Hey, welcome to One and All.

We're so glad that you are here for week two of the Joy Hack.

We have Pastor Don bringing a phenomenal message.

And before we get into it, I want to encourage you to get your Bible out and to get the One and All app.

If you haven't downloaded it, download it right now so that way you can follow along on the Sermon Notes tab.

Hello, I'm Hey church, it is so good to be here with you today.

My name is Dawn Jackson.

I'm one of the pastors here at One and All, and I'm so honored to be bringing the message this weekend.

Now, if you got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Philippians chapter two.

We're gonna get there in just a minute.

There's a pastor and author by the name of A.W.

Tozer, and he said this, what comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Now, what comes to mind when you think about God?

Do you think about like, oh, wisdom or love or perhaps anger or justice?

I don't know.

What is it that comes to mind?

Well, whatever it is that comes to mind, it reveals a lot about how you relate to him.

So Dallas Willard, who's a Christian philosopher, he said this.

He said, we should, to begin with, think that God leads a very interesting life.

and that he is full of joy.

Undoubtedly, he is the most joyous being in the universe.

The abundance of his love and generosity is inseparable from his infinite joy.

All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness.

the most joyous being in the universe.

Is that what came to your mind when you thought about God?

It wasn't the first thing that came to my mind.

I had never really thought about that until I read that quote by Dallas, the most joyous being in the universe.

You know, I just got home from a trip to the Sierra.

I love backpacking in the high country.

And there is something about being at a beautiful mountain lake and seeing the reflection.

In fact, one of the nights we had the reflection of that.

alpine glow coming off of a distant peak onto the water.

It's breathtaking.

I remember one night we were standing there and we'd been actually at our tents in a little area combined with some other campers and backpackers and we were playing cards and it was getting later.

It was starting to get dark so it was time to go to bed.

And so I got up and as I turned around to go to my tent, all of a sudden I saw a full moon coming up.

over the mountain.

And as it came up over the mountain, it was hitting the light.

The light was hitting and the reflection was hitting the lake.

And all I had to say was moonrise.

And everybody camped around us, stood at their feet, turned around.

And in silence, we watched this giant full moon come up.

And we were just like.

caught up in the moment.

Pictures don't do it justice.

And I don't know what it is for you that just moves you on the inside.

A sunset at the beach, the laughter of your children.

My best friend, her first grandson was born and they posted the picture of his little feet all curled up.

And it just fills you with joy.

And Dallas would say, Dallas Willard would say, that that is simply what tiny droplets.

of soul exhilarating joy which god himself experiences continuously in all of its fullness it's pretty amazing you know dallas i believe he was quoting c.s lewis when he said joy is the serious business of heaven and he defines joy as pervade a pervasive sense of well-being that i am okay or that everything is okay creation itself was an act of joy an act of delight delight in the goodness of what was done in fact oftentimes for us human beings our most joyful moments are when we're creating something joy cuts through everything i agree with dallas on that in fact do you know that god takes joy in you Like a doting grandparent.

I had grandparents who loved me so much.

And back in those days, people carried little pictures, right?

In their wallet.

And I would go in to visit him.

He worked at a print shop in Pasadena.

And when I go to visit him at work, all his friends would say, oh my gosh, your grandpa's always showing pictures of you and your brother and your sister to all of us.

He's so proud of you.

God dotes on you like a grandparent.

He looks on you with compassion.

with love.

Even if you look at him with scorn and derision, he sees past all of that.

The very fact that he made you, he is joyous inside when he sees you.

And his heart is for you and I to experience joy.

But the path to that is actually counter-cultural.

Now we're in a series right now on the book of Philippians, and it's called Joy Hack.

Now last week, Pastor Rory, he launched us off.

He talked about how suffering is the...

backdrop to this whole book on joy and that joy is a choice.

In fact, there's also in chapter one of Philippians, there's the quote, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Because the first and foremost thing about joy is it's got to always be Jesus first.

The joy that lasts, the joy that we're talking about here today, it's Jesus first and foremost.

And then we get to chapter two, and that's what we're going to unpack here today.

And as we continue on in joy, if it's Jesus first and foremost.

it's others next.

Now you might be thinking, what do you mean others?

You mean like people?

Because the reality is, is we want to say, well, yeah, Jesus first and me next.

But that's not what we discover in the book of Philippians.

There's a gentleman by the name of John Ortberg.

He's a pastor.

And he wrote this book called Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them.

And I read it years ago.

It was a really good read.

And anyway, he describes the human condition through the metaphor of a porcupine.

See, he says people are like porcupines, that each of us has a propensity to cause great pain and harm to everybody around us.

We are by nature prickly people.

Now, let me just put your mind at ease.

I'm not talking about you.

I'm talking about the person who's sitting next to you.

Right.

So we just smile and grin.

But the reality is, is we are prickly people.

All right.

Because porcupines in a minute, not even a minute, in a second.

They can either arm up, quills out, ready to go to battle, or they can take off really quickly.

And we are just like them.

And yet with prickly little porcupines, they also desire to create little porcupines, baby porcupines.

And this creates a bit of a problem, right?

So they have to be really careful.

So animal behaviorists call it actually the dance of the porcupine.

And the porcupine has the ability to lower its quills so that they actually lay down along the skin of the animal.

And that allows another porcupine to come close.

And that laying down of our quills, smoothing out of our quills, that's actually something, it's actually one of the most important things that Jesus came to teach us.

How to smooth out our quills in order to live in community with other people.

So we have a responsibility with this.

How do we smooth out these quills?

with the people and love the prickly people that are around us.

And now you might be sitting there thinking, well, hey, this is all great, Tom, but what does it have to do with joy?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

Let's jump into our text and we're going to read chapter two of Philippians verses one through 13 all the way through.

Here we go.

It says this, therefore.

if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility.

Stop for a minute.

If you got a pen...

Circle in your Bible the word humility.

You know it's all right to write in your Bible.

I take notes in my Bible all the time when Pastor Jeff or one of the other pastors are teaching.

So circle humility because that's a key point.

Rather, in humility, value others above yourself, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset.

Take your pen, underline that.

Same mindset.

as Christ Jesus.

My friends, mindset matters.

We're going to see that here in just a matter, in just a minute.

Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.

Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.

in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good.

purpose.

My friends, we are called to imitate Jesus.

We're to have the same mindset.

Mindset matters.

You know, it's common these days to hear people talk about a growth mindset or an abundance mindset or maybe a poverty mindset.

Well, today we're going to talk about the Jesus mindset and we're called to imitate this.

And this is not some cheap imitation.

It comes with a price, but the result is joy.

And in the end, we also glorify God.

So let's unpack this.

The mindset of Jesus.

We're going to look at it in three different examples that Jesus leaves for us, coming off of that passage that we just read.

The first is the selfless mindset.

He thought of others and not of himself.

He had unselfish concern for others.

Jesus exuded humility.

Now it's important for us to understand that humility is not weakness.

It's not weakness at all.

In fact, when I was growing up, my pastor used to define it this way.

He would say that humility is strength under discipline.

And the example that he would use, he would, y'all remember Mike Tyson, the boxer?

He would say this.

He'd say, okay, let's say you came across Mike Tyson.

And let's say that Mike Tyson.

you make fun of Mike Tyson's mother, like you mock his mom.

Now, if Mike Tyson chooses to not do anything about it and get in your face, that's actually humility because he's got the strength to do something about it, but he's holding back.

Whereas if Mike Tyson said something bad about your mama and you don't respond to it, that's not humility, that's wisdom because you don't have the strength to make a difference in that situation.

humility is strength under discipline.

It is not weakness.

Jesus was not weak, but he was humble.

He laid aside his own self-interest and self-protectedness, which is what we've got to do as well.

We've got to lay down our quills.

Years ago, back when, do you remember when Lucky's was a supermarket in our area?

And I was shopping at Lucky's and I had a basket filled with my groceries and it was now time for me to go and check out.

And you know those moments when you see the different cash line, you know, checkout lines, and they've got lines around them.

But you know when you see one and there is absolutely no line?

That was my experience.

You know that feeling of just like, wow, I'm blessed, right?

I can get right to the cashier.

I'm going to get out of here quickly.

And I was the closest person in this line or to this check register.

Nobody else was close to it.

There was no line.

I was headed right to it.

this was all mine when this woman came out of nowhere.

I swear to you, she was sprinting with her basket.

She came in, she cut me off and she got right in front of me in the line.

And I went from feeling blessed to like really, really amped up and angry in a second.

My quills were out.

So I came in on her with my basket.

And as I got in close, I heard the Lord say, you keep your mouth shut.

Cause I wanted to tell her a few things.

And, uh, I was angry and I was getting in close and the Lord's like, I said, keep your mouth shut.

And I remember telling the Holy Spirit inside, I'm like, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut, but this lady's gonna know I'm here.

And I took that basket up as close to her backside as I could get it.

I crowded her in with that basket and I just glared at her back.

And the woman did nonchalantly starts looking around and then she turns around, she sees me and all of a sudden she breaks into this giant smile.

Pastor Dawn.

And I about died right there because I realized this woman went to the church that I was on staff at.

And inside I hear the Holy Spirit saying, Aren't you glad you kept your mouth shut?

And I was like, Yeah, I'm glad I needed.

to keep my quills down.

I don't know her story.

I don't know what was going on.

Maybe she really didn't see me.

I have no idea.

Regardless of her situation, my responsibility is to have the mindset of Christ, which is a selfless mindset that even when somebody cuts me off, whether it's the grocery line or on the freeway or something like that, that I can still have strength under discipline.

I can be humble.

Even if I'm right, I don't have to have.

my way.

We're called to follow.

the example of Jesus.

And it's important at all times to have this kind of humility, all times.

And can I just say right now, in the season we're in and the next few months as we head up to the election, that probably we could pull this out a few times as well as we head into November in the current political state and climate that we're living in.

You see, you and I might have the power or the tongue or the sarcastic edge or the rhetoric to put someone in their place, but we are called.

to imitate the mindset of Christ.

We're called to choose humility, to exercise strength under discipline.

We've got to remember our battle is not against flesh and blood.

Paul writes about that in the book of Ephesians.

No, our battle is a spiritual battle.

So we've got to be on guard that we are not falling prey to being baited into conversations or into social media postings that contribute to toxicity.

Instead, we should offer life.

Our identity as a follower of Jesus is our primary identity, and it is greater than any other thing that we agree with or connect to, including, excuse me, including a political party.

So I remember as I was studying for this message, I saw somewhere where someone wrote, Jesus's humility is a rebuke to Satan's pride.

Let's join Jesus in his humility.

and see satan rebuked do you have a selfless mindset or is it me first or defensive the second mindset that we find in that passage is a serving mindset see jesus didn't just think about it but he actually had actions to back it up he became a servant throughout the gospels we observe jesus serving others continuously and he didn't keep his privileges to himself he used them actually to benefit other people and he did this by laying them aside and instead then using them to be able to like he wasn't entitled he didn't have a spirit of entitlement instead he got down to serve think about this when the disciples at the very famous story the washing of the feet when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples.

You know, in that situation, when all the disciples and Jesus got into that room, it was common for somebody, often it was a servant, to go and to wash their feet as they'd been out walking in the dirty, dusty roads.

And in this particular situation, not one of the disciples offered to wash the feet of the friend or the feet of the Lord.

And what do we see Jesus doing?

He doesn't stand up and say, hey, I'm God in the flesh.

Y'all better do this for me.

Or he doesn't say, hey, I'm the leader of this band.

Peter, get up there and wash everybody's feet.

No, he gets down on his own knees and washes the feet of his disciples.

He had a servant mindset, the mindset of a servant.

We're called to emulate that.

And actually.

to utilize our privileges that we have to benefit others.

In fact, our mindset is revealed not so much by how we handle our responsibilities, but how we handle our privileges.

Do we use our privileges to serve others or to promote ourselves?

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and they were interviewing a woman by the name of Carrie Gracie.

And this is somebody that I follow.

She's a pastor and does a lot of really good work.

So I listened in on this podcast, and she was sharing this story in regards.

She's actually from the UK.

So she was talking about Princess Diana and how Princess Diana stewarded a platform of influence with excellence.

And basically she said this, Princess Diana had gone to see Mother Teresa.

And Mother Teresa said, hey, if you want to see the loneliest people in the world, go and see the lepers.

Well, the local rehabilitation hospital for lepers was actually run by Carrie Lloyd's father.

So Princess Diana went to this hospital and it says when she went to the hospital, she allowed the paparazzi to follow her inside.

And then with them watching and with the cameras going, she takes off her gloves.

And she begins to touch the hands and the faces of those with leprosy.

Now, if you don't know what leprosy is, leprosy is highly contagious, eating away of the skin and the tissue.

The paparazzi took pictures of this, and they ended up publishing them the next day in the tabloids.

And on the tabloids, it said, don't do it, die.

But what happened, because of Princess Diana's actions, it actually blew off the stigma on lepers around the world.

That next day, Carrie's father hauled Kensington Palace and spoke with Princess Di's personal secretary.

And he said, hey, what she did in five minutes, we've been trying to do for 120 years.

The secretary said, we hold for a minute.

And then another voice came onto the phone.

It was Princess Diana herself.

Tony, what you're doing out there is extraordinary.

How can I help?

And the two of them became friends.

as she got behind the movement to make a difference in the lives of the loneliest people in the world, the lepers.

She used her platform to benefit other people.

You see, using our platform, our influence, our privilege, that's what we are called to do.

And laying it down, it doesn't mean that we don't have these circles of influence anymore.

We do.

But how do we use them to benefit other people?

Jesus walked among us, but he didn't stop being God.

He was still God in the flesh.

He just didn't use it to benefit himself.

He used it to benefit you.

and to benefit me.

He had a serving mindset.

And then third, the sacrificial mindset.

You see, it's one thing to serve, but it's another thing to serve when it costs us something.

And it costs Jesus his very life.

What is it costing us as we serve others?

Financially, it might cost us something.

It might cost us something in our time, or maybe in our energy, or our popularity, or our power.

Dr.

J.H.

Jowett said this, ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.

If there's to be a blessing, there must be some bleeding.

But the paradox is this, my friends, even when it costs us something, the more we give, the more we actually end up receiving.

The more we sacrifice, the more God blesses.

This leads to joy as it makes us more like Jesus himself.

We share his joy as we share his sufferings.

what is being a Christian costing you?

What is it costing me?

It's a good question for us to ask.

And the result of having these mindsets, this mindset of being selfless and serving and sacrificing, the result of this is we glorify God.

This is actually our goal.

You see, joy comes not simply from helping other people or sharing in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, but primarily from the knowledge that we glorify him.

Now, as we think about this example of Jesus, let me just hold it right there because a good example is great, but a good example doesn't in itself enable us.

It takes more than an example on the outside.

It takes power on the inside for us to be able to actually live this out.

You see, it's not simply an imitation, but it's actually the fact that we've been empowered as God.

lives in us because you and I are followers of Jesus.

His Holy Spirit lives in us.

And as it says in that scripture in Philippians 2, 2, 12, and 13, God can, he will, that we are called to continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in us to will and to act according to his good.

purpose.

He is at work in us.

In Ephesians 2.10, we know that there are good works he has called us to do.

And then he intends to give us the power on the inside to actually live it out.

So he is at work in us, but now we have to make the decision to work it out.

How do we do that?

How do we make this practical?

Well, I'm going to give you a couple of things on that.

First thing is we've got to be intentional with our mindset.

Intentional.

Now, there is this phenomenon, and I don't know if I'm going to pronounce this correctly, but it's called the Bader-Meinhof phenomenon, or effect, you could call it.

It's also known as the frequency illusion.

And it's basically the name for the experience of learning of or encountering something for the first time, and then very soon after, encountering again in multiple places.

In fact, the sensation is thought to result from having an increased awareness of the thing.

in the first encounter.

Let me illustrate this for you.

I'm not into cars.

So if you were to come to me and say, hey, Dawn, I just bought a new car.

And I'd say, oh, what'd you get?

And you would tell me what you got.

And I would smile and say, oh, that's great.

But I would have no idea what that car looks like.

Because frankly, I just want cars to work.

And I just don't know how they work or how they run.

And I don't know what they all look like when you tell me what it is.

But when I went to buy a car back in 2015, And I wasn't sure what I wanted.

So I went to the local dealerships and I ended up at the Acura dealership and I bought an Acura MDX.

After I bought that car and I drove away from the dealership, I saw Acura MDXs everywhere.

Now, did they just miraculously appear?

No, they were there the whole time.

But now I had a lens to actually see them through.

That is this Bader-Meinhof phenomenon, because now there's a lens to be able to see it.

for our mindset, we've got to build a lens to be able to see the opportunities that God puts around us that we can make a difference in.

But you see, we're so conditioned to be caught up in our own business and our own busyness that I call it navel gazing.

And I'm as guilty of it as anyone else.

Navel gazing is we go around basically looking at our own navel all the time.

And he's like, what do you mean?

Our own drama.

We're caught up in our own drama so much.

that we don't see what's happening out there.

All I see is all the different things I'm dealing with right here.

And what we've got to learn to do is lift up our eyes and look around and actually begin to see what's actually out there, to develop our awareness, to notice.

There are opportunities all around to serve, to sacrifice, to share the love of Jesus, to be present with somebody or present with somebody else rather than navel gazing.

You know, I mentioned when I started on the message that I just got out of the Sierra.

Now, the plan was for me to be there six days.

But at the afternoon of the second day, When I stepped down as we were hiking, I'm carrying my backpack.

The rock under my foot gave out it rolled.

I couldn't catch my back, my balance because of the weight shifted in my backpack.

And I just felt my ankle going.

And thank God I had enough thinking in me to quit fighting it or I possibly would have broken it.

And I went down, hit the rocks.

Thank God the backpack protected me from most of the rock.

But my ankle, it was messed up and I knew it.

And we're pretty deep into the wilderness.

And there was no way I was going to be able to continue to do all six days.

I was able to get to my feet and I was able to put weight on it.

So I realized it wasn't broken.

And it's like, all right, you know what?

Let's get to camp and then we're going to assess it there.

So I have five miles still to go to get to camp.

And at camp, we took my shoe and sock off.

I was with some friends, and it was obvious there's no way I was going to be able to continue on.

We had three more passes to do, plus this thing called the Golden Staircase.

And there was bad weather coming in, and it was just like, I got to get out.

Well, there was a trail that I could get out on, and the Sierra runs up and down the spine of our state.

Our cars, mind you, are on the east side.

But the way the trail that was there that I could get out on was 15 miles down to the west side.

Now, I had a Garmin inReach with me.

I had friends at home tracking me.

I also have experience in the backcountry.

So I felt like, you know what?

I can get out on my own.

I didn't want my friends to miss their trip.

So I'm like, no, you guys continue on.

I'm going to head out.

I can get out the 15 miles in a day.

And so I headed out.

Three miles down as I headed out that morning, I came across a doctor on the trail, which was awesome.

I already had my...

ankle sort of taped, but he taped it proper for me.

And so I just continue on down the trail.

And of course, I'm not going as fast as I normally could, but I'm getting out, right?

And I'm on a mission.

And so I get to the bottom of this staircase of granite and I'd run out of water and I could see there was water there.

And I was like, you know what, Dawn, take one more break and then just push in.

I knew I was getting close.

So as I take my pack off and I turn around, there's this beautiful waterfall and this college kid.

pops up off.

He'd been down at the waterfall.

He comes up onto the trail and I see him and I'd been friendly to people the whole way because I was running into some day hikers as I got closer to the bottom.

And I see and I'm like, hey, and he's like, hey, do you have any idea how much farther I have to go down this trail?

He's like, oh, you're four miles out.

I said, oh, hey, that's good, you know, because I sprained my ankle.

It's pretty bad.

And I'm just trying to get out.

He looks at me and he goes, hey, so when you get to the end, if you want, I'll get you a ride out of the mountains.

I can take you down to the mountains.

And I'm like, that's amazing, because that was one of the things I was going to have to solve once I got there is, OK, now I'm down off the trail.

How am I going to get out of the mountains?

It was an hour mountain ride out of the mountains.

He's like, I'll get you out.

That'd be amazing.

I said, I'll pay you gas money.

In fact, where I really need to get to is Fresno.

I'm going to have to catch a bus to get back to SoCal.

He's like, oh, my gosh, Fresno is far.

He's like, that would be like two hours.

But he's like, you know what?

I got nothing to do today.

I'll get you to Fresno.

I'm like, oh, that's cool.

I said, but you know, it's going to take me a while.

You might be gone by the time I get down there because I'm a little slower than you.

I mean, he's 21 year old fit kid.

He looks at me and he goes, you want me to carry your pack?

I'm like, are you kidding me?

He's like, no, I'm serious.

Let me carry, let's swap packs.

You take my pack.

I'll take yours.

So I'm like, you got a deal.

This couple comes around the corner.

I'm like, this dude's going to be my Sherpa.

And so I give him my pack, which is about 35 pounds.

I take his pack, which was maybe one.

And we start hiking down.

He's like, hey, you just got to stay up with me.

You got to be able to catch up, which was sort of funny considering I had a sprained ankle.

But anyway.

Down we went and I told him, I said, hey, I want you to know something because I sense the Holy Spirit say, tell him he's the answer to the prayer.

Because I had gotten a message on my inreach from my friends who were back home and I had been able to tell them what was going on and they were tracking me coming out.

And I got a message from my friend Whit and she said, hey, my mama and I are praying that you encounter a trail angel.

while you're out there.

Now, trail angels are people that sometimes out there that just see that somebody is in need and they bless you or they help you in some way.

And the Holy Spirit told me, tell him that he's the answer to that prayer.

So I tell him, I'm like, hey, by the way, my friends at home, they're praying for a trail angel and you are the answer to their prayer.

And he looks at me and he goes, no way.

He's like, this is crazy.

this is amazing.

He said, yesterday, the last couple of days, I've been so down.

I didn't want to do anything.

I just stayed home.

I was so down.

Today's the first day I felt good.

So I thought, you know what?

I'm going to go for a hike.

I said, well, you know what?

That was God.

He was getting you out here to help me.

And he's just like, man, that's crazy.

So we continue on down the trail.

As we're going down, he goes, finally, he's like, hey, so what do you do?

I said, well, I'm a pastor and I'm a coach.

He stops.

He goes, this is wild.

This is crazy.

I can't believe this.

He's like, you know what?

I don't know anything about God, but lately I've become really curious about God.

And so I've been asking a friend of mine and he's been telling me about God.

And now here you are a pastor.

And I just looked at him and I said, you know what?

I think God is drawing you to him.

I think God wants to have a relationship with you.

And he's like, wow.

I'm like, don't fight it, man.

Lean into it.

He goes, oh, I will, I will.

And we had this incredible conversation as we hiked down the mountain, as he carried my pack.

At one point, he told me some other personal stuff I won't get into here, but basically that there'd been a very...

painful breakup that his fiance had broken it off with him the day before he'd been in tears the whole day.

And he's like, as we were in the car and he was driving me down, he's like, I just never, ever expected that when I left this morning, I'd have you sitting here in this seat.

And now we're connected because I ended up paying him, not just for gas, man.

I blessed him.

Trust me on that.

And I have his email now and was able to, and his, not his email, his phone number, I was able to text him afterwards and encourage him.

And I don't know what God's going to do in his life, but my friends.

That experience there, when I was riding home on Greyhound on Friday, and I'm not one that, I tear up easily in my eyes, but I'm not usually one to have tears coming down my cheek.

But I literally sat in that bus, and I had tears going down my cheek because I thought about this whole experience.

Because, you know, was I disappointed I wasn't with my friends?

Sure, but you know what had replaced all of that?

Was this whole fact that God had...

honored me, had set up this divine appointment that I got to share the love of Jesus with a kid who was so distraught and yet hungry for God.

And it was such an honor.

And I had so much joy that the tears were tears of joy, that God would choose me to do something like that.

And I thought about what if I hadn't, what if I had my eyes all navel gazing?

What if I was so consumed with my sprained ankle?

What if I was so upset that I had was not with my friends?

What if I was so inward that I wasn't?

talking to anybody on the trail.

I would have missed that opportunity.

And I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss opportunities like that.

And sometimes life takes us various directions and we don't have control over it, but God is still at work.

And when we can have our eyes open to see what he brings us, we can have the mindset of Christ and we can begin to share the love of Christ.

You know, this is what it was like for Paul.

even in the writing of Philippians, the background to this very book.

If you understand, if you read Acts chapter 16, Paul had the mindset of Christ.

He'd been in the city of Philippi.

This is before the book of Philippians was written.

This is before Philippi had been, there was even a church and he's sharing the good news of Jesus.

and he and silas get thrown into prison but before they're thrown into prison they're severely beaten you can read all about it in acts 16.

they're beaten badly and then when they're sent into prison they're locked up into shackles and they're imprisoned and it's horrible and what do we find them doing they're not groaning or complaining or caught up in their drama it says that they are actually singing hymns and praying and the other prisoners are listening You see, you can shackle a person physically, but you can never shackle the spirit of somebody who's filled with the power of God, someone who follows Jesus.

And he had the mindset of Christ and he kept praising Jesus.

And I'm sure he didn't understand why he was there, but he trusted Jesus anyway.

And what ends up happening?

The power of God shows up there in that prison.

The doors come flying off.

The shackles come off.

The jailer and his family end up getting saved and they end up getting baptized.

That's why Paul could say, hey, be joyful, rejoice, because he knows what it's like, even when it's hard, to have the mindset of Christ, because God is still at work, even in the midst of those tough situations.

And my prayer for me, for you today, is that God would help us to be intentional with our mindset like that.

to be more aware.

Lord, help me to intentionally work on being more aware of what is happening around me.

Send me someone to serve and bless today, even if I don't get acknowledged or I don't get credit.

And I hope that's your prayer as well.

God, open our eyes.

Help us to be intentional.

Guys, we got to build a lens to notice.

Number two, we need to use our platform, our influence, our privilege, whatever you want to call it, to bless or to benefit other people.

Remember that guy was talking about Princess Di.

Well, every single one of us has a platform or a circle of influence that we are called to steward for the kingdom of God.

And we should use it so that we are moving the dial on culture, making a difference where we live.

We're not, when we lay down these things, it means not having a spirit of entitlement.

It doesn't mean that you actually don't still have the influence.

It's just use the influence for the advantage of other people, benefit other people, especially the down and out.

This is stewardship.

I know recently here at the church, we had all of our young people go to camp and so many of them were scholarshiped and they got the scholarship money because so many of you gave.

You used your circle of influence.

You sacrificed to give so that young people could go to camp and have their lives transformed.

That's stewarding your influence.

Maybe you own a company and you can give an internship to somebody where they can learn how to do the things that you do or mentor somebody who doesn't have maybe a mother or a father who's mentoring them, raising them, and you can step into their lives and make a difference.

Or maybe you're a business owner and you can give employment to somebody.

I think about often.

people who have been incarcerated.

And when they come out and they're trying to get jobs, and how do you get hired when you've got that on your record?

Man, to open up a door for somebody who's come to Christ and wants to see their life transformed and wants to continue to move, but they need somebody to go to bathe for them, somebody to use their privilege on their behalf.

And we have the opportunity for that.

I have a friend who runs a canyoneering outdoor education adventure business.

And what he does, canyoneering is rappelling down waterfalls.

But he works closely with the organization known as Homeboys and Homegirls.

And these are young people who were incarcerated when they were in their teens.

And now they're getting out and they're around 30 years old.

And they have to learn to trust again.

And so for free, he teaches them how to trust and how to have.

you know, do adventurous things and to be trusted again, how to trust others and be trustworthy by taking them out on these canyoneering adventures.

We have things in our hands, friends.

What are we using in our hands?

Our privilege, the different things that we have, our sphere of influence to benefit others.

And the third thing on this and keeping it practical is regularly check in with the Holy Spirit on the condition of our own heart.

our own attitude, our own mindset.

I've shared this, I think the last time I spoke, I like to use the alarm on my phone, set it at various times during the day.

So you can say 11 o'clock, two o'clock, four o'clock, whatever.

And when it goes off, I've written in there like heart check, right?

Attitude check, mindset check.

So I can like, wait, where's my mind?

It helps to build the lens and holds me accountable.

And it also helps me to see what's happening around me.

What might God be doing right now around me that I need to be aware of?

So develop that awareness.

How are you doing in working out what he has worked in into your life?

You know, the father who sees what is done in secret, my friends, he'll reward you.

So some of the serving, some of the sacrifice, some of the selflessness people aren't gonna see, but he sees and he rewards.

You know, life is not a series of.

disappointing ups and downs.

Rather, it's a sequence of a delightful ins and outs.

God works in, we work out.

The example comes from Christ.

The energy comes from the Holy Spirit.

And the result is joy.

It's Jesus first, chapter one.

Others next, chapter two.

You'll find out chapter three and four the next two weeks.

But my question for you is...

Who are you going to serve today?

Your mindset matters.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this word, for what you're doing in our lives.

Thank you for the opportunities that you place into our hands.

God, open our eyes to see.

Help us, God, to have the mindset of Jesus, a mindset that's selfless, that's serving, that's sacrificial.

May we be intentional, God, in the things that we're doing to build the lens to see the opportunities, Lord.

May we steward well what you've placed into our hands.

And Lord Jesus, help us to keep our heart right.

In Jesus'name, amen.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

If something really resonated with you or you just want to get to know more about Christianity and this walk with Jesus, will you go to oneandall.church slash Jesus so that way we can help you with your next best step.

If you really enjoyed the message and want to go a little bit deeper, I encourage you to watch the conversations episode on our YouTube channel that I got to sit down with Pastor Don and go a little bit deeper and hopefully that will encourage you on your week.

We'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.