Hey, all of our campuses, and if you're watching online, maybe later in the week, I want to tell you: I love our church. There are not many places that reflect the community in which the church exists, and Venture is one of those. It's very unique to see God working in our community, bringing people together and building a sense of movement. So thank you. 

I just want to encourage you to continue to invest in Venture. Invest your time, invest your money. We have always had a lot more vision than we've had money, and we've had to trust God to do things in very unusual ways to pay for the vision he's led us in. So I want to say to you, I am so thankful to be a part of this family. 

Now, I love this series, Press On. For many of you, and I've been watching my kids at this time of year, you may be more like, "Hey, I'm hanging on." Anybody want to say, "I'm hanging on by a thread"? Okay. Yeah. And that song about going under, you're like, "I think I'm already there. I need a snorkel." I want to tell you that this message and this book are for you. Read this book. Read this book, because Paul is going to say, "No matter what your circumstances are, you can have joy." Sixteen times he uses the word joy or some version of joy. 

He is chained to a Roman soldier. You've heard that from our great preachers who have shared. And he says, "Hey, people are getting saved. These guys are getting saved. The Praetorian Guard is getting saved. It's great. It's amazing." And you're thinking, "Paul, are you crazy?" And he is. He's crazy about God, because he's seen God do things that he knows no human being can do. 

Now, he's writing a letter, and this is really important. He's in a Roman jail, probably house arrest, but he's chained to a guard. And he's writing this letter back to a community where he started house churches 10 years earlier. 

Philippians 2 passage 

As he writes back to them, this house church looks like the community. It is a Roman jailer and his family. It is a lady who was possessed by a demon, and she was saved. It is a businesswoman, Lydia. And he's writing this letter back to them to say, "Hey, there is more in you. There is more for you in your faith." He's trying to encourage them, because in the first century, people were being killed for their faith. They're still being killed today all around the world. You think you're under pressure? These people were actually having to give their lives because they believed in Jesus Christ. 

So as we're reading this today in Philippians chapter 2, if you'll open your Bibles there. I love what all of our preachers have said: Bring a Bible. You say, "I don't have one." We'll give you one. We'll give you a Bible. It's just fun to have it, because if you have your phone, you're probably going to be tempted, even though you guys are so godly. You guys are more godly than people in other churches. But you're going to be tempted to look over at Facebook. Somebody's going ding, ding, ding, ding. You've got it turned off, but you're not really reading the Bible. You're reading something else. So if you'll bring your Bible, I think it'd be great. 

Here we go. You ready? He says, "Therefore." Anytime you see "therefore," you ask what it's there for. Thank you. 

"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." And this is what I hate. This is why they gave me this passage. "Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain." 

Now I'm going to show you how he says you grow spiritually. 

Spiritual growth overview 

If you really want to grow and get more out of your faith, he's going to lay it out for us. It is so clear. And if you're here saying, "I don't know. I'm losing the battle." Do you ever feel like sometimes when you're trying to follow Christ, things just aren't working out? You give in to the same sins over and over again, and you think, what's the use? Listen: Though a righteous person falls seven times, they will still get up. 

So today I want to encourage you, because I know how hard it is. I'm a preacher. I get it. Every day is a struggle. But he's going to tell us how we can grow, and it is so simple to follow. 

Listen and obey 

He says, first of all, you listen and you obey. You say, "That sounds too simple." Well, that's what he said. He says, "As you have always obeyed." Now, that is one word in Greek. He says, as you have always continued to obey the things you've been told by God, continue to do that. That verb literally means to get under the authority and listen. 

You say, "What's the authority?" The word of God. There's no other authority. You say, "Well, how about the government?" I'm not going to go there. We're not doing that. But he says you get under authority and you listen. The word he's using here in the Greek is the word for acoustic. He's saying you get in a place every day, as much as you can, maybe if you can steal some time from work, and you get yourself in a position to hear, where you're purposefully saying, "God, I want you to speak to me." 

He speaks through the Bible. You say, "Well, I know that it's the word of God." You might not know that. But the Bible is the word of God. It's God-breathed. It's living and sharper than any two-edged sword. You can hear God through prayer. When you take time to talk to God and listen to God, he begins to do things in you that you can't explain. 

The church. Can I just tell you, I don't have to come every Sunday now? There have been some Sundays when I got weak. Anybody ever gotten weak on a Sunday morning? Thank you. One kid raised his hand. You weak this morning, baby? Me too, honey. I didn't want to come, but I was preaching. I had to. So I understand how you feel. You get weak. 

 But here's the thing. When I do make it, it feels so good to be with you, because God speaks to me differently when I'm with you. I can't explain it. Somebody says, "Well, I didn't get anything out of the sermon." Then you ain't right. Because I want to tell you, if they just read the Scripture, I'm already like, "Let's go. Let's go. I'm ready to go." I'm breaking down in my stance. I'm ready to go. When I'm with you, God begins to bring things to mind that I didn't think about. And when I see you worshiping and I hear you, it's like, God, this is what heaven is like. 

See, I don't just come to church because I have to now. I come because I've got to have you. I've got to be around you. I've got to feel your presence to know I'm not by myself. 

God speaks through the Holy Spirit. He speaks through circumstances. But here's the thing: You've got to be willing to listen. Let me give you this. There are so many things you're going to face this week where you can't just say, "Let me see what to do here." There's not a neon sign for everything you're going to face this week. That's why you've got to have God speaking to you. Some of you are trying to figure out who to date. Some of you are trying to find a date. Some of you are trying to figure out where to work, or whether to stay at this place, or whether to buy a house, or whether to move to this city. That's where you need to be with God. Get up under authority and let him speak to you, because mistakes increase with speed. 

Yeah, that was good. Thank you. Sometimes I just have to say, somebody write that down. 

I've been watching us. Now that I don't have all the pressure Brother Craig has, Pastor Craig, I can actually enjoy the Lord and enjoy church. It's crazy. Y'all tried to kill me. That's why I'm only 30 years old. This is what y'all did to me. And it dawned on me what's going on, why we're not growing. You want to know why we're not growing? I'm about to show you. 

 I saw something in China. Of all the places, in China, I saw something, and I said, "This is what we look like." I want to show you. Look here. Look here. Which one do you think is going to win? Who votes on the red? Who votes on the red? In the middle. There he goes. There he goes. There he goes. He's running faster. He's going. He's going. He's gone. Who won? Nobody. You know why? They didn't know how to stop. Those robots aren't taking over the world. They can't even stop. 

And that's what I see all around me now. You run and you're going, and you don't know how to stop. And you wonder why something hits you and knocks you down. It's so God can speak to you. 

Obedience is not a checklist. You don't say, "Hey, I checked this off. I'm good." No, it's not mechanical. It's not rules. 

Work with consistency 

It's a relationship. And AI is not going to be the reason our country falls. Hurry is going to be the reason, when we're just too busy to look around and listen. 

You say, "Well, Jeff, you're making me feel bad." No, I get it. I'm a papa. I'm trying to keep up with y'all and all the different things you do. They're going this way and this way and this way. I get it. But he says you've got to slow down. You've got to listen and obey. 

Here's the second thing. He says you've got to work with consistency. This is all in the Bible here. I'm not making this up. There is one word in Greek that literally means this: You must. It's not if you want to. You have to continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 

I love that, because you're thinking, "Well, wait a minute. I thought when we were saved, it's a free gift. I didn't think you had to work for salvation." Well, of course you don't. Listen: By grace you are saved through faith. It is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a free gift. 

But here's the thing about salvation: It has a continuous tense. Many of you have never been taught this. Like our sweet ladies who were baptized: That's not the end. That's the beginning. For so many people, they get saved, they've got the ticket, and that's it. No, no, no. He says continue to work out your salvation. You were saved in the past; you were justified. You continue to work out your salvation; you are being sanctified. And one day when you die and go to heaven, you will be saved; you will be glorified. So he says, work it out. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 

 Let me try to give you an illustration. There are a bunch of them, and I'm trying to keep my sermon shorter, because I went way too long when we were taping. They said, "You can't do that. You've got to cut it down." And they were right, because I got so fired up. 

Marriage. I go to weddings, and the bride, I mean the wife, looks the best she's ever going to look. Can I say that out loud? That just kind of jumped out of my mouth. No, y'all are still looking good, ladies. I didn't mean that. What I meant was the man. The man is never going to look better. He's never going to be skinnier than he is right there. The ladies, you continue to get more beautiful. The bride of Christ, you're getting more beautiful. Golly, I can't believe I did that. See, that's what happens when you don't think through what you're trying to say. 

But here's the thing: The wedding is not the end. I do these weddings, and we spend thousands and thousands, and I love it, and I get paid $15. But it's okay. It's not about that. It's about the food. Everybody wants to come. "Would you hurry up? We want to get to the reception." Can I say all this? Okay, thank you. 

But here's the thing. After the honeymoon, you've got to come back to the house. Listen, when Lee and I got married, I'm telling you, when she walked in, I wasn't crying. I was going, "Yeah, yeah!" It kind of bothered her dad. He was doing the service. But then about the second year, we got into that thing where she just wanted to go home. I thought you were home. You were. We had to work through that. Her parents finally said, "You are home." And she said, "My parents won't let me. They said I was home." I said, "Maybe they don't want you either." She's not here, so I can say this. Would you stop it? You're egging me on. 

But it's work. Forty-four years. It is work. I know it's work for her to live with me for 44 years. She'll be in a different place in heaven. There'll be a gated community, and Alicia will be up there, and I'll be waving at her. You know how hard it is. But we work at the things we love. And I love her. 

I was up in North Mississippi watching my youngest grandson play football. He's 9. They have a full-pad, full-on football deal up in North Mississippi. People are crazy in North Mississippi. I'm just going to say it. Y'all, I know this is a worldwide [unclear], but I'm just telling you, it's crazy. I went up there, and they have full pads, and they kick off. They don't even kick off much now in college and the pros. You've got to stay way back here. No, they kick off, and these 9- and 10-year-old kids are running down the field and just getting obliterated. It's 150 degrees, and all they want is a snow cone. Everybody's like, "Go get him!" They've got referees. They've got scoreboards. 

The coach on the other team drove up in a dark SUV, and Livvy Dunne and the neighbor twins got out, and I'm like, "This is NIL. We've got to buy some new players." They were so much bigger than us. One of their kids drove up in a truck. Bunch of cheaters. They beat us in the last minute of the game, cheating like dogs. And the coach after the game, I kid you not, give me a second here, this really happened. I'm listening to the coach. They played better than they could have ever hoped to play. And after the game he goes, "Now look, we're going to watch tape this weekend. Monday, I want y'all to come back ready to play." He is on crack. What are you talking about? 

And it dawned on me: We work at the things we love. 

Anybody at the Ole Miss-LSU game? You can raise your hand. It's okay, honey. You were there. Well, you wanted to go, right? I don't blame you. I did, too. I tried to get tickets. Do you know how much was spent just on beer in Oxford at the game, inside the stadium? I'm not talking about the Grove. Yeah, I'm crying, too. A million dollars on beer. You put Ole Miss people and LSU people together, you're going to be doing some drinking. And I'm thinking, an hour before the game, the student section is out there telling Lane, "He's number one. He's number one. He's number one." Y'all are bad people. You know why? Because we work at the things we love. 

The first command is love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul. And I thought, if you just give us your beer money, we could build some more churches. See, I get to say this because I don't have to come back next week. 

Here's the third thing. You say, "Well, I can't do that. I've tried, and I can't do it." Well, this is the third thing he says: You trust and surrender. Because this is something you need to know: "For it is God who works in you." 

Trust and surrender 

Let that settle in. It is God who is working. He says you work, and you continue working, because it is God who is working. There are two different words. This word means that God gives you energy. He continually gives you energy to work in you. There is more in you. It's the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory. Many of us have never surrendered long enough to say, "Hey, I can't do this in my own strength, on my own time. I want to give this to you. I need your help." Christianity is transformation, where God is working in you. He is with you. He loves you. He picks you up when you fall down. We talk about the grace of God and the mercy of God and the love of God. He'll always forgive you. But he also gives you power. Paul says, I can do these things with all the power that works in me. 

I went to Spider-Man this past week, and I love all the Spider-Man. Anybody else love Spider-Man? I know this one little girl does. She's loved everything I've mentioned. Thank you, honey. You're getting a shirt after the service. We'll find your size. Well, I was watching Spider-Man, and he's a little scrawny dude, a little nerdy dude, but you let him put on that suit, and I'm like, what is going on? It's not what's on the outside of him. It's what's on the inside of him. Bitten by a spider. There's nuclear power in him now, an atomic spider. See, the Marvel comics are trying to get at it. They know something is in us that is strong. Something is in us that is unique. Superman could leap tall buildings in a single bound. He's faster than a speeding locomotive. Why? Because he's from another planet. 

You are not from this world. You are unique. You have power. 

The reason AA works is because someone says, "I'm an alcoholic." Yes. Now we can do something with it. Give it to God. He can help you. Your life has become unmanageable. You can't do this on your own. You need help. And God helps you. He begins to bring you back. 

Jesus said this. Now this is Jesus. He said, "I can do nothing unless I see my Father doing it." He says, "I watch him and I do what he does." He said, "I can do nothing on my own." That's Jesus. In John chapter 5, he says, "You abide in me and I abide in you, and you will bear much fruit." 

So let me ask you, because I've got to wind this thing down here, okay? How do you know how you're doing? How many of you have a Fitbit? Fitbit. Apple Watch. Okay, a bunch of Apple Watches. Mood ring. That's what I had in the '70s. I had this mood ring, and I was like, "Ooh, it's red. I'm mad." I know about my feelings. I know how I'm doing. And some of us live like that. We live like, hey, this is how I'm doing based on how I feel. He says no. You want to know how you're doing in your spiritual growth? When you are facing difficulties, you choose joy. 

Choose joy and mindset 

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing." Did somebody in your house grumble this morning on the way to church? Don't hit him. Don't hit her. He says do everything without complaining. Do everything without grumbling. Your job, your school, your football team, the traffic. Some of us have resting Grinch faces. Cleaned that up, didn't I? Because I'm a communicator. 

But he says, understand, you can do everything with a sense of joy. Paul's in prison. Paul's in prison. He says, "I've learned in every situation to be content with where I am. I have joy. Nobody's going to steal my joy." 

You know how you choose joy? This is good. You want to write this down. This is really good. You deal with the intrusive thoughts that come into your mind. Does anybody else have intrusive thoughts? Negative thoughts that come in out of nowhere. You're trying to live your life, and an intrusive thought comes in. You're mad at somebody. You remember something that happened 25 years ago, and it just ruins your day. I never have a good intrusive thought. Every intrusive thought I have is negative. 

The brain people say we have 60,000 thoughts a day, 45,000 of them are negative, and 95% are repetitive. We get on a loop. There's something negative, and we get on a loop, and we get negative. It doesn't take a whole lot. It pushes us over there. The enemy is working in our minds, and he gives us a negative thought and feeds us a negative thought and feeds us a negative thought. And Paul would say, take them captive. Amen. Replace them. 

Sometimes I have negative thoughts about Alicia. She's not here, so I can say that. And I think they're legitimate. They'll come into my mind, and I'll take them captive: "Do you remember when she went with you to seminary and you had a station wagon? Do you remember when you went to seminary and pulled a horse trailer that had all your furniture in it, and you had the most beautiful girl in Mississippi riding in a vehicle with a horse trailer behind it with all your furniture in it? Do you remember that, Jeff? Do you remember?" And I start going down the line of all the things that made me love her so deeply. 

That's why Paul said, and Craig talked about this last week, "Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." Mindset: The word in Greek means frame. When thoughts come into your mind, you frame them and reframe them. If they're thoughts you don't need in your mind, don't keep going down a wormhole with them. You take them to the Lord. You say, "This is not true. This is not true. This is not who we are. This is not who I am." 

You say, "What does it look like?" It looks like Chick-fil-A. Think about Chick-fil-A. The line is wrapped around like a snake. Those people are tired. They're hot. They want to go home. They're up there: "Hey, Jeff. Hope you have a great day. Here's your chicken nuggets." What? 

They told me I couldn't use other examples to go with that, so I'm not. Buc-ee's. You've been to Buc-ee's? You've got to go to Buc-ee's. I'm telling you, I got saved at Buc-ee's. They had an altar call over by the roast beef, and I went over there. "Yes, Lord." Burnt sacrifice. "Hey, welcome to Buc-ee's. Come on in." What? 

Here's the way this thing works, and I'm winding this sucker down. You ready? You have a stimulus. This is the stimulus. There you go. See, sometimes you have to wait on the Lord and the tech guys. Okay, stimulus. You have a stimulus. Something happens to you. Are you with me? Something happens, usually at work, or usually in the car, usually on 98, usually when you're trying to get out of Walmart. There's a stimulus, and then before you respond, you have a moment. You have a moment. A stimulus on Facebook: You have a moment before you respond. And Paul says you take that captive. 

Philippians 4:8 says, whatever is good, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, think on these things. 

Dolly Parton passed away. You know that. I've not heard anybody say anything negative about her. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen, to be around that long. But there was something about her that was kind.

Paul says when you do those things, you will shine. 

Shine with awareness 

He says you'll shine like stars in the night. You will shine with a sense of awareness that there is somebody watching you. No matter where you are, no matter where you work, where you live, somebody is looking to you to say, "Hey, that is a good thing for me," or, "That is a bad thing for me," because you stand out. When you live under authority, and you work on being consistent, and you surrender your will to God's, and you choose joy, you're going to be different. You're going to be a stranger. You're going to be an alien. You're going to be a foreigner, because you're totally different from the people around you. 

I learned this about stars, and I'm done right here, okay? I learned this about stars this week. I'm not much of a stargazer, but I didn't know the stars are always shining. You only see them at night. That terrible place you don't want to work at, the terrible school you'd prefer not to go to, may be the very place that is dark enough for your light to shine so that others might come to know, love, and follow Jesus. 

Would you bow your heads for just a moment? You've been so attentive. I want to encourage you today to keep going. I know things knock you down. I know, "I'm going under." Listen, in the right time, God will raise you up. Don't stop working on your faith. Don't stop praying. Don't stop reading. Don't stop serving, because there is more for you and in you. 

In just a moment, I'm going to pray. We're going to sing. There are crosses you can come to. There are people who will pray with you and encourage you. But I'm going to invite you to think about your life. You have a moment to think about getting the most out of your relationship with God. 

Father, we thank you today. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. But God, we also thank you for the power you've given us. You said no temptation has overtaken us except what is common to us, and in every temptation, you give us a way out. You give us hope. You give us strength. You give us love. So, Father, help us press on. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.