Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Live for Jesus, Not Yourself" by Hiram Kemp

Transcript

"Live for Jesus, Not Yourself" by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

• 0:00
  leave you with a quick devotional thought
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  that will encourage us as we go throughout our week.
• 0:03
  They say domestic cats are the most selfish animals
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  in all the world.
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  And if you have a cat, maybe you know that's true.
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  It says that, research says they're not pack animals.
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  They tend to roam alone.
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  They don't seek approval like dogs naturally do.
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  They're just fine as they are.
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  They seek affection, but only when it's instigated by them.
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  And second place to domestic cats would be cuckoo birds.
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  They are what scientists call a perfect example
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  of the strategy of selfishness.
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  They lay their eggs in other birds' nests.
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  When their chicks hatch, they push out the other bird's
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  chicks and make a home for themselves.
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  The birds that initially laid the eggs there
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  eventually go on and live their own lives
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  and leave other birds to take care of their own.
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  Scientists struggle to call what these animals do selfishness.
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  They say that it's merely their survival,
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  that animals aren't capable of what humans are
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  as it relates to what's known as moral selfishness.
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  They say these animals, cats, and cuckoo birds
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  are simply doing this because if they don't,
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  they won't survive, they'll die.
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  When you open up the New Testament,
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  Jesus says if your life and my life
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  is dominated by selfishness, we won't live.
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  He says, if any man will come after me,
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  let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,
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  Mark chapter eight and verse 34.
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  Whoever will save his life will lose it.
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  Whoever loses his life for my sake,
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  that's how you find it, Luke nine and verse 24.
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  Whoever will be chief among you must be slave of all,
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  Matthew chapter 20 and verse 27.
• 1:32
  I'm sure you remember our congregational theme this year
• 1:35
  is shining our light through Christian service.
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  I think it's a great theme and it's based on the verse
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  that Caden read for us a moment ago
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  from Mark 10, 42 through 45, but it's possible
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  for people that are Bible-believing and church-attending
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  to make Christianity just one more accessory,
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  just one more thing that we do,
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  and in the end, our Christianity can ultimately
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  be something that we manipulate to elevate ourselves.
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  What I wanna say tonight before we extend the invitation
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  is a few things that hopefully will help us
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  to live for Jesus instead of ourselves,
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  because it's tempting to use Christianity, really,
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  to make it all about us, and if you know anything
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  about Christianity, this one thing is true.
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  If you're gonna do Christianity right,
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  it can't be about you.
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  At the heart of Christianity,
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  what it means is to live for Jesus,
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  and this is how we can do it,
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  live for Jesus instead of ourselves.
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  Number one, if you're gonna live for Jesus,
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  you gotta look at Jesus more than you look at yourself.
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  Hebrews chapter 12 in verse two,
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  the Hebrew writer says, looking unto Jesus,
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  the author and the finisher of our faith.
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  In Hebrews chapter two in verse nine,
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  he says this earlier, but we see Jesus.
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  John would say, behold, the Lamb of God,
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  who takes away the sin of the world.
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  John one in verse 29, Paul taught the Corinthians
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  in 2 Corinthians chapter four in verse six
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  that God has shown a light into our hearts
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  so that we can see the glory of God,
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  which is only visible in the face of Jesus Christ.
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  If you wanna live for Jesus rather than yourself,
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  you've gotta look at Jesus more than you look at yourself.
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  The Bible is always trying to tell us
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  to direct our gaze upward, but everything the devil does
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  is to try to get us to direct our gaze downward.
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  We look at ourselves and we say,
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  I'm so sinful, he'll never have me.
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  The road to faithfulness is so long, I'll never make it.
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  My sins cling so tightly, I'll never be free,
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  but he's a mightier savior than we are sinners,
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  Hebrews chapter seven in verse 25.
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  Or maybe we look at it the other way around
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  and we look at ourselves and we say,
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  look at how many prayers I've prayed,
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  how many verses I know, how many Bible connections I've made,
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  how many great deeds I've done.
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  If you're gonna live for Jesus though, rather than yourself,
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  you've gotta start looking more at what he's done for you
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  than what you've done for him.
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  2 Corinthians eight in verse nine, Paul says,
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  you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
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  that though he was rich, yet for your sake,
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  he became poor so that you,
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  through his poverty, might be made rich.
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  Robert Murray McShane is right when he says,
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  for every look at yourself, take 10 looks at Christ.
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  Because in the end, it's not so much about our sin,
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  but about his salvation.
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  It's not so much about our weakness, but his strength.
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  It's not our blood, sweat, and tears
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  that ultimately leads to our salvation,
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  our blood, sweat, and tears for him, but his for us.
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  And it's not so much your hold on him,
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  but his hold on you, Philippians chapter three in verse 12.
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  If you're gonna live for Jesus, rather than yourself,
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  you've gotta look at Jesus more than you look at yourself.
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  Because in the end,
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  the one that we spend our lives looking at
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  is the one we spend our lives living for.
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  In Philippians 3 20, Paul says,
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  set your mind on our citizenship, which is in heaven,
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  from which we hope to see our savior.
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  But quickly, here's number two,
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  take a genuine interest in other people.
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  If you wanna live for Jesus rather than yourself,
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  take a genuine interest in other people.
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  Paul said about Timothy in Philippians 2 in verse 20,
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  I'm gonna send Timothy to you
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  because he naturally is concerned about your welfare,
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  and I don't have anybody else like that.
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  Everybody else is concerned about their own affairs,
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  Philippians 2 in verse 21.
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  But living for Jesus means you take a true
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  and genuine interest in other people.
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  That means instead of going home every night
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  and thinking to yourself as you sit up and rehearse the day,
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  all the things you said,
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  and maybe how dumb they made you feel,
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  or maybe what you had on or how people saw you,
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  start thinking about other people and their spiritual state
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  and how you can bring them closer to God,
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  1 Timothy 2 in verse four.
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  Think about other people's struggles
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  and how you can come alongside other people
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  that are suffering and help them to bear their load,
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  2 Corinthians 10 verses three through five.
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  Instead of thinking about all the people who failed you
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  and who haven't been the kind of friend to you
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  that you so desperately need and desire,
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  extend yourself and be that for another,
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  2 Corinthians 12 in verse 15.
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  If you're gonna live for Jesus, instead of yourself,
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  you've gotta take a genuine and true,
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  thorough interest in other people.
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  You already know yourself.
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  Spend your life getting to know somebody else.
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  And there's a right way and a wrong way to do this.
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  Investigators ask questions to figure out who's wrong
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  and who's at fault so that they can place blame.
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  News anchors ask questions
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  so that they can find out information
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  and so that they can spread it and publicize it.
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  They want a story.
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  But waiters and waitresses ask people questions
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  because they wanna know what do you need
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  and how can they serve you?
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  See, Christians, we're not interested in other people
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  so that we can find out how to point fingers and place blame
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  nor do we simply wanna know people's information
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  so that we can spread it.
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  But instead, we are interested so that we can invest.
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  Paul says, now we live if you stand fast in the Lord,
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  1 Thessalonians 3 in verse eight.
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  In 2 Timothy 2.10, he says,
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  I endure all things for the elect's sake
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  because the way to live for Jesus
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  is to be genuinely interested in other people.
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  And here's the last thing tonight.
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  If we're gonna live for Jesus rather than for ourselves,
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  find ways to serve those that Jesus called
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  the least of these.
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  In the judgment scene in Matthew 25 verses 31 through 36,
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  Jesus mentions all these things
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  that individuals had done for other people.
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  And the individuals that did the serving were surprised
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  that Jesus' response and their reward
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  because he tells them in Matthew 25 in verse 40,
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  whatever you've done for the least of these, my brethren,
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  you've done it unto me.
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  And if we're gonna live for Jesus instead of self
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  and be those that shine our light through Christian service,
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  we've gotta find ways to serve the least of these.
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  Contrary to domestic cats and cuckoo birds
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  are these bees, these worker bees.
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  They don't work for themselves.
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  They work for the queen and for the colony.
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  They give themselves over in sacrificial service for another
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  and they even die after they sting other individuals
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  to ultimately protect the hive.
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  And if you're a Christian,
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  that's what our life's supposed to be about.
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  We live our lives intertwined with Jesus
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  and with the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
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  We live our lives in service for other people.
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  We know John 3, 16,
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  for God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
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  But 1 John 3, 16 says, if we love the brethren,
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  we're to lay down our lives for them.
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  Because ultimately we really live for Jesus
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  when it's less about us and more about him.
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  And the more you think about this,
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  Jesus is not asking us to do anything
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  he hasn't already done for us.
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  In Jeremiah 45, it's a short chapter.
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  Jeremiah's talking to his secretary by the name of Baruch
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  and he's giving him a mission
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  and he has to go and record some things
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  and carry out a mission for Jeremiah.
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  And in Jeremiah 45 in verse five, he says to Baruch,
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  do you seek great things for yourself?
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  Seek them not.
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  And I think that's God's message
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  to everybody in the world through scripture.
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  Do you seek great things for yourself?
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  Seek them not.
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  Live your life and pour it out for Jesus Christ.
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  And when all is said and done,
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  he'll give you a new one and it'll last forever.
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  Tonight we're gonna be letting a song
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  of encouragement or invitation.
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  If somebody needs to respond by initially
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  giving their life to Jesus and faithful obedience,
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  realizing that the only reason why we have physical life
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  and the hope of everlasting life
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  is because Jesus poured out his life for us,
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  we'd be happy to assist you in doing that.
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  If you need to obey the gospel tonight,
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  if we can pray with you or pray for you,
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  there's gonna be a song of invitation sung
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  as we stand and sing, let us know how we can help you.