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Your-Smile-Increases-Your-Face-Value · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Someone asked Mother Teresa what the job description was for
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  Speaker 1: what she did. Anyone that wanted to work alongside her,
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  Speaker 1: to do her work with her, She said only two things. First,
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  Speaker 1: a desire to work and to work hard, and second
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  Speaker 1: was a joyful attitude. We appreciate her work and we
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  Speaker 1: have watched it over the years, and the same is
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  Speaker 1: true in any endeavor. Hard work, a diligence that knows
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  Speaker 1: no stopping, a commitment to the end. But with that
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  Speaker 1: a tempering spirit of joy that accompanies that hard work.
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  Speaker 1: I would like to read for you, rather than have
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  Speaker 1: you follow in your copy of the Scriptures, I want
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  Speaker 1: to read from the Living Bible a few sections from
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  Speaker 1: this wonderful book of joy, the Letter of Philippians. And
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  Speaker 1: just have you listen to the recurring theme, how it
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  Speaker 1: keeps coming back to visit with you as you read
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  Speaker 1: through the letter from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: to the pastors and deacons and all the Christians in
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  Speaker 1: the city of PHILIPPI may God bless you all. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: will give each of you his fullest blessings and his
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  Speaker 1: peace in your hearts and your lives. All my prayers
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  Speaker 1: for you are full of praise to God. When I
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  Speaker 1: pray for you, my heart is full of joy because
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  Speaker 1: of all your wonderful help in making known the good
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  Speaker 1: news about Christ, from the time you first heard it
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  Speaker 1: until now. Is there any such thing as Christians cheering
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  Speaker 1: each other up? Do you love me enough to want
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  Speaker 1: to help me? Does it mean anything to you that
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  Speaker 1: we are brothers and sisters and the Lord sharing the
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  Speaker 1: same spirit. Are your hearts tender and sympathetic at all?
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  Speaker 1: Then make me truly happy by loving each other and
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  Speaker 1: agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, working together with one heart
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  Speaker 1: and mind and purpose.
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  Speaker 2: Don't be selfish. Don't live to.
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  Speaker 1: Make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of
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  Speaker 1: others as better than yourself.
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  Speaker 2: Don't just think.
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  Speaker 1: About your own affairs, but be interested in others too,
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  Speaker 1: and in what they are doing. Whatever happens, Dear friends,
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  Speaker 1: be glad in the Lord. I never get tired of
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  Speaker 1: telling you this, and it is good for you to
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  Speaker 1: hear it again and again. And sisters, I love you
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  Speaker 1: and long to see you, for you are my joy
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  Speaker 1: and my reward for my work. My beloved friends, stay
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  Speaker 1: true to the Lord. Always be full of joy in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. And I say it again, rejoice. Let everyone
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  Speaker 1: see that you are unselfish and considerate, and all that
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  Speaker 1: you do remember that the Lord is coming soon. Don't
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  Speaker 1: worry about anything, pray instead about everything. Tell God your needs,
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  Speaker 1: and don't forget to thank Him for his answers. If
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  Speaker 1: you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is
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  Speaker 1: far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His
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  Speaker 1: peace will keep your thoughts and your heart's quiet and
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  Speaker 1: at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. Rather rare
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  Speaker 1: message in our day of bad news and dark messages,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it. And I think we're overdue for a good
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  Speaker 1: dose of joy, not only today but in the weeks
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  Speaker 1: to come. As we study the Letter to the Philippians,
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  Speaker 1: the letter that makes you smile, I know of no
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  Speaker 1: greater need today than the need for joy, And if
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  Speaker 1: you will allow me, I would add to that which
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  Speaker 1: is a byproduct of joy, the presence of enthusiasm for life,
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  Speaker 1: and of course encouragement of one another. If you question
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  Speaker 1: that analysis, just look around, just listen up, read the news,
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  Speaker 1: watch the telecasts. You will find that the morning news
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  Speaker 1: paper as well as the evening newscasts focus almost incessantly.
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  Speaker 2: On bad news.
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  Speaker 1: Ours is a world of long faces and heavy hearts
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  Speaker 1: and no surprise. That seems to be what sells papers.
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  Speaker 1: That seems to be what it is that makes people
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  Speaker 1: switch from channel to channel. I've noticed it even affects
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  Speaker 1: the weather report. You notice that we always hear there's
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  Speaker 1: going to be a twenty percent chance of showers tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: rather than an eighty percent chance of sunshine.
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  Speaker 2: Remarkable, it's going to be partly.
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  Speaker 1: Cloudy rather than mainly clear. Once again, it's the downside
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  Speaker 1: of everything.
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  Speaker 2: Bottom line is.
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  Speaker 1: The uplifting, encouraging, enthusiastic message of life is being eclipsed
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  Speaker 1: by the downside of life. Tragically, this has slipped into
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  Speaker 1: the ranks of the Christians that we are becoming. We
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  Speaker 1: are fast becoming a body of long faced saints. G. K.
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  Speaker 1: Chesterton said it best joy is the greatest joy, is
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  Speaker 1: the gigantic secret of the Christian. For some strange reason,
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  Speaker 1: our joy is fast disappearing. We are all too seldom laughing,
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  Speaker 1: especially in the place where laughter ought to originate, and
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  Speaker 1: that is the place of worship. I mean, this is
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  Speaker 1: the one authentic place where laughter belongs, and yet it
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  Speaker 1: is seldom.
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  Speaker 2: The place where laughter is heard.
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  Speaker 1: I was speaking on that some time ago when I
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  Speaker 1: was up at Moody Bible Institute. In fact, it was
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  Speaker 1: several years ago.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Some of you may recall my reading a letter to
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  Speaker 1: you that a lady that was at the conference wrote me,
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  Speaker 1: and she talked about the importance of a sense of humor.
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  Speaker 2: Great letter, this lady writes.
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  Speaker 1: Humor has done a lot to help me in my
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  Speaker 1: spiritual life. How could I have raised twelve children, starting
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  Speaker 1: at age thirty two.
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  Speaker 2: And not have a sense of humor?
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  Speaker 1: After your talk last night, she said, I was having
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  Speaker 1: fellowship with friends I met here. I told him I
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  Speaker 1: got married at age thirty one. I didn't worry about
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  Speaker 1: getting married.
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  Speaker 2: I did leave my future to God's will.
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  Speaker 1: But every night I hung a pair of men's pants
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  Speaker 1: on the bed and knelt down and prayed this prayer.
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  Speaker 2: Father in Heaven hear my prayer.
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  Speaker 1: And granted, if you can, I've hung a pair of
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  Speaker 1: trousers here, please fill them with a man. That a great,
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  Speaker 1: great letter. Well, I read that the next week when
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  Speaker 1: I got back to the Fullerton Church. It didn't fit
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  Speaker 1: my sermon. I just rammed it in because I thought
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  Speaker 1: it was such a thatch, a great letter. It so
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  Speaker 1: happened that we had, among others, in the worship service
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  Speaker 1: of half a family. The mother was home with a
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  Speaker 1: sick daughter, but the father and older son were at
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  Speaker 1: the church. And I happened to know the family, and
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  Speaker 1: I watched them, and the father just cracked up laughing,
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  Speaker 1: but the boy was rather serious. Interestingly, it was several
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  Speaker 1: weeks later I got a letter from the mother, remember
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  Speaker 1: who hadn't been in the service where I had read
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  Speaker 1: the letter. She said, dear Chuck, I'm wondering if I
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  Speaker 1: have something to worry about. I've noticed that our son,
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  Speaker 1: when he goes to bed at night, has this bikini
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  Speaker 1: hanging over the.
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  Speaker 2: Front of his bad terrific story.
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  Speaker 1: So I had fun writing or I said, you have
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  Speaker 1: nothing to worry about. Just pray that the bikini will
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  Speaker 1: be filled with a man, well a woman before now, guys,
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  Speaker 1: oh man, we are in a world that emphasizes a
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  Speaker 1: sense of responsibility, a sense of duty, a sense of propriety.
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  Speaker 1: How seldom anybody emphasizes a sense of humor.
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  Speaker 2: And yet it is a sense of humor that keeps
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  Speaker 2: you sane.
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  Speaker 1: It is probably a sense of humor that has changed
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  Speaker 1: your home into a hell on earth. Its absence. You're
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  Speaker 1: no longer laughing. Life is no longer fun. The enjoyment
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  Speaker 1: and enthusiasm and upbeat part of.
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  Speaker 2: Life is gone. If a laughter is gone.
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  Speaker 1: I have people write me rather regularly and say you
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  Speaker 1: can stop preaching, but don't stop laughing.
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  Speaker 2: They'll say, yours is the only laughter that comes into
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  Speaker 2: our home. Now, that is tragic.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want my family to remember me as a
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  Speaker 1: long winded, loud mouthed preacher who came down hard on life.
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  Speaker 1: I want them to remember me as somebody who was
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  Speaker 1: fun to be with, somebody who threw their mother in
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  Speaker 1: the pool and lived to tell the story. Throwing her
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  Speaker 1: in the pool is not a big deal. Living to
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  Speaker 1: tell a story is a big deal.
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  Speaker 2: Trust me.
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  Speaker 1: When I was a little boy, the advertisement that was
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  Speaker 1: very famous in magazines was the one that read.
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  Speaker 2: Send me a man who reads.
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  Speaker 1: Remember seeing that when you were a child. I no
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  Speaker 1: longer believe that's the major ad for employment.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, it isn't for me.
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  Speaker 1: Send me one whose attitude is positive, Send me one
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  Speaker 1: whose face shouts yes. It would be great if that
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  Speaker 1: person does read. It would be wonderful if that person
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  Speaker 1: is well educated. It would be delightful if that person
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  Speaker 1: is an individual with compassion and mercy. But send me
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  Speaker 1: one who laughs, Send me one who laughs at life.
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  Speaker 1: Send me one who who hasn't gotten under circumstances and
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  Speaker 1: lives there and exists in the grim reality of how
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  Speaker 1: bad and heavy and hard life is.
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  Speaker 2: No send me one.
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  Speaker 1: Who laughs at hardship. Send me one who finds a
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  Speaker 1: reason to go on. I have a pastor friend who
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  Speaker 1: has the greatest little sign that hangs framed in his office.
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  Speaker 1: It says, you can't beat fun.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't that a great side?
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  Speaker 1: You will not find signs like that in pastors' studies.
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  Speaker 2: Because you usually will not find pastors laughing. How tragic.
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  Speaker 1: One man says, one of the highest of human duties
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  Speaker 1: is the duty of encouragement. It is easy to laugh
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  Speaker 1: at other men's ideals. It is easy to pour cold
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  Speaker 1: water on their enthusiasm. It is easy to discourage others.
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  Speaker 1: The world is full of discouragers. We have a Christian duty.
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  Speaker 2: To encourage one another. Many a time he writes a.
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  Speaker 1: Word of praise or thanks, or appreciation or cheer has
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  Speaker 1: kept a person on his feet. Blessed is the one
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  Speaker 1: who speaks such a word. Show me a believer who
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  Speaker 1: laughs at life. Show me a Christian who regularly takes
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  Speaker 1: life by the throat with a great sense of humor.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll show you a Christian who has no trouble
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  Speaker 1: convincing the people around him or her that Christ can
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  Speaker 1: change a life. As valuable as love, as valuable as knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: as valuable as compassion, all of these things may be.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing is more contagious in life than joy. You are
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  Speaker 1: like a magnet that people can't stay away from when
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  Speaker 1: you have a spirit of enthusiasm and joy. And all
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  Speaker 1: of this brings us to this little letter that has
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  Speaker 1: been preserved in the New Testament, called the Letter to
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  Speaker 1: the Philippians. It's an easy letter to overlook. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: it isn't that long, just one hundred and four verses
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  Speaker 1: in our English Bible. And it's not that challenging. It's
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  Speaker 1: not difficult theologically philosophically, it's one of the simplest.
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  Speaker 2: Of all letters.
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  Speaker 1: One New Testament scholar writes with wisdom, when we read
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  Speaker 1: Paul's letter, we are not reading things which were meant
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  Speaker 1: to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents
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  Speaker 1: written by a friend to his friends. But this is
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  Speaker 1: not to say the Philippians has no enduring quality. This
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  Speaker 1: is certainly not to say that there is no part
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  Speaker 1: of the book that's profound. When have we removed profundity
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  Speaker 1: from simplicity? Why must things be confusing to be called profound?
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  Speaker 1: Here is a profound, simple letter of joy. You know,
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  Speaker 1: the greatest love songs that we sing and love to
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  Speaker 1: hear sung to us were written to one person, and
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't us. But those songs come back with beautiful orchestration,
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  Speaker 1: and they make us want to love a person that
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  Speaker 1: we love, and to fall back into love and to
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  Speaker 1: romance again with that person that we've fallen in love with.
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  Speaker 1: We have simply cashed in on a love song that
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  Speaker 1: was written to someone else. And that's the Philippian Letter.
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  Speaker 1: It's a joy song. It's written, of course, to be understood.
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  Speaker 1: It's certainly written to be read, but if it's not
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  Speaker 1: written to be analyzed. I trained in a school that
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  Speaker 1: taught me to analyze scripture, and I'm grateful for every
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  Speaker 1: hour I spent there. But on occasion I think I
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  Speaker 1: can I can overdo it.
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  Speaker 2: When I come to a love letter or a joy letter.
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  Speaker 1: Like this one, you see, joy is not an equation
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  Speaker 1: to be analyzed. It's an It's an emotion to be expressed.
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  Speaker 1: And just as just as you don't analyze a love song,
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  Speaker 1: you you're not to analyze a letter like this. You're
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy it, apply it, take it personally. I remember
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  Speaker 1: the years I was in the military. Cynthia would write
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  Speaker 1: me when I was overseas and I would get a
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  Speaker 1: love letter from her. Believe me, I didn't analyze the
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  Speaker 1: verbs and compare one adjective with another adjective. The first
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  Speaker 1: thing I did was smell the letter. There was nothing
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  Speaker 1: in the marine barracks. It smell like that letter I
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  Speaker 1: got from home. It was wonderful. And then I would
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  Speaker 1: pore over that letter and I would live that letter,
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  Speaker 1: and I would read that letter, and in my spare time,
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  Speaker 1: I would walk with the Lord through that letter and
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  Speaker 1: I would relive our love and her place.
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  Speaker 2: In my life. It was wonderful, but I never analyzed
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  Speaker 2: it like an equation. It was a letter of love
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  Speaker 2: to encourage me. So it is with Philippians.
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  Speaker 1: So let's get a hold of the letter as a
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  Speaker 1: whole in this message, and then in the days to come,
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  Speaker 1: we want to get into the leaves and the blossoms,
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  Speaker 1: and the bark and the limbs of this forest.
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  Speaker 2: But let's look at the landscape today.
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  Speaker 1: Let's feel the beauty of the Letter of Philippians, and
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  Speaker 1: let's enjoy the color that's here because God gave it
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  Speaker 1: to us as a whole. It's a whole letter that
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  Speaker 1: can be read in less than fifteen minutes, written by
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  Speaker 1: a friend to friends with a lasting joy that continues.
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  Speaker 2: To bring a smile to our faces. I like doing this,
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  Speaker 2: by the way.
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  Speaker 1: I like getting a look at the letter as a
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  Speaker 1: whole before we get into the various parts of it.
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  Speaker 1: If you follow my ministry, you know that before we
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  Speaker 1: get into the book or into the letter, we always
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  Speaker 1: back off and take a look at the whole. I
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  Speaker 1: remember counsel I got from a friend in Texas before
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  Speaker 1: we moved out to California a number of years ago.
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  Speaker 2: He said, let me tell you something you'll thank.
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  Speaker 1: Me for every week for the rest of your life.
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  Speaker 1: He said, when you get there, get a hold of
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  Speaker 1: a big map of the freeway system of Los Angeles,
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  Speaker 1: and you memorize it. If it takes you two hours
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  Speaker 1: sit down at the table and open that map up
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  Speaker 1: and learn the names and the numbers of all the
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  Speaker 1: freeways in Los Angeles.
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  Speaker 2: And he was right.
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  Speaker 1: That has kept me from more false turns. And I've
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  Speaker 1: noticed even when I do get lost, I soon find
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  Speaker 1: out where I am, and I'm able to get back
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  Speaker 1: in touch with the system, rather just focusing only on Fullerton,
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  Speaker 1: that little section of the greater Los.
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  Speaker 2: Angeles area where I live, where we live.
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  Speaker 1: But I know the whole system, and on occasion I'll
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  Speaker 1: come back to the four five, or the Ventura, or
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  Speaker 1: the San Diego or the fifty seven and others that
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  Speaker 1: they have added even since I learned the map years ago,
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  Speaker 1: and I've come back to see the thing as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: It really has helped me, and it helps you when
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  Speaker 1: you get into a book like this.
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  Speaker 2: For example, if we were to give a single.
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  Speaker 1: Word to the Letter of Philippians all four chapters, it
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  Speaker 1: would be the word joy, Just the word joy. It
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  Speaker 1: is not a letter written to answer some deep question.
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  Speaker 1: It's not written to solve some knotty problem. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: you'd be surprised, perhaps as I was, to discover that
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  Speaker 1: no great sin, no particular sin is addressed and dealt
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  Speaker 1: with at length in this letter. More specifically, it is
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  Speaker 1: a letter of.
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  Speaker 2: Laughter at life.
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  Speaker 1: It is a letter that brings joy to the reader
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  Speaker 1: because it comes from a joyful writer. More specifically, let
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  Speaker 1: me sort of travel through chapter by chapter and show
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  Speaker 1: you a section of each of the four that emphasizes
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  Speaker 1: this word that appears almost twenty times in these one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and four verses. Look at verse three of chapter one.
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  Speaker 1: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
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  Speaker 1: always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for
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  Speaker 1: you all. Paul was from the South, and he writes
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  Speaker 1: in verse four that he offers prayer with joy for
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  Speaker 1: you all. When I'm Neil and I remember the Philippians
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  Speaker 1: to whom I ministered some ten years ago, smile comes
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  Speaker 1: to my face, makes me laugh when I think of
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  Speaker 1: your lives and how they have intertwined with mine and
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  Speaker 1: with others. Beak in verse twenty three, Chapter one, I'm
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  Speaker 1: hard pressed from both directions.
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  Speaker 2: People in the South would say, I'm between.
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  Speaker 1: A rock and a hard place. I'm not sure which
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  Speaker 1: I would do. First of all, I have this desire
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  Speaker 1: to depart to be with Christ.
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  Speaker 2: For that's very much better.
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  Speaker 1: Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary
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  Speaker 1: for your sake. I'd love to go home to be
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  Speaker 1: with the Lord. But for your sake, I've been left
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  Speaker 1: on this earth and convinced of this. Look how he
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  Speaker 1: puts it, I know that I shall remain and continue
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  Speaker 1: with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.
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  Speaker 2: There it is again.
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  Speaker 1: One of my purposes for being left on earth is
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  Speaker 1: to spur joy and to stir it up in your life,
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  Speaker 1: and to bring it into your Chapter two, Verse one
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  Speaker 1: begins with the same theme, if there is any encouragement
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  Speaker 1: in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, any
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  Speaker 1: fellowship of the spirit, any affection and compassion, make my
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  Speaker 1: joy complete?
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  Speaker 2: And how do I do that? How do we do that?
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  Speaker 2: How do the Philippians do that?
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  Speaker 1: By being of the same mind, maintaining the same love,
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  Speaker 1: united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Chapter three begins
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  Speaker 1: with the same theme, Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: There it is again, finally, and it's not really finally.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: He's a true preacher, he says finally, but he doesn't
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: really mean it. Finally, my brethren, rejoice, have fun. You
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: can't be fun laugh at life, face it as it is,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: and understand that your past can't be changed and your
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: future can be dealt with. You can only deal with now.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Remember the words out of Psalm sixteen eleven. I will
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: show me the path of life. In Thy presence is
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: fullness of joy at thy right hand, judgment.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: No pleasure forevermore.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I think of God as inhabiting this wonderful moment of now.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Aw Toser put it this way.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: We think of ourselves as inhabiting some parenthetic interval between
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the God who was and.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: The God who will be. But in this ever present.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Now we are lonely, with that ancient and cosmic loneliness.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, my friend, let me encourage you.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Step away from the shame and guilt of the past,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: remove yourself from the fear and worry of the future,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: and focus your attention on the joy.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Of the Lord. Now.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I love the way somebody put it, her name, Helen Malacote.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: It's entitled I Am. I was regretting the past and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: fearing the future. Suddenly my Lord was speaking, My name
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: is I am? He paused, I waited, He continued. When
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: it is hard.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I am not there. My name is not I was.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: When you live in the future with its problems and fears,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: it is hard. I am not there, my name is
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: not I will be.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Ah.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: But when you live in this moment, it is not hard.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I am here.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: My name is I am. Chances good.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: If you live your life under the grim hand of
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: frightened fate, you were focusing on the way you were.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Or on what might be.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: You are not choosing joy through the living Christ now.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: And I want to encourage you to do that. See
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: how he puts it in chapter three, verse one. Rejoice
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: in the Lord now, he said finally, but he didn't
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: really mean it. Look at chapter four, verse four. He
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: says it again, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: will say rejoice. I always think of the children's little chorus,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: You're a little clap you put in there when you
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: sing it in a worship service. You never know whether
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: you ought to clap or not. And you wind up
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: sitting on you hands because you're adult and sophisticated, well clothed,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: and you're sitting around other intelligent people. And if we
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: had a room full of children that would be instantly
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: they would clap.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: They're just kids are like that. Kids really help you laugh.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I was on a plane flying back from Germany not
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: long ago, and a fella sat down by me and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: we had a wonderful visit together. He said, you like
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: a good story, and I said, yeah, I sure do.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: He said, let me tell you a true story that's
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: also a good story.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: It's about a child, he said.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I was ministering to a group of senior citizens and
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: an older lady walked up to me and she said,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: let me tell you what happened to me recently, because
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: he said, I just talked to them about the importance
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: of their attitude. She said, my granddaughter is a very
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: precocious young ten eleven year old child. And she came
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: to me not long ago when I was babysitting her,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: and she said, Grandma, how old are you? And she said, well, honey,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: when you're my age, you don't share your age with
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: just anybody.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Well, she said, Goha, I didn't trust me. How old
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: are you?
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Well she said, well, honey, I'm not going to tell you.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I don't tell anyone my age, even though you're my granddaughter.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: She says, okay, So she said, I noticed that at
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: about twenty minutes past, and she wasn't to be found.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: And I walked upstairs and walked into my bedroom and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: there she was in my purse and she had my
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: driver's license.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: She said. She said, Grandma, you're seventy six. And she said, well,
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: that's right. How did you know that?
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: She said, well, right here, I read the date of
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: your birth and I saw that year, and then I
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: read I thought about this year, and I subtracted.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Then from now, and.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: You're seventy six. Your driver's license also says you made
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: a f in sex.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Is that great or what? I love that story with
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: f in sex? I say, you hear something like that, and.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Kids, in all of their innocence and fun, that just
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: makes shellet. When we get older, we get sophisticated, we
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: get educated beyond our intelligence. We get so sharp and
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: so sophisticated, life darkens.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: And closes in on us, and before we know it,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: we believe that stupid newspaper.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: We believe that newscast, when in fact, if you were
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: there and got the full facts, you would probably see
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: that much of it had been exaggerated, or it was
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: half a story rejoice where in the Lord you can't
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: beat his kind of fun. Verse ten, I rejoiced in
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: the Lord greatly that now at last you have your
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: concerned for me. Indeed you were concerned before, but you
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: lacked a way to show it. You lacked an opportunity.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Is a wonderful letter. Chapter four, Chapter three, Chapter two,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, running over.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: With joy rejoicing.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Who wrote a letter like this? Well back to chapter one,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: verse one, he tells us, don't you love the way
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: they used to write letters? Now you get an eight
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: page letter. The first thing you do is at the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: bottom of page eight, see who wrote it, because that
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: has everything to do with how you read it. In
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: ancient days, they wrote first, the one who wrote the letter,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: So you know right away Paul wrote it. There's no
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: argument even among those scholars that argue over who how
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: many angels dance on the head of a pen.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Not even they.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Argue over who wrote Philippians. It's an accepted fact that
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: it's Paul. And alongside Paul is his long standing friend Timothy.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Both of them bond service not You probably are a
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: tempted to think they were sitting in the riviera sipping
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: tall glass of iced teeth polishing off eighteen out.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Surloins to write a letter of this kind of joy. Wrong.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Look at verse twelve. You're in for a surprise.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel. Now,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: what do you wonder about when you read verse twelve?
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: What are my circumstances? Okay, verse thirteen, So that my
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else, And
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord, because
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: of my imprisonment, have far more courage to the Word
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: of God without fear. The man is imprisoned, he has
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: been taken under arrest. He is in a house arrest
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: that lasts two or more years. He is sitting alongside
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: a Roman guard that rotates regularly from the Praetorian Guard,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: and he sees it as a wonderful opportunity to spread cheer.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: That terrific.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, you would not have expected a guy to
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: write a letter on joy that's chained to a Roman
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: guard unless you thought like Paul. I mean, what a
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: chance to witness captive audience. God can never get away.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I tell him about Christ. He's required to sit here
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: and listen. And it's gone out so that even from
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Caesar's palace you check it on your own.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: The end of chapter four, even.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: From Caesar's they're telling of the glories of Christ. It
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: started in that little house arrest right there in Rome.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty two, Victor and Mildred Gortzel GOE R.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: T z L.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Victor and Mildred Gortzel published a revealing study of four
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen famous and exceptionally gifted people.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Called Cradles.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Of Eminence. They spent years attempting to understand what produced
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: such greatness, what common thread might run through all these
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: outstanding people's lives. Surprisingly, the most outstanding fact, now get this,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: was that virtually all of them, that's three hundred and
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: ninety two out of four hundred and thirteen, had overcome
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: very difficult obstacles in order to become who they were.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: One man named Clyde Read analyzed it quote, one of
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: the most common obstacles to celebrating life fully is our
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: avoidance of pain. We dread pain, we fear pain, We
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: do anything to escape pain. Our culture reinforces our avoidance
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: of pain by assuring us that we can live a
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: painless life. But to live without pain rites Clyde read,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: is to live half alive.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Pain and joy run together.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: When we cut ourselves off from pain, we have unwittingly cut.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: Ourselves off from joy as well.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: As another put it, we don't get a free detour
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: around problems.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: When we become a Christian, we get a guided tour
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: through them. The Great.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: No, he's imprisoned. Well, what kind of people received a
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: letter like this? Well, look back at verse one, chapter one.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: You'll see for yourself, to all the saints in Christ Jesus.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Who are in Philippi.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: If it were happening today and the letter had been
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: written to us, it would say, Paul and Timothy to
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: all the Saints in Christ Jesus who are in Fullerton.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: It's just as real as that Philippi was a Roman colony,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: a little miniature Rome, an outpost that represented the life
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: and life style of Rome.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I'll get into more of that later when we get
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: into the letter.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: But here is a body of people living in Philippi, saints,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: that is, they were born again.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: So this is a letter for people who love Christ Jesus,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: and he includes especially here the overseers and the deacons.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: So it has a message of joy for those who
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: serve in leadership over congregations. One more thought on who
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: received it, what kind of people they were? Chapter four,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: verse fourteen. Scoot over there once again. Four fourteen he says, nevertheless,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: you have done well to share with me in my affliction.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: And you yourselves also know Philippians, that at the first
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: preaching of the Gospel, that means the first time in
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Europe after departing from Macedonia, no church shared with me
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in the matter of giving and receiving, but you alone.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: For even in Thessalonika, you sent a gift more than
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: once for my needs. Not that I seek a gift,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: but I seek for the profit which increases.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: To your account.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: So these are people who are believers living in the
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: colony of Philippi, there in the Kingdom of the Romans,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the the Roman Empire, under the authority of the Emperor.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: But these are born again people who care enough to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: give of their funds to help the Apostle in his
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: ministry abroad. Most of them got this are hardly ten
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: years old. In the Lord, he writes this letter about
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: ten years after he had been there with them. If
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: our dating is correct, he was there in about fifty
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: two fifty three, and he wrote the letter about sixty two,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: so they're not more than ten years old in the Lord,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and already they're giving generous people.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Now, why do you write it. What's the purpose of
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: the letter? Well, you're right here for one of the reasons.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: To thank them, he said, you've shared with me, and
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you that the gift has meant
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: more than I can describe, because you gave when no
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: one else gave.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: So to thank them, that's one of the reasons.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Go back to chapter three, verse two. He wrote to
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: warn them out for the dogs, which is a colloquialism
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: for people who fight against the things of Christ. In
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: those days, dogs were not little, comfortable, clean lap dogs,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: but they ran in packs and they were dangerous, and
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: it was a synonym for people who were after you
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: and your faith, people who were to tear you down.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Beware of the dogs, Beware of evil workers, Beware of
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: those who are of the false circumcision. Across the page,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Chapter three, verse seventeen, Join in following my example and
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: observe those who walk according to the pattern you have
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: in us.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: For there are many.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: Who walk, He warns them, of whom I often told you,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and now tell you weeping. They are enemies of the
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Cross of Christ. Now, one of the reasons I'm glad
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: that that appears in Philippians is because some shadow thinking
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: people who have decided life isn't joyful have made that
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: decision thinking, you lose your discernment.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: If you're joyful, you just love everything.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: You put your arms around, enemies and friends alike. Not so,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: people who are joyful still are discerning.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: He says.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: They are enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose destruction,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: whose God is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: They set their minds on earthly things. He's warning them,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: in all of his joy, He's warning them. One other reason,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: he writes, is to encourage them. Chapter one, verse twenty seven. Again,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: turn back, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: The Gospel of Christ, so that whether.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: I come and see you or remain absent, I may
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: in no way alarmed by your opponents.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: That wonderful message. Three reasons. He wrote the letter to
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: thank them, to warn them, to encourage them.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: By the way, it's a perfect time for me to
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: pause and apply even this.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Some of you have a letter overd you. There's somebody in.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Your frame of reference, someone in your circle of friends
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: or family, who is in need of a letter of thanks,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: a letter of warning, or a letter of encouragement.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: Or two or maybe all three of the above. Write
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: that letter. I am amazed at the power of a letter.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I come across people to whom I have written for
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: some reason, and they have held on to a letter
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: that is seven to eight, sometimes ten or more years old.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: The letter was perhaps a word of encouragement, or a
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: word of thanks, maybe a word of warning.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: There are some letters our treasure that are all the
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: above that I've received. I was so glad someone sat
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: down to write a letter like that to me.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: You will find that there are some people who are
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: barely able to continue in life because they have nobody
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: who puts courage into them. And there's something about writing
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: just a note, just a six or eight liner by hand,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: fold it up and send it, and they will live
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: in the strength of that for longer.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Than you'd ever believe.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: So when you're write, think of those three as a
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: pattern to think, to warn, to encourage. Now, when you
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: read through this letter, you sort of get the flow
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: of joy coming out over and over again. I want
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: to show you on the back of my outline a chart.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: This is my chart. I had fun putting that chart together.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: It is not inspired, it is right. No, I'm just
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: teasing you. You may wish to disagree with that chart
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: of the Book of Philippians, and that's fine. A lot
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: of folks choose to be wrong in life, and you
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: got to make decisions for yourself.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: You do your own.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Study of Philippians, and you write your own chart. But
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: until then, take my word for it. Chapter one talks
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: about joy and living when we don't get what we want,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: or when we do in spite of our circumstances, or
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: when circumstances are great, even with conflicts, we can live
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: with joy. You know why because in Philippians one twenty one,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Paul tells us the secret of his joy. For me
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: to live.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: Is Christ and to die is Gain.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: What would you put in place of Christ if you
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: were filling out your epitaph?
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: For me to live is.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: What would you put there? What would go in that blank?
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a tip. If it reads as
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Paul's statement reads, you won't ever lack for joy. It's
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: amazing what the presence of Christ does to your joy life.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: When you choose joy, you choose Christ. And when you
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: choose Christ as the object of living, you choose joy
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: as well. Jesus himself said in John fifteen eleven that
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: you can have a joy that is abundant if you
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: choose the joy that He offers. Joy in living comes
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: with that kind of motto. For me, to live is
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Christ and to die is Gain. Chapter two is a
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: joy in serving. By the way, if you're into serving,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: if you're looking for some good biblical basis.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: For a servant's spirit, chapter two is for you.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: The greatest illustration of Jesus leaving Heaven coming to this
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: earth in joy is in Philippians Chapter two.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: Look at verse five.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: We'll get to this later in our study, but I
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: can't wait until then for just to comment. Have this
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: Jesus what attitude? Well, the previous verse verse four. Chapter two,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: do not.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Merely look out for your own personal interests, but also
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: for the interests of others. Have that attitude and pattern
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: it after Christ, and what does it say of him?
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: Although he existed in the form of God, that's before
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Bethley Him did not regard equality with God a thing
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: to be grasped, but emptied himself taking the form of
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: a bond servant.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: That's bethle Him.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Being made in the likeness of men. That's the birth
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: of the Christ Child, being found in appearance as a man.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: There's Jesus growing in favor with God and man. He
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: even death on a cross. There's the suffering Savior who
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: took our place at Calvary. You know, when he left heaven,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: he didn't grit his teeth and say to.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: God, okay, okay, I'll go.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: He left heaven for the joy that was set before him.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: He focused on us. He saw transformed lives. He saw
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Sin beaten at the cross, he saw Satan doomed, and
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: in light of his coming from heaven to earth, he
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: came with a smile. He lived with a smile, and
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: he died in the agony of the cross in his
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: heart with a smile, and God satisfied with the death
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: and resurrection of his son, said, it is well done,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: my beloved son, so that today we have a living
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: savior who served the cause of the heavenly Father in
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: coming to us on this earth.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: See the chapter starts with the right attitude.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: It's maintained through right theology, and serving is encouraged by
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: right models. When we get to chapter two, will study
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Timothy and Epaphroditis, two names that mean very little to
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: most Christians, but they are wonderful models to follow. Chapter three,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: there's joy and sharing. He shares a warning. He shares
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: a part of his testimony found nowhere else in scripture.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: He shares a goal for living. You wonder about a
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: goal for life? Look at three verse fourteen. Take thirteen
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: with it. I do not regard myself as having laid
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: hold of it. But one thing I do forgetting what
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: on toward the goal for the prize of the upward
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: call of God.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: In Christ Jesus. That's what keeps me going.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: The Phillips paraphrase says, I go straight for the goal.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: When I wake up in the morning, I smile at
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: the sunrise. When I rest in the evening, I do
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: not fear the darkness. My goal is the upward call
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: of God in Christ Jesus. I had a funeral service
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: this past week, and in this funeral service for this
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: forty five year young woman, I had the pleasure of
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: announcing to people who were there that the reason this
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: family can go on is that this person has been
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: called to an upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Not even death brings the grim sense of blind fate.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Even in death, there is gain, what a goal, a
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: thing to share, and there's joy in resting. Chapter four
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: will give you a contentment like you can't believe. I
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: love verses like like ten And following a chapter four,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now, at last
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: you have revived your concern for me. Indeed you were
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: from want. Don't you love it that he doesn't play
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: on their emotions to raise funds? Because I'm not telling
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: you how miserable life has been for me. I'm not
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: coming at you from a position of want. I have
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: learned to be content in whatever circumstances. I am Now
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: look closely. I know how to get along with humble means,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: and we expect that. And I know how to live
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: in prosperity and we don't expect that. Isn't that interesting?
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: We expect Paul to be existing under a bridge, singing
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: great songs, but we don't think of him in the
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: penthouse kicking back, saying saying, hey, I was made for this.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: I can enjoy life with prosperity. There often comes guilt.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: I never have been able to understand that. Why can't
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: God bless as well as removed blessing? Why can't God
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: give as well as take he can? And with it
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: can come contentment If your heart is right, if there's joy,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: Paul says, I have learned, in whatever circumstances, I've learned
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the secret of being filled and going hungry. I've learned
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: having abundance and of suffering need. How I can do
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: all things through Him who keeps on pouring his power
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: into me. I think some people hear this message and
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: they think, well, if I was you know, if I
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: were just richer, or if I were more beautiful or handsome,
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: if I had more talent and chuck, I could I
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: could latch onto these things you're saying. And now you
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: listen to this.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: You listen. A person wrote it this way.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: The happiest people are rarely the richest, or the most beautiful,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: or even the most talented. Happy people do not depend
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: on excitement and funds supplied by externals. They enjoy the fundamental,
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: often very simple things of life. They waste no time
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: thinking other pastures are greener. They do not yearn for
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: yesterday or tomorrow. They savor the moment, glad to be alive,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: enjoying their work, their families, the good things around them.
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: They are adaptable.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: They can bend with the wind, adjust to the changes
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: in their times. They can enjoy the contests of life.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: Their eyes are turned outward. They are aware, compassionate.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: They have the capacity to love. Not a wonderful way
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: to live. It's not the way to.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: Go down in history that leads to a person that
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: makes you smile and write out of this letter comes
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: that possibility smiling at whatever life brings. Let me give
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: you three or four lasting principles. Can I one from
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: each of these four chapters, and then we're through Scout's
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: honor finally means finally Number one.
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: For living joy, I need the best model. We've already
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: met him. His name is Christ.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: For living joy, I need the best model. All other
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: models will let me down. All other models will fade
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: and fail. Never Christ for Living Joy. Chapter one, I
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: need the best model.
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: For serving with joy. Chapter two, I.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: Need the right attitude. And again I learned that from
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: the Savior. For serving with I need the right attitude.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Chapter three is sharing. For sharing a.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: Life of joy, I need an eternal goal.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: That's the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. For
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: sharing a life of joy, I need an eternal model,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: an eternal goal, and that's the coming of the Savior,
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: the removal from this earth and all its toil to
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: heaven and all its rewards. And a focus on that
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: will absolutely transform my sharing.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: Fourth from chapter four, for resting.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: In joy, I need God's peace. I need God's peace,
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: and he describes that so beautifully.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: In chapter four.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, these things I have spoken unto you, that
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: in me, that my joy may be in you, and
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: that your joy may be full.
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: Now listen to me. I've been thinking about this all
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: week long.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Joy is a choice, Jesus said, I've spoken my words
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: to you that.
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: My joy may be.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: In you, maybe it's your choice, and that your joy
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: may be full. Say if you knew what I was
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: living with, you would qualify that. Wait a minute, Wait,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: came across a true story in my preparation for this
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: message that really puts the stop.
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: To any excuse.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: It's the story of an eighty two year old pastor
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: who for some fifty two years ministered the scriptures, and
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: now he found himself struggling with skin cancer.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: It was so bad that he had already.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: Had fifteen skin operations besides suffering from the pain. He
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: was so embarrassed about how the cancer had scarred his appearance.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: He wouldn't even go out anymore. He became a recluse.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Then one day he was given a book in which
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: he was told.
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: Of this.
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: Other person who had gone through an intense time of pain,
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: and that he had chosen joy in place of the
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: harsh reality of his circumstance. And he told of the
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: day when he realized that he would have that pain forever.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: At that moment, that person in the book made a
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: pivotal decision. He made a decision to choose joy rather
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: than a grim, frowning future. After reading a while, the
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: elderly pastor put the book aside and said.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: He's crazy. I can't just choose joy. He gave up
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: on the idea.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Then a little later on he came across John fifteen
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: eleven and Jesus said, I want to give you my
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: joy so that yours may be complete.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: What gift? He thought, it's a gift.
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: He didn't know what to do, so he got out
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: on his knees. Didn't know what to say, so he
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: said to the Lord, well, then Lord, give it to me. Suddenly,
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: as he described it, this incredible hunk of joy came
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: from heaven and just poured over him. I was overwhelmed,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: he said. It was like the joy talked about in Peter,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: a joy unspeakable and full of glory. I didn't know
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: what to say, so I said, turn it on, Lord,
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: turn it on, And before he knew it, he was
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: dancing around his house. He felt so joyful, he actually
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: felt born again again, as he put it, And this
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: astonishing change happened.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: At age eighty two. He just had to get out
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: so much joy.
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: Couldn't stay cooped up, so he went out to the
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: local fast food restaurant and he got a hamburger, and
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: the lady that waited on him so saw how happy
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: he was and asked her how you doing? Oh, he said,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: I'm one wonderful. Well, really, is it your birthday? No,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: he said, honey, it's better than that. Is it your anniversary? Oh,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: it's better than that. Well, what is it?
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: She asked?
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: It's the joy of Jesus Christ. Do you know what
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about?
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: Lady shrugged and answered no, I have to work on Sundays.
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: Is that awful or what? But isn't that the way
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: it is?
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: What does working on Sunday have to do with joy?
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: Incredible?
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: How we have linked joy to church, or joy to
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: a day in the week or to a religious experience.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: Joy is meant for three hundred.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: And sixty five days a year. Joy is meant for life.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: My plea for you as we get into this letter
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: is that you choose it. And my warning is that
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: nobody else can choose it for you.
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: You live with the attitude you choose.
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: Jesus has the one worth living for He died for it.
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: May be bound together. Please, very briefly now, I realize I.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: Speak today to a few very grim people, maybe not
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: most of you, but I think some of you you're
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: grim because you've focused on how brutal and bitter life
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: has been. You're trying to excuse what you've heard because
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: of the hand you've been dealt, or whatever other words
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: you use for it. And I want to warn you
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: that will lead you to a miserable future and a
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: dreadful present existence. Jesus came that you might have a
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: life that's abundant, sins forgiven. Yes, there will be hardship
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: and heartaches and calamities and surprises, losses and failures. But
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: you've got a savior who'll give you a gold that's
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: greater than any of that. When he died, he died
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: with you in mind. When he paid the price, he
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: paid it, and he says to you, in effect, take me,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: choose my forgiveness, choose my life. I'll give it to
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: you in abundance, and it will make your existence bearable
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: and your future glorious. We have a prayer room that's
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: quiet and intimate. You'll be given some information, some literature.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Someone will pray with you. You can leave as you desire.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: You won't be embarrassed, you'll be helped.
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: I promise.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: Father hear our prayer today as we come to you
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: of people with needs and every human reason to believe
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: the news and to focus our attention on the news casts.
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: Forgive us our Father for such.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Wasted times when we cause that focus to become our
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: reason for existence. Forgive us for choosing a downhearted spirit
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: rather than joy, from being so consumed with past failure
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: or future worries that are present is eclipsed with a
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: sadness that has no place in the Christian life. Thank
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: you for a man who, though imprisoned, wrote of joy.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: And may we find the liberty of which he writes
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: as we not only read, but believe and apply what
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: he wrote. In the name of Jesus Christ, the constant
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: source of life, joy and forgiveness.
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: We pray, and everybody said amen.
• 58:54
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, your smile increases your face value was
• 58:58
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen ninety when the sound recording was copyrighted
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: in two thousand eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
• 59:05
  Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide.