Conversation - with Pastor Jared & Pastor Robby - Citizens of Heaven Launch

In this episode, Pastor Robby sits down with Pastor Jared to introduce our sermon series, “Citizens of Heaven: A Journey Through the Letter to the Philippians.” Together, they explore the background, purpose, and powerful themes of Paul’s letter—unpacking what it truly means to live with a Kingdom mindset in a world pulling us in the opposite direction.

This conversation dives into real-life questions about faith and identity:

•  How can we recognize when we’re building our lives on the wrong kingdom? 
•  What does it look like to experience joy that’s rooted in something bigger than ourselves? 
•  How do we hold onto confidence in God when we feel stuck or discouraged? 
•  What are the true markers of spiritual growth—and how can we measure them without becoming overly critical? 
•  And how can we avoid climbing the “wrong ladder” in life, even as committed Christians? 

Plus, in our Real Questions, Real Answers segment, we ask a challenging question:
If Jesus evaluated our church today, what might He confront us about?

Whether you’re new to the Bible or have been walking with Christ for years, this episode sets the foundation for a transformative journey through Philippians—calling us to live with purpose, joy, and Kingdom clarity.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes podcast, where our mission is connecting all to Christ to become healthy in God and courageous in love. In Twai 26, we're emphasizing a kingdom mindset in all of our ministries and missions by being more like Jesus and countercultural in our living. Today's podcast launches our newest sermon series, Citizens of Heaven, a journey through Philippians. Let's join Pastor Jared and Pastor Robbie as they talk about Paul's letter to the Church of Philippi. Be blessed.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Welcome to another Kingdom Conversation. I'm Pastor Robbie Strock, and today we are launching our newest series in 2026 called Citizens of Heaven. And we're really going to be journeying throughout the Epistle Philippians. And we're going to go all out on this series using, you know, our sermons, Kingdom Conversations, which both can be found right here on this podcast feed. And even in our small group studies, we're going to learn together, discover together, be edified by the word of God through the Apostle Paul. And to help lead us in all of this is my friend and our lead pastor here at Church of Lakes, Jared Preeseid. How are you doing, Jared? I'm doing well. Good. It's good to see you. So let's get started. Let's dive in, will we? Can you help introduce the book of Philippians maybe to someone who has never known much about it or read it? Um, let's talk some logistics. Who wrote it? Who was the audience? What was its intended purpose? Maybe some of the overarching themes. Why don't you why don't you launch a soft chair?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Thank you so much. I'd love to. Uh Philippians, let me just say out of the gate, it's probably my favorite letter Paul wrote to the early church. Really?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

I don't know if I've heard you say that before.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

It is. And I think one reason it is, although uh just as an aside, uh every new new letter I meant is always my favorite letter. But but Philippians may actually be my favorite letter letter. And the reason I love it so much is because Paul is writing this from inside of a prison cell. And yet it is a letter that it just exudes joy. Joy. That's the key word, right, from the series. It is, and it's very startling, uh, particularly for you know me, you, uh listeners, because we we find ourselves, the majority of us find ourselves immersed in the American culture, society. And uh we often will chase or pursue happiness, and we we settle for that. And you know, the way we defined in our sermons happiness is just an elusive feeling that's contingent on circumstance, context, or company. Whereas joy is this inner state of being that really is contingent on your proximity to Christ and your participation in the kingdom of God. And so the fact that Paul, in the midst of a very dire circumstance, is still writing a letter that is just full, just full with joy, exudes joy, is startling uh for us in America because that's we'd be like, hold on a second. He he's filled with joy, he's speaking of the joy of the Lord, uh, he's extending joy to this audience, this church, this congregation, and yet he's in a prison cell. That doesn't line up what's going on here. And so, right off the the on the front end, you're like, I want to hear what he's saying, and I want to learn more about where to find uh such a uh deep-rooted joy in my life. And so, Paul, as I said, he wrote this letter uh to the church in Philippi. Uh, Paul was a pastor of that church, he founded that church uh back in goodness, maybe AD 60. Um, it came about on a missionary journey. Uh he was taking uh modern-day Turkey by storm for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was spreading like wildfire. And uh the way he uh did his missionary journeys, it was very strategic. He would hit the major uh cities or the seaports. Right, because so many people would be traversing through those areas, very concentrated areas of population. He'd preach the gospel, and then uh the hope was he would win some souls for the Lord, and then they would take this message of Jesus back in their communities and it would spread throughout the continent uh in that manner. And so Paul's on his secondary missionary journey. He's up northwest in modern-day Turkey, uh, and he's trying to severe south along the western seacoast, and the scriptures in Acts 16 say that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from going south. So Paul is telling his team to take a time out for some unknown reason to him. The Spirit does not want them to go south. So let's stay at Troaz, city in Turkey, and just discern what our next step should be. And so, as if you were to read Acts chapter 16, the biblical narrative records that while Paul was sleeping, he had a vision of a man in Macedonia pleading for him to come help them. Uh, Macedonia, modern-day Greece. So Paul wakes up, he says, Hey, we got the assignment from the Spirit. We're supposed to go further west into another continent, into Europe. And so he lands in the leading city of Macedonia named Philippi. And uh another piece of Paul's strategy when it comes came to proclaiming the good news of Jesus was he would not only hit major areas, seaports, cities, but when he when he touched down in those places, he would go to the synagogue first. Let me preach the gospel to Jews, my fellow Jews, see if I can get them convinced that Jesus was actually is actually the savior, the fulfillment of the prophecies of old. And uh some would uh affirm and be thankful for Paul's message, others would run him out of the synagogue, and then he'd go to the Gentiles. Well, in Philippi, there is no synagogue. And so what Paul does is he goes down to the river uh where people are praying, and while he's down there, he meets a very wealthy businesswoman named Lydia. Uh, to make the long story shorter, uh, preaches the gospel, she receives it, uh gets baptized along with her family. From there, uh Paul encounters a slave girl that is possessed by an evil spirit who gives her the ability to predict the future. She's exploited by her master because of her ability to predict the future. Uh, Paul is so agitated, the Bible tells us, that he casts the spirit out of this girl, which ticks off her masters, right? He's messing with their money now, which you never want to do. Uh, and so uh long and short as he ends up in prison after being beaten. And it's while in prison, going back to joy being a uh a state, uh inner state of the soul and not contingent on circumstance. Acts 16 tells us while he's in prison with his ministry partner Silas, they're singing songs and hymns and praying to God. And an earthquake takes place, the chains fall off, there's a jailer that is terrified, the prisoners have run off, so he's about to kill himself. Paul says, Don't we're all here. Uh, jailer kneels trembling at Paul's feet and asks the question, What must I do to be saved? Paul gives the gospel. That man is saved, baptized he and his family. His family, too. That's the start of the church in Philip, uh Philippi. It is Lydia, it is the slave girl, it is this blue-collar jailer.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

And the demographics of that group very diverse.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah. Which is awesome because that's the kingdom of God. It is a people of diversity, all rooted and unified under the lordship and authority of Jesus Christ. Um that's what started the church. Uh, and then Paul uh was there for several years to establish that church, and then he set off on other missionary journeys. And so the letter that he's writing to them came years later when he was under um uh house arrest, when he was incarcerated, waiting to die. He was getting a letter out to the Philippians. And this it is a letter of encouragement, uh, it is a letter of love. People will call this Paul's love letter to the church, uh, as he speaks to you know how how they are endeared to him, but also uh he speaks to them about um the significance, significance of Christ and the love you know Christ first has for him and them that preceded his love for them.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Well, I don't want to monopolize the whole entire conversation with this theme because we've preached on this many times here at Church or Lakes, but can you give us just a quick overview of why Paul has joy in the midst of maybe an unhappy moment? Because joy and happiness are not equitable to each other, are they?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

No, they're not.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

What's the difference between the two?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Well, like we said earlier, happiness is fleeting, it's an elusive emotion. Uh that again, if I can say it one more time, is just it's contingent on circumstance, context, and and company. Joy is not. Uh joy, you can find joy in a prison cell if you have Jesus. And so, you know, one of the prevailing themes I think in Philippians is just Paul trying to remind the believers there in us today uh to have a Jesus-centered vision of life. Uh Jesus is is in all and the end of all. You know, it is all about Christ and keeping your eyes fixated on him and keeping an eternal perspective. So, you know, maybe a grim in dire circumstance like Paul is finding himself in does not paralyze, you know, uh we we can still be joyful in the midst of this because of Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Well, I'm so interested because our theme for this year in 2026 here at Church of the Lakes is to help our congregation realize that the kingdom of God is countercultural to the kingdom that we find ourselves in here on earth. And you highlighted that in your sermon, Jared. You said that our joy rises and falls based on which one of these kingdoms we find ourselves living for and living not in, but for. Yes. That's that's a key distinction. So, what are some real life indicators uh that someone is unintentionally building their life on the wrong kingdom? Can you kind of give us some milestones, some markers here to help us identify which kingdom we're living for by the maybe the fruits that we're producing, maybe by or the situations we find ourselves in, so on and so forth?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Well, I I think you know, you can very quickly ascertain what kingdom you're living for by asking yourself the question uh what are my eyes primarily fixed on? What am I daily pre pursuing, maybe even in a in an aggressive manner? Uh you know, a lot of people, particularly in the suburbs of America, you know, we we have rooted our lives in a kingdom of comfort. We're comfort creatures. We want our we want the things that make us comfort comfortable, or you know, us some others, uh you know, it's about the kingdom of self where I want to develop a name for me. And maybe that's by it amassing wealth or materialism or living in a really nice house in a really nice neighborhood that that gives the uh the um illusion of uh significance and influence. Sure. Uh or it's you know, maybe it's you you're building a kingdom for yourself at the office because you're trying to climb the corporate ladder to reach the top, uh, wherever whatever that top is. And the problem with with rooting your life in primarily in any of those things, because none of those things are wrong in and of themselves, but when they become your primary thing, the concern is um they can all they're they're all fragile, they could they can all disappear overnight. You know, we can lose money in the blink of an eye, we can get canned from our job, uh, we can lose our family, heaven forbid, due to any unforeseen circumstances. Um, so on and so forth. So if we build our lives on any of those types of kingdoms and we lose them because they become our primary identity marker, uh-oh. Our world has come crashing down. Uh that's very different than rooting your life in the kingdom of God, which is steadfast and eternal.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

And this is an echo of a theme that we've got. We we study this in the Sermon on the Mount, uh, building our life upon the rock as opposed to the shifting sand when Jesus gives us that illustration in Matthew 7. Um, but Jared, you also said one of the fruits of living for the kingdom of God is joy, which is why Paul, and specifically why we're going to dive into joy throughout these next couple weeks throughout our uh sermon series. But Jared, I'm I'm just you know, there there are moments in life when we experience euphoric joy. All right. What makes the joy of the kingdom of God more everlasting, more sufficient to build upon, so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

You make me laugh. Probably the the greatest moment of my life that I tell people is when I saw my first child, Margaret, take her her first breath in this world. It was a euphoric moment.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And then for the next two years, I was knee-deep in dirty diapers, you know, like uh not not too euphoric in those moments, right? Uh if if I could be so crass, the kingdom of God doesn't have dirty diapers. You know, you know, though the Lord has given us uh, you know, I have come to give that you may have life and have life to the fullest. And so that that that life to the fullest is really rooted in relationship with him. Um you know, it's it's in relationship with the one who gave himself so we could live and live abundantly and live eternally. Um I'm thinking I'm forgetting your question. No, it's just off on the dirty diaper.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Uh I love the personal illustration, but with the everlasting joy that is so no, it's perfect. It's perfect. Which, you know, if if can we do something we haven't done on this podcast yet? Yeah. I want to read a scripture from Philippians 1, one that we just went through. Um, and I I want to specifically look at verse six. Okay, because it's evident that God has some pretty big plans for his people. And I I just I just here here it is Philippians one, six. This is the apostle Paul uh written through the Spirit of the Lord. I'm confident of this, Paul writes. He says that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is evident, Jared, that God is gonna finish what he started. But how do we actually live with that confidence when so often in the suburbia we feel stuck, stagnant, discouraged because we're constantly settling for comfort or for whatever it may be?

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah. Uh when I preached this, I you know, I specifically looked at that verse. I talked about the reason we know that God will finish what he started is because it's it's it's the reality of that truth is rooted in two historical events the the the cross and the empty tomb. Uh Christ went on the went to the cross to shed his blood for our the salvation, for our salvation, salvation of our souls. The empty tomb is the the point of affirmation. It's God's declaration that I have accepted the work of the cross for the salvation of humanity. And so we know we can be confident that God will finish what he started because it they're linked, they're tied together with those two historical events. Yeah, those two historical realities. Um, you know, we are not the author of our salvation, nor are we the finisher of it. Christ is. And so um we can have confidence not because we're fickle and fragile, but because our God is steadfast and faithful, and our confidence is laid up in him and not in ourselves, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

It does, but it also brings up an interesting point because how do we know we're not building the wrong type of house on the wrong foundation? And like use the illustration from your sermon, once again, which you can listen to right here on this feed, of climbing the ladder, trying to achieve joy instead of receive joy, as you said it. So climbing the ladder, when we find it that it's a built or put up against the wrong type of house, what are some subtle ways that we can uh not only evaluate, but then maybe shift so that we build our lives on something that is more firm, which is the blood of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, I I think the illustration I gave, you know, I talked about how so many of us will try to climb the ladder of success by attaining more, by gaining more influence or by amassing wealth or materialism for ourselves, only to reach the top of the ladder to realize it was leaning on the wrong building.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

I I think if if if you as a listener are in that predicament where you've gotten the top of the ladder and you've realized you're leaning on the wrong building, uh I would start with repentance and say, Lord, I screwed up. Uh we we we serve a God not only of the second chance, but the God of another chance.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Another and another and an chance.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

And another and another and another. Um and so that that's where I would start. Uh the second is repent, uh repentance is this act of stopping what you're doing and turning and going the other way. So maybe climb down the ladder, right? Or uh I mean, it could it be that easy? Just pivot. Like, you know, our God, you know, our God is so great, He can not only redeem this moment, but He can redeem past moments. You know, because our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He can redeem our present, our past, and our the future we walk into. Um, and so that that's where I would start. Okay, you you you've thought you were chasing joy doing these things, but it really was just chasing an elusive emotion called happiness, and you've gotten to the point where you realize, wow, I'm still unsatisfied and empty. Well, acknowledge that, repent, climb down the ladder and go the other way and pursue Christ. Turn your eyes to Jesus. And and he will he has a way of working it all out.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

But it begs the question, then how does our relationship with the church change then? Because if we're no longer pursuing happiness with our daily lives, instead we're working for something bigger, the kingdom of God. How does the church as a collective whole, as a corporate whole, factor into this whole entire thing?

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah, I I think the church is coming alongside the Lord and partnering with the Lord and what the Lord is doing, and that's expanding His kingdom on earth. Uh, you know, we we are called as the ambassadors of Christ to push back darkness uh in and spread the light of Christ in all of our circles of influence. The church helps us in that that endeavor. The church is a place we can come and we we can uh not only gain knowledge, but we can practice our faith in visible ways and be formed and shaped uh in a way to be able to go out that into our mission field, uh you know, in our circles of influence, and and and bring into those spaces what we're learning in the training ground we call the church.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Yeah. So I'm excited to get into Philippians also. Paul has a lot of insight as to the joy in which we can find that's everlasting. And I'm sorry, if there's one thing this world needs more of, it's joy. It's it's everlasting joy, though. Because we chase one thing after another, and it's so ironic that we'll run ourselves ragged, yet we won't recognize where true joy will come from at times.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Uh and maybe the reason we don't, and this is just me spitballing, uh, it's because we don't want to surrender. Yeah. Going back to the Latin series we did. Like, like the problem with the kingdom of God is we don't we we don't have control in the kingdom of God. Sure. It's God's kingdom. Praise the Lord, we don't have control by the way. It's but it's God's kingdom. Yeah. Every other kingdom we can put South on the throne of those kingdoms. Yes. But but what we always do, and we do this and we're not imbeciles, we just we we were always disappointed, but we're unwilling because of this issue of surrender, to be willing to be subservient into someone else's kingdom. Even though, as indicated in the biblical narrative, it's in that kingdom, the kingdom of God, where where this unparalleled, steadfast, everlasting joy is found.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Well, it's thank you, Jared, for bringing this up because I'm sure our listeners, if you go back to our very first kingdom conversation, you'll begin to see a theme that we're building on. There's a reason why we started in the Sermon Amount. There's a reason why we went on to surrender, specifically at the altar throughout our lens series, and now we're naturally going into joy. Like, Jared, walk us through why we're doing this. It should be self-evident, but like obviously we're discovering the kingdom of God, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

And then what's next through the surrender part, which leads to joy? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Is that how it all lines up? Is it that simple? You know, living in the the the the identity that we are given in Christ. And in part of what that identity, you know, if we if we primarily put Root our identity and our relationship with Christ, a natural outflow of that is joy. That's kind of where we're going with the natural flow of things. You know, the Sermon on the Mount has given us this depiction of okay, this is what life in the kingdom of God looks like. Uh Len is, you know, at this series on on surrender is okay. You want to be part of this kingdom, you you need to lay it on the altar, go to the altar to be altered. You need to surrender to the king. And uh now, hopefully, that you have surrendered to the king, well, here's some of the fruit of what you will experience being immersed in that kingdom joy. Uh uh, ever like you said, everlasting, steadfast joy uh that we do not get in the different kingdoms of this world that we are always trying to navigate in and out of.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

And this is this letter specifically is just a wonderful illustration how the outside world can look at the people within the church, maybe who are withstanding some terrible health circumstances, the loss of family, the loss of a job, the loss of whatever. Where the world would expect grief, we yet that are in Christ can experience joy. And people take notice of that, don't they?

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah, and that joy could be grieving, but but not grieving to the point of despair, grieving with hope.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Right? Um that joy could be found if you lose your job, you know you know presenting yourself not as your entire world is crashing down around you, but but living with a peace that okay, God will provide, God will open a new door. Um I don't think that's just being Pollyanna. No, I don't think so either. It's sticking to the promises of the scriptures, of what those in Christ Jesus are offered, are given as an inheritance of heaven.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Well, thanks, Shared. That's why I'm excited to get in the Philippians. It's just uh another way for us to take advantage of um how our God works and use it for the goodness of sharing that good news with other people because people will take notice, and that's our opportunity to really share the gospel message and say, Well, you know what, let me tell you why. Even though in this sad moment I can I can I can have joy. Um can I make one more quick connection beginning of Philippians 1?

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Um Paul starts most of his letters out to the early church uh with offering an opening greeting where he, you know, hi I am Paul, and then he gives him their his primary identity marker. And you see this in Philippians, he says, you know, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, then to all the saints who are in Christ Jesus. That Greek word there is doulas, and it can also be translated as slaves. And to me, it's very interesting, and I think it speaks to the natural progression of what we've been doing this year with these kingdom conversations, is that Paul's I um primary identity marker is not that he's a religious elite, religious titan, not that he's an influential person, not that he's a tent maker, but that he's a servant, a slave of Christ Jesus. So he's already just in verse one with that greeting, setting up the stage that I am not one who represents my own kingdom. I I am one who represents a higher authority of me than me because I'm a servant, I'm a slave, and that is Christ Jesus. Okay, let me let me share with you now uh why that why it's so good to be a servant or a slave to Christ Jesus. And this is one of the things you inherit, this this um everlasting joy.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

And I'm sure people can connect the dots from your beautiful uh retelling of Acts, because I'm sure people could understand why maybe some of the people at the church in Philippi have such an attraction to Paul because he through Jesus, you know, God through him transformed their lives, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

So so sometimes we become attracted to those people because uh of their or you know, their uh orientation to the Lord. Yes. But it's but people fall into the trap of then worshiping Paul instead of God, and and Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, I'm a servant of God, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah, and also I think too, along with that, Paul was not a man who lived in an ivory tower. So like when he speaks of joy, again, he's speaking of this everlasting joy while in prison, while being persecuted for his faith. Okay, I want to listen to that guy now. Right. How does he have that kind of joy when he's in the midst of that persecution when I can't even seem to hold on to happiness when my life is going well? And I feel like, you know, empty and the walls are crashing in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Well, Jared, thank you for helping us uh launch our sermon series. We'll circle back around at the end and kind of summarize it. But I would encourage everyone to get involved, not only in our Sunday sermon series, but our small groups to dive in deeper to the uh gospel narrative that's really illustrated throughout the whole entire book of Philippians. But uh, let's end today with uh my favorite segment that we always do each week, which is real questions and real answers. Um we have a question submitted um that you do not know, you haven't read, you have no idea, but I think it's I think it's a good one. Um here it is. Jared, if Jesus evaluated our church, now that's the church universal, I'm taking it today, what would he confront us about? So once again, if Jesus evaluated our church today, what would he confront us, the people that call ourselves Christians, what what would he confront us about the most?

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Well, I'm not sure I I I I could generalize that letter in in the church collectively gl around the globe. Because I I think you know my experience with the church in other pockets of our world is very different than the church I'm accustomed to in America. So I I may bring it down to just the church in America to answer this question. Um I think he might have a conversation with us over our lukewarmness.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Ah man, we're gonna get to that book later in the year.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yeah, Revelation, the church in the letter to the church in Laodicea about their lukewarmness, you know, trying to live with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. You gotta be all or it's all or none. Um he might also, you know, look at us and have a conversation about uh to consider have we lost our first love? You know, I think at the particularly the suburban church, we're so I I guess in our culture right now, we are so enamored with being busy. And you ask somebody how they're doing, they'll say the same thing, good but really busy. And I always want to ask the question, busy doing what? Right? I I think that can can happen in the church as well. We can get too busy doing the things that aren't intentionally living out our mission to connect people to Christ Jesus. Uh when I left law enforcement back in 2007, um one of my brothers in Christ that was on my squad, Lonnie Dussett, uh, he met with me at a 7-Eleven. It was the last day I was on my shift. It was probably 4-4-30 in the morning. And we were just sitting there talking about, you know, the future. He was, you know, going to continue on with law enforcement. He was, you know, at that point well over 20 years into it, and I was getting right ahead into vocational ministry. And he said something that will probably stay with me till the day I die. He said, Jared, it's good you're going in to be a minister. We we need good pastors in the pulpit. He went on to say, though, but don't get so caught up with the work of the Lord that you forget about the Lord of the work. Let me say that one more time. He said, Don't get so caught up in the work of the Lord that you forget about the Lord of the work. And I think if Paul was gonna write us a letter, he'd ask us, have you lost your first love? Have you been so busy doing things, activities, events? That might be good. That might be good. But but have you lost the purpose behind why you're doing them? Have you lost your first love? And um I I you know, yeah, that's a good question. And it's a question I continually actually go back to all the time, is is making sure I'm being purposeful with everything I'm doing in my own spiritual formation and trying to help other people be spiritually formed, is is we cannot forget the reason we're doing what we're doing as we as we seek to be transformed and changed from one degree of glory to the next in the person of Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Well, thanks, Jared, for always being as authentic and just beautiful illustrations from your own life to help us all learn. Um, once again, if you'd like to submit a question for our real question, real answer segment, please email us at podcast at churchrelaces.org. We'd love to be able to read your question out right here and let Jared take a crack at it. Um, and as always, you know, our podcast doesn't just end here. We're gonna continue on. We're gonna focus heavily not only throughout this sermon series on the book of Philippians, but I'm excited to announce that our next couple of episodes are gonna be focused on our foster care ministry partners here at Church of Lakes. We're gonna be interviewing um not only a foster care giver, a licensed foster caregiver. Actually, it's Jared's wife, Meredith, as Jared is obviously still uh involved heavily in the foster care. But Meredith has a unique perspective showing us what it looks like before and after having a care community. I think she helps illustrate that beautifully. And then also we have uh, you know, a foster sibling. I'm gonna call Maggie. She's gonna come on and talk about what it's like as a kid of a foster caregiver, um, what that looked like, what that feels like, how how do you rationalize some of those feelings and emotions, especially from some of our young people? And of course, Maggie's so eloquent and how she shares. And then we're gonna focus in with uh Hope Bridge, which is one of our fantastic ministry partners in the foster care network. And of course, we're gonna talk about Royal Family Kids Camp. You can't start and stop the conversation with foster care here at Church of Lakes without our ministry in July, where we take kids from the foster care network outdoors uh for a whole week, not only to give respite to those foster care families, but more importantly, you know, as the founder of RFKC says, share the cathedral of the outdoors about how God is revealed in nature and share how God can make a difference in their lives. So I hope you tune in for this special four-week kind of uh focus on our foster care ministry. But before we go today, I just want to say a big thank you to Betsy, our director of communication, Len Brown, our editor, my wife Stephanie for getting this up and running. If it if you want to reach out once again, submit a question, please send an email to me at podcast at church of the lakes.org. We'd love to hear from you. But before we go, please remember, as Jared already beautifully said, it's our mission as followers of disciples of Jesus to connect all to Christ, to become healthy in God and courageous in love. And until next time, God bless.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Thanks for listening to this episode from Church of the Lakes with Pastor Jared Priestett and Pastor Robbie Strock. If today's message encouraged you and helped you grow as a devoted follower of Christ, we invite you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also help others discover this podcast by leaving a five-star rating or review and sharing it with your friends, family, coworkers, and others in your circle of influence. We're also grateful for your generosity, which helps make messages like this available to more people. If you feel led to give, please check the link in the description. And if you're in the Canton Ohio area, we would love to invite you to join us in person on Sunday and worship together. To learn more about Church of the Lakes, visit Church of the Lakes.org or click the web link in the description. Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.