Romans 8:29 - For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
- I let the Character of Christ Reflect in me (Col 3:12-14)
- compassionate hearts -
- kindness -
- humility -
- meekness -
- patience -
- bearing with one another -
- forgiveness -
- love -
- I let the Peace of Christ Rule in me (Col 3:15)
- I let the Word of Christ Reside in me (Col 3:16)
- I let the Name of Christ Resound in me (Col 3:17)
Philippians 4:6-7 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:03
Open your Bibles to Colossians Chapter 3.
00:16-00:19
We're going to be picking up in verse 12 today.
00:23-00:31
The title of this message is "Signs of Life." I've been doing some reading this week.
00:32-00:35
I've just been so excited to tell you some of these things. Are you ready?
00:40-00:42
Dramatic pause. That's what that was.
00:43-00:45
Alright. As you know...
00:49-00:52
Scientists think they might have found signs of life on Mars.
00:55-01:02
And all God's people said, "Ooooh!" Try it again. You know that they think they found signs of life on Mars?
01:03-01:05
"Ooooh!" That's what I said, right?
01:06-01:10
Well, I was trying to do some digging to get something specific about this.
01:10-01:11
Here's what they found.
01:12-01:18
They found methane signatures and possible biological activity hidden in caves.
01:23-01:40
I read another website that said, "Well, sure, there's building blocks for life on Mars because we found underground microbial ecosystems." I don't even know what that means to be honest with you. I'm just throwing that out there like I do.
01:40-01:44
They also said you found organic materials in mud volcanoes.
01:46-02:00
But not to worry, we're going to get some clarification on this because last November, the Atlas V rocket carried a rover to see if we could find some life on Mars.
02:01-02:07
This project was a 10-year, $2.5 billion project.
02:10-02:17
Okay, so young people, if your parents ever tell you that you're wasting money, I want you to remember this.
02:18-02:30
The government spent 2.5 billion dollars to send a rover thinking that we're going to find life on Mars.
02:31-02:43
It's always interesting what they do find and how they say, "That's not life." Well, I can tell that that really didn't excite you as much as it did me, so I'm going to take another rub at something else here.
02:43-02:47
I was looking up, what are some signs of life on the earth?
02:48-02:49
Alright?
02:50-02:54
Remember Mrs. Gren, G-R-E-N, it's like an acrostic, right?
02:55-02:59
Mrs. Gren, here's the seven signs of life.
03:00-03:02
Here's how you know if you're alive.
03:02-03:06
So I'm going to give you this list and I want you to look at the person next to you and see if they're alive.
03:07-03:15
Okay? Movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion, and nutrition.
03:15-03:21
On second thought, not all of those are going to be happy to be doing the shirt service.
03:22-03:26
I hope. Those are signs of life.
03:29-03:31
So how do you know if there's life?
03:32-03:36
Well, Mars we have microbial systems, and our Mercury has this red.
03:36-03:56
I was reading these things and I thought, "How do we know if something's alive?" Well, actually I went back to my childhood, and I remember there was this song when I was a kid that really put a lot of it into perspective for me.
03:59-04:01
And maybe it will for you too.
04:03-04:04
Maybe this will educate you.
04:04-04:05
Show that video to Sammy.
04:37-05:16
Alive And you're alive, yeah, yeah, yeah You're alive Breathe in, breathe out Breathe in, breathe out Well, a rock's not alive And a crack's not alive A telephone's not alive An ice cream cone's not alive And don't breathe on it or grow old And that is how you know You don't know, I'm alive, alive, alive Okay, you want to watch the rest of this?
05:16-05:36
Or can you just leave it The ice cream cone is not alive.
05:36-05:37
It's what we learned this morning.
05:38-05:39
Please don't take it out.
05:39-05:43
Because these are all signs of life.
05:43-05:52
But you know, whether it's on Mars, or whether it's on one of my other favorite places, Sesame Street, I'm not really concerned about signs of life there.
05:54-05:58
Actually, what I'm most concerned about are signs of life here.
06:00-06:00
In the church.
06:02-06:05
I'm most concerned about signs of life in you.
06:05-06:06
What do you mean by that?
06:07-06:10
We've been studying this for the last years, over and over.
06:10-06:15
We've seen that we were dead in our sins.
06:16-06:17
And what did Paul tell us?
06:18-06:20
We've been, what? Made alive.
06:21-06:22
In Christ.
06:22-06:28
We've identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
06:28-06:33
and it's being alive in Christ, that's the thing that transforms us.
06:33-06:35
So the question is, have you been born again?
06:37-06:43
And if you've been born again, you will have the signs of life.
06:46-07:00
In our kids' report, we had a lot of people say, "Well, I bet your house is really different." "Oh, but the baby is..." "I haven't noticed. Nothing's changed." Obviously that's a joke, but there's always evidence when there's life, right?
07:01-07:02
Life is self-evident.
07:06-07:10
So, we've been going through this series of Colossians saying Jesus is first.
07:10-07:12
Jesus is first.
07:12-07:16
Well, the question is, what does it look like when Jesus is first in me?
07:18-07:21
Well, it looks like God at work in you, making you like His Son.
07:21-07:23
Look in your outline, reference 829.
07:23-07:36
It says, "For those who before knew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." What's God's goal for you?
07:36-07:39
God wants you to be conformed into the image of His Son.
07:39-07:41
That's God's goal for every believer.
07:42-07:46
That more and more and more you are growing to be more like Jesus Christ.
07:48-07:51
We have died and been raised with Christ.
07:51-07:53
We learned that's the theology of the lost children.
07:54-07:57
But the question is, what does that mean practically?
07:58-08:00
That's the theological concept.
08:00-08:01
What does it mean practically?
08:02-08:03
Well, that's when we started this.
08:04-08:09
Identifying with Christ's death means that we kill some things that are earthly in us.
08:10-08:11
And remember, we also saw it's putting off.
08:12-08:14
There's some things that we need to put off.
08:15-08:22
Well, just as we've identified with the death and the putting off, We also identify with the resurrection and the putting on.
08:23-08:25
Look at verse 10 again. This was from last week.
08:27-08:32
He says, "And have put on the new self." You put on the new self.
08:34-08:43
What is the new self? He tells us, "Our new self is being renewed in the knowledge of the image of its Creator." Put on.
08:45-08:48
Also notice that this is an imperative.
08:49-08:55
Saying, "Put on." Here are some things you need to put on.
08:58-09:00
Let's jump into the text here.
09:03-09:05
Signs of life. Are you ready?
09:06-09:07
First of all, look at verse 12.
09:09-09:22
He says, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved." I'm going to pause right here.
09:22-09:26
When he talks about putting on, I want you to see that not just anybody can do this.
09:27-09:27
Okay?
09:29-09:33
If you hear this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can't do these things.
09:35-09:59
You're going to hear this message and say, "Go to hell." good things. Those are good things. Those are good things. You can't, you can't put them on apart from Christ. Paul makes that very clear here. Notice he says put on that as, well who can do this? Those who are chosen and holy and beloved. He's talking about Christians born again believers. Chosen.
10:02-10:07
Do you know if you're a believer in Jesus Christ that God chose you?
10:09-10:11
Like a doctor, right?
10:12-10:13
Not naturally important.
10:15-10:15
Chosen.
10:17-10:18
God chose you.
10:19-10:23
You're like, "Wait a second, I thought I chose God, so which is it?
10:24-10:29
Did God choose me, or did I choose God?" That's like a whole other sermon, but I'm going to tell you what to do.
10:30-10:34
Get on our website, MarcusPittsburghNorth.org, and we're going to have a whole blog about that subject.
10:34-10:46
You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, are you a Calvinist? Are you a Mormonian? Are you, uh, you know, after watching Sesame Street Church and not sure what you are?" Um, but, uh, check that out on the blog.
10:48-10:51
But the truth is, we have been chosen by God.
10:53-10:57
God in His sovereignty chose us for adoption.
10:59-11:01
He also says we are holy, that's set apart.
11:02-11:04
We talked about imputed holiness.
11:04-11:08
We are perfect in God's eyes because of what Jesus Christ has done.
11:08-11:12
And he says we are the love and we are the object of God's love.
11:12-11:14
So because you are these things.
11:17-11:18
Number one in your outline.
11:19-11:19
Chunk this up.
11:19-11:21
I let the character of Christ reflect in me.
11:23-11:26
This is our first set of put-ons here.
11:26-11:29
I let the character of Christ reflect in me.
11:29-11:30
Let's look at these whole verses.
11:31-11:55
Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, and he gives a list, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, and if one hasn't complained against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord hasn't forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
11:57-12:03
And above all these, "put on love" which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
12:06-12:08
Again, it's putting on. It's putting on.
12:09-12:11
Here's your dress code for church.
12:12-12:15
Putting on. Literally, it's used 28 times in the New Testament.
12:15-12:19
Literally, "put on" is the word we use for getting dressed.
12:20-12:23
We used that picture last week when you put on.
12:24-12:35
Imagine if you're dressed in ready for work and you get a car drive by and hits a big nasty muddy garbagey puddle along the curb and just douses you.
12:36-12:39
You're not going to go in the house and just put new clothes over top of the old clothes, are you?
12:43-12:47
No, okay. Jane Outterson's no, the rest of you not sure. Okay, I'm with you.
12:47-12:50
You're not just going to put the new clothes over top of the old clothes.
12:50-12:51
So this is a picture of the Christian life.
12:51-12:56
You're going to go in, you're going to take off the old clothes, and you're going to put on the new clothes.
12:57-12:58
And that's exactly what he's saying here.
12:59-13:00
It's putting on, putting on.
13:01-13:04
Get dressed. Putting on the character of Christ.
13:05-13:07
I look at the character of Christ reflected in me.
13:07-13:08
I'm going to go through this list quickly.
13:10-13:13
Just make a statement about each of these things.
13:13-13:15
A couple statements. A couple. One here.
13:15-13:17
First of all, compassionate hearts.
13:19-13:23
Compassionate hearts, some translations say, vows of mercies.
13:24-13:25
Vows of mercies.
13:26-13:27
Jump this stuff.
13:27-13:28
I care about helping those in need.
13:29-13:31
I care about helping those in need.
13:31-13:32
That's compassionate hearts.
13:33-13:41
And I like that translation, vows of mercy, because we can indifferently try to help someone.
13:42-13:47
Say, well, I guess because I'm supposed to do the right thing and I'm supposed to be nice, I guess I'm going to help them.
13:47-13:49
That's not compassionate for us.
13:50-13:52
Compassionate for us, I want it all.
13:53-13:58
I see the need and that's why it's bowels of mercy because you feel it where?
13:58-14:00
You feel it in your bowels.
14:02-14:03
Like, well that's kind of a cursed master joke.
14:03-14:05
But you know what that feeling is.
14:05-14:09
When you have that feeling in your gut, in your stomach, like I just gotta do something.
14:10-14:11
I just gotta do something.
14:13-14:13
Bowels of mercy.
14:15-14:17
I just gotta help those in need.
14:18-14:23
Kindness. I care about your well-being as much as my own. That's kindness.
14:24-14:27
I care about you. I really do care about you.
14:27-14:30
As much as I would care about myself, that's...
14:30-14:32
Well, you can't raise yourself higher than that.
14:33-14:36
Humility. I hold you higher than I hold myself.
14:37-14:38
That's a top one.
14:39-14:41
Philippines, I believe it's on Philippines 2-3.
14:41-14:45
Paul says that we should consider how much more significant than ourselves.
14:45-14:46
That's humility.
14:46-14:48
They don't walk into the church and say, "You know who I am?
14:49-14:50
I'm probably the most important person here.
14:50-14:55
In fact, my church is probably just closed down." That's not humility.
14:56-15:00
Humility is, "These are the important people in the church.
15:02-15:03
Everybody else." Humility.
15:04-15:05
Meekness.
15:07-15:07
Meekness.
15:08-15:10
Here's what meekness literally means.
15:10-15:13
I would rather be hurt than hurt someone else.
15:13-15:14
That's what meekness is.
15:16-15:19
I would rather be hurt than hurt someone else.
15:22-15:22
Alright?
15:23-15:28
You're like, "Okay, I got you. Compassion, compassionability, and Israelite." Nice things. Easy things, right?
15:28-15:29
Well, no.
15:32-15:35
I would suggest to you again that they are impossible to fulfill in the flesh.
15:43-15:43
However...
15:43-15:46
Just is putting up with difficulty.
15:47-15:48
That's why he goes on the list.
15:49-15:51
Patience, patience.
15:55-16:00
I will not grow wearier in dealing with difficulty.
16:01-16:01
That's patience.
16:03-16:04
That's patience.
16:04-16:07
I will not grow wearier in dealing with difficult people.
16:08-16:13
Again, bearing with one another, literally in the Greek language, Hold yourself back from someone.
16:14-16:15
Hold yourself back from someone.
16:16-16:20
Like, we're gonna be honest here this morning.
16:20-16:21
Did you ever have somebody just like, trying to get on your nerves?
16:22-16:22
Anybody?
16:23-16:24
Anybody up in the green?
16:24-16:24
Okay.
16:25-16:32
You're just like, "When I see that guy, "I'm gonna let her have it!" Come on, how many people have done that?
16:33-16:35
You're laughing because you've done that.
16:35-16:40
When I see him, I'm going to unload on that guy.
16:45-17:14
I'm not going to That's beyond the same with love people that they like.
17:15-17:15
That's easy.
17:16-17:17
You can love people that you like.
17:19-17:25
But this is Christ -like to love the unlovable.
17:28-17:29
To bear with one another.
17:30-17:31
Then he goes on.
17:33-17:38
He says, look at this, verse 13, "And if one has a complaint against another," well, let's stop there.
17:40-17:48
Before we read on, I don't know if this quote, if I'm reading it in my head, but what do we typically do if we have a complaint against someone?
17:49-17:51
We'll jump these four things down.
17:52-17:54
Here's the wrong way of dealing with complaints about people.
17:55-18:00
And sadly, this is the common way that complaints about people are dealt, all right?
18:03-18:06
Top four answers on the board, we're serving 100 people.
18:06-18:10
What's a wrong way of dealing with a complaint against someone?
18:11-18:13
Number four, we blow it out of proportion.
18:13-18:15
We blow it out of proportion.
18:16-18:28
All of a sudden, this little, you know, misunderstood communication that we had, all of a sudden, that person is like Nazi Al-Qaeda, all of a sudden.
18:29-18:32
And I can't believe this, and I'm all of a sudden, you know, it's...
18:32-18:35
Are they even a Christian? I can't believe they even talk to me.
18:35-18:38
And we just blow the whole thing out of proportion.
18:38-18:39
I can't believe they did that.
18:39-18:44
I think people are wounded if they, you know, just pulled out a knife and stabbed me right in the face.
18:44-18:46
And I just can't believe.
18:46-18:48
We just, we blow things out of proportion, really.
18:49-18:50
Here's a little exercise for you.
18:51-18:58
When you have a complaint against someone, I want you to clearly, I don't want you to gossip.
18:58-19:03
I want you to just by yourself, clearly write down and articulate what your complaint is.
19:03-19:04
Okay?
19:04-19:07
But clearly write it down and articulate it.
19:07-19:08
And sit on it for a couple of days.
19:09-19:23
And I guarantee you, you're going to look at that in a couple of days and be like, "That's what I'm so offended about, really? Like, that? That is what I'm so upset about? That's my big complaint?" That's why it's always so funny, but it's not funny.
19:24-19:27
You know, being in ministry sometimes people will have a complaint against each other.
19:27-19:48
They're like, "I'm scared of the pastor involved!" And they come, and they're like, "Here's why I'm mad at this person!" and I'm just like, "Let me say it back to you." This is why you're mad at them, and they're just like, "Uh... yes?" Like... like...
19:48-19:50
My counselling session is too short, by the way.
19:51-19:53
Like... that's your complaint? Like, next?
19:55-19:58
If one has a complaint, what's another wrong way of dealing?
19:58-20:00
Number three would be just going to another church.
20:00-20:01
That's the American way.
20:02-20:05
I don't like the way that person in the church is treating me.
20:06-20:08
I'm just going to pack up and move on.
20:08-20:09
You're like, wow, Christ, you've done that stuff.
20:09-20:11
That's the USA just started church play.
20:12-20:13
Those of us came from another church.
20:14-20:18
And I hope that you care because you believe that God has called you before starting this ministry.
20:18-20:27
I sincerely hope that you're not here because the church down the street just made you so mad you've made no effort to resolve conflicts.
20:28-20:30
Now sometimes these things happen, I get that.
20:31-20:35
But if you haven't made any effort to resolve a conflict with your previous pastor, you should do it now.
20:36-20:36
Okay?
20:37-20:47
I'm glad that you're here, glad to have people on board, but it would be against the kingdom to just let these unresolved differences...
20:47-20:52
Even if you decide to stay here or go back or whatever, if you have an unresolved conflict, go back and deal with it.
20:52-20:59
You can't just sit down and say, "Hey, I left on some bad terms and I want to talk to you about it." Okay? It's safe to keep doing it.
21:01-21:03
Something like that's how we deal with a complaint.
21:04-21:07
Number two, we tell others about our complaint, not the person.
21:08-21:14
We tell others. We tell everybody that can't do a thing about it, and the one person that can do something about it, we'll go to the temple.
21:17-21:19
That's like the affinity of the laity.
21:20-21:25
If you have an issue with me, I hope that you care about, then come and tell me.
21:27-21:28
Just come and talk to me.
21:32-21:49
I've noticed it with more people, you know, tell everybody else, "Hey Dan, here's my message, I'm just bullied, it ticks me off." And you go, "Hey Tom, you're fine, I don't like that." If I'm doing something, if I have a blood spot, or if there's something you need clarified, come and talk to me.
21:49-21:49
Alright?
21:50-21:53
Because talking to other people about the issue isn't going to resolve the issue.
21:54-21:57
Alright? That's a wrong way of dealing with a complaint.
21:57-22:08
Number one, along the same lines, and I think this is what I see most often, is "Please just shut the person out." "Please just shut the person out." Do you know what I mean by that?
22:09-22:21
It's "I have an issue with you, Ken, and instead of talking with you, I'm just going to ignore you." You can pretend like he's not even here.
22:21-22:22
I'm just going to ignore him.
22:23-22:25
And I just shut him out.
22:25-22:28
You know what? That's really the equivalent of murdering somebody in your heart.
22:29-22:30
You know, I just don't want this person to exist.
22:31-22:34
Those are all wrong ways of dealing with complaints, okay?
22:35-22:36
So what's the right way?
22:39-22:42
If one has a complaint against another, look, here it is.
22:42-22:47
Forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
22:47-22:51
Alright, shout it out. How has the Lord forgiven you?
22:51-22:52
What does he mean by that?
22:52-22:55
As the Lord has forgiven you, you must forgive one another.
22:55-22:57
Shout it out. How has the Lord forgiven us?
22:57-22:58
Completely.
22:58-23:01
Completely! I've heard a few people say that. Completely! Right?
23:03-23:07
In Jesus Christ, how much of your sin are you still guilty of?
23:08-23:09
How much? Zero.
23:09-23:12
Completely forgiven. Completely forgiven.
23:13-23:14
How about the other one?
23:15-23:16
Repeatedly.
23:16-23:18
Repeatedly. Okay, yeah.
23:20-23:22
I'm sure there's going to come another day.
23:23-23:24
Probably today.
23:25-23:26
Where I'm going to sit.
23:26-23:27
Some Lord thought of me.
23:28-23:29
Are my future sins forgiven?
23:30-23:34
Yes. Actually, from Jesus died on the cross, all of my sins were forgiven.
23:36-23:38
So my future sins are forgiven. But He's still going to keep forgiving.
23:39-23:40
He's still...
23:40-23:42
Okay, what else? Any other words?
23:42-23:43
How else are you forgiven in Christ?
23:44-23:45
Continually.
23:46-23:47
Well, that was like...
23:48-23:49
Sorry, I just got off that hospital and stuff.
23:51-23:53
I'm sorry, what did somebody say here?
23:55-23:55
Unconditionally!
23:56-23:56
Unconditionally!
23:57-23:57
There was a good one!
23:58-23:59
Ok, somebody back there said something.
23:59-24:00
Go ahead, what was it?
24:01-24:01
Continually!
24:03-24:05
Alright, unconditionally, continually.
24:06-24:08
That is how Christ has forgiven us.
24:10-24:12
So you must forgive.
24:14-24:18
So you must forgive.
24:20-24:21
Pastor Jeff, I just heard.
24:21-24:23
Pastor Jeff, that person, we're all committing.
24:24-24:25
Yeah. It happens.
24:27-24:28
Let's get the scales out.
24:29-24:34
And let's weigh that person's offense against your offenses towards God.
24:35-24:36
Who do you think committed more offenses?
24:37-24:39
That person towards you, or you towards God?
24:44-24:47
And if Christ says, "You know what?
24:48-24:51
I will remember their sins no more." Not an issue.
24:52-24:56
"You are holy, you are perfect." Not an issue.
24:57-25:08
And then we find the guy that comes along and sits against us one time and says one thing we don't like and we say, "I will never forgive that person!" And by the way, if you have ever said that, you better check yourself.
25:10-25:14
If you've ever said, "I will never forgive that person," that is not the Attitude of Christ.
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Completely, unconditionally, continually, repeatedly, you are forgiven, thoroughly, totally, in Christ.
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So we must forgive others, okay?
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Then he says, "Above all these put up love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
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The word for love is agape." That's the you before me kind of love.
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That's self-sacrificing kind of love.
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That's love the Lord.
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"Your deeds above my comfort." Notice he says it binds everything together.
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This is kind of a picture that would have been more, I guess, tangibly seen in the first century.
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Because in our day, we dress a little different than they did in the first century.
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If you can kind of imagine a Middle Eastern person with their robes on, and they'd have the garment to be against their body, and they'd have an attitude, and they'd have a robe.
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So they'd have all these clothes hanging off of them, right?
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So what they do is they take another cloth and wrap it around it and tie it and basically it cinches everything together.
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So what is the thing that cinches everything together when we reflect the character of Christ? It's love.
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Love is the thing that kind of brings all this stuff together and ties it and says this is what it is. It's love. It's love.
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Now you can try to force these characteristics, but without love it's not going to last and it's not going to be genuine.
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You've heard me say this before, I'm going to say it again.
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We're not playing church here. We are going for the real thing. That's why I launched a small group last week.
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We're going for the real thing.
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We are going for passionately pursuing Christ like this.
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Because that is what Christ is pursuing in us.
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So we are going for the real thing.
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We are not putting on a show.
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We are not playing church.
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We are going for an authentic faith walk with the Lord.
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That is what we are going for.
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A lot of you know my son Cade.
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One of the things Cade likes to do, he's five, every year I shop he's lifting up your year.
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Did you know Cade, he was the kid that was kicked right in the face by a horse, and last March I thought he was dead, and not one broken bone, I believe, was on him.
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In the most, you know, incredible way imaginable.
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One of the things Kate likes to do is he likes to play dress up.
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And then you're like, "That sounds kind of feminine." No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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Amanda, he dresses up in male-y, dress up things.
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We're talking pirates, we're talking firefighters, we're talking superheroes, okay?
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But here's the thing with Kate.
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He doesn't really go for one motif.
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Cape usually goes for several things at the same time.
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He'll come up to me, and he'll have on his Superman cape, a pirate costume, and he has this red cowl cap.
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And he'll come up to me, and he'll jump in front of me, and be like, "Hello, Cape!" And I'll be like, "Cape, where are you?" And he'll say, "I'm Super Pirate Cowboy!"
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[laughter]
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I'm like, "Wow! Super Pirate Cowboy! That's... that's...
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...cooler than anything I can conceptualize in my head, that's what that is." Yesterday, he said, "A pirate has had a...
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...pirate costume... clip on top."
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[laughter]
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For the slightly less business technical, by the way, the pirates.
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Well, here's my point of this.
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Cade likes to put a lot of things on.
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And I'm only saying this because he's not here.
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But it's not real. Is it real?
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It's not. He's not really Super Pirate Calvin.
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Not really, because if he really was, he could fly, have a ship, and a horse.
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Right?
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That's not real!
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But here's the point.
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When we've reflected the character of Christ, love is the thing that makes it real.
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Do you understand that?
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It's the love of Christ in us, letting our light shine through us, reflecting it.
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That's what makes it real.
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This church could be made known for a lot of things.
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This is the new church, and this is the church that was in Marshall Middle School, and this is the James MacDonald church, and this is the church with a really talented worship team, and all good things, okay?
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This needs to be a church where people are alive.
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And again, not superficially, not cheesy, game show host, Sunday morning, so busy, but it's not real.
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This needs to be a church where people genuinely love each other.
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And when people leave, they might say, "You know what? I didn't really know those worship songs and the preacher is obviously goofy for Coco Pops." But, I know that those people really seem to genuinely care about me.
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That's what we're going for. Love is going to be the thing that binds us all together, okay?
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So, besides in life, I let the character of Christ reflect in me.
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Number two, I let the peace of Christ rule in me.
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"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful." What is the peace of Christ?
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Peace is used in different ways in the New Testament.
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Sometimes it's like a peace treaty.
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There's agreement now, and there's peace.
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Sometimes it means an attitude of rest.
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And really both of these pictures are in line in this passage.
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It is because we have peace with Christ, and He gives us rest at the same time.
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Interestingly, it says that the peace of Christ rule, this word for rule, is a term used for an umpire deciding the outcome of a game.
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That's what rule means.
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What's he saying here?
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Christ's peace guides us in making decisions.
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Every decision affirmed by the Holy Spirit, or we can say wrong decisions, leaving us spiritually unsettled.
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Did you ever have to make a decision?
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A really tough decision, and you're just like, not really sure what to do.
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But you come to that place where you're making a decision, And you say, "It was a hard decision to make, but I know, I know that I made the right decision." Did you ever have that happen?
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That was hard.
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But I know, and here's a lot of times what happens for me to be honest with you.
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Sometimes I'll be thinking about making the wrong decision and I just get to the point where I'm like, "I can't do that.
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I can't do that.
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The peace of Christ isn't ruling in my heart right now.
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I can't do that." And if you've walked with Christ, You know exactly what I'm talking about.
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Some of you might not understand this, but...
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When you're walking in the Lord, when God's Holy Spirit is reigning in you, one of the things that happens is, His peace comes on you.
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It rules in us.
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It's a sign of life.
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Some of us here this morning, you might be facing a decision, you might be saying, "Well, I know exactly what I should do." Maybe there's some selfish motivation to not do the right thing.
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I counsel you this morning is just do the right thing and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
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Pastor, you know sometimes, sometimes I don't have peace.
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You know sometimes, sometimes it seems like I have a hard time feeling that rest.
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Well, right here in the text it tells us what hinders peace.
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See that last phrase?
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Peace is to be thankful.
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If you carry a burden of sin, you carry a burden of grace.
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attitude of ungratefulness in your heart, you're not going to have the peace of Christ in your heart at the same time.
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And Paul made that very clear in Philippians chapter 4, I have it here outlined.
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Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, my friends, on occasion of Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
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You're going to get the peace of God that's going to surpass all understanding.
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work towards your hearts and your lives.
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In Christ Jesus.
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Notice he says, "Thanksgiving!" "Thanks for fertile soil, for peace." "Ungratefulness will hinder this peace." You know, one of the things that just breaks my heart.
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Sometimes, you know, being a pastor or a minister, you deal with a lot of people at their best and also people at their worst.
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And I've seen on numerous occasions where there's a death at the table.
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And the deceased has a will.
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And says, "Well, I want Tom to get my truck.
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Naomi to get my kitchen appliances." Well, now all of a sudden Leo hates Paul because I went in the truck.
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I went in the truck!
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You know, Joseph said, "I can have your truck." I'm not making light of it, I've seen it.
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Families divided, torn apart, ungratefulness destroying peace.
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Ungratefulness destroying peace.
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Do you want the peace of Christ to rule in your heart?
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Be thankful.
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Be thankful.
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"Thankfulness should be as natural to a Christian as breathing." "When you stop to consider all that you have, be thankful." "Sign of life number two, I let the peace of Christ rule in me." "Sign of life number three, I let the word of Christ reside in me." "The word." "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom." Singing songs of hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God the Word.
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So let's pretend that your heart is a house.
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What is the relationship between the Word and your heart as a house?
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Is the word a relative to only business on holidays?
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Like the Christmas vacation, right?
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Is that how the word is in you?
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Like, yeah, I have a copy of the Bible, but I only read it a couple times a year.
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Is that how the word comes to your house?
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Or maybe the word is like a kid off college.
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Every weekend I get the Word.
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That's the Word of my life Pastor Jeff.
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Every weekend, every weekend I get the Word.
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Every weekend, well what does your Bible say?
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It says, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." That means abundantly.
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That means the Word has moved in, taken up residence.
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I'm a homebody. I'm not leaving.
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That's the sign of life.
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When the Word of Christ is constantly in you.
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You see that in the believers.
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I think the guy who comes to mind is Ted Shaw, the head of the Marcus Bobby Fellowship.
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That guy is just constantly like, "Scripture, Scripture, Scripture, Scripture." You're not going to have a conversation with him.
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Or he's not going to leave you with an encouragement from Scripture.
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That's just Him.
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And the Word of Christ is richly, abundantly dwelling in Him.
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How is it in you? It's a sign of life.
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Every thought, every word, every attitude, every action.
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God's Spirit in me, using God's Word in me, so that God has His way in me.
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That's what God's after.
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Are you on that agenda?
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He says, "Teaching and admonishing." That's just the, I read from the original rabbi, a positive and a negative.
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That's what we do in church.
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Teaching and admonishing. Teaching is a positive thing.
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I need to tell you some things about Jesus.
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I need to tell you some things about what God says in His Word.
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As teaching, admonishing is warning, listen, if you're not serious about what God said in His book, I've got to warn you. I've got to warn you about some things.
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Throughout the Bible, I tell you already, if you have not received Jesus Christ as your Savior, this morning, that He said, "Sing Psalms in hymns and spiritual songs." "Put thankfulness in your hearts to God." What's the difference between a Psalm and a spiritual Psalm?
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The songs.
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This is profound. The song.
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It's a song.
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Did you get why we called it like that?
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A song is a song. It was just the songs set to music.
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You'll notice sometimes, you know, Sam and Lauren and the crew will be, and Jay and Bob will be leading a song.
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Like, oh yeah, that's like straight from the songs.
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That's why we're doing this. Okay?
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It's not like We sit down and we talk about that, we map that out.
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And it's very important to us that we are honoring the Lord in our service with the music that's being sung.
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It's very intentional.
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I'm sure you've thought that.
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But I let the Word of grace reside in it's not just information, it's emotion, but it's both.
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It's not just worshipping in truth, but it's also worshipping in spirit.
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It's both.
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Letting the Lord Great Resound in me.
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Oh there's thankfulness again.
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You see that right there?
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The thankfulness in your hearts.
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You've seen that a lot with Colossians haven't you?
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Colossians 1.3 1.12 2.7.3 15-17 1.2 1.4 1 more.
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Let the name of Christ I let the name of Christ resound in me.
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And he says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." I'm working on a study Bible.
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I'm writing a study Bible.
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Did you know that?
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I have a commentary, I have a footnote for this verse.
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And it just says, "Ding." That's like all it says. "Ding." Like, yeah, this is it. This is it.
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So let's try that.
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"Whatever you do in the Word of the Lord, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father for Him." "Ding." Like, what else do we need to say, right?
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This is the simplest verse in the whole Bible I am not concerned with Everything I do should be for Jesus Christ, because of Jesus Christ, and powered by Jesus Christ.
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That's the Christian life, that's what he says right here. Everything made for Jesus.
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So as I close, let me ask you, are you alive?
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Are you alive in Christ?
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If you are, these are signs of life.
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And like God's sovereign will and man's personal responsibility, sometimes it's hard to discern.
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I'll just be honest with you, sometimes it's hard to discern.
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That these are things that we are commanded to do, but the Bible says that these are things that the Holy Spirit does in us and through us.
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It really boils down to this.
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I want you to write these questions down as you are examining yourself.
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It boils down to the heart.
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Are you trying to fulfill these sins in the flesh?
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Are you letting God's Holy Spirit work in you?
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What you find is you're yielding your will, you're cooperating with His work.
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We jot these questions down.
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Before worship team is making their way up, we'll wind it down here.
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We jot these questions down.
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First question is this.
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With these signs of life, let me ask you to ask yourself, Do I have an appetite for these things?
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Do I have an appetite for these things?
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That's a side of life.
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Do I have an appetite for these things?
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None of us do these things perfectly.
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But do you have an appetite for these things?
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Second question.
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Do I see real growth in me in these areas?
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Signs of life, right?
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They, our Sesame Street guy, he said, "They grow, right? Don't living things grow?" If you're alive and raised, you should see growth.
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You should be able to look back and say, "You know what? I see how, you know, the past month or the past year, I see how the world's been growing me in so many ways." You should see signs of growth.
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If you're sitting here this morning and you're saying, you know, I gave my life to Christ back in 1877, and I really haven't seen any difference in my life since then, we can die, because living things grow.
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Last question.
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Ask yourself this, am I unsettled in my spirit that these things are gonna happen?
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It's one of the ways the Holy Spirit works in me.
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I don't know if he's like that for you, There's just time for that.
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The Holy Spirit will be stirring, reading these passages, reading them, "You know what, Jim?
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Patience is an area that I've been working with you for a while.
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I'm going to keep working with you, because you don't quite have it." And there's enough subtleness in me, because I see how much more I have to grow.
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Not just in that area, but in so many.
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Signs of life.
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Christ alive in you.
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Now let's get dressed.
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We put some things to death.
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We cast off some things.
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Now let's be dressed in the heart of Christ.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Colossians 3:12-17
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.