Paul
Be The Center (Jesus, be the center)
Song Of Hope (God of heaven come down)
Next week after church, church board meeting (finances, etc)
'Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus
Little country vibe there for you.
Your Beautiful Love (There is no power under heaven that could ever separate me from your beautiful love)
You're Beautiful
Savior (Beautiful savior, merciful king) coda
Jon
Preaching with Maria our new youth leader
Shout out to Heather for taking over youth group this summer / past 6 months
Excited to see what God has in store for our youth and for Maria and her husband Mike
Gospel of Matthew (16) and the book of Philippians (1:26…)
I And Thou by Martin Buber
Principles of how we’re supposed to be in the living world
He sees two positions: yes and no
Yes position that we’re called to take, where you are called to say yes
No position, I don’t want to get too committed
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21-23 ESV)
Jesus calls Peter’s no position Satan
Then we jump to Paul in Philippians
Someone who said yes to the Christ position and, regardless of the circumstances, he can’t shut up about Jesus
Phroneo, the mind of Christ, the will of Christ
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. (Philippians 1:21-26 ESV)
A lot of raw emotion here from Paul, wanting to give up this prison stuff and have a resurrection
But he’s caught between two hard places though as its more necessary for him to help others’ progress in faith
Some of us can identify with Paul’s angst
To sleep soundly through a night, to not be in constant pain, to wake up and be with Jesus
And then Paul says “but”
You should circle that but
Paul’s resolve here is absolutely astonishing
Paul loves this community SOOOO MUCH that as much as he wants to leave and be with Jesus, he resolves to live and help this fledgling community
Because Paul has a yes position
This is Maria, she and her husband Mike have a yes position
We sat over coffee today for 3 hours, talking about the sermon, before I realized that I was hungry
Maria
Jon wear my scarf (I can be like Matthew Kennedy, so sexy)
This is my favorite scarf
Came from a sweet old Mayan lady in Guatemala for $10 named Maria (?)
She makes them all by hand
They take all the little fibers, stretch them out between two wooden blocks, then weave back and forth
Jon
You’ve had a varied career in your past, done the Lord’s work in East Hollywood, do you have any stories you’d like to share about that
Maria
God’s calling has been telling us to go to the places that are unraveling
Chaplain at children’s hospitals of Los Angeles
Chaplains are called in at the very last moments, when things are very fragile, to be pulled into those places of death and to sow the seeds of resurrection
Jon
How to you keep from checking out when you sewing stitch just to watch somebody pull the stitch out again
Is that a hard question? Sorry, we’re totally off the path right now
Maria
I’m going to trust that God is going to see this through
There is joy and progress there
It’s a leap of faith
Jon
You’re stepping into this community and you’re going to be working with our kids who have these very cruel things they have to go through (high school, junior high school hallways are very rough)
Maria
They actually have a lot to teach us
Some of us were walking last night and we walked by a bookstore and I asked if they wanted to go inside and one of the youth responded, “why would I want to sit inside and read when there’s so much to do and live?” And another youth said yolo
Yolo = you only live once
Our teens have a sense of adventure to life and don’t want to waste time reading
They want to be in the center of what’s going on
Jon
I’m amazed at Paul’s use of the word progress
Earlier Paul says I’m confident of this
He who began a good work in you will complete it
Pattern started in Genesis, He creates something, finishes it, and declares it is good
Being predictable is boring
I want to participate in putting some of this broken stuff back together
Because of all of you and the love we share makes it worth it
Prokope = Greek word for progress
Prokope of the Gospel
It’s not neat, it’s messy
What is He up to?
Where do we see the unraveling?
Where are the beautiful tapestries and scarves being made?
I want to see you move forward, I want to see you joyful
Where the kingdom of heaven is, there is joy
I will remain for your progress and your joy
Will you remain?
Taking a yes position, going on all in
Paul
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
O The Wonderful Cross (When I survey the wondrous cross)