February 6, 2022 - Sunday Service Live Stream

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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but you also dealt with us, those who are of a contrite and a lowly spirit.

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We ask that you would meet with us here according to your promise, that we would take great joy and delight in being in your presence, that we would be spurred on to greater obedience and walking in righteousness, following the example of our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Please kneel, if you're able, for the corporate confession of sin.

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Let's now join together in one voice. Almighty and most merciful

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Father, of too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against your holy laws.

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We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

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There is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.

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Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord. Grant that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of his holy name.

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Amen. Please stand. Our sin is ever -present before us.

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We see its consequences, we experience its stealing of our joy, but we have

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Christ, and in him we have the forgiveness of sins. Be delighted to hear these words of pardon.

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He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.

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By whose stripes you are healed. To all of you who are here gathered today, who are in Christ, take heart.

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In him, your sins are forgiven. Amen. Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 53.

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Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Sing it with all of your heart like you believe it.

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Raise your voices in spite of your abilities and give glory to God. Number 53. Let all adore him.

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And so I think we should sing it, resonating that truth in our own hearts and life. And if you're not feeling it, sing anyway, that you might feel it.

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Let's begin. Praise to the Lord. Let us take up the insert, that is

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Psalm 105. We are continuing our march through the Psalter, and our guests are good singers, they can help us.

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This is an unfamiliar tune to us. Alyssa is going to play through it. Those of you who are skillful, help all of us who are not, please.

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Psalm 105. ♪

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Oh, say does that star -spangled banner yet wave ♪

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Please remain standing for our scripture reading, which is found in Isaiah chapter 65.

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Hear now the word of the Lord. I was sought by those who did not ask for me.

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I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name.

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I have stretched out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts.

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A people who provoke me to anger continually to my face, who sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense on altars of brick, who sit among the graves and spend the night in the tombs, who eat swine's flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessel, who say, keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you.

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These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Behold, it is written before me,

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I will not keep silence, but will repay, even repay into their bosom. Your iniquities close together, says the

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Lord, who have burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore, I will measure their former work into their bosom.

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Thus says the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it, so will

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I do for my servant's sake, that I may not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants of Jacob, and from Judah an heir of my mountains.

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Next, my elect shall inherit it, and my servant shall dwell there.

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Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.

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But you are those who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and who furnish a drink offering for many.

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Therefore, I will number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter, because when

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I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not hear, but did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which

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I do not delight. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry.

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Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed.

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Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and wail for grief of spirit.

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You shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen, for the Lord God will slay you, and call his servants by another name, so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the

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God of truth. And he who swears in the truth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.

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For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. The former shall not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what

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I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

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I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

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No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days.

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But the child shall die 100 years old, but the sinner, being 100 years old, shall be accursed.

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They shall build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

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They shall not build, and another inhabit. They shall not plant, and another eat. For as the days of a tree, so shall the days of my people.

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And my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor and invade, nor bring forth children in trouble.

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For they shall be descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. It shall come to pass that before they call,

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I will answer. And while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.

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The lion shall eat shrawl like the ox, and the dust shall be the serpent's fruit.

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They shall not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountains, says the Lord. This is the word of the

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Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us now confess our faith as we sing together the

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Apostles' Creed. ♪

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I love for him, best of sins ♪ ♪

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The resurrection of the body and the life ♪

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Please turn in the hymnal to number 32. Excel at singing.

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Great is thy faithfulness. Number 32. Please make preparations now for the prayers of the people.

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Men, we are on the 10 Commandments, and so we need many of you to pray.

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Please don't let a long lag happen between those. Jump on leading us in prayer.

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Let's pray together with one voice. Oh God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsel, and all just works.

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Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, being set to obey your commandments, and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ, our

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Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

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The Lord says, I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.

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You shall not make for yourself in an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Yes, your

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Lord. Remember the

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Sabbath day to keep it holy. Mercy on us to keep this.

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Honor your father and your mother. You shall not kill.

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You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.

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Mercy on us. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

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Mercy on us. You shall not covet.

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Keep this your law.

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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, mind, and strength.

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Please stand and take up the Psalm of the Month. This is an unfamiliar psalm, but we've been practicing and we've been working on it, and DJ has sent us all the parts.

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DJ, can you give us some words of wisdom to execute this well? All the more necessary for everyone to break.

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The insert that says 119 on the corner, it's not Psalm 119, it's a number there from this altar, but it says, oh

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Lord, my God, most earnestly, and Alyssa's gonna play through that one time for us. ♪

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The rest of my life ♪ ♪

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Is more than life to me ♪ ♪

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I will pray until my last breath is gone ♪ ♪

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I will yet pour my hand in hope for nights and days ♪ ♪

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Oh, my life, oh

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Lord, my life is in your hands ♪

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Please devote some energy to this in your private time with your families. We'll be singing this all through the month of February.

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I thought you did fabulous for the first time. I think it was probably the hardest one that we've ever done, and it's better executed than some of the easier ones we've done in the first week, so praise

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God for that, that good news. Please turn in your Bibles to 2

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Corinthians 9. I appreciate you remain standing for the reading. 2

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Corinthians 9. Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you, for I know your willingness, about which

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I boast of you to the Macedonians that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal has stirred up the majority.

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Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that as I said, you may be ready, lest if some

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Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, should be ashamed of this confident boasting.

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Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.

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But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

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So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

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And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

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As it is written, he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

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Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

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While you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

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For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.

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While through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men.

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And by their prayer for you who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

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This is God's holy and infallible word. May we give it the attention, the zeal, the earnestness it deserves.

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Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we thank you for the example you've given of this faithful church calling the

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Corinthians to emulate their faithfulness. Lord, we pray today that you would multiply the seed that you have sown.

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And that you would increase the fruits of your righteousness in the hearts of your people.

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That they would be zealous to do good works, to embody the truths that you have set forth in your word.

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That their lives would be a cause for thanksgiving from the saints around the world.

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And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. We have been in this section starting in chapter eight.

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I believe this is the fifth week that we will consider this. And so in some ways, like last week, this message will be another more application -driven message because the principle has been pretty firmly established for us.

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You'll remember that there is a famine in the land. And the Judean Christians in and around Jerusalem and that region were not doing well.

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They were starving in many cases. And there was a heart of desire of people, the people of God, from beginning at Antioch and people like the

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Apostle Paul and Titus to relieve the burden of the brethren who were dwelling in Jerusalem.

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And so Paul here again calls the Corinthians to emulate those churches in Macedonia, both in their zeal to relieve the

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Judean saints, to relieve their suffering during this famine.

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I want to give you four points to consider. I'm not going to methodically go one, two, three, four in the sermon, but these are four categories that you can think about in relation to the message.

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First, God makes grace abound. God makes grace abound.

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Number two, may the Lord multiply the seed you have sown. Multiply the seed you have sown.

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Number three, the abounding grace multiplies thanksgiving offered to God. The abounding grace multiplies thanksgiving offered to God.

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And fourth, we will exclaim and thank God for his indescribable gift.

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And that's the title of the message. That would be point four. Last week we focused on verse six and I would say in our message today, verse 10 would probably be the epicenter of all that we're going to be thinking about today.

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May the God who supplies the seed to the sower and bread for food supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

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Well, let's consider it again. God makes grace abound to you.

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To the Corinthians he says, you have all material and spiritual sufficiency in all things and have an abundance.

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You are enabled to accomplish every good work. That testimony is true for every gathered assembly of the people of God.

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We have all that we need in Christ and the lack that we have in our material realm and the material sphere, the

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Lord provides through means, through work and through ministry and service and giving.

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We have all of our needs supplied abundantly as those who are in Christ and in the church.

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I'd like you to turn first to Psalm 112, which is cited in our section. This is gonna be the only reference

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I probably will go outside of today because last week I spent so much time out. Psalm 112, this is a blessed man here described something all men here should aspire to be.

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And we hear in this section, characteristics and qualities of a righteous blessed man.

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And Paul incorporates this into his argument for Corinthian generosity.

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This is Psalm 112, I can't wait till we sing it. Praise the

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Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in his commandments.

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That man is blessed who fears the Lord and delights in his commandments.

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Is this encouraging for us? His descendants will be mighty on earth.

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The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever.

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Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.

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How does the man live? A good man deals graciously and lends.

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He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken.

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The righteous will be an everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings.

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His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established.

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He will not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies.

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And now the part cited in our section, quoted in our text. He has dispersed abroad.

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He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever.

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His horn will be exalted with honor. The wicked will see it and be grieved.

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He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish.

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Paul says the spirit and sense of Psalm 112 is perfect in his explanations call to generosity.

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Generosity in this freeness in giving is not really so much about giving but about the character of the people who are redeemed in Christ.

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They love God so much. They're so aligned with Christ. They so want to serve and please him that they're willing to provide out of their material blessing help for others.

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Now let's go back to our text in 2 Corinthians 9. I want to be the righteous man that's described in Psalm 112.

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And I have great hope for this to be accomplished. You have great hope for this to be accomplished because God makes his grace abound toward you.

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You have a material and spiritual sufficiency in Christ to accomplish all the things that you need to accomplish.

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You're gonna be completely furnished to complete every good work.

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Now in terms of meeting the need of the saints in Judea, there's a couple other factors in line that we've kind of talked about in different ways.

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The first is this. When the Corinthians participate in the relief of the

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Judean saints, they are embodying and demonstrating the efficacy of God's grace and the powerful working of the

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Holy Spirit. What other explanation could be given? The Jews and the

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Gentiles are very different kinds of people. The Jews don't think so highly naturally of the

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Gentiles. The Gentiles don't naturally think well of the Jews.

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So this outpouring of support from Macedonia, Chia, places like Philippi, all across the ancient world, places like Antioch, this is a reflection of God's grace at work and the powerful working of his spirit.

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I remember from a few weeks ago, we also noted that it knit the hearts together of the

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Jews and Gentiles into one body. Can you imagine the

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Jews who are suspicious of the Gentiles because they don't keep the law, these arguments over circumcision, they're questioning the legitimacy of Gentile conversion and faith, and all of a sudden, a boatload of provision and support comes to them in their direst hour of need.

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Only from the Gentiles, coming from all of these faraway lands to relieve their harsh circumstances under the famine.

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Surely the Lord used this to knit the hearts together of the Jews and the Gentiles in one body.

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And I would go so far as to say, maybe the famine occurred so that the

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Gentiles might support the Jews, that they might be knit together in one. I wouldn't be surprised if the

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Lord orchestrated natural catastrophes, that the church would be drawn together and formed more completely as one body in Christ.

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There's another great application of this for us to consider today. Today, in a faraway land, we're giving thanks to God for his provision.

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The faithfulness of the Macedonians, those from Antioch, those from Corinth, we're still talking about what they did to relieve the saints in Jerusalem.

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And so that caused me to wonder, do we see things properly in the exploded view of the reality of all that we do in service to Christ?

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They were thinking there's a temporal problem and we're going to help meet the need and to solve this urgent need.

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It's great, it's wonderful, but how much more is at work in the

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Gentiles supplying the need of the Jews in Jerusalem and the surrounding area? Well, who could even begin to fathom the depth of blessing that resulted?

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All of the people around there, the churches, I bet you, once they heard about Corinth giving and Macedonia giving,

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I bet other churches were jealous to have some participation in this great work of God to provide for the needs of his people.

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And so Christians all around the world in that time and even to this day are offering up thanksgiving to God for his provision.

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A story of your kindness and generosity, your help to a fellow brother or sister in Christ may travel the world and be an encouragement to everyone who hears it.

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And there's something else. This spurring on to love and good works in the saints that heard the report creates a multiplication of more giving, more grace being displayed and more thanksgiving being offered to God.

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And all of this tends to bring him glory. Well, let's consider the second part.

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We may spend most time here. And I want you to think about this now beyond this practical meeting of needs, which is very important, but Paul himself does it.

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Look again at verse 10. He says, now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

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We learned last week that some of the reason that we don't broadly scatter the seed of evangelism, of Christian love, or even material provision is rooted in a sense of fear of loss.

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That if we were to give it away, we would suffer some loss. If I was to give my heart to you as my fellow brother or sister in Christ, I would lose something in return.

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But God's economy is very different. Our brethren here from Iowa come from a part of the world where lots of things are grown and seed is sown.

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It takes root and it grows. Not only does it provide bread for food, not only can we harvest it, it produces more seed for future planting and future bread and future seed to be planted.

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And this is how it is spiritually for us who are in Christ. Everything we do in obedience to Christ has greater longevity.

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It has stronger legs, even than the immediate thing before us.

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I want to provide a couple of examples of this. What happens when we reach out with the gospel to a young man and he repents and he believes and he turns to Christ?

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The seed of salvation and life and union with Christ is implanted into the heart of a man.

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What happens then? Well, there's a former course of life that he absolutely abandons.

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And in the normal course of things, he goes out and seeks a godly wife.

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And he begins to love her as Ryan prayed in a demonstration of Christ's love for the church.

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And they begin in the ordinary course of events to have children together. And the seed of faith is planted in the children there in a covenant home where their gospel is preached.

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The world is utterly transformed when a man comes to Christ. He begins to be fruit bearing.

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He begins to multiply his seed across the earth. And what happens when the children see a godly husband loving a godly wife?

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Well, they go and emulate them. And they carry the message and the life and the living of following Christ with them.

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And before you know it, there are thousands and tens of thousands of people who know Christ and walk with Christ and love him and serve him.

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You have an army of people because of one man's conversion. That's why

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I'm so thankful for the intersection of our Sunday school message and our sermon today.

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We need to preach Christ to every creature under heaven. Well, there's something else here that I want you to think about negatively.

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On the other side of the coin, the righteousness, the fruits of our union with Christ, he's the vine, we're the branches.

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These things are all on display in the mortification of sin. What happens when one besetting sin is repented of?

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Well, that individual is spared the chastening of God. The shame of sin, the blight and the glorious honor and name of Christ, that doesn't happen anymore.

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The sabotaging of your joy and your thanksgiving, when you turn from your sin and sow seeds of righteousness, joy and thanksgiving abound.

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You don't have regrets. You're not looking over your shoulder. You don't feel dirty and damaged and sick.

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There's something else. When you repent of a sin, you stop hurting others because your sin hurts others.

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And when people see your repentance, it causes other people to see the folly of their own sin and they repent.

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They're encouraged to turn and to follow your godly example.

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Our vision is far too small. We say these are small things. They're not very big deals in the glorious economy of God, but every righteous act is multiplied in this kingdom.

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Every turning from sin has the praise of the angels in heaven.

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The earth shakes. The sun is darkened when men and women and children who love

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Christ walk in his ways. I was thinking about our view of righteousness.

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Are we bountifully sowing seed? It might yield, think about how much time we've wasted in sin, cleaning up the messes.

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What if we stop doing those things, that sabotage, as I mentioned, our joy, that time wasted, the mess that has to be cleaned up, better spent in sowing seeds of righteousness.

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You see, Paul does want the saints in Judea to be relieved, but what he seems to be really driving at, if you read this all together, all in one big section, he really wants to multiply the seed that they have sown so that there may be an increase in the fruits of their righteousness.

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That's where this is gone. That's where it's going. In verse 11, it says, while you're enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes the thanksgiving through us to God.

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Paul elsewhere says, I thank God upon every remembrance of you.

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When you're out sowing seeds of righteousness and living the Christian life, and you come to mind of fellow believers, it will spur them to give

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God thanks for you. And so here you are being faithful, and people say,

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I look upon that man and that woman and that family, and I think about the grace of God multiplied in them.

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Oh Lord, I thank you for this family that walks in righteousness. They're carrying your name and your person before the throne room of our

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God. Third point here, the abounding grace multiplies thanksgivings offered to God.

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Look at verse 13, it says, while through the proof of this ministry, they glorify

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God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them.

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I got a privilege this week to spend time with one of my best friends from Oval.

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He was the first guy I served with as an elder. We were interns at Don Whitney's church in Kansas City together this week, and his organization, he's a vice president with Voice of the

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Martyrs, was in town. They met at Ligonier for a team meeting, and he recounted some of the stories of what his work is.

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He's in charge of Africa. I can't say his name because he actually goes by an alias.

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I learned that everyone in the organization, when he goes anywhere, he has a different name to protect his passport because of his job and his responsibilities.

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And he told me stories of the provision of a faithful minister who has been in prison in Eritrea for a long time, and he ran into his daughter in Orlando.

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She was a little baby, a little child when her dad was in prison. She doesn't know her dad.

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He was able to work the back channels to find out, is her dad alive? Is he okay? We find out after all these years, her dad is in prison, he's okay.

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He continues to be a leader in the church and strengthen the saints, though he be in prison. He goes back and tells the report to this man's daughter, which she didn't know.

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Thanksgiving offered to God. God, in the midst of all this persecution and all of this suffering, has preserved the integrity of this man's faith.

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I'm encouraged, hopefully you're encouraged. The daughter is encouraged to hear that her dad has continued to be faithful in the midst of all this persecution.

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Don't underestimate the offering up of thanks to God and the significance of what that means in the kingdom.

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They were remembering, the Judean saints would remember the prayers through their prayers, giving thanks to God, those who served in this way.

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I wanna point out something else in verse 13. There's something powerful about our obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ.

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We generally think about the gospel in terms of being struck by lightning and the power of the

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Holy Spirit. Something miraculous happens, and it's true. But what about obedience to the gospel?

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The Corinthians, who have been known for their sinfulness, now they're known for their faithfulness.

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The seeds of righteousness have yielded a harvest of righteousness in the hearts of God's people.

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The world looks upon Corinth, and they don't think about their sectarian spirit any longer, they don't think about the toleration of the immoral brother anymore.

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They don't forget, they don't think of them in their lack of love for the repentant brother.

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Now they see them as the growing, maturing Christians who walk by faith, who long to glorify

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Christ and to give God the glory in all things. We come to our last point, and it's the most significant, probably, in this whole consideration.

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It's verse 15, and it says, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

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Is Paul talking about collection for the Judean saints, talking about something else?

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Well, in context, it would seem that he's talking about the grace of God revealed in the gospel of Christ, is that it's the person of Christ who is the indescribable gift.

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What has Christ done? He has sown seeds as the prophet, priest, and king, as the preeminent one.

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He has implanted his grace in the hearts of all of these millions and millions and millions of people through the ages.

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And every one of them have a transformation, a metamorphosis that they undergo because of the grace of God.

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Do you remember how we started in verse 10? He supplies seed to the sower.

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A family, come from a family of farmers, I told you before, they can't trace back to that first bag of seed,

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I bet you, to plant their crops. As Mark talked today about evangelism, we can't trace every church back to one of the 12 apostles, but we can trace it all back to our

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God and our king, who has widely broadcast his seed of righteousness and forgiveness and reconciliation to God, to the nations.

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And some of that seed has taken hold and taken root and perpetually gives an increase.

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Without turning there, I'm going to, I wanted to close with an application of this principle to be taken from Acts 2, but I just want you to listen.

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I want you to think about that Christ, Peter says in Acts 2 .39,

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for the promise of your children, as many as the

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Lord our God, what happens when a man enters into covenants, marries a covenant wife and had children, the rapid expansion of blessing and righteousness in the world, a force that cannot be stopped.

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The moths and the rust, they come in and destroy earthly wealth. Thieves and robbers can plunder your treasury.

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The locusts can come and eat all of your crops, but they can never take away the legacy of faithfulness and the keeping of covenant to our

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God. What will it mean to our great grandchildren that we would be faithful to Christ today?

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What will it mean if we go into Longwood and we win one man to Christ and he marries one godly woman and they have godly children?

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What will that mean in this universe? The world will be changed utterly and irrevocably.

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The Gentiles, those outside, strangers to the covenant are brought in, new legacies of faithfulness.

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And all of this has been started by a God who loves his people so much.

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He took one man from Ur of the Chaldeans and he now has descendants that are more numerous than the stars in the heavens or the sands on the seashore.

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If you go to the, see, friends from Iowa, if you go to the beach, take up a handful of that fine sand and start to count it, impossible.

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All of the sands and all of the seashores, all of them are reflective of the prosperity of Christ's gospel and his kingship on this earth.

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As we sang today, in him we always have the victory. We're looked down upon in the world, but we're the victors.

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We are those who reign with Christ. The harvest of righteousness has begun in us.

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Let us cultivate more and more of this righteousness that we might bear more fruit, that we might influence more people, more of our children, more of our grandchildren, to other people that they might influence their children and their grandchildren with the glory of Christ.

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Lift of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, we thank you for your promises.

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You've taken a wayward 20 -year -old man, made him a

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Christian, gave him a godly wife, godly children, pastor.

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Who am I, oh Lord? May that story be replicated with a greater increase for all the people that we touch with your gospel.

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Raise up 10 ,000 better preachers than me. Raise up tens of thousands of children more righteous than mine.

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Raise up 10 ,000 churches more faithful than ours, and let us be satisfied that your name is hallowed in this earth.

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Oh Lord, help us to prize the seed that you have sown in us. That it might yield a great harvest of righteousness.

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Oh Lord, help us to see that you have supplied us so abundantly, not only have you given us bread to eat, but you've given us seed to sow, to have more bread, and to share that bread with others.

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Oh Lord, I ask that you would make every man in the room a Psalm 112 man, a righteous man, a blessed man.

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Would you make every woman a woman who loves that kind of man? Would you make all those children the kind of people that aspire to that kind of faithfulness?

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Oh Lord, with eyes of faith and kindness and generosity to us, would you allow us to see some of the glorious multiplication of your kingdom, that there might be more grace, more thanksgiving, more joy, more giving, and greater multiplication from all the people that are touched by these things?

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Oh Lord, I pray that your name would be glorified, that people would give thanks to you for the good works that we do.

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In all of this, we would say, it's because the

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God who supplied the seed to us, who gave us bread, he's the one who multiplied the seed that we sowed, and he increased the fruits of our righteousness.

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Thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift of the person and work and gospel and grace and love of Jesus Christ.

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Let's continue our time of worship, the presentation of tithes and offerings.

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Please stand with me and let us pray together. Lord, we offer our very lives to you, the entirety of our persons to your service.

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Cause us to hold nothing in reserve. Lord, we thank you for the provision of this church.

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We thank you that we have a place to meet, that we're able to meet and gather today. We thank you for the bounty of food that you've supplied that we can share in our fellowship meal.

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But most of all, we thank you for what Christ has done in transforming a people, making a nation, a holy people, his own special, peculiar people, a kingdom of priests and prophets and kings, queens, princes and princesses.

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Lord, we thank you so much for this great work. We give thanks in Jesus' name. Let us respond to the glorious work of our

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God by giving the doxa, the glory that is due the father, the son and the

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Holy Spirit. Let's sing to him now. Lift up your hearts.

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We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is good and right so to do.

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It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, oh, holy

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Lord, father almighty, everlasting God. Because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.

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Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your most glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

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Oh God, father of all mercies, the

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God who consoles, we ask that you would grant your gracious presence and the effectual working of your spirit in us and that you would sanctify these, your elements of bread and wine and then bless your own ordinance that we may receive by faith the body and blood of Jesus Christ crucified for us.

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And so to feed upon him that he may be one with us, that we may be one with him, that he may live in us and we live in him, that we might live for him who has loved us with himself.

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Let's approach the table now by praying together in unison. We do not.

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♪ I will and I'll be,

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I'll be ♪ Singing God's own words back to him, to scripture, to feast at his table.

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Let's now with earnestness and sincerity make this commitment together by praying in unison.

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Almighty, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your son, our savior,

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Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.

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And oh Lord, grant us this other benefit that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and send us out to do the sins of Christ our

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Lord to him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit in honor and glory.

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Please stand. Receive now the ancient blessing that belongs to all of God's people.

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The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you.

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The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you his peace.