God's Will for Me:
- SAVED (1 Timothy 2:4)
- SANCTIFIED (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
- SUBMISSIVE TO THE GOVERNMENT (1 Peter 2:13,15)
- SUFFERING (1 Peter 4:19)
- THANKFUL (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
What do you want for this church? I want what God wants.
God's Will for Harvest Bible Chapel:
- WALK WORTHY in the Lord
- BEAR FRUIT for the Lord
- GROW in the KNOWLEDGE of the Lord
- GET my STRENGTH from the Lord
- Endurance
- Patience
- Joy
- GIVE THANKS to the Lord
- Qualified
What is My Inheritance?
- ETERNAL life (Matthew 10:29)
- EARTH (Matthew 5:5, Revelation 20:6)
- EVERY promise of God (Hebrews 6:12)
- Delivered
- Transferred
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:08
Alright, let's get to the Word. Last week we talked about the Gospel at work as we started our series in Colossians.
00:09-00:19
And the Apostle Paul was talking about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is at work all over the world as it is among you and the effect that it's having on each of us.
00:20-00:27
Now last week I said that when some people talk about their conversion experience, I said something like they're weird about the details.
00:27-00:29
I want to clarify something with that.
00:30-00:37
What I meant by that was, since that wasn't my experience, it's always weird to me to hear somebody know all those details.
00:37-00:46
But I don't want you to think that having that experience is weird, or that I think you're weird if you have that experience.
00:46-00:48
That is not what I meant at all.
00:48-00:54
I just meant that wasn't my experience, so that's always outside of my box when I hear that from people.
00:56-00:59
So don't misunderstand me, I wasn't calling anyone weird.
01:03-01:07
So let's turn our Bible to Colossians chapter 1.
01:13-01:17
My wife Erin and I have been married for 9 years, right? 9 years?
01:18-01:23
And I've learned a couple of things being married to Erin for 9 years.
01:24-01:26
I'm going to share a couple of them with you today.
01:26-01:27
One is I married up.
01:28-01:32
If you're like, "It didn't take you very long to figure that out." It didn't. I married up.
01:32-01:33
Thank you for noticing.
01:34-01:37
I also learned that I'm clueless when it comes to raising kids.
01:41-01:51
Here's something else that I've learned, and I'm not going to necessarily say if I've learned this from Eric, or if I've learned this from other married people that I've talked to, maybe because she's sitting right here this morning.
01:52-01:54
But here's something that I've learned.
01:55-01:57
And men, I'm going to have to ask you to back me up here.
01:58-02:04
Because if you leave me hanging on the drive, I might need somebody to be marriage counselor for us next week.
02:05-02:07
But here's something I've learned in marriage.
02:08-02:15
Men, do you find that a lot of times when your wife asks you a question, she's not necessarily looking for information?
02:17-02:20
What she really wants to know is if you know the answer to the question.
02:21-02:21
Amen?
02:22-02:22
Amen.
02:23-02:23
Amen. Come on.
02:24-02:24
Amen?
02:25-02:25
Yes.
02:25-02:27
Amen. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
02:27-02:49
So it's not just Everyone here is focusing. It's not just me, okay? But a lot of times, you know, when Aaron asks a question, and it took me a while to get this because I'm a little slow, but I thought that she was wanting information. I'm going to inform her, but what I found out is she already knows the answer. She wants to know if I know the answer.
02:49-02:53
And today we're going to be talking about God's will.
02:55-03:01
The reason I bring all this up about my wife, who's far greater than I deserve, is that some people think of God's will that way.
03:02-03:06
That God has this one specific path that I've got to find.
03:08-03:15
And if I don't find exactly what God's looking for, for me, then I'm off track.
03:16-03:17
I'm completely off base.
03:17-03:19
Some people compare it to a dot.
03:19-03:21
Like, you know, there's a dot on the floor.
03:21-03:25
You know, being on that dot means you're at the center of God's will.
03:26-03:29
But maybe making some wrong decisions gets you off that dot.
03:29-03:36
And make enough wrong decisions, you'll never get back to being perfectly in God's will for your life.
03:37-03:52
Almost as if some native stood before God, and God will say, "Well, you know, you're going to heaven, but your life wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be." some kind of a second level Christian experience, I don't agree with that.
03:53-04:01
I don't believe that God's will is some mystical thing that we better find that exact thing.
04:05-04:16
The reason it concerns me, I've done a lot of counseling over the years, I think of two people in particular that have come to me, misunderstanding the will of God.
04:18-04:22
I remember one young lady who came to me, who was just, she would beside herself.
04:24-04:42
She would say, "Well, you know, I just feel like I need to stay home, because, you know, what if, what if I leave the house, if it's God's will that I would be staying home and praying, and being in the Word, but if I leave the house, I'm out of God's will." But then I think, "Well, what if it's God's will that I'm out ministering to somebody, and...
04:44-04:47
Maybe, you know, staying at home would be wrong.
04:48-04:51
And she was just, she was like in tears.
04:51-04:53
I don't know what God wants me to do.
04:53-04:57
To the point of, I don't know if I should leave the house or not.
04:57-04:58
Is it God's will that I leave the house?
05:01-05:11
Sadly, I've met another person that, um, for years, with their life just sat and did nothing.
05:13-05:15
saying I'm waiting for God to show me what to do.
05:15-05:16
For years!
05:18-05:20
Get out of the house, man. Take a mission trip.
05:21-05:22
You know, get called to the church.
05:22-05:26
I'm just going to stand there until God shows me exactly what He wants me to do.
05:27-05:30
So there's all this, you know, what's God's will for me?
05:31-05:33
Does God have a will for my life?
05:34-05:37
Well, the answer is yes, God has a will for me.
05:38-05:42
Okay, now, the outline on the back of your book is teeny tiny.
05:42-05:47
And unless you're one of those people that can draw pictures on Christ, you ever see those people?
05:48-05:50
You might need to use the margins.
05:51-05:53
Well, we're going to get this bigger, okay?
05:54-05:56
Does God have a will for me?
05:56-05:57
The answer is yes, God has a will for me.
05:58-06:05
You're like, "Well, wait, how do you know what God's will is for my life?" Because He's told us in His Word what His will is for your life.
06:05-06:10
I'm just going to go through these quickly, in case you're wondering what God's will for you is.
06:11-06:13
Here's God's will for every person.
06:13-06:16
First of all, the Bible very clearly says this is God's will for each day.
06:17-06:17
Right?
06:18-06:19
Like, God, what do you want?
06:20-06:21
What do you want?
06:21-06:26
God says, "The first thing I want you to do is to be born again." That's the first thing.
06:27-06:28
Second thing is sanctify.
06:29-06:32
God wants you growing in Christ.
06:33-06:35
You're maturing in Christ.
06:35-06:36
We're going to talk about that today.
06:40-06:42
What else do you want me to do, God?
06:42-06:44
Well, God's will is that you be submissive to the government.
06:44-06:45
He's very clear about that.
06:49-06:51
But I don't necessarily like the government.
06:51-06:52
That's not the issue.
06:53-06:56
But I'm not crazy about the president of this political party.
06:57-06:57
That's not the issue.
06:57-07:03
The Bible says we're to pray for our leaders, and we're to be submissive to the government.
07:04-07:09
So long as the government doesn't tell us to violate the word of God, you're submissive to the government.
07:11-07:27
And if we were told, you know, "Hey, you guys can't be preaching from the Bible anymore, we'll let you go to the higher authority, which is God." And we would say, "Well, that's better, please God, leave me in." And so long as the government doesn't violate the Word of God, we're going to be submissive to the government.
07:30-07:34
Sometimes it's God's will, 1 Peter 4, verse 18, sometimes it's God's will that we suffer.
07:36-07:38
Okay, that's a whole, like, Serving the serious.
08:09-08:11
I'll just be big as far as number of people.
08:11-08:13
Does God have a will for the church?
08:15-08:17
Does God have a will for the church?
08:17-08:27
We'll look at Colossians chapter 1, in verse 9, and we'll see that God absolutely does have a will for the church.
08:29-08:35
"And so from the day we heard," Heard about what?
08:37-08:47
He just said in the previous verses, Epaphras and one of the ministers of this church came and told Paul, "Hey look, that church of Colossae, they are a mockery church.
08:47-09:15
Those people love each other and they're really maintaining that unity and love." Paul says, "Since we heard that report," he said, "we have not ceased to pray for you." Now what was Paul praying for the church? Well here it is, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will.
09:15-09:23
That was the prayer. Paul says, I want, God please fill that church with the knowledge of Your will.
09:26-09:27
But then look at this next statement.
09:28-09:41
He says, "In all spiritual wisdom and understanding." So Paul says, "I'm praying for you guys." Just a quick pause here.
09:41-09:44
Isn't it great when somebody tells you how they're praying for you?
09:46-09:46
Isn't that wonderful?
09:46-09:50
I was talking to my brother David here a couple of weeks ago.
09:50-10:01
I remember we were talking on the phone and he said, "I'm praying for your marriage." He says, "Because I know how difficult ministry can be on a marriage." And that really blessed me.
10:02-10:06
To say, "If it wasn't for Paul praying for it." He's being very specific about how he's praying.
10:06-10:09
"Thank you for that." And that's what Paul's doing here.
10:09-10:16
He says, "I'm praying for some specific things for you, church." What was he praying for?
10:16-10:18
He's praying for God's will for the church.
10:21-10:24
So let me ask you, what do you want for this church?
10:24-10:26
Maybe some of you are visiting for the first time.
10:26-10:29
You're like, "Oh, I've only been here like all 44 minutes.
10:30-10:35
How should I know what I want for the church?" Well, let me ask you, what do you want for the church?
10:37-10:42
If I would say, "What do you want for Harvest Bible Chapel?" What do you want?
10:46-10:50
I want to be the church that has the coolest technology, or the loudest band, or the...
10:51-10:56
What do you want in the church? I've seen churches that do some crazy things in the name of the gospel.
10:58-11:00
I thought about naming some of these up.
11:01-11:10
It was just off the top of my head. I remember one church was giving everybody $10 to keep the church.
11:10-11:13
It will be $10 to come to church.
11:15-11:16
Yeah, the church down the street offers $20.
11:17-11:21
I mean, what's the hell?
11:23-11:26
My brother sent me this article a couple years ago.
11:26-11:26
Did you see this?
11:26-11:37
This one church, and their sort of protested Easter, the secular Easter, I mean, you know, the bodies of the dead and all that stuff.
11:37-11:41
They had people come out with sticks and beat up the Easter Bunny.
11:42-11:43
That was a big stage thing.
11:44-11:58
And that was their way of saying, "We're done with the secular form of Easter." And the children were crying, and the parents were like, "I gasped." Churches, we can go on and on and on.
12:00-12:02
What do you want from the church?
12:03-12:06
And here's the answer. Here's the right answer.
12:08-12:09
I want what God wants.
12:10-12:11
Right? All in favor?
12:12-12:13
I want what God wants. All in favor?
12:14-12:16
Okay, that's the right side to put it on.
12:17-12:21
Okay, we're not going to tell you how to vote politically, but we will tell you how to put it on that one.
12:22-12:24
So what do you want for the church?
12:26-12:28
I want what God wants.
12:28-12:29
What do you want for this church?
12:31-12:32
What do you want for this church?
12:34-12:36
Yeah, me too. So let's find out what that is, right?
12:36-12:39
Well, as we get through this, let's not depersonalize it.
12:40-12:46
You know, don't walk away from this going, "Yep, I hope that's the kind of church Harvest is." Do you know how Harvest becomes this kind of church?
12:47-12:50
Is that we're all doing this individually.
12:50-12:58
You see, Paul's giving some things that happen individually that have to happen corporately, and that way we'll be the kind of church that God wants.
13:01-13:02
So what do you want for this church?
13:03-13:05
I want what God wants.
13:06-13:09
First time, it's not my will, it's His will.
13:09-13:14
And Paul says to the church of Colossae, I want you to be filled with the knowledge of God's will.
13:18-13:21
The knowledge of God's will is not enough.
13:23-13:24
Okay.
13:25-13:29
That's why he says we have to know it in, first of all, he says, wisdom.
13:30-13:31
In all spiritual wisdom.
13:31-13:34
So you just know in gospel, that's not enough.
13:35-13:37
You have to know it in wisdom.
13:39-13:40
And what is wisdom?
13:43-13:44
Spiritual wisdom and understanding.
13:45-13:47
He says, first of all, wisdom is applying God's work.
13:48-13:49
That's what wisdom is.
13:50-13:51
There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
13:51-13:53
Knowledge is just knowing something.
13:54-14:00
Knowledge is, yep, I know the Bible says this, yep, I know the Bible says that, Yet with the lever on Jeopardy, a New Testament is a category.
14:00-14:03
I still got it nailed because I know what the Bible says.
14:04-14:10
That's knowledge. Wisdom is, I know how to apply knowledge.
14:10-14:16
Because God said this, here's how my life should look as a result of what God had said.
14:16-14:17
That's wisdom.
14:18-14:19
Okay, it's applying knowledge.
14:20-14:24
And he says also, not only about spiritual wisdom, but understanding.
14:24-14:27
of this word up in the Greek.
14:28-14:32
But what it literally means is a spiritual putting together.
14:33-14:35
It's almost like there's a puzzle, right?
14:35-14:40
There's these pieces, or you're trying to figure out, how does this all kind of fit together?
14:42-14:44
And that's what he's praying for in the church.
14:45-14:51
We would take the knowledge of God and kind of step back and say, OK, this is what God's called us to do.
14:51-14:52
Let's do it.
14:52-14:57
Let's apply this and let's figure out how this all goes together.
14:59-15:01
So God told for harvest Bible chapter.
15:03-15:04
We have five things here.
15:05-15:06
What do you want for this church?
15:08-15:08
God.
15:10-15:14
We can be more like it, you realize God's listening.
15:15-15:17
Did you know? He's listening.
15:18-15:19
So let's tell Him.
15:19-15:21
What do you want for this church?
15:21-15:22
God.
15:22-15:25
God, I want to do this church work, you want to do this church work.
15:25-15:34
And enough of, "Here's what Jeff thinks, and this is Jeff's agenda, and Jeff thinks..." No. I want what God wants for this church, and here it is.
15:36-15:42
God's will. First of all, that we walk worthy in the Lord. Look at verse 10.
15:46-15:51
He says, "So as to." Now notice, this is how we know, this is the list, right?
15:52-15:57
He filled with the knowledge of his will, so as to.
15:58-16:03
When you have the knowledge of God's will, these are the things that you're gonna do.
16:03-16:10
The first thing is, walk worthy in the Lord, forgive me, I don't have my verse reference in your outline, I'd like to certain it's so small I can't see it anyway.
16:11-16:13
But walk worthy in the Lord, that's the first thing.
16:14-16:21
So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.
16:23-16:28
You see, as you pursue knowing the Lord, you're going to experience God changing you.
16:29-16:31
You're not going to be able to help Him.
16:32-16:36
Seeking God day by day will affect the way that you walk.
16:37-16:40
Now this statement in and of itself is always a bad one to me.
16:40-16:47
"Walk worthy of the Lord." When I hear that, I'm just like, "Well, I'm not worthy." How can I walk worthy of the Lord?
16:47-16:49
As if I'm worthy?
16:49-16:57
Well, you know, Paul said in the Genefishes 4.1, 1 Thessalonians 2.12, Olympians 1.27.
16:59-17:02
What does it mean to walk worthy of the Lord?
17:04-17:05
What's that mean?
17:06-17:10
Well, as I said before, we've been married now...
17:10-17:12
I don't know how many years has it been, a half year?
17:13-17:13
I don't know.
17:14-17:16
We've been married now, years have changed.
17:16-17:19
And, uh...
17:19-17:24
Before Aaron and I got married, I gave you a list.
17:25-17:26
Aaron, do you remember the list?
17:27-17:29
I said, "If you're going to be a miller,
17:32-17:32
(laughter)
17:33-17:36
Here are some things that millers do not do.
17:39-17:40
Millers do not use bad language.
17:42-17:44
Millers do not steal jeeps.
17:46-17:47
Millers do not bite.
17:48-17:51
And I know you guys are thinking there's going to be a back story to this stuff.
17:52-17:53
You can ask Eric about that.
17:54-18:00
Well, obviously it was a joke, and it's still kind of a joke that we play back and forth today.
18:01-18:05
But understand, you know, the point of the joke is you're going to carry my name.
18:07-18:09
So you're going to represent something.
18:10-18:13
That's a joke, but what the Bible says it is not.
18:14-18:16
How can we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord?
18:16-18:27
Well, you see, God says, "You are made righteous and perfect." You are born again, you are alive in a dead world, you carry my name and represent me.
18:27-18:32
God is saying, "Be who I say you are." And really that's what being a Christian is.
18:33-18:35
Being a Christian is being who God says you are.
18:40-19:02
You know I know a man that every time in the church service we'd pray he'd say, "God we're just nothing but a bunch of sinners." And I would talk to a brother of mine about that, "That bothers us." "Really?" Does God regard you as a sinner when you are in Christ?
19:04-19:04
The answer is no.
19:06-19:07
But you see, your identity is there.
19:08-19:13
If you go around saying, "I'm just a sinner, I'm just a sinner." Guess what you are going to do? Anyone?
19:14-19:16
You are going to sin. Why?
19:17-19:18
Because I'm just a sinner.
19:19-19:21
God is like, "No, that's not who you are.
19:22-19:23
You're my son.
19:24-19:24
You're my daughter.
19:26-19:27
You carry the name.
19:29-19:30
You go be who I said you are.
19:32-19:34
You're one who is dead to sin.
19:35-19:37
You're one who's been made alive in Christ.
19:38-19:42
You're one who's crucified the old nature, the old flesh.
19:43-19:49
God says, "You be who I say you are." Okay, so that's what Paul's saying here.
19:49-19:53
Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.
19:53-19:58
He's saying, "You're a child of God, act like it." Be who God says that you are.
20:02-20:03
So what's God's will for the church?
20:03-20:05
First of all, He wants us to walk worthy.
20:05-20:08
He wants us to identify with Him.
20:10-20:13
Secondly, bear fruit for the Lord.
20:13-20:17
So we walk worthy in the Lord, but we bear fruit for the Lord.
20:20-20:29
He says, "Bear fruit in every good work." God's will for the Church is that we are effective in every ministry that we do.
20:32-20:36
And if you were witness when we launched, this was our sermon.
20:36-20:38
You know, what's the mission of this Church?
20:38-20:41
Our mission is to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
20:42-20:47
The rest of the mission statement is in the spirit of the Great Commandment.
20:50-21:00
You see, as we're pursuing the Lord, as a body working together to this mission, we should see some fruit.
21:03-21:05
We're going for excellence, we're going for effectiveness.
21:06-21:09
That's one of the things I love about Sammy and Laura.
21:09-21:14
They're not just like, "Okay, we're going to roll out of bed on Sunday, and oh, what songs do we know?
21:14-21:15
I don't know.
21:15-21:17
We'll just do those ones." They're working very hard.
21:20-21:30
And Sammy has said over and over and over, anytime we talk about worship, he says, "It needs to be done with excellence." Not because he's putting up a show, but because Jesus Christ is worthy.
21:31-21:38
But you see, that translates in every ministry, whether it's hospitality, or the children's ministry, we're striving for excellence.
21:39-21:39
Why?
21:39-21:49
Because God has called us to "bear fruit in every good work." That's why Harvest is constantly evaluating things.
21:51-21:56
That's why my wife would tell you, you know, Sunday afternoon, how did this come across?
21:56-21:57
What do you think about this?
21:57-21:59
And I probably annoy her sometimes with that.
21:59-22:01
We're constantly evaluating.
22:01-22:02
Again, it's not for show.
22:03-22:06
It's, can we be doing things better unto the Lord?
22:10-22:13
Our goal isn't to see how many people we can have come.
22:13-22:17
Or again, how high tech we are. Did you see the size of this TV that we have? Wow.
22:18-22:19
That's not our goal.
22:22-22:23
So what do you want from this church?
22:25-22:26
I want what God wants.
22:27-22:29
Yeah, me too. I want what God wants.
22:31-22:35
So what does God want? Well, we need to ask ourselves, are people here coming to Christ?
22:37-22:41
And people have already made a decision to follow Jesus Christ.
22:42-22:46
And we are completely hung on the floor, all ready to see that coming through.
22:47-22:49
Are people growing in Christ?
22:51-22:52
And the answer is yes.
22:53-23:00
So you see, when we step back and evaluate the big picture, are people coming to Christ, are people growing in the Lord? That's the goal.
23:01-23:03
Are we doing what Jesus told us to do?
23:10-23:35
"And do this.
23:37-24:02
We want to help you do this. And our goal in Mark 5 is not that you would go out and say, "Jeff said this, Jeff said that, Pastor Jeff said this today, you know what Pastor Jeff said today? This is what Pastor Jeff said today." Don't care. Our goal is that you would go out and say, "Do you know what God said? Do you know what God's word says?" That you would come here and you're going to learn some things about the Lord and His word.
24:02-24:03
We want to help you.
24:06-24:07
It's about him.
24:08-24:09
That's about his work.
24:11-24:22
So if you're going to walk worthy, if you're going to be fruitful, you have to know the word of God, you know, Proverbs chapter 2 and verse 4, you know, for people that they'd be like, I don't really know the Bible that well.
24:24-24:27
It's always been kind of a struggle for me to learn the Bible.
24:29-24:32
I don't really know if I can understand the Bible.
24:34-24:42
Proverbs 2, verse 4 says that you should search for the wisdom of God like you would look for hidden treasure.
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So let me ask you a question.
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If I came up to you and said, "Hey, I have a treasure map right here.
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And if you follow this treasure map, you'll find a treasure chest with $3 billion worth of gold and jewels, and here it is.
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Guaranteed it'll take you to this treasure.
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So you take the map and you look at it, and there's one problem.
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The map's written in Spanish.
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Let me ask you, how many people learn Spanish quick.
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Somebody here already does.
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We'll just go ask Jenny.
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No, come on, she's not around.
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Would you go learn Spanish really quick?
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Yeah, you would.
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You see, that's what God's saying.
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You should be pursuing this like you look for hidden treasure.
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Get after this.
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Grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
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So how can I do that?
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I've got these things done.
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How can I do that?
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How can I grow in knowledge of the Lord?
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The first thing is you need to read the Bible.
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You need to read the Bible.
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And I have in parentheses in my address, not just read the Bible, but study the Bible.
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I really appreciate David and Chris Whitcomb, who we've talked about.
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They want to help the church, helping people learn how to study the Bible.
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I think that's tremendous.
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Because the Bible is not exactly like a newspaper.
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We don't want to flip through it like a Good Housekeeping magazine.
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You know, God's given us eternal truths in His Word.
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And we need help sometimes learning how to study it.
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We want to be students of the Word.
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So you've got to be in the Word.
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I have a book called "The Gospel of John" and I have a book called "The Gospel of John" that I have been reading for a long time.
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And when you read, here's my angelic analogy, when you read, look for specific application points.
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And pray over them and do them.
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See, when you read God's word, again, you don't just set it down and go, "Oh, that was interesting." "I learned a little tidbit about Jehoiachin today." "I learned some things about Achan today, very interesting." "Not sure if it's going to come up in conversation, but I learned some things today." Now, is there anything that God's trying to teach me in this?
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Or how should my life be different because of what God said?
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I agree with that.
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Look for specific applications for it.
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And the third thing to have in mind is to sign up for a small group.
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Like I said, we're launching in January.
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That's one of the great things about a small group.
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You can get with people like me, you can get with Thomson, you can get with people that want to pour into you and people that, you know, there's mutual ministry going on and you're sitting and talking about the Word of God and growing in the knowledge of the Lord.
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Those are just a few things to get you started.
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See, that's God's will for the church.
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He wants us to understand more and more and deeper and deeper who he is, who his son is, meaning the interpreter, to grow in knowledge of the Lord.
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So what do you want for the church?
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"I want what God wants." Yeah, me too. I want what God wants.
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What else is God want for the church?
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Well, let's just go to verse 11, number 4 in your outline.
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"Get my strength from the Lord." I'm not sure And all those people said, "Wow." Alright, let me explain some things to you, and it will really be wild.
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We're to be empowered in His strength.
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Now, in the Greek, this word "empowered," the Greek tense of the word is "continuous action." It's a continuous action.
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It's ongoing.
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Being the deep theological thinker that I am, I thought how can I illustrate continual energy, continual strength?
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Who can I keep up with?
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Not like Popeye.
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Okay, drop that down in the comments.
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If this is not like Popeye, you know the story of Popeye, right?
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Popeye basically gets beat up by Dodo.
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Unmerciful, they're both fighting over all of the world.
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That's a whole other issue.
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But, I am the beholder, right?
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And, well basically Popeye gets whooped and whooped and whooped until what happens?
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What does he do?
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He pulls out his tennis finish, he keeps it, and then he flexes and usually there's a little picture of his arm on his arm like a rocket juggler, like a locomotive or something.
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And then you realize the cartoon is about 15 seconds away from being over.
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Okay, well, some Christians sort of look at the Lord like that.
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Like, you know, we're weak, we're weak, we're weak, and oh look, let me see if I can try to tap into the strength.
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I'll give you strength just for now, and then it's over.
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And, like I said, this is continual.
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He says that we need to be strengthened according to His might.
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Now, that word "might" is used 12 times in the New Testament, and 11 times it refers to God.
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So, here's the point.
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God is empowering you with His strength.
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Do you get that?
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God is giving you His strength.
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A continual flow of His strength.
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Your power cord is plugged in to this outlet that God has provided.
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It's continual strength.
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And church, if you're trying to do things in your own strength, eventually you are going to be a practitioner.
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Trust me.
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Amen.
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I've been there.
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When I've tried to do things in my own strength and I haven't waited on the Lord, you'll crash.
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You'll get to the point that you realize, I need to be abiding in the vine.
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I need to be getting my strength in the Lord.
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And understand that this strength is God's strength and He's making it available to you.
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So many times people come to me and say, "Pastor Jeff, this is going on and this is going on and you need to pray for me." And I say, "Well how can I pray for you?" And they'll say, "Just pray for strength." That's an excellent prayer, but I think a lot of us people don't realize what that really means.
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What does it look like when we experience God's strength?
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Well look in your verse here.
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4. All endurance and patience with joy.
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What's the difference between endurance and patience here?
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Well really the difference is, endurance has to deal with circumstances.
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Maybe it's a job loss.
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Maybe it's an illness.
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Maybe it's some other kind of financial problem.
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It's a, you know, God give me the strength as I'm going through this circumstance.
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Patience has to do with peeping.
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Do you know somebody that makes you sort of require a little bit of patience?
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Anybody? Anybody?
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Yeah, I've had some people like that in my life.
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I've had to get on my face and say, "God, you're impatient." See, that's where the strength comes in. Endurance and patience.
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Getting us, not just squeaking by.
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You see, God's attention isn't that we're crawling through this.
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Isn't that what he says?
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For all endurance and patience with what?
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What does your Bible say in the end of verse 11?
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All endurance and patience with?
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With joy.
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Certainly, let there be joy in your Bible.
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That's how you know.
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How do I know that I have God's strength?
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There's how you know.
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If you're going through incredibly difficult circumstances, and you can say, "My hope is in heaven.
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I'm thankful for everything God has provided me.
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I am too blessed to be depressed.
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When you can carry joy with you despite hard circumstances, you'll know that that's when you're getting your strength.
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And finally, once God's willed for the church, God's will is to believe, give thanks Giving thanks, first of all, giving thanks to the Father.
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Thank Him for what?
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Some people say, "Oh, thank you for my family, and thank you that I'm able to work and provide, and thank you." All those things are great.
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And He's looking much bigger picture.
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Much bigger picture.
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Thank Him for what?
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Those things are great.
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be thankful for those things, but never, ever, ever, ever miss this.
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Give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
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Last week's sermon was all about being thankful for the gospel.
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All sort of this passage circles back to this.
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If you ask me what I think is the most baffling truth in the Bible, you know, some people are like, you know, "Party in the Red Sea," or, you know, "Creation itself," or, you know, "Man in Heaven." What do you think is the most baffling thing in the Bible? Do you know what I think it is?
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I think it's this.
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That God would qualify me.
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That God would take someone who is a rebellious, spit in the face of God's sinner, and say, "I'm going to make you alive, I'm going to change you, I'm going to put my spirit in you, You're perfect.
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Qualified.
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We often say, "The sin issues are not an issue anymore when you're in Christ." Qualified.
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You see, that's why when we say as Christians, "I'm going to heaven," some say, "Well, what gives you the right to say that? Or how did you go to heaven?" It's not a bragging thing.
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I'm like, "I earned my way, and you should look up to me because I did all these really amazing things." And God says, "Okay, now you are qualified to go to heaven." Notice your Bible says, "God has qualified you." Isnít that awesome?
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Isnít that awesome?
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By nature, I'm a piece of dirt.
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I'm like the dirt on the piece of dirt.
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Right?
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By nature.
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And God says not anymore.
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You are my son and I have qualified you.
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I don't have any inherent quality about myself.
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God has qualified me.
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So if you're sitting here this morning and this heaven issue may be rolling through your head, please listen.
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I've shared this with you before.
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The gospel is so much more than a ticket to heaven.
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Some people treat the Gospels that way, like it's God's ticket.
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Like, "Oh, you want to go to heaven? Well, repeat this magic phrase. Okay, you did that? Okay, here's your ticket.
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Make sure you present it to Peter at the front entrance and the front of the gate." No.
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That is not what the Gospel is about.
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The Gospel is about being born again.
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The Gospels about Ephesians 2 says, "You were dead in your trespasses and sins, and we've been made alive in Christ." Jesus said you won't see the Kingdom of God unless you've been born again.
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I've had people ask, "Are you one of those born-again Christians?" And the answer is, there's no other kind.
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I'm not saying that these are you. Qualified you to what? He says to share in the inheritance of these things. What's the inheritance? Very quickly here, three things. What's my inheritance? The Bible says that we inherit some things. The first thing is eternal life. Jesus said you inherit eternal life. It's not something that you're going to get someday. I can't get into heaven until eternal life. The Bible says that in Christ you have to bow. It starts now, which is going to carry us all into eternity.
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The strictness of the body and the flesh. The single flesh.
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But eternal life starts now with the people.
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What else is binary is the earth.
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Jesus said Matthew 5, "We meet you on the earth." Revelation chapter 20 says that we will reign with Christ.
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Welcome to Baffling Truth, according to Mark's Bible chapter.
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We're going to reign with Jesus Christ.
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I don't deserve to be in His presence by nature.
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He's not only qualified me.
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God says, "Now you're going to reign with My Son." That's what God says you are.
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What is my inheritance?
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Oh, this lesson is going to catch on.
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Every promise of God.
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Hebrews 6, verse 12 says, God has made a lot of promises in His Word.
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If you believe in Jesus Christ, if you have received Him as your Lord and Savior, if you have been born again, God says, "All these promises in My Word, they are all yours." They are there, and they are yours.
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So how are we qualified?
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He gives a couple notes of explanation here.
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Verses 13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness Let's pause there for a second. Delivered us Rescued from darkness, dead and set, rescued ultimately from hell Now you've seen the latest crazy last few years Actually go back I'd say the last 12 years Superhero movies are on the rocks.
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Do you notice that?
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We love our superhero movies.
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Like, what's your favorite?
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What's your favorite superhero movie?
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The Green Lantern.
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Okay, I haven't seen that one yet.
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Is it good? I haven't watched that one.
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Okay, Green Lantern.
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Somebody else, what's your favorite superhero?
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Sam, what's your favorite?
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Oh, he's actually wearing a Batman shirt.
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I'm gonna give him that.
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Paul Furson, what's your favorite superhero movie?
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I haven't seen that one, but I know that one.
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Oh!
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I'm not making light of it.
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I would understand that, but that's the flavor that this world has.
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That we are literally headed to hell, and God comes in and rescues us from a real danger.
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It's a real danger to be rescued from this hell.
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Hell is but the boogie man.
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It's a real danger.
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When I was a kid, at my grandma's house, she'd always say, "Don't go upstairs, the boogie man's over there." But I found out a couple of years ago that the boogeyman wasn't there.
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He just did more little Jeffy getting up and getting into the medicine cabinet and messing with her stuff.
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But I remember as a little kid I'd sit on the floor at the grandma's house and I'd look up.
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And in the dark, I used to sit there to see if I could see the boogeyman walking from room to room.
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True story.
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But then I found out it was all fabricated.
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closed that tent across these doors, I guess it won't be a totally bad thing.
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But understand, that wasn't real, but hell is real.
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So when the Bible says that He delivered us, that's literally what that means. He rescued us.
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And finally, please note that He didn't just rescue us from something, He rescued us to something.
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It wasn't like God swooped down and grabbed us from one burning building and put us in another burning building.
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And it wasn't even God that swooped down and rescued us from a burning building and put us in a regular place.
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Look at what it says.
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He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
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The kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have condemnation and forgiveness of sins.
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God really didn't explain as a church why we should be thankful.
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But you truly understand.
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We've been rescued from something.
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And we've been rescued to something.
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Out of darkness.
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Out of misfare. Out of hopelessness. Out of ultimately hell.
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Instead of experiencing the worst, God gave us the best.
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He transferred us not just in a kingdom, but in THE kingdom of His Beloved Son.
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So what do you want from this church?
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I want the Blessed Ones.
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The last thing we saw in this text is the darkness is to give thanks.
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So just now we're going to receive the Lord's Supper as we close out our service.
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And the Lord's Supper means so many things.
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It's a time of self-examination, the Bible says.
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It's a time of worship.
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It's a time of remembrance.
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That last verse we read, verse 14, talks about the forgiveness of sin.
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Jesus said to do this in remembrance of Him.
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And this is to give thanks.
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So we're going to pray.
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And as our ushers, we'll be coming down in a second and passing out communion.
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You'll see in the tray, in each slot there's actually two cups.
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The top one has the juice in it, and the bottom one has the bread in it.
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If you just take one of those and hold on to it, after our song adapters get distributed, we'll take one of those songs together.
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Okay?
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That's right.
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Oh, Father, to really stop and consider where we were headed.
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To really stop and consider what our true condition was.
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And to realize that you pressed on us, you delivered us.
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From the domain of darkness, you transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son.
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Father, just now we're coming to your table.
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Father, as a church, we want what you want.
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We want to be a church that finds our identity in Jesus Christ.
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A church that is fruitful.
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Father, we want to be a church that grows in the knowledge of you.
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A church that we find our strength in you.
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A church that we are thankful to you.
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Father, there are so many things to be thankful about.
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Just now what we are going to do is Jesus commanded.
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And focus on Redemption.
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And forgiveness of sins.
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Oh Father thank you.
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Oh Father thank you.
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Your grace is staggering.
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Thank you for qualifying us.
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I pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Colossians 1:9-14
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.