Christ-Centered Perspective.

KJ Washington

[0:00] Good morning. My name is KJ Washington and I serve here at Village as a church planting [0:04] apprentice here. It’s a privilege to be here with you guys this morning just having the [0:09] opportunity to be able to dive into God’s Word. The text we will be in this morning [0:13] is Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 through 18. Philippians chapter 1 verse 12 through [0:19] 18. And as I said, I just literally got here under a month ago and so I’m kind of getting [0:24] into the church. I’m not sure if you can still transition into being involved with

[0:27] the metropolitan Richmond area, but there’s two reasons why I was really ecstatic about [0:33] coming here to Village. One was to serve with the body and the second reason is to [0:37] be in the metropolitan Richmond area. For me, I grew up in a smaller town, about 20 something [0:43] thousand or less. It’s very centered around a rural area and so if you can imagine with [0:49] me a city that only a few years ago got a Chick-fil-A, that was a really big deal. For [0:54] us, we used to have to drive like 40 minutes just to get to a Chick-fil-A. People would

[0:58] still drive like 40 minutes to get to our Chick-fil-A. So like we’re in the middle of [1:02] nowhere almost. It’s not like, if you can imagine that with me, some of you are like, [1:05] hey, I understand. I was born, I was raised in an area like that where there’s only one [1:10] food place to eat at that everybody’s really excited about. So for me coming here and having [1:14] all the options, it was a big deal. For me to come here and say, hey, which Chick-fil-A [1:19] do I want to go to? There’s five of them within like 15 minutes. You know, that’s the conversation

[1:23] that me and Jake have my roommate about where we want to go to get food at. Which one do [1:26] we go to? Back at home, we’re like, hey, well, we only got one, so you’re going to go here. [1:30] Doesn’t matter if you dislike the people or like the people, you’re going to go here.

[1:35] But for me, this is why I like the cities, the areas around the cities, because there’s [1:40] a faster pace movement. Society kind of flows in just a different way than a small town [1:45] setting. I enjoyed growing up in a small town setting where everybody knew everybody, but [1:50] at some point that got old. Going to the store and you’re always seeing somebody, [1:54] you don’t get away from anybody. Here you might get lucky, you might not see somebody [1:57] you know. But for me, my perspective is that I like the fast paced movement of the city,

[2:06] knowing that, hey, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. There’s options, there’s [2:09] decisions for me to make. But for others, you might feel the total opposite of me. Your [2:16] home might be that long country road where you can just go four-wheeling all day. You [2:22] don’t even see your neighbors for like five minutes, five miles away. You go five minutes [2:25] to see your neighbor, you go five miles to see your neighbor. You’re like, man, I enjoy [2:29] that. That’s comfortable for me. This is the catch here though. Your perspective is shifted

[2:39] and shaped by the background, whether it’s diverse or not, how you erase all these things, [2:46] just the way that you see the city you live in. Whether you say that, hey, I think I [2:53] flourish here in this type of setting, or whether you despise the other setting, you’re [3:00] like, I would be miserable there. It’s based off of your perspective that gets you to [3:08] look at a different type of area in a different way. Let’s flesh this out for a second. My [3:16] point is this, is that our perspective of life is so enriched by the culture that we’re

[3:24] raised in, in the background, in our family’s perspective of life and culture that it shapes [3:33] the way that we just look at society. Point this, it’s hard to take a five-year generation [3:42] farmer and move him to urban Camden, New Jersey. A fifth-generation farmer, you take him and [3:50] you just move him to New Jersey, in the heart of the city, a very diverse area, they’re [3:56] probably not going to really enjoy it. They’re going to be like, hey, I don’t really flourish [3:59] here. I don’t like the way life is going. They’re going to struggle with that. The

[4:04] only way that you will see that type of change is they had a shift in their perspective that [4:12] got them to want to make a move like that. Let’s add to that. Some of y’all will be [4:19] able to understand this. Imagine if your child went to one of the top high schools in the [4:24] nation and you had to uproot them from that high school and move them into the worst [4:30] high school in the nation. You would have to have some type of change in perspective [4:38] to have joy, to be excited about that time, period in your life that you’re now moving

[4:44] your family into this unlikely situation or a circumstance that you don’t find that pleasurable. [4:51] You have to have some type of change in perspective. We’re going to see this in Philippians chapter [4:56] 1, verse 12 through 18 because Paul goes from being the missionary that’s taking the gospel [5:01] all throughout Europe and he’s flourishing and he’s enjoying it and people are loving [5:06] that Paul’s coming to their town to Paul being bound in chains. He went from a very [5:14] likely and enjoyable situation for most to see from the world’s perspective to a very

[5:22] unlikely situation of him being bound in chains. But what we see out of Paul in this text is [5:28] that Paul’s perspective doesn’t change. That Paul still finds joy despite the fact that [5:36] drastic change in his situation. Paul has hope because of the gospel and this is the [5:44] thing regardless of wherever we’re at in life we either have a healthy perspective [5:50] or an unhealthy perspective and that’s shaped solely on our view of the gospel and how [5:55] we see Jesus. And for Paul as he’s going through this big transition stage, Paul’s hope is

[6:04] solely found in Jesus. Paul in this moment as he’s bound, he’s clinging to Jesus for [6:12] everything. This leads us to the main point that we’re going to see this morning of this [6:20] text is that a Christ-centered perspective, this perspective that Paul had is what God [6:27] desires for his people. And we’re going to have to fight with this argument because our [6:34] natural lens and perspective is such a perspective that’s so centered and focused on ourselves [6:41] and not on Christ. Because the Philippians are going to Paul saying, hey Paul, are you

[6:47] doing okay? We really want to know. Are the chains too tight? Are they treating you all [6:53] right? Is the guard nice to you? These are the types of questions that we ask people [6:57] when they’re in unlikely situations. But Paul’s going to push through this and he’s going [7:04] to push them away from that. He says set your eyes on Jesus. Philippians chapter 1, verse [7:12] 12 through 18. It reads as this, I want you to know brothers that what has happened to [7:20] me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the

[7:26] whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of [7:33] the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold [7:38] to speak the gospel without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and robbery, but others [7:44] from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense [7:49] of the gospel. The former proclaimed Christ out of robbery and not sincerely, but thinking [7:55] to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense

[8:00] or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and that I rejoice. Let’s go to the Father in prayer. [8:08] Father we thank you. Just for this opportunity to be able to come together. Just have an [8:17] opportunity to be able to dive into your word, Lord. Father, I pray that our perspectives [8:23] are being molded by you and not by ourselves. Father, I pray if you need to wreck our perspectives [8:29] this morning, I pray that you do that. We thank you for this time. In Jesus’ name I [8:36] pray, amen. This leads us to the first way that we see that a Christ-centered perspective

[8:43] shapes the way a believer views mission. All circumstances are used to advance his mission. [8:51] So what we see in this text is that Paul comes up to them in this moment as he’s writing [8:55] to them and the Philippians really want to know, hey, what’s going on in your life? [9:01] But Paul’s like this, what I really want you to know, what I really want you to understand [9:06] is this. What has happened to me? My change, my situation, my circumstances is not about [9:16] me but is for the advancement of the gospel. And so what we see here of Paul, he’s saying,

[9:24] hey, I know you want to worry about me. I know you want to care for me. But in the [9:31] grand scheme of things, it’s not about me. It doesn’t really matter about how I’m doing. [9:40] But he’s saying, I really want to point you to who does matter and that his mission still [9:46] needs to go forward. And that’s what Paul’s doing in this moment. He’s saying, hey, I [9:52] know you really want to know my situation and my circumstances. But let me point you [9:57] to the one that is facilitating everything, that is orchestrating everything to work out

[10:03] for the good in my life. Let me point you to the Father. This is a good attempt. We [10:13] understand that, hey, the people want to know what’s going on but they didn’t really understand [10:19] why this had to happen. Why was it that their leader was the one that is being bound up? [10:25] This is similar to as if Nate, James, and Steve got put into jail. We would be writing [10:31] letters to them wanting to know, hey, are you doing okay? Because Paul was the one that [10:35] planted their church. This was their pastor. This was their church planner. It’s natural

[10:43] for us to want to know the intentions. But the way that Paul delineates all of the focus [10:50] away from him is by saying, let me show you the example about how the gospel really advanced [10:58] despite me being in jail because y’all thought it could only advance with me being outside.

[11:05] He goes on to say that the entire imperial guard heard the gospel. That through him [11:12] being bound to a prison guard, that through him sharing the gospel to the prison guard, [11:17] the gospel then had a ricochet effect throughout all of the guards in the Roman Empire at [11:24] that time. The gospel moved through Paul’s unlikely situation to have an impact for [11:33] the kingdom. That’s why Paul’s saying, hey, don’t you worry about me in my circumstance. [11:43] Let’s put this in practical terms for us real quick. When something tragic or devastating

[11:50] happens to us in our lives or to a friend, to a loved one, you immediately go to them [11:58] and say, how are you doing? Are you okay? How are you making it through this situation? [12:06] I couldn’t imagine being in your shoes. Y’all know these are the questions that are asked [12:11] of you or that you ask of others, which are all good questions. It says that you care [12:18] for the person, but how often do you ask the questions to a believer that has faith and [12:26] trust in Jesus? What is God teaching you through this situation? How is God going to use this

[12:33] situation for his glory? Has it created opportunities for you to share the gospel? See, this is [12:39] what a Christ-centered perspective does. A Christ-centered perspective changes the way [12:44] that you look at life. It changes the way that you see mission. It changes the way that [12:48] you see your neighbors. It changes the way that you’re going to interact with every other [12:52] person in this world. Because when your eyes are fixed on the Father, everything in your [13:01] life is for the advancement of the gospel. But this is what we have to understand. The

[13:09] only way for you to get to this type of perspective is for you to realize that it’s not about [13:16] you. Our problem with our perspective is that our perspective is so shaped around men and [13:23] man’s culture and American society is that we’re always wanting to push our own agenda [13:29] instead of pushing the agenda of the kingdom or seeking to glorify the Father. We’re constantly [13:38] worried about ourselves and how we feel or how people make us feel. Because these circumstances [13:46] are going to happen in our lives. Tough times are going to come. But we see God’s sovereignty

[13:53] despite that situation and how God’s faithful to his people despite or even through the [14:01] circumstance. This is where our practical theology and our practical life really collide. [14:12] A lot of times we hear people say, oh, God’s sovereign. God’s in control. God has my back [14:17] on this. We know that he’s going to work all these things out for his good. We say these [14:23] things. But once you suffer a death in your family, you kind of face to face with this [14:31] tragedy, with your theology. Are you going to walk in steps knowing that all these things

[14:39] are for Jesus’ mission and that God wants to use your life and your circumstance and [14:45] situation for his mission? Or are you going to go straight into the mentality of, God, [14:51] how could you do this to me? Paul could have easily been like, hey, I’ve been faithfully [14:57] serving you my entire life. I’ve been trying to push your mission forward. So why am I [15:02] the one bound by chains? And many of us, that’s our cry at times. When something bad happens [15:09] in our lives, God, how could you? But we don’t see that from Paul in this moment. Paul’s

[15:18] like, what I really want you to understand and know is that all things are for the advancement [15:24] of the mission of Jesus. And he will use all circumstances and situations. But we must [15:32] have this perspective that is rooted in God and knowing that Jesus is everything. And [15:42] Paul’s key point in this is that the world or his situation doesn’t define him, but [15:51] Jesus does. And for some of us, we’ve been struggling through different situations and [15:59] circumstances. This past year, you might have had one of the worst years of your life. Some

[16:05] of you are like, man, that’s been me. And the beauty of what Paul’s saying here is that, [16:12] look, your past situation, your current situation doesn’t define you, but Jesus does. And the

[16:25] reality is that we’re not going to be able to push Jesus forward. And that’s huge for [16:26] us because that’s the only way that we’re going to ever be able to push Jesus’ mission [16:31] forward. This leads us to the second way that we see that Jesus’ mission is pushed forward [16:37] through a Christ-centered perspective. And it’s because devotion to the gospel inspires [16:42] others to share the gospel. We see in this text that says, and most of the brothers having [16:48] become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without

[16:53] fear. Paul goes on to share about how his circumstance is used for God’s glory because [17:00] people saw the way that God worked in his life because of his faithfulness, and they [17:05] saw how contagious the mission was. It’s crazy because the men that saw Paul in this situation [17:14] or get to this point wanted to mimic Paul. Wait, let’s look at this because these guys [17:22] are in jail. I mean, Paul’s in jail, and these guys are saying, hey, I want to do [17:25] whatever it takes to get to jail for the sake of the gospel. They’re saying, hey, we see

[17:33] what happened in your life to get you there, but we’re willing to do this as well. That’s [17:43] my first reaction to saying, all right, Paul, I’m willing to go do it as well. Let me go [17:48] to jail with you. My natural reaction isn’t that, but these brothers were inspired by [17:55] the way that Paul was faithfully serving Jesus and how Paul was faithfully pointing everybody [18:01] to Jesus and not to himself, which propelled these other brothers to want to be bold about [18:10] the gospel and share it fearlessly. For some of us, we can think about influential Christian

[18:16] friends or leaders or pastors in our own lives, and when you see them interact, you’re like, [18:22] man, that’s encouraging. You say, I really want their devotion to the gospel. I want [18:29] to desire God in the way that they’re desiring God. It encourages you and inspires you. [18:36] We see the lives of guys like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who end up dying for the faith. He’s willing [18:42] to do whatever it took to push the mission forward for Jesus. We’re inspired by that. [18:48] We’re like, oh, man, that’s great. But we find ourselves on the other side. When people

[18:54] are willing to go as far as they can for the gospel, but we just look at them and say, [18:57] oh, that’s cute. That’s nice. I’m glad they’re willing to do that. I’m glad they’re willing [19:05] to give up for the gospel. I’ll just, I’ll just applaud them on that. How many, how [19:10] many times has that been us? Us just wanting to applaud them for their faithfulness? Let’s [19:14] look at a prime moment of this. This past year, if you have been watching the news, [19:19] you should be aware of this, is everything that’s going on with ISIS. We’ve seen dozens

[19:28] of Christian brothers and sisters die for the sake of the gospel. What was your response [19:36] to that? Was it, oh, man, they’re faithful, that they’re good, that they’re doing what [19:44] it takes. Or were you encouraged to want to go out and share the gospel because you want [19:52] to advance the mission in such a way that brought God glory? Some of the questions that [19:57] they were asked were, was that, hey, are you a believer? And they would answer yes. [20:02] Will you denounce Christianity and come to Islamic rule? No. So that, okay, we’ll kill

[20:08] you then. Do you want to be killed? No. We’re going to kill you anyways. That’s basically [20:13] like the three questions they ask them. It’s really simple. And we struggle with this [20:19] concept because in American society, we don’t struggle with this type of persecution. But [20:25] even though we don’t struggle with it here, we should be inspired by those situations [20:30] to want to advance the gospel even more because we have no bounds. We have nobody headhunting [20:35] us right now. So how are we responding to people’s faithfulness to the gospel? Are

[20:44] we walking in obedience trying to share the gospel more? Are we just content with where [20:49] our lives are at now? We see that Paul’s circumstance in this moment inspired others, and it’s [20:54] still inspiring us today. Let’s think about how far it took Paul to get to this point [21:02] to be willing to die for his faith. It wasn’t like he just woke up one morning and was [21:06] like, oh, I guess I’m going to die today for Jesus. But we see in this text right here [21:13] the moments of him taking the steps towards saying, okay, all right, the circumstance

[21:18] is really unlikely, but Lord, I’m just going to keep on following you and pursuing you [21:22] to the point that he gets to later on in chapter one in verse 19, where he says that [21:29] the famous quote that we always quote our scripture, to live is Christ and to die is [21:33] gain. There’s a reason why he gets to that point. It’s because his perspective is so [21:40] fixed on Jesus. They say, hey, it doesn’t matter whether it’s God’s will to be here [21:46] with the people to advance the mission or is it to be with God. It doesn’t matter.

[21:50] Because if I die, I’m with Christ. If I’m here, I’m serving Christ. So everything is [21:55] for the sake of Christ. Paul came to that point where he said, it doesn’t matter if [22:02] I live or die because to God be the glory with all of it. Paul realized I must give [22:12] it all for the sake of the gospel. Let’s read verse 19.

[22:43] The reason why Paul got to that point is because his focus was on the gospel. Now [22:49] he said, I don’t want to be ashamed of who Jesus is. I don’t want to be ashamed of [22:57] the mission that is before me. So if this is what honors God, I’ll do it. And the [23:07] people that inspire us in our faith are usually the people that are at that point [23:11] or trying to get to that point. Father, whatever it takes, I’ll do it for your [23:20] mission. Whether it’s going to be tough, whether I’m going to have to have tough

[23:26] conversations, whether you’re just clinging to Jesus, barely hanging on, but [23:36] you know you’re clinging to Jesus. Paul said, hey, it’s worthwhile for me to die

[23:44] or to be here for the mission of Jesus. And all this matters because if we don’t [23:50] have the proper perspective, we won’t come to a point where we’re willing to [23:56] give up whatever it takes for the sake of the gospel. You’ll just solely be [24:01] focused on yourself and what ourself gets us is hell. Ourself is naturally going [24:09] to choose sin. It’s not going to choose Jesus. So if you keep on choosing [24:15] yourself, you’re not choosing God’s mission. You’re not pleasing God. But Paul

[24:22] is saying, I’m not going to choose myself. I’m not going to choose how I feel or [24:28] how the world thinks I should feel. But I’m choosing Jesus. And we’ve all been

[24:39] inspired by other believers, by their faithfulness to the gospel. And for me, [24:44] with Paul saying that, that inspires me. Because I hope if I was encountering [24:52] ISIS that I was willing to do the same as those other Christian brothers and [24:55] sisters. I hope that would just say, yeah, you might as well take me out right [25:01] here right now because I’m going down for Jesus’s name. This leads us to the [25:08] third way that we see that Christ’s inner perspective affects our view of

[25:13] mission. Proclaiming the gospel is the chief concern for all believers. Some [25:19] indeed preach Christ from envy and robbery, but others from goodwill. The

[25:29] former proclaims Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to [25:34] afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in [25:38] pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. Paul [25:43] realizes that his imprisonment hasn’t just brought everybody happiness. Paul [25:49] realizes that for some, it really truly did bring them happiness because these [25:53] people that were envious of Paul, that had built up this rivalry with Paul was

[25:57] like, hey, we’re going to take advantage of this moment. Paul realized that he [26:01] had some haters. Paul realized that people didn’t like him and that they were [26:08] going to use this opportunity to use their own motives to advance the mission [26:13] or to get their purpose across. And we see Paul come to this moment where he [26:20] says, it doesn’t matter if they like me or not. The only thing that I care about [26:27] is that Christ is proclaimed. They might dislike me for the way that I handle

[26:33] things. Some commentators say that because Paul wasn’t swift with his words [26:39] when he was communicating. They said they might not like me because of that, but [26:43] it doesn’t matter because the gospel is still going forward. He’s saying that’s [26:48] why I can rejoice imprisoned. Literally as he’s bound to Christ and as well [26:54] bound to the Roman guard, he’s bound both ways. But what he’s saying is this. I can [27:01] rejoice and have hope because Jesus’ name is still being made famous. That the

[27:20] gospel is still going forward. And Paul is saying that he’s going to be [27:25] [27:25] Paul is saying that he’s going to be able to do that. And Paul is saying that he’s [27:28] going to be able to do that. And Paul is saying that he’s going to be able to do [27:30] that. And Paul is saying that he’s going to be able to do that. And Paul is saying [27:43] you’re putting up, let’s say me, 140 pounds, maybe. You’ve convention 140 pounds.

[27:51] You look over to your left and you’re like, he’s doing 160? I can do 160. And so [27:56] you go and you just kind of put some more weight on there. I’m totally comparing [28:00] myself to him in that moment. Hey, I’m good. I’m just as good as you. I can put up [28:04] that weight, so keep on going. That’s comparison. But that comparison is what [28:10] leads to envy because it’s either me saying I want to be as big as him or at least [28:16] a robbery because I’m saying, hey, I want to compete with you in that. Now, ladies,

[28:21] I’m not going to leave you off the hook. Social media. Prime example of this. You [28:28] start scrolling down your timeline. Look at their family. Their kids are bad. My [28:35] kids are saints. Looking through that. Man, they don’t even take good pictures. Let [28:39] me get a selfie real quick. All right. Put that online. That looks good. You’re [28:42] constantly just comparing yourself to other families and just looking down at [28:49] your life and you’re saying, okay, I’m better than them. I’m worse than them.

[28:56] Everybody compares themselves to other people. You’re lying to yourself if you

[29:02] don’t. It even happens when you walk to the grocery store. Like I’ve seen like [29:06] huge size up another guy as they walk by them like, oh, yeah, I can take him. I [29:12] know some people, they literally walk into a room and they look and say, hey, who [29:14] can I take in this room? Like that’s the point that our comparison has got to in [29:20] society that we’re constantly trying to compare ourselves to other people. But [29:24] this is the point. Is that the way that we live shows the way that we seek to

[29:31] advance the gospel. And your intentions of your heart and those moments aren’t [29:35] seeking to advance the gospel. Those are your pure motives, your own motives to [29:40] become better, to do better. But what Paul is saying is that even those people try to [29:45] compare themselves to me and that they don’t like me, what matters is that [29:51] Jesus’s mission goes forward. That’s what really matters. So are we scrolling down [29:57] Facebook saying, hey, I’m trying to make an impact in the people’s lives. Are we

[30:00] using it for the sake of the gospel or the sake of our own self-image? To try to [30:07] display to everybody else a fake you. That they know that you have it all [30:12] together but you really don’t. That’s why people use social media sometimes. It’s [30:19] all for the purpose of displaying to the world how good you are. But it as well [30:26] can be used for the sake of the gospel to advance the mission of Jesus. Paul [30:33] looked past the envy and robbery, the ones who compare, because it says what matters

[30:40] the most is the gospel. And as Paul is making this argument about why the mission [30:51] needs to advance, he’s saying if you have your mind set on yourself, you’ll [30:58] never seek for the mission to advance. If you’re wondering why, you sit here on [31:05] Sunday and you’re like, you live the rest of your life throughout the week and you [31:09] don’t seek to advance the mission, it’s because your perspective is not set on [31:13] Jesus, it’s set on yourself. If you walk outside of your house and you don’t even

[31:20] want to talk to your neighbors, that means you’re selfish and you don’t want to [31:23] push Jesus’ mission forward. That doesn’t do that. If you just hate seeing people [31:29] and engaging with them in public, that means that your perspective is not set on [31:34] Jesus, it’s set on yourself. The list goes on and on and on, but I hope that we see [31:41] that a perspective that’s focused on Christ changes everything. It shapes and [31:48] defines who you are. That’s what Paul’s getting to because he’s saying, hey,

[31:54] that’s the only reason why I can get to the point later on in verse 21 to live as [32:00] Christ, to die is gain. Because his perspective is fixed on Jesus. So we must [32:10] realize the effects of Jesus dying on the cross force and how that propels us to [32:17] go forward as a church and as a body. Over the course of your life, you’re going [32:24] to go through different trials and situations. If you haven’t had a big one [32:30] yet, it’s around the corner, it’s guaranteed. Everybody in life is going to

[32:37] have tragic things happen to them or the people around them. But it’s how you [32:47] can get to the point where you’re going to be hurt and the pain. Six months ago, [32:51] within a 24-hour period, my sister and grandfather both passed away. And so [32:57] during that time period, everybody’s coming up to me and like, how are you [33:03] doing? Asking the questions we kind of went through earlier. Are you dealing with [33:07] this? You should probably be in a corner somewhere. But I had the opportunity to

[33:13] get them and say, my hopes in Jesus. Jesus’ mission still goes forward. And that [33:22] God uses circumstances and situations for his glory. I had the opportunity to [33:31] proclaim the gospel at both funerals. And through that, many friends, family [33:38] members came up to afterwards and sent messages to me that we were able to have [33:44] conversations about Jesus. See, a really bad situation that hurts, that’s rooted [33:55] in evil because death is rooted in evil. God used for his glory. To the point

[34:07] where I look forward one day to be able to explain to my niece that God used her [34:15] mother’s death for her, for his glory. That’s the point we have to get to with [34:25] trusting one in God’s sovereignty and fixing our eyes on Jesus. That even [34:32] through the tough situations that we’re saying, man, Jesus is still good. I might [34:39] not understand. I know that I’m broken, but he’s the only one that can make me [34:43] whole. Knowing that despite being bound to something that you don’t really want

[34:50] to be bound to, God still is going to work in your life and create opportunities [34:56] for his mission to go forward. What’s your perspective on life? Is your [35:07] perspective to push Jesus’s mission forward? Or is your perspective just to [35:14] make it in life? Are you willing to get to the point where Paul gets to in verse 21 [35:22] to live as Christ, to die as gain? Or do you just want to be asked all the questions [35:29] about yourself and just be comforted in that? It’s really easy to gather here

[35:37] together and say that our perspectives focus on Jesus when we’re together as a [35:42] corporate body. But how is it for you the rest of the week? So as James and the [35:50] band comes back up, I want us to prayerfully look at our hearts. Why is [36:01] your perspective the way that it is? Whether it’s been the way you’ve been [36:07] raised culturally, the town that you’re in, why is your perspective either focused [36:17] on yourself in such a way and why isn’t it focused on Jesus? When you are

[36:24] following Jesus, he changes everything. Your perspective is shaped in such a way [36:34] that you can’t even fathom some of the things you used to fathom and want and [36:48] but if your perspective isn’t about Jesus, then you’re not following Jesus [36:56] if it’s about yourself. So as we come to the table today to take communion, I pray [37:07] that we just realize that Jesus’ body, which was broken for us, and his blood [37:13] that was poured out, was with the purpose that we could have a perspective that

[37:21] set on him. Because without Jesus, we won’t have that perspective. We’re in [37:30] desperate need of Jesus. Come to the table this morning desperate for Jesus [37:38] to change your perspective of life so that you can say God be the glory [37:45] through every situation.