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Romans 1:8-15 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Let's read together Romans chapter 1 verses 8 through 15.
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Paul writes,
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First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you,
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! because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
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!
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I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you,
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but thus far have been prevented,
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in order that I may reap some harvest among you,
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as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
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I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians,
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both to the wise and to the foolish.
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So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also, who are in Rome.
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Now, as I studied this text this week, it's kind of interesting,
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because we kind of get Paul's salutation to the Romans later on in his letter.
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He's begun the first seven verses of this book with a great gospel presentation,
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which we talked about last week.
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And then he turns to greet the Roman believers.
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And he tells us about how he longs to come to them,
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his desire to come and to mutually encourage them.
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And that kind of seemed to be the bearing of the text as I first read through it.
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We read in verse 8,
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I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you,
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because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
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And I thought, oh, what a great sermon this will be,
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on the kind of faith we should have,
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and what people should be looking at with our faith.
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But as I read through the text and arrived at verse 14,
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I got stuck on a little phrase.
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And that phrase was,
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Under obligation.
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It seemed a strange phrase to me.
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I am under obligation.
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And as I did some word studying to it,
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it perplexed me further.
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And so if you'll permit me,
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we're going to start with verse 14.
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And then I'm going to show you what I really believe
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the great example of this text is to us.
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But I want to start by putting up the one point of this morning's sermon.
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It'll be up on the screen there for you if you're taking notes.
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And that is this.
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Christian, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
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you are obligated to share your faith with the church,
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firstly,
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and with the world,
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for the sake of Jesus' name,
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among all the nations.
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So this week,
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we're going to talk about that obligation to share our faith with the church.
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And next week,
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we'll talk about the obligation to share our faith with the world.
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So this little phrase,
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under obligation,
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is only used three times in the New Testament,
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all by Paul.
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Once in the book of Galatians,
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and then twice here in his letter to the Romans.
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It simply means,
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the Greek term,
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which I could not pronounce,
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so I'm not going to tell it to you,
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simply means,
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one who owes another,
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or a debtor.
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One who owes another,
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or a debtor.
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Now the reason that perplexed me,
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is we know,
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Paul's already talked about grace to him.
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We've received grace and apostleship,
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that's in verse 5.
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And if there is somehow then something he owes back to God,
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then grace is to be grace.
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Doesn't it?
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Grace is the free gift of God.
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We know that we do not deserve anything that God has done for us.
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Our sin has bought us,
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justly bought us,
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God's wrath upon us.
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But he's gracious to us.
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He then doesn't require us to work that off.
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Does he?
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So if we owe God something,
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then it ceases to be grace.
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And that's what troubled me.
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So to kind of give a little evidence to the meaning of that word,
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that's in fact what it means.
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Galatians 5.3,
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Paul writes,
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I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision,
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that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
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Same word there.
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But we know Paul previously talked in Galatians 3.10,
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he says,
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for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.
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For it is written in Deuteronomy chapter 27,
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cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law,
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and do them.
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He further goes on in the same chapter to say that no one can.
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Right?
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So Paul uses that same term to say,
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if you're going to try to gain acceptance with God through works,
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then you're obligated to be perfect.
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You're indebted to perfection.
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Right?
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So the word holds true.
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It means to be a debtor.
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That is what you must do,
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and you have no choice in the matter.
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The other place it's used is in Romans chapter 8, verse 9.
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And I'd like you to turn there because I think it gives us a greater understanding
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of what Paul means to be under obligation.
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Romans chapter 8, verse 9.
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We're going to read through 14.
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Paul writes,
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So he draws a dichotomy.
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Those who have the spirit and those who do not.
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Those who are in Christ and those who are not.
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Those who are lost.
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Those who are saved.
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Okay?
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Verse 11.
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If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
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he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
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through his spirit who dwells in you.
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So then, brothers, we are debtors.
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Same Greek term.
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Translated differently in the ESV.
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So then, brothers, we are debtors.
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Not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.
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For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
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But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
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For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God.
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Okay?
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I want to draw your attention to a few things here.
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First, last half of verse 9.
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Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
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But if Christ is in you, right?
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And then in verse 12, we are debtors.
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So what are we debtors to?
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In verse 12, he says,
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Not to the flesh.
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Then he goes on to speak about the spirit.
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The very end of verse 14.
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For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God.
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So what are we indebted to?
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Ourselves.
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Now let that become selfish sounding.
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Our identities.
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Because of who we are in Christ, we must do certain things.
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We are compelled by Christ to do certain things.
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The spirit lives within us.
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And as a result, we will look a certain way.
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We just got done studying the book of 1 John in the evenings with the men's group and the women's group.
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And that's the theme of that book.
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Christian, live this way.
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Little children, beloved sons of God.
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Your life will look this way.
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If you have grace in your life.
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So our obligation is to who we are in Christ.
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To our identities.
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So Paul is saying here,
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I'm under obligation to share my faith with the Greeks.
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He says to the Greeks and to the barbarians.
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The barbarians were those who were not educated.
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But their language was unintelligible to the Greeks who were very highly educated.
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They were actually mocked.
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Their language to them sounded like babbling.
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So they would say their language sounded like bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.
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And that's where that term barbarians comes from.
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So he kind of adds understanding to what he says when he says Greeks and to barbarians.
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He says both to the wise and to the foolish.
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He's defining what he means.
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Those Greeks who were so wise and to the barbarians who were rather foolish in their minds.
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But then in verse 15 he says,
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So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
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So Paul is being compelled and he's indebted to his own identity in Christ to share his faith with the fellow believers.
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And we're called to the same.
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The great value that we can pull from this is to see this example of Paul and to the Roman believers and to do the same.
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In verse 11 he says,
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The spiritual gift that Paul longs to give to them to strengthen them, he defines for us in verse 12.
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That is mutual encouragement of our faith.
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And then in verse 8 he says,
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First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
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Isn't that phenomenal?
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I think it's worth just pausing and touching on that, although that's not the thrust of what I'm trying to show you this morning.
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The Roman believers had a faith that was proclaimed in all the known world at the time.
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They were being talked about all over the world.
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Isn't that phenomenal?
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Oh, I want us to be a people like that.
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Not just Christ Family Church, but Christians of North Georgia.
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I want people all over the world to go,
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Have you guys heard about those North Georgia Christians?
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They have got faith.
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They radically believe the promises of God.
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Look at the way they live.
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Man, they must have a great God because they place all of their trust in him.
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Long to be a place like that.
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At the very end of verse 4, 4b, end of verse 5, Paul wrote,
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Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship.
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For what end?
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Okay, so he's given us the grace, that free gift of grace,
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and a mission, a message to carry to the world, which is the gospel,
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to bring about the obedience of faith.
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To bring about the obedience of faith or the obedience of the faith.
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All right, so not just to see converts made, but to also see disciples made.
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And for what end?
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For the sake of his name being Christ among all the nations.
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So you get then there, you can see in these first 15 verses that phrase,
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I don't know if it's still, it is indeed up on the board,
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but Christian, as a disciple of Jesus Christ our Lord,
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you are obligated to share your faith with the church and with the world
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for the sake of Jesus' name among all the nations.
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Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16,
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For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting,
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for necessity is laid upon me.
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Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
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And I think many of us find ourselves in that position this morning.
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Both that we do not share our faith with the world around us,
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and we do not share our faith with each other.
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Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
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The vision statement of Christ Family Church is,
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Christ Family Church exists to experience,
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proclaim, and display the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things.
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I don't know if you ever pay attention,
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but that's usually up on the screen when you come in here in the morning.
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Christ Family Church exists to experience,
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so we have a felt that a reality in all of our lives
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that Jesus Christ is supreme to all other things.
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We proclaim that, we tell others about that,
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which is what we're talking about this morning,
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and we display it in the way we live.
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We believe the promises of God,
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and that changes the way we live
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because we hold Christ more valuable than all other things.
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So if we're to realize this vision as a church,
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if we're to get to that place,
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we need to be sharing the gospel with one another, don't we?
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We need to be speaking to one another these gospel truths,
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carrying this apostolic message that's been given to us
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so that all of us will arrive at the obedience of the faith.
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That's what we're talking about there, isn't it?
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If Christ Family Church truly experiences,
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proclaims, and displays the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things,
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we've arrived at that point, haven't we?
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I don't think we're going to arrive there at this side of glory,
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but we can sure try.
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We can set a goal for ourselves that's so lofty.
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I am an idealist, and I love it
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because I think Christ was an idealist.
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That's a high thing to attain to.
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So that's our goal, is to work to that point.
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Some of you have heard me use this analogy,
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and I apologize to those of you who are tired of it.
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I've read a book called The Trellis and the Vine.
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It's co-written by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.
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And it's a book about gospel ministry in the church.
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And they use this analogy, which I'm going to read to you in just a second,
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to speak about the trellis work and the vine work.
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And the vine work is the work of gospel ministry,
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and that's what we're meant to be about in the church.
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And trellis work is necessary to support vine work,
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but we often get too wrapped up in the one and forget the other.
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So if you'll permit me, I'm going to read you just a short page out of this.
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This is written by Tony Payne.
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He says,
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It's hard to tell what condition the trellis is in under the jasmine,
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but at the few points where it is still visible,
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I can see that it hasn't been painted in a long time.
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At one end, it has been pried off the fence by the insistent fingers of the jasmine.
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And although I have tried to reattach it more than once, it is useless.
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The jasmine has taken over.
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I know I'll have to do something about this in the long term,
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because eventually the weight of the jasmine will pull the trellis off the fence altogether,
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and the whole thing will collapse.
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I have often thought of taking a cutting from the jasmine
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and seeing if it will grow on the beautiful but vacant trellis on the garage,
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although it almost seems a shame to cover it up.
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And that's what much of our work here,
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or maybe not here, I hope not,
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but work in church is about,
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is trellis.
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Building programs that are intended to support the work of God,
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the gospel ministry in the church,
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but tend to do the opposite.
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Let me give you an example.
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Once upon a time, the church that met here
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had a program called Awanas.
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Are you guys familiar with Awanas?
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And the language that went on around here was that
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Awanas is such a great program.
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Awanas helps kids learn scripture.
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Awanas grows mature believers.
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Awanas does none of those things.
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The gospel ministry that happens in that framework
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accomplishes those things.
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Okay?
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Small example.
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So we put all of our faith in the programs
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and the system that we build
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and the buildings that we have
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and the CEO-like structure in our churches,
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and we forget to do gospel ministry.
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Congregants are the most guilty of this
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because you come and you fill a seat.
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You're a spectator,
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and you're not involved in the work of the church.
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This is an indictment on you.
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You have a job.
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You have a role to play here.
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And you might say,
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well, I've asked to serve a role.
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I've come and said,
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hey, will you let me know
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when there's something that needs to be done?
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That's trellis,
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which needs to happen.
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I might ask you someday to mop a floor.
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It has to be done.
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But you all already have a job.
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And that's gospel ministry.
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The people sitting next to you need the gospel.
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I would assume that most of us in here,
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a high percentage of us in here,
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are Christians already.
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We have placed our faith in Christ.
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We need the gospel.
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I stand up here and preach.
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I need the gospel.
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I need you guys to speak the gospel to me.
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You've been given a great task.
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I'm afraid for most American Christians,
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the gospel itself has kind of become white noise.
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It's that thing that we get thrown on
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to the end of every sermon.
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So we get a little quip in our sermon,
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five ways to have a better marriage
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is the sermon this morning.
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Oh, and by the way,
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you've got to get that Jesus thing sorted out first
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if you want to do these five things.
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And most of us check out when that happens.
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Oh, I'm saved.
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That's cool.
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I don't need to hear this gospel message any longer.
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It becomes white noise.
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Yesterday we went on a hiking trip
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with Jamie and Chris and my mom
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and all the kids.
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And we were hiking along the creek at DeSoto Falls.
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If you've ever been there,
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you know what I'm talking about.
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So path falls right along the water the entire time.
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And it ends, three quarters of a mile,
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it ends at this rather magnificent waterfall,
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which is quite loud.
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And the kids have been hiking along the sound of the water
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for so long up this trail
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that I had to point out,
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I mean, it was crashing down,
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but the volume had just gotten turned up a little bit
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on the sound of that water.
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And I had to point out to them,
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and we'd come to the waterfall,
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like, look, look up through the trees.
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You could see it coming down the side of the mountain.
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It's 100 feet.
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It's loud.
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But they totally had tuned out
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to that altogether.
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So if we're tuning the gospel out in our lives,
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what are we tuning into?
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Ourselves, right?
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I'm at limited space up here.
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We're tuning into ourselves.
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That's a dangerous place to be in.
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So do you know how the work of Jesus informs
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and impacts your life today?
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Is the gospel still relevant for you?
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It most certainly is.
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So let me give you an example of what I mean.
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Do you know how Christ's ascension,
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when he went to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father,
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where he sits today,
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do you know how that informs and impacts your life today?
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I imagine most of you could give me some answer to that question.
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But it's a big one.
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Do we know how the gospel affects our life today?
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I once heard a wonderful example,
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and I tried my hardest to give credit to whoever said this,
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but I couldn't remember who.
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I heard this wonderful example of where we all stood before Christ.
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And this preacher said,
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it was as if we stood in a valley
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at the bottom of a dam that's 10,000 miles wide
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and 10,000 miles high.
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Try to picture that.
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10,000 miles wide, 10,000 miles high.
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And behind it, it's held back the waters,
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which represent the wrath of God.
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We have purchased that.
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That is ours because of our sin.
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And each one of us stands at this giant dam,
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and suddenly that dam bursts loose.
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It doesn't get a crack and dribble.
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It busts the whole thing.
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And all that water is rushing towards us.
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Certain destruction is coming our way.
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And we stand there with this wall of water that comes our way.
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And just before it reaches us,
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a great hole opens up in the ground,
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and that water gets sucked and pulled down into that hole
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as we stand there.
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And all that destruction gets taken away.
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You remember in the Garden of Gethsemane,
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Christ prayed that the cup was going to pass from him.
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You know where all that wrath went?
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It went to that cup.
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That's what Jesus was praying.
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God, is there any way, any way we can accomplish this
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without me bearing your wrath for the church?
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And there wasn't.
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And he did it voluntarily for us.
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So he took that cup, all that wrath,
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and he drank it to the last drop.
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And when he got done, he turned it over,
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he set it down, and he said,
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it is finished.
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And then he went to heaven,
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and he sits down at the right hand of the Father,
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interceding for us,
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giving us his spirit.
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That's the ascension.
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It's significant that he's sitting down.
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He's not making constant propitiation for our sins.
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It is finished.
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And all of us,
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as you drank that wrath,
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stood on the side,
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yelling,
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chug.
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So how does that,
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how does that reality,
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how does that truth
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impact our daily living?
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What do you do with that?
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How do you minister to the gospel,
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to those around you,
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knowing just that,
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just this one thing,
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the ascension of Christ,
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one of many things that he accomplished?
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I just want to give you a few examples.
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Turn to Philippians chapter 2.
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We're going to leave Romans,
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so don't worry about marking it.
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And we'll deal with the rest of the text next week.
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Philippians chapter 2.
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What do you do if you have a brother or a sister
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that you know is prideful,
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that you know is dealing with pride in their life?
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It's usually a difficult person to talk to, isn't it?
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It's difficult to tell a prideful person
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that they're wrong.
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Philippians chapter 2,
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verses 3 through 8,
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reads,
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Do nothing from rivalry or conceit,
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but in humility,
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count others more significant than yourselves.
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Let each of you look not only to your own interests,
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but also to the interests of others.
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Have this mind among yourselves,
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which is yours in Christ Jesus.
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Catch that.
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Have this mind among yourselves,
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which is yours.
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In Christ Jesus.
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If you have placed your faith in Christ,
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Christ has purchased that for you.
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Who, though he was in the form of God,
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did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
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but made himself nothing.
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Taking the form of a servant,
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being born in the likeness of men,
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and being found in human form,
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he humbled himself
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by becoming obedient to the point of death,
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even death on a cross.
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So how do you minister the gospel to a prideful person?
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You say, look at the life of Christ.
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What did Christ do for you on your behalf?
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He became humble for you.
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And now because of that,
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because he's ascended,
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and he's sitting at the right hand of the Father,
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and he's giving you the gift of the Spirit,
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you have the same mind.
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You should live that way.
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How about this as an example?
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If you have a brother or sister
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struggling with the guilt of sin,
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and got that habitual sin in their life,
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that thing they seem to not be able to lick,
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and they carry around a great burden of guilt
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as a result of that.
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Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 4.
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Go ahead and turn there.
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We've got another text there too,
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but I'm going to go ahead and read it to you.
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There's therefore now no condemnation
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for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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For the law of the Spirit of life
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has set you free in Christ Jesus
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from the law of sin and death.
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For God has done what the law
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weakened by the flesh could not do
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by sending his own Son
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in the likeness of sinful flesh.
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And for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh
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in order that the righteousness requirement
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of the law might be fulfilled in us
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who walk not according to the flesh,
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but according to the Spirit.
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What's the answer for that person?
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You know Christ?
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You walk now according to the Spirit.
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He sits at the right hand of the Father
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interceding for you,
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and there's no condemnation for you
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because of what Christ has accomplished.
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How about a brother or sister
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who's received some bad news
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in the same chapter?
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We have another wonderful passage of text.
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Brother or sister who's received some bad news.
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I think all of us could use this gospel ministry
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at times.
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Romans 8.28.
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We're going to read through the end of the chapter.
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And we know
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that for those who love God,
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all things work together for good.
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For those who are called
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according to his purpose,
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for those whom he foreknew,
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he also predestined to be conformed
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to the image of a Son
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in order that he might be the firstborn
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among many brothers.
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And those whom he predestined,
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he also called.
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And those whom he called,
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he also justified.
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And those whom he justified,
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he also glorified.
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So you're found in Christ.
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You know these things
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to be true.
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Because of everything we've talked about,
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I won't repeat it again.
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Because of all that Christ accomplished for us,
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we know as his chosen children,
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he's moving us in a direction.
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He is taking us to perfection.
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Because we know that,
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we know that all the things that he's doing
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because we're his children
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are for our good.
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He's working us in that way.
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The things that we may not interpret
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as good in our lives.
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The pain I deal with,
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I don't like it.
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I would rather it not be around.
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But it is part of this process
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that God is taking me through
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as a beloved child of his.
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Verse 31.
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What then shall we say to these things?
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All these bad things.
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If God is for us,
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who or what can be against us?
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He who did not spare his own Son,
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but gave him up for us all,
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how will he not also with him
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graciously give us all things?
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Who shall bring any charge
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against God's elect?
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It is God who justifies.
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Who is to condemn?
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Christ Jesus is the one who died.
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More than that who was raised,
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who is at the right hand of God,
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who indeed is interceding for us.
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There's that ascension.
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Who shall separate us
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from the love of Christ?
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Shall tribulation,
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or distress,
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or persecution,
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or famine,
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or nakedness,
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or danger,
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or sore,
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and you can add your own list
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to the end of that.
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As it is written,
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for your sake we are being killed
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all the day long.
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We are regarded as sheep
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to be slaughtered.
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No.
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In all these things,
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we are more than conquerors
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through him who loved us.
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For I'm sure that neither death,
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nor life,
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nor angels,
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nor rulers,
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nor things present,
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nor things to come,
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nor powers,
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nor height,
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nor depth,
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nor anything else
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in all creation
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will be able to separate us
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from the love of God
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in Christ Jesus,
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our Lord.
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Incredible, right?
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In Christ's action
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on behalf of his saints.
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It is finished.
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It is done.
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And nothing can take that away.
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And because you are sons
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and daughters of God,
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you can trust that everything
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that happens in your life
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is for your good.
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It's gospel ministry.
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Right?
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I'm encouraging myself.
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There are things in my life
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that I don't think are good.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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For that truth.
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People around you
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need the gospel.
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Saved or not,
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they need the gospel.
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Something sitting next to you
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is hurting
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in a way that you may not
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ever be able to understand.
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We're all in different positions
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in our lives.
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Young,
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you can minister to the old.
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Old,
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please minister to the young.
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There are situations
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that I can never touch.
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Losing a baby.
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I can't ever get that.
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I'm a man.
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It doesn't happen to me.
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Right?
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But I have the gospel truth.
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And the gospel truth
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ministers to every hurt
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that the Christian has.
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Look around you.
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There are people
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who need the gospel.
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It ought to become
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a habit of ours
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to speak about our Savior.
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Right?
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It shouldn't be
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white noise to us.
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We should wake up
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every morning
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praising God
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for the work
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that He's done for us.
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Putting to death
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our flesh
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and praising Him
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for the Spirit
29:14
that exists within us.
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Because we're under
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obligation to do so.
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Because of who we are
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we should live this way.
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It ought not be an option
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in your life.
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If you don't live this way
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there's two choices.
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There's two
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possible solutions.
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Answer that.
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If you're not
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constantly sharing
29:37
your faith
29:38
in gospel ministry
29:40
around you
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there's two options.
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The first
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is that you're not
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a Christian at all.
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You've never experienced
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the grace of God
29:46
in your life.
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And that wall of water
29:48
someday
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will destroy you.
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Alright?
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There will be no
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great hole
29:54
that opens up
29:55
to take it away.
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It will destroy you.
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And the solution
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to that is to
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repent and believe.
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Turn from your sin.
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Place your faith
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in Christ.
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Believe that he drank
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that cup on your behalf
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and you will be saved.
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Second option
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is that you are
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a Christian
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and you're living
30:12
in sin.
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And guess what?
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It's the same solution.
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Repent
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and believe.
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Turn
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from your sin
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and turn back
30:21
to Christ.
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if we are to be
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disciples of Christ
30:24
we will be about
30:25
gospel ministry
30:26
in the church.
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We all have a great
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task before us
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and praise God
30:32
that he provides
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for all that he asks.
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Let's pray together.