Welcome to the Crazy Love Podcast. Well, the new year is well underway and many of us have set some goals or made some resolutions for things that we want to see happen in 2023.

But as Francis teaches in today's episode, the new year is a wonderful time to take a step back from your life and ask yourself, am I living with a reverence for God?

Am I willing to obey whatever he's speaking to me this year through his word? Like Paul instructed in the book of Philippians, we pray that this teaching encourages you to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For a lot of us, we like new starts, right? I love to start over. I love screwing something up and go, okay, but I could start over now, you know, and go, okay, at this point forward, I'm not going to mess it up this time.

I love starting over and I've been praying because I'm thinking, you know what, this is the week where some of you will make some decisions that will actually stick.

This is the week where you evaluate and go, man, I thought I was going to do this and this and this and now suddenly a year has passed already.

And I never got to it. I never got there. And we do this again and again in our relationship with God. But every once in a while, there are people who say, you know what, that's it, that's it.

I'm not going to have another year like this. This is the end of it. I refuse. I refuse to do that over again.

And maybe others of you, you walk with the Lord has been really good. You're going, man, are you kidding me? I'm a new person. I'm a new creation right on. Keep on in that journey. But there's others of you that you know, you know what, this is it.

It's time for the change. It's time for the next step. It's time for something different to break out. And so I've been praying for you.

And this week has been so good for me because it's one of the most restful weeks I've had all year. And it's actually given me some time to think and think about life and think about direction.

And this passage I tell you has had such an impact on me these next. I had a whole sermon, you know, put together, you know, for about 15 verses or so in last service, we got into the first two verses.

And we got so into it. It was like, you know what, let's just, let's just stick with these two verses and call that a day because it is so heavy. It is so deep. But it's so wonderful what God says. What Paul says here in Philippians 2, verse 12.

He says, therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed so now, not only is in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Now, remember a few things. Remember, remember what Paul has just spoken about. We've been talking about this for the last few weeks. So you should remember it. Philippians 2 verses 5 through 11 right before this is what we talked about at the Christmas service last week about God, Jesus not holding on to this Godhood, not considering equality with God something to be grasped, but how we emptied himself and he made himself nothing. He took a form of a servant.

He came down on the earth. That's what we celebrate at Christmas, but not only to make himself nothing. He took this form of a servant where he's washing the disciples feet. Eventually he submits himself to death, even death on a cross where he's tortured for your sake, dying for your sin.

And then in verse 9 it says, 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, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And so we just look at that and then so Paul says, therefore in light of that, in light of what Jesus did, he goes, my beloved, as you've always obeyed so now, not only in my presence, but much more my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

He's saying Jesus was the example for us, like I talked about on Christmas, because he modeled that type of humble obedience. Remember Jesus in the garden? Remember Jesus before he was going to be crucified, he's praying to the Father and he's so intense that blood is literally coming out from his skin just from the intensity of his prayer going, God, is there any other way?

Is there any other way? Is there any other way? But not my will, but yours be done. Here he clearly, it's hard to explain like, okay, how there is a sense of Jesus wasn't going, okay, good, I get to go to the cross today.

Absolutely, there was a sense in which, no, for the joy set before him, he went to the cross, but there's also their side of, I don't want to go through this, is there any other way, Father?

But then ultimately goes, no, but not my will, you've got a bigger plan. Your will is more important than mine. What do you want me to do?

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