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Speaker 2Good morning, church family. How are you? It's good to see you all. How about this? Let's stand up together, and and start worshiping in song.
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We've got a... I've got a psalm here I wanna share with you. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you. Let me just pray on that. God, I do pray for your unfailing love to surround us.
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It is here, but I pray that there would be a deep awareness of it. And thank you, God, for the hope that we that we have in you, that it is also an unfailing hope. Amen. Alright. Wonderful.
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So
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Speaker 1I'm
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Speaker 2Jesus. I'm see. Alright. You've opened my eyes. You've opened my eyes to your wonders anew.
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You captured my heart with this love because nothing on earth is as beautiful as you. Let's sing that again. You've opened my eyes. You've opened my eyes to your wonders anew. Captured my heart with this love.
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There's nothing on earth as is
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Speaker 1Good morning. Y'all can have a seat. I got a few announcements. Actually, a few more announcements. We have, y'all know we have small groups here.
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There there are churches that push, push, push small groups. The bigger the church, the more it's necessary, I think, to push a small group mentality because it's easy to be anonymous in a big group and because you learn more interacting rather than just hearing but interacting. So, have a lot of small groups. I'm going to name a few of em this morning. First of all, a little smaller group is Monday nights at first B.
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It's down the hall, down in the fellowship hall during the same time Awana is going on in this rest of the church. In the fellowship hall, we have Monday nights and Carl is preaching tomorrow night on.
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Speaker 2Yep. It's Jesus talking about purity, true change from the inside out. It's really good.
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Speaker 1Yep. From Luke 11, right?
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Speaker 2Luke 11. Yep.
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Speaker 1That's Monday nights at first B. There is a snowmobile retreat. You don't have to ride that one. The snowmobile retreat is January 26 to the twenty eighth. You can see Kyle Knutson.
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He's standing in the back with a big burly beard and a vest and a coffee. If you want to see him this morning, we have on the bulletin. We have a little form that you can say, hey, this is my name and here is a check. If you'd like to go with us, please plan on that. Alright.
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Thank you. Talk to Kyle if you'd like to go on that. Community Bible study will be happening tomorrow right here at First B. Community Bible study. This is actually considered by community Bible study, a prayer group.
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It's a small group that's building and we have about 12 or 13 that are committed right now but you are welcome to come. The booklets are available already. You can talk to Anne Stalker. She's right here. After the service, she'll be in the back to the last customer served, alright?
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Community Bible study starts tomorrow right here. There is a book study for adults on Sunday night starts next. Yeah, next Sunday night. Samantha McVeigh, you want to stand and say howdy? That's Samantha McVeigh or Sam.
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You could talk to Sam or Nick. Lord, change my attitude before it's too late. Is the book study for adults? If that sounds like it's for you, then, come on, be with them. Forty days of prayer is going to be our Wednesday, women's Wednesday worship time, forty days of prayer here from 10AM until noon right here.
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I think in this room, it may be in the fellowship hall but if you want to be a part of that, you can talk to Nancy Erwin or just show up, Wednesday, 10:00 to noon. We've got another Bible study for men reading through Romans, Wednesday. That'll be 7PM in the church office right here at the front first left going down the hall. Nick is the guy to talk to about that and reading through Romans together as guys. Plugged in at first B.
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If you have not seen a Bible study that looked like you but you do want to be involved in one. I have people call from time to time and say, I'd love to be in a small group, but it seems like they're closed groups or they've been going forever or I don't really know how to plug in. Then Mike Demetrius will be in the back. Mike, are you here? There he is.
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Yeah. He said he would create a small group for you. Alright. Alright. And I have one more too that is not in the slides.
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In your weekly bulletin, there are extra added announcements in here every single week. You can grab hold. There's a little pink section that says there's a meeting for anybody who's interested in going to Guatemala in April. We're going just after, Well, we're going in April. Alright?
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But if you're interested in going to Guatemala, would you come tonight at 05:30? We'll be discussing the different logistical aspects of the trip and how do we get there? How do we get home? When are we meeting? All of that sort of stuff.
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So if you are considering going, even if you're not sure whether you're going, please come to the Guatemala meeting tonight, 05:30 in the Fellowship Hall and we'll have chili available for that. Anybody else? Did I forget something? I think that's it. Would y'all stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song.
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Welcome and I'm glad you're here. Keep it rolling. I love the old song.
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Speaker 2Alright. It's fallen from it's fallen from clouds, strange and lonely sound. I can beared in the thunder and the rain. It's ringing in the skies. It's ringing in the skies.
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My cannons in the night, Would you pray with me? God, thank you for this new identity that you give us. When we trust and and believe in you, we are truly no longer slaves to to fear. Perfect love casts out fear. But we're called children of God.
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We we we go from the kingdom of darkness into your kingdom of light. And that's just a work of you. That's only something that you can do. And so, God, can we just pause just for a moment to say thank you? Thank you for living that perfect life and dying that sacrificial death for us.
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God, we'll never know the cost of that. We'll never quite truly grasp and realize. We spend our whole lives realizing just how much you love us and what you've done for us. But I pray, God, that step by step, day by day, song by song, verse by verse, it would become more and more and more real. It would be the reality in which we are living because it is true, and it is real.
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Let's sing man of sorrows. Man young
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Speaker 1Almighty, we thank you for your presence here with us this morning. I thank you for your indwelling Holy Spirit and God, I thank you that we are no longer slaves to fear because of Jesus. Man of sorrows. Lord, would you implant the word deep in our hearts that gives us the assurance during difficult times? Lord, also I pray for this time of the service where you take up an offering, Lord.
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May everything that goes in these plates use... Be used to build up your kingdom. Qualitatively, quantitatively, Lord, would you stretch the gospel to the ends of the earth, and would you use us to do it? In Jesus' name, would you bless and multiply these tithes and offerings to your kingdom's work. Amen.
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Thank you, Florine. And it is time for children's church. There they go. So I usually don't skip anything. Y'all know that, right?
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I I just keep on going forward. I'm skipping a couple of paragraphs but I'll come back to them next week, okay? I'm skipping the part about Timothy and Epaphroditus from two nineteen up to the beginning of chapter three just because thematically, I think for what I want to present with those two paragraphs, I want to skip over this section and catch the next one. Alright? So forgive me for breaking the scheme for just a little bit, but y'all want to go home at some point today, I assume.
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So I didn't want it to grow too terribly long. Three one through three eleven is what we're looking at today from Philippians, and it is an incredibly encouraging section of scripture for me and I hope it is for you. I have a question for you though and I don't I don't always fit the format with this but a lot of guys ask an intriguing question at the beginning of the sermon to engage the audience. It's like what they teach you to do in speaker school, right? I actually had one this week.
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Have you ever been to a funeral for somebody that you didn't know? I asked my brother this yesterday. Every time I call my brother, he says, I'm at visitation or in the South, it's really big. Funerals are still really, really big and so, he goes, I'm at visitation. I couldn't answer because I was at Cox Funeral Home standing in line next to the widow and I just didn't feel like it'd be appropriate.
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Alright. Well, thank you for not doing that. Have you ever been to a funeral for somebody that you didn't know? And if you have, what did you hear? A eulogy, good word about the person.
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But if you didn't know that person when you got there, you still didn't really know the person when you left, right? You knew a lot about the person because lots of people stand up and give a good word most of the time. But you still didn't know that person. Do you understand where I'm going with this? If you have been to a funeral for somebody that you didn't know, I've been to several here.
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My brother, when I told him this too, he loves a good joke. He says, your answer ought to be, heck, I preached a few. For people I didn't really know and I have. I actually have since I've been here probably preached 25 or 30 different funerals and out of those about 20 of em for people that I knew and less than that that I knew well. So what I usually do in those cases, I go to the scripture and I tell the family beforehand, listen, I didn't know your loved one all that well, but I know you and I know what you tell me and I believe what you tell me is true, but I'm going to concentrate my efforts on what this book says.
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And I hope to offer encouragement from God's word. That's what it says on the line when I'm speaking at a funeral. It's encouragement, I hope from God's word. And then, I'll leave the eulogies up to y'all, the ones who really knew the person and you can speak from firsthand experience. So, I just wanted you to think about that for a section.
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What it's like? Do you know the person any better after you leave? Yeah, you know about them but it's not the same thing as knowing them. Do you understand what I'm saying? Alright, that is apart from the message but it'll come up two or three other times, I think.
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Three one through 11, Paul introduces his thought in verse one and then he gives them a warning and it's a pretty strong actually warning. He gives his own testimony and then he gives the goal, our goal, his goal, the goal, and we'll start with this and I want to just walk through it this way. Paul introduces his thought right here. Finally, and it's funny because this is exactly in the middle of the book and he says, finally, it's kind of like saying, in conclusion, after ten minutes of this sermon, right? Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.
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Well, it's been about joy so far. It'll be about joy in the future. That's great. Rejoice in the Lord, introducing a thought for me to write the same things over and over again. That's what this for me to write the same things again.
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To you is not tedious but for you, it is safe. Now, there have been various translations. I like this one probably the best to write the same things again is no trouble to me. He's repeating some of the stuff he said earlier in this book and he's probably written to him before already. We he definitely has been backed by there and talked to him before.
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Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things again. It's no trouble. It's not tedious. It's not a chore for me and it's a safeguard for you. So, this next thing that he's introducing is going to be a warning.
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He said this kind of thinking that I'm going to introduce right now will help you. So here's his warning. Beware of dogs, okay? If you stop right there, it's like, beware of dogs. Duh.
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My dog can reach the fence in two seconds. Can you that kind of or more appropriately this week maybe? Sorry. I don't do that very often. Sorry.
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Forgive me. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers and beware of the mutilation. Now, the way that he said what he said here, he didn't put an and between these. He's not adding one thing to another.
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These are all the same folks. The dogs, the evil workers, and the mutilation party. They are Judaizers. Most scholars agreed on this until about fifteen years ago, and then there are a lot of people that have a new perspective on Paul, and they say, that's not true. This is not really good.
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I think from the context, we can say fairly assuredly that these are people who were saying, yes, it's important to believe in Jesus but you also have to do these things. So, if you come to Jesus as an adult and you want to really show that you're devoted to him, you have to be circumcised and you have to go by the Old Testament law and you have to basically become Jewish in order to be Christian and Paul is making an argument that that is not the case. He starts with a very strong warning saying, beware three times in a row. Beware of this. Beware of this.
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Beware of this and these guys kind of followed Paul around because he was preaching a gospel of absolute grace, grace through faith and it's scary for religious leaders who have built themselves up in being a religious leader that teaches law. So, these folks would follow Paul around and where grace took root, they would come back in and try to sway em back to the other side to law. And then so doing, they'd sway em from the spirit to the flesh. So, the warning is very very strong. Mutilation.
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It's a play on words right there and you could tell that by the next thing but in Greek, it's even more obvious that it is. He actually uses this more than once. Concision is what some people would say. That's what a lot of different versions say. Beware of the concision instead of the mutilation.
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It is basically and it is graphically cutting off instead of cutting around. For we are the circumcision. We, Paul says, who worship God in the spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Galatians, he says, and if I, brethren, still preach circumcision, why do I suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
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I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. That's the same thinking right there. Romans two twenty eight, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart. It's a heart matter by the spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not for men but from God. That's Romans.
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We've covered all this together. When you see a white slide with black, we've covered this together and in him, you also were circumcised with the circumcision that was made without hands and the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ having been buried with him, identifying with Christ in his death, in baptism in which you are also raised up, raised to walk in newness of life with him through faith and the working of God who raised him from the dead. That's from Colossians. Not long back, we covered that. Paul's warning, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, beware of anyone who tells you that it's grace plus and we have a lot of people around us who are saying it's grace plus.
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Do you all know that? Grace plus works. It's either grace or it's works because grace is unmerited favor. You can't add anything to grace and you can't earn God favor by your works. That's what Paul is saying.
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Beware of anyone who tells you anything different. In Galatians, he even say, that's a different gospel completely different gospel and it is no gospel at all. May they be a curse For we are the circumcision. Those who worship God in spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh He goes into his own testimony at this point Though if we're talking about the fleshly stuff I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks that he may have more confidence in the flesh than I do, I do more so.
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I can tell you my pedigree right now and Paul says, I was circum on the eighth day. That is what the law said he should be. That's when it said it should happen. He had godly parents. What he's saying right there is his family heritage really really was godly okay?
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They did the right thing by me even before I could make the choice of the stock of Israel and they were and I am one of the chosen people of God, the stock of Israel, those who have devoted themselves to God. So, he's saying his religious heritage is secure. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin, a very popular and populous tribe. He knew it too. So, his tribe was important to him.
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He kept up with those sort of things. The Hebrew of the Hebrews, a shining example. This is one of those, it's a Hebraism but it's also used in Greek where you double it up and just say, to the nth degree, I am shown up, alright? Hebrew Concerning the law a Pharisee the strict sect that there was Today, we see Orthodox Judaism as this. It is the strict that the Hasidic Jews are pretty much the strict ultra ortho would be like Pharisee concerning laws.
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A Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church. So, as far as his Judaism went, he believed Christianity was a heresy and he was willing to go after them for it. What? He was on the road to Damascus with writs in hand to bring Christians back to the to Jerusalem or kill them if they wouldn't come. Concerning zeal, I was persecuting the body of Christ, the church.
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His pedigree is pretty strong. Concerning the righteousness which is in the law. Blameless. So, that's Paul's testimony right there and I was thinking of this, Ray's testimony. Why not?
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You know, I started to do Diane's testimony and have her stand up here and vault herself for a few minutes. She wouldn't do it but that's not true. She would do it. I just I've been in church since nine months before I was born. What does that tell you?
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My folks are godly people They were in church all at least it tells you they're in church all the time In church since nine months before I was born tells you what I feel about where does life start, right? My testimony, I'm a direct descendant of Grace McDaniel. Not those other McDaniels of the line of Grace McDaniel, right? I'm using the lady instead of the man in this case because Grace McDaniel is a known pillar of the community the Christian community everybody knows. She's named Grace for a reason.
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She is amazing Grace If I could do this without crying I'm the son of her firstborn. I'm the firstborn of her firstborn, Billy Georgia boy of Georgia boys. I don't know if you all know but it does matter It really does. I can't explain that out here. I can't explain that but living on that side of the line, I grew up forty five minutes from Alabama, 55 miles from Auburn but I was Georgia.
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It's almost two and a half hours to get to Athens, but it made a difference. And I'm not talking about college football. I'm just saying those are references. I'm really not that big a fan. Y'all know that.
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But if I'm going to be a fan, it's going to be Georgia right? Because in the South, the states writes things. I know, I know why it was thought y'all. Don't argue about it but it really does matter. Okay, it's cultural differences.
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Just chalk it up to that Concerning church, I was Southern Baptist Whoo hoo. Hallelujah Southern Baptist was the top. It's like Pharisees. I at least that's the way I was raised, okay? Really?
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Yes Southern Baptist Concerning zeal, I did weekly visitation. Do y'all know what weekly visitation is Each time there's a new pastor in town he trumps up a visitation schedule usually for Tuesdays, maybe Thursday and the dedicated ones will show up on Tuesday and you go visit people. Now, I grew up in town of 492 people. I knew every single one of em. There was nobody in town I didn't know and when a new pastor would arrive in town and start the visitation, we would show up.
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Concerning zeal. We were there. And we'd go and we knew the ones that were hardened against God but we'd go visit them again. We knew the ones who knew Jesus but we'd knock on those doors too. That was a much easier thing to do I even did weekly visitation Concerning the righteousness which can be manufactured by showing up and doing the right thing I was blameless According to the way I was raised, right?
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So, I don't know how you were raised. Some of y'all came to Christ as adult. Praise God. You did. I love hanging out with y'all showing up and doing the right thing is not what this is about and that's what Paul is saying.
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Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, I did everything that I was supposed to do and if I should happen to slip up, there was a way in the law that I could take a pigeon or I could take some other animal I could sacrifice and I could do the right thing to get out of the wrong that I had done. Does that make sense? I could make a some sort of sacrifice. That's Paul's testimony and it's a pretty strong one. And then he goes into this, but what things were gain to me, these things I've counted as loss for Christ.
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Now, if you're budgets and if you love Excel spreadsheets, assets and liabilities. The things that I used to count as assets, now I count as liabilities. I see some of y'all who were raised doing Bible drills and you could get there faster than anybody else. That was an asset when you're at camp. It is actually of some value.
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Paul argued that later. But compared with what it is like to actually know Christ, this is what he's getting to. It becomes a liability. Now, I ask you again, have you ever been to a funeral for somebody that you didn't know? The goal the goal that Paul is talking about started in verse seven.
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I started a minute ago but it goes on from there to say in verse eight, yet, indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my lord. Now, how we talk a lot of balance? I've talked about ditches for several years now. There's legalism over here. There's license over there and so he's primarily been talking about legal things that he had done everything that the law required within his scope.
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He had done everything legalistically. So, he had been in this ditch for his life. Yet, indeed, I also count all things, not just the stuff in this ditch which I've discussed but all the stuff, license too, all of the wandering wayward stuff, account everything that the world has to offer whether it's legalism or license, I count it all as loss or as a liability for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. My lord. He says, my lord.
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This is where he introduces the difference between the way that he had lived and the way that he is living. The knowledge, experiential knowledge of Christ Jesus, my lord. The excellence of that makes everything else pale in comparison. Nothing measures up to that. For whom I've suffered the loss of all things.
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All of that going before the Sanhedrin now, Paul is a heretic. At that time, if he had gone before the Sanhedrin, he would have been deemed a heretic, right? He lost all of that good credit that he had been building up over all those years of suffered that loss. And I count them as rubbish. Now rubbish is not a strong word.
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The word for rubbish in the scripture right here is scubula. Scubula. Scubula. And scubula is a hypox logamina. That's only used one time in the New Testament.
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So you kind of have to go outside of the New Testament in order to discover exactly what it means. And when you go outside of the New Testament, what it means, I can't do it. I wanted to do it. It's a four letter word for excrement. Okay?
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Refuse. Dregs, more likely and to the point. Dung. Crap. Probably stronger than that.
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That's as far as I'm gonna go. They think that where it came from is two words, throw and dog properly. It's waste that's been thrown to dogs or filthy scraps, garbage, table scraps, dung, muck, sweet things, refuse, what is good for nothing except to be thrown out. It's only used that one time. He says that he has counted all things, all of his religious training at the feet of Gamaliel and everywhere else, all of his secular study that he had done that we talked about in that intervening time in Paul's life.
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Count them as rubbish. Crap. That I may gain Christ. That I may gain Christ. That's the goal that I may gain Christ.
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And put your name in there where it says I, that you may gain Christ. That's the goal and be found in him not having my own righteousness because you know what? There is no other righteousness to be had. Legalistic righteousness or super secular righteousness. Oh, he's a good man.
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He does all this for all these causes. Paul says, and be found in him, in Christ, union with Christ, not having my own righteousness. Which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ. Y'all know, we quote Ephesians two eight and nine all the time. It is by grace that we're saved through faith and that is a work of God.
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It's not of ourselves so that no one can boast. It might have looked like Paul was boasting when he said, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews but he was only setting you up for saying and all of that is Compared to knowing Jesus. The righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. So, it's not just about salvation. It's about the continuing power of his resurrection.
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In our lives, does it make a difference in your life? You're not trying to earn God's favor by doing good things but are you motivated because of Thanksgiving and because of freedom in Christ to be doing good things. Amen. Yes. I may know him and the power of his resurrection.
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There is a difference in knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus. Have you ever been to a funeral where you didn't know the person? Church is a funeral for Jesus in a lot of places. And there are a whole lot of people talking about Jesus that don't know Jesus. Because I've been in church my whole life, I can attest to this fact.
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Ain't no mean like Christian mean. Have you all been hurt by church? Have you seen church splits? Have you seen how ugly it gets? And I put Christian in quotes there.
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You see that? Because there's a difference in being a Christ fan and being a Christian Now, I had a long sports analogy in here but we also have communion today. I've been thinking about that. It's different to be a Christ fan than it is a Christian. I am not a sports fan, really but I watched that game last week and something stirred within me.
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The underdog AWG dog. Alright, the underdog went into that game and I'm from Georgia and it raised something up in me And I started thinking about it, and I actually, after the game was over, called Renzi because he is a sports fan. I called him and started talking to him about this game. I know nothing about this game. I know how to play the game.
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I know the rules of the game, but I'm not a player now It's not the same thing. I'm, you know, there were 80 thousand people watching that game that were right there in it. They still weren't in the game They're football fans. They're still not playing the game. They're not in the game You've heard me say before, 80,000 fans that could desperately need some exercise and 22 guys on the field that desperately need some rest.
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Mixing my metaphors, excuse me. The fellowship of his sufferings, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. What is the prosperity gospel? Scubula. The power of his resurrection is immediately followed by the fellowship of his sufferings.
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If you listen to Man of Sorrows, the words to it, it's a stirring song. Being conformed to his death, his wrongful death, right? It was wrongful. He was innocent. He was declared innocent and still crucified.
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We occasionally wrongly convict someone and put him in jail but when we figure out they're innocent, we let him go. Being conformed to his death. If we are following after Christ, we will be suffering. And joining in the fellowship of his suffering. It won't just be talking about someone that we don't know or knowing about Jesus.
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It'll be knowing Jesus experientially and when you experientially know him, you go through times where you get beaten, mocked, and scorned. If by any means, I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. He is saying that being found in Christ is his way. It is not because of all of that previous stuff he had talked about family lineage, all the things that he counted as assets. They're actually liabilities because he's gotta get over that.
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Why I said that I like hanging out with people who came to Christ as adults as they know what it's like instead of knowing all this good stuff. In fact, some of that stuff just inoculates people against the gospel. A dead form of Christianity inoculates you against the real thing. Ever been to a funeral for someone you didn't know? What Paul says that we do each time we do this communion, Lord's Supper, he says, as we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again.
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This exercise is recognizing we have no righteousness of our own. None. Doesn't matter what you believe pre millennial, pan millennial, post millennial. It doesn't matter what your theology is if you don't know Jesus experientially. What you're saying by taking part in the Lord's Supper is that I am trusting in your righteousness, not my own.
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I want your righteousness, not my own. Would you fill me, Lord, to do your will? So, the cool thing about Jesus is he was resurrected. When you go to a funeral and you don't know the person and they talk about him, Cal Matthew's funeral, it was like, that dude did everything. He got knocked out by Jackie Robinson in a PE class.
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That's crazy. He helped on the space shuttle like the doodads that help spaceships or Apollo get to the moon. He helped out with that. He built the world's first monster truck. No, I I'm just making that part up He did a lot of stuff and after the funeral, you're like, man, wish I had known that guy but you still didn't and you don't have the chance anymore but with Jesus, he was resurrected And you do have the chance now to know him.
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There are tons of people here who can tell you all about him, but the way to get to know him is open up in prayer and ask him. The other way to get to know about him and to know him is through his word. Read the gospel of John. Read the rest of the gospels. Read what Paul wrote about him but read straight up.
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Luke. Oh, Carl's teaching from Luke tomorrow night, Luke 11 and you'll hear this portion where Jesus is speaking and the Pharisees said, yeah, but you, you know, you offended us too in what you just said. He said, yeah, I did and I'm going to keep going. If you don't like religion or you don't like religiosity, you love Jesus but there's a difference in being a Christ fan and being a Christian. I defy anybody to read the book of John and not come away like in Jesus.
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I don't understand how you do it. He is definitely the good guy. Alright. I think we're going to go into a time of communion. So, I'm going invite the elders if you would come forward.
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Ryan, y'all want to come up and play through that song? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, lives in us. Flooring, you're there. Alright. Would you pray with me?
51:01
God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for straight talk from Paul. I thank you for the perspicuity of scripture. How clear it can be. Even in short sections, Lord, you can show us the error of our ways and call us to the way, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.
51:25
And now, as we distribute this bread, Lord, I pray that each one here that partakes would feel a greater and closer unity to their fellow Christian and a greater and deeper love and empathy for those who do not yet know. God, would you use this time to bring people into a greater and deeper understanding. Amen.
52:02
Speaker 3I can see waters raging at my feet. I can feel the breath of those surrounding me. I can hear the sound of nations rising up. We will not be overtaken. We will not be overcome.
52:40
I can walk down this dark and painful road. I can fear the fear of the of the unknown. I can hear all God's children singing out. We will not be overtaken. We will not be overcome.
53:08
The same power that rose Jesus from the grave, the same power that commands the dead to wake lives in us, lives in us. The same power that moves mountains when he speaks. The same power that can come a rage and see lives in us, lives in us, lives in us, lives in us we have hope that his promises are true in his strength there is nothing we can't do. Yes, we know. There are greater things in store.
54:06
We will not be over taken. We will not be overcome. Sing with us. The same power that rose Jesus from the grave. The same power that commands the dead to wake lives in us, lives in us.
54:33
The same power that moves mountains when he speaks. The same power that Mumbai rage and see lives in us, lives in us, lives in us, lives in us greater is he the living in me he's conquered our enemies no power of darkness, no weapon prevails. We stand here in victory. The lives in us. The same power that commandments when he speaks.
55:46
The same power that can come arrange and see lives in us, lives in us, lives in us, lives in us.
56:06
Speaker 1So, there's a strong warning actually after Paul gives us a format for doing the Lord's supper. There's a strong warning against doing it unworthily. You may look at it and go, how can anybody be worthy of this? Well, he's not talking about that. He's saying, he wants your heart to be absolutely pure before God with desire for his righteousness.
56:26
Do you understand that? He wants for you, Christian, to be right now desiring the righteousness of God, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to walk in victory over sin, to walk in victory, period. He told us that on the same night, Jesus was betrayed, man of sorrows, right? The same night he was betrayed. He took bread after supper and after he blessed it, given thanks, he said, this is my body that is given for you.
56:56
Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me. Now, Lord, would you bless as we distribute this little plastic cup of grape juice? Would you bless each one that partakes, lord, with a unity in this body, the body of Christ, the body of Christ. And also, I pray lord for each one that must let it pass because they're just unconvinced. They don't know you.
57:31
They just know a little about you. I pray that you would bring em into an experiential knowledge and that you'd use your continuing body of Christ to do that. God, would you bless this as we distribute it? In Jesus name, amen. Ryan, if you'd stay up, can we switch back to Man of Sorrows while we do this?
57:49
Yeah.
58:55
Speaker 3Cross
59:04
Speaker 1my salvation Amen. After the bread, he took the cup and he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink it and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Would y'all stand with me?
1:02:49
We're going to sing the doxology as a benediction as y'all head up Just the doxology I don't know the newsboys version of it Praise God from whom all bless ings flow praise him all creatures here below praise him above you heavenly host praise father, son, and holy ghost Amen. And may you go in peace.
