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Philippians 1:3-11 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Good morning. Open up your Bibles to Philippians.
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So obviously me preaching this morning was a backup for Nathan.
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! So I'm sorry, college students.
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This will be probably the third time you've heard me in the span of a week.
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But when he asked me, I didn't really have too much hesitation.
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And the reason is, at our elder meeting last month, or beginning of this month, excuse me,
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we were all talking about how Philippians is such a warm and familiar letter.
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And it feels like going back to an old friend when you open it.
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We started this church a long time ago by preaching through Philippians.
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And so it's a very familiar and warm text to go to.
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So it wasn't like picking into some obscure text in Scripture.
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It was like, oh, Philippians, yes, we got that.
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And the joy that is a theme in Philippians, we thought would be especially applicable during our time, during our day,
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when so much seems to be focused on the brokenness of the world.
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And so much so that it can bring great sorrow to us.
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And all of us that are in Christ know that he gives us a joy that is not of this world.
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And we can have that by having Christ in our lives.
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So we just started Philippians last week.
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So if you're new on the scene, you haven't missed too much.
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But we're only going to pick up in verse 3 today.
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But let's just begin by backing up.
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There's only two verses ahead of this.
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Our text today is going to be 3 through 11.
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But starting in chapter 1, we read,
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I thank you, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi,
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with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I thank my God in all remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine,
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for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
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And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.
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It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart.
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For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel.
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For God is my witness, how I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus.
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And that is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.
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With the knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent.
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And so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
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Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.
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To the glory and praise of God.
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Join me in prayer again.
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Lord, we just submit this time to you this morning.
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Pray that you would speak to us through your word and by your Holy Spirit.
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Challenge, build up, have your way with us this morning.
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May your word be exalted and may we leave here not just being hearers, but doers of your word.
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We ask that in Christ's name.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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So, as we talked about, I love Philippians because there's a lot of cool history just in the idea of Philippi and the Roman Empire.
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But I'll spare you all that this morning.
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But you ought to go online and look up some of the cool pictures of Philippi.
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It actually was named after Philip of Macedon, which is Alexander the Great's father.
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And it was called the mini-Rome.
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It really was like taking the city of Rome and just making a miniature version of it almost.
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But it had an amphitheater, an acropolis.
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It had a forum for shopping and all that.
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So it was like a mini-Rome.
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And it was settled by many Roman legionaries who were discharged from service after the Battle of Actium,
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which is where Augustus Caesar defeated Anthony and baby cakes Cleopatra in 31 B.C.
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So it was largely a Macedonian population and had a small Jewish population.
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So that's the context.
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But the occasion is Paul is writing from his imprisonment, as we see in our text, in Rome.
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And Paul probably had much worse imprisonments than this one.
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More than likely, according to the end of Acts, Acts 28, it was either some form of house arrest
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or he had some form of a suitable jail cell because he was a Roman citizen.
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He had his own quarters and he was allowed people could come and go as they pleased to talk to him.
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And so he said that he shared the gospel unhindered at the end of the book of Acts.
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So this is his first imprisonment in Rome, not his second one.
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And even Paul mentions that he feels confident that he'll be released from this imprisonment.
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He says that in chapter 1, verse 13, and then later on in chapter 4, verse 22.
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But he was awaiting trial, hopefully, to be heard by the emperor,
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which would have been Nero at the time, but more than likely.
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He actually probably wasn't heard, but he was acquitted.
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And I could go through all the arguments for why I believe that.
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But we can go to the purpose of the letter.
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And the letter has a lot of purposes, but I would say the mood or the tone of Paul's letter,
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again, is like warm, affectionate, casual, informal.
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And it was a type of ancient letter called a letter of friendship.
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And he's celebrating his longstanding partnership with the Philippian believers.
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And that word partnership in our text today is the Greek word koinonia.
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I know a lot of us are aware of that word.
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But it's a divinely intimate, holy fellowship, unity among believers with each other,
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but also that unity that exists with Christ.
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So our unity with Christ, when we become one with him, and by faith, we become one with each other.
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We become a part of the same body as believers.
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And we're participating together in the grace of our salvation in him.
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So it's a heartfelt letter celebrating their common joy in Christ and God's genuine work in them as a church.
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You know, in ministry, there's a lot of different people that you get concerned about,
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that you always feel like you have to kind of watch.
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And then there's those that are always just like refreshing when you're around them.
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And they build you up when you're around them.
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And you feel like you can just kind of let your guard down and just be yourself.
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And that's kind of how Paul, I think, really felt with the Philippian church.
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And so we can begin looking at verse 3, just a little introduction here.
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There's going to be a specific focus of our time, but I don't want to skip over the rest of it.
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But in verse 3, Paul says,
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My God, I thank my God.
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So his first phrase here is this personal intimate relationship with Christ.
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And why is that important?
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Luther said a long time ago that Christianity is a matter of personal pronouns.
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And if we can't confess that truly, then something is wrong in our relationship with Christ.
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So he is my God.
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Remember when Jesus said, after he rose from the dead,
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he said to the disciples,
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I'm ascending to my Father and your Father,
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my God and your God.
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And so this is all about knowing Christ.
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And we only belong to each other through Christ.
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But I want to point out just briefly, by way of introduction,
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three indications of genuine Christian love.
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Maybe how do I even practice koinonia?
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Three indications of genuine Christian love.
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And the first one is,
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Paul has them on his mind.
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So if you see verse 3,
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I thank God in all remembrance of you.
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So we are to think about one another.
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We're to ponder one another.
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We're to bring each other to mind
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and seek the good and welfare of one another as believers.
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So we have a lot of different ways to remind ourselves
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of all the people that we're surrounded with in the body.
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But Paul has them on his mind.
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So that's one way.
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We have to think about them.
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And sometimes we need help being reminded.
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But he remembers them.
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So that's the first one.
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Secondly, he has them in his heart.
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You can see that in verse 7.
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It is right for me to feel this way about you
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because I hold you in my heart.
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Then verse 8.
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For God is my witness how I yearn for you
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with all the affection of Christ.
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So Christ gives his people a deep, real, ardent love,
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not just for him but for one another.
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It's impossible to say I love Christ but I hate his church
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or I dislike his church.
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And we belong to one another.
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And that love, hatred is evidence of blindness to the light.
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But love is evidence that sight has been given to the blind.
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Like we love one another because of what Christ has done for us.
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Indeed, he said, all the world will know that you are my disciples
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by your love for one another.
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And it sounds kind of far-fetched.
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Like we can't really reciprocate that kind of love.
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It sounds impossible.
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No, you can't reciprocate it on your own.
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This is the miracle that comes from being born again by the Spirit of God.
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He gives us his love so that we may love one another.
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It's empowered by the Holy Spirit so that we can love as Christ has loved.
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So, he has them on his mind.
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He has them in his heart.
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And then lastly and thirdly, he has them in his prayers.
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So verse 4,
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Always in every prayer of mine,
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for you are making all my prayer with joy.
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And then look at verse 9.
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It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more
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with all knowledge and discernment.
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And so, we don't just think about one another.
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We don't just have feelings for one another.
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But that should lead us to prayer for one another.
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And I know that it's a habit of many people,
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and I'll put myself in that category,
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to kind of pass by and sort of say,
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Hey, I'll pray for you.
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I'm going to pray for that.
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And it's a verse in 1 Samuel 12.
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The nation of Israel is pleading with Samuel as a prophet to intercede for them
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on their behalf to God.
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And Samuel says this,
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and it's just convicting.
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He says,
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Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.
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Let's connect that together.
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So, it's a sinful response for us to not pray for one another,
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to cease to pray for one another.
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And, that's verse 1 Samuel 12, 23, if you want to look that up.
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But, we have each other in our minds.
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We're remembering each other in our hearts.
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And He has them in His prayers.
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So, those are three ways that we can practice genuine Christian love and fellowship among one another.
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But, the main focus of the message today, I wanted to get particularly to verse 6.
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And, because I know that many of us are very tired and weary a lot of the time.
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Even though we've been saved by God, and we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus,
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the fullness of that salvation still isn't fully realized.
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And, even as followers of Christ, we face the devastating effects of sin in our lives,
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and we see it in the world around us.
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We hear Christ calling us to follow Him, to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross and follow Him,
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and to love Him, love our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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But, somehow, we just never arise to the totality of that in this life.
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And, we lose sight of the gospel promises.
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It's easy for us to get weighed down by our own sin and the brokenness in the world around us.
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And, a lot of us, including myself to some degree,
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have a tendency to focus more on our lacking imperfections,
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the things that the remaining sin in our lives,
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rather than rejoice at what God has done.
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And, so, we fall into a lot of the same sins, temptations, and it grieves us.
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We kind of cry out, how long, O Lord, must we endure this?
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And, I'm sure all of us have had seasons like that,
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where we just wonder, are we going to make it?
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Because it's so tiring.
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I'm so overwhelmed.
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I mean, I get overwhelmed by looking in the brokenness in the world,
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and being like, I'm just one guy.
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There's nothing I can really do to help.
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And, weariness of ministry.
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And, due to my own sin and shortcomings, insufficiencies,
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I can feel just helpless to even continue on the mission.
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And, just beg Christ to come back and end it.
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There's even times, you know, that I've sympathized a little bit with Elijah,
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when he said, Lord, take my life from me, because I'm no better than my father's.
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I've felt that way before.
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Where he said, I'm not going to take my own life,
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but Lord, if you would take it, I would appreciate it.
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We've all been there, or some of us have been there to that point.
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And, we just feel like we can't go on, we won't survive.
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But, God is faithful to us.
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And, I wanted to read this one short quote to you.
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But, a Puritan writer, John Flavel,
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this is something that has meant a lot to me over the years, this statement.
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He says,
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And, the main focus of the message today is to look at three different points
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to help Paul's joy relate to us,
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to have the same joy he had for our weary souls.
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And, it's a focus on God's persevering work in our salvation.
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We, in Christ, are kept by God's power.
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We will persevere.
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We will continue to fight on,
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even until the end, until we die,
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and go home to be the Lord until Christ returns.
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He's going to preserve us, and keep us.
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And, that gives us strength to keep going.
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And, so, we're going to talk about this in terms of tenses,
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like past, present, future.
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But, number one,
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God started a good work in us.
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That's the past tense.
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So, look at verse 5.
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He says,
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Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
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And then look at verse 6.
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For I am sure of this,
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that he who began a good work.
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So, from the first day,
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when he started the good work,
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is the past tense.
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Now, I want you to think,
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when you came to know the Lord,
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what happened?
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What were the events leading up to that?
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Was it a season of time,
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or was it more of a moment?
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And, what happened?
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Did we just all of a sudden wise up,
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and decided to turn over a new leaf,
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and live better lives,
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and be good Christians,
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and, you know,
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be moral people?
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The truth is, no.
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Scripture does not teach that
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about our former state
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before we were in Christ.
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It says that
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we were dead in our trespasses and sin.
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It says that we were under
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the power and influence
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of Satan.
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It says that we followed
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the strong current of this world,
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and that we were slaves
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to the fallen passions of our flesh,
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being defiant and disobedient to God.
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It's a situation that's helpless.
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Nothing we could even do about it.
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But this is all in Ephesians 2.
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But, Ephesians 2, verse 4,
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there's a change.
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It talks about our lost state.
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But then it says,
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but God, being rich,
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and mercy,
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because of the great love
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with which He loved us,
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not that we loved Him,
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that He loved us,
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even when we were dead
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in our trespasses,
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made us alive together with Christ.
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By grace, you have been saved.
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So our spiritual life began
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by God's sovereign initiating grace.
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In 1 John,
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this is mentioned a lot,
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1 John 4, verse 10,
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and this is love,
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not that we had loved God,
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but that He had loved us
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and sent His Son
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to be a propitiation
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for our sins.
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And in verse 19 of chapter 4,
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we love because He first loved us.
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So if you look back in your life,
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you'll see God working
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in His providence
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through different people,
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different circumstances
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to bring you to faith.
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You'll see Him
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underneath everything
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going on.
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And He wasn't
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just kind of standing idly by.
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He was hunting you down.
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He was pursuing you.
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And we should be grateful for that
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because of His great mercy
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for which He loved us.
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So God started a good work,
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past tense.
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Second point,
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God is continuing
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a good work in us.
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So, present tense.
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Look at verse 5.
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Because of your partnership
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in the gospel
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from the first day until now.
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Verse 7.
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It is right for me
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to feel this way about you
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because I hold you in my heart
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for we are all
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partakers
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with me of grace.
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Look at verse 11.
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They would be filled
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with the fruit of righteousness
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that comes through
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Jesus Christ.
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So He's pointing out
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present evidences
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of grace in them.
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Like God is working
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in you right now.
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We are actively participating
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in the grace of God
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together.
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So, firstly,
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He points out
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their financial support
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that they gave Him.
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And to advance the gospel,
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the partnership
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is synonymous
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with almsgiving
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and contributions,
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heartfelt,
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sympathetic cooperation.
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And it had been
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a while since
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their last donation.
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I think it might have
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been 10 years.
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But they finally,
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but only because
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they lacked the opportunity
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to help Paul financially.
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But they found a way
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and they gave to him.
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They also sent
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a papertitis
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to deliver the money
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to Paul
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and to care for him
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personally.
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because being in prison,
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as I guess today too,
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is a shameful thing
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in the ancient world.
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But they wanted
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to stand by him
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and support him
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regardless of that shame.
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They really wanted
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to care for his well-being.
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And they wanted
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to support Paul
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in his defense
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and confirmation
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of the gospel
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where he was declaring
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the good news,
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seeking to persuade others,
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pleading with others
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to see the salvation
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that's in Christ.
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So he expressed that
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presently active,
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partakers of Christ.
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So,
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all resorting
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to the glory
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and praise of God.
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So flip over
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to chapter 2
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really quickly.
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Philippians 2.
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I just want to read
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a couple verses here.
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It isn't just,
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I used to have
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this wrong mentality
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a lot of my life
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that was
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God started this,
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God did his part.
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He saved you.
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Now you've got to do your part.
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Go.
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And,
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like this sort of cooperation
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where I'm going to
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finish the job.
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And Paul's words
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in Galatians is,
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are you foolish?
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Have you,
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now having begun
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by the Spirit,
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are you now being
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perfected by the flesh?
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And that was convicting.
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But in
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Philippians 2,
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verse 12,
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it says,
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therefore,
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my beloved,
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as you have
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always obeyed,
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so now,
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not only in my presence,
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but much more
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in my absence,
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work out your salvation
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with fear and tripling.
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So,
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verse 13,
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look at the present tense,
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for it is God
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who works in you,
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both to will
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and to work
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for his good pleasure.
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So not
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save yourself,
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justify yourself,
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adopt yourself,
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make yourself
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acceptable
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to God,
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but
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bring to completion,
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carry out,
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in light of what God
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has done in you,
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continue to press
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into that,
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good old charismatic work,
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press into that,
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in the fullness
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of who you actually are
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in Christ.
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He has done this work
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in you.
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That's who you are.
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You've been made
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a new creation.
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You've been given
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a new identity.
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It's who you are,
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so now be who you are.
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Don't,
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God has done the work,
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right?
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And so,
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it's this mystery
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of sanctification
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where it's our responsibility
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to work,
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labor,
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toil,
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struggle,
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but somehow,
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God's,
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it's not by our own strength,
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but God's strength
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that works powerfully
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within us.
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Write down
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Colossians 1,
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29 for that.
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But,
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what fuels us
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is the grace of God.
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And,
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there was a pastor,
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I really respect
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the good old
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Presbyterian brother,
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but he also likes history,
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so that's how I got
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connected to him.
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His name is Harry Reader.
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This old guy.
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I don't know how old
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he is now.
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He must be close to 80.
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But,
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he wrote
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this about,
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like,
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the active work
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of God
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in our lives.
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He says,
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when I was 16,
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my father bought me
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a car
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at an auction
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for $75.
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It was a pink
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57 Ford,
24:16
which dad insisted
24:17
was coral.
24:18
I couldn't drive
24:20
a pink car
24:20
to school.
24:21
I then heard
24:22
the words that,
24:24
in the not too distant future,
24:25
my children would say,
24:27
son,
24:27
a poor ride
24:28
is better
24:29
than a proud walk.
24:31
He just said,
24:32
that's probably
24:34
in the Bible somewhere,
24:36
a poor ride
24:36
is better
24:37
than a proud walk.
24:38
So then he says,
24:39
then dad opened
24:40
the hood
24:41
and to my surprise,
24:43
underneath
24:43
was a 390 engine
24:46
with two
24:47
four-barrel
24:48
carburetors.
24:49
The car
24:50
had been
24:51
a South Carolina
24:52
state interceptor,
24:54
a highway patrol car.
24:56
Nothing
24:56
had more power
24:57
under the hood.
24:59
Space
24:59
and conviction
25:00
prevents me
25:02
from detailing
25:02
all the surprise
25:03
that I gave
25:04
to Corvettes
25:05
on the highway
25:06
because he would
25:07
pull up beside him
25:07
and rev his engine
25:09
and he would
25:09
just like
25:10
beat him.
25:11
So he said,
25:13
my pink
25:15
57 Ford
25:16
didn't really
25:18
look like much
25:19
on the outside
25:19
but there was
25:20
power under
25:21
the hood.
25:23
And
25:23
same way,
25:25
we don't look
25:26
like a lot
25:26
at all
25:27
on the outside
25:29
but because
25:29
of the work
25:30
of Christ
25:30
in us,
25:31
the regenerating
25:32
power of his
25:33
spirit,
25:33
there is power
25:34
under the hood.
25:35
thirdly
25:38
and lastly,
25:40
so
25:40
the past,
25:41
present,
25:42
future
25:42
is God
25:44
will finish
25:44
the good work
25:45
in us.
25:46
Future tense.
25:47
Verse 6,
25:48
I am sure
25:49
of this,
25:49
I am confident
25:50
of this,
25:52
I am certain
25:52
that he
25:54
who began
25:55
a good work
25:55
in you
25:56
will bring it
25:56
to completion
25:58
as a day
25:58
of Christ Jesus.
25:59
so,
26:02
it isn't just
26:02
God started it
26:03
and now he's
26:04
backing away,
26:04
he's going to
26:05
finish it,
26:05
he's confident,
26:07
he is sure
26:08
of this
26:08
and
26:10
we have a
26:11
promise given
26:11
to us
26:12
as believers
26:13
in Christ
26:14
even though
26:15
we suffer
26:16
greatly in
26:17
this life.
26:18
Jesus said
26:19
again,
26:20
familiar verse
26:21
John 10,
26:22
my sheep
26:23
hear my voice,
26:24
I know them
26:24
and they follow
26:25
me.
26:26
I give them
26:27
eternal life
26:28
and they will
26:29
never perish
26:30
and no one
26:31
will snatch
26:32
them out of
26:32
my hand.
26:34
My father
26:34
who has given
26:35
them to me
26:36
is greater
26:36
than all
26:37
and no one
26:39
is able
26:40
to snatch
26:41
them out
26:41
of my father's
26:42
hand.
26:43
I and the
26:45
father are
26:46
one.
26:48
Imagine you
26:49
got a chance
26:50
to go on
26:50
a dream
26:50
vacation,
26:51
you saved
26:52
for it,
26:52
you planned
26:52
on it,
26:53
and you
26:54
finally flew
26:55
to your
26:56
desired
26:56
destination
26:57
and
26:58
the airport
27:00
was far
27:00
away from
27:01
where you
27:01
wanted to
27:01
go and
27:03
a taxi
27:04
came up
27:04
and said
27:04
hey,
27:05
ten bucks
27:05
to get
27:06
to your
27:06
destination
27:07
and what
27:08
if one
27:09
of you
27:09
just said
27:09
that's
27:10
absurd,
27:10
I'm not
27:11
paying
27:11
ten dollars
27:12
to get
27:12
to go
27:13
there
27:13
and your
27:15
spouse,
27:17
probably your
27:18
wife would
27:18
say that's
27:19
crazy,
27:20
we've come
27:20
all this
27:21
way,
27:22
ten more
27:22
dollars is
27:23
no big
27:23
deal to
27:24
get where
27:24
we want
27:25
to go,
27:26
right?
27:26
very
27:28
similarly,
27:29
do you
27:29
really
27:30
think
27:30
that
27:31
God
27:32
the
27:32
Father
27:32
would
27:34
watch
27:34
his
27:34
son
27:35
go
27:35
through
27:36
what
27:36
he
27:36
went
27:36
through
27:37
for no
27:39
reason?
27:41
Do you
27:41
really
27:41
think
27:42
that
27:42
it was
27:43
to bring
27:44
about
27:44
some
27:44
potential
27:45
I hope
27:46
this will
27:47
work?
27:48
Is the
27:49
son saying
27:51
I died
27:51
for these
27:52
people,
27:52
but the
27:54
father saying
27:54
well I
27:55
just hope
27:56
that some
27:56
of them
27:57
take
27:58
advantage
27:58
of it.
28:00
None of
28:00
us would
28:01
allow a
28:01
loved one
28:02
to suffer
28:02
in vain,
28:03
especially
28:04
the way
28:04
that Christ
28:05
did.
28:06
Christ
28:06
is going
28:07
to see
28:08
the work
28:09
through.
28:10
His blood
28:11
will not
28:11
be shed
28:12
in vain.
28:13
He's going
28:13
to continue
28:14
the good
28:15
work that
28:15
he started
28:16
in us.
28:17
God
28:17
has a
28:18
great
28:18
desire
28:19
to finish
28:19
what he
28:20
started.
28:21
If you
28:21
go to a
28:22
lot of
28:22
different
28:22
shops
28:23
throughout the
28:23
world,
28:23
like a
28:24
wood shop
28:24
for example,
28:25
you'll find
28:26
some cool
28:26
pieces of
28:27
furniture,
28:27
chairs,
28:28
shelves,
28:29
you might
28:29
find some
28:30
things laying
28:30
there that
28:31
are unfinished.
28:32
I've got
28:33
several of
28:33
those.
28:35
And it's
28:35
either because
28:36
they lacked
28:37
the desire
28:37
to finish,
28:39
they ran
28:39
out of
28:39
resources,
28:41
and so
28:42
they didn't
28:42
get to
28:42
finish the
28:43
job.
28:43
But God
28:44
is not
28:44
the same
28:45
way.
28:46
God
28:46
doesn't
28:46
lack
28:47
the ability
28:48
or the
28:49
desire to
28:49
finish
28:50
what he
28:50
started.
28:51
And he
28:52
will finish
28:53
it.
28:53
So,
28:55
that's
28:55
something for
28:56
us to
28:56
take comfort
28:57
in.
28:57
He's going
28:58
to accomplish
28:59
it.
29:01
Look at,
29:02
this is in
29:02
closing,
29:03
look at
29:03
Psalm 138.
29:11
Psalm 138,
29:12
verse 6.
29:14
Psalm 138,
29:14
verse 6.
29:14
For though the
29:39
Lord is
29:40
high,
29:41
he regards
29:43
the lowly,
29:44
but the
29:45
haughty he
29:46
knows from
29:47
afar.
29:48
And though I
29:49
walk in the
29:50
midst of
29:50
trouble,
29:51
you preserve
29:52
my life.
29:53
See the
29:54
connections?
29:55
You stretch
29:55
out your
29:56
hand against
29:57
the wrath
29:57
of my
29:58
enemies,
29:59
and your
30:00
right hand
30:00
delivers me.
30:04
Mark this,
30:04
the Lord
30:06
will fulfill
30:07
his purpose
30:08
for me.
30:10
Your
30:10
steadfast love,
30:11
O Lord,
30:12
endures forever.
30:14
Do not
30:15
forsake the
30:16
work of
30:16
your hands.
30:18
Join me in
30:19
prayer.
30:20
Do not
30:21
not