Put No Confidence in the Flesh
First B Jackson
2026-01-18

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

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No. I don't know. I don't know where they are.

Yes. We

haven't even been here a full two weeks, like, two weeks ago at night. Yeah. Yeah. So

Lauren. I'm from the speaker.

Yes. Yes. Good to see you again. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm going to support some music. Awesome. Awesome.

Got the fire. Yes. Okay.

That's cool. Oh, right. Gosh. That's ridiculous. They did that to me at work.

They were telling me that our PPE boards are gonna be me. And I'm like, no. No. No. That is not like, make it just a, you know, general person, not not me.

Good. Okay. That's just in time. Just in time. That's great.

We're telling

everybody. We are too. Yeah. We're fired up. We our so our doll our oldest daughter loves to sing, but can I carry a tune in a bucket?

So I was like, when I heard about, like, all your experience and everything, she's eight. Like, last night, she was trying she was wanting to sing these songs, and eventually, was like, hey. Like, we just gotta we just gotta stop. You know? Let's just stop.

And and I'm trying not to, like, put her down, but, like, I just can't my ears just can't handle it. You know?

Is she gonna get the wire?

Yeah. She you need to meet her. Her name is Piper. Piper. And my wife's name is Lauren.

That's what I okay. And so you'll see I don't know where they're at right now, but oh, there's Heidi. Mommy's looking for you. There's Piper right there. Oh, Piper.

Okay.

So she'll be in the choir.

Sure. You're not sure? I I haven't talked to her about it. She's a letter. Oh.

Yeah. Oh. Oh. But she I'm just saying that y'all need to hang out and maybe you can speak like yeah. Yes.

Yes. We need to get her to do that. As long as you can help her adjust. Like, she used to play piano and stuff too. Is it?

I don't know. Know. But she hears okay, but I don't know if she can hear the tones right. Yeah. Like yeah.

I don't know. I don't know where the disconnect there's definitely disconnect somewhere. Hey. It's a mic it's a microphone. It's a tiny microphone.

Hey. Go here. You need to go find mommy. Yeah. I don't know where she is.

Did you find her? Did you see her down there? Hey. Did you see her down there? Yes.

Okay. And she knows that you're right here? Yes, Okay. Because she was she was okay. Got it.

She was she was really looking for y'all earlier. So glad you found her. Good morning.

Good morning.

Today. Yeah?

I see you.

Man. Yeah. I think I don't think I've ever preached and not had butterflies and good morning. How are you? Good to see you.

Yeah. It's I don't know if it ever goes away. So but feel good about it.

So Yeah. Keep your eye on Ashley a little bit.

Yes. Yes. Probably in a healthy way.

That's right.

So How are you this morning?

Good. Yeah. I'm doing fine. Yeah. Cold weather, you know, always got a cool weather.

Yeah. Yeah. Cold with no snow. Yeah. It's been fine.

Like, it really hasn't you know, the cold in Alabama different. It's it's it's it's it's in place. And oh, right. That's different. Yeah.

We when we were here in February last year, it was minus sixteen one day. So we felt it and it's like yeah. Like, I was trying to switch a car seat from one car to the other, and I was like, oh, man.

Yeah. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to First Bee. Yeah. It is January.

Yeah. It doesn't feel like January. Not a whole lot

of snow out there

yet, but we are glad you're here. Right. Would you stand with us and join us in song? Here's a good word from first John three to lead us into worship. See what great love the fallen has loved lavished onto us I that we should be called children of God.

I met Steve.

Would you join us in singing? Yeah. His mercy is more.

Alright. Everybody can have a seat. Good morning and welcome to First Baptist Church. We're delighted to have you here today. If you're looking for a seat, there's plenty up front.

Would you come join us up here? That'd be great. Let's see if our clicker's working. Okay. Awana is on for tomorrow.

It's our kids program. It's a blast. This place just fills up with kids. That's what this big circle in the middle is for. If you have kids or kids in the neighborhood oh.

Oh. Yeah. I was just pitching this really well, and I've been flagged down and said there's no Awana tomorrow. I'll tell you what, enjoy your break. Have the kids run around someplace else tomorrow.

Not here. Okay. Who's in charge of these slides? Get them out of here. Okay.

We have our lunch men's lunch meeting. That that will be going on this week. We don't provide lunch, but it's a big group of guys. It's really great, and it's open to all men of all ages. Would you come?

Would you share? Would you invite your neighbor to come with us? We just read verse by verse through the scriptures, and it's really powerful. The Easter Youth Choir is happening. Rehearsals start on February 1, ages seven to 18.

Would you sign up first, though, online? Make sure you do that. All the information is there. All the rehearsal dates are there as well. And there's a pizza party that you don't wanna miss out, so make sure you put that on your schedules.

The directory too, this is something I'm in charge of, so would you help me out? We have pictures for almost no one in this room. So as I as I scan this room, you all, I'm talking to all of you. Please send me a horizontal photo. So if you have your phone, it's not the vertical way up, it's horizontal way.

So we can see all of your beautiful faces. This way we get to know you. We don't post it online or anything like that. We don't sell your information to anybody. This is just for all of us because the church has turned over so many people in the last few years.

We would love to get to know you, and it's a lot less embarrassing if we can use our flash cards and try to memorize names. Would you help us out? All the information is on the website. And if you can get that to me by the end of the month, that'd be super. Also, starting January 28 over in Driggs, Idaho, six to 8PM, meal music and a message.

Our own Van Jones is gonna be over there. Yeah. Yeah. The the other family, it's great too over there. Would you would you show up?

It seems like a blast. Tell your neighbors too because they want this to become a thing over there. So let's let's be praying for that too, and let's encourage everybody who's in charge of that. They've been meeting every once in a while just to hang out, and now it's gonna become a more official thing. What a blast.

Thank you all for being a part of organizing that as well. And there is also the men's snowmobile retreat. All the information for that is on the church website. We did have a slide, it didn't make it in today. So please sign up for that.

Have I missed anything else?

When is the

retreat? It's on a slide, and I'm afraid I don't remember. February 20. Twentieth to the twenty second. Thank you so much.

Okay. Great. So men's sign up for that. It's only a $120 per person. It's a blast, and we could use a lot more men to show up.

You do have to rent your own snowmobile, but we can help you figure that out too. Contact Richard Largie if you have any questions. Have we missed anything else? Oh, yep.

Glass Oh, yeah.

Dishes that people had brought meals to him. Yep. Russ and Yvonne Wood had brought back all of the dishware that you all so generously brought to them. And it's out in the foyer on the table If you wanna pick up your dishware, thank you so much because that stuff is fancy and you deserve to get your dishware back. And thank you so much for blessing them too.

Now before we cut back to the music here, would you all consider standing up and moving towards the middle of the aisle so we can make room for the people that are still coming in? If you have empty seats between you, please fill those in. And we're gonna bring you guys back with some music. Stand up and greet each other. We'll talk to you soon.

Thanks so much.

How are you? What's your name?

Amen. Let's sing about, come now fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Amen. Call for songs of loudest praise.

You can have a seat for a minute. We're gonna enter the time of worship through giving and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. Tim, would you pray for us? In Psalm 86, it says, you, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.

Good morning. We are so glad you're here. You know, in Ephesians, God tells us that he has set up good works beforehand for us to step into. And this is one opportunity for us to step into this. God doesn't ask us to give for specific reasons or for specific people or because we make specific amounts.

God asked us to be obedient to what he's asking us. So I wanna bow our heads and ask God right now. Lord, will you please move our hearts right now to be obedient to what you're asking us to do for your glory and for your purposes alone? And help us to be good stewards in response to what we do of what you're asking us. We ask these things in Jesus Christ's name.

Amen.

Morning. Can y'all hear me? I guess you can. Say good morning back. So I'm gonna do the scripture reading this morning, which will be Philippians three seven through 11.

But before I do that, I do wanna say thank you to Van and Lauren just for being here, being obedient to yeah. Being obedient to God's call on your life just to to be here today. And, man, I know you weren't expecting to preach quite this soon, but thank you for also just being being willing. So thank you. Alright.

So Philippians three seven through 11. But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my lord for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Thank you, Philip.

I will be drinking a lot of water. I have already been drinking a lot of water. I'm not used to the dry air yet, so bear with me. Man, what a joy it is. Good morning, everybody.

So so thankful to be here. The circumstances that Ray had to leave are really sad and he felt bad about just dumping the responsibility of preaching this morning but I was like, hey, man. That's what I'm here for. So, yeah, this this this past week has been really really good for me to to reflect on Philippians three. It has been such a comfort for me because, you know, really the the gist of what we're gonna talk through today is not placing confidence on the flesh.

Not not placing confidence on our own abilities, but you know, but I have been wrestling with that because I'm coming from construction in Alabama to being your new associate pastor in Wyoming. I mean, they're quite different things. Right? But I'm not placing I am trying hard not to place confidence on by experience, or how many sermons I preached, or whatever, but truly doing all that I can to to only place confidence on who Jesus is, the spirit that dwells in me, in us, and and preach from that point And and so I hope we all are encouraged today by Paul's words to the Philippian church in in chapter three. Blake, you got the slides up?

Yes. There we go. Alright. So it wouldn't be a sermon here without a map. Right?

So, we've got a map. You can see Philippi, which is who is where the Philippian church is in Philippi. Paul is in Rome in prison writing to them. We have so much to go over. That's all you get on the map.

This is just kind of an overview where we headed today. We are covering verses one through 14. Paul in verse one through three gives encouragement and warning, and then goes into his like resume kind of like Paul's fleshly confident resume in verses four through six. And then seven and eight, there's this twist where he's counting the gains as loss, he's counting them as rubbish. So we'll talk about that, and then verse nine through 11, he goes over the eternal gains that he had, like he's gaining Christ.

So in comparison, all his resume is counting as rubbish. And then at the end, we'll we'll get a challenge of this journey to the prize. Okay? So encouragement and warning. He says, finally my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

Try the same things to you, no trouble to me and it's safe for you. So remember, he's in prison right now, and he's telling them to rejoice, like he still has reason to rejoice even though he is experiencing suffering and imprisonment. He says, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for the mutilators of the flesh.

For those who mutilate the flesh. What's he talking about here? There's all throughout the region, there are these people called Judaizers and they are holding a tradition or traditions up here and they're saying, yeah, gospel to the Gentiles. Yeah. You know, you might believe in Christ, but you've gotta do this and this and this.

You need to be circumcised. And Paul is condemning that. He is saying, look out for these people, the dogs. Like our neighbors across the street have some awesome dogs. They're really kind, sweet.

They're used to coming in our house, know, and that's We're like, come let them in, and they're like, no, you really don't want them in your house. But here in America, and I'm assuming this part especially, like anywhere where there's an outdoor focus, we love our dogs. Man's best friend. We don't have a dog yet, but maybe one day. Don't get your hopes up though.

So this doesn't really make sense though to our culture, right? But overseas, even today in The Middle East, in Arab culture, dogs are not seen as great cuddly things. They're gross, mangy, like, the like, oh, get the dog out of here. You know, like it's not a positive thing. And so that's that's why he's saying, look out for the dogs.

He's calling these people that are placing this un healthy, wrong value of physical, fleshly things, and he's saying, look out for them. Okay? And then he continues on. So everything kind of streams from there. He says, for we are the circumcision.

He's talking about the people, the believers, the follower followers of Christ, Jews or Gentiles, doesn't matter. We are the circumcision. Okay? What does that mean? In Romans two, I hadn't even turned my page yet.

I'm out of out of order. Alright. Romans two twenty nine, you don't have to go there, but he he explains that it the circumcision is a matter of the heart. It's not a it's not just a fleshly thing. Okay?

We could camp out there longer. We're gonna keep moving. Let's see. So, yeah, verse three, we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. So here he goes.

He's setting us up for this, for for this difficulty that people have, all people have of placing that confidence in the flesh. And what I thought of when I read that, he's saying, you know, we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God. Reminds me of the the woman at the well, right? Like, she's asking like, who where do we worship God? And Jesus tells her, hey, those who worship God worship in spirit and in truth.

And so he's he's he's Jesus is pushing against this idea that you've gotta be all of you know, cross all these t's and dot, all these i's is it it to be one of God's people. Okay? So his fleshly gains. We'll we'll just read them right there. Though I myself, Paul, have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has confidence, anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. And he lists them out. He's circumcised on the eighth day. Excuse me. Gosh.

He's circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel. He's of the tribe of Benjamin. He's a Hebrew of Hebrews. As of the law, as to the law, he's a Pharisee. So remember Pharisees, man, Jesus gave them a really hard time, right?

Why? Because they were they were missing the point. They were trying hard to on in their own power and strength to be one of God's people. And Paul is recognizing, hey, he was a Pharisee. He had this really strict sect of order of these extra laws that they would put on themselves.

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law, blameless. Wow, like he's listed out all this stuff, right? All of these things that he accomplished. Why does he mention that?

Now I think one of the reasons is he is really like gaining some credibility with some of these other guys that are in Philippi or Galatia, and he's tell he's telling them like, look, you might be confident and you're telling this church that they should be doing these things, but look, I've done like way more than y'all have. And I'm telling you, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Wow. And like really? Yes.

He says it again in verse eight. Indeed, I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. So how? Like, how does Paul get from Think about maybe your own life, like you've made all these achievements and you've reached this pedestal or this point in your life based, know, maybe it's wealth, maybe it's properties, maybe it's your family lineage and now you've got, like all the physical worldly things that could happen. Paul has a lot of gains.

He is a man of prestige, right? But how does he get to this point, where his losses are his gains? Like, he had all of this stuff, right? All the things he counts as gains, let's say is on this side. Jesus was like down here, like he's persecuting the church, right?

So in his mind, everything here about Paul is awesome. Everything about Jesus is wrong. Like, remember how the attitude of the Pharisees, he's blasphemous, that's why they killed him, right? And now everything switched. But what happened?

Remember, Acts nine, y'all just went through Acts. In Acts nine, Jesus meets Paul on the road, like Paul's on the road to go persecute Christians, and Jesus with blinding light, a thundering voice is like, Paul, Paul, what doing? Are Why are you persecuting me? And he has this completely huge shift, this radical change from who he was, to who he died as, where everything went like this. And he's challenging the church in Philippi to understand that's what it looks like to follow Christ.

And it's really interesting to think, you know, he had physical blindness. Right? Like, remember he had to, somebody had to hold his hand like to get to where he was going. But in his physical blindness, he received spiritual sight. Think about the zeal that he had, right?

Like he's persecuting Christians, not because he hates God, because he loves God. Like he thought that's what he needed to do. But then he realized like in Acts nine, Jesus shows him like, look dude, you missed the point, right? It's wild to think about. Okay.

He really goes, like make sure that everyone understands that these gains and things that he had, he's counting them as lost three times. The repetition, right? Like, that's how our brain is helped by this repetition. So in verse seven, his gains are counted as loss for the sake of Christ. In verse eight, he counts everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

This exclusive relationship, only the Lord is his Lord. Verse The second part of verse eight, for his sake, he suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. Rubbish, like the word rubbish, know, maybe it's too gross to put in in the in the Bible. It means poop. That's what it means.

He's saying all this stuff, all the things that my parents and parents' parents, and all the benefits that I've received, and all this studying, and all of the acts, and all the things that I've been doing my whole life to get to this status is poop. And yeah, you've gotta laugh and think, how do you get to Like, how does he get there? And it's because of the eternal gains that he now sees, right? Now his spiritual eyes are open and he can see the whole, like everything he had been missing. So there's kind of like three main sections in here, and I've underlined each one as we go through them.

So it says, For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him. And be found in him. Kind of skipping ahead, was studying a book that Lauren had read in her seminary training called Justification by N. T. Wright, and he's trying to help the reader put things in perspective.

The sun has risen, and it turns out we are in its orbit, not the other way around. The conclusion is not so that he can be my savior, but so that I may be found in him. Do you hear the difference? He's so big, he's so great, and we can be found in him. And then also thought about Jim Elliot's quote that probably most of you know, he's actually quoting Philip Henry from the sixteen hundreds.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. What is he saying? He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep. So all those fleshly gains, you know, that Paul had, he can't keep those things. They don't add up to anything in eternity, right?

But the gain that he has when he gives those things up, he can't lose. You can't lose Christ. You gain Christ, you gain getting to know him, be found in him, to to receive the righteousness that he gives. You can't lose that. So that that's what Jim Elliot is talking about as he gives up his life to go be a missionary.

Next next section, Paul saying, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, which is what he was pursuing as a Pharisee, right? But that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. Man, so good. Like the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, of gaining Christ, and there's no work that we can do to gain this righteousness from God, the gift of righteousness from God that depends on faith. And when you think about like how well Paul knew Jesus, How well do we know?

How well do we know Jesus? Is he like an acquaintance? Or maybe he's someone that we intentionally like spend some time reading about every day or But is that enough? Like, do you really know him? Just one thing that that is interesting that he puts in chapter two, he's it's this poem about who who Jesus is.

Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exhausted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. There's so much there. We see humility, we see power, we see obedience to God the Father that leads to the like the worst death. This is like a great summary of the Jesus that we know, and that came to save us.

I know Ray had mentioned or was in Jeremiah last week and Jeremiah nine twenty three couldn't couldn't just lace into what we're talking about today much better. Jeremiah is having a tough time with Israel. Right? Like Israel has kinda missed the point also. And he's the Lord is saying, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boast, boast in this, that he understands and knows me, should have capitalized the m. That I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. The new the New Testament, you know, version or that we're already in, when Paul is writing to Galatians, he says, but far be it for me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Like the world's no longer attractive to Paul anymore. Like he's so far beyond that. And God has been asking his people, and coaching his people, and explaining this for so long. The people back in Jeremiah's time needed to hear that. The people that were in Paul's time needed to hear that, and y'all, we need to hear it today too.

It's the same gospel message. The the last gain he talks about. So so we see, you know, gain Christ that we may be found in him. Gain Christ, we may know him and the power of his resurrection and then and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. So, do y'all have cicada bugs here?

Yes. Okay. We have them in Alabama. It's a really fun thing for Piper, our oldest, and some of the other kids to play with. They'll grab that shell of a bug, and they'll go put it on mommy's shoulder, and she won't notice until, oh gosh, what is that?

But it's just this empty shell. Right? It's the live bug, the kids aren't as excited about. They're big and loud, know? But how cool of a like illustration that God has made, like, this is God's design right there.

I don't know the science behind why, I'm sure some of you do, but how cool the picture, like we die to our flesh, like that brown empty shell will add up to nothing. Right? It does nothing, and we're raised to newness of life. Like, don't cling to this empty shell of your life. You know, like, leave it behind, die to it, and be raised to newness of life.

Like, it's so much better. Right? This huge shift that we see in Paul's life. Right? We see it other times in the New Testament too.

Like if you think about the apostles, they went from hiding in the a room after Jesus dies to going out and proclaiming the gospel to the point of death. Or there's there's other examples too, like Hebrews eleven twenty six is really interesting. He's saying, He, Moses, considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Like he could see being obedient. Remember, doesn't wanna be a public speaker, like Moses is not jazzed about this thing that he's been called to do, but he can see like the Lord has let him see, this is what I have called you to, and this life is so much greater than like the treasures of Egypt.

You know, he could have just stayed there, and he was already in like Egyptian royal status. Or like the man in Matthew 13, when I like to imagine that he's walked by this field several times, okay? He sells everything he has when he finds the treasure in this field. Everything he had is now counted as loss. Everything he had, and the field was like this, but then he finds the treasure in the field, and then all of a sudden, he sells all of it, and buys this field because of the treasure there, right?

Do we live like we actually think that all our stuff is down here and Jesus is here. I know I struggle with that so much, and if we're honest, I think all of us struggle with that. The end? Like, we could end the sermon there, and I've still got a little bit of time. This last section, journey to the prize, like, we can't leave this part out.

It's so good. Verse 12, not that I've already obtained this. Paul is saying, know I'm not already to the end of my life yet serving God, or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead. Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Wait a second, is this like one of those circular references where it's like, work, don't work. Like, you can't work for your righteousness, but go to work. And you're like, wait, what? Like, what? That doesn't make sense.

It's not a circular reference though. Like, the work, the straining, the pressing on is not to achieve righteousness. Jesus has got that part done, sealed. Like, if you put your faith in him, done. Like you're saved.

You're eternally secure, no matter how you feel. But he presses on because Christ Jesus has made me his own. He is Christ. Like, Jesus has called him, like he's found in Christ. Right?

So, what does that do with our life? It's like the little dead shell, and the live bug. Like, we don't wanna live like that anymore. Like, we want to work hard and honor the name that died for us, right? He's not afraid, Paul's not afraid of talking about work.

He says, in first Corinthians fifteen ten, I worked harder than any of them. You know, I've worked with superintendents that say that, I'm the hardest worker out here. I don't know if Paul says it like that, but Colossians one twenty eight to 29, he says, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, and I love this right here, okay? Pay attention.

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy, not Paul's energy. Jesus, God's energy that he, God, powerfully works within me, Paul. Philippians four thirteen, one of the most like famous verses that's just taken out of context all the time. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. These things that we're doing is all about serving our king, our master, and we can do them because it's Christ who strengthens us, right?

And then this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead. I was thinking about John nine, yes. In John nine, almost the whole, pretty much the whole chapter. Remember Jesus heals this blind man, who's been sitting there, born blind, and Jesus heals him. On the Sabbath day, of course, he likes to do that.

And then everybody's like, oh my goodness, like who healed this guy? Was he really born blind? Like the Pharisees just can't stand it. And they even go find his family like, hey, mom, dad, this is your son, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's my son.

Was he born blind? Yeah, yeah, are you sure? Like, yes, like, it's our son. Like, what are you doing? And they talk to the guy that can now see it like multiple times, and they come up to him and they're like, hey, were you born blind?

He's like, yes, was born blind. He's like, what do you think about the man that did this? He's like, hey, one thing I know, I was born blind, and now I see. Right? I was born blind, and now I see.

We were born spiritually blind, and with Jesus, he's opened our eyes to see. So what are you gonna do with your spiritual sight? Forget what lies behind, and strain forward to what lies ahead. Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So we should rejoice, like he says in verse one.

He's given us new life. The life that Jesus offers is so far better, this way, so far better than all these things. May we know him and worship him in spirit and truth and praise him, and may we toil joyfully submitting ourselves to him, so he may work in us and through us to accomplish His will. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for your word.

Thank you. Thank you for opening our eyes to to that which has real eternal worth. God, we love you so much and we pray that you help us to die to ourselves and that you help us to raise to the newness of life that you called us to. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Would you stand and sing sing with us?

Just seeing Always talks about talks about I believe you gave sight to the blind and I believe that the dead came to life. I believe that you were wonders and signs and you're still the same. Your mercy is my mighty age after age.

Receive this benediction from Philippians four. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Go in peace.