Always Carrying the Dying of Jesus
September 6, 2015 · 2 Corinthians
Scripture referenced 17 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Psalm 147:1 Opening verse quoted before the singing: 'how good to sing praises to our God, how delightful and how fitting'
1 Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.
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Keep this verse
1 Corinthians 1:18-19
Quoted to show the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are being saved
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
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2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Recap of earlier sermons: 'blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction'
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
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2 Corinthians 1:20
Recap: 'for all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus'
20 For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us.
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2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Recap of earlier passage on unity through forgiveness so the body of Christ would not be outwitted by Satan
5 But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.
6 This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;
7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
8 Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.
9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.
10 Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
11 that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
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2 Corinthians 2:14
Recap: 'thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession'
14 Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
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2 Corinthians 3
Recap of old covenant versus new covenant, Moses ministry of transient glory versus Paul's ministry of surpassing glory
1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God;
5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;
6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away;
8 won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.
11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face, that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
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2 Corinthians 3:16-18
When one turns to the Lord the veil is removed; where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom; we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another
16 But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
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2 Corinthians 4:1
Main text: 'therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart'
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
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2 Corinthians 4:2
Main text: 'we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways, we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, by the open statement of the truth'
2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
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2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Main text: 'even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing; the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers'
3 Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying;
4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
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2 Corinthians 4:5-6
Main text: 'what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as lord'; 'God who said let light shine out of the darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'
5 For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake;
6 seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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2 Corinthians 4:7
Main text: 'we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us'
7 But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
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2 Corinthians 4:8-10
Main text: 'afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the dying of Jesus'
8 We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;
9 pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
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John 17
Recap: Jesus prayed for the unity of believers; used alongside the passage on forgiveness and unity
1 Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4 I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
5 Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6 I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
8 for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
14 I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
19 For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20 Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
22 The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.
24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
26 I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
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Genesis 1
Referenced when Paul says 'God who said let light shine out of the darkness,' pointing back to creation
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
8 God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
10 God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.
11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.
12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20 God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
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1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Quoted during communion: the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, broke it, said this is my body broken for you; the cup is the new covenant in his blood; as often as you eat and drink you proclaim the Lord's death
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came from 2 Corinthians 4, with Pastor leading the congregation through a passage about why the church does not lose heart even under sustained pressure. He built on several weeks of groundwork in 2 Corinthians and brought the service to a close with communion.
What was said
the preacher opened with a quick recap of the letter so far. Paul's consistent starting point is grace and peace. He blesses God as the father of mercies who comforts his people through affliction so they can comfort others. The reason God allows those hard times, Paul says plainly, is to move people away from relying on themselves and toward relying on God. The recap also revisited the old covenant versus new covenant contrast: the law written on stone could only show people where they failed, while the new covenant has Christ writing on human hearts. The gospel is not "do better, keep the law." It is that Jesus kept the law perfectly and offers that righteousness to anyone who will receive it.
From there Pastor moved to the section he had not finished the previous week. When someone turns to the Lord, the veil that covered the old covenant is removed, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Christians, with that veil gone, are beholding the glory of God and being transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another. Pastor paused on the word glory, noting it has been so "churchified" that it loses its force. It means the fully deserved renown that God actually has coming to Him, not flattery but honest recognition of who He is.
The sermon then turned to 2 Corinthians 4 itself. Paul says that because he received this ministry the same way he received mercy, undeservedly, he does not lose heart. He had been an enemy of Christ, he knew it, and yet he accepted the mission. That is why pressure does not knock him over. He also states clearly what he refuses to do: walk in craftiness or tamper with God's word. Pastor illustrated this with his friend Chip Atkinson, who worked briefly at a car dealership and was told he needed to be more "crafty." Chip went home, looked up every instance of craftiness in the Bible, found it was always the devil's work or something Paul explicitly rejected, and quit that day. The open statement of the truth, Paul says, is what commends a minister to every person's conscience before God.
If the gospel still sounds veiled to some people, Paul's explanation is that the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The preacher walked through the cluster of light language in the passage, connecting it back to creation: the same God who said "let light shine out of darkness" has now shone in believers' hearts to give them the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul says what he proclaims is not himself but Jesus Christ as Lord, with himself as a voluntary bond servant. A bond servant, the preacher explained, is one who has already worked off his debt but then chose to stay and serve. That is the posture Paul takes toward both Christ and the Corinthians.
The passage then lists the pressures Paul and his companions live under, and the preacher argued that the Greek participles matter here. "Being hard pressed," "being perplexed," "being persecuted," "being struck down" are all continuous present-tense actions. They are ongoing. What keeps each one from becoming final, crushed, despairing, forsaken, destroyed, is God. Each of those participles has to attach to an actual verb, and Pastor traced them down to it: "so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest."
The phrase "in the body" drew the most attention. Most English translations render it as a plural, "our bodies," but the preacher argued the Greek is singular, "this, our body," with an intensifier. Paul is not simply cataloguing his personal suffering or bragging about his scars. He is speaking of the body of Christ, the church. The whole community, together, carries around the dying of Jesus, because that death is the only thing that actually holds the church together. The subjunctive verb "might be made manifest" carries real weight: God wills to show Christ's life in the body, but there is a contingent human side to it. Whether His life is actually seen in this congregation depends on whether the congregation keeps that dying of Jesus at the center.
Pastor moved directly from that observation into communion, reading from 1 Corinthians 11. Paul says that as often as the church eats the bread and drinks the cup, it proclaims the Lord's death until He comes. That act of proclaiming is the same word used throughout the passage for what Paul does everywhere he goes. The table is where the body of Christ, across all its different backgrounds and theological wrinkles, finds its one point of unity.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor talked about receiving this ministry the same way we receive mercy, undeservedly and without earning it. How does seeing your role in the church that way change how you think about serving or showing up?
- Paul says we refuse to practice cunning or tamper with God's word, and the Chip Atkinson story showed what that looks like in an ordinary work situation. Where in your own life do you feel pressure to be crafty rather than just tell the truth?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 15,925 words
0:00
Good to see you. What do you say we stand up? We'll we'll begin singing here. Warm up a little bit to God. I I've got a verse I wanna share.
0:05
It's from Psalm one forty seven. It is, how good to sing praises to our God. How delightful and how fitting. When we we get here, we got an opportunity to draw close to God. So what do you say?
0:19
Let's sing. Alright. All creatures. Lord, we thank you for this new morning, for a new day. Thank you that you've given us breath in our lungs, you've given us life, and we wanna praise you.
3:00
We wanna wanna be a blessing to you. Would you bless all parts of our meeting together here and tune our hearts in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. You can have a seat.
3:11
Got a a few announcements. Actually, this is fall kickoff season, so we have a lot of announcements this morning. And I try to get through em as quickly as I can. So, here we go. First B, women's study for the autumn of twenty fifteen is happening on Wednesdays from ten to twelve.
3:26
They're studying Romans together. Romans. So it's how to be right with God, with yourself, and with others. Old Bills Fun Run. This is happening next weekend and Chuck is going to talk just a second and we're going to have a short video about the Good Samaritan Mission but Old Bills is a way that you can amplify your given to nonprofits in town.
3:49
Good Samaritan being one of those, First B being one of those. So, consider that and it's not hard to do. It's easy to do and I will have some of their paraphernalia afterwards. Awana is starting up September 14. So, if you would like to be a listener, especially listeners, we're looking for people to listen to kids recite scripture.
4:13
How bad could it be? No, I'm just kidding. Listening to kids recite scripture. That didn't go over as well as I thought it would. Awana is a program.
4:22
We have tons of leaders that are pouring into the lives of kids and what we're primarily doing is putting scripture into their lives but we need listeners because all of the kids are trying to recite their memory verses every week and it's a great great thing. So, if you would like to be a part of it, please let me know afterwards. Monday nights at First Bee happen every Monday night at 06:15. Meal, music, and a message. Renzy coming up here means there's a youth group announcement.
4:48
Flip that slide. Alright. There it is. Solid rock. Youth ministries, we're back on for the school year with our theme of leadership.
4:56
High school, that's ninth to twelfth grade. That is going to be Friday mornings, 07:30, right? Is that when I meet with?
5:05
That's
5:05
right. Okay. 07:30 in the kitchen. That's a good time. Middle school starts on Thursday and that's 06:30 to 08:00 and we meet in the fellowship hall as well and the girls study, the Sunday morning girls study and there's also a guy study as well.
5:19
Those are kicking off today as well and those will be dismissed. Actually, guys, today, normally, you'll be dismissed when all the kids go down but today, you guys can just because there's no children's church today. You guys can just get up after the worship sets done and they're downstairs where you guys usually meet. So, girls and guys study Sunday morning, that's happening as well. So, we're in full swing of youth events kicking off.
5:41
Alright, cool. Thank you. Peak Children's Church starts next week and we've got volunteers for that and the program, all of the curriculum is decided and we're looking forward to that getting going and then other than that, check your bulletin. Actually, always check your bulletin. There's all kinds of stuff in there that is new.
6:02
I had one more announcement for the ladies fall retreat that is coming up. It just didn't make it in. That's alright. So, the ladies fall retreat is coming up October the ninth through the eleventh and Ann Stocker, would you just wave? There's Ann Stocker right there.
6:16
If you'd be interested in going ladies to this Ladies Fall Retreat, Anne is the person to talk to today and you'll be hearing more about it over the next few weeks. Alright. I'm going to invite Chuck Fidroff up, and he is the director of the Good Samaritan Mission here in town.
6:32
I'm gonna invite you to turn it on.
6:37
Got it?
6:38
It should be. Is that thing working right Checky. Okay.
6:41
You Yay. I'm gonna invite you to watch the video first, and then I'll talk.
7:06
Our mission is to provide an environment conducive to the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of those in need. And by working together with other Jackson Hole nonprofits to assist each of our residents and guests toward independent living, evidenced by self sufficiency, employability, and being a healthy and contributing member of society. Hunger and homelessness is real in Jackson Hole. The Good Samaritan mission exists to serve the hungry, hurting, and homeless in Jackson Hole. We do that by providing food, clothing, shelter, and guidance to help people become productive members of our community and move them forward.
7:58
Did you know in an average year, the Good Samaritan Mission provides 6,500 nightly bed stays in our shelter. 10,000 pounds of food are distributed through Children's Totes of Hope program. 12,500 meals are served to the hungry in our community. We provide short term housing for employed seasonal workers. The mission provides food boxes for families and individuals in need in our community when the Jackson Cupboard is closed.
8:33
We help develop life plans for self sufficiency and employability. And each week, the mission provides 30 backpacks of food for needy three to five year old children and their families.
8:52
As a former primary school teacher and guidance counselor, I was really touched by how many children are hungry. Kids really need to eat well to function, and we thought starting this at the primary level would be a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to make sure that kids get the nutrition and what they need to be successful. In 2001, the Good Samaritan Mission started providing shelf stable milk, protein, fruits, and vegetables for children in need whose parents were wanting to supplement what they already had available to them in the community. Our typical distribution day is on Tuesday and Monday night we fill 30 bags of shelf stable material. We have our Bible College volunteers who help us out during the school year and it's just a blessing to us to have all this help.
9:52
I've never really done something like this before, so it's it's pretty cool because there's, like, a lot of people who have needs and we can help even if it's just a small part, just help those people and help them get back on their feet.
10:18
The parents are appreciative. The kids can't wait to get home and see what's in the bags because we generally add a toy or a surprise or a coloring book or something that they never know what they're gonna get or when they're gonna get it.
10:32
I've been here for since my older son last year, like three years ago, and I think that this is a really amazing program.
10:43
We have 30 bags every Tuesday from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and this has been helping a lot to all our families.
10:58
To have a tot bag, it means a lot. It meant a lot. My nephew and my niece got here from Mexico and my husband had to move to Colorado to work. We were going through struggles with we did have work, but not enough because of the all the expenses that we had to pay first. So it was kinda a hard time.
11:44
And one day, my nephew pick up a bag at school, and we were so happy to have food because we were having a hard time. So that was one of the biggest one that we appreciate the bag. And every weekend, every week we waited for the bag and at least for the milk. It was really nice to have milk and and the rice. Like, we cook rice every day.
12:20
So we're very grateful for the bag, for the food.
12:31
Life happens and, you know, we are glad that we can have a place where we can go and get something when those times come.
12:39
Makes me really happy and brings joy to my heart that the Good Samaritan Mission can serve people in need in our community through the Head Start program, through very, very young children, and it's just an honor to be a part of it.
12:57
The board of directors is passionate toward helping those in need in the Jackson Hole community. Please feel free to contact any one of them. Volunteering your time and abilities is a great way to support our mission. Not only does this benefit the mission, but it also contributes to the greater Jackson Hole community at large. Volunteer opportunities are available in the following departments.
13:30
Gardening and landscape maintenance, building maintenance, custodial duties, food prep and service, Bible study, and counseling.
14:05
There's not much to say after that. That kinda said it all, but, you know, I don't know if you've went by there lately, but you'll notice new windows, a new paint job, brand new signs on the outside of the building, walk in boxes inside. We got a new furnace. Everything is being upgraded and and and made good and made nice and all that other stuff, you know? I was at a church one time and it was kind of a ecumenical church.
14:29
They're all good, you know? And and what was being said was the the preacher would preach for a little while then then somebody would go, the power of Christ compels me, and they'd hit their heart. The power of Christ compels me. The power of Christ compels me. And I didn't get much out of the whole service except that the power of Christ compelling them in that little chant that they were doing.
14:52
Out of this place, I I gave a talk a few years ago, and Greg Buckingham came on board as our board president. And he's been so proactive in getting the community involved as advocates for the mission. And that's what we're looking for is more advocates for the mission. You know, we've got the outside of the building. We got the whole building redone, but that's not important at all if we don't have transformed lives within that building.
15:20
That's what it's all about, one more transformed life. So like I like he was saying about old bills, think old bills, Good Samaritan Mission. Old bills, Good Samaritan Mission. One quick story, Michael Ratliff, he's our chef at the mission. He came out of detox from the hospital.
15:39
Mike has a new compassion and yearn for Christ. He has got one of those transformed lives because of what happened at the Good Samaritan Mission. So support the mission so we can be there to transform another life. Thank you.
16:08
Alright. Hey, would you stand with us? Let's continue to worship in song, shall we? Oh, Lord, How true. And, we're living in light of this.
22:45
And we're we're not just singing it, but we're experiencing it, experiencing grace and and forgiveness and freedom. And so, God, we wanna just pause to say, hey. What we're singing is is true, and what we're singing is life changing. Because of the cross, because of your death, because of your resurrection, because of your spirit living inside of us, here we have this this life, this freedom to live in and to live for you, to serve others, and it is a beautiful thing. So we thank you and we recognize, we pause to think about the cost.
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It wasn't free. It wasn't free. It came with great cost and so we we live in light of that. We recognize it. We sing of it.
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Amen. Oh, How great this is. I just can't help but just, get filled up thinking about how you bring life and freedom. You take us out of spiritual darkness and you place spiritual light, you adopt us as sons and daughters, and then we're free. And, God, I'm praying that we would we would walk in that freedom, that we would walk in that light and experience the real joy and the freedom that comes from it.
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By the power of the resurrection, this is possible. And this is my prayer for us as a church. God, I want us to be living as free people, free from the power of sin and just loving life, loving each other and loving you. God, we thank you for everything that you've blessed with. We we look around and and and and see just the work of your hands, everything that you're doing.
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Thank you, God, for supplying not just our our physical needs, but our spiritual needs. And and this time as we're giving back, I I I pray that we would just do so with an open hand and a joyful heart. Whatever we've resolved to to give that we would, extend to you as an act of of worship and gratitude. And so would you bless the offering, these gifts, and use them to to multiply. Use it, God, so that the gospel can can reach people not just here in Jackson, but all over the world.
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And I'm praying this confidently in Christ's name. Amen. You can be seated.
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So, that's a little different than what we usually do at this time during the during the operatory but there's one fellow who goes to church here. He doesn't come every week. He finds it incredibly frustrating to be in church with all hearing people but he's a deaf guy and he speaks ASL as his primary language. I can understand him, my frequency, and my voice. He can understand me.
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Would y'all please pray for a guy named Steve Mastro Buono. A lot of you have met him. Steve Mastro Buono. So, just be praying for him. It's a struggle and it's difficult.
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I I was going to play that video completely silent but it was just too weird. I tried it a few times. But that's what he's hearing when I'm preaching, he gets about 40% of what I say because 40 of it is written on the screen. So, be praying for Steve Mastrobono if you would and I'm going to pray for him right now. I'm terrible at sign language.
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Absolutely, completely awful. But I've just been moved by his plight, his hard time. So, anyway, I want to give you a chance to just be silent for a minute. A quick recap of second Corinthians so far. The apostle Paul's handshake, what is it?
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Everything we've seen so far is the same thing. It's grace and peace to you. In the name of the father and his son, Jesus Christ. So, always start off with grace and peace. He starts there just like he has in every other epistle we've studied and then he goes into praise.
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Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, if you're a middle school or high school girl, you go with those ladies right now if you
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want to.
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And boys.
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And guys too. That's good. I didn't know that. Good. Richard, Largie.
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Fantastic. I thought that would start next week. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction and we saw why? So that we may actually have the power to comfort others and why? Do we go through those hard times?
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He answers the question to make us rely not on ourselves but on God. Hardly ever does somebody come to God in this great and lovely time. They come to God through difficulty. Then, Paul talks about his travel plans for about a chapter. And then he ends that part with this, for all the promises of God, all of the promises God of God find their yes in Jesus.
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That's why it's through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory and each time I see glory today, I'm going to light it up on the slides today. You'll see glory and I think glory is one of those words that has been so churchified that we don't really know what it means anymore. When people are praying, it just sneaks in. We don't really know what it means but glory is the absolutely deserved, renowned, praise, fame that God actually deserves. Okay?
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He deserves it. He's not he's not egotistical. He actually deserves the glory. He deserves praise and Paul says, that's why through him we utter our amen. So be it lord to God for his glory.
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Our plans are changed by God's plans and he's willing to do that. That's what Paul saying. Then, we got to second Corinthians two five through 11 which was specifically about unity and that unity through forgiveness and as we walk through that, we saw at the end of that so that we would not be outwitted. We, the body of Christ, would not be outwitted by Satan for we're not ignorant of his designs and his designs are to split and tear apart and divide and so you got a baptist preacher that grew up in the South and we heard from the pope for crying out loud. At the end of that, calling for unity.
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Do y'all remember that? Most of y'all are home folks and you are here. Visitors, you're welcome. I know this is not this is a quick study here and they're going, why in the world would the Baptist preacher have the pope up there? What he said of the John 17 movement about unity is very very good but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.
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We talked about that and the way that we sing victory in Jesus, victory in Jesus, and we talk about the victory that's in Christ and yes, we're on the Lord's side. We're on the winning side. Yes. But this passage is about being in that triumph procession where Jesus is the victor and we are the one who has been overcome. Paul was the guy.
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Remember, with the rope around his neck In that analogy. It's a metaphor. It's very very strong, very vivid. It's the same passage where he talks about the fragrance of Christ. It's an aroma of Christ to God but it's the stench of death to some.
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So, it's either or which gets us to the message of the cross which is the message that Paul proclaims everywhere that he goes and he says in first Corinthians one hundred eighteen and nineteen, that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. It's literally the difference in death and life. We also hit this paradox for Christians that you will only experience victory in Christ in the areas that you have sincerely surrendered to Christ. Some people have called out to God for salvation and he saves and you are saved but did you notice on this last side, it says, those who are being saved is a process that he sanctifies you. It's a process that you go through.
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You'll only experience victory in Christ in the areas that you have sincerely surrendered to Christ. How many of you can witness to that truth? Amen. Me too. The message of the cross is forefront forever.
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We then got the last week and this was last week's layout and we did not get the unveiled faces. So, I'm going to quickly go through this. Old covenant and new covenant. Now, the new covenant is the new covenant in Christ blood. When we take communion today together, we'll be celebrating the new covenant in Christ blood.
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The old covenant, God wrote on tablets of stone, gave Moses the ministry, Moses ministry was of transient glory, Paul says, that is veiled. It would come to an end and it was veiled and without the letter, I mean, without the spirit, the letter kills. It is condemnation and it's temporary but the new covenant, Christ is writing on human hearts. That's the different. Tablets of stone are human hearts.
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Paul's ministry is of surpassing glory that is revealed and the spirit gives life, is righteousness, and permanence. We saw this image last week. The law is really really good at what it's good for. Letting you know what you fail at. Letting you know what you should do but you continually sometimes fail at and so, the best that the law could hope for is to let us know what our sin was.
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This is a picture of Moses with a tablet of stone and he's beating up faithful in Pilgrim's Progress and this is Jesus. The gospel is not do better. Keep the law. That's not the gospel. That's the law.
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Do better. Keep the law. Do better. Keep the law. The gospel is that Jesus kept the law.
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He lived a perfect life. He died a perfect sacrificial death for all of those who would believe. For whosoever, a very very real invitation for whosoever will put their trust in him. The gospel is not do better, keep the law. Now, this is what I skipped last week.
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I did all that so I could do this. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. When they turn to the Lord, that veil that has been there since Moses. Is removed. Now, the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
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That's what you're praying for just a minute ago. No advance copy or anything. The Lord is spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and we all, Christians, we all with unveiled face, beholding the worthwhile renowned of God. The best that we can do to lift him up, the best that we can do is still going to fall short but we exist for God's greater glory, right? We exist to raise him up higher and higher.
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We're still not going to achieve his actual height. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. That's what you were talking about. One transformed life. The transformation, the sanctification process that God does through the death of Jesus, the dying of Jesus on the cross.
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For sin, he is sanctifying us but we're only going to experience that victory to the extent or in the areas that we have surrendered to him. So, we're being transformed into the same image, the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another. A baby has one degree of glory. Some child who can talk, maybe you think this is going backwards but I think it's going forwards. A child that can talk has a different degree of glory.
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Somebody who is growing up has a different degree. When they accept Christ, that is a completely different, unparalleled new glory but as you progress in the walk of faith, it's one degree of glory to another and it's not for other men to see it. You're experiencing the glory of God because he's transforming your life. That's good. That's good.
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That the work has been done. The debt is paid. It's been paid in full. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. That brings us to this week's message.
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So, that was all prolegomenal and this is this week's message and it is not a how to message. It is not a finger wagging message. It's not pointing out what you do this, do that because Paul doesn't have any imperatives in this section. In fact, from two fourteen, the the section break and he's digressing on the goodness and the glory of God. Are is everybody with me?
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You think so? Alright. We're good. Therefore, having this ministry, Paul says, by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
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The literal translation of that, I think is instructive and helpful. Therefore, having received this ministry, just as or in the same way that we receive the mercy of God and how was that? How does one receive the mercy of God? Undeservedly or it wouldn't be mercy, right? How's one received the grace of God?
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It is undeserved favor. Having received this ministry, we accept it. We accept the real offer that he made, having received this ministry just as or in the same way that we receive the mercy of God. It has been offered for us to take. Paul says, he received that ministry the same way.
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Jesus said, this is what I want you to do and he said, yes, sir. That's what I'll do. Therefore, having received this ministry just as we receive the mercy of God, because of that, we do not lose heart. If Paul really was the guy with the rope around his neck and he gets all the way up to the front of that triumph procession and Jesus is going to say up or down in our video. You remember Julius Caesar was saying up or down, live or die.
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Paul knew that everything that he had, he owed to Jesus and Jesus said, up and I want for you to serve in this way and he accepted the mission. For that reason, he didn't lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to practice. It literally is, we are not walking in cunning, that's craftiness, or let's see, but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways.
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We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. Chip Atkinson was a guy I worked with in South Carolina. He's he's a pretty good dude. I like Chip a lot. He was ahead of me at CIU by ten years or so at the seminary where I went and Chip had done everything.
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He painted houses. He done all kinds of stuff and he got a job with a guy who was supposed to be I'll just say it. Supposed to be a Christian car dealer in South Carolina. Yeah. And Chip gets this job, and he did not sell any cars.
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He just could not seem to sell any cars. And so all the other guys are selling cars. And Chip went into the head guy's office there, and the guy goes, Chip, you're gonna have to just learn how to be crafty. He said, crafty. Crafty.
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I was trying to figure out a good way. He said, so I went back and he said, I got out my Bible and my dictionary and I I sat down and thought crafty and he said, every episode of Crafty that I could see in the whole Bible was the devil. The devil was doing it or he said, it was something where it was underhanded, disgraceful, despicable thing and when he got to this passage where it said, we refuse to practice, cunning, or to tamper with. He said, all I've been doing is just doing the, saying the truth. I've been telling the truth and if they said that they didn't think they could afford it, I'd say, yeah, you probably ought to get this car instead.
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Instead of going, no, you'll be fine. We've got financing to cover that. He wouldn't do that. He was not crafty and he quit that job that day when the guy told him he needed to be more crafty because crafty is not something we're looking for. In fact, Paul says, we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways.
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We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. I'm not just going to emphasize the parts I like or the parts that I think you'll like. I'm not going to emphasize all the good stuff and not tell you about the trials and tribulations. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. He says, what we did and he's already said this twice before in this book of second Corinthians.
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What we did, we did in sincerity by God's commissioning and we just tell the truth. We just tell you exactly what we know to be true. By the open statement of truth and that's how Paul's ministry went so well because he didn't get far away from the simple gospel message that Christ in his death, after his perfect life, offered real forgiveness. And he says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, which brings us back to this. Again, the message of the cross is foolishness and it is veiled to those who are perishing.
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They've chosen the craftiness. They've chosen the world. Instead of the power of God. It sounds too good to be true, so they reject it. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.
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He's made them think it is too good to be true. He's blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory. So, the light of the gospel, the good news of the glory, the renowned that is deserved, the worthiness of an almighty and good God. The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the very image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves.
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Have you ever heard a preacher that was proclaiming himself? Oh my goodness. There are a lot of preachers that are proclaiming themselves. There were a lot at this time and that's what Paul's saying. He actually calls him super apostles sarcastically and he calls him false apostles in the chapter 11 of this book.
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What we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as lord, simple gospel. With ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. This is the English standard version. I put bond in there because bond servant is a slightly different thing than a servant. A bond servant is a servant voluntarily.
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That make sense? A bond servant has already worked off his debt to whoever he was in servitude to towards but he then took on the role of voluntary servant for that person forever. He says, we don't proclaim ourselves but Jesus Christ is lord with ourselves as your bond servants, voluntarily chosen for Jesus's sake. He gave me the mission. I accepted it.
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For God who said, let light shine out of the darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Again, I say, glory and face of Jesus and some of those things sneak into prayers and I'm not sure we mean em and I think that we hear that a lot but look at what this says, God, who said, let light shine out of the darkness. He's referring to Genesis right there. God, who made everything including light, including time, including space, and everything in it. For God who said, let light shine out of the darkness.
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That same God has shown. God has shown in our hearts to give what? Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul saying, I don't have any other message. I have one message and it is the message of the cross.
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I'm going to show you all the references to light in this. Light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, the image of God because Jesus Christ is lord. Jesus sake, God, light shine, out of the darkness to shone in our hearts, to give light of the knowledge, the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. All of these things are incredibly positive. It's really really big but in the case of the God of this world has blinded their minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing.
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That's what we're up against. If somebody doesn't accept the simple message of the gospel, keep on praying for em. Keep on living it out. The gospel is what it's about. In fact, the next verse references that when it gets to these jars of clay but we have this treasure.
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That is the gospel. The righteousness of Christ. We have this in jars of clay. These earthen vessels to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. It is not of us.
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He keeps saying it over and over and over again. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed. We're perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Do you all know that song? Some of y'all do.
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I'm looking. I tried to get Carl to play it and he said, I tried the Carl special on that one and we just couldn't make it happen. But I'll relive twelve, fifteen years ago, whatever it was, but that we're afflicted in every way, not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not for a second, struck down but not destroyed. That carries the sense of it very, very well. And then it goes to always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies.
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I got to looking at this and digging in. This is the meat of the message for me this week because the more I study, y'all know I'm a grammar nerd. So, the more I study this, the more I looked at, the more I became convinced that this actually is a terrible translation especially that. And I blew up the King James just last week. So, this is English Standard Version gets it this week and everybody agrees with me.
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I'm not, this is not, I'm not going off on a heretical limb here. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. The problem with that is right here in the Greek is singular and it's our body. This one also is our body. It also has an intensifier with it.
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It says, this, our body. For me, this was the biggest revelation out of this whole passage. This our body. Paul is talking to the Corinthian church and he's saying, the church, we, as a church, this, our body, the body of Christ. It's bigger.
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It's not just Paul bragging and some people read this and go, oh yeah, he's got all the scars and he goes around showing him and telling people what a bad time he had and shaming him into accepting Jesus. That's not it at all. He's saying that we as a body, the body of Christ carries with it the death of Jesus because that's what brings us together. That's the only thing that brings us together and the new covenant we celebrate his body and his blood as one body. That's what brings us together.
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That's what unity. So, the reason I went back and did that whole recap is because Paul is heading somewhere and he's saying and he's layering this over and over and over again that it is grace and peace available through the shed blood of Jesus and he keeps saying it over and over and over. Just like John keeps on saying, love, love, love, love, love all throughout his. I also wanted because I'm a grammar nerd to share this with you. This is a more wooden translation.
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It wouldn't sound as great in English. This is why they don't they don't translate everything the same way But these participles are important. And in Greek, participles always have to go to a real, regular, plain old verb. Plain old verb. Participles, it's never mine.
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Being hard pressed in every way. Listen to that. Being hard pressed in every way. It's a continuous action. Do you get that?
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We are being hard pressed in every way. Can you witness that? Yes. Being hard pressed in every way. We've got Jesus though so we are not being crushed.
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Can you witness to that? Yes. Being perplexed. Can you witness to that? Oh my goodness.
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After this sermon, yes. You can witness to that. Being perplexed. Yes. But not being driven to despair.
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You got that? You got Jesus. I don't quite understand everything that's going on but I trust him. I'm not driving this thing. I trust him.
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Being perplexed but not driven to despair. Being persecuted but not being forsaken. The being persecuted is happening from a different set than the than helping us from being forsaken. God is not forsaking us. Persecution is always happening.
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Being persecuted but not being forsaken. Being struck down but not being destroyed. Do you get that? Jesus was struck down unto death. Still not destroyed.
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The resurrection, power, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that's at work in you. The power of Christ compels me, right? Being struck down but not being destroyed. All of those verbs, every single one of em has to go to a regular verb. So, always carrying, nope, that's not a regular verb either.
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That's a participle too. That verb has to go to a regular verb. Always carrying around in this, our body and I could shrink it down to just say this, our body here at first B this morning and that'd be fine. It's an intensifier. This is our body of Christ and if you're visiting and you're a believer in Jesus, you're part of this body of Christ.
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The church triumphant. Always carrying around in this, our body, the body of Christ, the dying of Jesus. Always carrying around in this our body, the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest. That's the verb. Be made manifest.
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All of that is so that Christ can be shown in this, our body. All of
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that
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stuff is so that Christ may be made manifest and I put the might in there and that throws people sometimes. It's subjective. It means it's contingent upon what you do with it. So, He might be made manifest. He will be made manifest.
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Every knee will bow, every tongue confess, he will be but in this body, will he be shown? Hard pressed in every way but not being crushed. Perplexed, not driven to despair, being persecuted but not being forsaken, being struck down but not being destroyed, always carrying around in this, our body, the dying of Jesus. I say all that to get to this. Chapter 11 of the first and I'll invite the elders to come forward if you would.
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Four of y'all. If y'all would come up here, I'd appreciate it. We're just going go straight into communion because this verse I think points directly, very directly to this. We are always carrying around in our body. It's not our physical body.
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Although, you can read it that way. Always carrying around in this our body, the dying of Jesus. A couple of y'all that carried up the offering. Would y'all come forward and help these elders out? Thank you.
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There you go, Steve. Always carrying around in our body the dying of Jesus. Paul says that as often as we do this, we proclaim the death of Jesus till he comes again. So, I'm going to pray. If y'all would distribute the bread, I appreciate it.
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God, thank you for your body. It was singular, lord. It was singular then. There's one of you but lord, you have said we would be your continuing body on earth. You prayed for our unity and lord, the only thing that draws all of our theological discrepancies together is you, your shed blood.
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So, God, would you bless this bread which is a representation of your body? As we sit and ponder and think of your body broken for us. In Jesus name, would you please bless each one that partakes this morning and each one who has to let this plate pass because they just don't believe it. It's an open table to anyone who would believe. In Jesus name, lord, would you bless?
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Amen. And on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and after giving thanks, he broke it and he said, this is my body just given for you. Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me. God, for your broken body, we're thankful but for your unified body, we pray. It's only possible through the forgiveness that's offered by your shed blood.
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So, God, would you please bless this cup as we pass out this grape juice? Would you bless each one who partakes of it and each one who has to let it pass. Lord, would you draw them to you? We thank you lord for your shed blood. We ask you to bless this symbol and this remembrance of your death.
1:04:47
Amen. In the same way that Jesus took the bread, he took the cup after supper, saying that this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it in remembrance of me. Would you all stand with us as we close out with a chorus of We Believe.
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And we believe in God the Father.
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The last part of that verse said, we we we always are caring about the death of Jesus and Paul says, this, remember reminds us of the death of Jesus every time that we do it. Let's don't ever get far from the dying of Jesus in our hearts, in our mind, always be carrying around because that's the way that his life is going to be made manifest in this body. So, let's go do that. Amen. First B of Jackson Hole.
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First be a Jackson.
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Years I spent in vanity
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and pride caring not my lord was crucified knowing not it was for me died at Calvary mercy there was great and grace was free Pardon there was multiplied to me. Bare my burden and soul found liberty at by God's word at last my sin I learned then I trembled at the law I'd spurn till my guilty sore implore the ring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdens all find liberty at Calvary.
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Now I've given him everything. Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary amen mercy there was great and grace was free and there was multiplied to me there my burdens all found liberty at Calvary mercy there was great and grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me there my burdens off my liberty at Calvary Amen. Amen. That's a gooder.
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We're gonna do hymn number four ninety nine. I will sing the wondrous story. If you know what happened at Calvary, you wanna sing that wondrous story. So, number 499, join with us if you would.
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How he left his home in glory for the cross of Calvary. Yes, I'll sing the one restored of the Christ who died for me. I think it went with the saints in glory gathered by the crystal sea. I was lost, but he found me for the sheep that went astray. Through his loving arms around me, drew me back into his way.
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Yes. I'll sing a wondrous story of the Christ who died for me. Then I said, the saints in glory gathered by the crystal sea. Days of darkness still come on me, sorrows path I'm often dread. But the savior still is with me by his hand, I'm safely led.
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Sing it sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me sing it with the saints in glory weathered by the crystal sea. He will keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet. Then I'll hear me safely over where the loved ones I shall meet. Sing. Glory.
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Of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints and glory gathered by the crystal sea have a seat alright
1:16:27
We were contemplating skipping a song. Probably should've been that one. Now, we've got a lot of sugar to put in this bag today. It's about at least at least eight and a half pounds of sugar in a five pound bag. So, I'm gonna get through the announcements as quick as I can.
1:16:41
First B, women's study is happening on Wednesdays at 10AM, ten to twelve and that is for the whole of autumn, Romans. That's what they're going through and Deborah, Buckingham, and Becca Block are the ones teaching and it's good. Ten to twelve on Wednesdays. Old Bills Fun Run. If you don't know what Old Bills Fun Run is, you're probably from out of town.
1:17:03
It is a way for you to amplify your giving to charitable organizations, and you'll hear a little bit more about it from Chuck. Chuck Fidroff, the director, executive director of the Good Samaritan Mission is gonna show a video in a minute and then speak for just a minute afterwards. But old bills is the way that we fund our local benevolence program here at First Bee. So if you were to give $7 through old bills, by the time it gets to us, it'd be $12 So, that's the way it was last year at least. So, or 14 sometimes.
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Usually, it's 12. Yeah. Awana because kids matters to God. Our Awana program starts back up September 14. So, that's a Monday night next week, September 14 and what that program does is pour scripture into the minds and hearts of young children and we have lots and lots of dedicated volunteers that come out and do the teaching and the games and the council time but we do need more people that would just be volunteers to listen to the kids as they recite their verses back.
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Can you imagine anything better than hearing from a little child, God's word coming back out. They've been studying it at week, that week at home and then they come back. So, if you would like to listen, please let me know after the service and I'll get you in touch with the right folks. Monday nights at First B happens every Monday night. It is our alternative worship service time.
1:18:26
Carl is the preacher for that church and that's where I go to church and I love it. 06:15 in the evening, meal, music, and a message and it's good. Tomorrow night is a potluck. So, come on. Solid Rock Student Ministry, Renzy.
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I just. There you are.
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Get up here real quick
1:18:42
and just announce this because I know the times and the dates. I won't put that pressure on Ray but Solid Rock, we're starting up again for the next school year. We or this school year, we've got our theme as leadership. That's kind of what we're gonna be going with the middle school and high schoolers. So middle school is sixth grade to eighth grade and those guys meet and girls meet Thursday night at 06:30 here, 06:30 to eight.
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And then Friday morning, the high schoolers meet from 07:30 to right about 08:30 or whenever they wanna head off to school. Sometimes that's 09:30 and sometimes I hope they make it to school. Just joking. They always do. They're great kids.
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But that's kicking off this week. So Thursday, Friday. And we also have, this is new for this year. We've had the girls study downstairs. We also have the same thing for guys study.
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So middle school and high school boys, middle school, high school girls, Sunday morning.
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About 09:20.
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About 09:25 to about ten after ten or so. They meet downstairs. So, if you know of any middle school, high school aged students, we'd love to have them join us for all those different ministry opportunities.
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Thank you. So, that's Renzi. Who sets up a high school meeting at 07:30 breakfast? He does and it's really good. He comes and he makes it himself, 07:30 breakfast and it's a blessing before the weekend for the high school kids and it's has gone very very well in the past.
1:20:00
Peak Children's Church starts next week in the first service. So, kids will have children's church downstairs and other than that, it's always a check your bulletin moment. Now, I have met, welcome visitors. I have met since I've since the first service. I've met folks from Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas.
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Anybody else here? Any greetings from anywhere else?
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Utah.
1:20:26
From where? Utah. Utah. Alright. Very good.
1:20:29
Well, all of y'all are welcome. Would you stand up and go find somebody you don't recognize? Shake hands and we'll bring you back together with a song. I'll just announce it right now. Okay.
1:21:18
Go ahead. Alright. Alright, everybody. Slight change of plans. We're not bringing you back together with a song but we are going to bring you back with a video.
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So, this video is for the Good Samaritan Mission here in Jackson and here it is.
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Physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of those in need. And by working together with other Jackson Hole nonprofits to assist each of our residents and guests toward independent living, evidenced by self sufficiency, employability, and being a healthy and contributing member of society. Hunger and homelessness is real in Jackson Hole. The Good Samaritan mission exists to serve the hungry, hurting, and homeless in Jackson Hole. We do that by providing food, clothing, shelter, and guidance to help people become productive members of our community and move them forward.
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Did you know in an average year, the Good Samaritan Mission provides 6,500 nightly bed stays in our shelter. 10,000 pounds of food are distributed through children's totes of Hope program. 12,500 meals are served to the hungry in our community. We provide short term housing for employed seasonal workers. The mission provides food boxes for families and individuals in need in our community when the Jackson Cupboard is closed.
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We help develop life plans for self sufficiency and employability. And each week, the mission provides 30 backpacks of food for needy three to five year old children and their families.
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As a former primary school teacher and guidance counselor, I was really touched by how many children are hungry. Kids really need to eat well to function, and we thought starting this at the primary level would be a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to make sure that kids get the nutrition and what they need to be successful. In 2001, the Good Samaritan Mission started providing shelf stable milk, protein, fruits, and vegetables for children in need whose parents were wanting to supplement what they already had available to them in the community. Our typical distribution day is on Tuesday. Monday night, we fill 30 bags of shelf stable material.
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We have our Bible College volunteers who help us out during the school year, then it's just a blessing to us to have all this help.
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I've never really done something like this before, so it's it's pretty cool because there's, like, a lot of people who have needs and we can help even if it's just a small, hard, just helpless people helping them get back on their feet.
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The parents are appreciative. The kids can't wait to get home and see what's in the bags because we generally add a toy or a surprise or a coloring book or something that they never know what they're gonna get or when they're gonna get it.
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I've been here since my older son last year, like, fifteen years ago, and I think that this is a really amazing program.
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We have 30 bags every every Tuesday from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and this has helping a lot to all our families.
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To have a tote bag, it means a lot. It meant a lot. And my nephew and my niece got here from Mexico and my husband had to move to Colorado to work. We were going through struggles with we did have work but not enough because of the all the expenses that we had to pay first. So it was kinda a hard time.
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And one day, my nephew pick up a bag at school, and we were so happy to have food because we were having a hard time. So that was one of the biggest one that we appreciate the bag. And every weekend, every week we waited for the bag and at least for the milk. It was really nice to have milk and the rice. Like, we cook rice every day.
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So
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we're very grateful for the bag, for the food.
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Life happens and, you know, we are glad that we can have a place where we can go and get something when those times come.
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Makes me really happy and brings joy to my heart that the Good Samaritan Mission can serve people in need in our community through the Head Start program, through very, very young children, and it's just a I'm honored to be a part of it.
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The Board of Directors is passionate toward helping those in need in the Jackson Hole community. Please feel free to contact any one of them. Volunteering your time and abilities is a great way to support our mission. Not only does this benefit the mission, but it also contributes to the greater Jackson Hole community at large. Volunteer opportunities are available in the following departments.
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Gardening and landscape maintenance, building maintenance, custodial duties, food prep and service, Bible study, and counseling.
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You've seen all the needs. You see the things that we do at the Good Samaritan Mission. You gotta come down and take a look. We got a new paint job on the building, new windows in there. We've got a walk in box of 100 square foot walk in box and freezer in there with new heater system.
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Everything to make the people, the guests comfortable there is really good. The tote to hope program, 30 beds for men, five for women, housing people, feeding people, two meals a day, seven days a week, and lunch on weekends. Lot of stuff going on. You know, but that's just stuff. Buildings and and that.
1:29:40
It's about transformed lives. I I went to a church service one time and it was the power of Christ compels me. The preacher would say something and then the people would say the power of Christ compels me. The power of Christ compels me and then they would hit on their heart. I'm not into by rote things but the power of Christ compels me was was what was there.
1:30:00
You saw the needs for volunteers to cook meals and to volunteer for Bible studies. I teach most of the Bible studies. Love to have teachers come down there. We've got one of one of our men was Michael Ratliff. He's our chef now.
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He came out of detox from the hospital and now by the transforming power of Jesus Christ, he's now just a wonderful man of God following him, loving service, loving being with what God has made him to be. So, you see the building. We need that. Our kitchen is the project this year. We've got everything torn out of the floor right now.
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A lot of good volunteers, a lot from this church right here have come and all that to say, that's all good and and old bills is good. Again, old bills, Good Samarit Mission, Old Bills, Good Samarit Mission, Old Bills, Good Samarit Mission. Think of think of those things but then also, you know, think about the power of Christ compelling you to give or to do what you can do. Thank you.
1:31:03
Thank you, Chuck. So, it's a little bit of an odd Sunday. Kick off Sunday for football season and all that stuff too but we have all these programs that are starting up and we just got so much in there. Would you stand up and join with us in song? We are going to skip that last song, Judy.
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Alright. But we're gonna sing what a day that will be. Hymn number seven sixty two and
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There is coming a day when no heartache shall come. No more clouds in the sky. No more tears to dim the eye. All is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day that will be.
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What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land. What a day, glorious day that will be. There is no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there.
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One forever I will be with the one who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land what a day glorious day that will be
1:33:24
I I will invite the frontline team to come forward and for the offering today, I've got a video of someone signing. Now, y'all know this some of the ones who are home folks here know this about Tanya and me. We served for seven years at a school for the deaf in Mexico, which when we got there was teaching ASL, American sign language. When we left there, it was teaching Mexican sign language. And we served there with a couple my bosses and we mentioned them all the time as examples, Nono and Kate and we got some visitors here today that are Ken.
1:33:59
They're Ken folks and they've been here. They know it about us too. You may not know that we have one guy who goes to church here named Steve Mastro Buono. Steve Mastro Buono has lived a difficult life. He's been deaf since birth and he has had a hard hard time understanding and a hard time particularly with churches.
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I would like for all of you to pray for Steve Mastrobono today and I'm just asking for that and consider what it would be like if we didn't have the music plan. Now, we are going to have the music plan. I tried it with silent and it's just too weird. So, I'm we're going to play the music for the operatory time but keep an eye on that and just see what it would be like if that's the way that you understood. Now, lord, God, would you please bless these tithes and offerings?
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We thank you lord for all that you've done for us. We thank you for the opportunity to give some back so that your gospel would advance, lord, so that the deaf would hear as it were, your gospel. I do pray for Steve, my brother in Christ. Lord, but he is in an extreme minority. There are so few of the deaf that ever hear about your name through sign language and they have a frustrating time in churches.
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Would you make this place a place that broadcast your name lord no matter what the language. Ask your blessing on this gift and the giver. So that the gospel would see the ends of the earth. In Jesus name, we ask you a blessing. Amen.
1:36:59
So you would think school would be a really really quiet place. It is not. Not at all. There's a lot of a lot of commotion, a lot going on. I I don't know a whole lot of sign language.
1:37:10
I live down there, and like I said, we had American sign language and Mexican. And when we were speaking out loud with American signs, we were doing it speaking Spanish out loud. So, I'm so confused that I just have not been any good with really helping him. Steve happens to understand the frequency of my voice in close proximity, reading my lips, and having us write some stuff out from time to time. So, he has church on Mondays in here during the daytime which is me or with Carl sometimes too.
1:37:36
So, I'm asking for you to pray for him. He's had a hard hard time. The other thing is, I learned something this week that I think comes up. This is G in sign language and this is glory. Now, this is God.
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When you raise your hands up like this, this is God like this. It goes up and down but this is grace where it's shining on you. God's grace shining on you and that might come up again in the sermon. I don't know. A quick recap of second Corinthians so far.
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There is so much here and this is not the sermon, okay? So, if you just have to let it wash over, you don't try to get every single point. I preach this for like five weeks now but it's a quick recap. The apostle Paul starts off with what I call his handshake. Grace and peace to you.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, God the father. He always starts off with grace and peace. I think we should always start off with grace and peace. Undeserved favor and peace, not strife. He goes into this, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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It's a doxology. The father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in our affliction, all our affliction and why? So that we may actually have the power to comfort others. That's why he does it. He says that.
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And then he goes back into afflictions and hard times and tribulations, which will be in the sermon again today. And he says, why do we go through all of these afflictions and tribulations? Such to the point that Paul and Timothy felt like they had received a death sentence, he says in the first chapter. Why does he do that? To make us rely not on ourselves, but on God.
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Then he talks about his travel plans for about a chapter. And he ends that with this because his travel plans did not go like he wanted them to go originally. So, he ends it with this but for all of the promises of God, find their yes in Jesus Christ. All of the promises of God find their yes. Amen.
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In him. That's why it's through him that we utter our amen to God. Whatever your plan is, God, amen for your glory. That's too much. He's saying, I trust God and even though I make plans and they turn out to be not good, God is in control.
1:39:56
What is the passage about? This one. It was about unity specifically through forgiveness. We looked at John 17 alongside this passage. We're looking at it as unity through forgiveness so that we would not be outwitted by Satan.
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And Paul says, we are not ignorant of his designs. What's the design of the devil? Steal, kill, and destroy, divide on every hand. Any way he can separate, he will separate. And I even used a clip in the last five minutes of the sermon was the pope.
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Now, when you get a baptist from Georgia and the pope to agree on something, No. He actually was speaking about unity and about Jesus prayed for in the garden, our unity. And he said it's the one who is persecuting Christians today is Satan, and he's dividing them. So, we let Pope Francis finish the sermon that day. Second Corinthians two fourteen says, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and at the beginning of that sermon, I think most of us probably would have understood it to be victory in Jesus.
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We're on the winning side. Hoorah. Away with the infidels. But after the sermon and looking at what a triumphal procession was in Rome, we realized that Paul was saying, I'm the one that Christ is leading around. As a spectacle.
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I'm the one he has conquered and in the video that I showed, he was the guy with the rope around his neck And he was the one that it was up to God's mercy to say whether he live or his justice to say he would die. And that one was poignant for me in a a strong metaphor, which brings us to the message of the cross. There are but two ways to take the message of the cross. One of it, is to those who are perishing, it is foolishness. Actually, this is from first Corinthians one hundred eighteen and nineteen.
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For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. There is one message that Paul preached and it was the message of the cross. Jesus is perfect life and his perfect sacrificial death given his righteousness given to whosoever would accept it, whoever would believe in him and it literally is the difference in life and death. We also hit a paradox for Christians. I changed the wording just a little bit on this one this morning.
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You will only experience victory in Christ in the areas that you have sincerely surrendered to Christ. Do you agree with that? Some people are trusting Christ for salvation and he saves. That's what he does. But they struggle with things that they're not willing to give up.
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If you're struggling with something that you want to hold on to and keep it for your own, you're not going to experience the victory in Christ over that area that you're trying to keep to yourself. You will only experience victory in Christ in the areas that you have sincerely surrendered to Christ and I have found that as we surrender those areas to Christ, we start trusting him more and more that he really is able to take care of that. His death on the cross has already taken care of that. It's not just for salvation but for our continued sanctification. So, it comes back again to the message of the cross and that brings us to last week's message which I said in the first service that I would finish today and I did.
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I'm going try to get through it quicker than that in this one. You remember the old covenant? God writes on tablets of stone. Moses ministry is of transient glory. Paul says, a passing glory that will come to an end.
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The time is coming to an end. Moses said it too. It is veiled and without the spirit, the letter of the law kills. I ask you over and over, is there any mercy, mercy in the decalogue, in the 10 commandments? And no, there is not.
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The law is good at what it's good at and that is showing you where you fail. It's showing you the way to Jesus. It is a sign pointing you towards Jesus. And the new covenant, the new covenant, Christ writes on human hearts. Paul's ministry was of surpassing glory that is revealed, not concealed, not veiled, but revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and the spirit of God gives life, righteousness, and it is permanent.
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And I use this image. This is actually an image from Pilgrim's Progress. It's just an old book plate image. That's Moses right there. And this is faithful.
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He's walking the journey and he said that someone snuck up on him and struck him with a death blow and just as he was coming to, he struck him again with another death blow and what he was hitting him with was the tablets of stone, the law, the commandments. Nobody can stand under that scrutiny. Nobody can. No mercy there and when faithful cried out for mercy, he said, I do not know how to show mercy. That's not his job.
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He's just to show you. But Christ shows mercy. Also, I wanna mention this. I didn't mention it in the first service but the this little halo that you see around Jesus, you see it a lot in old pictures and paintings and everywhere you see this halo. In in its glory, That's what's coming off of Jesus' glory.
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It's resplendent. It is brilliant. That's the best way. It's an artist convention to show you the glory of God and Jesus always has a bigger halo even if they put halos around all of the disciples. Jesus is always the most intricate and the biggest one because he has more glory.
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That will come up in a few minutes. Faithful, not so much of a halo there. Moses either. One degree to another. We'll see it in a minute.
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I mentioned this last week too. The gospel is not do better. Keep the law. That's not gospel. That's an old message.
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Every religion says, do better. Keep these rules. That's not gospel. The gospel is Jesus has already kept all these rules. He already had the perfect life that he could exchange and did for whosoever would believe.
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So, it's not do better, keep the law. It is Jesus has kept the law. He offers his righteousness to those who would accept it. To others, it's foolishness but to those who are being saved, it's the power of God in their lives. Now, this is the part that I barely got to last week but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
1:46:48
He's been talking about that veil over their face as they study the law of Moses. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is now removed. Now, the Lord is spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, Christians, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. I think that glory is one of those words that's been so churchified that we forget what it means.
1:47:17
You hear people say, glory, glory and you see it and it comes up in prayer and it seems that I don't think that went with what glory actually is. They just said that as an, you know, I don't know. Glory is the the deserved renown that God actually should get. Does that make sense? He really is that good.
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He's not an egotistical he's not an egotistical being. He he does not have that capacity. He is good and he deserves all of the renown, all of the fame, all of the glory and to this extent that we can lift him up by declaring his name, that's great. Our saved life declares his name. Truthfully, everything points to God's glory.
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But we're looking for God's greater glory to be manifested among the body of Christ. So, we all with unveiled face, see the glory of the Lord and when we see it, we think it's great and the more we get to know it, the better. We see that he is. We are being transformed into the same image. What is God sanctifying us toward?
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Y'all, if you can answer that, it's a weird question. What is God sanctifying us toward? The same image of his son, Christ Jesus. He is making us day by day with our yielded lives. If we yield our lives to him, he will make us more and more into the image of his son, those who are being saved.
1:48:47
It's a progress, a sanctifying process. We're being transformed into that same image of Christ from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is spirit and all that was just to set up this. Take a deep breath and let's pray. Lord God, thank you for the unity of this book. I've been blown away by second Corinthians so far and I'm just hoping that the folks that are under the sound of my voice right now might get that same enthusiasm for it and see how encouraging it is.
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So, God, would you guide us into your truth? Would you show us your way right now, lord? Would you make some things click and let the coins drop. In Jesus name, amen. Coins drop is not for other offering by the way.
1:49:40
That's because y'all are here, I'm thinking about Mexico. I've I've thought half this sermon in Spanish. Is like to drop a coin and something and have it go down the slot and actually finally work. It drops finally. When you've been putting that coin in over and over and over, nothing happens in a Coke machine but when you finally put it in, it goes chink.
1:49:58
Oh, that's what I want to see happen here today. So, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Paul says this to start off that therefore, all of that that he was talking about, the law and the spirit and the freedom and everything else and then he says, therefore, with all of that that I've said, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. The literal reading of that, I think is very very helpful and instructive. Therefore, having received this ministry, just as or in the same way that we receive the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
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That makes a difference to me to see it that way. Therefore, having received this ministry, what Paul did for a living, what he was doing as he went, having received this ministry to the Gentiles in exactly the same way that receive, we receive the mercy of God. What is, how do we receive the mercy of God? Undeservedly. It wouldn't be mercy if we deserved it.
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Paul didn't deserve the mercy of God. He didn't deserve the grace of God. He knew that. He also didn't deserve to be in this position. He realized that he had been an enemy combatant of Christ.
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He realized that he had persecuted his church but he says, I have received this ministry to tell this story, this wondrous story. I've received this ministry the same way I received mercy. It was undeserved on my part but I'm going to do it. I've accepted the challenge. Just like I accepted the whosoever, just like I accepted the challenge, I'm accepting God's mission in my life and he said, because of that, I know God saved me and I know God called me to do this work and for that reason, we don't lose heart.
1:51:45
Does that make sense to you? But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. So, Paul would say later on, he calls some guys super apostles being sarcastic and he calls em false apostles later on in chapter 11. There were some opponents in the church in Corinth.
1:52:13
There's dispute over exactly what they were teaching. Most of them think it was a health and wealth gospel which is hogwash by the way. We have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. Imma tell you about Chip Atkinson.
1:52:32
Chip Atkinson is a buddy of mine. He's older than I am. He graduated from seminary ten or twelve years before I did. He was still hanging around the place quite a bit and he was doing lots of odd jobs and he had been on missions for a while and he had done other things. He's a good guy, dedicated servant, good good guy.
1:52:52
And Chip got a job at a car dealership in South Carolina. And the guy was supposed to be the Christian car dealer. Sorry about this, Dave. Can't help it. I believe you for all things.
1:53:06
Chip Atkinson went into, he never sold any cars ever. He he he had been working there for a while and he had not sold anything And he was called in to the supervisor's office, called in to his boss's office, and he said, Jeff, what's the deal, man? I love you, but you ain't selling any cars. And he said, well, I'm, you know, I'm I'm trying to do the best I can. He was happy that he was working for a Christian.
1:53:32
He said, I'm I'm just telling the truth. He goes, Chip, you just gonna have to find out how to be more crafty. Most translations actually of this say, but we have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to we refuse craftiness. We refuse to be crafty and so, Chip went home and he looked up in his Bible and in his dictionary but he looked up in his Bible and he said, everywhere I saw craftiness practiced, it was the devil that was doing it or Paul saying that he wouldn't do it and so he quit.
1:54:08
That's not to say that everybody is, but this was Chip's problem. But by the open statement of the truth. So if somebody said to him, I don't think I can afford that. He said, you know, you probably can't. You might wanna consider this.
1:54:21
Instead of saying, we can finance that away or we can we can we can help you with that. The open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. So, Paul has already said two or three different times already by this point in second Corinthians that what he has is the message of the cross. That's what he presented and it's simplicity and he continued to present just that and he wasn't trying to say, oh you wouldn't believe the perks that come with this. Can I get you into salvation today?
1:54:53
He wasn't doing that. He was saying, no, this is it. It was costly. It cost Jesus's life. By the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
1:55:08
And even if our gospel is veiled because the super apostles and or false apostles had been saying, you know, what Paul saying don't make any sense. Well, the gospel really don't make any sense because it's undeserved favor. Grace makes no sense. That's what's amazing about it. Even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing which brings us back to this slide again.
1:55:31
The message of the cross is foolishness. It is veiled. It's covered. It's concealed. Sounds too good to be true to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved, it's the power of God.
1:55:45
In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. Have you ever experienced that? Where people, when you're talking to em, you're talking about the the comfort that you find in Christ, the life that you find in Christ, the goodness that you see em and they just, I just don't get that. I'm they can't see it at all. Paul says, that's because they're blind to it.
1:56:06
They've been blinded. The minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, his deserved, renowned, fame, who in the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Now, what we proclaim is not ourselves. Have you ever been around a preacher that proclaimed himself?
1:56:38
I have. We have a lot of those actually and there always have been a lot of em who kind of use it as a brand almost. This is my brand of this is the gospel. And Paul had written to them in first Corinthians about some of you say I'm of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Peter. He's saying, we're not proclaiming ourselves.
1:57:00
What we say everywhere that we go is Jesus Christ as lord. So it's the message of the cross again, which divides life and death. Jesus Christ is lord with ourselves as your and I put bond in there because the word is bond servants, not just servants, and it makes a difference. A servant is one thing and that's somebody who serves another. A bond servant is one who voluntarily serves another.
1:57:27
In the Old Testament, there's a there are couple of different stories of it where someone had worked off of their indebtedness to somebody that had been their servant, indentured servant but then at the end of their time, they chose to stay on and serve that master. That's a bond servant. So, for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as lord, with ourselves as your bond servants. For Jesus's sake, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Servants for Jesus sake.
1:57:59
For God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Did you get that? For God almighty who has who said, let light shine out of the darkness. He's referencing creation. He's going back to the very beginning.
1:58:24
For God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown and I highlighted those two words. God has shown in our hearts. Now, what were they? They were dark. We were dead men but when Christ shown in there, he brought us into marvelous light.
1:58:41
Let light shine out of the darkness and he's still doing it today. It's not just for the first part of creation. Let light shine out of the darkness. God has shown in our hearts which were dark. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God because we know a better version of God than the world, don't we?
1:58:59
Are you with me still? Am I confusing you? We know about the glory of God. We know it much better than the man on the street that doesn't know Jesus. God has shown in our hearts to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
1:59:17
That's the only place where it is to be found. I'm going to light this up. Any references to light and actually the Greek is good on this too. There's Photitzon, there is Lampsay, there are all these different references to light in there. To keep them from seeing the light of the gospel.
1:59:35
The gospel itself illumines in his light. Of the glory of Christ, always associated with brilliance and light. Who is the image of God? For what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as lord. That's the gospel.
1:59:51
Again, with ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, let light shine, has shown the light, glory of God, face of Jesus. You see it all? It's all around that gospel which is the message of the cross and it divides between death and life. And he references it again in chapter in verse seven.
2:00:15
He says, we have this treasure. That treasure is the gospel. We have this treasure in earthen vessels or jars of clay. Earthen vessels pointing to something much, much, much greater, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2:00:39
Do you hear how he's taken himself out of the equation at every turn? He's not trying to be a super apostle or be better than them. He's just trying to get it to be, no, I am a messenger and this is the message. And then he gets to a statement that I think most of us, probably all of us as Christians can understand. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed.
2:01:05
Perplexed but not driven to despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed. Now, that's the English standard version, the ESV version of the Bible. It goes on from there to say, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2:01:30
And I highlighted this, the body there and bodies right there. I mentioned last week that the King James had a bad translation. Well, King James beats him on this one. King James has this right. All of the translations that we have are good translations but occasionally, they blow it on a word or two here or there but this one, I think makes a huge difference and as I was looking today to kind of focus in on the new covenant table here.
2:01:58
We're gonna do communion in a few minutes. I was thinking about this and looking at the looking at the text and seeing this and trying to figure it out. Always carrying in the body is actually our body, singular, our body, the death or the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. It's singular, not plural. In our body.
2:02:27
Always carrying in the body, the death of Jesus. This is the ESV version again. I want to walk through this with you though. This is my translation. I've changed just a couple of things.
2:02:40
None of them are heresy, I don't think. I changed the verb tenses to be what to reflect what they are in Greek. And without a long Greek lesson, I don't think I could get this across. But these are all participles. The beings here, they're all present participles, and all of those participles have to relate to another regular verb for what that's worth to you.
2:03:09
It's interesting, though. It's really, really interesting because of the way that it's laid out. This progressive action makes a difference. I wanna see how many of you can relate to this. Being hard pressed in every way.
2:03:21
Can you witness this? Being hard pressed in every way. It's a continuous action thing. Being hard pressed in every way, but not being crushed. Do you feel that?
2:03:32
I'm under extreme pressure. A lot of the time, I know some of you lived in places where you felt this all of the time. Being hard pressed in every way but not being crushed because of God. Being perplexed after the sermon, how many of y'all been perplexed? Alright.
2:03:48
Being perplexed. But not being driven to despair. I think that says, lord, I do not understand what you're doing in my life but I trust you. I do not understand what you're doing but I'm not going to go to despair because there's hope in you. I know I find my salvation in you.
2:04:05
I know I find my trust in you. I am perplexed as to what you're doing in my life but I'm not going to go to despair. Not going to be without hope. Being persecuted continuously. I'm being persecuted by the enemy, by others, but not being forsaken.
2:04:23
God has not turned his back on me. Being struck down. How many times was Paul struck down? He'll tell us in chapter 11. Bunches of times.
2:04:32
Being struck down but not being destroyed. All of those being, being, being, being, being, being, being point towards another verb. Is it carrying, always carrying around in this, our body, the dying of Jesus. Is it carrying? No.
2:04:49
That's a participle too. And that one points towards another verb and it's down here below. So, all of those things always carrying around in this our body, the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in this, our body. Singular. The body of Christ is what he's talking about here.
2:05:13
Remember in chapter 11 of first Corinthians when he talks about the Lord's supper? And he says that we proclaim his death until he comes again. It is at the death of Jesus. It is with the blood of Christ. It is the message of the cross that brings us together.
2:05:33
None of us deserve it. None of us deserve it. But if we accept it, it is ours. Always carrying around in this our body, the dying of Jesus. This, the dying of Jesus is what this represents.
2:05:55
So that the life of Jesus, the perfect life of Jesus, the righteousness of Christ which God has imputed us by our accepting it. Might be made manifest. And the last thing I wanna talk about is that might right there. This is a real regular verb, but it is a subjunctive verb. And the subjunctive verbs, for those of you who care, are contingent verbs.
2:06:21
They're contingent upon two wills usually. It is God's will to show forth Jesus in all of his glory. We go through all of these things. It's based on this verb so that Jesus might be made manifest in the body of Christ, in this body. They can shrink it down to first B.
2:06:47
Could shrink it down to that congregation. Some people shrink it down to just Paul himself individually. But he says, our so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest. The might is what always catches me. This is where volition comes in.
2:07:06
You have to know that it's about Jesus's death and not about yourself. Your ministry is not about you. Ministry is about Jesus. Paul said that throughout the whole thing, you say, we're not preaching ourselves, we're preaching Christ and him as lord. Always carrying around in this our body, the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in this, our body.
2:07:32
Can I get the frontline team to come back forward? We're just going go straight into a time of communion. Thank you, Judy. Playing, playing something pretty. God almighty, we love you and we're thankful to be here this morning or I'm thankful to be here this morning.
2:07:58
I might have scared some people this morning. God, I thank you for the death, the dying of Jesus and I pray that you would always remind me of that. That is not about my good works. It's not about the things that we've done in the past. It's not about the things we're doing in the present, lord.
2:08:17
It's about what you did. We've received this ministry just as we received your mercy, lord, undeservedly. Lord God, would you take us from all of our different denominational backgrounds here this morning? All of the different stripes and lord, bind us together on the your stripes, your broken body given for us. So God, as we distribute this bread right now, would you please bless everyone who partakes?
2:08:55
It is a wide open table for anyone who believes in Jesus and professes him. Would you bless everyone who partakes, lord, but would you also draw everyone who has to let this plate pass because to them, it's just foolishness. Would you draw them and let them see your goodness, your grace, and your glory. God, would you bless this this cracker as we pass it around this bread that represents your body. In Jesus name, lord.
2:09:26
Amen. And Paul saying this, he's already said he's a man of sincerity. He's already said many many times. This is from first Corinthians 11. Paul is saying to the Corinthians and I'm saying to you, I receive this from the Lord that which I also deliver to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, take and eat.
2:13:04
This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, as we consider your body that was broken on our behalf, would you bind this body in unity? Your broken body body makes it possible for us to live in unity by one thing, your shed blood. So Lord God, would you please bless this cup as we distribute it?
2:13:53
All of those present partaking lord, thinking about your shed blood always carrying that about, lord, you're dying. As we partake. Lord, please bless. In Jesus name, amen. And in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
2:17:59
This do as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me. Amen. For the for as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death, his dying. That's always stuck with me because I want to proclaim his life, his resurrection, everything else. He's saying that coming together right here and realizing that this is what binds us together.
2:18:33
That's the way that his life, his living, his way, his manner, who he is, his abundant life that he offers. That's the way that it's going to be made manifest in this world. Amen. I also have No. Let's just sing.
2:18:52
How about blessed be the tithe that binds? Would y'all stand with me and let's sing that? If you know it, if you don't, along.
2:19:02
Blessed be the tide that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred hearts is like to that above. Amen. Thank you. Y'all can go.
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