what comes to mind when you hear the word adventure for me. I think back to when I was a little kid and would play superheroes or fight bad guys build forts, we're playing sports, we'd ride around on our bikes and play baseball. Sandlot style, you know, or maybe you think as you get older of a fun trip you took with family or friends, my mind goes to some adventures I had on some mission trips out of the country or some fun trips we took as a family. Specifically my mind first went to a time where I took a trip with my wife Samantha and we went to Puerto Vallarta Mexico and we decided to do an excursion and so we went zip lining in Mexico. Now those that know me know that I am afraid of heights. I try to talk a big game but actually terrified of heights and so this will be fun. It'll be something we can do together. And so you're strapped in, it's safe, right? You know, zooming through the tops of trees, hundreds of feet above the ground and you've got like one clip holding you on that feels good. And so I said, no, I'm gonna be brave, we're gonna go for it. And so we did zip lining and once you go, you can't really go backwards so you're kind of going from tree to tree to tree and we get to the last one. And what I didn't know was that the last one at the place we went to was the fastest and longest zip line in all of Mexico, There's over 4000 ft long And you travel. They said you get to go up to 60 mph. She got me afraid of heights Traveling 60 mph on a clip. This feels good. I said, well, okay, this one you got to get a different harness. I said, I would hope so. I hope my harness is on the ground. I said no, you gotta lay down but you get to feel like superman. And I was like, that's cool. So now my arms are down and I'm just staring at the ground and so I did the honorable thing and let my wife go first and then I realized that she was getting ready to go. I think I said something to the likes of like I'm scared and then she took off and I wasn't even the one going yet and she took off, but before she actually took off, they actually strapped extra weights onto the vest on her back because she was laying down. I said, wait, whoa, what's that? He said, well we gotta put extra weights down because if it's windy, we want to make sure you get to the end, we don't want you to get stuck in the middle. It's not helping. Okay, it's not helping. And so I thought this could be it, this could be the last time I speak to my wife. And so, and I realized I want to say something romantic and I think I whispered, I'm scared. I was like, that's the last thing that we're gonna say together here on earth. And and so she just went off and I am assuming she made it because then they started strapping me up and so then they started, I lay down. I started said, all right, it's gonna go, whoa, where are the weights? Well, you don't need it, sir, Now I'm scared and offended I'm going down and and they didn't count to three. Okay. It's like, oh no, those two. And I was like, so I'm just screaming like the courageous man that I am. But I look back now at the end and I think man, that was an adventure. That was fun. Well, you don't often hear is the word adventure in church in the same sentence, but I I believe we can change that because an adventurous life As one lived with Christ. And so we're going to talk about what does it mean over the next two months to live an adventurous life because you were made for adventure. You were designed for more. But adventure doesn't have to be a high octane activity. Can actually be a personal relationship with the God who created you. We believe here at church, that being a christian should be pulse pumping, heart pounding life of purpose. And now we want to help push you out of your comfort zone. I want to help you. Even those watching online right now, even in the comfort of your couch, I'm not going to push you off your couch right now, but I do want you to step out of your comfort zone and I want to guide you to step into your calling because I don't think God created this universe, spoken into existence, then sent his son, Jesus to come down And die on the cross and rise again to defeat death itself, and then start a movement known as the church and we see miracles and all these crazy things happen. I don't think he did all those things for us now in 2021 to sit on the sidelines. And so, to serve as our guide an adventurous life, we're gonna take a look at the Book of Philippians in the bible because paul was an adventurer, and paul, ironically ended up in a situation that believe it or not, we can relate with you see, paul, who was persecuting the church and attacking the church until he encounters jesus, gets saved, gets the holy spirit now is planting churches, preaching the gospel, developing leaders, and he's going to start all these churches and start all these movements when he gets arrested for preaching the gospel. So, he gets taken to Rome. It's debated whether he's in like a roman prison, or sometimes they put him in house prison to where, you know, people can come visit him, but he can't go out. He's literally chained to a roman guard at all times. And so here's what's interesting. We have a guy who was going one way when out of nowhere he's on lockdown in a house or in a prison. Can't go anywhere in a culture that is divided, that has social unrest, ethnic unrest, financial battles and division among religious people. Everybody struggling and fighting for power. Does that remind you of anything? But yet it was here in this setting in lockdown that paul starts to write a letter to this church in philippi. And you know what he chooses to write about, chooses to write about joy of all things. In fact, he mentions the word joy or aversion of Joy 19 times in the book. Only four chapters, What's also interesting is that he uses the word mind 10 times, think five times. And remember once. So you put mind think and remember together 16 times. He talks about the value of what you're thinking, the importance of your mind. I realize they're connected, aren't they? The joy is not based on your circumstances, but on the mindset of who you are connected to. And so, getting ready to go through the Book of Philippians together as a church. I started doing some research and I realized that the church in philippi has to be the strangest beginning to a church ever. And that got me thinking that this is probably the strangest beginning to a year that I can remember in recent years. Yes, 2020 was crazy, but it really didn't start getting crazy until about March. And I don't know about you, but going from 2020 to 2021, I don't, it doesn't make sense, but I just thought, okay, fresh start, new page, new chapter. Here we go. And 2021 has seemed and felt more crazy than 2020 here we are doing church in a comedy club and we're, we're meeting and a lot of people are watching online and, and we're like, okay, God, we're ready, Fresh start. And there's a riot and Arizona is the epicenter for Covid in the world who were number one, right? There's a battle for power across the board. Do you go back, Don't go back, Go in, go out. Everyone hates the other person. We're right. They're wrong. You have to agree with us, let's be unified. But if you disagree with me, you're the worst person in the world. Like, like, and, and it doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum you're on that there is this extreme battle and struggle for power. Amen right? Even even babies know, he's like, yeah, yeah, it was wild. But yet we see God continuing to move. And so I want what I want, I want to do this morning is we want to give a start to the book or the letter called Philippians in the bible. And we're gonna see how a church that had very strange beginnings ended up actually having the most influence in the continent of europe. So let's jump into the backstory. If you watch movies or read books, a lot of the good characters to learn about the characters, you need to know their backstory. If you love the superhero movies, part of what makes the superhero is the back story. Well, the backstory for this letter to the Philippians is found In Acts Chapter 16. And this backstory is by far the weirdest start to a church that I've ever seen. You would not find this on a strategic plan anywhere. Here's what I mean. I'm just gonna tell you the story. Uh, test what I'm saying, check it, go back and read it for yourself or encourage you to do that. In fact, if you don't own a bible, we'd love to give you one on your way out today or if you're watching online, you don't own a bible comment. Let us know. We'll send you one in the mail. But in Acts chapter 16, here's how the church of Philip II began. Okay, paul, it's praying and he feels led to go to Asia and in a dream, the spirit tells him no, go west to Macedonia to europe. So that's our first start. He starts off by being told by the spirit in a dream. So it goes to Macedonia and one of the biggest cities in the district of Macedonia where modern day Greece. He goes to philippi. Now Christianity wasn't known as so much as Christianity. And that day I was known as the way about following the teachings of this rabbi known as Jesus who apparently died and rose again. And if he rose again, that means everything he said was true and that means that you can actually have eternal life and abundant life. You can have grace and meaning and purpose and love and joy. And so paul armed with the Holy Spirit and this message started going around and talking to people. Now there aren't a lot of believers in philippi at this point. And so he's walking around the city, he's got Silas with him. He goes and he encounters this group of women group of ladies, a women's prayer group, women's bible study. They said they didn't have the new testament and so they're studying, most likely the old testament or writings and they're seeking after God. And this women's prayer group was coordinated by a woman named Lydia. Now Lydia was a boss. No, no, literally she was the boss. He was like a ceo of like this distribution company and she sold purple good. So think of fabrics and things. Picture Meryl Streep from devil wears Prada, but then maybe the personality of Meryl Streep from Mamma Mia. Okay, so this lady was well liked, she was very wealthy, she was well known, she was a boss. She had houses everywhere. They said that she came from a town called tai tight area or something, something like that, I can't pronounce words, I only speak for a living and read the bible, but um so she comes from this town criteria, they think she might actually be asian because she's selling purple goods, she could be Turkish because that city was in modern day Turkey, and in fact that town is now called a soccer in modern day Turkey, which ironically enough, is just called, which is translated White Castle. So the first convert understand this, the first convert to Christianity in the city of philippi is a rich asian woman from White Castle, okay, And she goes, she gets safe because paul comes along and says, hey, I know you're seeking God, let me explain to you what you're looking for. And so it shares about the message of jesus and the resurrection, she gets saved, that group gets saved and now she's loaded, she is a powerhouse businesswoman and I love that the bible has that and so she says, hey, you come to my house, which this massive house and let's start something and so they start the church in philippi out of lydia's house, it's okay, that's crazy. It starts with the rich asian woman from White Castle, the next convert, the next main player, you know what happens is a greek, demon possessed slave girl, that's probably not on your list of what you want to start the church. But so paul and Silas are there preaching the gospel proclaiming things and this demon possessed slave girl starts shouting at them like calling them prophets of God hey they're talking about salvation, hey the profits are their profits here and this girl who's cray cray, she is crazy, is shouting and at one point paul gets so annoyed, I love that annoyance is a part of planning a church and so I love you all. And um no, so paul looks over and rebukes and casts out the demon out of this greek slave girl. Now the problem is when she was doing possessed, she was predicting futures and fortunes and so her owners were cashing in on her prey, she was crazy, The owners were getting cash, she can't do that anymore, they're mads, what do they do? They go get a mob and they beat up paul and Silas and say, hey, they're threatening Rome, they're threatening the district and they didn't know what to do. And so to actually keep them alive for their own safety, they lock them up. So now you got a girl who believes because he just got a demon cast out, you got the greek slave girl, you got the rich asian woman, now they're in prison and it's midnight and they find paul and Silas, what are they doing? They're singing worship, that's crazy, They're getting everything taken away and they're worshiping God and then all of a sudden earthquake. The stocks that were holding them not stocks like these stocks, but probably stocks more around their feet break off, change, break off, they are now physically free. And the guard, a roman guard who most likely was a roman soldier rather than face the consequences of losing all the prisoners, is getting ready to kill himself. And before he does the deed, paul goes, whoa, hey, we're all here, no one left. It's like what? And basically he says, well we are physically free, you're not spiritually free. But let me tell you how now paul leads the roman guard to christ and his whole household, they get baptized and so get this. The church in philippi starts with the rich asian woman, the greek slave girl. And now the roman guard, have you ever heard of an organization start like that? This is the first church plant in europe. And this is the church that would launch the movement that would launch all of the churches in europe. Talk about strange beginnings, right? So they start this ministry and paul knows them, has personal relationship with them, Lydia and others start funding his ministry as he goes and plans other churches and so he's planting other churches and then he gets locked up in prison, he gets put over in Rome and Philip and the church in philippi feels bad for him. So he sends this guy up Aphrodite is to visit him and bring him encouragement and then up Aphrodite gets so sick he almost dies. So we even got illness and in the bible verses 2021 here, but yet he survives. And then paul writes this encouraging letter and gives it to up Aphrodite is who then returned it to philippi and say, hey be encouraged, God is good and this is the book. So you have the backstory, let me share with you the storyboard. The overall the meta narrative, the overall picture of what happens in this letter. Okay, because if you understand the overall arching theme of the letter, when we dive into these specific verses, it starts to make sense. So the theme really can be found in Philippians 121, which I also call my life first, which is to live, is Christ and to die is gain. And he centers around finding joy in your journey, finding joy in your adventure. And so he writes this encouraging letter and then he talks about in each chapter, a different joy robber, what is coming after you to try to take your joy from you. And Chapter one Philippians chapter one he describes the joy robber of circumstances and he's going to actually tell us that the solution too bad circumstances is actually a holy mind. It's not focused on your circumstances, focused on christ, it's not about living according to plan, but according to prayer And then in Chapter two he says, well if circumstances don't take your joy, people are gonna try to take your joy. Okay now don't look at that person, if they're taking your joy in the room, I saw some heads turn, that's a little obvious, okay, But people are going to try to steal your joy in Philippians chapter two, but the cure to that is having a humble mind. And then in Philippians chapter three, he says, you know what things are going to try to steal your joy. But the solution to that is having a hopeful mind. He's going to talk about citizenship in heaven and pressing forward and looking to what God's called you to do. and then in Philippians chapter four, he says, worry is going to try to steal your joy. Worry is going to try to steal your joy. But the solution to that is having a healthy mind where christ himself is our peace and through that through him I can do all things through him who strengthens me. See, Philippians is filled with some of the most commonly quoted verses in all of the bible. These are the most instagram herbal verses if you will, but I want to take a deeper dive into them and give the context and give the richness and the history and the story behind these verses because if we understand that, then we can apply them to our lives and God can change our lives. So you saw the backstory, that's kind of a brief snapshot of the storyboard. So let me go ahead and throw out the first pitch, here's what I mean, you know before baseball games, back when we could go to them And you would you would have a ceremonial first pitch. Well I want to take a look at the first verses of Philippians chapter one and I want you to notice the tone and the love and the concern that Paul has for these people that he loved so dearly so Philippians chapter one starting in verse one, paul and timothy servants of christ jesus pausing there for just a minute and other letters when he was a little more angry and they weren't doing something well, he would start things off and say paul, an apostle of the Lord jesus christ like yo you better listen to my title, I'm an apostle, listen up to what I'm saying, but in this case he already has relationship, he knows them, he loves them. And so he just says, hey we are servants of christ jesus to all the saints. In christ jesus who are in philippi and with overseers and the deacons grace to you and peace from God. Our father and the Lord jesus christ, I think my God and all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with Joy notice his friends because of your partnership in the gospel, we're gonna come back to that, but from the first day until now and I am sure of this. He who began a good work and you will leave you to hang and you're left to yourself. Okay? No, it doesn't say that. What does it say? He who began a good work in? You will bring it to completion at the day of jesus christ and it is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart for you are all part takers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and in the confirmation of the Gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of christ jesus and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of christ and be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through jesus to the glory and praise of God. Does that sound like a boring life to you? Does that sound like someone who's focused on his shackles? No, it sounds like someone who's focused on the savior. It sounds like someone he's ready for adventure and he's embraced it. And so when you lean into that phrase, what God started in you, he will bring to completion. What that encourages me with is this truth. God's not done yet. I know it's weird. I know it's a weird beginning. I know we're in lockdown. I know some of you are watching and you're afraid to go out. I know that others are battling, not sure if their job is gonna be there tomorrow. I know this is weird, but in this letter, what you see paul saying is I know things are bad, but God's not done. God did not create the world. Speaking into you know the universe into existence, die on a cross, defeat death itself. Send us that same power to dwell inside of us to now leave us hanging, jesus christ came to make his name known and so for us to know him. And so if we're not dead, God's not done, go ahead and turn to your neighbor and say God is not done yet? That's pretty good. But now let's say it like we actually mean it. I'm gonna give you one more opportunity here and if you're watching online, look, put it in the chat, speak it out loud. If you're listening to your car, don't watch it because hopefully you're watching the road or in your room, stand up, shout out whatever you need to do one more time. Turn to your neighbor and say God's not done yet. Have you ever woken up and by the time your feet touch the floor, you're bad, you're all ready to get back in bed. Yeah, someone said no, never get out. You start your day like any any slow starters in the room. It takes a while, takes like 30 minutes to wake up, 30 minutes, 10 hours. I don't know all the same. Right? Have you ever been any any slow starters in the room or watching online? And you encounter one of those really happy morning people you're small, you can barely put two words together. Hey, how's it going? So what do you do? You judge them? It's what you do. That's what we do. If we're being honest right? We judge. Oh great. Here's the thing though is that I don't want to just walk through life and and and days are hard and mundane, right? And if you've got little kids at home and they're waking up at two in the morning and you've got to change a dirty diaper, like no one's like praise God for number two. Let's change the diaper, let's do it like not like stuff happens, but here's the thing that happens to everybody, storms come and affect everybody. There's nobody watching right now whose life couldn't be entirely flipped upside down with a single phone call. And so I don't know about you but I don't want to just count my days. I want my days to count. I don't want to just go through a routine everyday. Just I was doing fine. Get an email saying, what do you want to eat and I don't know what do you want man. You wanna go here? No, Okay, so you do know what you want, but okay, and that's a separate conversation. Well, I stepped on some toes there. I stepped on some toes on that one. I saw some elbows under. Okay, it's that kind of crowd. Okay? And I'm not saying like you're gonna wake up every morning and open the curtains hallelujah, like I'm not saying that's gonna happen. But what if your focus wasn't on the circumstances but on the guard who has created you and sustained you? What if when you put your feet on the ground, you just reminded yourself every day that God is not done yet. Like we're in a church plant right now meeting in a comedy club, in a pandemic people watching online because they can't come out because of health reasons or one or the other. Like this is not what I had planned in my head when I said let's start a church. But at the same time I read paul's life and everything changed all the time for him. And yet it's in those circumstances, in those lockdowns, in those being guarded up, boarded up, beat up, he can look and say I have joy why? Because his focus was on the journey and on jesus who promised to be with him. He didn't have to walk according to plan because he walked according to prayer. He didn't have to see the world with his eyes open because he saw God with his eyes closed. It wasn't that he was chained to the roman guards? Is that all of the roman empire was now chained to him. And as they rotated through, he said, okay Europe, you're going to hear the gospel for eight hours, you're going to hear the gospel for eight hours. And so he moved. And you know what I can do is write letters and here we are, 2000 years later preaching the gospel out of a letter that would have never come if he had not been locked down. So you see paul writing about adventure saying that an adventurous life is one lived with christ because you don't know what tomorrow brings, but you do know that God is with you today. I love that. He says that we partner in the Gospel. I love that he celebrates generosity. That's why here at the church we want to honor and celebrate people who give, we can do what we do because of people's giving and giving is worship and obedience. And we say all the time though, that you don't just give to mission growth that you give through Mission Grove. And so we invite people to join that generosity because we want to give just as you give because it's not about us. It's about the gospel and his kingdom and his causes. What if what if 2021 wasn't the year of the pandemic? But the year of revival. What if 2021 was the year that you forgave what if that was the year that you began pursuing God wholeheartedly. That you lived by the spirit and through the spirit. So you living a life of adventure is taking that step of courage to actually share what you believe with that coworker, to spend time investing in your kids to give of your money when it doesn't make sense. But not not to fill someone's pocketbook because God doesn't need your money. Can we be honest with that? He doesn't, he created the world. I think he can manage. Okay. So then why does he tell us to give? Because he doesn't want the money out of your wallet. He wants the idol out of your heart. And so paul in these difficult circumstances with these crazy weird beginning says, look, look at how the church started. Look how we began here. If God began a good work in you, then he is going to be sure to bring it to completion. And so I know times are tough. I know things are hard, You might have gotten a call saying the relationship is over. You might get a call saying the job is gone. You might get a call saying, I think you might have this thing called cancer and that's scary and it's awful and it's heartbreaking. But if God started something in you. He's not gonna leave you now. He's gonna carry you until completion and that my friends is a life of adventure? So I want to encourage you to do three things this morning. Number one to live a life of adventure is to adventure together everywhere, paul went, he took people with him and experience things. Like I experienced that zip line. It was fun. Now I can say it, but it's fun because you share with someone and I'm so grateful for all the teachers in the room and for all watching. And if you're a teacher and you're watching, we pray for you all the time and we are so grateful. We give a round of applause for all the teachers in the room. They want to honor the teachers, but let me just be real for a second and you guys have to be honest. Okay, everyone had that teacher growing up that you didn't like right now if they're in this room. Okay, don't look at them, that's now awkward. Um so you got that teacher that kids like, oh man, what do you do when you don't have that teacher, what do you do? You turn to the other person? Can you believe her? Oh man, Like that's that's half of high school. It's complaining about random people and stuff that you have to do. Right. I always wondered what homeschool kids did when they didn't like their teacher, you know? Can you believe her? Okay. Time for dinner? Quick. Thanks mom. Like what if for a second though, what if instead of taking a circumstance or situation that we complain about and instead we give to God about or instead we we we we enjoy the fact that we're together. Did you ever stop to think about the fact that God the father, Jesus son and the Holy Spirit three and won the Trinity means that God himself is in perfect relationship and then we are created in his image, which means that we are created for relationship. I think some people are not living a spiritual life and adventure because you're trying to do everything by yourself. That's why it's important to be a part of a body and a group and connected. Well it's a coworker, A family member spouse. Who are you connected with to encourage you to celebrate those wins and then to cry with you and pick you up in those losses. Think about how teams rally together so that the teams going into the Super Bowl, we are so excited Why? Because they're coming together and they celebrate and they go as christians, we are called to be together. That's why paul in his prison in the darkness says thank you for your partnership. Thank you that we can be part takers of God's grace together, thank you that you can experience God's love and for sending someone and supporting and praying for me and I have joy when I pray for you. Why? Because we are made to adventure together secondly were made to adventure together in the Gospel. I've shared this before with you guys. But I think it's prevalent if it's your first time with us, if you've ever played board games with your kiddos or played monopoly, you know what's interesting about the game monopoly is that no matter who wins all the pieces always go back in the box. Doesn't matter. Okay, if you get boardwalk, yeah, take your kiddos out to teach them about capitalism. You know, you guys don't do that. Okay. I guess you're nicer than me. It doesn't matter who wins the game. All the pieces go back in the box, right. What about you? I don't want to I don't want to pursue things in life that's just gonna go back in the box. I want to pursue his kingdom and his glory because when you do that, that my friends is an adventure. So adventure together. Adventure together in the Gospel and the number three adventure together in gratitude paul had every reason to complain. She could have written man, you wouldn't believe the conditions here, but he writes, thank you. You bring joy into my life. When I think of you don't lose hope. Don't lose faith. To live is christ, to die is gain to live is not finances. To live is not popularity. To live is not even to be free physically, but spiritually. So even on lockdown, I am free and I am bold and I am in relationship and we are in community and we have purpose and we have adventure. And so he focuses on not what he doesn't have but what he has. So what if we started every day when our feet hit the ground, maybe have a cup of coffee for those of us who are slow starters and we just said thank you guys, I don't know what happens tomorrow, but I'm grateful for today. So I want to walk with you and I know that if you started to work in me it's not done, you're not done and God I'm not done, I'm not gonna give up, I'm not gonna quit. So I'm ready for adventure. Will you pray with me? Dear heavenly father, thank you for giving the story of the church in philippi for giving us a story that defies explanation God that we really shouldn't have what we have here is the church that launched the movement of other church planting throughout europe. We kinda started with people who were faithful and available and obedient and who had your spirit. God help us to recognize that we have been called to adventure. A life that is faith filled, spirit filled life of giving and sacrifice and service. May we be people who live in such a way, such adventurous lives that others will see our joy and be like man, didn't he just get a cancer diagnosis, didn't she just come through divorce Didn't they just lose their house, then they just lose their job. How in the world do they have joy? How in the world are they grateful? Where is that? Who is that? I don't know. But I wanted God, You are calling us as a church to be light in the darkness. And as our world is driven by division. God may we come together unified around the Gospel, unified around your spirit. God, You have called us to be great. You have called us to you who are good. You have called us to adventure. And it's not just going out after high octane activities and thrills God, but steps of faith, Steps of obedience, having the hard conversation, having the uplifting conversation, going to you and our Brokenness and our addictions and our doubts and our worries that God I can't do this. I want you. I want joy and I want it Now. Thank you for those in this room. And those watching right now are listening later for their partnership in the Gospel. May we just simply take this truth that you are not done. I mean, that single phrase be enough for us to move forward. Every breath every moment we have here is precious. So may we embrace that we we embrace what we have and may we embrace who you are. We love you. God. It's in your son's name. We pray amen