZ-nxFLgM

Length: 47min 44sec (2864 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 26 2021