Knowing Him, Not Just Knowing About Him
First B Jackson
2018-01-07

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, everybody. How are you?

Good morning.

It's good to see you. We've got a couple songs here to start off with. Imma invite Scott forward and how's your New Year? Alright. Happy.

Last last Sunday was last year. This is our first of the New Year and so, would you stand with us and we're going to sing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms to start off and let's get into the flow here.

Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how

Amen. How about learning to lean? We might have reversed the order next time. The learning to lean first and then be lean. But learn we are all learning to lean.

Five, three, four. We won't read

too much into that now. Yeah. Constant learning. I'm learning to lean. I'm learning to lean on Jesus.

On Jesus. We're going up. I'm to lean I'm learning lean

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. Actually, a few more announcements than I usually do. There are some standard ones like Monday nights at First B is on.

Monday nights at First B happens in the Fellowship Hall down that way at 06:00 on Monday evenings. At the same time, there will be Awana in this room. You see the big game circle on the floor and Awana happens in here and all over the rest of the church but in the Fellowship Hall, we have Monday nights at First B. Carl is preaching from Luke 11. Luke 11 is a place where Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and it's going be a good one.

We've been talking about it all week. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, 06:00 right there down the hall, Fellowship Hall. Snowmobile retreat is happening earlier this year. That is an early snowmobile, by the way, I think. Snowmobile retreat is happening January 26 through the twenty eighth.

If you want to go, please see Kyle Knutson. You can look in your bulletin and there is in your bulletin a little form. You can kind of tear off and turn it back in just to let us know who you are and that you want to go. Email address and phone number if you want to get in touch with him or you could just see Kyle Knutson at some point. If you want to talk to the home office here at the church, you can call Nick or Diane and they will put you in touch with Kyle.

If you want to go, we want for you to go. So Snowmobile Retreat, January 26 through the twenty eighth, that's coming up. Community Bible study. Community Bible study has been going for over forty years around The US, and they're they're in lots of different countries nowadays, but there has never been one in Jackson until now. So community Bible study is this is a prayer group.

It's starting up. There have been about 12 ladies gathering and it could be more than that. We're hoping for about 25 and I think Anne Starker was here this morning. She is kind of instigating it but she's not really leading it. So if y'all would come on in, it will be tomorrow at 09:39 thirty to 11:30 in the Fellowship Hall here at First Beast.

So it's a Monday study, community Bible study on first and second Thessalonians. There is another, and I'm gonna go through a lot of them now. There are lots of small groups here. You know, churches promote small groups and they actually almost twist your arm and force you into a small group. We don't usually do that.

We're less like that, but there are some real values that come from studying with a small group. Instead of just listening to me speak or listening to what's going on, if you're able to engage the text and other believers or even unbelievers, If you're able to engage the text and people, you start study, you learn better. So there's a book study for adults that's gonna be on Sunday nights. It starts next Sunday at 06:30 here. Sam McVeigh or Samantha McVeigh and Nick Staren know more information about it, but you could see the book title right there by James McDonald.

Lord, change my attitude before it's too late. If that feels like it hits you pretty square, then maybe Sunday nights at 06:30 is a place to be here. Forty days of prayer is another study during the daytime, so Wednesdays from ten to noon. It's the women's Wednesday worship. This time around is gonna be forty days of prayer starting January 17.

So, that's not this Wednesday but Wednesday week, next Wednesday and it'll go till February 28. That's here but if you want to do that, it's going to be here at First B. There is a Bible study for men and it'll be reading through Romans Wednesdays at 7PM in the church office which is the first door on the left down the hall towards the fellowship hall. Chris, was there anything you want to say about that? Yes.

I thought so. Reading through Romans, it's a Bible study for men, 07:00, Wednesday evening. And if you did not see in that little offering right there, and you're not already in a small group studying something else, and you wanna be plugged in to first b, then would you please tell Diane, that's Diane, would you wave your hand, or Mike Demetrius or Nick Stern who looks a little bit like that guy who just spoke up, Chris Stern. So if you would like to, we will find a way to get you plugged in here. We don't push it as much as some other churches might, but you definitely grow in your faith better from small group community.

So we want you plugged in. And for all the other announcements, you can look at the bulletin. There is one that is in here that I probably should mention. Tonight, if any of y'all are planning on going to Guatemala with a mission trip that's coming up in April, then we're gonna have a meeting tonight that's kinda logistics and talking about the plan for how we are going to go into that mission trip in Guatemala. So 05:30 tonight, there'll be chili here at the church.

So if you wanna come to talk about Guatemala or just eat chili, come on in and you'll be here for that. There is a congregational meeting also coming up on February 11, but I think everything else, if you need to know an announcement, it'll be in your bulletin. And anybody have anything else? Am I forgetting anything? The precept study?

Okay. Precept study starts back up at 09:00 on Thursday morning in the fellowship hall. Thank you very much for pointing that out. Would you stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song.

Let's worship. Let's worship. This is a great song. You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek.

You are my all in all. Seek Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord, to give up I'd be a fool. You are name. My sin, my cross, my shame, rising again, I bless your name. You are my all in all.

When I fall down, you pick me up. When I am dry, you fill my cup. You You are my all in all. Here we go.

Holy Spirit, thou art welcome. Hymn number three eighty seven. This is not the Carrie Job version if you've been listening to K Love lately. It's a different song entirely, so I'm gonna look up the music for it, and we'll lead from there. Sing out, Scott.

Holy Spirit, thou art well come in this place. Holy Spirit, thou art well come in this place. Omnipotent father Holy Spirit, thou art welcome in this place. Spirit, thou art welcome in

Y'all didn't know that, didn't you? Y'all can have a seat. We'll invite the frontline team to come forward and would y'all pray with me as we ask God's blessing on this offer. God, I thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning in a country where we can speak and minister, Lord, freely. Lord, our society has certainly changed, but our freedom is still there.

And God, we want to share the good gospel of knowing Jesus with everyone who will hear it. Not just here, but abroad to the ends of the earth. So God, would you superintend, Lord, in the heart of the giver, would you take the gift and multiply it to do your kingdom's work? I pray lord that we would fit resources with need very well. In Jesus name, lord, we ask your blessing on all that is said and done here but on this, we pray that it would carry your gospel forward and advance your kingdom.

Amen. Thank you very much. That song, a lot of that song, at least it was a medley but a lot of that song was in the sweet by and by. It kind of fits in with the theme today. We're going to talk about Philippians three one through 11.

If you're keeping up with where we are in scripture, you'll notice I skipped and I almost never do that. So, I skipped forward from two nineteen. I skip the end of chapter two. I will come back to it. I'm not skipping it because I don't know what it says.

I'm not skipping it because I want to avoid it for some reason. I'm skipping it because I feel like thematically mentioning Timothy as a good role model and Epaphroditus as a good role model fits in better with what Paul says next after three eleven about his own modeling after Jesus. So anyway, I feel like thematically, they went together better. So this snippet right in the middle of that, a lot of people call a digression, which is the most gospel centered digression I can think of in the whole scripture. So I really, really enjoy this passage, but I wanted to separate it out of the context just a little bit for today.

And when I said in the sweet by and by, you hear that a lot at funerals. You hear people singing in the sweet by and by, we'll meet on that beautiful shore, and you hear a lot that song. Have you ever been to a funeral for somebody that you didn't know? I have. I was telling my brother about this sermon yesterday, and I said, I said, I got a question.

I usually don't have that intriguing question to draw your listener in like so many speakers conferences would tell you to do, you know. You give them a question to think about at the beginning and it draws their attention, blah blah blah. So I said, don't usually do that. I usually just read what it says, you know. And I was talking to my brother and I said, you ever been to a funeral you didn't know?

Because half the time when I talk to him in the evenings, I'll say, hey, Toby, what's going on? He said, well, I didn't answer your first call because I was in line at Cox Funeral Home. I was standing next to the widow. I didn't think it was appropriate. All right, in the South, funerals are a big, big deal still.

Visitation the night before is very commonplace, and so that was something that I grew up with. It's something that he's still living. He's a couple years younger than I am, and I said, Toby, you ever been to a funeral for somebody you didn't know? Because he knows everybody. And he goes, well, yeah, I mean, you go out for respect, you know?

I didn't know him, but I knew a bunch of people who did know him. So I said, all right, well, have you ever been to a funeral? And Toby said, well, your answer to that is heck, I've preached a few because that's true. Some of y'all know people and knew them very well that I didn't get to know very well but I was given the task of preaching at a funeral for somebody that I didn't really know. What I generally do is say, I did not know so and so, or I didn't know them very well.

I knew them just at the very end. I limit what I did know about them to my own personal experience, and I say, I will give you encouragement from God's word. In fact, instead of saying sermon or message, usually it says, Pastor Ray, encouragement from God's word, because I can find something encouraging to say from there, even if I didn't know the person. And honestly, even if there wasn't something encouraging about that person. All right?

My dad's favorite joke is about the guy who didn't ever do anything nice for anybody. Nobody in town liked him, and there was one other guy in town that didn't ever say anything bad about anybody. And when it came time to give that man's eulogy, they called on the bright spot of the town that never said anything bad about anybody and said, you got to do this guy's funeral cause this is going to be a hard one. And he got up and his eulogy consisted of mostly him sweating and standing up and he leaned forward and he said, he sure could whistle. Have you ever been to a funeral?

I'm going bring this up about three times in the sermon. It it tangential. It doesn't go exactly with it but to me, I thought about it and thought have you ever been for someone you didn't know? What do you hear at a funeral? You hear encouragement from God's word but a lot of the eulages you hear about em.

When you leave the funeral, a lot of times you wish you had known the person. Man, Cal Matthew's funeral. Cal Matthew's funeral. Cal Matthew got knocked out by Jackie Robinson in a PE class in college. He worked on the gyroscopic controls that helped the Apollo missions get to the moon.

It's crazy to think about this one guy's life, you know, his father's banking blah blah at the crash in 1929 set apart the way that he thought about finances for the rest. It's crazy. All of this thing, I wish that I had known him better. All I knew him as was the man who had blue tennis balls on his walker next to his wife who had the pink tennis balls on the bottom of theirs. I knew they had a sense of humor.

But I've been to a funeral for someone that I didn't know. I imagine you have too. Would you say there's a difference in knowing about somebody and knowing somebody? I think there is. And I think that funerals are where it becomes very apparent.

You've sung at funerals for people you didn't know. Yeah. Philippians three:one-eleven is like this. First of all, he introduces his flow of thought. It is a digression, but it makes sense.

And he gives a warning, he gives his own testimony, and then he talks about the goal. So, we're going to start with his introduction to the flow of thought right here. Philippians three one says, finally, my brothers and sisters or my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Well, the book of Philippians has already mentioned joy about seven or eight times. It's going to say it seven or eight more times.

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. Great. He's keeping with the theme. For me to write the same things, rejoice in the Lord. He's already said it multiple times and probably said it to him in person and may have written additional letters to him.

We don't really know. Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious for me but for you, it is safe. Now, that's a good translation. Tedious is a little weird.

I probably wouldn't use that word in modern parlance but safe is a good translation too. I like the NASB version of this. He says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things again is no trouble to me. I'm writing already. To write it again is no trouble for me, but it is a safeguard for you.

So it's gonna keep you safe if you'll listen to what it is that I'm saying. And then he goes for his warning in the next couple of verses, and it flows. Beware of dogs. Beware of dogs. That's his warning.

Now if you read that just on the face of it, it looks like this. Beware of dogs, right? My dog can make it to the fence in two point three seconds. Can you? You know, you see these smart eloquent dog posters or it might be more appropriate this weekend for that one.

Alright. I don't usually use sports analogies but they look pretty good last week, you know? So, beware of dogs. He doesn't stop there. In fact, he says, beware again.

So, it's not beware of dogs and evildoers. It's beware of dogs. Beware of evildoers and then he says, beware of the mutilation and it's stepping up without using ant. Now, if he had used and, it would be three different groups of people. It might be literal dogs and evil construction workers for all we know.

No. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. These are all the same folks.

They're the same people. Dogs, evil workers, the mutilation. Now, they're Judaizers, and until about fifteen or twenty years ago, nobody would have argued with me about that point. The proliferation of the Internet and a few other modern scholarly authors have promoted a new perspective on Paul, that he was not arguing against the Judaizers. I disagree with him.

The traditional view, I think, is the right one, and I think that this is one of the best texts to go to to say this is the right one. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. The word there for mutilation is actually a play on words.

The word for circumcision literally technically is a cutting around, a cutting around. And the mutilation is basically concision or a cutting off. So it's strong language. It's strong inflammatory language, and it is meant to evoke a very strong warning. He calls them dogs.

That's something, especially coming from Saul, the former Pharisee, or Paul, the former Pharisee. He says, we are, for we are the circumcision. So he's comparing that with concision or mutilation, and that is literally a cutting off. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. The Judaizers were promoting a grace plus philosophy.

I won't call it a gospel because that's not good news. Okay? They were promoting a Christ plus works philosophy. Paul is saying, we who are the true circumcision worship God in spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and we have no confidence whatsoever in the flesh.

So, his warning to them is very strong. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation for we're the circumcision. Now, have we seen this before?

Yes, we saw it in Galatians. That was one of the earlier books we study. I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision like it's a must, why do I still suffer persecution? Then, the offense of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off.

He uses the same kind of terminology right there, emasculate themselves. It's graphic, but that's what he says. Romans, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly or a chosen person of God, who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew or chosen person of God who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter and his praise is not from men but from God. That's Romans two. Colossians is misspelled.

Please excuse me but and in him you were also circumcised. This was just a few months back when we were in Colossians. And in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands and the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So, that's why I often say, buried with Christ. You're identifying with him in death and raised to walk in newness of life.

When we take communion together, we often will say, and Paul says that we proclaim his death until he comes again by this very act. Symbolic act. Who raised him from the dead. So Paul's warning, there it is again, beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of mutilation, for we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in flesh and then he starts into his testimony. Though I, Paul, also might have confidence in the flesh.

If these guys are telling you that I am righteous because of X, Y, and Z, I too, Paul says, might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I even more so and then he gives his pedigree. This is Paul's testimony. I was circumcised on the eighth day. What's that saying?

Not just me. I'm not just holy. My mama and daddy were holy. Okay? They, according to the practice, the right practice of the law, had me circumcised on the eighth day.

That's exactly when it's supposed to prescribe by law. Circumcise, They they of the stock of Israel, the chosen people of God. My religious background is solid. I am one of Israel. Those who are devoted to Elohim, God.

Of the tribe of Benjamin. He knew his lineage. It wasn't just specifically Israel but he knew it and had been keeping up with his ancestry because of his tribal or family line. He knew it and knew what to be proud of about it. A Hebrew of the Hebrews.

This is one of those in Hebrew, the language, and in Greek, the language when you say a blank of blank, it makes it to the nth degree, the highest of Hebrews. Nobody has a better lineage than I, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And concerning the law, a Pharisee. Now everybody knew at the time, and most of y'all know now, that that is the strictest sect. If you were looking for modern day comparisons, it would be the ultra orthodox Jew rather than just an Orthodox Jew or a Hasidic.

It's an ultra Orthodox Jew, a Pharisee. And you knew that they did verbal Olympics trying to figure out how they could do everything they can not to sin. They built hedges around so that they would. Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee, something that they were very proud of. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.

Now, as a Jew, he felt it his duty to fight heresy wherever he saw it, and he persecuted the church. When he was converted on that road to Damascus, he was chasing after Christians with writs in hand to bring them back to Jerusalem or kill them if they resist. So persecuting the church is what he was saying. I was very zealous. You know, some people are living let live, but I was going after them.

And concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. So even if he thought he might have suffered infraction of the law, which most certainly he did because we all have, he said he made the proper sacrifices, he made the proper offerings, he did everything so that he would be considered blameless. Now this is the second or third time we've seen the word blameless in Philippians two. It's outward act. As far as outward acts, nobody could catch him on anything.

He had the lineage. That is Paul's testimony. Now just as a matter of fun, I did Ray's testimony to try to personalize it a bit. I tried to do Diane's testimony. I threw it out there.

Would you do this? Would you stand up and just bonk yourself on stage while I read all about your your church lineage? And she said that she would, and then I just said, no, I'm not gonna put her through that. I'll do it. I'll make fun of myself for a minute.

But it is true that everything I'm putting up here is true stuff. I have been in church since nine months before I was born. Now what does that tell you about me? My mama and my daddy are good church going folk. They were there, and they are still there Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, every week.

They don't miss ever, pretty much ever. I have been in church since nine months before I was born. What else does that tell you? It tells you what I feel about when life starts. Life starts before you're born, okay?

I've been in church since nine months before I was born. I'm a direct descendant of Grace McDaniel. I chose to go through Grace McDaniel's line because grace is the holy one between Rex and Grace. Okay? Grace McDaniel is Grace McDaniel, and Grace characterizes her life.

She's amazing, Grace. She really is. And I am I'm her firstborn grandchild, son of her firstborn, Billy. He's been the mayor of the town, he's been the chief of the fire department, he's a mailman for years, he's been everything, city councilman, all that sort of stuff. He is an upstanding, very moral man.

Good guy. Georgia boy of Georgia boys. I know that for y'all that live out here, states don't matter as much as they do in the South, but they actually do really make a difference in the South. And that's only a cultural observation. I'm not saying it out of any pride, I'm just saying it really does make a difference.

You ask somebody if they're from where they're from, and they'll say South Carolina, or they'll say Georgia, or they'll say Carolina usually if they're from North Carolina. I think it's an aversion to saying the word North. If you ask somebody from Georgia or Alabama, they will be very specific. I was born in Georgia, but I grew up inside, whatever. There's a certain pride.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it is. That is the way it is. I grew up 55 miles from Auburn and about two and a half hours from Athens, but I was born in Georgia, so Georgia was it, the D A W G S, Georgia, you know. Georgia boy, Georgia boys. Concerning church, Southern Baptist, hallelujah.

How many of can speak with me on this? Southern Baptist is a hallelujah kind of moment. We were raised to believe just like the Pharisees. Y'all are the holiest of the holy. Now, technically, if I don't know if y'all knew this from my accent, you guess it's a Southern Baptist Church.

It's American Baptist technically but concerning church, I grew up Southern Baptist. That's the strictest sect that I knew about anyway. Concerning zeal, and I I know out here Independent Fundamental Baptist is a little further. Concerning zeal, I even did weekly visitation. Y'all know what weekly visitation is?

Like on Tuesdays or Thursdays, the new pastor in town says, we're going to visit everybody in the whole town. We've got a map out. We've got every single home and we're going to go door to door and we're going to present them with the gospel of Jesus Christ and we all knew all of the 492 people that lived in town. We all knew where they stood and we would go along anyway with the new pastor and we would visit everybody in town repeatedly and do this because that is the holiest you can be is going and visiting and sharing your faith. So I even did weekly visitation concerning the righteousness which can be manufactured by showing up and doing the right stuff, blameless.

That's my that actually is my lineage, and I think that's probably Florine's lineage, and from the head bobs in the room, that's a lot of your story. The next thing that Paul says from his testimony is concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. What things were gain to me, which all of those things, I'm actually, it's hard for me to talk about it because I I still feel pride well enough on each point there. But what things were gain to me, these things I have counted loss for Christ. If you're an accountant type, what things were assets to me?

These things now I count as liabilities for Christ. Ever been to a funeral for someone that you didn't know? I want you to think about that because I feel like there are a lot of people that know a lot about Jesus that don't know Jesus. So here it is, the goal, and we've already started it. The seventh verse there already started.

The goal or the pursuit. Indeed, verse eight, yet indeed, I also count all things, all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my lord. Now, I've been talking a lot. You know, I talk a lot about balance. We talk about that and for years now, I've been talking about the two ditches, the good old gospel road right down the center and then we've got legalism.

I've been standing over here talking about legalism quite a bit and over here about license. License is feeling that you can do anything that you wanna do. License. Some people it's liberty in Christ, but to the extreme. It's license to do whatever you desire carnally, fleshly.

And this is the hyper spiritual or the imitation of that, the bad imitation of that is legalism. There's no spirit in legalism. It's the letter of the law. It's law. So we wanna stay right here.

Indeed, I also count all things. So he has already told us his legalistic interpretation background. He's blameless if he's talking about legalistically, But in verse eight, he says, yet indeed I also count all things, everything, whether it is the pursuit of pleasure or absolute secular holiness. In our society, that would be tolerance above all else. Indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of knowing the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.

And this is where he puts my lord in there and he's saying that it's something that I have experienced. I know Jesus. My lord. He's presenting the Christians and he mentions that but when he was persecuting the church and he was going with those writs toward Damascus, he felt like he was doing the right thing over here and completely blameless before the law. He thought but the knowledge of Christ Jesus as his lord changed his opinion to that to this extent for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.

Any credit that he felt like he had built up within the system he grew up in was out the door completely because all of a sudden, believing in Christ put him in the camp of being a heretic to those people. He said he suffered the loss of all things, and he counts them as rubbish. Now this word rubbish, rubbish is not even a strong word for trash, you know? It's just a word, rubbish. The word in Greek is scubula, scubula, scubula, and scubula means refuse, dregs, or dung.

Actually, dung is the closest out of those, but it's still not quite there. Do you get my drift? It's a four letter word for excrement, but it's not that one. Nor is it poop, nor is it scat. I had people coming forwards trying to guess the word afterwards in the first service.

It is a four letter word that is very strong. In fact, there's a scholarly debate over whether Paul should have used this word in the Bible. It's the only time. It's a hypox logamma. The only time that it's used in the Bible is in this verse, and it probably came from these two words.

It's hard to tell, but dog and throw. It is waste that would be thrown out to dogs or thrown out after dogs like filthy scraps of garbage, table scraps, dung, muck, sweepings. Figuratively, it's used as refuge. That which is good for nothing except to be discarded. Now he gave his whole proud lineage and then compared it immediately to crap.

Yeah. That I'm in gain Christ. That's where it comes in. All of that good stuff. All of that good stuff is no longer good stuff.

Now is there some value this? We could go further and spiritualize this. Is there some value to manure? Yes, there is. But I love hanging out with people who came to Christ as adults that don't have the church baggage, don't you?

I have a lot of good things I look back on, but I agree with Paul that knowing Jesus is what makes the difference. It's not knowing about him. I knew tons of stuff about him before I ever really experientially knew him. That I may gain Christ. That is the goal that I may gain Christ and I would like for you to just think that put your name there may gain Christ and be found in him because union with Christ is what saves us.

It is his righteousness not our own. He goes on to say, not having my own righteousness because that is not possible. We just don't have any righteousness and if we do, it is a foreign one and there is only one and that one is the way, the truth, the life to be found in him, Christ Jesus. Not having our own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith.

Now, that's talking about God's grace. Again, it comes back to grace through faith. We mentioned Ephesians two eight nine all the time. It is by grace that we're saved by faith and that not of ourselves. It's the gift of God so that no one would be able to boast.

It looked like Paul was boasting when he talked about his lineage and everything, but he wasn't. He was just setting you up to say, oh, that is crap compared with knowing Jesus. It's the righteousness which is from God by faith. Goes forward, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Actually, the power of his resurrection there is not just admitting that he died for me and took the punishment that I deserved and having salvation in his name, but experiencing the power of his resurrection is walking in holiness thereafter.

To talk about victory in Jesus, to be able to go forward knowing him and the power of his resurrection to make things change. The impossible is possible with God. The power of his resurrection and I'll say again, there's a difference in knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus and because I have been in church my whole life, I can attest to this fact. Ain't no kind of mean like Christian mean. Do you all agree?

Have you ever been through a church split? How we throw words at each other, how we doubt each other's salvation, how we aggravate and instigate. There's no kind of meme like, end quote, Christian meme, because there's a difference in being a Christian and being a Christ fan. To be a Christian is to identify with the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. It is to see that which is wrong and do everything you can to make it right and still be rejected.

You get that? I know some of you who are working, and in your work situation, the person over you claims Christ, but they don't act like it. That's a very, very hard thing, and it puts you in the position of being suffering for Jesus' sake. Being conformed to his death. When we baptize actually, the picture on the bulletin this week is Evie Courser being baptized, and that I said when I dunked her buried with Christ, being conformed in the image likeness of his death.

Now this is a outward symbol of an inward act, but she was raised to walk in newness of life. Being conformed to his death, and Paul goes on to say, if by any means, this is the means, if there is any means that I may attain to resurrection from the dead, it is by Christ and Christ alone. I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering, and being conformed to his death, dying to self daily as Jesus said, picking up my cross, following him, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Now, I ask again, ever been to a funeral for someone you didn't know? I'm asking about a specific person now.

If you can think of one specific person and when you are leaving, if you were thinking, man, the way they eulogized that person, I really wish I would have known them. I sat down next to actually, I sat down right over here here next to a fellow at the beginning of this service, and I said, I'd really like to get to know y'all with as many people as here. I don't get a chance to do that as much, but after the first sermon, I thought, there are people here that I don't know as well as I want to. I don't want to wait for your funeral to know. I want to have lunch.

I want to have supper. I want to talk to you, you know. I don't want to miss that opportunity of knowing. And in every other case, if you didn't know them while they're alive, you're not going to know him in this life. Do you get that?

You're going to know about him. You can hear about him from their friends. You can hear about him from what people write in history books. Jesus was resurrected. Resurrection from the dead means that you can know Jesus.

Not just know about him, you can know him. The difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus is pretty extreme difference. I think it leads to a lot of fights in Christ's body, the church. I think it leads to a lot of fights in families, because some of the folks that believe they know Jesus only know about Jesus. Is there another slide, Blake?

Blake, not back there. I don't think there's another slide. I think that's it. I wanted to lay that out before you and just think about that. As we celebrate the Lord's supper, think about what Paul said.

In this way, every time that you do this, you proclaim Christ's death until he comes again. So we are talking about and thinking about him, and we're eulogizing him, but it's talking about his death, talking about him. When you internalize this, I want you to consider that this is a symbolic act only, symbolic act that says, I want to know him experientially. I want to take him in. I don't just want to know about Jesus.

I want to know Jesus inside and out all the way through. So I'm gonna ask our frontline team to come back forward, and we're gonna go straight into a time of communion. Diane, sometimes after the second service, you say, oh, you left out this portion of the first service, or Tanya does this to me. Did I leave out anything that you feel like I gotta say? Okay.

Thank you. Praise God. That's not what I meant, but thank you. If I did I leave out an example? Thank you.

We have a very comforting staff. Encouraging. Paul gives a very strong warning too with his lead off about the Lord's supper. He gives us the format. He says that by doing this, you are promoting or declaring or proclaiming the death of Christ until he comes again, but he also says that not any of you should do this unworthily.

Now after the message that I just gave about your whole lineage and your whole church life being crap, How could you take it worthily? That's the question. Well, the desire of Paul's heart was to be found in him, to be pure by the righteousness of Christ, to accept that completely and fully all the way down, to be open and willing to whatever God would do in your life and by taking communion, that's what you're saying. Lord, I am open. I confess all of my shortcomings, all of my sins, anything I've ever had pride in is just worthless.

Now, would you please do with me as you would do with me? Bring me closer to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me be an encouragement to them. Let me build up your kingdom and don't ever, lord, don't ever let me tear it down. In Jesus name, that's what we're asking.

We're taking in his symbolic body and blood. So, God, I pray right now that you would bless everyone who partakes today, Lord, that they would have not just a sense that they know about you, but that they would know that they know you. And Lord, the transformation of your word in their life would be like this little cracker that goes in and then becomes a part of who they are. Lord, would you please bless everyone who partakes and for those who must let this pass because they just don't believe what it is that we're saying here. Lord, would you use the rest of us in a humble way to draw them into the body of Christ?

Not by might nor by power but by your spirit, would you do that? In Jesus name, Lord, I pray blessing over this bread. Amen. I think of Jesus on the night he was betrayed. And each time I think about this, I think, man, to live and walk a perfect life, oh, wouldn't that be fantastic?

He still was betrayed. And on the same night that he was betrayed, he took bread after supper and he said to those who were following him, to his disciples, he said, this is my body. Take this and it's given for you. Take this and eat and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. God, I pray right now, Lord, that you would bless this passage to our memory, that you would remind us of it weekly as we ingest this bread and this cup.

I pray lord that it would, that the message would be taken in also and it would become a part of who we are. Just like it was obviously a part of who Paul was. Oh God, would you bless this little representation, this cup of grape juice that we're going to distribute right now. Lord, as a symbol of your blood which was given to wash us free from sin. Lord, and draw us together into one family to be the continuing body of Christ on this earth.

Would you lord draw us together in unity and humility as we consider the precious blood of an innocent lamb. Amen. Here with this representation of Christ's blood, I wanna say this. So Jesus said to his disciples, this is the new covenant in my blood. He didn't say, this is the old covenant and you ought to do this too.

You get what I'm saying? It's a new covenant. This is the new covenant in my blood. Don't go back to that old covenant. Grace plus anything else is not grace.

It's either grace or works, and it ain't works. Okay? It's grace. And so by God's grace, Jesus took the cup after supper in the same way he'd taken the bread. And he said to his disciples, this is the new covenant in my blood.

That which Jeremiah had prophesied was coming. Jesus said, this is it. It is by his righteousness alone and not by our works. This is the new covenant in my blood, he said to his disciples. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me.

Amen. Paul says we proclaim Christ's death until he comes again by doing that, but he also I want you to think about this, that we live out the life of the body of Christ by accepting that fact and living right there, where we just what we just went through. Acknowledging him as our only righteousness will bring us closer together if we all acknowledge it. Are you with me? Alright.

In Jesus name, we'll end this service. I have no idea what the let's be the tithe that binds. That's perfect. Okay, that's good. That's what we're doing.

Would you stand with me? That song is exactly perfect for that because I've been mentioning, you ever been to a funeral for somebody you didn't know? I have preached funerals for people I didn't know. I know that Luke Stalker, although I barely met him one time before he died, I know that he will be in heaven by his faith in Christ. I know that Cal Matthew trusted in Christ.

Because I trust in Jesus, we have the hope of meeting him. All of those people that we didn't know that we wish we had, and a lot of those people that we didn't know and wish we hadn't, By the grace of God, we'll be saved. In Jesus name, lord, would you let us live out a gracious, gracious, and welcoming, winsome life in front of those who don't know you so that they will want to. In Jesus name, amen.