Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Joyful, Grace-Filled Good-Bye │ Msg 14-14

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A Joyful, Grace-Filled Good-Bye │ Msg 14-14 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In many ways, Philippians reads like a love letter from
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Speaker 1: God's heart to ours. So it's almost said that we
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Speaker 1: have come to his final words. Reading a love letter
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Speaker 1: is not like reading junk mail. Thank goodness, we don't
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Speaker 1: glance at it and then trash it. Oh No, we
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Speaker 1: absorb it, letting our eyes linger over every word. I
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Speaker 1: confess to you sometimes smelling a love letter has that
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Speaker 1: wonderful fragrance, and we are always pondering the strokes of
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Speaker 1: the pen, and we're imagining our beloved face as he
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Speaker 1: or she sat at the desk writing those words to us.
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Speaker 1: Paul's unavoidable goodbye may have come, but he left the
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Speaker 1: Philippians with some joy filled and encouraging statements. To remember,
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Speaker 1: he had said all that needed to be said, and
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Speaker 1: so he says goodbye in the same way he opened
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Speaker 1: the letter in a spirit of joy and grace, like Paul.
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Speaker 1: And so join with me as we read these final
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Speaker 1: farewell words to the Philippians. Turn in your Bible to Philippians,
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Speaker 1: chapter four, beginning with verse nineteen, and my God will
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Speaker 1: supply all your needs according to his riches in glory
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Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father, be
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Speaker 1: the Glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every Saint in Christ. Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the brethren who are with me, greet you. All the saints,
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Speaker 1: Greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. This concluding
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Speaker 1: message on the Book of Philippians, I have to confess
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Speaker 1: is is the ending of one of the finest sessions
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Speaker 1: of my entire ministry of the word. I don't know
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Speaker 1: about you, but I really needed to hear what Philippians
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Speaker 1: has to say. It is one of those up letters
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Speaker 1: and so freeing, so encouraging, so full of lightheartedness and joy.
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Speaker 1: It's a letter that makes you smile. And if you're
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Speaker 1: not smiling by the end of it, you haven't been listening,
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Speaker 1: you haven't been reading, you haven't been seeing what it
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Speaker 1: is saying. It prompts. It just prompts all of us
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Speaker 1: to set aside the complaints and the discouragements and the
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Speaker 1: mass of misery that marks life. And it says, there
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Speaker 1: is a tomorrow, there is a Lord, there is a
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Speaker 1: reason to go on. I have loved that theme, I
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Speaker 1: confess to you. Sometime in the ministry I get just
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Speaker 1: weary of bad news blues and dealing with the the
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Speaker 1: the depressed, and listening to stories of heartache. I don't
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Speaker 1: mean to sound uncaring. I'm just admitting it gets tiring
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Speaker 1: and some time I want to sort of take a break.
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Speaker 1: Reminds me of a little cartoon I saw this past
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Speaker 1: week of a two two and a half maybe three
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Speaker 1: year old little boy freckle face looked like the type
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Speaker 1: that could keep four or five adults busy, just staying up.
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Speaker 1: And he's standing in the hallway as pajamas are unsnapped,
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Speaker 1: and his diaper's bagging, and he's got a little teddy
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Speaker 1: bear in his hand that he's torn the nose off
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Speaker 1: of and it's sort of dangling there. And he's standing
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Speaker 1: in front of his mother and father's bedroom door, which
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Speaker 1: is shut, and the mother has written a little sign
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Speaker 1: says close for business, motherhood, out of order. I had
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Speaker 1: to say to you, there are times I'm tempted to
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Speaker 1: put that kind of sign on my door, close for business, minister,
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Speaker 1: out of order. This is I've heard enough, and that's
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Speaker 1: when I come back to Philippians. It's a great letter.
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Speaker 1: It's a letter that helps you go on even though
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Speaker 1: you've blown it. It'll even encourage you to go on,
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Speaker 1: even in times when you tried to fix the mess
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Speaker 1: and you only made it worse. Philippian says, go on,
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Speaker 1: go on, there's a lord, there's a reason to get
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Speaker 1: beyond that. Speaking of fixing up messes, I couldn't help
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Speaker 1: but note in the paper a classic example of how
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Speaker 1: when you try to make something right that you did wrong,
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Speaker 1: you often do it worse. It often gets worse rather
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Speaker 1: than better. This is a classic example of a typographical
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Speaker 1: error in the classified section of a small town newspaper
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Speaker 1: that every time the editor put his pen to doing
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Speaker 1: it better, he only did it worse. Just listen. The
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Speaker 1: ad appeared Monday. It read for sale R D. Jones
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Speaker 1: has one sewing machine for sale phone nine four eight
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Speaker 1: seven seven after seven pm and asked for missus Kelly,
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Speaker 1: who lives with him cheap. Well Tuesday it read notice
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Speaker 1: we regret having aired in R. D. Jones ad yesterday.
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Speaker 1: It should have read one sewing machine for sale cheap
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Speaker 1: phone nine four eight seven O seven and ask for
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Speaker 1: missus Kelly, who lives with him after seven pm Wednesday.
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Speaker 1: Notice R. D. Jones has informed us that he has
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Speaker 1: received several annoying phone calls because of the error we
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Speaker 1: made in his classified ad yesterday. His ad stands correct
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Speaker 1: as follows for sale.
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Speaker 2: R D.
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Speaker 1: Jones has won sewing machine for sale cheap phone nine
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Speaker 1: four eight seven seven and ask for missus Kelly who
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Speaker 1: loves with him Thursday. Notice I R. D. Jones have
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Speaker 1: no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it. Don't call
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Speaker 1: nine four eight seven seven as the phone has been disconnected.
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Speaker 1: I have not been carrying on with missus Kelly until yesterday.
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Speaker 1: She was my housekeeper, but she quit. Oh, bless his heart. R. D.
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Speaker 1: Jones needs to spend Friday reading Philippians. That's what I
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Speaker 1: would say, and missus Kelly could spend the whole weekend
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Speaker 1: reading the Letter to the Philippians. Enough of that, turn
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Speaker 1: if you will to this wonderful, wonderful letter. And when
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Speaker 1: you do, will you pick up from the bulletin an
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Speaker 1: outline of the letter of that is of the message today,
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Speaker 1: and then look at the opposite side. It's a chart
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Speaker 1: put together on the letter to the Philippians, that letter
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Speaker 1: that makes you smile. Let me mention of four or
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Speaker 1: five unique things about the letter. I've placed them here
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Speaker 1: in the top right of the chart so you can
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Speaker 1: spot them. There are no major problems in the letter.
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Speaker 1: Letter is so up it doesn't even give the teacher
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Speaker 1: of the letter any thorny areas that you have to unravel.
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Speaker 1: It's a simple, delightful, joyful epistle that is a pleasure
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Speaker 1: to read. One hundred and four verses. Joy is found
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Speaker 1: in every one of the chapters. There's not one quotation
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Speaker 1: from the Old Testament to have to weave into the
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Speaker 1: tapestry of this New Testament. Letter. Christ is mentioned over
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Speaker 1: forty times, if you can believe it, and it's the
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Speaker 1: most positive of all of Paul's letters. He only hints
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Speaker 1: at one little difficulty in the church, and you'll remember
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Speaker 1: that as being this really relationship problem between Yuodia and
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Speaker 1: Sineke mentioned in chapter four, verse two. But aside from
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Speaker 1: that little minor issue, he really has no heavy exhortation,
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Speaker 1: no word of reproof, nothing to clean up as in
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Speaker 1: the Corinthian letters. Doesn't have to defend his apostleship as
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Speaker 1: in the Galatian letter, and there isn't an argument over
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Speaker 1: the coming of Christ as in the Thessalonian letters. It's
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Speaker 1: just a letter that says, well, there is joy in
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Speaker 1: living chapter one. There is joy in serving. Chapter two,
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Speaker 1: there's joy and sharing chapter three, there's joy in resting
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Speaker 1: chapter four, and all the way through. The reason for
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Speaker 1: the joy is Christ. Joy in living because Christ is
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Speaker 1: my life. For me, to live is Christ and to die,
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Speaker 1: as one paraphrase says, I just get more of Him.
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Speaker 1: It's that wonderful. Life can be that great when the
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Speaker 1: glasses I wear are not rose colored, but they're Christ tinted.
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Speaker 1: And I see people, I see situations, I see circumstances
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Speaker 1: through the lens of His presence, and I say it's
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Speaker 1: worth it for me to live as Christ. There's joy
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Speaker 1: in serving because Christ is my example, who for the
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Speaker 1: joy set before him endure a cross, and God has
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Speaker 1: highly exalted him and given him a name above every name.
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Speaker 1: There's joy and even joy in the sharing, because Christ
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Speaker 1: is my goal. When I have finished with all of
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Speaker 1: the accomplishments of life, they'll be set aside and quickly forgotten,
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Speaker 1: because my ultimate plan is to be with Him face
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Speaker 1: to face, and there will be his rewards justly given,
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Speaker 1: free of prejudice, because He knows motive as well as action.
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Speaker 1: And there's joy in because He is my contentment. He
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Speaker 1: is the reason that I can be lifted up and
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Speaker 1: exalted or be abased and humbled, and I find contentment.
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Speaker 1: What a letter, What a wonderful statement. And in fact,
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Speaker 1: it occurred to me when I think about statements that
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Speaker 1: sometime we quote Philippians and we don't over quoting it.
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Speaker 1: It's one of those letters that doesn't get a lot
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Speaker 1: of credit, though the words from the letter are often
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Speaker 1: on our lips. Let me show you an example Philippians one,
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Speaker 1: verse six. Remember these words are written by a person
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Speaker 1: who who is chained to a soldier. He is under
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Speaker 1: house arrest, and it's lasting for two years, two years
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Speaker 1: without anterruption, and he writes a letter of joy Philippians
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Speaker 1: won six. I'm confident of this very thing, that he
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Speaker 1: who began a good work and you will will accomplish it,
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Speaker 1: will perfect it until the day of Christ. Mothers and
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Speaker 1: dads claim that for your children, if you will, you
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Speaker 1: will sort of grind your way through the children years,
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Speaker 1: and you will struggle your way through the teenage years.
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Speaker 1: You will feel the loneliness of an empty nest in
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Speaker 1: their adult years. If you don't realize God is at
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Speaker 1: work and you can be confident that he who has
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Speaker 1: begun a work in your boy or in your girl
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Speaker 1: will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He
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Speaker 1: is at work. Find joy in that hope. Look at
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Speaker 1: one twenty twenty one. For to me, to live is
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Speaker 1: Christ and to die is Gain. What a statement. That's
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Speaker 1: where that's found. You have maybe quoted it, but not
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Speaker 1: known as source. Down into chapter two we have the
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Speaker 1: We have the consummate, concentrated statement of Christ's humiliation and exaltation.
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Speaker 1: Did you know that we have truth here found nowhere
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Speaker 1: else in scripture beginning at verse five. Have this attitude
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Speaker 1: in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus? What attitude? An
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Speaker 1: attitude of humility? Verses three and four have talked about that,
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Speaker 1: an attitude free of selfishness, an attitude that doesn't demand
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Speaker 1: its own way, that doesn't grasp something just because it
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Speaker 1: makes me comfortable. Have the attitude Christ has. Christ had, when,
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Speaker 1: though he existed in the form of God, did not
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Speaker 1: regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
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Speaker 1: he gave it up. He emptied himself. You had to
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Speaker 1: do that lately. It's good for you, it's good for me.
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Speaker 1: Have you had to let something go. You had to release.
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Speaker 1: He's our example. He released the resplendent treasures of heaven
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Speaker 1: to come to this earth, to be spit on and misunderstood,
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Speaker 1: and cursed, and nailed to a tree and left to die.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point
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Speaker 1: of death, even a death on a cross. However, look
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Speaker 1: at the good news. God has highly exalted him verse nine,
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Speaker 1: and bestowed on Jesus Christ the name that is above
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Speaker 1: every name. No other name on earth gets the respect
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Speaker 1: his name gets from the millions who praise him. There
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Speaker 1: is no other name like that name that at the
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus. Ultimately, look at the hope verse ten.
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Speaker 1: Every knee shall bow those in heaven, on earth, and
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Speaker 1: under the earth. Every tongue will confess he is Lord
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Speaker 1: to the glory of God the Father. That's a statement
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Speaker 1: found nowhere else in Scripture, Chapter three, Verse twelve. This
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Speaker 1: is a good word for you who are weary and
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Speaker 1: well doing. You're halfway through your schooling. You're a mother
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Speaker 1: of four, and they range in age from six months
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Speaker 1: to three and a half. If you're here today and
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Speaker 1: in your right mind, listen verse twelve. Not that I
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Speaker 1: have already obtained it, or have already become perfect. But
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Speaker 1: I press on. I know I've blown it. I know
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Speaker 1: there are things that have been out of line. I
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Speaker 1: know I have a track record that includes murder, heartache,
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Speaker 1: brokenness that I have caused against the name of Christ.
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Speaker 1: I also have a record of achievement in my education.
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Speaker 1: But I have not arrived. I press on that I
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Speaker 1: may lay hold of that for which I was laid
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Speaker 1: hold of by Christ Brethren, my brothers and sisters. I
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Speaker 1: don't regard myself as having laid hold of it yet,
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Speaker 1: But one thing I do forgetting what lies me? How
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Speaker 1: you talk about a secret in living? Forgetting what lies
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Speaker 1: behind things. I can't change things. I can't correct abuses
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Speaker 1: and wrong and ugly realities that have marked me and
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Speaker 1: scarred me. I refuse to live in the past. Forgetting
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Speaker 1: what lies behind and focusing on what lies ahead. He
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Speaker 1: says it again verse fourteen. I press toward the goal
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Speaker 1: for the prize of the upward call of God in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. JB. Phillips writes, I go straight for the goal.
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Speaker 1: That's the way to live. When life seems grim, when
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Speaker 1: things go wrong, when the mess gets worse, you got
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Speaker 1: a goal, and it revolves around Christ. One more if
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Speaker 1: I may Chapter four, Oh you can't forget. Verses six
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Speaker 1: and seven talk about a significant major statement. Be anxious
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Speaker 1: for nothing, Remember the time we spent on this. Worry
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Speaker 1: about nothing, Pray about everything. Be anxious for nothing, but
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Speaker 1: in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your
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Speaker 1: requests be made known to God. Take your worry list
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Speaker 1: and turn it into a prayer list. Release your hate list,
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Speaker 1: give it to God. Let him give you, in return
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Speaker 1: a list of people to be forgiven. Release the bitterness,
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Speaker 1: give it up, forget about getting even, Pray about it.
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Speaker 1: Pray about everything. These aren't cliches. This is a statement
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Speaker 1: of scripture. In everything, by prayer, with thanksgiving, let your
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Speaker 1: requests be made known to God. You won't interrupt him.
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Speaker 1: He doesn't slumber or sleep, he's not preoccupied with someone
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Speaker 1: else's needs. He's right there. And it says you'll have
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Speaker 1: a brand new guard watching your heart, the peace of God,
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Speaker 1: which surpasses all comprehension. Shall march century duty literally shall
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Speaker 1: garrison is the word, just like they guard a protected
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Speaker 1: place or a treasured place on this earth with a
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Speaker 1: heavy guard system. So your precious, treasured heart will be
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Speaker 1: guarded by Christ Jesus with his peace. There's all kinds
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Speaker 1: of practical advice. I'll not try to take the time
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Speaker 1: to go over each one. I like the way Campbell
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Speaker 1: Morgan addresses our times and those times. I like it
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Speaker 1: because it puts in perspective what I think is easily forgotten.
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Speaker 1: It's easy to think these are the worst times I
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Speaker 1: have ever been. I mean, we read where the crime
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Speaker 1: record is at an all time high, that crimes of
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Speaker 1: passion have never been greater, Where people are afraid to
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Speaker 1: walk into the streets or spend time in a park
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Speaker 1: at night. I mean, it couldn't ever have been worse Morgan.
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Speaker 1: Campbell Morgan writes, I have no sympathy with people who
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Speaker 1: tell us today that these are the darkest days the
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Speaker 1: world has ever seen. The days in which we live
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Speaker 1: are appalling, but they do not compare with conditions in
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Speaker 1: the world when Jesus came into it. Historians talk of
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Speaker 1: the Pax Romana and make much of the fact that
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Speaker 1: there was peace everywhere, the Roman peace, But do not
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Speaker 1: forget that the Roman peace there was the result of
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Speaker 1: the fact that the world had been bludgeoned brutally into
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Speaker 1: submission to one central power, Caesar. Notwithstanding the prevailing conditions.
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Speaker 1: The dominant note of these letters revealing the experience of
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Speaker 1: the church is a note of triumph, a note of triumph.
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Speaker 1: The dire and dread facts and conditions are never lost
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Speaker 1: sight of Indeed, they are there all the way through.
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Speaker 1: The people are seen going out and facing these facts
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Speaker 1: and suffering because because of these facts. But we never
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Speaker 1: see them depressed and cast down. We never see them
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Speaker 1: suffering from pessimistic fever. Their triumphant in these letters. That
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Speaker 1: is the glory of Christianity. He adds, If ever, I'm
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Speaker 1: tempted to think that religion is almost dead today, it
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Speaker 1: is when I listened to the wailing of some Christian people.
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Speaker 1: Everything is wrong, everything is going wrong. All be quiet.
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Speaker 1: So I love it that he puts that in his letter.
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Speaker 1: Ear think again, look again, judge not the circumstances of
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Speaker 1: the passing hour, but by the infinite things of our
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Speaker 1: Gospel and our God. And that is exactly what these
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Speaker 1: people did. You never knew if your boy left home
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Speaker 1: in the morning, it'd be home that night. If he
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Speaker 1: were from a Christian family, you never knew you'd see
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Speaker 1: your mate again, or you'd ever speak again to your
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Speaker 1: parents or to your grown children if they were known
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Speaker 1: as the people of the Way. And yet the man
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Speaker 1: writes like this is the greatest time in the world
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Speaker 1: to live. Why listen to me? Because Christ gave him
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Speaker 1: a joy that was unexplainable. He saw everything that occurred
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Speaker 1: in his life, especially his later years, as being in
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Speaker 1: the hands of God. Nothing touched him that had not
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Speaker 1: first been filtered through the will of God. And that
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Speaker 1: makes all the difference in the world. I love a
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Speaker 1: letter like this, I've needed it. Turn with me to
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Speaker 1: the closing five verses, and let's see how the man
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Speaker 1: says goodbye after writing a letter this significant. Saying goodbye
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Speaker 1: couldn't be that easy, but it seems to flow from
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Speaker 1: the pen of the apostle. I never cease to be
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Speaker 1: amazed at his style as a writer. Let me start
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Speaker 1: with verse nineteen. And My God shall supply all your
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Speaker 1: needs according to His riches. In glory in Christ Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Now to our God and Father be the glory forever
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Speaker 1: and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The
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Speaker 1: brethren who are with me, greet you. All the saints,
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Speaker 1: greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of
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Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, Signed Paul.
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Speaker 1: What an ending to a magnificent letter. If I read
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Speaker 1: these words correctly, I find four terms that to me
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Speaker 1: wrap up his thoughts. First is the word glory. God
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Speaker 1: will supply our needs according to His riches. In glory
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Speaker 1: Now to God and to our God and Father be
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Speaker 1: the glory forever glory. What in the world does that mean?
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Speaker 1: It occurred to me while thinking about this term, that
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Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a it's a church word. Forgive me.
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Speaker 1: It's a great word, but we don't use it. I
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Speaker 1: doubt that you've used glory in your business in a decade.
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Speaker 1: I doubt that you use it in your logo, or
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Speaker 1: that somebody, say, your boss walks in and talks about glory.
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Speaker 1: See it's it's not thrown around in the secular world.
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Speaker 1: Probably read an entire newspaper for a week and not
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Speaker 1: run across the word. What does it mean? Well, it's
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Speaker 1: it's a magnificent word. In Greek, it's the word doxa doxa.
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Speaker 1: Obviously we get our word doxology from it. Doxa lagas
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Speaker 1: the science or the study of glory. Interesting doxology. It
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Speaker 1: could mean, and everything depends on context. It could mean
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Speaker 1: brightness and splendor and radiance, as in the Old Testament,
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Speaker 1: when the glory of God rested in the holiest of
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Speaker 1: all the light was. The room was filled with the
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Speaker 1: light of God, and they were they were in the
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Speaker 1: presence of the Chakaina. Glory. That which emanates from His
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Speaker 1: presence as a star, differs from a planet in that
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Speaker 1: it emanates light. God is the giver of all light,
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Speaker 1: and that's the word glory. It also accompanies greatness. We
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Speaker 1: speak of the glory of a king, or the glory
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Speaker 1: that surrounds the throne of those in authority. It could
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Speaker 1: mean what we might call credit, as we say that
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Speaker 1: person deserves the glory for this, and I think in
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Speaker 1: this context that's what he has in mind. Certainly in
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Speaker 1: verse twenty, to our God and Father be the glory,
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Speaker 1: meaning what now listen, in whatever circumstance you find yourself,
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Speaker 1: may it bring glory to God in your demotion or promotion.
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Speaker 1: May God get the credit the significance your gain or
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Speaker 1: in your loss, in your health or in your illness,
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Speaker 1: in your triumphs are in your tragedies, May you remember
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Speaker 1: it isn't happiness that is your goal. It is God's glory.
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Speaker 1: That is one of the greatest thoughts God ever gave
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Speaker 1: me in this past decade, that God's goal for us
26:21
Speaker 1: is not to be happy, it is to glorify Him.
26:26
Speaker 1: That changes so much in our narcissistic society, where everything
26:33
Speaker 1: seems to revolve around what I want and how I
26:36
Speaker 1: can be made comfortable, and how I can find enjoyment
26:39
Speaker 1: in something that's not a biblical thought, that's a man
26:44
Speaker 1: made theology. He says, here, to our God and Father
26:50
Speaker 1: be the glory forever and efor to him be all
26:53
Speaker 1: the praise. When that becomes one's ultimate pursuit, major changes
26:59
Speaker 1: occur inside its glory. As he says goodbye, he says,
27:04
Speaker 1: remember he gets the glory. The second word is greeting.
27:10
Speaker 1: Fact he uses it several times, greet every saint. So
27:15
Speaker 1: he's telling the people in PHILIPPI tell the Christian friends
27:19
Speaker 1: there that I know I said hello, give them my greeting.
27:24
Speaker 1: And then he says, the brethren who are with me,
27:26
Speaker 1: greet you. So he and Rome, where he's writing this letter,
27:32
Speaker 1: sends a greeting from his Christian brothers and sisters, some
27:36
Speaker 1: of whom have come to visit him in his house arrest.
27:38
Speaker 1: He sends them, the people of Philippi, the greeting of
27:42
Speaker 1: his friends in Rome who know the Lord, the people
27:45
Speaker 1: who are Christians. In fact, he adds, all the saints
27:48
Speaker 1: greet you, all of those who have been born into
27:51
Speaker 1: God's family, those I've met, those I haven't met. They
27:55
Speaker 1: are all about us. They send their greeting. And then
27:59
Speaker 1: he adds that tantalizing, fantasy, fascinating statement, especially those of
28:08
Speaker 1: Caesar's household. And I want to say, not, Paul, write more,
28:14
Speaker 1: tell us more about them. Now do you realize what
28:20
Speaker 1: he has said? Saints who are in Caesar's household? Does
28:26
Speaker 1: that mean the Emperor's wife? Does that mean the children
28:30
Speaker 1: have become converted? Would that include the relatives in laws?
28:36
Speaker 1: Would it be a broader world? The best scholarship suggests
28:41
Speaker 1: that this is a reference with that has an incredibly
28:45
Speaker 1: large body of people in mind across the country of
28:48
Speaker 1: Italy as well as in the provinces around it, slaves
28:53
Speaker 1: and free people alike. Members of the Imperial guard that
28:58
Speaker 1: waited on Caesar and did his special work, the executives
29:03
Speaker 1: the administrators, secretaries, and courtiers in the in and about
29:09
Speaker 1: the throne room of the Caesar. I know where I'm
29:15
Speaker 1: going in this, you don't, so bear with me. I
29:19
Speaker 1: got something in mind that I want you to think about,
29:22
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to tell you right away. Let
29:25
Speaker 1: me quote three very helpful sources, all of them reliable.
29:30
Speaker 1: First is JB. Lightfoot, who writes this about Caesar's household.
29:34
Speaker 1: It has been assumed that this phrase must designate people
29:38
Speaker 1: or persons of high rank and position, powerful minions of
29:43
Speaker 1: the court, great officers of state, or even blood relations
29:47
Speaker 1: to the emperor himself. The damas or familia cesais includes
29:55
Speaker 1: the whole of the imperial household, the lowest slaves, as
29:58
Speaker 1: well as the most powerful court in Rome itself. The
30:01
Speaker 1: Domus Augustus must have formed no inconsiderable fraction of the
30:06
Speaker 1: whole population it comprised. Likewise, all persons in the imperior service,
30:13
Speaker 1: slaves or freedmen in Italy and even in the provinces.
30:17
Speaker 1: William Ramsay, in his fascinating classic work Saint Paul the
30:21
Speaker 1: Traveler and Roman Citizen as this. The new movement of
30:26
Speaker 1: Christianity made marked progress in the vast imperial household. This
30:31
Speaker 1: household was at the center of affairs and in most
30:34
Speaker 1: intimate relations with all parts of the Empire. There could
30:37
Speaker 1: be no doubt that Christianity effected an entrance into Caesar's
30:42
Speaker 1: household before Paul entered Rome. In all probability, all the
30:46
Speaker 1: slaves of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great, and of Narcissus,
30:51
Speaker 1: Claudius's favorite freedman, had passed into the imperial household, and
30:56
Speaker 1: that members of these two families are saluted as Christians
31:00
Speaker 1: by Paul in his Romans letter. One other Alfred Plumber.
31:04
Speaker 1: There were many Jews among the lower officials in Nero's household,
31:08
Speaker 1: and it was perhaps among them that the Gospel made
31:12
Speaker 1: its first converts. Fascinating, isn't it. We're talking Nero's household,
31:20
Speaker 1: the arch enemy of Christ, the hater of Christians. Legend
31:25
Speaker 1: has it that while he was out of state, his
31:28
Speaker 1: beloved came into favor with the Christian message and turned
31:33
Speaker 1: her life over to Christ was converted. Upon his return,
31:40
Speaker 1: he discovered living with him is the woman who has
31:45
Speaker 1: turned her life over to Christ, and that triggered his
31:48
Speaker 1: rash decision to take the head off. Paul could be legend.
31:54
Speaker 1: Something like that, however, could be truth making is that
32:00
Speaker 1: in the very citadel of atheism Christ had invaded. Not
32:08
Speaker 1: a great thought doesn't excite us today because we don't
32:12
Speaker 1: live in the first century. We don't know of an emperor.
32:14
Speaker 1: We've never known what life was like under Nero. Let's
32:19
Speaker 1: make it up to date. Our minister of music at
32:23
Speaker 1: the Fullerton Free Church, Howie Stevens, and his wife Maryland
32:26
Speaker 1: and several friends, along with many others from the United States,
32:31
Speaker 1: have the privilege leaving on Easter evening flying to Russia,
32:41
Speaker 1: where the Sunday following Easter nineteen ninety one, they will
32:48
Speaker 1: participate in a mass gathering of Christians. I get this.
32:55
Speaker 1: Their place of ministry will be the Palace of Congress,
32:59
Speaker 1: where the Supreme Soviets meet and have met for years.
33:03
Speaker 1: You've seen it on television. This enormous oversized picture of
33:07
Speaker 1: Linen hangs above these officious people, except in this case
33:14
Speaker 1: Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ will preach the Gospel,
33:18
Speaker 1: and Howie and accompanied by Marilyn and others Nielsen and
33:24
Speaker 1: Young on the piano, they will sing the praises of
33:29
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ in the very citadel of atheism in our day.
33:36
Speaker 1: They will go into the Red Square on Sunday afternoon
33:39
Speaker 1: as the people on Orthodox Russia and Easter afternoon take
33:43
Speaker 1: their walks, and they will distribute over one hundred thousand
33:47
Speaker 1: missiles carrying the message of Christ, including testaments and Bibles
33:52
Speaker 1: in the language of the people. They were warned against
33:55
Speaker 1: doing that too aggressively because they would be mobbed by
34:00
Speaker 1: people starving for information about Christ. Isn't that great? They
34:08
Speaker 1: will announce in music and in message that Jesus Christ
34:13
Speaker 1: is the Savior, the Lord, the risen supreme one in
34:19
Speaker 1: whom they are to believe. As I listened to that,
34:23
Speaker 1: I thought, in your face, lenin your face.
34:28
Speaker 2: The holes will be filled with the majestic music of
34:33
Speaker 2: the Messiah Jesus Christ, whose message of forgiveness will be
34:37
Speaker 2: announced across television to millions of viewers.
34:42
Speaker 1: In the land of Russia, where a few years ago
34:46
Speaker 1: you were killed for claiming the name of Christ. You
34:50
Speaker 1: were certainly incarcerated for the better part of your life.
34:57
Speaker 1: Greetings from Lenin's household. That could very well be a paraphrase.
35:05
Speaker 1: The place where the atheists have ruled, the name of
35:10
Speaker 1: Christ will be lifted up as he concludes this great
35:16
Speaker 1: letter to the Philippians. He gives them his greetings, and
35:21
Speaker 1: then he turns to, in my humble opinion, his favorite
35:26
Speaker 1: of all the doctrines, Verse twenty three, the grace of
35:30
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. May the grace of Jesus Christ
35:36
Speaker 1: be with your spirit. Track the thought with me, will you?
35:43
Speaker 1: The Law came by Moses. The tablets were handed to
35:47
Speaker 1: the people, written by the finger of God, the laws
35:52
Speaker 1: which announced perfect righteousness, holiness, and what it meant to
35:59
Speaker 1: please God. And the law came with no help to
36:05
Speaker 1: bring righteousness. The law was implemented by the ironic priesthood
36:10
Speaker 1: as they acted out the levitical sacrifices and the demands
36:14
Speaker 1: of a holy God, a righteous God. When the Pharisees
36:19
Speaker 1: got hold of the law, they added to it. They
36:21
Speaker 1: amplified it, adding over six hundred additional laws and the
36:27
Speaker 1: precepts and the requirements to please God. And the laughter
36:32
Speaker 1: was lost, the smile left, the joy ceased as the
36:37
Speaker 1: law came from the Pharisees, until that lean figure from
36:43
Speaker 1: Nazareth cast his shadow into synagogues and across the streets.
36:47
Speaker 1: For three and a half years of ministry, and John says,
36:52
Speaker 1: we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only
36:57
Speaker 1: begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
37:06
Speaker 1: what a change. The smile came back, the delight, the
37:13
Speaker 1: joy of the Lord returned. People heard that, they, of
37:18
Speaker 1: course couldn't live up to those commandments, and now there
37:21
Speaker 1: was the Holy Spirit to give them power and strength.
37:25
Speaker 1: There would be a sacrifice paid for their sins. And
37:29
Speaker 1: before long, what looked like a tragedy became the triumph.
37:33
Speaker 1: They swept him into the judgment hall and threw a
37:36
Speaker 1: kangaroo cord of six prejudiced trials. They nailed him to
37:41
Speaker 1: a tree, and they hung him to die. They left
37:44
Speaker 1: him there until he finally screamed, it is finished. Had
37:50
Speaker 1: you and I've been one of the eleven remaining disciples,
37:53
Speaker 1: we would have thought we have believed in a hoax.
37:57
Speaker 1: We have all of our dreams have been dashed. Peter's words,
38:02
Speaker 1: you're just eloquent. Let's go fishing. Let's get back to
38:06
Speaker 1: what we did before. But he came back. He rose
38:14
Speaker 1: from the dead, and he lives with scars that are
38:19
Speaker 1: continued reminders that grace and truth have come through him.
38:27
Speaker 1: Think of it. Jesus kept the law. He lived under
38:32
Speaker 1: the law, he fulfilled the law, and yet his payment
38:36
Speaker 1: for sin at Calvary, which was a once for all payment,
38:40
Speaker 1: broke the bonds of the law and brought us the
38:43
Speaker 1: freedom of grace. So the apostle doesn't say the law
38:48
Speaker 1: of the Lord God be with you. He says, the
38:51
Speaker 1: grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
38:55
Speaker 1: Let that hope be with your spirit. Why well, because
39:02
Speaker 1: our God lives, there has been glory, there has been greeting,
39:08
Speaker 1: there has been grace. But have you missed the pervading
39:12
Speaker 1: presence of the Living God throughout this letter. Let's take
39:15
Speaker 1: just the last chapter. Will you go back with me
39:18
Speaker 1: momentarily look at chapter one of chapter four. Verse one,
39:23
Speaker 1: My beloved brethren, whom I long to see my joy
39:25
Speaker 1: and crown, stand firm in the Lord. So we're to
39:29
Speaker 1: stand firm in God. Verse four. Rejoice in the Lord always.
39:35
Speaker 1: We are to find our source of joy in the Lord,
39:38
Speaker 1: our God. Verse six. Let your requests be made known
39:42
Speaker 1: to God. We just looked at that. We're to pray
39:46
Speaker 1: to our God. Verse seven. We're to take his peace.
39:50
Speaker 1: The God of peace, or the peace of God will
39:53
Speaker 1: surpass all explanations verse nine, the God of Peace will
39:59
Speaker 1: be with us as well well. The ninth verse concludes
40:02
Speaker 1: verse thirteen, We can do all things through Him who
40:06
Speaker 1: strengthens us. Verse eighteen. We give our gifts to Him,
40:10
Speaker 1: and they become an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
40:15
Speaker 1: In fact, it is my God who supplies all your needs.
40:22
Speaker 1: And to God, our Father, be glory forever and ever.
40:26
Speaker 1: Amen sounds so final, But let me take you a
40:30
Speaker 1: step beyond where no one else could take us, and
40:33
Speaker 1: that is where our God takes us. He is with
40:36
Speaker 1: you when you are in your prime of life. He
40:39
Speaker 1: is with you the day you get the bad news
40:41
Speaker 1: from your physician, when the X ray comes back and
40:45
Speaker 1: it's negative that sends you to a hospital, He goes
40:48
Speaker 1: with you there. He is with you in the bed
40:51
Speaker 1: as you await the surgery. He is with you through it.
40:55
Speaker 1: He sees you beyond it. And as you hear the
40:57
Speaker 1: news that they weren't able to get it all, and
41:00
Speaker 1: they tell you to write your will and to make
41:02
Speaker 1: sure your house is in order, he is there with
41:05
Speaker 1: you the day you pass into the presence of the
41:08
Speaker 1: Living God, and he escorts you as no one else
41:12
Speaker 1: can do into the throne room of the King, which
41:16
Speaker 1: will be your abode as a child of God forever.
41:20
Speaker 1: It's called Paradise. That's God. Imagine he sees us beyond
41:30
Speaker 1: the grave. One of my favorite lines I love to give.
41:34
Speaker 1: When I'm at a grave site and I've just buried
41:38
Speaker 1: the dead, I love to look in the faces of
41:40
Speaker 1: people who've gathered, many of them normally not in church,
41:44
Speaker 1: but they knew the one who had died, so that
41:46
Speaker 1: they're out of respect, and I have the pleasure of
41:48
Speaker 1: announcing you are standing on resurrection ground. You can see
41:55
Speaker 1: people move over a sigh of a place or two
41:58
Speaker 1: so they don't get in the way of some that's
42:00
Speaker 1: getting ready to happen. The Lord God promises that as
42:03
Speaker 1: his son was raised from the dead, he will raise
42:07
Speaker 1: us up as well. Our soul and spirit absent from
42:10
Speaker 1: the body, is with the Lord at the moment of death.
42:13
Speaker 1: But when that day of resurrection comes, because he is God,
42:17
Speaker 1: he will raise our bodies up in a glorified state
42:19
Speaker 1: to be forever in a transformed manner, with our souls
42:25
Speaker 1: and spirit forever with the Lord. Well a reunion. Because
42:30
Speaker 1: there is a God. Can you imagine the hopelessness of
42:36
Speaker 1: a burial without Christ. Of course, you can what a
42:47
Speaker 1: grand letter has been, this letter of the Philippians. No
42:50
Speaker 1: Christian's life is complete without a knowledge of it or
42:54
Speaker 1: an application of him. Imagine the Apostle, gray haired and
43:00
Speaker 1: shaking from years of suffering, perhaps with the hand that
43:04
Speaker 1: is chained to the soldier, reaching over to Epaphroditis to
43:08
Speaker 1: take the stylus and beginning to pen these last few
43:13
Speaker 1: words to our God and Father in glory be glory forever.
43:18
Speaker 1: Greet every saint, especially those from Caesar's household. Greet you
43:23
Speaker 1: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen,
43:28
Speaker 1: Signed Paulus. As the Galatian letter says, he would write
43:36
Speaker 1: in great sprawling characters because of his eyesight that's failing,
43:42
Speaker 1: and he signs this one Paul. I had an interesting
43:52
Speaker 1: serendipity take place in my life when I was concluding
43:56
Speaker 1: my study of Philippians. It came completely unexpected. I closed
44:04
Speaker 1: my New Testament and set aside my notes, and I thought,
44:08
Speaker 1: I need just the clincher to put the final touch
44:13
Speaker 1: on this message. I looked on my shelves and fumbled
44:17
Speaker 1: through them and found an old book by one of
44:20
Speaker 1: my favorite authors F. B. Meyer. I took it off
44:23
Speaker 1: the shelf, and what ministered to me in that moment
44:27
Speaker 1: was not the words of Meyer, but the words of
44:31
Speaker 1: my mother. This was her volume, one of many that
44:34
Speaker 1: she left me in her legacy, and it gripped me.
44:42
Speaker 1: I looked at the very end of it, and I
44:48
Speaker 1: saw her handwriting, and you know how you'll do a
44:51
Speaker 1: flashback when you're reading the familiar handwriting of one who's
44:56
Speaker 1: gone on. And she wrote in there in her works words.
45:02
Speaker 1: Finished reading this May nine, nineteen fifty eight, and I
45:10
Speaker 1: thought nineteen fifty eight. I thought back to my journal.
45:16
Speaker 1: In May of nineteen fifty eight, I was a marine
45:20
Speaker 1: on Okinawa, and it was that month that I turned
45:23
Speaker 1: the corner and had made a decision that my life
45:26
Speaker 1: would be spent in ministry. I would go back to school,
45:31
Speaker 1: and would I would prepare for a life of ministry.
45:35
Speaker 1: I had no idea of my mother's prayers for me,
45:39
Speaker 1: some of which were recorded in this great book that
45:42
Speaker 1: I own now. And then I was fascinated, and I
45:48
Speaker 1: turned to the front of the book and I again
45:52
Speaker 1: saw her words, And in the front of the book
45:55
Speaker 1: she said, chart of Philippians mailed to me by Charles.
46:01
Speaker 1: That's me by Charles when he was in Waltham, Massachusetts,
46:07
Speaker 1: and I looked. I didn't remember that. I looked at
46:11
Speaker 1: the chart. I thought, man, it's not bad. And then
46:14
Speaker 1: I got back a hold of myself and I thought
46:17
Speaker 1: of the years between fifty eight and nineteen sixty six
46:23
Speaker 1: when I had sent her that chart, and I thought,
46:30
Speaker 1: how grade of God, What wonderful chapters of my life
46:39
Speaker 1: represented by her dating system? Here you never knew her.
46:45
Speaker 1: She passed into the Lord's presence. Interestingly, the very day
46:51
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one that I received a letter from
46:54
Speaker 1: this church to consider being the pastor the day she died,
46:58
Speaker 1: which prompted me to write a quick no, I know
47:01
Speaker 1: it isn't God's will for me to be in Fullerton.
47:04
Speaker 1: One of those great prophetic moments in my life. I've
47:10
Speaker 1: had many of them. How interesting that it was that
47:14
Speaker 1: day I received John Watson's letter and became a turning
47:19
Speaker 1: point for me and for our family. And I thought,
47:26
Speaker 1: she never knew any of this that's happened since seventy one,
47:34
Speaker 1: Or does she? Maybe so? Some of you whose chapters
47:49
Speaker 1: have not ended well need to remember the book is
47:51
Speaker 1: still being written. Not till the loom is silent and
47:58
Speaker 1: the shuttle ceased to fly, will God unroll the canvas
48:01
Speaker 1: and explain the reason why the dark threads are as
48:04
Speaker 1: needful in the weaver's skillful hands as the threads of
48:09
Speaker 1: gold and scarlet in the pattern He has planned you
48:17
Speaker 1: with a son or daughter moving in a direction that
48:20
Speaker 1: is different than you had wished or prayed. It isn't over,
48:26
Speaker 1: It's just a part of the book. I wouldn't have
48:31
Speaker 1: ever planned for my mother to have missed the best
48:34
Speaker 1: twenty years of my life. But that's God's plan, it
48:40
Speaker 1: says right. He can take any of us when he's ready.
48:47
Speaker 1: I'm madge, she's just now about to finish set in
48:51
Speaker 1: heaven straight to cause she'd been busy these two decades
48:57
Speaker 1: getting things in shape. But let me tell you something.
49:02
Speaker 1: It's good what God's doing. He isn't finished. And when
49:07
Speaker 1: it will all be done, and when in panorama it
49:12
Speaker 1: is all unrolled in front of us, in the presence
49:15
Speaker 1: of His glory, when we stand faultless.
49:20
Speaker 3: We will see it was good, it was right.
49:33
Speaker 1: What's about together? What a perfect conclusion for the letter
49:40
Speaker 1: to the Philippians. If you could write with the date
49:43
Speaker 1: of today. Today, I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
49:54
Speaker 1: What a perfect doxology with a perfect benediction, What a
50:01
Speaker 1: fitting conclusion. It's a simple matter. It's a matter of faith.
50:13
Speaker 1: You don't need to hear voices, or dream dreams or
50:18
Speaker 1: see sky writing. That kind of phenomenon may or may
50:22
Speaker 1: not occur, seldom does. But what you need is a
50:27
Speaker 1: simple and steadfast faith in the finished work of Christ,
50:32
Speaker 1: who paid it all for you so that you might
50:36
Speaker 1: know and have all that He has prepared in glory.
50:41
Speaker 1: Today I encourage you to come and give your heart,
50:48
Speaker 1: your life to Christ. May we stand for the benediction. Please,
51:02
Speaker 1: as a concluding act of worship our God, we pledge
51:09
Speaker 1: our allegiance to you, as we would to none other.
51:16
Speaker 1: Thank you for your plan full of surprises, changes, unpredictable
51:24
Speaker 1: and unexpected events, tears as well as triumphs, pain as
51:32
Speaker 1: well as pleasure. We thank you for your good hand
51:36
Speaker 1: upon us. What you have taken as well as what
51:43
Speaker 1: you have given, These have been acts of grace. Thank you,
51:49
Speaker 1: as we conclude the study of Philippians, that this man,
51:54
Speaker 1: the Apostle, who has written these words truly lives touched
52:00
Speaker 1: more lives, perhaps by his writings than any other writer
52:05
Speaker 1: of the New Testament. But he too acknowledged your lordship
52:10
Speaker 1: over him, as we do unto him who is able
52:15
Speaker 1: to guard us from stumbling, and to present us faultless
52:18
Speaker 1: before his presence, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God,
52:23
Speaker 1: our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power forever
52:31
Speaker 1: and ever. And everyone said amen.
52:37
Speaker 4: The preceding message, A joyful, grace filled Goodbye, was copyrighted
52:42
Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety one, and the sound recording was copyrighted
52:45
Speaker 4: in two thousand and eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
52:48
Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide in the preceding message, Charles
52:52
Speaker 4: rswind All, Inc. Is grateful to Universal Press Syndicate for
52:56
Speaker 4: permission to use a Dear Abbey column copyrighted in two
53:00
Speaker 4: thousand three by Jean Phillips and Universal Press Syndicate