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So let's go ahead and jump into the message today. I'm gonna read our verse.

Philippians 4: 0:06

1 says this, "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, "stay true to the Lord. "I love you and long to see you, dear friends, "for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my life, "for my work." Now, one of the interesting things about being a pastor is that I get to go to funerals all the time. Okay, that's part of the gig, you go to funerals. and funerals have a way of bringing incredible clarity to life. Because at funerals, nobody talks about things that we spend most of our lives worrying about. At a funeral, you never hear someone stand up and say, "Oh, I just love Bob. "Man, he was so passionate about his 401k." don't really hear that. No one says, "Oh, Janice, she was great, man."She kept her countertop so clean."Never had any clutter on it."I don't know how she did it. She was a miracle child. No one says that. No one says what I'm really gonna miss about this guy is his nice car. No one stands up and says she answered every email within 24 hours and then when she was out of town, she sent her email to do not disturb and let me know she was gone. No one's gonna say that. Nobody says that he crushed his quarterly goals. No one says how many followers they had or how many square feet their house was or how impressive their resume was. Do you know what people talk about when they're at funerals? They talk about people. They talk about people. They tell stories. They say, "She was there for me."He believed in me. "She prayed for me."He taught me how to follow Jesus."They welcomed me when nobody else did."She loved my kids. "He called me when I was going through "the worst season of my life and always showed up for me." At the end of our lives, everything gets incredibly simple. And I'll be honest with you, and this might sound a little morbid, but one of my favorite parts about a funeral is the personal testimonies that people give. I love it, I love the testimonies. I don't know if you can have a favorite part about a funeral, but I do. And, but when people come up and share powerful stories about how someone impacted their life. Now, I remember when my father-in-law, on my father-in-law's funeral who passed away a little over eight years ago. And during the service, we were, his family, we were honestly overwhelmed by the number of men who showed up to that service because what we knew but didn't fully understand until his funeral, my father-in-law, he was 50 years sober and he was a sponsor in AA. And what we didn't know until the service when all these men started to show up at the service was that he was mentoring these guys. And so most of them, we never met before, they came to the service because my father-in-law impacted their lives. He helped them find sobriety. He showed them how to have hope again. And in that moment, something became very clear to me, that that was his joy. That was his crown. That was his legacy. Not the things he left behind, but the people he helped become new. That's what it was, and that raises a question I think every single one of us should ask before the end of our lives. Every single one of us should ask this question before the end of the day, and the question is this. Here's what I really want you to think about. What will people say about me at my funeral? What will people say about me at my funeral? What will they talk about? You know, maybe another way of asking them is this. What will be your crown? What will be your crown? What will you look back on and say, that mattered? What will you look back on and say, that was worth giving life for that. That was worth going all in for that thing. What will it be? Because whether we realize it or not, every one of us is building something in our lives. You're building a career, a family, friendships, a reputation, financial security. building something. And none of those things are necessarily bad, but the question is this. Am I building something that will actually last? Am I building something with my life today that will outlast my life later? Because you can spend your entire life being successful at something that ultimately doesn't matter. And you can win at your career but lose in your family. You can build wealth but never build people. You can build a platform but never build response but never build relationships. You can accumulate a lot of stuff and have very little that lasts. And when Paul gets to this portion in Philippians chapter 4 he gives us this beautiful picture of what made his life joyful or what made his life filled with joy. When he says this to the people he says, "Therefore my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work." I love this and before we move past it too quickly, remember Paul is writing this from. Paul is in a Roman prison. His freedom has been taken away his future is uncertain he's he's awaiting most likely possible execution he doesn't know exactly what's gonna happen next to him and yet listen to his language listen to the words he says he says my dear brothers and sisters he says I love you I long to see you his heart is breaking he says dear friends you are my joy you are my crown Paul in prison and and what is on his mind. People, people are in his mind. Not possessions, not recognition, not proving everyone why he shouldn't be in this spot, not everything he wishes that he could accomplish, but people are in his mind. And I think Paul is showing us something about what really matters. And here's the thought I want us to carry with us today. A life that stays true to Jesus finds its joy in being poured out for people. A life that is true for Jesus finds its joy in being poured out for people. At the end of your life the greatest achievement that the greatest the greatest evidence that you stay true to Jesus won't be what you accumulate, it will be who you loved, who you served, and who you helped become more like Jesus. And here you go I got three things I want us to take from this verse today okay I got three things that I want us to take from and focus in on the first one is this is stay true to Jesus stay true to Jesus and Paul begins this with one word he says therefore therefore and whenever you see a therefore in the Bible you got to ask what's the therefore therefore and so because Paul is connecting what he's about to say with what he just said at the end of Philippians chapter 3 what does Paul tell us he says we're citizens of heaven. That we that we serve King Jesus. That we're waiting for Him and that while we're here that we're gonna live heavenly. We're gonna live heavenly to the world around us. You're a citizen of heaven. Then Paul says therefore because because that's the truth because Jesus is King because heaven is invading earth stay true to the Lord. In other words because you know where you belong live differently while you're here. You're living here, you're working here, you're raising kids here, you're building relationships, you're dealing with problems here, you're paying bills here, you're experiencing disappointments here, but don't forget where you belong. Because if you forget where you belong, eventually the world will start determining what matters to you. And this world has a definition of of success that sounds more like make more, own more, achieve more, be more, act more, just more and more and more. Be noticed, get promoted, build your platform. I can't stand that phrase, build your brand. How are you gonna build your own brand? You are not Nike. Protect yourself, make sure people know your name. And again, having success isn't wrong. Making money isn't wrong. Doing well on your job is not wrong. But those things, those things, man, they just make terrible gods. They're just not very good at being God. And I love this, you know, and Paul says,"You're a citizen of heaven, stay true to the Lord." And I really love that phrase, stay true, stay true.'Cause when you think of stay true, it means keep showing up. It means keep being faithful, keep pressing on. Even when things in your life you don't wanna press on, keep pressing on. Even when hardships are happening, you don't give up on the hardship, I'm gonna keep moving forward. I'm gonna keep showing up. I'm gonna keep pressing on towards what God has for me. I'm gonna keep returning. I'm gonna keep my heart soft and my life surrendered. And so, here you go. I've been thinking about this question a lot recently in my life. And the question is, what am I actually responsible for? And we talk about this a little bit in our local basics class. And so I encourage you to do those, but because there are many things I care about, but I can't control. Who here knows there's a lot of things you can't control? There's a lot of things you can't control, but you care about it. I can't control what people think or how they respond or what they decide. I can't control outcomes or tomorrow or the economy. And parents, parents, now all of us as parents know, you can't control every decision your kid makes. it's hard even your adult kids but I can take responsibility for one thing so if I can't control a lot of things there's one thing I can take responsibility for and I can take responsibility for how I stay true to Jesus I could take responsibility for that thing I can control that thing I can be faithful today and I wonder how much anxiety we carry because we're trying to control things God never made us responsible for. We're trying to be in charge of things that God said I don't want you in charge of that. I didn't even put you, who put you there? I didn't put you there. Well and here you go and not only are we trying to take control of things that that no one put us in charge of, in that we're also neglecting things that are our responsibility. We're neglecting the people or the things that we should be doing and so so maybe we simplify this we just say how do I stay true to Jesus I want to make this so simple for us today okay how do you stay true to Jesus what if what if what if you what if I what if we what if we just begin our days saying Jesus this day belongs to you like Jesus is a I mean before you check Instagram before you check your emails your news before you see the score of the game that went on way too late last night before everyone starts needing something from you, let me say that, before everyone starts needing something from you, before people start pressing in on you, before you do all that, you say Jesus I'm yours. And a simple breath prayer before you take off the sheets, take the sheets off of you before you get out of bed, or maybe when your feet hit the ground, Jesus I'm yours to start off your day. And then so we start off our day our day that way but then what if what if before you go to bed you end your day with gratitude like how crazy would that be now you just say Jesus thank you Jesus thank you for providing thank you for my family thank you for the people you placed around me even that one person for where I saw you today and forgive me for where I missed you today and help me follow you again tomorrow it's not flashy it's not complicated but imagine a life that begins every morning surrendered to Jesus and ends every night grateful to Jesus and you do that tomorrow you do it the next day and then the next and eventually days become weeks and weeks become months and months become years and years become decades and what looks like a bunch of small decisions becomes a life a life of surrendered and a life of gratitude and here's what I want you to know you want to know what legacy is legacy is accumulated faithfulness. Legacy, we often think of legacy is something that you create at the end of your life. No, no, no, you're creating your legacy right now. You're creating it today. You've been creating your legacy. You're already making the story of your life that people are gonna tell about you one day. You're already doing it. You're already making it. Legacy doesn't happen one day, it happens right now. Legacy is staying faithful to Jesus in ordinary moments for a really long time. You wanna know one thing I hope my kids talk about when I die? When I die and they talk to my grandkids or maybe even my great, great grandkids, whoever they're talking to, friends, you wanna know what story I hope they tell about me? I hope they say my dad faithfully made his bed every morning. I hope out of everything they can say about me, they say that. My dad never left the house without making the bed. My dad faithfully made his bed every morning. I do make my bed faithfully every morning. You wanna know why I make my bed every morning? I make my bed every morning for a couple reasons. But the main reason why I make my bed every morning, because my bedroom is my secret place. It's my place where me and my wife and one of my kids wake up way too late in the middle of the night and try to run into my room. But my bedroom is the secret place. No one goes to it. And so I make my bed out of a sign of, I'm gonna take care of the things that nobody sees. I'm gonna take care of the things that no one's peeking in my room. There you go. Is it me? No one's peeking in there. Because if I can be faithful and with my integrity, then I can be faithful on the platforms that God puts me on. And so I'm gonna tell you this today. I hope my kids say that my dad was faithful in the places where no one else saw him. He was faithful with his joy. He was faithful when he wanted to get upset, but he didn't. And my prayer for you guys is that you will be faithful in the places where nobody sees you. Because the places where nobody sees you, that's the real you. Your platform isn't the real you. Your leadership position isn't the real you. It's the places where nobody sees you. That's who you really are. And when we can be faithful to God in those areas, man, God will begin to do some great things. 'Cause haven't we all heard the story about the successful person who ends their life with a scandal? The prophet Harvey Dent, Two-Face, said it this way, "You either die a hero or you live long enough "to see yourself become a villain." And I will say to that, the lack of faithfulness is what makes you a villain. But being faithful in the small things, is that good? Okay, okay, you're quiet today, LVC, but it's okay. so here's what happens when you stay close to Jesus. Eventually you start caring about what Jesus cares about. And what does Jesus care about? What is the, guys, what's the number one thing that Jesus cares about? Is it bigger buildings? Is it more things? Is it your success? Is it you living your best life now? No, the thing that Jesus cares about the most is people. He went to a cross for people. He defeated death sin and the grave for people. To bridge the gap from us to God so that people can get in relationship with God. And so if Jesus cares about people we should too. So the second thing is this, make people your priority. Listen to Paul's language here. I love you and I I long to see you, my dear friends. Not all those people were his friends. There are some people in there that probably drove him crazy. There are some people in there like, man, they doing this again. They back at it. But he's saying, my heart longs for you. And can you hear the affection in that? Paul doesn't just know these people. He loves these people. He misses these people. I long to see you. And remember, he's in prison. And if I'm in prison and I'm writing a letter to people while I'm in prison, my first letter to people aren't, "Oh, I long to see you and miss you." My first letter is, "Get me up out of here. I don't wanna be in here. I'll be writing a letter right to Peter." If I was Paul, I wouldn't even be wasting my time writing to the Philippians. I'll write right to Peter and say, "Peter, tell me how you did that thing when you were in prison and an angel came and unlocked all the doors and no one knew it. Tell me how you do that one." That's what I would be doing. But no, he's writing to the people because he's thinking about his friends because people matter to Paul because people matter to Jesus. And so he is following the lead of his rabbi. And I think there's something in here that we cannot miss. You can know a lot about God while missing the heart of God. You can know a lot about that. Man, you can have those Bible verses down pat. Man, you can listen to sermons, you can read theology, You can know the Greek word, the Hebrew word, the Oompa Loompa words. You could have strong opinions. You can come to church every Sunday. But if following Jesus isn't melting your heart for people, you're missing it. You're missing it. It went over your head. You lost it. But if your heart is melting for people, if you're passionate for what he's passionate about, then man, you're connecting to Jesus. Because what did Jesus say? Well, I mean, his own words. What did he say? said the greatest commandment is what? To just study theology? The greatest commandment is to just to be successful? No, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God and what's the next thing? And to love people like you love yourself. It's to love God, people, and yourself. He's saying if you really want to know God, then you're gonna love people. You're gonna go after people. And so here's the thing, and if I'm not careful, people can start feeling like interruptions. If we're not careful people can start feeling like interruptions. And I got things to do. I got schedules, I got emails, I got meetings, I got somewhere to be. And then somebody needs something, your kid wants to tell you a story that they already told you 14 times. You know your spouse wants your attention, a friend needs a favor and you're thinking I don't got time for this. I got so many important things to do. What if the person isn't the interruption, what if the person is the important thing? What if people are the important thing for you to do? Think about Jesus. Jesus was constantly interruptible. He's walking somewhere, someone yells, calls out his name. Jesus stops. Jesus walk into the crowd, someone touches his shirt, power comes out of him. and he looks for him. You know Jesus, Jesus, he's hanging out and all these parents bring their kids to Jesus. They're like, "Bless them, please bless my kids. They got snot, noses, bless them Jesus. And Jesus is blessing the kids. And then we see Jesus, we see Jesus, he's rolling on the ground with them. He's on the floor with them. He's playing with them. And the disciples are like, "Man, get these kids away from Jesus." And Jesus is like, "No, you get away from me. I'm playing here." Look at our rabbi, how undignified he is. On the ground, playing with children. Because children weren't interruptions, they were his heartbeat. The next generation wasn't an interruption. It was his heartbeat to reach the next generation. And he's playing with them. He's better than Bandit Heeler. That's a Bluey reference. And he's, but look at our rabbi. A blind man cries out to him from the side of the road and Jesus stops everything and tells him to come over and over again. The interruptions become the ministry over and over. over. That's what he's doing. That's what he's moving towards. And it's learning to become available. It's learning for us to become available. The reason we make ourselves available or interruptible is because people matter. Because people matter. And this goes right into the heart of why we exist as a church. Our mission is to help everyday people learn how to become Jesus followers. We want everyday people like you and me, people who are far from God to come close to God. That's it. People, everyday people, families, kids, students, young adults, married people, single people, people who even love the Cowboys. People who have followed Jesus for 50 years, bless. People who aren't sure they believe about this, what they believe about this stuff. People who have their lives together and people whose lives are falling apart. People matter. And yes, I want our church to grow. I really do. I do. I want more people here. I want to see more baptisms. I want to hear more stories about our LVC kids learning about Jesus. I want more teenagers following Jesus with passionate youth. I want more people in groups. I want more people serving. But hear me, the goal isn't bigger crowd, the goal is transformed lives. Because when everyday people learn how to follow Jesus, when they're faced with the complexities of life, they will learn how to be able to handle any and all situations. Not just because they go to a place on Sunday, but because they have an authentic relationship with Jesus. And they see themselves that I am not a citizen here I'm heavenly and I'm gonna live differently therefore I'm gonna stay true to Jesus. I'm gonna stay true to what he's calling me to do. Because every number has a name and every name has a story and every story belongs to somebody that Jesus loves. And that's why people matter and that's why small groups matter. That's why small groups matter. Not because we're churches and churches are supposed to do small groups. Small groups matter because you can sit in a room like this every week, every Sunday, surrounded by people and be completely unknown. But we need people to know us. People who notice us. People who can ask, how are you really doing? can celebrate with you, encourage you, pray with you, correct you, sit with you when life falls apart, you need somebody like that. And here is on the other side, somebody needs you to be that person for them. And I think every mature Jesus follower should be eventually able to answer these two questions. Who is helping me become more like Jesus? And who am I helping become more like Jesus? That's it. Who am I mentoring? And who is mentoring me? Who am I learning from? And who am I pouring into? And that's why serving matters. See, God puts things in you that He wants to do through you. You might think, well, we're just serving in kids. But now you're shaping somebody's understanding of Jesus. And 20 years from now, they might not remember the lesson or the craft or the snack that was back there. But they would know Miss Nicole knew my name. Miss Mindy made church feel safe to me. Miss Jess and Miss Sarah, they told me Jesus loved me and I believed it. You're not just greeting at the door. Somebody is coming through our doors with so much anxiety and fears and worries, and they're hoping that if maybe I can touch Jesus, something will change. And so when they see your smiling face and when they come a second time and you remember their name, man, it's not just like, oh, that's cool. That's it's investing in someone's future. It's making an impact in their lives. You're not just leading a group or setting up chairs or making coffee or playing an instrument or holding a baby. you're investing in the life of people and again i want to say this to my parents i felt this when i was prepping the prepping this looking over this this morning parents don't underestimate what you're doing either you're making lunches driving to practices breaking up the 47th fight that they had today about some shoes or something but you're shaping humans your kids are watching what matters to you they're watching how you respond when life gets hard how you treat people whether you pray or not, whether church is a priority to you or not, and in that you're building something in them and eventually that investment becomes everything. You live for the crown that lasts. And Paul says, "For you are my joy and the crown I receive for my word." You are my joy. Paul's joy is connected to people. connected to people and that fits this whole letter because Philippians is full of joy but Paul's joy isn't some fake surface level positivity motto. He's in prison. He's not pretending his circumstances are perfect. His joy is rooted in Jesus and expressed through relationships. He says you are my joy. There's a unique joy that comes when you watch someone else become more like Jesus because of your influence in their lives because you took the time because you took the time and the word Paul uses there for crown is the picture of a victor's crown you want to think about a person who finishes the race they step onto the podium and they receive a medal and this is the beautiful part we like the parts where people win the race and they receive the medal but you want to know what happened before they won the race and received the medal. There was training. There was training day in and day out there was getting up early when everyone else was sleeping there was getting up early and spending daily time with God there was at the end of the day I'm reminding myself I'm grateful for what God has called me to do I'm grateful for what he's doing in my life not everything is perfect but he's still God and I'm still gonna praise Him. There's this training and there's this work and there's this process and there's this receiving grace and then Paul says the crown I get it's the people. The people who I'm who I'm influencing. You are my crown. You're my victory. This is worth giving my life to. Not money, not possession, not status, not recognition, but people. Paul's crown was that. Which brings us right back to the question that I asked us in the beginning. What will people say about me at my funeral? What will people say about me? What will they say? What will they say when I live with the end in mind? What will they say, "Ah, he was good, but he just couldn't stay on the path." Good heart, good heart, good intentions, but it's never showed up when he said he would. Oh, yeah, good, fun. But when he got angry, yeah, yeah. What would people say? Let me make it even more personal. What would the people that you love the most say about you? The people who really know you because we're good at letting the people around us in our workplaces and our environments, we're good at making them think they know who we are, but the people who really know us. So for me, at my funeral, I hope my kids say, "Well, my dad, he made his bed every single day because he cared about his integrity. Because he knew before God would trust him with platforms, God wanted him to be faithful in the spaces that nobody else saw. That's what I hope they say about me. And in return I will say, I won't say nothing because I'm dead, but... Another thing I hope that people say about me at my funeral is this. I hope they stand at the stage, they look at the crowd, my coffin right in front, and I I hope people look at the crowd and say, "It's moving!" That was a good one. No, I hope they, and I hope I can say that you're my crown and you're my joy. That's what I want. So God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, We say yes to you. We say yes to you, Jesus. Even as we're praying, in the beginning of our huddles, we had this word that people were stepping into the river, and the feeling was that some people were kind of afraid of of where the river may take 'em. But other people sat back and just enjoyed the river. And that's why the Holy Spirit is echoing that. You may feel like, man, I've made so many choices I'm not proud of. Things I've done, like ah. ah, it's too late for me. And that's what the Holy Spirit's saying,"Be covered by the grace of God. Sit back in His grace." It's not about if you got it right or wrong, or if you got more wins in the W column or whatever. No, no, no. It's just, "Well, I allow the grace of God to overwhelm the good, the bad, and the ugly about me. So just right where you are, just begin to let the grace of God overwhelm you. The one who knows everything you've ever done and says that you were worth dying for. Paul echoes, I love you and long to see you. And I feel the words of Jesus are the same to you today. He loves you and longs to see you. That you are his joy. And that you are his crown. So we say, come Holy Spirit. We haven't gotten it right all the time. But your grace is sufficient for me. Your grace makes all things new. So Lord I pray faithfulness, faithfulness over everyone in here. I just have this image of someone balling up a piece of paper that has like a bunch of check marks in it, things to do lists, balling it up and just tossing it over your shoulder. It's not about you getting everything right. This is about you falling in love with Jesus. Let him lead. Yep, I didn't even want to call out. There's the, alright, we do have a real spiritual enemy and this spiritual enemy is trying to get you to really dwell on on the last mistake you just made. I know I was never gonna stop doing that. You're never, you're always gonna be that. And I just rebuke the enemy in Jesus' name. That voice is not from God. The enemy's trying to confuse it as an angel of light, like God convicted you. I do pray the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but the conviction of the Holy Spirit is one of edification, and it's one of drawing near. He says, draw near to me, not just make another checklist of things that you think you have to do to earn my love. God's saying, you don't have to earn it, just receive it. Just receive it. So we say yes to you, Jesus. We love you in this place. more of you, Jesus. In Jesus' name, the Church says, Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen.