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Speaker 3What a great morning. How about this? Let's stand up together and kick this thing off right. Our worshiping in song from Psalm 92, song to be sung on the Sabbath day. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and sing praises to the most high and that's exactly what we're going to sing.
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Speaker 2Alright. It is good. It is good to praise you, lord, and make music to your name, oh most high. Let's sing that again. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh most high, oh most high.
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Alright. Let's sing that again. Okay? It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high, to proclaim to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.
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Let's sing that again. To proclaim. To proclaim your love in the morning let my songs we rise, oh no sky.
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Speaker 3Alright. Let's sing one more time.
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Speaker 2It is good to praise It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. It is is good good to to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. Oh, most high.
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Speaker 1Amen. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Are you thankful to be here? Happy Thanksgiving.
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Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements. We'll see what comes up on that screen right there. Well, happy Thanksgiving. I got a chance to visit with my family this past couple of weeks.
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I may mention that in the sermon. It was really, really good for me to go home. I realize a lot of you will be traveling this week and Thanksgiving kind of eclipses some of the other events in the week that's happening. It's not eclipsing this. The discovery class happens the third Sunday of every month, and that is today.
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This is the third Sunday of the month. So in my office at 10:00, there'll be somebody in there. It won't be me, but there'll be somebody in there to talk to you about First B. If you want to be a member at First B, that's a good place to start the process and see. Most of you, if you're here for a while, we've got some of you that are up for candidates as elders that are not members.
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So that tells how often that I personally mention it, okay? I don't personally mention membership a lot because I try my best. I try my best to stick to what it says in whatever the text is for the week, but membership is good. I can say it during the announcements because I'm not going to hit it exactly in scripture right there. It's really, really good to be a part.
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And if you are here and you're here, every Sunday you're here, come on down. Third Sunday of the month, discovery class is down there. That's it. Next one. Today's the day.
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If you are tired of eating Monday night dinners, Stouffer's, look at that. Isn't that great? Monday nights at first be it is the pre Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving.
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Speaker 3It is indeed. But it is potluck. We'll have turkeys, but we need sides and pies. Okay. That doesn't rhyme, but it sounds close.
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But we really, really need help tomorrow night, 06:00 to make it the best Thanksgiving potluck ever.
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Speaker 1Mail music and message, that'll be tomorrow night. Yesterday, this happened. This is the Grove project that's just right there. It's on the other side of the fairgrounds from here on Snow King Avenue, the Grove project. 10 or 12 of us showed up, and then more added throughout the day.
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Some of us dropped off for a Habitat for Humanity build. There's Marcus Shaver up on the ladder. Carl carrying a bucket. That happened yesterday. It was a Habitat for Humanity build.
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It was really, really a good time to get together and work. Thanksgiving has eclipsed these events. There's no middle school youth group on Tuesday. There's no men's fraternity on Wednesday. There's no high school youth group on Thursday, but there is a high school boys study today during the sermon part of this 09:00 service.
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Okay? So that's happening. December 10, we have lots of announcements. This season brings lots of announcements every year. December 10, there's a combined service at 10AM.
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There's gonna be a Christmas play. I think it has been dubbed the spirit of Christmas. So this is mostly kids, but there are some adults in it too. Spirit of Christmas play happened in December 10 right here on this very stage. You'll see props around the church that are gathering.
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Ladies, this is the invitation for the annual ladies Christmas luncheon. It's happening Wednesday, December 13 in Snow King's Grand Ballroom, and that's an event that kind of fills up quickly. That ballroom only has so much space. So if you would please RSVP to Nancy Irwin, and her number is on that invitation. And y'all, if you haven't already gotten one, you will be getting one very soon.
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Childcare volunteers are needed for the Christmas Eve services. If you would be willing and you are a good candidate for this, Christmas Eve services, we'll have one at 04:30 and one at six, and we need somebody to take care of the babies down in the nursery. So, if you would, volunteer for that, you can contact Bailey at Bailey K LarsonGmail. Com and seems like there was something else. No, there was nothing else.
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Y'all can greet one another, stand and greet one another, and we will, we'll bring you back together with a song.
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Speaker 2Alright. Into Marvelous Light. Let's sing. Into marvelous light, I'm gone. Light and darkness out of shame.
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By the cross, you are the truth. You are the light. You are the way.
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Speaker 3Alright. I once was fatherless.
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Speaker 2I once was fatherless. A stranger with no one. Your kindness the way. Alright. My dead heart now is beating.
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My dead heart now is beating. My deepest state now. Your breath fills up my lungs. Now I'm free. Now I'm free.
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Sin has lost its
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Speaker 3Amen. Do you know where that comes from? That's Colossians. He, God the father, has enabled us to share an inheritance that belongs to the people who live in the light for he has, catch this, rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. That is why we are here.
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That is why we are singing. Amen to that? Alright. You're the fullness of the beauty. Let's sing that together.
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Speaker 2You are the fullness of the beauty I see. You are. You are. The healer of the broken and weak. You are.
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The healer of your great name. It's a life I want to live because I'm convinced there is none like you. I'm not ashamed of
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Speaker 3this gospel. Let's sing.
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Speaker 2I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand in the Lordly say. This is my life. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
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I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stay and be safe. This is my life. Alright. He's the author of salvation and faith.
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You are the of salvation and faith. You are. You are.
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Speaker 3You're the victor that conquered the grave.
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Speaker 2You are. The victory that conquered the grave. You are. You are. And even though and even though you may stand and proclaim your great name.
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It's a life I want to live because I'm convinced there is no one like you. I'm not ashamed of this gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ.
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I will stay and both these say, this is my life.
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Speaker 3Again, these songs that we sing, usually they come right out of verses from from scripture. That one from Romans one sixteen, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Amen. Amen to that. I hear the savior say let's sing this together.
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Speaker 2I hear the savior say, thy strength into this world, child of weakness, watch that's a cleansing stain, he washed it out in his mouth. And when before the throne, I stand in him complete. I lay my trophies down, all down at Jesus'
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Speaker 3Amen. While you're standing, let me let me pray. God, thank you. As we've sung, we you have been through belief, by grace, through faith, we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into this marvelous kingdom of light. It's not anything that we've done or earned.
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It is simply by grace through faith. God, thank you for that and thank you for new life. That is why we sing these songs. That's why God we we we give. That's why we live for more than just ourselves, because we love because you first loved us.
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And I pray that that would be our story, our song, our MO here at First Be is, our love for one another. And thank you God for every gift that you give. We give because you have given to us and I pray God that our generosity would flow just in many many different ways. Just as an expression of your love and goodness through us. In Jesus name, amen.
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Speaker 2The weight of sin. Jesus is coming. Have you come to the end of your sail? Do you thirst from the drain from the well? Jesus is calling.
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Oh, come to the altar. Father's Leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Come the day there's no reason to wait. Jesus is gone. Bring sorrows and trade them Bow down before him for his Lord of all.
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Sing out, they'll do. Yeah. Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1The beginning of the children's church right there. I love that sound. Alright. So here we are. It's thanksgiving week.
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I mentioned it like seven times already. What are we gonna do? We're gonna keep on going forward in Philippians just like we always do. That is something though to be thankful for. Before I start preaching, wanna talk a little bit about the the trip.
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I I don't usually get homesick. I'm I'm a little nostalgic here and there, but I don't usually get homesick. But Carl and I had a chance to drive across country down to Tampa, Florida two Sundays ago? Two Sundays ago. Two three Mondays ago.
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Who knows what it was? It was a long time ago. There's been a lot of miles. We drove from here to Tampa, Florida, then turned around and drove back up to where I'm from in Georgia and spent some time with my folks and Carl was kind of riding along and seeing what happened there with me. How did I get to be the way that I am?
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And it was a it was a lot of fun but as I've been going through Philippians, I have a note in my Bible. It says, don't just look at this like you're Paul. Don't just look at it like you're Paul because my job is being the messenger. Paul in this case is the messenger carrying the message. It says, don't just look at it like you're Paul.
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Later on in the book, we'll meet a couple of ladies named Euodia and Syntyche, and it says read it as if you're the one receiving the message, not the one giving the message. So this week, I've been trying to receive Paul's message, and now I'm up here and I'm transmitting it again to y'all. And so I've had a push pull for the past three weeks really of this message and trying to internalize it. What does it say? What does it mean?
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And how am I gonna apply it to my life is always our goal, right? What does it say is what I concentrate on here on Sunday morning and conveying what it means. This sermon, this passage is a matter of life and death from the very beginning, nineteen eighteen b, '19, somewhere in there, to '26. It's a matter of life and death, and I felt I felt the weight of that this week, and last week, and the week before. And I I was looking at it and just saying, we we just gotta get into it.
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We gotta get into it. I'm more nervous right now than I've been since I've been at Firstbeat, and I don't know why. Can I stop and pray? Just a second. God Almighty, would you give me the words to convey this message in a way that makes a difference for the rest of my life and for the rest of the lives of everyone in this room.
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I pray that you would live out the life of Jesus Christ in each one of us in a way that'd be so attractive and winsome that would draw many people into your family, into your kingdom, a marvelous light. In Jesus' name. So the last sermon I preached was on these verses, and I just wanna ramp up. I know thank you, Gary, for your message. I appreciate it.
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It was great. It's nice to be able to go back and listen to those, and I'm thankful for Ken and Lori's message too. This is the last one I want you to get into the swing before we get to where we're going but I want you to know brothers and sisters that the things which happen to me, that's Paul speaking from prison. The things which have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance and advance of the gospel so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, the praetorium, and to all of the rest that my chains are in Christ. Was Paul a prosperity gospel guy?
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Apparently not. He had the whole palace guard commanded to be around him from time to time, and all the rest that knew my chains are in Christ. He's suffering, but he's suffering for Jesus. And most of the brothers and sisters in the Lord, having become confident by my very chains, the suffering that I'm going through, they are much more bold to speak the word without any fear. Some, yes, indeed, preach Christ even from envy or strife.
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Those are the wrong motives. Right? But some also preach from goodwill and those that's the right motive. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains but the latter ones, those who preach Christ out of goodwill, the latter ones preach him out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the very gospel. Paul was awaiting trial.
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He was awaiting trial and he knew that he would not just be defending himself. He would be defending the very gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ and he looked forward to the opportunity of sharing that before kings and governors and anybody else that would listen. The latter do it out of love knowing that I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel. Well, what then?
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Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached or Christ is being preached, and in this, rejoice, and yes, I will rejoice. I concentrated last sermon I did on this part right here, that in every way in pretense where in truth Christ is being preached. Paul was able to let go the bitterness that he might have felt for others that he felt like, and may very well have been preaching from selfish ambition or the wrong motives. But he was able to say, you know what? Christ is being preached, and the message is true regardless of the messenger.
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If they stick to the message, it's true. And in this, I rejoice, and yes, I will rejoice, and then it goes right on. For I know this is how he can let it go. For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and through the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Okay.
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Paul's able to let go what's going on with them because he knows. He's got firm confidence in this that it's gonna turn out for his deliverance. And we think deliverance, first thing I think of probably is banjo music. I'm sorry, but that's what I think of when I hear the word deliverance. But deliverance through your prayer.
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He's talking about being delivered, and all these people that he loves and he cares for and they care for him and he knows it, and it's this family thing. When I was back home, I was flooded with, wow, this was really a good place to grow up. You know? I love those folks, and I know they're praying for me, and that gives strength for my deliverance. It gives strength to carry on.
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When we were in Mexico, those folks were the ones who supplied for all of our needs, gave, you know, Anna Mae Carlo under the under the water tower there. $10 a month every single month as long as we're gone. I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and through the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. What was it in Anna Mae that led her to write that check every single month? It was the spirit of Jesus Christ in her.
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Does that make sense? And that is what supplied our need. I know it'll turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Now when Paul says that, it sounds great. Maybe this is a missionary prayer letter.
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We've got 19 verses in before he starts mentioning money. Right? According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness because of I know that I'll be delivered, and it's through your prayers of support and through your actual support, monetary support for the advance of the gospel. Through the spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation, hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body. And this is where we get to the matter of life and death.
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Paul's confidence doesn't just stop that I'll be delivered and I'll get out of prison. I'll be delivered from the authorities. He wasn't afraid of the authorities. He relished the thought of being able to carry the gospel before the authorities, hoping for their salvation and everyone else. Do you get that?
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As always, so now also. By this time, he'd been beaten many times, shipwrecked, bitten by snakes, all kinds of stuff had gone on. People had thought he was a god. He ripped his clothes when that was the case. He had seen it all, and he says, so always all as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body.
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This is resolute for Paul. He knows that Christ will be magnified, and he knows that it's Christ that's going to be the one that's motivating it and do it. Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death. Wow. Whether by life or by death.
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And then if this is that bumper sticker, that little encapsulated coffee mug phrase, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And that's the center point of this message. It's the center point of this passage. It's what we're gonna spend the most time on today. It's what I've spent the most time on for the last month or so.
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For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If you look at it, for to me, he starts off he's he's not concerned about anybody else really right here. This is how he can let it go. This is how he can let offenses against him go. This is how he can say, father, forgive them for they know not what they do like his savior, Christ.
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And Paul has asked us to follow him just like he follows Christ, and he starts off this very simple statement, for to me, because it's up to each one of us individually What we do with Christ. There's a lot of collective stuff in here through your prayer and your supply and your support. All of that's collective, but individually, the reason Paul's able to let offenses go and be sharing Jesus with the whole palace guard joyfully is because for to him, this is true. To live is Christ and to die is gain. Alright.
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The text says to live, Christ, and to die, gain. Now we put is in there, we supply the verb, that's normal. Anytime you translate from one to another, there are some idiosyncrasies that are a little odd, but I just like that. To live, Christ. To die, gain.
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This is like an equal sign. To live is Christ. To die is gain. This is not to be or not to be. This is not Hamlet's melancholy speech about suicide.
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He's not going, life or death. Oh, where there is no blur to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. You know, it's not that. He's not doing that. He's saying to live is Christ.
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Christ magnified. And to die for me, for to me, to die is gain. I I stayed on this for a long time this week. It goes very well along with this. This amplifies it just a little bit, but this is early in Paul's ministry.
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He writes to the Galatians. Oh, foolish Galatians, who's bewitched you? You're walking away so quickly from the simple gospel. My goodness. And he says to them, as the grounding for how he lives his life and is able to carry on, I have been crucified with Christ.
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It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live, I live in the flesh. I live by the faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The gospel encapsulated is that Christ died. He gave his perfect record, his perfect life, and he offered it as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of our imperfect ones.
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We're gonna do communion in a minute. And communion is the acknowledgment by anyone who takes it that they believe this. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. I live it by faith in the son of God.
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Christianity is about Christ, people. It's not about morality. That comes with it but that's not, you can't get the cart before the horse. Christianity is about Christ. Or to me and this is the question that I have been struggling through this week.
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I I know what my job is. Don't get me wrong. I I remember that. But I I wanna examine myself in the light of scripture every single day, all of the time, and this is the one that's been hanging with me this week. For to me, to die is gain.
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Yes. No doubt about it. I know that. In this job I have been in situations where I've dealt with people who when they came into the office were having passive thoughts of death. Some of them were having active thoughts of death.
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Some of them were believers, and some of them were not believers. Some of them were scared to death, and some of them were scared of life and did not wanna go on and felt like everything would be better off if they weren't here. And when I look at to live is Christ, to die is gain, for someone who's struggling and sitting on the edge of for me to live is pointless, then to die is gain sounds really attractive. It is really attractive, but it's not to start it for yourself. It's not to take your life into your own hands.
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Your life has been entrusted to you by God. To die is gain. Paul knows that to be with Jesus would be better. In fact, he goes on from here and says that. Let's let's keep on.
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To die is gain, but to live is Christ. This is something that you just go, how can what does that even mean? How could that mean anything? To live is Christ, to live Christ. Well, Paul said, I've sought to live nothing but Christ and him crucified.
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I want to share with you the good news of Jesus Christ, the message of the cross, this perfect life given for imperfect ones. To me, to live is Christ. With every breath that he had, he was contemplating how it was that Christ would be honored in that. So this is the only point I have in this message. How do you honestly fill in these blanks?
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And reading that for yourself, for to me, to live is blank and to die is blank. I'm not taking a phone call. I'm looking up a note. Over the past couple of three weeks, I guess, I've been looking through and thinking out how we might answer this. Thanksgiving week is here, some of y'all are getting to go home.
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We are a place on a little island where people come together, but their families are usually somewhere else. Y'all all know that. To live is family, and to die is something I don't want to think about. To live is to make money. To die is an unpleasant inevitability that I don't want to think about.
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To live is to party. To die is the end of the party. You could be like Solomon from Ecclesiastes to live is meaningless. Vanity, oh, vanity. To die is my preoccupation.
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He set eternity on our hearts. He also says and he says, under the sun thinking is futile and does have vanity, but I I don't want you to answer these questions with under the sun thinking. I want you to answer these questions with incorruptible hope kind of thinking. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Oscar Wilde said, most people exist and that is all.
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Nietzsche says, to live is to suffer. To survive is to find some meaning in that suffering. I don't always agree with Nietzsche, but that one I feel does resonate. He didn't find the meaning in it, though. Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter, Martin Luther King.
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And Mark Twain, although I hardly ever agree really with him, I love him. He said the two most important days of your life are the day that you're born and the day you find out why. For to me, to live is blank and to die is blank. For Paul, there was no doubt. It was for to to for to me, to Paul, to live as Christ.
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I have come up this week again afresh and anew and I'm filled with joy over it. To me, to live as Christ. That's what I want. That's what I want for my life. That's what I want for your lives.
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That's what I want for every Mexican taxi driver that I talked to last week. That's what I want for everybody that I spoke to in Georgia. That's what I want for to me to live as Christ. I want for him to be magnified in my body. With what I do with my body, I want for Christ to be magnified.
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It's great that God works through our obedience, and I'm so thankful that he can work in spite of our disobedience, but for to me, to live is Christ. So I'm going to default position, do what it is I see his spirit leading me to do. That's a bold statement, but that's where it starts. You've got to make that statement. For to you, what is life?
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Where are you gonna live your life? Okay. Paul goes on, and here we go on with him. But if I live on in the flesh, Paul says, this will mean fruit from my labor. So he's just said, and it's not to be or not to be, live or die.
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He said, by life or by death, Christ is gonna be magnified If these people kill me or if they should let me go. Either way, Christ is gonna be magnified. I'm good with it. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor because I'm gonna keep on working for Christ because to live is Christ. Yet, what I shall choose, I cannot tell because I'm hard pressed between these two having a desire and I have to say, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ.
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He had seen a revelation of Jesus on the road to Damascus. He had seen his glory. He had seen him in his visions where he was caught up into the heavens. He knew heaven was awesome. And so as he contemplated this and knowing he had faith in front of him, his fate was unsure of him, but he it was out there.
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It was a possibility of death every day. I'm hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. I'm sure of that. I don't have any doubt because it is infinite, it is eternal, and it is good. No sorrow, no tears, all of those great promises about heaven.
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Better by far to be with Christ, the one who loved us and set us free, brought us into his kingdom of light. Nevertheless, he says, to remain in the flesh, that is more needful for you. And so if you are struggling, Paul was struggling with this being awesome and this being awesome. You may be struggling with this doesn't look so good and this is terrible. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
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Paul is edifying the Philippians. He's edifying you and me, I hope, right now. Nevertheless, remain in the flesh is more needful for you and being confident of that very fact. I'm confident that it's better for you if I remain. If I'm taken out of it all of a sudden, I don't get to share what I know and I feel like I know a pretty good bit.
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Christ has poured a lot into me, and I wanna keep on pouring it out. I don't want for him to start from ground zero. I'm I'm I'm going with for it. I'm using what he's given me. Being confident of this to remain in the flesh that's more needful for you.
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I know that I shall remain. That's a resolute. He's come up with it right there. It's a rhetorical device. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain and because I'm confident that it's better off for you, he's thinking of them first, for him it's better by far he go with Jesus, I know that I shall remain and I continue with you all for your progress and for your joy of faith.
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If people are not getting along in a church, it's not a joyful place to be. Right? You ever been in a church where people didn't get along? Oh my goodness. I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and for your joy of this faith that we share, all of y'all.
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That your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. So he is saying, I wanna come see you. I wanna come see you. And since I'm not able right now to come see you, I'm gonna send you this letter. But I wanna come see you again.
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I want you for rejoicing for me, maybe even more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. And then we do communion. That's to remind me. Like these plates wouldn't do that, but I don't think very well when I get up here about process or procedure. I'm going back up like to this.
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How do you fill in these blanks? We're gonna take a little bit more time today before we do communion, and I want you to think about it. What what Christ has purchased on the cross is salvation for all who believe. This table is open for all of you who believe. I want you to dwell on this for a couple of minutes and answer the question.
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And Paul's given us a cheater's response. Right? For to me to live is blank and to die is blank. Would y'all just pray with me? Y'all can bow your heads.
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I'm gonna sit up here on this park bench. God, thank you for the joy that you've given, in the journey. I thank you for the joy unspeakable that that the cross provides. I thank you for the amazing grace that you've given. God, if there's anybody in this room that does not understand what this is all about, I I pray that they'd tell somebody that does.
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Being set free from that which holds us down, from every sin. God, I pray that you would remove the doubt and impediment to belief and that people would embrace you. God, I pray that daily when we wake up, we would think of this table right here that we would think of communion, communing with the spirit son of God, the perfection of God found in human flesh, walked a perfect life, died a perfect sacrificial death for all who would believe. God, I pray that that truth, that message of the cross would no longer be foolishness, but that it would become the power of God unto salvation because they just accept it and believe it. God, I thank you and I praise you for Jesus Christ.
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I praise you and I thank you that this body is the continuing body of Jesus on this Earth that we are to act as he acted, that we're to live Christ. We are to live surrendered lives, surrendered to your spirit, going and doing each day as you direct. Through the prayers of this body, through the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, I pray that you would meet all of the needs in this valley, Lord, that we can. That you would meet the needs of this nation, that you would draw people together that just can't get along. I pray that we would be examples little Christs because we follow him.
50:06
I pray that we'd follow Paul in this as he follow Christ, that we would not add to the gospel, but we also wouldn't take away from it. God, in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name, Would you impress this upon us that we'd be filling these blanks with Christ and gain every day with the way we live. In Jesus name. Amen.
50:34
Can I invite the elders up to the front? And Florine, thank you. Would you play something pretty? Steve, would you come up, Gary? Mark?
50:57
There you go, Dan. Thank you very much. God, would you bless, each one that partakes this morning of this bread remembering your body that was offered and broken, for us. And Lord, for each one who has to let this plate pass, I pray that Lord you would impress upon them through your spirit that this is something that can be believed and should be received. In Jesus name, amen.
54:15
On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, right, there before the looming cross, He took bread after supper, and after having given thanks, he said, this is my body which is broken for you. Take this and eat, and do it in remembrance of me. Thank you, Jesus, that you gave of your sort self by coming, emptying yourself of all of your divine rights coming at Christmas, form of a babe living a life surrendered to the spirit's will and walking in perfect peace, though tempted and tried just like we are. I thank you lord that you did that. You walked out every step of the way, cognizant and looming.
55:18
That crucifixion, that death. God, thank you that you directed Jesus. I thank you Jesus that you walked out everything in spirit. I thank you that you are still the one that directs the body of Christ in what we are to do. It is the blood of Christ that binds us together, and so for this little representation of this cup of grape juice that we're gonna share here in a moment, Lord, I ask that you'd bless us into a complete unity with your body.
55:48
In Jesus name, I thank you for your sacrifice. Amen. The same manner that he had taken the bread, he took the cup after supper. And he said to his disciples there, and he's saying to us today, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink.
59:40
Drink it in. A new covenant. Do it in remembrance of me. Thank you, Jesus. I thought this messenger was gonna be really happy, really upbeat because it is an amazing thing to be a Christian, and it's an amazing thing to go forward knowing your sins have been forgiven, and absolutely fantastic, joy unspeakable, and I have been floating on a cloud these past few weeks, but it is a heavy question.
1:00:16
It is a heavy question. For me, what is it to live? To live is Christ. To die is gain. That's the way it gets to be gain, is to live as Christ.
1:00:25
This is the blood that has made it possible. So will you come on up, Carl, band? Would you stand with us and let's sing a joyous number as we head out? Anybody ever go to camp?
1:00:46
Speaker 3Alright. I think it's going to sound familiar. Come on with us.
1:02:26
Speaker 1Now, amen. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Since as members of one body, you are called to peace and be thankful. It's Thanksgiving, folks. Be thankful.
1:02:36
Share the love of Jesus. In Jesus name, amen.
