0:00
Speaker 1The we'll try to sing people down the hall in here. Last night, we heard this song from Olivia and Hayden on the violins at the talent show last night. Scott, would you come up? We're going to sing Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.
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Speaker 2Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, lord of love, hearts unfold like quires before the opening to the sun above melt the clouds of sin and sadness drive the dark of doubt away giver of immortal gladness fill us with the light of day all thy works with joy surround thee Ephesians five:one-six field and forest veil and mountain, flowery metal flashing sea, chanting birds and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in thee thou art giving and forgiving ever blessing ever blessed will spring of the joy of living ocean depth of happy rest thou our father Christ our brother all who live and love are thine. Teach us how to love each other. Lift us to the joy divine. Mortals join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began. Love divine is reigning o'er us leading us with mercy's hand, ever singing march we onward, victors in the midst of strife.
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Joyful music leads us onward in the triumph song of life. What a beautiful piece that is. Yeah. I love that. Thy word.
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Speaker 1Thy word is a lamp to my feet. I like that.
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Speaker 2Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path will not forget your love for me and yet my heart forever is wandering Jesus be my guide and hold me to your side. I will love you to the power. Oh. Hey, Lorraine.
5:35
Speaker 1With a over there. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going to invite Nick up to the front. Nick, Darren. Y'all knew we had connect hour at ten.
5:44
Today, we had it with the Boy Scouts making pancakes for us. We have a couple of other things. Yeah, that was really nice. Thank you. We have a couple of other things to announce.
5:53
Monday nights at First B happen every Monday night at 06:00. We all were pretending to be Blake last night at the talent show. Where two or three are gathered there, he says, he'll be in the midst. Monday nights is one of those. We're doing a message.
6:08
Carl's preaching from Romans 12 this week. Men's retreat is happening February twenty fourth, twenty fifth, and twenty sixth. That's a $100 for the stay and then more if you want to do snowmobiling. We've got Truth Project that started last Wednesday and I cannot say enough good things about the Truth Project. It is a fantastic, fantastic study and it's it goes about this past week was what is truth and it was just great and so I cannot say enough good things.
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We had about 30 something people show up for that which is a pretty good turnout for Wednesday night since we don't do Wednesdays every Wednesday but this starts at 06:45. If you have any inkling, you think, you know what? I probably ought to do that. Come on, please. Come on.
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It's fantastic. I know some of you were trapped and could not get out of the house, couldn't get up the canyon, couldn't get over the hill, whatever but 06:45 on Wednesday evenings, that's a great one, the truth project. We have another one that's at 06:45 for ladies called Seamless. It is about understanding the Bible as one complete story. Genesis to Revelation, it's called Seamless Thursday evenings from 06:45 to eight and then, in the daytime on Wednesdays, we have a 10AM to twelve noon lady study that is on based on this book, Christine Cain's Unashamed.
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Drop the baggage and pick up your freedom, Fulfill your destiny in Christ. So, that is also happening this week and I called you up really early. Sorry. This one is sad. The wah wah at the end.
7:35
We were reading it as wah wah like crying. But I think Renzi made that slide and he meant it as wah wah. Okay? The Reno's, if you all have not heard yet, will be moving not until June but they're moving. They've got a house, up there under contract, ready to go and they are moving June 15.
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He gave us not a two week notice, he gave us a four and a half month notice. It's going to be very very difficult to find somebody to fill those enormous shoes. Both Kale's and Renzi's but I wanted to let you know all at once during the announcement time so that y'all can savor the next four months, okay? And enjoy having them and let them know how much you appreciate them. So, Renzy and Kale, Boone, and Ace will be moving closer to Renzy's mom and Kale's mom up in Northern Wyoming somewhere near Sheridan, okay?
8:27
Thank you, Renzy. Now this is Nick's announcement right here.
8:30
Speaker 2Alright, folks.
8:32
Speaker 3So we've been having trouble trying to get everybody's contact information and photos and all that stuff to update our photo wall and also update our contact and email information. So So we're going to do that right now. Those of you who have a cell phone, if you could take that out, we're actually going take your photos right now and we're going to update all of the information. Some of you, it hasn't changed in a while or if you're a visitor and you don't want to participate, that's totally fine. This is just for people who you hear very often.
9:01
Do you guys have the slide with the instructions on it? There's actually gonna be a few instructions up here. Here we go. So what we're gonna do is have you take a photo of everyone in your family altogether right now. Or if you already have one on your phone that's a good photo of you, just email that to us.
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And there's instructions on how to do that. So put it all in an email and type as much of your contact information as you care to share, which includes names of people in your family, addresses, Email, phone number, anniversary, birthday. As much as that as you want to share, go and do that and Email to assistant@FirstBaptistJackson.org and we're going to do that right now and if you if you don't have.
9:40
Speaker 1Yeah. We're doing this. You're all you have our blessing. Take out your cell phone. Email That's a chance.
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This guy at assistant@firstmejackson.org. Yes?
9:50
Speaker 3Great. So you're just gonna take a picture right now and and you're happy well, we can take one for you too. Or if you wanna use your last photo you had before, we'll do that too.
9:59
Speaker 1The last
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Speaker 3photo? Yeah. We can use your most recent photo too. Yeah.
10:02
Speaker 2That's But
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Speaker 1updating so the information would be very helpful. We're trying to update the directory and our photo wall and just kind of make sure we all know who we all are.
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Speaker 3Yeah. So. So and if you need help, feel free to help other people around you and I can come around and help you too. So, we'll just take a couple minutes and we'll get that started.
10:18
Speaker 1So, this is the handshaking time right now. Okay. We'll bring you back together with a song.
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Speaker 2I will have.
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Speaker 1I spend in vanity and pride not
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Speaker 2my lord was crucified knowing not it was for me he died at Calvary mercy there was great and grace was free my heart and there was multiplied to me my burden soul found liberty By God's word, at least my sin. Learned, then I trembled at the law I'd spurned till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. And there was multiplied to me there my burdens so found liberty at now I've given to Jesus everything now I gladly own him as my king now my raptured soul can only sing of mercy there was great and grace was free and there was multiplied to me there my burden so found liberty at oh the love that drew salvation's that brought it down to man. The mighty gulf that God did span at mercy there was great and grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me my burden so found liberty Amen.
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Amen. I
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Speaker 1like that little rhythmic interpretation there.
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Speaker 2I like that you thought I can move the way it went.
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Speaker 1We're gonna sing, I will sing of my redeemer. Hymn number five seventeen if you're looking for your part.
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Speaker 2Made the dead and made me free I will tell the wondrous story how my lost estate to save in his boundless love and mercy he's a rat's pardon and made me Amen.
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Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I want to invite the frontline team to come forward. Excuse me. Would you pray with me? God almighty, we thank you for the the glory this morning, the beauty of this morning.
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Having seen the slop in the roads and the snow that didn't seem like it would stop earlier in the week and all of the the natural phenomena of this created order. Lord, follows rules that you have established, to think that you're above that, that you are the preeminent one, that all things bring glory to you and this this morning, lord, with this bright blue sky and burning sun. We cannot help be but be reminded of you and your almightiness. So God, I thank you for bringing us here together this morning. I thank you for your word that it is a lamp to our feet.
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We thank you that our sins were paid for at Calvary just like we're singing in these songs, Lord. I pray that we would glorify you, that we would bring attention to you, that we would give the deserved fame to you. And Lord, in acknowledging that you are the giver of every good and perfect gift and acknowledging that you have been for us, Jehovah Jireh, our great provider. We are acknowledging that and putting something back in here to see your kingdom expand. So, Jesus, would you build your church?
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Would you use these resources freely given to do it? Would you multiply and bless in Jesus name so that the good news of the gospel may go forward. Amen. Goes very well with the sermon. Very very well with what the sermon for the day is.
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In fact, for the sermon today, we're going to look at this is the center part of what we're studying today, this verse right here. Now, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh, I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church. Now, that portion right there is what we're going to be concentrating on. Now, told somebody earlier in the week, I said, he said, what are you preaching on? I said, Colossians.
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He said, were you just going to read it to him? Because it's simple as it can be. I said, well, yes, I am. It gets even more simple in the second chapter and the third chapter because it's very practical but the first chapter is the grounding for all of the rest of that. You have to get that it's about Christ and his preeminence first before you can live out of that and so, we'll go back.
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I told you last week, I was going to read some of what we cover. Now, last week, I said, there's a pertinent prayer. Paul is praying for the Colossians. I'm praying for you that you would be filled with the knowledge of God's will so that you may walk worthy and do God's will and then in doing God's will, you will be filled into even greater and greater extent with the knowledge of God. So, it's knowing God's will, doing God's will, and then being filled with the knowledge of God.
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That was last week. That's the pertinent prayer and then, it's grounded on Christ's preeminent. So, this is that passage from 15 forward. I'm going to read through it. Try not to preach the whole message again but you gotta get this.
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If you don't get this, then the rest of Colossians looks like behavior modification, okay? The putting off and putting on sounds like do the right thing and don't do the wrong thing. If you get that Christ is preeminent and because of his bodily life in the flesh here without sin and his sacrificial death on your behalf. If you get that, it accesses the power of God to transform and change your life. He, Christ, is the image of the invisible God.
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Remember Jesus saying that to his disciples? No one has ever seen him at any time but if you've seen me, you've seen the father. He's the image of the invisible, almighty God, the firstborn of all creation and firstborn there means preeminent one, the one deserving of the inheritance, the one and only that's above all of creation because he is not created. For by him, all things were created. He is the very instrument of creation.
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In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things, all things were created through him and ultimately for him. So, everything that exists, remember when Jesus said, if we didn't cry out, if you didn't cry out and praise the rocks and the trees, the hills would cry out and praise. All things were created through him and for him to bring him glory. And he, Christ, is before all things, not created. He is eternal.
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He has always been. He's before all things and in position, he is in front of before all things and in him, all things hold together. Later in Colossians, it'll say, in him, we live and move and have our being. He spoke everything into existence and then, he holds it by his might and power. By his spirit and he is the head of the body.
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That is the church. Capital C, church normally. He is the head of this body. The church. He said that he would build it.
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He said he'd build it using our witness. How will you overcome? We'll overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. He is the head of the body, the church. His plan was you will be my witnesses.
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Obedient followers of Christ will share this gospel and Christ through them will build his church. That's plan A. There is no plan B. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. When Jesus was resurrected, he will never die.
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Ever again, he is the first one to have that glorified body and glorified experience that will have no end. Lazarus, yes, he was raised from the dead and then he died again. It's funny that when he was raised from the dead, the people around that didn't believe in his resurrection were so upset about it. They sought to kill him. Jesus was raised never to die again so that in everything he might be preeminent.
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He is the one. For in him, Christ, all of the fullness of almighty God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things. Through Jesus, God was reconciling to himself all things. It's a process. It's a process that Jesus's perfect life afforded him the possibility of dying the perfect sacrificial death and then his resurrection and the continuing gospel witness since then.
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God is reconciling to himself all things whether they're on earth or in heaven. God was making peace by the blood of Jesus's cross. So, that's what we covered last week and it came down. This is the last slide. It's the last slide in a lot of sermons.
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It comes right down to the message of the cross of Calvary. To those who are perishing, it is mere foolishness and you just go, why in the world should that make any difference to me? That's just silly. But for those of us who are being saved, those who put the faith that God has given in the way that God has made to those who are being saved. It's the very power of God and there is no theological argument against a transformed life.
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You got me? If you were once alienated and far from God and doing evil deeds and then, God gets a hold of you and your life changes. There's no theological argument against that. It is the power of God for those who are being saved. If you put your faith in Jesus.
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Now, we're going forward and that's what 21 actually says and you, all of you, who were once alienated. Remember Romans three, we've all sinned. We all fall short of the glory of God. No one is righteous, no not one. There's no one who seeks after God and you, you, who once were alienated and hostile in your mind, those who were doing evil deeds, you're right there.
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Perishing, doing the best you could, try to make sense of it, didn't make any sense, just foolishness, and so you lived like it. But the cross is that dividing point. Remember Paul's witness? Paul was going for all he was worth religiously persecuting followers of the way. Christians, he's persecuting him, dragging him back to Jerusalem to be tried, possibly killed, and then, he's confronted with Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ and he says, why are you persecuting me?
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In persecuting my people, you're persecuting me. And at that moment he saved and it changed everything about his life. His zeal, he was zealous before but he was zealous for the right cause after it was the power of God changed Paul from a proud Pharisee to a humble servant. So, you who once were alienated and hostile in mind and doing evil deeds, he, Christ, has now reconciled in his body of flesh. Already, Paul is combating a hair, an early heresy called Gnosticism.
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Gnosticism said that it matters what you know. It matters what you know, not what you do, not how you really live it out with this body but what you know is the most important and they also argued that flesh is bad and so Jesus didn't really come in the flesh. Jesus came and appeared to people, to their minds. He appealed to their intellect. He appealed to their reason and he did so without a physical body because the body of flesh is bad.
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Are you with me? That's what gnosticism teaches. Paul's already combating that here. In Colossians, he says, he has now reconciled in his body, past tense, his body of flesh, just so you can be sure, John does the same thing several times. We saw him.
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We touched him. We know that he's real. It's not just an idea. It's real. He lived a life on this Earth.
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He lived it well without sin. He's now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. The cross of Calvary made the difference. It paid the price for every sin of every person that would put their faith in Christ. And he did that in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before God, before him.
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So, that tells exactly why he did it in order to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach. It doesn't say in order to keep you from the fires of hell. It's not just about salvation. This is about sanctification. This is about your continued growth in Christ and when Paul's writing to the Colossians, I said last week, he was thankful that they were already Christians.
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Being is important. Knowing follows that, doing follows that but the being part of it, he's writing to Christians and he says that in Christ cruel death on Calvary, he did that in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. That's heavy already, right? Just two verses in. There there we go.
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If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast. Now, this is a word of warning about falling away. For those of you who grew up in church like me, I grew up in church. My folks were Christians and they live like Christians and I believe them and I continued in the faith partially because of how they live their lives. But there are a lot of people who have been presented with the truth and accept the truth and then walk away from that truth with societal pressures and that was what was in danger of happening in Colossi.
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The pluralistic worldview that's so prevalent in our day was also prevalent in Colossi. Not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. Walking away from the faith is a reality that should not be. Does that make sense? Once you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, why would you walk away from it?
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Well, sociology class in the freshman year of college has caused a lot of people to question their faith. As you're growing up, you get around here, you know, we've got so many involved at such a young age and they're memorizing scripture and they're loving Jesus and they're being baptized and they know God and then, around school, they start to feel like, not everybody believes this and I look like an idiot if I speak up And then high school, it's a little worse. And then college, the sociology class, mine, Cecile Doroff was my teacher. And she said on the first day of class, I can tell you what 97% of you, what your religion is by asking you one question. And that is not what is your religion, okay?
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I can tell you 97% of you by asking you one question. What religion are your mom and dad? And that begins to undermine and chip away and go, you as an 18, 19 year old, you go, my mom and daddy don't let me do what I want to do anyway. And it's based on that. And she says that I believe it just because they said it.
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And that's gotta be kind of true. I was there with them from the beginning and you know, there are other things that I could do if I didn't believe this stuff. I'd I might be going doing some others. I think 97%. That undermines my, it undermines all that you've been taught for all these years.
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Paul is saying, what you believed in the first place was true. I don't want you to shift from the hope that you have of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, became a minister. I talked about his dramatic conversion. It was the power of God that changed him. He knew it.
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And then he gets to this part. Now, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. Now, rejoicing in sufferings, we hear about that a lot because we tend to suffer and usually when you're going through sufferings, if you have somebody patting you on the back, say, rejoice in lord always. Woo hoo. Again, I say rejoice.
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Paul says, now, rejoice in my sufferings but he doesn't stop there. He says, for your sake. The next part of that is the part I told you we're going to center in on and in my flesh, Paul is saying, and in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Now, yes, Colossians two and three are very simple about how to live life but this ain't simple. What's lacking in the afflictions of Christ?
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Is there anything lacking? It's totally sufficient to cover every sin for every person that puts their faith in him. So, what's lacking? Think about that one for a minute. It's an unusual construction anyway just to say that the the word filling up is to fill something is to is to fill it up like a play roma of stuff is something that's full but anaplerao is to complete it, make it complete.
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Now, how in what way could the afflictions of Christ which we know his blood is efficient and effective for everyone who believes in him. To rid them of sin. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What's lacking then?
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That part is a little confusing. So, I'm going to go to Philippians for a minute. Philippians two thirty. These are facts not yet entered into evidence. I know we have not gotten to Philippians.
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Philippians is also one of the prison epistles. It's written around the same time and this is going through Paul's head. This construction is used outside of the Bible in several places too but it's an interesting thing and I'll get you up to the end here like this. So, Paul is writing to the Philippians. I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditis.
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Now, Epaphroditis, the same guy as Epaphras. So, it's a diminutive. It's like saying Juanito instead of Juan, okay? Epaphroditis, Epaphras, he's my brother, my fellow worker, and my fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my needs. So, Philip Philippians, Epaphras has been with him.
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Paul's in jail and the Philippians are sending Epaphras back to Paul to to minister and to message him in his time of need. For he, Epaphras, has been longing for you, for all of y'all and he had been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Now, Epaphras is the guy that's ill and he's distressed because they got the news that he was ill. I've been sick since the first week of November. Y'all know that, right?
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You hear me coughing? I have had a I don't typically equate what I do with how I feel. That's not the way that I usually think about it. I do have some physical suffering. I've been through pneumonia.
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I've caught every virus that any of y'all have had the whole time since November. I've been sneezing and coughing and carrying on and Epaphras was like that. It says, indeed, he was ill even near to death. I've never been as sick as I was these past three months in my life. I've been hurt but I hadn't been sick like this.
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Indeed, he was ill near to death but he was distressed because they were upset because he was sick. He had an empathy for them but God had mercy on him on Epaphras and not only on him but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent this guy to you. He completed his task. Now, y'all are being sent back.
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What if he died on the way? I'd just be so upset. I couldn't stand it, Paul says. I'm the more eager to send him therefore now that he's well, that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious, stuck here in prison. So, you, Philippians, receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men.
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A guy who's willing to do this, for he nearly died for the work of Christ. Risking his life to complete what was lacking, to fill up what was lacking. You hear, it's exactly the same construction. So, you get the idea that Epaphras is willing to be the messenger from the Philippians to Paul. When Paul needed something and they were sending it to him, Epaphras risked his life to fill up what was lacking in the Philippians service to him.
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Are you with me? Did you figure that out? What's the difference then? What was lacking? Philippi was there.
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Paul was here and there needed to be a go between between Philippi and Paul in Rome. And so, Epaphras was the one who filled up what was lacking. So, if you get back to this, in my flesh, Paul says, actually, literally in my flesh, I, Paul, am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Now, his blood was sufficient for everyone who would ever believe in him. But his plan for building the church is taking those people who know him and using their lives, example, words, testimony, and filling up what lies lacking.
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It's only getting the message out. Paul is saying, in my flesh. Now, we've already heard Paul's list of sufferings in second Corinthians 11 where he says, you know, I've been shipwrecked three times, spent a night out in the water, night and a day a day and a night out in the water. I've been bit by a snake couple times. I have been beaten with rods, received the lashes, from the church, and from outsiders.
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I've been lowered down over a wall to keep from getting killed. He's had sufferings and when he mentioned those sufferings, he mentioned it saying, listen, I know that this is just, I'm talking like a crazy person here but since you're talking about suffering, I'm going to give you my list, okay? In his flesh, for the twenty, at this point, nine, twenty eight, twenty nine years that he's been a Christian. He has been rolling on. He's put thousands and thousands and thousands of miles on his weary feet.
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He had already said in Philemon a couple weeks ago, we studied Philemon. He said, I'm an aged and decrepit. I'm an old guy but he's still carrying this message forward and it's effective and it still works because he's filling up in his flesh what's lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of Christ's body. That is the church. Are you with me?
41:50
Alright. Now, I do have to say this, when we start talking about suffering for Jesus, I always want to make sure that you're suffering for Jesus and not just because you're a jerk, okay? If you're a jerk, that's on you. If you're suffering for Jesus, it's on him. So, Peter says basically the same thing.
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Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble but take heart. I've overcome the world. Peter says, you're going to have the fiery trial but rejoice in so far as you share in Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. You're going to have a part in Christ eternal kingdom, his glory but the suffering is a necessary part of what's going on.
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If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. How should you think that if you follow after God with all your heart and you seek to minister his gospel to people, you will be received any better than Christ was. He was crucified for walking absolutely in the spirit. Never turning left or right. Because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you but let not any of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer, malefactor, I like that word or as a backbiter, meddler, gossip.
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Don't let it be on you. If you're a jerk, you're a jerk. That's on you. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in that name to be counted worthy to walk in the sufferings of Christ. So, that's Peter's word.
43:39
He goes, of which I became a minister. That's the body of Christ, the church of which I became a minister, Paul says, according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you. Now, I have been since the beginning of Colossians. Since I'm translating up here what it says, you know, I'm going from Paul. I'm telling you exactly what Paul says to Colossians and in that sense, I am taking on the role like Paul and y'all are taking on the role like the Colossians.
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And that is according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for for you. So, I got called here as a pastor. That's the stewardship thing. Some of y'all were involved in that process. A lot of y'all actually were involved in that process.
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All of you eventually. Yeah. According to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you but I don't want it to stop here on the platform. I don't want it to stop with me or Carl or Renzi. I want you to think about where God has put you and the stewardship that God has given you.
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In doing what it is that you do. In the first service, I just looked around and pick at people at random and I think of how God is working through Christian and Lizette. Lizette has taken on a role at the Turning Point and she's helping people who speak Spanish and she's doing that and there's a certain stewardship that God has placed her in that role. And that was given to her for the benefit of those ladies who come in. Miss Jean DeMarsh.
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In this church, there are some roles that y'all do. Folding the bulletins is one of them. But your stewardship towards Joni and Joni's stewardship towards everybody who comes in the rec center, you know God and not everybody that comes in does. And so there's a certain stewardship that God has given you with your relationships with people. It's given to you for their benefit.
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And to the extent that you walk out your sufferings and affliction for Christ, they will grow in Christ. Either they'll come to know him and be brought into the family of God or they will be brought closer to him through the gift of stewardship that God has given to you and to you, Johnny. So, spiritual authority. When I look at it, I don't think, well, I'm a pastor and so I'm here and you are the laity and so you are here. I never think about it that way, never not at all.
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Spiritual authority is derived from Christ always and when he came, he did not come to be served, he came to serve. So, when 15 guys showed up at my house yesterday, I have two broken ribs, did you all know that? So I can't shovel very well, it's the worst thing that you could do. And my roof is covered with snow and and somebody found that out this week. He came in.
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Actually, he came in and said, I just felt like I needed to stop. I had a lull in the day and I could not get away from come by and check on Ray. So, he did. He prayed with me, asked me if there's anything at all I could he could do for me and I said, man, I'm having a ball spiritually speaking and getting ready for this message. This is already working on me.
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You know, by Thursday or Friday, I'm already getting woke pretty good. I said, I'm enjoying this. I said, but I can't get up on my roof and shovel the snow off the roof. If there's another storm coming, it's just going to pile up and so yesterday at 01:00, 15 guys show up at the house and shovel the snow off the roof. Yeah.
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That's spiritual authority right there. They took on the role and I tell you what, I woke up this morning not concerned about the roof and not concerned about nearly as concerned about things knowing that this body of Christ is doing what this body of Christ is to do. To make the word of God fully known. That's an experiential knowledge of God. It's experiencing not just gnosis, not just in the head.
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It is an experiential knowledge of God to make God's word, his divine communication to make it fully known and experienced. It hits harder when people put it into action. When they fill up in their flesh, the what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. So, making that fully known. The mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations.
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Paul, the Pharisee, Paul, think about this, Saul, this proud Pharisee is studying and studying and studying in the Torah and he's seeing things about Messiah that he doesn't understand and he has to say it's mystery. He has to. If he's honest, he has to say mystery. Now, they they start anticipating things that are different and bigger or stranger or more political but it's a mystery that's hidden for ages and generations but now, it has been revealed and who has it been revealed to? To his holy ones, his saints, the people who put their trust in him, in Christ.
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Now, if I flip forward, it says, to them, who is that? To his saints, to the ones that God has made holy through the blood of Jesus, to whom? To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles, the nations, the word for Gentiles there is nations. It almost always is. All of the nations.
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To them, his saints, God chose to make known how great among the nations are the riches of the glory of this mystery. Are you with me now? Is that confusing in the words? No. He's saying, I've chosen by calling out these people and saving them and making them holy and righteous.
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I'm showing among the nations who I am. The riches of the glory of this mystery. Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. There is no righteousness within us. Except for the righteousness of God which is given by grace, access through faith.
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God has given to each of us a measure of faith and we can exercise that towards God. If we put our faith in Christ. So, which is in Christ or which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. You have no hope of glory outside of Christ. You have no hope of eternity outside of Christ.
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Christ in you though is the hope of glory. Not just for you but for everyone around you. The way that you minister to them with your lives and with your words will make the difference. That's 27. 28, it says, him, Christ, we proclaim.
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It is not our superior philosophy or system. It is Christ that we proclaim. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. That first prayer, Paul says, I'm praying that you will be filled with the knowledge of God and all spiritual wisdom. Him, Christ, we proclaim, warning everyone, there is no other way.
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Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, warning them, and teaching everyone with all wisdom. It should not just stop at the moment of salvation but growth everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I've got one story I told in the first service. It's the one I'm borrowing from John Piper. John Piper tells a story of a missionary Indian.
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So, he's a guy who was from India. He learns of the gospel and as he learns of the gospel, he he learns of the gospel and he accepts it and it's true and he begins to go walking about and expressing it to all these different villages. He gets to a particular village. He goes into the village. Now, he's got blisters on his feet.
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He's a decrepit little man and he is obviously worn out. Super thin, worn down, and he gets in and he proclaims Christ and they reject him. Outright, reject him. Lead him to the edge of town. Get rid of this guy.
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We don't want to have anything to do with you here. You're messing up all the whole thing that we have with these other gods going. Do not be bringing that guy in here. You're, it's blasphemy to us and we don't want to hear anything about and so he gets to the outside of town. He's worn completely out.
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He has experienced suffering and rejection in the cause of Christ and so he just decides he will take a nap. So, he lays down. As he lays down, and rests. People walking by noticed how blistered are the bottoms of his feet and how worn out this guy is. And they start, maybe this guy is a holy man after all.
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You wouldn't put yourself through that kind of stuff for just any old message. And so when he wakes up, he has a crowd gathered around him and said, tell us the story again. We want to hear it this time. He had been filling up in his afflictions even while he was asleep. What lay lacking The blood of Christ was sufficient for that village but they had no access to him.
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What he what he brought was access to Christ. That is the only thing that lays lacking. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. It's not just about salvation but about sanctification and the way that you live your life influences other people and their level of maturity in Christ. It makes a difference.
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For this, Paul says, I toil. Thirty years, twenty nine years after he's received Christ, been converted. For this, I toil, struggling with all what? His energy. All of Christ's energy is what I struggle with and he, Christ, powerfully works within me, not just through me but within me.
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He says, I'm still being transformed by that meeting with Jesus and staying in his word and studying it and living it out. Now, we come to the time right now of communion and I haven't called out as many people in the service. Catherine, dancing. It's what you do. It's who you are in Christ, to God's glory, and to all the people that you're around.
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I don't mean to embarrass you, but it's what you do. It's who you are and you've got an opportunity that I'm not I'm never going to have. Let's face it. I don't dance. So, there is a different segment of society.
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There's a different segment for each one of you to minister to. I think of Lori and Jerry and Saudi and still and the ministry that God has for you and what it is that you do here and it's Christ in us that's the hope of glory. It's not we are not the hope for glory. This table makes that completely obvious to me. We do not deserve a share in Christ's blood.
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Yet, we have an effective call. He says, if you will, do this. If you will accept me, then I will be yours. So, let's not pull away from what we've learned. Let's not shy away from the truth we know.
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Florine, you want to come up and play something pretty? And I'll ask the the frontline team to come forward. Would you pray with me? God almighty, I think of this passage especially at the time for communion where Paul says, you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, you who were doing evil deeds, Christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless. Lord, we have no other righteousness.
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It's completely outside of us. But you've made an offer to make us holy and blameless. And so through the perfect life that you live, Lord, in your body of flesh, we ask you that you'd bless this representation, this little crust of bread that is representing the body of Christ, the perfect life well lived. In Jesus' name, would you bless as we distribute? Amen.
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As I contemplate this, little cracker and think about it representing the body of Christ and think about that life that he lived. Did not deserve punishment, did not deserve the suffering that he had, but he took on suffering on behalf of others. Contemplating his sinlessness puts me in the place of considering my sinfulness. And it is for this reason that on the night that he was betrayed, after he had had supper, after taking bread, blessing it, giving thanks, he said, that this is my body that's given for you on your behalf. This body that deserves no punishment is being given on your behalf.
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So take this and eat this and do it in remembrance of me. Thank you, Jesus, for always, always, always surrendering to the spirit, for always walking in the spirit, for always being willing to do that which your father asked.
