The Right Focus Pt 1

It's good to see you all. I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel and invite you to stand with us and we'll pray. We'll get started. Father, we thank you for the day. Lord God, we just thank you for another opportunity to sit and worship you, Lord God, and lift praise to you and spend some time in your word. Father, we thank you that we live in a country that we can do that freely, Lord God, and right now I know that there's people all over the world, Lord, that can't even mention your name.

Lord, right now your children Israel is under attack, Lord, so we ask your protection upon them, Lord God, and that your truth would go out and that their eyes would be revealed, or that their eyes would be opened to the truth of your son Jesus. Lord, we ask you for another opportunity to sit and worship you, Lord God, and lift praise to you and spend some time in your word. Lord, we ask your blessing upon this time. Help us to lift a joyful noise to you, God, and prepare our hearts to receive the word that you prepared for us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Praise God. Guys, you know, one of these days, there's going to come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Amen? Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat.

All I see is the battle. You see my victory.

All I see is the mouth. Well, God, we just thank you for the day, God. And we know that the battle belongs to you. And in you, there is victory. Amen.

Well, God, we welcome you here this morning. God, let your Holy Spirit come and do its mighty work in our hearts this morning, Lord God. Lord, we need you. We need just a touch from you, Lord God. Come and speak to us this morning, God. Let your Holy Spirit do its mighty work.

Lord God, again, we just invite you to come this morning, Lord. We invite your presence. It's in this place this morning, God.

Lord God, we just ask your presence to come and just overflow us, Lord God.

Sing that chorus with me one more time.

Just go ahead and stand with us for this last song.

Lord God, we know that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever, Lord. You are unchanging. You are always faithful, Lord.

God, you are always faithful. Even when we're not, Lord God.

Forgive us for our unbelief. Forgive us for not trusting in you, Lord God. God, you took care of your children, Israel, and you're going to take care of them today, Lord. And just like you took care of them, you're going to take care of us, Lord God. And just help us to trust you, Lord God. I sought the Lord, and he answered. I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered.

I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. That's what I want. why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the answer. I sought the Lord's answer. I sought the Lord's answer. That's why I sought the Lord's answer. Lord God, we just praise you this morning, God, for you are the one who will never, ever fail. God, your word is true. Lord God, we can

stand upon your word. Lord God, every other promise out there, Lord God, may fail, but you will never fail, Lord God. Your word will never fail. Help us to trust in you, Lord God. Forgive us for our unbelief. Forgive me, Lord God, for my unbelief. Help us to trust in you, Lord God. We know that you are coming and you're coming soon. Lord, this morning, let's pray that

as Pastor Ryan comes, that your Holy Spirit would just overflow him, Lord God. Give him the words to speak and give us ears to hear. We love you, Lord God, and we praise you and we thank you. And of all of God's people said, amen. Let's have some fellowship process of locating your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined

us this morning. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, as always, are the things that go on throughout the week. So please take note of those. Get involved in the middle section, a handful of things to take note of next Saturday. There will be a couple of things going on. First of all, a Sunday school teacher meeting from 9.30 to noon. If you have questions about that or you

would like to get involved in Sunday school, you can speak with Sandra Davis. Men's breakfast is this coming Saturday at 8 o'clock in the Agape room. So fellas, come join us for that. As far as I know, there's still two spots open for the Guatemala missions trip. So if you're interested in that, please see Ross and Jana Lumbert. And then also, if you signed up to help out with the

mowing ministry, those schedules are now out in the lobby by where you got your bulletin. So take note of those. And as far as I know and can remember, those are the things that are going on. So if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 14. Psalm 14. Looking at the new American standards so we

be one in the row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 14, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 14 for the choir director, a Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have committed abominable deeds.

There is no one who does good. From heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are anyone who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one. Do all the workers of wickedness not know who eat up my bread people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord. There they are in great dread for God is with the righteous

generation. You would put to shame the countenance of the righteous generation. You would put to shame the countenance of the righteous generation. You would put to shame the countenance of the afflicted. But the Lord is his refuge. And read verse seven with me. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion when the Lord restores his captive people. Jacob will rejoice.

Israel will be glad. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you this morning and Lord, we do thank you that the salvation of Israel and for all comes out of Zion. And Lord, this morning we want to lift up a couple of things. We want to lift up a couple of things. We want to lift up a couple of very heavy things that are going on. First of all, in our own community, Lord, I want

to pray for our family over at First Baptist Church, Lord, that have suffered a difficult loss this weekend. And Father, I want to pray that you would be with Dave and that entire body over there, that you would bring the comfort that only you can bring to them this morning as they gather to worship together. And Father, we want to lift up the nation of Israel. And Father, I just pray that you would protect them. Father, that you would give grace and wisdom to their leadership to know

in what ways to respond to these attacks that have taken place. Lord, for their continued protection and preservation and the peace of Jerusalem. Lord, bless those who helped in their defense yesterday and last night. And Father, I pray that you would be with our government here in the United States, that we would make wise decisions and not stupid decisions. Lord, because your word tells us that

you will bless those who bless the nation of Israel. And so Lord, move as you see fit in the nation of Israel, we pray. And Father, move as you see fit in the nation of Israel, we pray. And Father, move as you see fit to this body this morning through your word in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter three, Philippians

chapter three. Man, it feels like a lot has happened in a week. Had a great time last weekend at Young Christians Weekend over in Branson, Missouri with the kids. Well, for the kids, it was Young Christians Weekend. For the sponsors, it was just Christians Weekend because there was nothing young about any of us. So, but we did have a great time with them and God did some really good things over there. And of course, we've had things happen kind of

within the community over this past week, but also what took place yesterday with the nation of Israel. If you don't know, you've probably been living under a rock, but I'll explain it to you anyway. Yesterday, an unprecedented number of missiles and drones were launched from Iran and some of Iran's proxies. And to my understanding, there was maybe only one casualty that took place. There was very few casualties that took

place. They were able to shoot down almost all of those missiles and drones that were launched, but it was just an incredible number of, or an incredibly large attack from Iran that took place. And so now they're going to have to decide how they will respond in kind. Right now, the headline that I read this morning is that President Biden has told the nation of Israel to limit their response.

Uh, which seems like a pretty unwise move on our part, uh, because we wouldn't do that. Um, but that's what he's told them. So we don't know what's going to happen next. And I'm not one of these guys that stands up here and says, you know, I've been hearing from the chatter that's taking place in Iran that this is probably what's, I have no idea what's going to happen next, but God does. And he's

in control. And if, and if there's anything that moments like yesterday and the things that have been taking place should do in our hearts is it should not create fear. It should instead create focus, a greater focus. So we need to focus on the one who does hold all of these events in his hand and that's Jesus Christ. And that's actually exactly what we're going to talk about this morning. We've been going through

the book of Philippians and we said that each chapter in the book of Philippians presented to us joy, how we can live a joyful life because joy is the theme of the book of Philippians in chapter one. We said that joy comes from having the right perspective in chapter two. We said that joy comes from having the right attitude. And now that we come to chapter three, We find that joy comes from having the right focus.

And so this morning, we're looking at that aspect of things. And if we were to take all of chapter three, we could divide it in half. And the first half that we'll look at today is that we are to have the right focus on knowing Christ, the right focus on knowing Christ. And so we start in chapter three, verse one. I'd like to read the first 11 verses to you.

And this is what it says. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. Beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. For we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh,

if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness, which is in the law, found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss.

In view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of truth, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship. Of his sufferings, be conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. The right focus on knowing Christ. Now, as we look at these first 11 verses, it's going to break down for us three ways.

He's going to tell us to rejoice and beware. He's going to tell us to put no confidence in the flesh, and he is going to talk to us about the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. And so we start off with the first rejoice and beware. Verse one. It starts off with the word finally. Now, there's lots of great jokes that can be made about this, because Paul says finally, and like a good preacher,

he still has half of his message left, right? But that's really not the idea of the word finally. The word finally actually carries with it the idea of as to the rest of what I have to say to you, it's really a transition point into what else he has to say to the people of Philippi. So it's not him being a really good preacher and saying finally, even though he has like seven points left to go.

It really is just, hey, you need to pay attention to the things that I'm going to tell you next. He says, rejoice in the Lord. I want you to take note of the fact that in our English Bible, verse three, the very verse one of chapter three, the very first line is just one sentence. Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. And I think that that's a great standalone sentence,

because I think it's something for us to pay attention to, because Paul, of course, as we remember, is writing this from a Roman prison. He is writing. He is writing this book to us while he is chained to a Roman guard. And the thing that he says is rejoice in the Lord. And I think that this is awesome because I think no matter what the circumstances are in life,

we need to remember that the most important thing that we can do is rejoice in the Lord to find our joy in the Lord, to celebrate who God is in spite of the circumstances that we have going on. And quite frankly, I was just thinking about this this morning because I was sharing some of the things that have taken place. Not only in our community and our state with some of the people that I know just this past week, and there's been really heavy things that have gone on. There's been really heavy things in the lives of people that have happened.

And sometimes when all of these circumstances are taking place, we get our lives completely focused on that. And we forget that the most important thing that we can do is just rejoice in the Lord, because circumstances may be bad, but God is still good. Circumstances may be heavy, but God has not changed. He is still the same God. And no matter what, no matter what's going on in the world around us,

we can continue to rejoice in the Lord. And so Paul says, finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. As a matter of fact, for me to write these things to you again is no trouble to me. And it's a safeguard for you. He's about to begin to address a subject that Paul often addresses in his letters. And that subject is legalism. People that want to turn their relationship with God into a legal relationship instead of a grace relationship.

And so he says, I want to revisit, a theme that I've gone to before. It's not a bother for me to write the same things to you. And quite frankly, it's a safeguard for you. It's a safeguard for us because of our tendency to slip into legalism. And so he tells them what to be aware of, what to be aware of. He says, beware of dogs and beware of evil workers and beware of the false circumcision.

He says to beware of dogs. Now he doesn't mean actual dogs themselves. Although, can I tell you a quick story that happened in my life over the weekend? I, I almost had a heart attack on Saturday. So I went for a run and as I'm running, I, I have these headphones now that are not noise canceling headphones. Uh, they actually allow me to hear the things that are going on around me because I get kind of focused when I run and I don't notice things.

And I've told you before about how small dogs have scared me because my head, this was not a small dog. Okay, so, so I'm running and I know this neighborhood really well. It's my typical running route and I usually know where the dogs are and they're usually on some sort of a leash. Okay. And I don't need to where they can't get to me and, and I try not to go,

but I know that that dog can't get to me. Right? And so I'm running by one of the houses where I know a dog can't get to me. So out of the corner of my eye, I see the dog and I can hear the dog bark because the headphones that I have allow outside noise to come in, which is a really healthy thing for a runner to have. And so I think that the dog is on the chain and all of a sudden this dog is not on the chain.

It is running, right? And this is not a small dog. This dog came to hear on me. I mean, this is a, this is a big dog. It head butted me while I was running. And so I'm not really totally focused because I think it's on a lead. And all of a sudden this dog head butts me and I look down and I go, Oh, that's exactly. I mean, I don't react well in those situations anyway.

And I think I yelled no or something like that. I'm like, everybody in the neighborhood probably thought surely he's being attacked by a mugger and we should absolutely do something to save his life. Nobody came to my rescue. Don't worry. But the dog did run away. I think I actually terrified the dog more than it, terrified me at the great, the bald guy absolutely just wigged me out by screaming as loud as he possibly could.

That's not the kind of dogs he's talking about. The kind of dogs that he's talking about are the impure legalistic workers. You know, what's fascinating is that Jewish people often call Gentiles dogs. And now Paul is referring to Jewish legalists as dogs. Why? Because these were the ones who were putting works on the people who had experienced the grace of God.

He says, beware of dogs. He says, beware of evil workers. In other words, those who would put works above grace and beware of the mutilation. It's an interesting term that Paul uses because it has to do with the idea of circumcision. Only instead of it being circumcision is a sign of the covenant. He refers to it as circumcision as a sign of simply mutilation.

All of these terms were for legalistic teachers. All of these terms were used to beware of those who would put you under a system, a system of works. There was a time in my life and in my ministry where I thought it's silly that we talk about this so much. But the longer that I've gone in ministry and the more I see people slip back into a system of works, the more I realized Paul knew exactly what he was doing as he was guided by the Holy Spirit to continue to write that we have to be aware of a system of works.

Because here's the thing about a system of works, especially when it comes to something that cloaks itself in Christianity, is that they never take away Jesus. They never take away the gospel. They add to it. That's what legalism does, is it adds to the gospel. It adds to Jesus. They believe in Jesus, but they add the works. I've been looking at some of these different things because people have been sending me some questions about them

because between Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, there's a lot of that movement right now. And you know what's fascinating is when you start looking at those, you go, they are so much like Christianity. They are so much like what the Bible has to say. They are so much like what the Bible has to say because they absolutely believe in Jesus and they absolutely believe in grace.

But the fascinating thing is you can't have grace until you've earned it because you have to do works to reach a certain pinnacle to where you can receive the grace of God. My friends, that's not grace. That's works. They absolutely believe in the work of Jesus. But in order for the work of Jesus to be appropriated into your life, you have to work for that.

I'm just going to call it out like it is. The Catholic Church is. It's the exact same way. They believe in Jesus, but they believe in a Jesus that has to be attained through works. And so Paul says, beware of these things. And he tells us to beware because it is so natural in our human thinking to be legalistic because we think if a little bit's good, a lot's better.

And I want to make sure I make my list and keep all of my list so that I can prove to everybody in the world, including myself, just how righteous I am. Meanwhile, God's going, why? I did it all for you. You don't need to keep up with your list. You don't have to do something to try to earn my grace. I've given it to you. And so he says, beware of this. And in a world where I'm seeing more and more people slip back into legalistic things,

I would tell us there's a body here at Calvary Chapel of Arc City. Beware of the dogs and beware of evil workers and beware of the mutilation. He says, beware of these things. He says, he goes on to say, for we are the true circumcision. Now, the second thing he's going to tell us is to put no confidence in the flesh. And that's what starts in verse three. He says, for we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God,

in glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. He says, as the church of Jesus Christ, who have achieved righteousness by faith through grace, we are the true circumcision because we understand that it's not an outward mark. It's an inward change. It's not an outward sign. It's an inward renewal. He says, we're the true circumcision. And there's three things that identify us as being the true circumcision.

Number one is that we worship God in spirit. There's that we worship God in spirit. So many times we tie worship to a location, don't we? We think I need to go to church so that I can worship. Listen, you don't come to church because this is the only place where God is. You come to church because this is where the family of Christ is. That's why we gather together as the body.

Not because this is the only place that God can be worshiped. I see people say this sometimes. They're like, I can worship God on a mountain. Yes, absolutely. I actually have experienced some beautiful times of worship on top of a mountain, literally. And I just praised God for his creation. It was all around me. I can praise God while I'm out fishing. Me too.

I do it all the time. Sometimes I praise God. Sometimes I praise God because the fish are coming in. Sometimes I praise God that he's still good because I can't catch anything. I can praise God in all of those places. But what I can't do in all of those places is fellowship with the body of Christ. I can't gather together with the body, right? That's why we don't forsake the assembling together of the brethren.

But God is not tied to a location. God is not tied to anything. We can worship him simply in our spirit wherever we are. Because worship is not just an outward act. Worship is an inward reality. And that I live my life. In worship to God. That's why worship is every aspect of our lives. And so as a true circumcision, first of all, we worship God in spirit. Second of all, we glory in Christ.

We glory in Christ Jesus. And again, this is the big difference between a system of works and the system of grace. Is in the system of works, we glory in what I've done. And I don't care who you are. I don't care how much you say you love Jesus. If you are glorying in your works, you're glorying in what you've done. Because you have done it. You have earned it.

At least that's what you think. But as believers in Jesus Christ who have arrived at a place of righteousness through faith. We glory in what he has done. And all of our glory, all of our pride, all of our everything is wrapped up in Jesus Christ. And we say, all of my glory is in him. Because I know that all I had to bring to him was a bunch of filthy rags.

A bunch of menstrual cloths. That's all I had to bring to Jesus. And what he gave me in exchange. In exchange was all of his righteousness. And so we glory in Christ Jesus. And then third, we put no confidence in the flesh. What does he mean by that? Well, first of all, it means we put no confidence in what we have or who we are. It means we put no confidence in what we have or who we are.

And I have a question for you today. What's your confidence in? Because sometimes our confidence as Western culture Christians is that we're Americans, right? All of my confidence is that I'm an American. And gosh darn. That's where my confidence is. And I want to make America great again. Sometimes as Western culture Christians, our confidence is that we attend a church.

I go to a Calvary Chapel. I go to a church that teaches the Bible. That's great. But is the Bible teaching you? It's great that you go to a church that teaches the Bible. But your confidence should not be in the fact that you go to a church that teaches the Bible. Your confidence should be in the Jesus that that Bible reveals. Sometimes our confidence is in what we have and who we are.

And that's not what it's supposed to be. Second of all, it means that our confidence is not to be in our human worthiness or achievement. Our human worthiness or achievement. I think it's a wonderful thing that we've endeavored to read through the Bible this year. It was my idea. I feel like the Lord gave that to me. But your confidence can't be in the fact that you're keeping up with your Bible reading program.

Because you can make it two or three weeks and never read your Bible and who you are in Christ will never change. You won't be as close to him as you want to be. But who you are in Christ will not change. Because your confidence is not in the flesh. It's not in your achievements or in your worthiness. He says we put no confidence in the flesh. We are the true circumcision who put no confidence in the flesh.

And then Paul goes on to say, as a matter of fact, if anybody could put confidence in the flesh, it'd be me. If anyone else, verse four, has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Now, Paul is going to do what appears to be boasting. But we know from every other writing of Paul, he does so foolishly. Because it's all he knows how to do. He said, listen, if anybody has a reason to put confidence in the flesh, it's me.

And he goes through a list of several things. He says, I was circumcised the eighth day. I was of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. And as to the righteousness, which is in the law, found blameless. Now, if you know very much about the Old Testament, if you know very much about the Old Covenant,

Paul just gave to us a fantastic set of credentials as far as his Hebrew roots were concerned. Circumcised the eighth day. That's exactly when young Jewish boys, especially the firstborn males, were supposed to be taken to the temple to be circumcised. Jesus was that, right? It was what the law commanded to be done. And it meant that he had good Jewish parents.

It raised him in a Jewish way. So he had the outward sign of the covenant. He was of the nation of Israel, which meant in most Jewish eyes, he sat above everybody else because he was a part of the nation of Israel. He wasn't brought in as being grafted in. He was actually born into the nation of Israel and could prove his Jewish credentials. As a matter of fact, he could prove his Jewish credentials to the point where he was of the tribe of Benjamin.

Benjamin was a tribe that held a great deal of power. Benjamin was a tribe that held a great deal of power. Benjamin was a tribe that held a great deal of power. He was a tribe that held a great deal of pride because after all, where did the first king of Israel come out of? The tribe of Benjamin. Who was his namesake? Saul, right? He was of the tribe of Benjamin.

He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. In other words, he was a man among men as far as the Jewish people were concerned. As to the law, he was a Pharisee. And anybody that knew the Jewish people knew that if you were a Pharisee, you had achieved as far as the law was concerned. Because you had to be able to do a certain amount of things in order to be considered a Pharisee.

You had to know so much to be considered a Pharisee. He says, as a matter of fact, as to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. I was so zealous for the law that I persecuted anything that may have stood against the law. And as to the righteousness which is found in the law, which is outward in nature, I was blameless. I could sum it all up by saying this.

Anybody that looked at Paul could say he was as close to perfect as you get. Paul said, if anybody could put confidence in the flesh, it would be me. But he didn't. He chose not to put confidence in the flesh. I want you to notice what it says. Because now we move into the last thing, which is the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. He says, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

I want you to think about what Paul just said there. He had earned an incredible number of things. As far as the world was concerned, he had earned an incredible number of things. As far as the Jewish people were concerned, as far as he was concerned. But he said, all of these things I have counted as loss. All of these gains, plural word, I have counted as loss, singular word.

If you will, he figured up his profits and loss. And all of his profits were put into this one category. And he goes, but you know what? I actually put them all into the loss category because I was willing to give them all up. If anybody could put confidence in the flesh, it's me. But I took all of that confidence and I counted it as loss. Again, I want to ask you a question.

Where is your confidence this morning? Is your confidence in the church that you go to? Is your confidence in how good of a person that you are? Is your confidence in the fact that you are reading the Bible every day? Is your confidence in all of these other things? Because I'm here to tell you right now. Whatever your confidence is in, you'd better count it as loss for the sake of Christ.

Because knowing Christ is the most important thing in the world. Knowing Christ is the greatest focus that we can have. He says, all of these things that were gained to me, I have now counted as loss. Now, I want you to notice something. He says this in the past tense. I believe that what he's speaking of here in verse 7 is his salvation. The day that he was riding to Damascus on that donkey,

the day that he got naked, knocked off that donkey, the day that he was blinded by the light, the day that he was brought into Damascus, the day that he was prayed for and those scales came from his eyes. He says, what have I been doing? Everything else in my life is loss except for this one thing. And that's Christ. He says, I counted it all as loss. But I want you to notice next what he says in verse 8.

More than that, I count all things to be loss. In view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. He says, more than that, I now count all things as loss. Present tense. Past tense is used in verse 7. Present tense is used in verse 8. That tells us that after all the time that Paul has been walking with Jesus,

after all of the time that he has spent serving the Lord, as he sits there in a Roman prison, he says, and as a matter of fact, I count all things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ, for the surpassing greatness or the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. He says, I continue to count all things as loss. In other words, there's nothing in this life that moves him. Nothing.

There's nothing in this life that claims him. There's nothing in this life that is more important to him than knowing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Matter of fact, he refers to it as the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. That word surpassing means that which far surpasses all others. That which far surpasses all others. And what far surpasses all others?

Knowing Christ. Knowing Christ. The experiential knowledge of Jesus. I think this is one of the most beautiful statements in all of Scripture of the importance of the focus of knowing Christ as our Lord. That's what you and I were created for. It's what you and I were created to do. We were created to know God. And in the process of life, a lot of other things get in the way.

Would you agree with that? A lot of other things begin to take precedence in our lives. Twice this week, I've had the chance to talk to groups, groups of kids, and what the Lord laid on my heart was the story of Peter. Remember the story of Peter when he tried to walk on the water? Jesus had sent his disciples to go across the Sea of Galilee after the feeding of the 5,000.

And as Jesus sent his disciples to go across the Sea of Galilee, he went up into the mountain to pray. And as he went up into the mountain to pray, a great storm arose while the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee. It says that the winds were contrary to them. The winds were against them. And the boat ended up out in the middle of the water. And they were shocked.

They were stuck out there because the winds were so great and contrary to them, to the point where the disciples thought they were going to die. It says, And as Jesus came walking to them on the water, they got scared. The only plausible explanation is that it had to have been a ghost that was coming to them. And so as this supposed ghost was coming to them, Jesus says, No, no, no, no.

Don't fear. It's me. It's Jesus. And Peter, in the way that only Peter can, looked at Jesus and said, If it's you, then call me to come out to you on the water. And so Jesus said, Well, come on. So Peter gets out of the boat, slowly but surely, perhaps tepidly, gets out of the water, begins to walk, maybe gingerly on this water, the whole time he's got his eyes on Jesus.

And as he's got his eyes on Jesus, he is doing the absolute most impossible thing ever. He is walking on the water. But then we're told something happens to Peter at that point in time. He looks around at the wind and the waves. And as he looked at the wind and the waves around him, he began to sink. And as he began to sink, he looked up and cried out, Jesus, help.

Of course, the Lord pulled him out of the water. He carried him to the boat. The fascinating thing is the thing that kept Peter from being able to walk on the water was not the fact that there were wind and waves. The thing that kept Peter from being able to walk on the water was that he took his eyes off of Jesus. And I equated it like this to the kids. I said, kids, the wind and the waves around us are not exactly always just wind and waves.

They're all the things of the world that want to keep us from being focused on Jesus. The things of this world are constantly fighting for our attention. The things of this world are constantly fighting for what would be our heart's desire. And they tell us that's the most important thing in the world. Have you ever noticed every email that you get for a sale or something says,

this is the greatest sale. Ever. Maybe the last one ever. Have you ever noticed that? And you're like, well, I've got to act now. Right. And it usually even includes that in the email. Act now. Right. Because that's what the world tells us. The world tells us everything is urgent. Everything is urgent all around you right now. Everything's going to fall apart if you don't do this.

This is the most important thing to have your attention. Right. I don't like driving in big cities anymore. Not because traffic bothers me all that much. I still am not overly moved by traffic. It irritates me more than it used to. But it doesn't necessarily stress me out. But you know what gets me in big cities? Flashing signs. Right. Have you ever noticed that?

And the signs change all the time. They're digital now. And the signs always changing. I'm like, oh, oh, oh, that's fun. Well, that's road colorful. Right. And because I'm easily distractible. And that's what Paul says. He says, more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing greatness and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Because right now, everything is crying for your attention.

Everything is saying it's the most important thing. Your job says it's the most important thing in the world. Your mortgage payment says it's the most important thing in the world. The temptations of the world tell you they're the most important thing in the world. Money tells you it's the most important thing in the world. Your fame or your status or your reputation tells you it's the most important thing in the world.

And Jesus is saying, those things aren't all that important. I'm what's most important. And Paul had learned the secret in his life. And the secret is, I'm what's most important. it was that he needed to count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. In other words, take it all away. You can have it all. You can take away

everything from me as long as I still have that one thing. There's a great old movie. I can't, I can't all in all good conscience recommend you go watch it, but it's pretty funny. It's called City Slickers. Do you guys ever watch that movie City Slickers? Lots of bad language and I'm sorry if you go watch it, but there's always one scene in there that gets me, right?

I think it's, is his name Curly? Whatever the old crotchety guy's name was. He says, just remember there's one thing. I don't even remember what he said the one thing was, but I remember as I've gotten older and watched that movie, I thought he missed it. The one thing, the one thing at the end of life, that's the most important thing in the world is knowing Jesus because everything else is

going to pass away. And right now, nobody believes that. Nobody believes that it's all going to go away. Nobody believes that this whole thing is going to disappear. And so many of us put our hope in so many different things. You know, young people are putting their hope in trying to find that special someone that they're going to spend their life with. Listen, I can't tell you how

happy I am that I found my wife, but if my wife was gone tomorrow, I still would have to have Jesus. And I know that she feels the same way. I know that she feels the same way. I know that she feels the same way. I know that she feels the same way about me because the most important thing is Jesus. You can take away my job. You can take away my house. You can take away my cars. You can take it all away. As long

as I've still got Jesus, that's the most important thing because I count it all as loss for the surpassing greatness of an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ. And if anything, if we should learn anything in this world today, he said it can all be gone in an instant. The only thing that's eternal is your relationship with Jesus Christ. And so he says, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord. And as I alluded to already, that means an experiential knowledge. It's not

just knowing about Jesus. It's actually knowing Jesus. You know, there's, there's levels of knowing people, right? Like some people I know about because I've, I've heard about them, right? I've heard about you. And some people I know because I've actually met them before. Perhaps I've gone and I've shook their hand. And so I know them. I can say I know them. Some people I know

because maybe I knew them 20 years ago. And so I can say that I know them. Some people I know in brief encounters. And then there's people that I know. There's people that I know and, and, and I can say, I really know them, right? Like again, not to keep bringing this up, but, but the greatest thing about being married to somebody for almost 20 years now, is that you pretty well know how they're going to react to things, right? And I'm pretty good at

knowing what my wife is going to say in certain situations, but she's maybe even better at knowing how I'm going to react in certain situations. And she imitates me really well. I'll never forget when I was still leading college ministry, we were getting ready to go on some kind of a camping trip or something like that. And of course you got to get all the money in and get all the plans made and all that kind of stuff. And she was talking to two or three of the girls and they said,

do you think Ryan will still let us go? We didn't get all of our stuff turned in, and she goes, just ask him. He'll go, yeah, yeah. I think that that'll probably work. And so I didn't know that she had done this imitation of me. Right. And so, and so these girls come up to me and ask me and Aaron's kind of standing in the background and they asked me, and I know I'm like,

we're really good friends with these kids. Right. And they asked me, Hey, I know it's kind of late. We didn't get our money in time. Can we still go? And I was like, Oh man. Yeah. Yeah. That'll, that'll probably work. And they all just burst into laughter. And I'm like, what, what did I say? What did I do? That's so funny. And Aaron's in the background going,

they said, that is exactly what Aaron said that you would say in this particular situation, right? Because she knows me. She has an experiential knowledge of me because she's around me all the time. And what Paul is saying is I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of an experiential knowledge with Jesus Christ, my Lord. And I'm here to tell you right

now, after walking with him for about 20, let's see, how long has it been about 27 years? I can't imagine anything. I can't imagine anything else because there is a surpassing value of an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord knows what he says in the middle of verse eight. He says, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I love this because Paul doesn't just say this because he'd

heard about it. Paul says it because he'd learned it for whom I had suffered the loss of all things. I want you to think about everything that Paul lost in order to be a follower of Jesus Christ. He lost all of his Jewish credentials. He lost probably all of his money. And a Pharisee at that point in time probably made some pretty good money because they were well taken care of guys. He lost all of his credibility.

He lost everything. And he says, that's okay. Matter of fact, he says what he counts it as, he says, for whom I suffered the loss of all things and count them, but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. That word rubbish can be translated one of two ways. It could either be the food that gets thrown out or it could also mean dung. Either way, a pretty bad thing. He says, I just count them

as rubbish that I may gain Christ. All the things that the world may lay on me, all of the accolades of the world, just a bunch of trash so that I may gain Christ. He goes on from there to say this third thing about the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ and that I may be found in him. Not having a righteousness, of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness, which comes from God on the basis of faith. I feel like this is one of those

verses. It's sort of a high ground, sort of a verse, but it's also sort of an easy chair kind of a verse. There's certain verses for me anyways, they become like a comfortable, easy chair. You know how you come home after you've been doing a whole bunch of hard, like real serious labor, and you've been working hard, and you take a nice shower, and you sit down with an ice cold Dr. Pepper, and you just relax into a chair, and your whole body just kind of goes,

because all your muscles can finally relax. You know what I'm talking about? You know that moment? Some of you do it in here on Sunday mornings. Anyway, so it's, that's what this verse is like, because he says, I've given all of these things up. I want to give all these things up, continue to give all these things up, that I may gain Christ. And be found in him, not having a righteousness that's of my own, from the law, but the

righteousness which is from God, that comes through faith in Christ Jesus. I remember me and a buddy of mine went up one, Chuck Smith used to come every Friday for chapel, and one Friday, my buddy and I, we'd been looking at the book of Philippians, and we liked that verse, but it was like we needed a good explanation of that verse, and so we went up to Chuck. We went up to Chuck afterwards, and I said, can you talk to us about what this verse means? And he said, I'll do my best to quote what he said. He said, what that verse means is that at

the end of the day, when you lay your head down on your pillow, you can close your eyes and rest in peace, knowing that all of your righteousness has already been settled because of the work of Jesus Christ, and there's nothing you can add to it. Isn't that great? You can just sit back and relax and rest because you have been found in him. In other words, your life is hidden with God in Christ, and as your life is hidden with God in Christ, you can absolutely rest because you know that your righteousness has nothing to do with the things that you do, because if it has something to do with the things that I do, I'm going to screw that up, right? Like, I think that would be the most fearful thing for me about living in a

system of legalistic works, is I'm like, dude, I screw stuff up a lot, right? It's just all that there is to it. I'm not good at life sometimes, and I would mess that thing up, and I would be like, oh, I hope I did enough. I hope I did it right. I hate tax season for lots of reasons, but part of the reason I hate tax season is after I turn all my stuff in, I'm like,

I think, like, I literally tell that to my girl when I hand her all of my stuff. She's like, is this everything? I'm like, yeah, I think, I hope, and then I don't sleep for like three nights because I'm scared maybe there was something I left out, or something that I forgot, or something like that, because that's just who I am as a human being, which is what I do. I don't sleep for why verses like this just kind of make me go, because I've been found in him, not with the righteousness of my own, but with the righteousness that comes, listen, only through faith. It can't

be achieved by some kind of system of works that you do. It can't be achieved by sacraments. It can't be achieved by any of those things, simply by believing what God has already done for you. It'd be like this. If I came to you after church and said, I have a gift for you, I don't. So don't come to me after church, but I'd say, I have a gift for you, and it's a pretty

serious, generous gift, in my opinion anyways, and I hand it to you, and you go, I can't believe anyone would give me this gift. I'm like, yeah, but I just want you to have that, and then I said, but in order for you to have it, you need to roof my house, and then I'll give you the gift, right? At that point in time, you would say, that's not a gift. Those are wages, right?

And that's what so many people do with the grace of God, is they say, you can have it if you roof the house, and you make it wages. No, no. How do you receive a gift? Thank you. That's it. You just believe that they intended to give it to you. Have you ever asked yourself, like, do you really want to give this to me, right? Like, sometimes we do that with Jesus.

That's how we receive it by faith. He says, and be found in him, having a righteousness, not of my own, but the righteousness that comes of my own. From God, on the basis of faith. And then in verse 10, he says it again, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

I love it. For the third time, he says, that I may know him. The Amplified Bible translates the word know here in a fascinating way. Let me read it to you. A lot of words, so listen up. It says, to know him means experientially becoming more thoroughly acquainted with him, understanding the remarkable wonders of his person more completely. Let me read it to you again.

That's great. Experientially becoming more thoroughly acquainted with him, understanding the remarkable wonders of his person more completely. You see, the first time he says, I counted all things for, all of my gains I counted as loss, that I may gain Christ. It had to do with his salvation. The second time, it was his present tense. That's what he felt at that moment. Still,

at this point in time, I count all things as loss for the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. But now this third time, he talks about the progressive knowledge that we have of Jesus, that I may know him, that I may continue to be thoroughly acquainted with him and to grow more in my understanding completely of his person. It means that every day I am knowing him more. Every day my focus is what more can I learn about you? He says that I may know him. And what

does it look like to continue to know him? Well, first of all, that you would know him in the power of his resurrection. That speaks of the resurrected life that we live, that resurrected life that has victory over sin. The power that works in us, as he told us in the book of Ephesians, the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, that we would know the power of his resurrection. And so as I continue to know him,

it's so that I can know the power of his resurrection. That gets me really excited. But then he says the second thing, and the fellowship of his sufferings. I liked the first one better, right? You know, the word fellowship literally means to share, to have in common. And so what he says is, is that to know him not only means to know the power of his resurrection, but to have in common. And so what he says is, is that to know him not only

means to have in common with him, his sufferings. Friends, we need to know something about the life that we live right now. And I talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Is life better with Jesus? Yes and no, right? Because when you follow Jesus, I absolutely have more hope than I could ever imagine. I have more rest than I can ever imagine. I have more peace than I can ever imagine.

But at the same time, I know I've been through some stuff because I follow Jesus. Because all who choose to live godly in this world will suffer persecution. And so suffering is a part of our life as believers in Jesus Christ. But listen, as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also the consolation of Christ abounds in us. You know what that means? That means that if you really want to know him,

then his sufferings are going to be a part of that. Because as you go through hard things in life, God will use that as an opportunity to know him. And so if you really want to know him, to reveal himself in a deeper way to you, that doesn't mean that we seek after sufferings. Don't be stupid, right? And I mean that seriously. If you're like, I'm going to start praying that God

would bring suffering. That's dumb. Don't do that. Okay? Like plenty of it's going to come. You don't have to ask. Wait for it. If you don't have suffering in your life right now, it means God is growing you and strengthening you to face whatever's coming next. So don't ask for it prematurely. That's a dumb idea. But just know that it's probably coming and God's going to use it

to fashion in you a greater knowledge of him so that you can know him in a more experiential sort of way that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings and being conformed to his death. Well, what kind of a death did Jesus die? Well, not only was it a substitutionary death, but it was a sacrificial sort of death. In other words, we live a life sacrificially, even if that means that's how I die. All so that I may know him. He closes up with

this. It's great. He says, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Ryan, you just said that we weren't supposed to try to attain anything because Jesus did it already. You know, there's another way that word attain can be translated. Literally what that word means is to arrive at the goal. And so let me read it to you literally as to what he says.

In order that I may arrive at the goal, the resurrection from the dead. Isn't that great? You and I are looking for a goal. We're looking for a goal in life and it's to go home to be with him. It's to have these bodies that we live in that are subject to all of the weakness, sickness, and death of sin. These bodies to be transformed into a brand new body that will be resurrected

just like Jesus was. That's the goal that we're looking for. And next week, we'll look at focusing on the right goal. But as of now, I want to encourage you. Our lives should have a focus about them. The focus that our lives should continue to have is the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. It's the reason he died for you. It's the reason he brought you into his family.

And it's what he's doing in your life. And that right focus on knowing Jesus, in an even deeper way, will be your greatest source of joy. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And I thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. And Lord, I just ask that the truth of your word would sink deeply into our hearts. Father, that you would grow us in you. And Lord, if there's any here that don't know you, or Lord, have allowed all of the things of the world to become distractions,

that today would be the day that they would put those distractions aside and focus wholeheartedly on you. And so, Father, give us that deeper focus that we need and strengthen us in you, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Peace like a river, wash over, nurse me and walk as I see. Peace like a river, worship your majesty. Jesus, my majesty.

As we... Lord God, we just thank you for... And I just pray that as we leave here today, Lord, I just pray that you would send revival on us. Lord, let it start within our hearts, God. Lord, change our lives. We invite your Holy Spirit to come in and just change our lives and change our hearts, Lord God. Let it do its mighty work and help us just to be receptive and obedient to it, Lord God.

I pray your blessing upon each and every one of us as we leave here today. We love you and we praise you, God. In Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, have a good week. God bless you.