Everyday Heroes

Everyday Heroes

Good morning. Welcome. It’s good to be with you. I love being with you guys on Sundays and if you’re joining us online, thanks for joining us. Uh, we’re going to continue in our Philippians series and uh, I think about sunday’s in, you know, today is a normal sunday church and then kind of relax, chill afternoon is what we try to do. Just kind of arrest, take our sabbath and usually on sunday nights we try to do a movie and if there’s a new superhero movie out, that’s kind of on the list, it’s probably we’re going to end up watching a superhero movies. We love it. You know, the world loves a good superhero movie marvel knows that. Which is why they’ve, you know, made $23 billion in the last since 2000 and eight on superhero movies. So right. We we love a good superhero. Well, why is that? Well, I mean there’s always something about write them how they represent the good guys, They represent us against evil and how they how they saved the day at the end and they always got their back against the wall and they come through. So we we love superheroes and not to ruin it for you, but really, that’s the plot of every superhero movie you’re ever gonna see, right? So there’s this evil, there’s this bad guy that rises up and a good guy comes in and tries to battle him and somehow the bad guy gets the upper hand. But the good guy at the very end, he comes through and and against all odds, he wins, right? So I’m probably just ruined every superhero movie you oversee, right? That’s, that’s the premise of pretty much everyone, but we love it, it’s what we like and it entertains us. But there’s also something that we grab onto about rising to the occasion as a superhero. My boys, many of them, I have four boys growing as they’ve grown up right there many times asked for superhero figurines or superhero weapons or whatever it might be and they’re out there playing in their imagination. One is just amazing right there. They’re taking punches there, duck in there, falling to the ground, They’re getting back up what they can act out and what they’re creating in their minds is just unbelievable. It’s amazing. Again, they gravitate towards that, that superhero type of mentality. Now a hero in and of itself, if you just look at the definition would be a person who is admired, idealized for courage or outstanding achievements or noble qualities. So as adults, we kind of shift, we get away from this superhero in tights and capes and these magical powers and we shift it. But we, we kind of shift that to things like somebody who’s wealthy or powerful celebrities, influencers, personalities, all these different types of things and we won’t call them heroes, maybe we won’t call them superheroes at least, but they’re kind of these people we look to and we idealized and we admire and so that’s kind of the adult version really of, of what it is to be that hero, that superhero. And so if I told you, if I told you, well, a lot of those people that publicly might be looked up to in those ways really aren’t much of a hero. I don’t think that would surprise many of you. Right? And and to say that there’s heroes in a sense of the heroes of the faith all around us on an everyday basis. Might not surprise you either, but I sometimes think we we neglect that. We don’t, we don’t view it that way. I know Jesus is our only superhero. He’s our only true hero, the only one that can save us from our sins from the destruction that we that we have and that we’ve brought upon ourselves. Yes, he is our only hero, but yet it’s okay. It’s right to have even heroes of the faith people we look to and admire and want to even mimic and imitate when it comes to the faith first. Corinthians paul tells us right? He says imitate me as I also imitate christ. He’s telling people imitate him as he imitates, christ It’s good to have that tangible that relationship where we can see and okay, that’s what it looks like and that’s what it means to be faithful and that’s a great example. Yeah, that’s a good idea, I’m going to do that, it’s okay to have those. And that’s what paul I mean he’s been talking about this. He has a relationship with the Philippians and we talked about how it’s so personal. He’s got a great relationship with them. And he’s talking about living a life fully devoted to christ in the Gospel. He’s laying that out and it’s not easy because the Philippians are facing persecution. And so he’s saying, live this out, even in the midst of difficulties, even in even in the midst of challenges, live this out, serving one another, loving one another, not arguing and complaining, being united. And then he moves into Chapter two where it’s really the theme is humility. He talked about how humility needs to be, what is shown in what has had as a believer. We have to have humility. And then he lists christ as the ultimate person of humility, how he came and bore our sins, not because he had two, Because he chose to he chose to humble himself. And so we have all these things that he’s talking about and he gives a couple examples, right? This is where we’re at in Philippians two. We’re gonna be in Philippians 2 19 through 30. He’s talking about a couple of examples, timothy and hepatitis and he raises them up as as really these everyday heroes that they’re living this life that he’s calling. So let’s look at that Philippians 2 19 through 30. Open your bibles there. If you don’t have a bible, it’s gonna be up on the screen for you. Let’s read through that and look at what is it that makes these men admirable to for paul to call out as these as these mighty men. So, Philippians 2 19 says this now. Now I hope in the Lord jesus to send timothy to you so that I may be encouraged by the news about you. For I have no one else like minded who will genuinely care about your interests. All seek their own interests, not those of jesus christ, but you know his proven character because he has served with me in the Gospel ministry like a son with the father. Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. But I considered it necessary to send um pancreatitis, my brother, co worker and fellow soldier as well as your messenger and minister to my need since he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you heard that he was sick. Indeed, he was so sick that he nearly died. However, God had mercy on him and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have to have sorrow upon sorrow for this reason I am very eager to send him so that you may rejoice again when you see him and I may be less anxious. Therefore welcome him in the Lord with great joy hold people like him and honor because he came close to death for the work of christ risking his life to make up what was lacking in your ministry to me. So just real briefly timothy right, He’s this guy where paul’s on this missionary journey, his first missionary journey and he goes through this this area and then he comes through again on his second missionary journey. And so he knows timothy’s mom and his grandma and their faith and he brings him along. And so timothy is now his travel companion. He’s working in the gospel alongside paul. He is the son of a Jewish woman and a Greek man, and then later, right as they as Paul as they split up. And as Paul Sends him, he writes to books to him 1st and 2nd, Timothy. Hepatitis, on the other hand, he’s from the phillipe in church. And originally, as they were sending and supporting paul in his ministry, even out of right, even out of their poverty, they were sending these gifts. Well, hepatitis is one of them that took the gift to paul as he is in prison, he stayed with them, he served with them, he risked his life. He even got Sick, almost died. And then, as Paul sends them back to the Philippians, he brings him the book of Philippians. So that’s how it gets the letter gets back to those people. And so, I think about these guys as examples and what Paul is lifting up, and it reminds me of psalm 16 says. As for the holy people who are in the land, they are the noble ones. All my delight is in them. Or if you look at a different translation, it says the Godly people in the land are my true heroes, I take pleasure in them. Okay. And so what does he call out? What is paul talking about? What does he raised to the surface as to what is? It’s so admirable about these people? Well, it’s for the first one, it’s service, a servant heart. And that should be a theme that we hear constantly throughout. The bible is just a servant heart, being a servant of christ jesus. Paul opens many of his letters with that, he says, paul, a servant of christ jesus. If you look back at Philippians one, that’s how he opens this letter to the Philippians, paul, a servant of christ, jesus, a bond servant, a slave to christ, jesus. There’s this attitude, there’s this mentality, there’s this life that he lives at his first and foremost at the feet and at the service of christ jesus, and he brings up timothy in this example. So as I have no one else who is like minded, who will genuinely care about your interests, all seek their own interests, not those of jesus christ, and that he calls out timothy because timothy is unique in this and that he seeks the good and the interests of other people. He cares so much about them, that he’s willing to sacrifice many of the things in his own life. He’s laid down a lot of different cares For the well being of others. And this is only the example of Christ that he first laid out for us. And Mark 1045. Even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. We are called to a life of service right to lay down some of those things that we we have like dreams and desires and passions and once all these different things are secondary to obeying christ. We are called first and foremost to be a servant. I think about life itself, life itself. If you’re going to have a child, there’s a great sacrifice that is needed. A woman makes a choice even with her own body to sacrifice, there is going to most likely be a dramatic change in her body that will probably last a lifetime. And that is a sacrifice that a woman chooses for the good of somebody else, for the life of somebody else to bring life. There’s a sacrifice, not including morning sickness, back eggs carrying around a bunch of extra weight, alright swollen ankles, all kind of stuff and the birth of the baby. It has got to be incredibly difficult. I don’t know. I’ve watched my wife do that four different times and it is it is a sacrifice. It is an act of service to the life of somebody else to be able to do that. I see people at church. I came here early this morning and I was not even close to the first one here. There are people who are here early serving the band is up here, people in the sound booth slides, sunday school nursery greeters, there’s all kinds of people, there’s clean people cleaning. It’s all out of the heart of service people show up, not paid. It’s just out of the heart of service for the good of other people that we could come together, that we have a place to be, to worship our king together and we see it all around all the time. The problem is, it’s not always easy to see right there is a concept of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing. It’s not like we’re just every time we do something good, just right praising, just just raising it up. You know, I want to show everybody what I just did. It’s like, no, we we just do it. I was out of the heart of love. And every day of every week there are people in this church who see a need, whether it’s physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and and they re arrange their schedule, right? They sacrifice their own time, their own schedule, their own money, they’re conveniences. They cancel things because they want to meet somebody in that time in that area of their life. And they give that up knowing that it’s for the good of other people, for the well being of other people. It’s a sacrificial offering to christ and his work to see the Gospel go out, to help the people in, need to care for one another. There is a sacrifice that we are called to. We see people hosting others bringing people into their home, providing meals for them, sharing the Gospel with them, answering questions, counseling them. I mean it just goes on and on and on what people are doing. One of the things that I see a lot of times. Um, and it happens more often than you even know is people will give up a career, right? They’ll give up a promotion, They won’t take that, that, that more prestigious job. The title improvement many times for reasons that they feel that God has called them to, whether that’s to be part of ministry, whether that’s to have more time with their family, to raise their kids, to disciple their kids to not be gone more often. I think about a mom, how many, how many moms have chosen to stay home with their kids, to raise their kids, to disciple their kids to be there with their kids. And again, I’m not, I’m not saying whether the decision is right or wrong, whether you’re working or staying home. I’m just saying when they choose to do that, it’s a sacrifice. It’s a true, genuine sacrifice because they do also, you know, desire to be part of the world and in a sense of building something together, working, being part of, uh, an organization that is accomplishing things. There’s a lot of people that have desires like that. And yet moms many times are staying home with kids giving up a career advancement. All those things, we have multiple examples of people who have given up jobs because the, the extra hour travel one way and back two hours a day is not worth the time they’re gonna miss with their family or that it’s going to take away from their opportunity to be able to meet with people, to minister with people to be part of a ministry here at church. They counted the cost and said to serve christ and to be called into a ministry is more important than the worldly things that I could gain outside of this and I bring up careers because it is such a big deal. I know that When I came down to this church, I remember it was like, it was like Satan was almost just tempting me. I mean my last, my last job, the last assignment ever did was a $5 billion New York to Chicago. It was just like he was presenting the world to me and yet I knew I was called to come down here and it’s like, no, I don’t want that. I, you guys are going to face the same things and we’re going to be called first and foremost to submit to God’s will for our life and that’s going to look different for each and every person. But it’s that heart of sacrifice, that heart of service that really, really matters in timothy and the hepatitis. Do you think that they didn’t have all these desires? They had all the kinds of desires, Their young men that had desires to, I’m sure their mom or dad or cousins or friends or brothers were kind of telling them, hey, just just stay here. It’s safe. You’re in good company. You can take over the business, you can take over the farm. I bet mom and dad are going to arrange a real good marriage. She’s gonna be beautiful. Your, it’s gonna be great. Just stay here. You have everything you need. It’s great. What do they say? Well whatever was presented to them, they said no, I’m going because I’m called to go. This is what God has laid out for my life. I’m going. It’s not about what I’m missing, it’s about what I’m gaining. It’s about what I’m doing. I’m following christ in his mission wherever he calls me. If God’s mission is poverty, that mission, if you are poor, is better than all the riches of this world. It’s hard to believe, but it is true. Well we follow christ wherever he calls us. I mean it’s really faith like this that excites me. It might not be social media worthy. It might not be like things are thrown on social media and they’re getting all these likes and hearts and all these things. But if if there was an internal social media right, God would be hitting every like button. Every heart button. Actually probably use the hands prayer button. But it brings him glory. It brings him honor. It’s what he loves, that obedience of us. And it might be foolishness to the world. That’s fine. Right? 1st Corinthians tells us many times, God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and the gods weakness is stronger than any human strength. Or later says, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. If it doesn’t make sense of the world, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been called by God to do something, that’s what matters. And we’ve seen many times over where it’s like, that doesn’t make sense. And then as you watch life play out and you look back, you say, ah look what God did, I would have never have thought, I’d rather take that easy path that looked like the clear, easy path to get there. Why did God take the hilly, sideways, you know, side road, there was a there was a purpose in that and sometimes looking back we can say that’s why and even if you don’t know the answer now, someday you will, someday you will, you’ll see the goodness of God as you follow him in obedience, there’s a guy who named Alben Barkley, he says, you know, I’d rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty Good quotes like that usually come out of the thought from the bible, right psalm 84 For a day in your courts is better than 1000 elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. A lowly servant in the House of God is a mighty, honourable person pleasing to God. And that’s where that heart of service comes in. He calls him a servant. He also calls him a brother and a son, timothy And 22 and verse 25. But, you know, his timothy’s proven character because he has served with me in the Gospel Ministry like a son with his father. Or in verse 25 hepatitis my brother a coworker and fellow servant. He calls him a son and a brother. There’s a relational bond and we talked about this in chapter one about how he wrote this letter, just pouring out of this relationship that he had with these with the Philippians and how that was established. And there’s a familial bond between these men and what he was doing. Men and women desire that whether you’re introverted or extroverted, there is a desire in our hearts as humans to to have a strong bond of relationship with people, right? We can be acquaintances with lots of people in facebook or social media instagram. None of that really fulfills that deep desire to actually have a personal brother sister relationship with somebody Hannah and I were talking about that the other night and it’s just like man, there are people who you interact with over time that you spend time with and they are just they are like your brother, their sister, even though they’re not your family, that’s what they are to you. It is so close, it is a blessing from God that you would have somebody so close like that to share life with why? Because it’s a deep desire of our heart, it’s in there for every one of us and it and it came out like this for paul with timothy and hepatitis one of things I try to do with my boys again, I have four boys. one of things I try to do with them is couple years ago I started uh doing dude days with them. I mean I call them dates at first I was like, hey you guys want to do and they’re like nope, don’t wanna go on a date, okay you want to do day, yep, sounds fun, let’s do it today. Okay, alright dude day, so generally on Fridays, I would try to just take a lunch with them now, it might be a saturday or Wednesday whenever. Right, just once a week, one kid, it means once a month, every kid is going through just time together with them, they can pick wherever they want to eat, they get a go to the gas station, getting a drink and some candy and I just spend time with them talking to them and some of our conversations are just the strangest things ever. Like I don’t, I don’t know what Pokemon character that is, I have no idea who that is and I’m just like, oh son, that’s so cool, that’s someday. I know I don’t write but and I just want to, I just want to spend time with them building that relationship over the last couple of months. I’ve just alright, either a sunday morning or if I’m teaching it’ll be saturday morning, we’re just gonna go for a walk. I’ll grab one of them. We just literally walk around the block. It’s not even that long and the first time I did it they’re like oh dad a walk, Yeah let’s go for a walk, you know? And now they’re like dad we’re going for a walk tomorrow. Yeah we’re going for a walk. It’s just time to spend with them. And we have silly conversations, things I don’t know anything about. But yet there are times when we have really good conversations. Even just last night one of our sons is like dad you know can we talk if I was you know being a christian like yeah let’s talk, it builds that opportunity. And I remember one time I I’ve just I’ve shared this over the last couple years what I’m trying to do just to foster relationships with my kids. And one guy was like I’m gonna try it out. He tried it out. You know he took his kid on the due day and he came back. He’s like that was How do you do it man? Like the conversation was all over the place. I’d ask him a question, I play 20 questions with them and he’s just like yeah and then he told me about some random game or you know something is like there was nothing fruitful and they’re like what? How do you get good conversations with your kids? I was like man, sometimes it just takes time. You can’t just force that in there, right friendships, You can’t just be like we’re gonna meet tomorrow at one, we’re gonna have a real good conversation. We’re going right. Like it doesn’t happen like that. We have to be willing to set aside that time to just be together. You’re you’re you’re spending time together and sometimes you’re having fun, sometimes you’re just hanging out, you’re sharing a meal and you’re going to notice over time all of a sudden those conversations flow from that relationship, and that’s what we desire, and that’s what builds those things again. In in chapter one, when we open this up, we talked about, well, what are some things that build those relationships when we talk about christ as the foundation of that, that relationship as a believer? But we talked about candor, having that openness with one another, consideration that self sacrificial service, a loyalty which is really important, important to be loyal with one another in that council, to be able to speak into each other’s lives. I see this every day all the time at Solar Church. And you do too, if we just step back and look, we see how people are building those relationships with one another, right? They’re encouraging people they’re meeting together, they’re spending time, they’re having hard conversations. They’re encouraging somebody right there weeping with those who weep, their their rejoicing with those who rejoice why? Because they feel like they have to do it as a checkbox on. No, because they genuinely love other people. They love one another and it takes time some things, there’s no way around, it’s going to take time. Are we willing to put in that time? What’s unique about the church too is that we have an opportunity to interact with people most likely you won’t interact with on just a normal basis. The diversity of church is incredible. Think about the diversity of age, when would you have the opportunity to uh to interact on a regular basis? To talk with the share life with somebody who’s three times your age or vice versa? One third year age, right? I mean, there’s a diversity of age of life, experience of things that you, you know, and you’ve experienced, right? You have background, small town, big cities, we got introverts, we’ve got extroverts, we’ve got family history, we have all kinds of things that are just wildly different. Right? When you talk to somebody who was raised in a christian home versus somebody who wasn’t raised in a christian home like me, it’s like, oh yeah, we had different experiences, like life was real different, right? But yet we share this bond. We have all kinds of different diversity of thought, Trust me, it’s good that everyone doesn’t think like me, okay. And it’s probably good. Everyone doesn’t think like, you just the way people are wired, the way God has made us different, even in just simple thought processes. That is such a good blessing our interests or hobbies, we have different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, we have all kinds of diversity, socioeconomic status is right, Whether you’re rich or you’re poor, which poor might just mean you’re a student, but same thing, right? It’s whatever it is, like there’s this there’s this diversity among humanity that it that collides in a church that you might not ever experience anywhere else. And there’s a unity Within Christ in that collision. I’ve been thinking about Psalm 1 33. I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple weeks. Just here’s what it says, it says how delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony. It’s like fine oil on the head running down on the beard running down on Aaron’s beard onto his robes. It’s like the dew of Herman fallen from the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing life forever more. Okay. I would definitely not describe good things like that, right? Be like oil flowing down your beard like onto your robes and like I’m gonna go shower like okay. But the point is in this this he was explaining something that was so good. It was so good. Well what was so good when brothers and sisters lived together in harmony? When there is a unity in their life? It is so good. He also calls us a co worker Again in verse 22. We look at timothy where it says he’s served with me in the Gospel Ministry and then as he calls it papered itis, his co worker. Well, paul was a tent maker. And so that is that what he was talking about? Was he saying the pancreatitis and timothy. Just man, they could build the best tents you could find. I mean, probably not right timothy. I mean paul is in prison, he’s not building many tents right now. It’s about the Gospel Ministry, about the work of the Gospel. This is what God has called us to, paul is referring to the work that they’ve been doing together Back in Matthew 28, It says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and name of the father, son and the Holy Spirit and know that I am with you always until the end of the age. Okay, this is the work that they are together in, this is the work that they feel unified in. This is jesus last words to his disciples and it resonates with us. We we have been given an assignment, we’ve been given a mission, we’ve been commissioned to go reach the world with the Gospel. Can this be done in our time? Yeah, it could be. Is it going to be? I don’t know, but it will eventually be done. I don’t really, I’m not really concerned about your end times theology right now. Right. When it’s gonna happen, how it’s going to happen, The order of it all I know is that God has called you and I to be co workers of the Gospel. He’s called you and I to work together to reach the world with the Gospel. What an incredible thing to be a part of. And it’s funny because God doesn’t, in a sense need us. He does not need you, he does not need me and all powerful Almighty, all knowing God, we’ll accomplish his mission whether we choose to obey or not. But the thing is, he’s asked us to be co workers with them. Like in first Corinthians, he says, for we are God’s co workers to work alongside him. He’s called us. He’s blessed us to be able to be part of this, to change the world, to change people’s lives, to see them go from death to life. He’s called us to be his co worker. But he didn’t just call you and I as individuals like, okay Shane, you’re my coworker, but you go do this and do it yourself. It’s interesting that he called us also to be co workers with one another. He wants to use us as a church as a body, a believer, whether that’s a local body, whether that’s the universal body, he’s called us as believers to work together to advance the gospel to all nations. And it really does matter. Mike spoke last week just about how, uh, earlier in Philippians two, it says, you know, do everything without grumbling or complaining and how it does matter how we interact with one another. People look at the church and say all they do is fight. They don’t even like each other, but they feel responsible to go to church on sunday with a bunch of people. They don’t like that. That’s a poor testament. I’m very thankful. That’s not what we experience is. I love being with you guys. I love spending time with you guys. We I feel like are on mission together, we have invested in each other’s lives. And so it does matter because in John 1335, Jesus tells us by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. Whoa, what is this? If you love one another, the way we love one another, even in our differences is going to be a testament to all the people who are looking at the church for answers. The church is the answer. The church has the answer because we’re going to lead them to God and so they’re gonna look look to us eventually and so I’m eternally grateful to be co workers with you guys to be on the wall building together and it’s not just like, it’s oh the church is putting on programs, it’s you guys and it flows out of the heart, I think about soccer, the sewer soccer league, there’s about 100 kids involved in that and it came from an idea from somebody who Cindy was just like, you know, I, I love soccer and I want to bless people and get people together and be able to minister to people that way and boom, right, just, we can be participating in that, we have discipleship groups, we have meal transfer when people have a baby, we have uh pure desire groups, Evangelism, neighborhood outreach is prayer counseling, coaching, mentoring, there’s all kinds of things with people stepping in to help the poor, those who are underprivileged the needy, all kinds of things happen throughout this church that we might not even be aware of, because it flows from the heart of people. The other one is that we are called to be a soldier, in verse 25 says pancreatitis is his fellow soldier, this tends to be a word that kind of pendulum swings for people, some people are over here and they’re kind of like, yep, ready to fight, actually looking for a fight, you want to fight, like they just want to fight, right? And then the other side is kind of like, well, you know, we christ is all about love. We shouldn’t fight. It’s just let it go. No, I don’t want to pick up a weapon. Okay, The extremes are bad examples, right? We we need to be in the middle where we have to know that being a soldier is also part of the christian life. We are called to fight for the truth. We are called to be warriors. There’s a spiritual warfare going on around us. We have an enemy, right? Just the term soldier itself implies that there’s an enemy. Why would you be a soldier if there’s no enemy doesn’t make sense? Does it Just talking about a soldier implies that there’s an enemy first Peter 5 18. Be sober minded, be alert, your adversary, your enemy. The devil is prowling around like a roaring lying, looking for anyone to devour. We have an enemy Ephesians 6 12 for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, evil age spiritual forces in heaven so that there is a battle that is waging around you and one of the best tactics of your enemy is to convince you that they are not your enemy, That there is no battle to be had. That there is no threat because then you are easily devoured. You are caught off guard. And so battle languages throughout the bible from beginning to end, there is battle language and God uses it on purpose, right? Even as christians Ephesians six, we’ll talk about putting on the full armor of God, right the belt of truth, the breaths, Plate of righteousness, the sandals of the Gospel, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, That’s all very visual battle language. David In the old testament. And someone 44 would say praise be the Lord, my God who trains my hands for war. My fingers for battle. I used to write that on my resting shoes taken out of context. I know, but it was a really cool verse, right? It’s like I’m ready for battle. But there is a battle language and it’s not just about People, it’s about God himself. Think about Psalm 24. Who is the king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle Or Exodus 15 3. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Battle language describes and is used throughout the bible because there is a real battle for your soul. There’s a real battle for the souls of others and what a pleasure it is to be in this battle with you waging war against the devil, in the Dominion of darkness against the souls of other people. To wage battle for the protection of the people that I love nearest to me into forcefully advance the Gospel Kingdom across the entire world. It is a privilege and an honor. He’s called the lord of armies. The Lord of hosts the Lord of Angel armies. Right? That’s that is an amazing visual of our Lord leading out in battle. I think about a situation where it came up a couple weeks ago at the pool. So my family goes to this pool and uh there was uh two of my boys were in the pool and this little bit bigger older kid grabs one of them by the throat and at least that one was able to knock his hand off big enough strong enough. So then the guy grabs one of my younger son’s by the throat and my other boy was standing outside the pool and he sees it, he backs up, get a little extra room to run, runs kind of does this knee kick karate? Think it just hits the kid, punches him in the stomach, gets out of the pool, tells the lifeguard, she throws the kid out but then comes around, tell us my wife and one of the other guys sitting there and they say good job, Lincoln. Gosh, I was supposed to his name, good job son. Every time I did that first service to good job son. Good job, good job. It’s like wow, what what would you do in that situation? He came home, I wasn’t there that day at the pool, he came home and he told me, I said good job son, you defend your brothers, you defend them, you protect them. That is good. See there’s a time to fight and if it’s for the protection of those that you love fight. And I think many people nowadays would be too afraid to tell that even to their own sons, even to the people around and they say, well maybe you should know you fight. And yes, it might less be a physical situation like that, but you could be called in many cases to fight for the truth. Are we willing to fight for the truth or we’re going to be passive and stand back and say, well, no, I mean I know God has called us to enter a war. And truth is that important to stand for? Why? Because it’s the difference between life and death. If you don’t have the truth, you don’t have the gospel. You could be going to hell and the people around you, if you won’t fight for that, they could be walking straight to hell. And you’re saying, well, I don’t wanna fight, I’m gonna fight for them. I’m going to engage in that war. Because the truth is worth fighting for I’m not looking for a fight and this should be done with grace and truth. But think about paul, He went around, what did he do? He went around debating for the truth. It’s worth fighting for he would get stoned, he’d get drug out of the city, They would think he’s dead. He’ll get back up and he’d go back in and he had brothers and sisters to be with him. It’s going to take all of us, not one of us, all of us. And so we need to be willing to fight for the truth. Fight for the lives of other people. That’s the mission were called to The Great Commission is a battle for the souls of humanity. It’s that important. It’s that valuable. And so we need to fight for it. I am so thankful to be in a church with you guys in those situations where if I’m in trouble, if I need your help, I know you have my back, you would be willing to stick up for me to be to be there for me to to go into battle with me and I hope, you know, I would do, I would be there, I would be there for you, I would have your back, I’m there and that that is an amazing thing to know that if you’ve ever been in a situation where you’ve questioned whether someone would fight for you at that time, it’s not, It’s not a good feeling. Again, back to even to Chapter one where we talked about loyalty. There is there is a beauty in entering this battle together, timothy hepatitis. They were willing to do that. They were willing to enter this battle at the sake of their own cost. I know some of these things, whether it’s being a brother or a sister, whether it’s being a servant, whether it’s being a co worker or a soldier, generally, we’re kind of better at one than the other and we can all grow. We can all uh you know, encourage one another in these different areas. That’s again, that’s the beauty of just the diversity of all of us is we can help one another grow and we’re stronger Together, verse 29. That’s where that’s where this really comes from. Those verse 29 where it says therefore welcome him. He’s talking about Hepatitis in the Lord with great joy joy and hold people like this in honor. These are our everyday heroes. People who exhibit these things that we’re talking about, That servant attitude, that guy who’s got your back, the loyalty, that brotherhood, the sisterhood, your co worker, your fellow laborer, your fellow soldier. These these are the people that I want to raise up to say this is who we should be mimicking. This is who we should be going after. These are real heroes that we can live with and be with. That’s who we should be raising up and admiring for the day in day out, faithful service. And we as christians. We we have our christian heroes right? We have George Mueller’s the Hudson Taylor’s the Corrie 10 boom’s that amy Carmichael’s all I mean just name it, that goes down the list. We have those and that’s fine. That’s really good. and I love reading about them biographies are amazing but my true heroes are really you guys. I am encouraged. I am spurred on. I am, I love being part of what you guys are doing. You are my heroes. As I watch you guys live out your faith day in day out as you serve christ wholeheartedly unreserved not holding anything back. It has been one of the greatest joys in my life. It’s my encouragement to you guys are just keep going, keep pressing on, keep moving forward and I’m with you. Amen. Lord jesus. We thank you, we praise you for your goodness, help us to be good co workers to just be the loyal brother and sister. When we pray we have a heart of sacrifice and service and that we would be um waging war for the souls and the hearts of all mankind. Lord I discussed that your gospel would go out mightily and that you let us be part of it, your name. We pray Amen. Hey man