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Welcome to first b on this beautiful Sunday morning. You've got a new singer this morning. Carl's feel feeling a little bit under under the weather. So don't don't boo me, but so so we'll start with a verse. Jeremiah thirty two seventeen.
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Our sovereign lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. If you wouldn't mind standing up with with us and we'll we'll get started.
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Amen. Y'all can have a seat. So, as this before the day gets started, a lot of times I'm wandering around and checking in with folks and everybody who's here early is visiting. Y'all know that, right? Everybody here who's earliest visiting, we've got lots of southerners here this morning.
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And I've got a few announcements. Children's Christmas play, Nancy Cummins.
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Good
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morning.
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Oh, it's nice up here looking out this way. Okay. First B is gonna be doing a Christmas play on December 13 at both services. And next Sunday after the first service right up front, we're going to be accepting any sign up. Men, women, children, all ages.
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So if you're interested in doing some acting, maybe even some music, come on up here and we'll talk to you, and we'll do a handout of some information for rehearsals. So if you have any questions, you can talk to me or Shauna. Okay? Thanks.
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Thank you. Alright. During the connect hour today, connect hour, we do between services. Y'all remember that? I haven't announced it in a long time.
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It's in between, ten ish to eleven ish. Today, we're saying goodbye to Danny and Roxanne McGrath. There they are in the back. Would you wave, please? I didn't have a picture of you, Danny but anyway, Roxanne, they've both been involved in church life for quite some time here.
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We don't do this every single time but we know right now that y'all are going and we love y'all and we appreciate it. All the help in Awana, the trip to Kenya, all of the different things that y'all been involved in in the church behind the scenes. We really, really appreciate it and I think there will be a cake along with some coffee down the hall in the connect hour today for you. Monday nights at First B is happening but it's happening at six instead of 06:15. So, adjust your schedules accordingly.
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06:00, meal, music, and message. Awanas are happening at the same. Awana is happening at the same time. Mondays at 6PM. That's for three year olds up through sixth grade and that's really pouring scripture into their little brains and hearts.
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Wednesday morning prayer time is seven: 3zero am on Wednesdays. We have a precept Bible study that started at 09:00. It started last week. It's 09:00AM on Thursdays and then after that, there's a grief study. Anne, would you like to say a word about this?
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You go. And probably the next one too.
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Hey, you all. Last Thursday from twelve to one downstairs in the Blue Room, some of us met to just go through the process of grieving. And, but there are more books. I would be happy to help you, get up to snuff on what's going on, because grieving is a hard process, and it's not only a loved one that might have died, but maybe your pet, maybe you're a dream, maybe a career that's gone by the wayside. Anyway, God's in the business of healing.
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So I've got books, and I will be in the corner in that entry hall doing actually two things, because the other one is the women's retreat. So, you see the flyer in the bulletin, you see the where, when, the why is because we ladies should get together. We should build one another up. We should have fun. We should fellowship.
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We should get to know each other, and I'm hoping you can allocate the time to go on up to Heart six. We're gonna hopefully, everybody who's gonna go will sign up today, because we have about two more weeks. So also in the corner.
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Thank you. That's October ninth through eleventh. Please do sign up this Sunday if you can. And check your bulletins always.
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My announcement, but Renzi has two more. So
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Just just
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a quick few things. Yellow mic. Red mic. Yellow mic. Perfect.
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Alright. Sunday, guys and girls study happening on Sundays here after worship. They'll all be released in high school and middle school. Guys and gals, we have something for you downstairs. It's that that end of the wing.
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So check that out. Thursdays, we're back on for middle school youth group. So watch for texts about that. And Fridays, our Friday morning breakfast, watch for texts coming out about those. And then something I was handed right before.
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We're updating the church directories. We started this last week, and we missed some folks. So if you can get it, if you haven't got it yet and you get it this week, go ahead and just find your name that's already in there and fix any incorrect information or if you're not in here, add to it. So that's what we're trying to do. I'm gonna start these in the front on each side.
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So go ahead and just take a time out when it reaches you. Sit down. We'll pretend you're praying, and you can fill that out. So, that's it.
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Thank you. Thank you. Alright and check your bulletins always. Hang the little thing up. It tells you everything that's going on.
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I do have something before you get up and greet one another this morning though. Steven and Britt Malik are here this morning. They are going to be going with Missions Aviation Fellowship and I told him he could have a little time to to talk to us. Would you come on up? And some of y'all know Britt very well, actually.
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Morning. I'm Steve Malek, like you said, and this is my wife, Britt. And some of you may know her. Her father is pastor Steve Anthes. He pastored here for five or six years, and she grew up in the parsonage next door.
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And kind of a fun fact is before baptisms on Sundays, he would have her and her siblings get their snorkels on and clean the flies out of the baptismal tank behind us. So so she knows the church pretty well. But but we're preparing to serve with MAF, and we're heading to Central Asia. For security reasons, we can't say the country in front of large groups, but after the service we'll be in the back and we'd love to share where in particular we're going if you're interested.
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So Central Asia is a region of great geographical diversity. From towering rugged mountains to deep fertile valleys, it's landlocked which makes it hot and dry in the summer and harsh and icy in the winter. Located in the mountains at around 13,000 feet was a group of extremely remote and isolated people. They're lacking any sort of adequate healthcare, so their average life expectancy is less than 40 years old. If you add to that an extremely high infant and maternal mortality rate, these unreached people are on their way to becoming extinct.
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Is there any hope? Yes, there is. Not far away is an airstrip intentionally placed to reach this extremely remote part of the world. But this airplane isn't just there to minister to those physical needs. It serves as a platform platform to share with others the hope and salvation found in Jesus Christ.
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MAF was founded in 1945 by a group of World War two pilots who had a mutual desire to see the gospel taken to the ends of the earth. In 1956, tragedy struck and MAF pilot Nate Saint along with four other missionaries were murdered on a beach in Ecuador while ministering to the Warani Indians.
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And while these deaths were really tragic, it sparked a huge movement in missions not just within MAF, but across the world. And MAF scope is pretty far reaching today. They service serve over 600 humanitarian and Christian organizations through aviation, and they're in 14 countries, and have a fleet of 50 aircraft. And just in travel time alone for mission groups, they saved over three thirty eight years this past year. In Central Asia in particular, God has allowed MAF to use aviation as a platform in a country where the access to the gospel is extremely limited and restricted in a lot of ways.
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But even though it's restricted, the Lord is moving and despite the resistance, the church is growing in pretty incredible and exciting ways and it's something to celebrate.
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We read in Romans 15 Paul speaking and he says, I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed. We see that the presentation of the gospel is to be proclaimed but it's also to be demonstrated and lived out and those two things go hand in hand. Recently, MAF opened a new base and as the families are becoming familiar with the area, a local shopkeeper came out and approached one of the MAF pilots and began to share how a few years back an MAF flight saved his life. He shared how he was injured and that an airplane came to medevac him to the capital for surgery. He even proceeded to lift up his shirt to show them the scar.
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It is through stories like these where we see aviation and technology having an incredible social involvement that brings about great evangelistic opportunity.
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So I grew up in Jackson, Michigan and went on a few short term missions trips and that's really where God pulled my heart towards missions. And a missionary from Brazil came and spoke to our Sunday school class the next year and asked if any of us felt called to be a missionary and I responded that I did. But I told the Lord it'd be something great to do later in life, maybe in retirement, but he had other plans. And in high school I was working at a local airport and a pilot came through and started telling me about missionary aviation and MAF in particular. And the Lord just really grabbed my heart.
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And it was kind of a perfect fit for this technical aspect that I felt drawn to and also the relational part of missions. I went to Moody Bible Institute. I graduated from their missionary aviation program. And also during that time I worked with a lot of refugees through an organization. And just really as they learned to speak English and heard their stories, God just grabbed my heart for those who had just kind of restricted access to the gospel in their their home countries.
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And then after that, I went to Seattle, worked at Boeing for a couple years.
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So like Steve shared, I grew up a pastor's kid and after moving around quite a bit, my family settled in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After graduating high school, moved out to Billings, Montana to do an internship with Eric Basie in Community Leadership and Development Incorporated and during my internship, I took an overseas exposure trip to Bangladesh and that's kind of where God just began growing in me a desire to see his name made known among the nations. After that, I joined the staff in Billings full time and had the opportunity to go to India two different times. I lived there for three months during one of those trips and I after that, I hope to go into full time overseas work but sensed from the Lord that it was not the right time and then six months later I met Steve.
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And in Central Asia, there I will be flying as a pilot and then maintaining their aircraft. Britt hopes to get involved in similar ministries that she was involved in billings with women and single mothers and then any other opportunities as they come up. So as the Lord's been preparing us for service, we really believe that he's been preparing others to partner in ministry with us as well. And we're hoping to arrive in Central Asia next summer, the summer of twenty sixteen. But that's sort of dependent on full support.
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And so we're looking for individuals who will pray about just praying regularly for us and then also providing financial support as the Lord leads. So we'll be in the back of the the church then in the service to talk more with you if you're interested.
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And tomorrow.
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Yeah. And tomorrow as well. We're we're gonna be doing the message for this Monday night service.
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Thank you very much. Alright. Now if you would, you can get up and greet one another. Grab them afterwards and let them know that you'll be praying for em.
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Alright, let's sing guys.
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Okay, here we go. Great is not.
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Great is thy faithfulness You're God
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not
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created by human hands. You're not a god dependent on any mortal man. You're not a god in need of anything we can give by your man. That's just the way it is. Sing that again.
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You're not a god created by human hands. On your throne. You are God alone. And right now, in the good times and bad, you are on your throne. God alone
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Not true. God, we're singing that truth to you this morning that you were here before the world was created. You had us in mind. You loved us, and then you sent your son for us. And so we've got a lot to be thankful for, and I wanna sing out to you.
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And then as we're singing the the lyrics in this song, it's, that we in in every time and every season, we've got a reason to praise you, and it is true. And so we wanna do that in spirit and in truth with glad and joyful hearts. Amen.
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This is my prayer in the desert when all that's within me feels right this is my prayer in my hunger need my God is the God who provides this is my prayer in the fire in weakness and trial this is my prayer in the battle when triumph is still on its way I am a conqueror and coer with pride, so firm in the promise I'll stand. And I will bring praise, I will bring praise. No weapon formed against me shall be made. I will rejoice. I will declare God is my victory and he is here.
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Declare God is my victory and he is here this is my prayer in the harvest when favor and providence flow. I know I'm filled with the emptied again. The seed I've received I will sow
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and y'all can be seated. Can I ask Matt Matt Litzelman? Can I ask you to to stand up? Just offer up a little word of prayer here as we enter into the the worship of giving.
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Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity to to give back, to to be a blessing to the kingdom.
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I
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just I get a little choked up when I think about the opportunity to give, to give back just a portion of what the Lord's blessed my blessed me with. So, I I thank you lord for the opportunity and I pray this morning as we give with open hands and open heart, Lord, that you would that you would multiply and and use this offering to grow the kingdom. And we are so thankful for all that you do for us. In Jesus name, amen.
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Peak Children's Church is starting downstairs right now. So, y'all dismiss the head down. And while they're trampling out of here, would y'all just take fifteen or twenty seconds just to pray, kind of center ourselves on everything that's happened here this morning. Lord, has been good. I I really believe that this is all honorable for your kingdom but God, would you just center our hearts right now so that we can accept, be fertile soil for your word.
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Amen. Amen. So, second Corinthians five one through 10. Actually, we'll do the benediction with verse 11 too. Last week, I mentioned having a wet edge on this painting that Paul's painting for us and making sure that we kept it fresh and kept ongoing and I've been overlapping my brush strokes a bit and going back to the last week.
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So, I'm going ask you, did anybody accept the challenges from last week? There were two. One of em was read second Corinthians. Did y'all do that? Okay.
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Did you commit four, eight, and nine to memory? I know some of you did because the other day after the prayer meeting, I heard several people come out and said, somebody was just praying and then all of sudden, it just came out I think the fellow was feeling hard pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, body slammed, struck down, but not destroyed and that's that. It's good. It's really, really good and I think it helps you through your day to think about that. That no matter what the world throws at you, these lines, God is on these lines.
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So, that's that. So, we're up to second Corinthians two five, sorry, one through 10 and in this passage, it's no different. It starts off for we know. Now, almost every Greek sentence starts off with a conjunction. That's why nowhere else in normal life do you start off with and or but or therefore, usually, you don't see those a whole lot and and but especially at the beginning of sentences but in the Bible, they always start because it's pointing, it's tying things together.
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For I know or for we know. If you look, the chapter headings in your Bible right here and these things that that we call em, that's to help us find stuff, okay? It's not divinely inspired. The chapter breaks. In Corinth, when they read this letter, they would have read it all at once and you would have been layered with all of these things and you come away with a feeling.
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I was an art major. I've mentioned this before. I had three hour long lecture classes by artists. And they just circle and they circle and circle and they come back and it's it was a beautiful thing but you have to have the composure to sit there and most of us are not conditioned to that. So, I'm going to tie it together.
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Our heavenly dwelling on that page, I don't think we need to put anything between there. In fact, I think that seventeen and eighteen, you could go back as far as we preach through last week but just think about this. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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For we know. Does that make sense? In fact, some of your Bibles will say, now, we know because they put that chapter title in there and they feel like they're starting over. No. It's four.
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It's tied together for sure. Four, we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed. Now, Paul was a tent maker and he was concerned with tents. He was concerned with leather work but he's talking about our body and it becomes ever more evident as we go on. But for we know that if our earthly house or this earthly house of ours, this tent and a tent is not as good as a house.
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Right? Come on. I know that y'all are campers, but come on. Tanya and I have been camping once. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
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For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, this mortal coil, this shabby, little dwelling is destroyed. We have a building from God. Now, God's the one who made that mountain and those mountains and it goes on to say, a house or a dwelling place that's not made with human hands, that's eternal in the heavens. It's not temporal for here. So, Paul is pointing towards heaven and he is painting a picture of something glorious.
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It's not anything like this tent that we have here. The glorified body as he says in other places. We know that if we haven't, if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this, we groan, in this tent, in this shabby little dwelling place, ramshackle as it is, temporary, we carry it around with us. For in this body, we groan.
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Earnestly desiring, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation or our dwelling place which is from heaven. Do y'all get that? Anybody getting older? Cars got a cold this week. That's all it takes for you to realize how shabby this tent is.
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It's like, bam. Appreciate your breathing. Ugh. Horrible. In this body, in this tent, we groan.
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Earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. Glorified bodies, no colts. Oh, Hebrews thirteen fourteen says, for this world is not our permanent home. There are tons and tons and tons of songs about heaven and we used to sing everyone of em in the little church that I grew up on but the one that I like is the the most probably hymn number three eleven in our hymnal was this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through.
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My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I just can't feel at home in this world anymore. Hebrews points to that too. For this world is not our permanent home. We are looking forward to home yet to come.
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For in this, we groan. We long for something more, something better. Earnestly desire to be clothed with our habitation or our dwelling place, our home, which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. Naked.
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If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. Naked in Greek is what's that sound like? Gymnas. What does that sound like? Gymnasium.
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Now, Paul has tons of sports references all throughout. He's speaking in Corinth, the home of the Isthmian Games. It's the Olympics. It's that sort of thing. In ancient Greece, and at this time, it was a huge deal and Paul was making some references there.
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Rarely does it mean stark naked but it does mean that sometimes. Usually, it means wearing only your undergarment, bare and open and I could probably add ashamed, open before. Now, if you're in a in a competition, in a sport, it was thought that that was just normal to be naked. All of the Greek art, I can't put anything up there. It's all naked.
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But he's saying, if indeed, having been clothed with this new heavenly dwelling, we should not be found naked. Something that you put on here though. Does that make any sense to you? Maybe it'll make sense the further we go. So, naked.
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For we who are in this tent grown, being burdened. Do you feel that? When I said a few weeks ago, who's hard pressed on every side? Almost everybody admitted that they were. For we who are in this tent grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed.
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In in Paul's day, Gnosticism was starting to get started. It was just a proto Gnosticism. It was getting started where people felt like this body was evil, all matter was evil, and that what we needed to have was liberation from this mortal coil. He's saying, no, no, no, no. I've got a tent here.
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I've got a heavenly dwelling there. I don't want to be incorporeal spirit wandering about. I I want something that is real and this is divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. He says, we in this tent groan being burdened but not because we want to be unclothed. We don't want to just be set free from this vapor but further clothed or better clothed, better clothed so that my own mortality may be swallowed up by life.
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We talk about the abundant life available in Jesus and it starts here but it does not even compare. That starting of that abundant life doesn't even compare with what Paul's talking about. He's saying that he wants for his own mortality and that of every believer to be swallowed up by life. That's what we're groaning for. Swallowed up by the reality of actual presence with God.
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Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God. Like I said, or like Ecclesiastes said, Solomon said, he has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he's put eternity in their hearts and he's talking about every man, every person. He's put eternity in their hearts except that no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end. On this side, we're limited, right?
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We're limited. What we can see is not all there is. He's already made reference to that in seventeen and eighteen. He's saying the things that are seen and the things that are unseen. The the unseen things are what he lives for.
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Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God who also gives us the spirit as a guarantee. Amen. The spirit as a guarantee. There's that word is guarantee but it's also down payment. It's like a little bit of what is to come.
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How many of you really really appreciate that part of that verse? If you've got the Holy Spirit in your life and he's written his law on your hearts like we've mentioned few weeks ago, instead of it being external, it's internal. He's given us something inside of our hearts. The Holy Spirit to know the mind of God, to have a little inkling, a little understanding of the mind of God. Though we are in this tent and it does make things difficult to understand because we're confused by everything that we see around us all the time.
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Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. I should've put a little slide in there this morning. The takeaway from this is, he's looking forward to heaven. Looking forward to it. Unashamedly, looking forward to heaven.
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He's confident that he'll be there. He knows that because God has already given him a guarantee. That's the spirit. He goes right into verse five, six, seven, and eight all go together but Imma look at em one at a time. So, we're always confident knowing that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord.
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Wait a second, that doesn't make any sense. Does it make sense? Like I said, six, seven, and eight go together. He's saying, we're always confident. On this side, in this body, in this tent, we can be confident and he's saying we should be.
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Confident that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. Meaning, this life is nothing like that life. This life, we can have confidence here knowing that this is not all that there is and he backs it up in two more verses. He'll say it the opposite way which we're all used to hearing at funerals mainly. We're always confident.
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In this life, we can always be confident knowing that while we're at home in this body, this tent, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. Now, how often does this come up? We walk by faith and not by sight. If if we wanted to, we could preach this every single Sunday.
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It it attaches itself to every message but specifically, how often has this come up? I look back through the three and a half years that I've been here and it has come up in first Peter one eight, first Peter five nine, Habakkuk two four, Galatians three eleven, Hebrews ten thirty eight, Romans one seventeen, that was a topical sermon before I started going in order. John three thirty six, Acts four, James one twenty seven, first Corinthians 13, Galatians two sixteen twenty, Galatians three eleven and twelve. Second Corinthians four eighteen. It just keeps going.
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It's this is the message. We work, we walk by faith, and not by sight. We walk by faith and not by sight. And then he says in verse eight, we are confident. Again, he says it.
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He said it two verses ago. We are confident. Yes. We are well pleased even rather to be absent from this body, from this tent. Well, pleased.
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Remember in Philippians, we haven't gotten to it in our study yet but in Philippians, Paul says, that to die is gain and so I'm going back and forth which is better to live or to die? To die is gain because to live though is Christ and it advances and grows his kingdom and we get to be a part of that if we're here. So, Paul says, I choose to stay with you Philippians. I choose to stick with you and keep on going because it grows the kingdom. We're confident.
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Yes, well pleased even rather to be absent from this body and to be present with the Lord. So, how did he face being crushed? How did he face being persecuted? How did he face it? It's a win win for him.
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It's a win for the kingdom if he keeps preaching the gospel because every time you present it, people have the opportunity to accept it or reject it every single time and some will accept it and some will reject it. If he dies doing what it is that he loves for his savior, it's a win for him. He goes on to be with Jesus and that's what this is pointing to. So, back to six, seven, eight altogether. So, we are always confident here on this side and there knowing that while we are at home in this body, we're absent from the Lord and for we walk by faith and not by sight.
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We are confident. Yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. I ain't afraid of nothing. That's what he was saying. Sorry.
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I'm not afraid of this. I ain't scared. No fear. Sorry, that's the way y'all put it. No faith, no fear.
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In Georgia and South Carolina, they have stickers instead of saying no fear. It says, ain't scared. Therefore, verse nine says, therefore, because of all that, because we walk by faith, not by sight, because we are pleased to be with the Lord and because we know that we're going to be, we're confident in two different places there. Therefore, we make it our aim. Whether we're present or we're absent to be well pleasing to him.
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We want to please our God, right? We want to please him. It's not the same thing as working for your salvation. They are not going to Central Asia to earn favor with God, right? Just making sure.
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Okay, you can support them then, alright? We just want to be well pleasing to him. He saved us. We want to be well pleasing to him and then Paul goes into for we must all, when he says, we, he's speaking to Christians, he's speaking as a Christian, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, the word judgment seat right there is one word in Greek and judgement for us when we hear judgment, it's like, oh, I flinch just thinking, oh, I don't want to stand upon our God's judgment.
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My goodness. Well, if you believe in Christ, you don't stand under God's wrath. His judgment has been answered on Calvary already. If you put your faith in Christ, you don't have to fear God's judgment. Are you with me?
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Okay. For we appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Judgment seat in Greek is this, Bema. Most of y'all have heard of the Bema judgment. The Bema judgment is for Christians.
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It's for Christians. It has two main uses. This word has two main uses that pertain to anything that we're talking about. One of those uses is legal. It's a legal use, and then I'll get to the other one.
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So this is Corinth. It's a reconstruction, a little map of Corinth. We've got temples here and here. This is the bema seat right there. This whole big place right here is the Agora.
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Anybody have agoraphobia? If you did, you probably wouldn't be here. Agora is fear of crowds. The Agora is the marketplace, which is all of this is kind of the marketplace right here. And right in the center of that town square is the Bema.
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The Bema is where they would do this. If you look to Acts 18 verses 12 through 15, this is a legal use of Bema. But when Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul. Paul knows this word very well. And brought him before the tribunal, that is the Bema, saying, this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law but when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo, who is what?
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If he's at the Bema and in charge, he's the pro consul. He's the judge. This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law but when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or a vicious crime, oh Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it's a matter of questions about words and names in your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.
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Got that. So, that's one use and that's the legal use of Bema and I think that that's what a lot of us think of when we think of being judged by Christ on that great and mighty day of the Lord. Right there at the Bama in front of everybody and I gotta say that inspires a bit of fear, you know, to think about that and I remember sitting in the pews going, oh, I don't want to talk about every word uttered. I'm ashamed of a lot of stuff. I don't want to think about that.
50:04
I I don't want to be publicly humiliated. Even on that great mighty day of the Lord, I don't want to be there and so, I think that that legal sense of judgement is what we oftentimes attach this to, and it does mean that. This is Paul at the Bema, and this is the position that Gallio was taken. These are the Jews. This is actually a painting on the wall in a in a Greek Orthodox Church in Corinth and that's the Acro Corinth up there with the temple on top.
50:38
Just a, there it is in real life. That's still something that we can see today. Right here, this is the Bema. That little plaque right there says Bema in two languages. But this also is a Bema.
50:52
Do you all know what this is? It's not a lifeguard chair, by the way. Is a judgment seat at a tennis match. This guy's not happy with the call. Neither is she.
51:09
Does it matter? That they're not happy? No. Because they're that judge sits in that seat. That's the bema.
51:18
But this is a sporting term and it's it's not just for the judgment seat like that where they're calling shots, lines, whatever. It's also this. The Bema is the platform and the place where the judge would sit normally but after the contest is over, after the event is over, this is where people stand to receive the the laurel crown right there. The bema is where that would happen to. These are all from Corinth, Excavations Of Corinth.
51:52
This is a coin and it's got a laurel wreath around it and it's an Ithmian game coin. This is a plaque. This says Ithmia. These are all different types of crowns that might be won at the Ithmian games. It's a big deal.
52:08
Do you remember this as a mountain town obsessed with sports? Do you all remember that? I don't mean Jackson. I mean Corinth. Actually, I mean both.
52:17
Therefore, we make it our aim whether present or absent to be well pleasing to him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good and bad. Oh, it makes me flinch just hearing it again. And I think that there's enough there that we should have a little bit of that fear and trembling. I do think so but I don't think that that's Paul's point of the verse. The bad especially is scary.
52:43
And it feels a whole lot like that verse 10 is a carrot and a stick. He's putting heaven in front of us but he's got the stick to spank us back there and say, good or bad. I'm going to get you going the proper direction and motivate you however it takes and is that the way that the world motivates? Oh, yeah. Yes.
53:03
Incentives and punishments. That's that's it. I don't think that's what Paul is doing. But I can see it's been preached like that because I heard it preached like that. I've heard it.
53:12
Directed that way many many times. Bad in this case is foul line. Now, if you were to look up bad in Greek and you were going with primary definitions, bad or evil, it would be 13 words down before you even got to foul line. It's 13 words deep. And in some translations, it says bad.
53:36
Some translations, it says evil. But in some translations, it says, worthless. And that's a much, much better translation. Much, much better. In fact, the good is as wide a word as it can be for good.
53:52
It's agathas, which is as wide as a word can be good. And it means acceptable, honorable, anything worthwhile, and foul on means easy, slight, ordinary. Mean, meaning average, not mean to mean. Okay? Average, worthless, or of no account.
54:15
So, if you look back through, therefore, we make it our aim, Paul says. Do you want to please your parents? As kids, you want to please your parents, right? If you're a child of God, you want to please God? Yes.
54:25
You want to please him? Is it because of fear of punishment? Maybe. For a while but let's hope you grow out of that. We make it our aim whether being at home or being away to be well pleasing to him.
54:43
Indeed, we must all, Christians, we all must stand and appear before the Bema of Christ. In order that each one might receive the things and the things are not necessarily the things that we have done. It says, we might receive the things that were accomplished by God because Paul says, repeatedly, one particular, very graphic example. He says, even the most righteous things that we do are like filthy rags. So, anything good that is accomplished in us is accomplished through us.
55:12
God is accomplishing the things through us. I've said before that rather than having our having our gumption in gear and going forward and charging the hill, maybe we ought to be in neutral. Allowing God to move us along. Recognizing that he is the one that motivates. He's the one that moves.
55:33
In order that each one might receive and I should say, for the things accomplished by God through this body according to what he did. That did is an heiress past tense. It means there will be a time when this is cut off. Whatever is done on this side makes a difference. He'll receive for the things accomplished by God through his body according to what he did whether they're valuable, honorable for the kingdom, or worthless.
56:03
Now, let me go to this honorable for the kingdom again. Paul was constantly saying to them and to others, he was saying, so that many may hear and accept, so that many may hear. I've thoroughly covered everywhere that I've been with the gospel. He's saying that because he really wanted to put that very real invitation out there for people to accept or reject. Either way, he wanted them to hear it so they'd have the chance to accept or reject.
56:27
And whatever things are valuable, honorable for the kingdom, those are the things that this judge is going to be rewarding. And then the other stuff just worthless. I heard somebody say, like mowing the grass. It's great. Don't do anything for the kingdom necessarily, but, you know, it's worthless.
56:48
It's definitely not that though. Okay? It's definitely not the stick. He's not threatening punishment because this is for Christians and he will remember their sins no more. That makes sense.
57:01
You don't sit under the threat of punishment. If you're a believer and you put your faith in Christ, it's not that. You're not going to have to stand up and report what you did wrong. Naked in front of everybody. He's saying you're going to be from clothed this way to clothed that way.
57:21
Now, first Corinthians three speaks of this. It talks about building with gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and stubble. It's the same exact kind of thing and it does say that if we are there and we have built most of our lives with wood, hay, and stubble, things that are worthless. We will suffer loss. It says that.
57:45
But the loss that we suffer is for not having more gold, silver, and precious stones. Do you get that? It's still not coming out the way I want it to. Imma stay up here till it does. Whatever you pour into other people, whenever you present the gospel to other people, they have the chance to accept it.
58:07
That's gold, silver, precious stones. The worthless things, wood, hay, and stubble are just everything else. And a lot of times we occupy ourselves with wood, hay, and stubble. I think we'd all have to admit that, right? So it is a motivation, but I won't say it's pie in the sky by and by or we smack you with something.
58:29
I don't think that that does it. So, the Bema judgment is for Christians. This is the takeaway slide, Carl. Y'all can prepare yourselves and come on up if you want to. The Bema judgment is for Christians.
58:40
Christ will not be judging or punishing sin there. He will not be embarrassing believers there. He will be honoring things done for the advance of his kingdom here. In a sporting contest, when they get to the end, they get, they gave them a robe and a crown. How many time does he use that?
59:01
I want a a robe and a crown. But it's for the things that are it's for the things that are done for the kingdom advance. So, I'd say, let's join Paul in his confident kingdom work. He knows he's got a home in heaven for sure and he knows that he should be working so that other people can say the same thing but it's all about the glory of God and not about the fear of man, not about the fear of punishment. So, there we are.
59:29
Would you all stand with us and we'll sing. I think we're going to sing I'll Fly Away. Is that what we're singing?
59:34
I think so.
59:35
Alright, good. What kind of treading on the first five verses then? Amen. Now, for that for that whole sermon and that one last week and the one before that, Paul gets out of this this way. So, knowing all of that, therefore, having the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.
1:02:45
We believe this and the good for good sake and the good for the other is to tell em about it. Does that make sense? No one therefore, the fear of the Lord, we persuade men but we are well known to God. I've got this confidence. We're well known to God and I also trust that we're well known in your consciences.
1:03:01
So, would you go and endear yourself for God's sake really to other people this week. Serve them as best you can. In Jesus name, amen.
