One Lord - THERE'S NO "I" IN ONE, part 4 (Eph 4:5a)

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One Faith - THERE'S NO "I" IN ONE, part 5 (Eph 4:5b)

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Well, good morning, 12 .5 Church. I got a few good mornings out there.

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Well, I just want to begin by telling you that I'm very glad to have you here this morning.

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We are gathered together as a people, so as the members of 12 .5 Church, we do this out of obedience to what the scriptures tell us, right?

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The writer of Hebrews says not to neglect gathering together so we can encourage one another as all the more as we see the day drawing near.

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So members of 12 .5, thank you for your obedience to Christ, showing your faithfulness to this covenant body of believers.

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And so I just want you to know, members of 12 .5 Church, you are loved. We are a family. And so if you're a guest at 12 .5

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Church, we are happy to have you as well. If you're a first -time guest, I would love to encourage you to fill out our

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Connect card just so we can pray for you. And if you have any questions for us here at 12 .5,

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we want to be able to reach back out to you in that. And so our prayer this morning is that we would grow together in the knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and our love for the sovereign triune God. When we say triune, we're referencing the

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Trinity, the Father, Son, and Spirit. And so before we get into our service, we pray for a local church.

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And so the church that we're going to pray for this morning is very special. This is First Baptist Church of Huddig, Arkansas.

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Pastor Todd Gunter is Becca's dad. So we want to pray for his church this morning.

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And so if you would, join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we praise you for the ability to gather this

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Lord's Day and praise your holy name. God, we just want to lift up this church in Huddig.

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We just want to lift up Pastor Todd. God, we just pray that he'd be faithful to preach and teach the word.

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God, I just pray that his congregation, that they would increase in their love for you, Lord, and their love for one another.

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God, we pray that you would strengthen this congregation to be a light in Arkansas, God. Lord, I just pray that you would use 12 .5

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to continue to lift them up as a beacon and to outreach as much as possible with Pastor Todd.

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Lord, I just pray that this congregation would be a ministry not focused on self, but focused on proclaiming the gospel to those outside the church in this town.

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Lord, we love you and pray all these things in your name, Jesus. Amen. All right.

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If you would, please stand as we kick off our service.

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So our call to worship comes from 1 Corinthians, and we're going to look at a couple passages where we read that God is faithful by whom you are called into fellowship with his son.

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For although there may be so -called gods in heaven or on earth, yet for us there is one

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God, the Father, for from whom all things and for all things we exist in one

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Lord, Jesus Christ. Through whom are all things, through whom we exist, and all

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God's people said, amen. All right. Well, before we do our prayer of adoration, we have a special announcement.

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Sorry if I'm going a little bit out of order here, but Mr. Greg, would you please come forward?

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Now, Greg, your last name is Sponhorst. Did I get it right? Yeah. Was I pretty close?

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Yeah. So Greg is a dear friend and brother, and he has said that he wants to join 12 .5

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Church to be a member, a covenant member of this congregation. Amen? Amen.

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Well, this is an exciting day. And so, Greg, this is your church family, and we're already standing because we fully affirm you as our brother.

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And so this, like Pastor Nathan says, is not merely a gift, but it's a commission. It's the Word of God, right?

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This is the offensive sword that we contend for truth. And so, Greg, it's an honor to be able to give this to you, and I'd love to pray with you.

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All right. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful day, getting to welcome this dear brother

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Greg. Lord, I just pray that his giftings would be able to flourish here at 12 .5,

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that he would receive the love from his new family. God, in many ways, he already feels like a member here.

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He's already serving, and we already feel his zeal and his love for you, Christ. So Lord, I just pray that,

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God, we would just embrace him with open arms. We love you, Jesus, and we pray this in your name.

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Amen. Amen. Thanks so much, Greg. All right. Let's get it up. All right.

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Let's continue with a word of prayer, if you would please remain standing. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this wonderful day where we get to worship together and welcome a new member in this body.

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Lord, I pray that we would remove all distractions, that we'd focus on you, Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

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We love you, Lord, and praise things in your name. Amen. Amen. The word of God says that we, for the grace of God, has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce all ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, waiting for our blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This morning, let's sing out, amen.

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Let's go. We won't fear the battle.

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We won't fear the night. We will walk the valley with you by our side.

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You will go before us. You will lead the way. We have found a refuge only you can take.

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Sing with joy now. Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress.

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Raise your voice now. No love is greater. Who can stand against us if our

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God is for us? Yes. Amen. Even when

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I stumble. When I stumble, even when

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I fall, even when I turn back, still your love is sure.

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You will not abandon. You will not forsake. You will cheer me on with a never -ending praise.

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Sing. Sing with joy now. Our God is for us.

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The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress. Raise your voice now.

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No love is greater. Who can stand against us if our God is for us?

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Neither height nor depth can separate us. Neither height nor depth can separate us.

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Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his

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Son to free us holds me in his love.

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Neither height nor depth can separate us.

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Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his

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Son to free us holds me in his love.

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Sing with joy now. Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress.

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Raise your voice now. No love is greater. Who can stand against us if our

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God is for us? Sing with joy now. Our God is for us.

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The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress. Raise your voice now.

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No love is greater. Who can stand against us if our God is for us?

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His hand is open.

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His love is sure. For Christ has paid for every failings.

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For in our tears, in times of sorrow,

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God is not yet understood. Through the valley

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I must travel where I see no end.

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And His peace that flows from heaven and the stream in times of need.

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I know my pain will not be wasted. Christ completes

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His work in vain. Our days here as a stranger.

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Ever on Christ I will encounter for His pain.

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But that His armor for the battle strong enough has said

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He will deliver safely to the golden shore.

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And bind our keys to Zion's city where beside the

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King I walk. Christ is mine forevermore.

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Come rejoice now, oh my soul. For His love is my reward.

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Fear is gone and hope is sure. Christ is mine forevermore.

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Come rejoice now, oh my soul. For His love is my reward.

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Fear is gone and hope is sure.

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Christ is mine forevermore.

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And bind our keys to Zion's city where beside the

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King I walk. For there my heart has found its treasure.

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Christ is mine, Christ is mine,

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Christ is mine. The Lord has sworn and will not change

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His mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

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The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath.

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He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpse.

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He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way.

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Therefore, He will lift up His head. Amen. Christ alone my hope is found.

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He is my life, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground formed through the fiercest drought and storm.

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What heights of love, what depths of peace when fears are stilled, when sorrow ceases.

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My comforter, here in the love of Christ I stand.

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Christ alone who took on flesh fullness of blood in helpless pain.

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This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones

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He came to save. To the one that calls says

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Jesus died. The wrath of God was satisfied.

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For every sin on Him was laid.

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Here in the birth of Christ I live.

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In the ground His body lay. Light of the world by darkness slain.

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Then bursting forth in glorious day.

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Up from the grave He rose again. And as He stands in victory sin's curse has lost its grip on me.

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For I am His and He is mine.

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Bought with the precious blood of Christ. Here in death or strife

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Jesus commands my destiny.

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I'll stand up for God to be here in the power of Christ.

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I'll stand when He returns or calls me home.

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Here in the power of Christ I'll stand through the

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Savior's say. Thy strength indeed is small.

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Child of weakness watch and pray. Find in me thine all in good now.

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Indeed I find thy power.

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Can change a leper's thoughts. And melt the heart of stone.

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Jesus paid it all.

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All to Him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain.

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He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne

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I stand in Him complete.

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Jesus died my soul to save. Death shall still remain.

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Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe.

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Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

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Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead.

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Sing it. Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead.

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Sing it out. Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead.

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One more time. Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead.

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Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe.

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Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

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I still owe Him my heart, my strength, my soul.

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This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

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What heights of love will with striving stand?

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Amen. Lord, we thank you so much, Father, for this chance this morning,

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Lord, that we have, that you've blessed us with to come. Lord, and gather as your church, as we gather here this morning, brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Lord, in your power we stand this morning. Lord, we're so grateful for the sacrifice that you paid.

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You paid it all so that we may live. Lord, I pray this morning,

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Lord, that you would just be with everyone here this morning that's here,

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Lord. I pray that you would be with those that are watching online this morning, Lord. Lord, you know every heart here this morning.

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I just pray that you would just bless each and every one of us, Father. Lord, I pray that you would bless this offering this morning.

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Lord, as we give back what is rightfully yours. Father, we love you, we praise you.

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Thank you for loving us. Forgive me, Father, and brother. We ask all these things in Jesus' precious and holy name.

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I pray, amen. I hope you notice that we choose songs that are doctrinally rich.

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And we ended on a phrase there, in the love of Christ we stand.

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Here in the love of Christ we stand. If at any moment in your life, when you come into church, and sometimes the weight of the world, the things of this world are distracting you, and you feel far from God in the moment, and you feel as though,

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I've gotta get myself straightened up here before I can really worship

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Jesus. I want you to remember that truth. Here in the love of Christ I stand.

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Not here in the love of Nathan. Not here in the love of the church. Not here in the love of my job.

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Not here in the love of my identity. Not here in the love of any other thing. But here in the love of Christ.

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The love of Christ that stands is unceasing, is perfect.

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And no matter what has gone on in your life this week, no matter how much you have failed him this week, guess what?

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If you're in him, his love is no less for you. He brings you in and says, you are mine.

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I love you. I gave my life for you. And that sin, that brokenness, that distraction, all of the things that kept you from communing with me this week,

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I already paid for those. Those are already taken care of. So when we sing at this church, we sing with passion because we're singing truth.

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Truth that we affirm, that we believe. And as I sing, I get a front row seat sometimes because I'm looking,

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I get to see all your faces. Sometimes I'm standing out there and I'm looking this way, but this time I get to see your faces. You have no idea the encouragement in my soul when

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I look out and I see Adam declaring that same truth and believes it.

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When I look out in this crowd and I see your faces declaring this glorious truth about God, it helps me stand firm knowing

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I stand in the love of Christ and my brothers and sisters know it, and they do too. Amen?

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I know that's a bit of a tangent. I'm sorry. Let's look at it here. We've taken a two -week break through our study in Ephesians lately, but today we're back.

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Praise God. I've had many of you go, are we back in Ephesians today? I'm like, yes, we're back in Ephesians today. So go ahead and open your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter four.

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Sorry, somebody keeps turning my fan off. I get all worked up and I get hot up here.

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I need a fan, right? All right. So as we go into part four of our sermon entitled

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There Is No I In One, we are going to read the entirety of verses one through six of chapter four as we do each time, where Paul says,

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I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

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With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the

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Spirit and the bond of peace, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope to which you have been called.

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One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one

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God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

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What a great truth that we read. These are God's words. This is inspired, amen.

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Let's not take this lightly. Let's go to him and let's pray that we can understand them and that we'd speak clarity through these.

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Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you once again. We thank you for the fact that we do stand in the love of Christ today.

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I pray that we would keep that central to our worship. God, I pray that we would keep it central to the fact of how we read your word, that we would see it through our gospel goggles, that we would look at everything that we see in scripture through the lens of your triune work in redeeming us,

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God the Father loving us, God the Son redeeming us and paying our price, and God the Holy Spirit sealing us for the day of redemption and working sanctification in us.

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God, I pray that as we see it, that we would see it clearly, Father. Be honored in our time of worship through preaching today.

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In Christ's name, amen. Well, six weeks ago, we came to this portion of Paul's letter where he gives this grand crescendo of ones.

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Seven to be exact, right? Seven ones. And so far, we've seen the first three.

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We've seen one body. We've seen that there is a singular body which is what?

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The church, okay. Yes, the church. Not just us together today, but the church universal of all time is one in unity.

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We've seen one spirit, that that body has a singular spirit which is the

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Holy Spirit, essentially the soul of that body, isn't it? It's the one that is working in that body and molding that body and driving us to be more like Christ.

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And we've seen one hope, that one hope of glory. Each one of us is looking to that, the adoption that we've been brought in and looking for the inheritance as sons as the

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Holy Spirit has sealed us for that day of glory as a guarantee. And today, we get to the second triad of oneness where we see one

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Lord, one faith, one baptism. Looking today specifically at what

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Paul means by one Lord. However, we must first remind ourselves, okay?

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We have to stop for a moment so we get clarity. We have to remind ourselves of what led Paul to declare this really

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Trinitarian oneness here in verses four through six, right? That's what we're talking about.

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We've been mentioning it the whole time. I just want to make sure that we keep this in mind, the oneness of the Holy Spirit in verse four, right?

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That's what we saw. We see the oneness of Jesus Christ which is what we're looking at today in verse five. And later in verse six, we will see the oneness of the

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Father. So what led him to list out these ones for us? What's led Paul to this?

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Well, back in verse one, we saw that he urged us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, right?

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Walk in a manner worthy of our calling. And this phrase is setting the trajectory of what he writes in chapters four all the way to the end in chapter six, okay?

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Everything that he's writing from here on out is really stemming from walking in a manner worthy of this calling.

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What does he mean to walk in a manner worthy of our calling? Remember, chapters one through three, if you've been with us in this study, chapters one through three that we've looked at for months have been primarily orthodoxy, haven't they?

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What do I mean by that? Right doctrine, okay? Orthodoxy, just right information. Truth about God.

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Paul has been telling us, hey, God has chosen you and God has redeemed you in this way and he's made you one people,

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Jew and Gentile together into one body. This is the information about God. And Paul has switched, starting here in chapter four, to orthopraxy.

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He's gone from orthodoxy to orthopraxy, from right information to right living, to the application of that right information, correct?

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That's the purpose of this. And in light of right doctrine, here's the right living. Here is the manner worthy of your calling.

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That's what he's gonna show us in chapters four through six. Here is the manner worthy of your calling.

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This is what it looks like. And one of the first things that he tells us is what we saw in verse three of chapter four.

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When he tells us, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called, what's one of the first things that he says? He says, be eager, church, to strive towards, drive towards maintaining the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

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Eager to guard. Remember, not to create. There's no creating unity in the church.

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We don't have to create anything. We don't have to conjure up unity. We don't have to try and come up with unity, but to continue in the unity that is already ours.

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Correct? This is what Paul's telling us. Because it's not some obscure unity, it's the unity of the spirit.

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It's the unity that comes with each person within that body being indwelt by the one spirit, the

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Holy Spirit of God. And so we are one. There's already unity. And as he goes on into this list of ones that we've been looking at here in this sermon, verses four through six, what is he doing?

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What is he doing based upon that information? He's showing us that this unity is grounded in perfect oneness.

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Perfect oneness. Not our oneness, the oneness of a triune God that has brought us into that oneness.

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That's what he's doing. That's what this grand crescendo of ones is accomplishing here, isn't it? We have to keep this in mind.

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We must keep this in mind as we look at each one of these ones because we don't want to lose context.

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I could go a million ways with each of these categories. We want to get to one spirit? Well, let's talk pneumatology.

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Let's talk about the study of the spirit, right? We get to one Lord, let's talk about Lordship salvation. Let's talk about Christology.

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Let's talk about this. Let's talk about that. We have to remember context is king. Why is

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Paul writing it? And the context in which Paul is pointing these out is for the sake of maintaining the unity.

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That's the purpose of it, okay? Let's not lose sight. So as we look at these two words, one

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Lord, keep the context in mind. In light of that, the first thing that we must ask is, and I've got some bullet points up here on the screen for you to follow because I have points today.

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We'll see if we get through all of them. But the question we have to ask is what does Paul mean by Lord? And I want us to see three things about this one that answer that question, okay?

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The first one is, Jesus is God. We have to identify what

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Paul means when he says the word Lord. And the first thing that stands out is

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Jesus is God. Simple, right? It's like, well, duh. Thanks for the points, Pastor.

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That one was easy, okay? Generally speaking, a Lord is someone with authority, right?

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Someone with control, with power over others. When someone is referred to as a Lord, then that means that they're an authority over you.

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This word Lord comes from the Greek word kurios. Okay? This is a word that could be akin to calling someone at that time, sir.

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For us, just showing a matter of respect when we meet somebody, they would use this word kurios as sir.

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Or depending on the context, it could refer to a master of slaves. This master of slaves would call the master a kurios,

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Lord. But in context like these, this word took on a far greater meaning, okay?

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Far greater meaning. I'm going to explain why. For example, in the second century, some of you, if you like church history, you may be familiar with this

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Bishop of Smyrna by the name of Polycarp. Polycarp, by the way, was discipled directly by the

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Apostle John. So, I mean, right at the very beginning of the church. This is just the second century coming after this.

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But Polycarp was arrested at the age of 86. He was arrested for the sake of following Christ.

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Following Christ, the Roman government arrest him. And in order to save his own life, all

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Polycarp had to do was profess Caesar as kurios.

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As Lord. He's not the only one, right? If you know much about the martyrs of church history, you know that this was a common situation.

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He's just an example, one example of many Christians who faced this very thing. And of course, he would not do so.

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Polycarp stood firm. And what happened? He was murdered. He was murdered for not complying.

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As a matter of fact, they put him to a stake and they were going to drive nails through his hands to hold him because they couldn't keep people to stay in the fire, so they would nail him to a post.

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But he said, you don't need that. I'll stay. And they tied him with ropes and they set fire around him.

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And for some reason, the fire wouldn't burn him. Fire kind of went around him. I don't know what happened.

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I don't know if maybe it was a miracle. I don't know. But they knew they had to kill him, so what did they do?

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They stabbed him. They stabbed him so deep and so much that his blood poured out so much it put out the rest of the fire.

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And he dies. Polycarp dies because he will not call Caesar Curios.

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He will not call Caesar Lord. Now, if he and many other martyrs had understood this to mean

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Caesar as Sir, I don't think they'd have a problem with that, would they? If it was just Caesar as an earthly master,

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I don't think they would have a problem with that, right? Because Paul even tells servants and slaves to obey their masters.

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And so if they were just talking about him like an earthly king as a master, they wouldn't mind calling him

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Curios in that sense. Maybe they would not have had to die if that were the case, but this is not the case.

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You see, declaring Caesar as Curios, as Lord, was understood to mean Caesar as divine.

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It was understood to mean Caesar as the ultimate authority in the whole of the universe.

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I think that this meaning of Curios as divine ruler used by the

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Roman Empire was derived as a direct attack upon the one true king, the one true

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God. Bear with me, here's why. I believe that this was a personal, spiritual attack upon the kingship, the lordship of Christ and God.

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Because by this point in history, you gotta understand that the Hebrew scriptures have been translated into Greek.

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It's referred to as the Septuagint. Some of you have heard that phrase, right? This is the scripture that men like the

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Apostle Paul read from, isn't it? They read from the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, the

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Septuagint. The people of Israel, you gotta understand, as they are reading the

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Old Testament, they felt as though they could not even speak the true name of God. They couldn't speak the name

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Yahweh. They were too unworthy. And to be fair, they were probably right, right?

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But because they wouldn't speak it, they wouldn't write it either. And so, in Hebrew writing, they replaced it with Adonai.

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You've heard that phrase, Adonai, referring to God. And Adonai in the Hebrew simply means my lord.

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Speaking of God, Adonai, my lord. And so, in the Greek Septuagint, this word was translated, you can probably guess.

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Kyrios. And so, as Paul, as the

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Apostles are reading the scriptures, as the Romans reference the Old Testament scriptures, as anyone reads the

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Old Testament scriptures, they come to, when it speaks about God Almighty, it says

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Kyrios. And so, it's no wonder that the Roman emperor would desire to usurp this phrase, isn't it?

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He would desire to attack this phrase, come at it, because the creator of the universe declared, I am the

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Kyrios, your God. I am the Lord, your God. And so, Caesar declared himself the

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Lord, your God. That's what he desired, that's what all man desires, and he had just enough power to make it happen.

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At least, outwardly, and for the people that followed him. But the people like Polycarp, the martyrs, the

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Christians, the people that truly followed the Lord, they knew the meaning of this phrase, and so they were cautious and careful never to declare him

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Lord. What they knew was that Jesus declared that he was the

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Kyrios, your God. He was the Lord, your God, right? That's what

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Jesus declared. That's what Jesus made it clear, even in his earthly ministry. In John 13, he says, you call me teacher and Lord, Kyrios, and you are right, for so I am.

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This is even before his resurrection. This is before his death. He's saying, I am, I am the

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Kyrios. You know that Kyrios that you're reading in the Old Testament, in that Septuagint? That's me.

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I am the Lord. In Luke 19, he says, the Lord has need of it, and he's referring to himself, the

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Lord. This declaration of himself became undeniably clear to all of his disciples through his resurrection, didn't it?

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I think his disciples, they knew who he was in a faint way, right?

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That he'd been given faith to them in that moment, but now on the resurrection, everything becomes clear.

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We have an account of this. If you remember the account of Doubting Thomas, right? Unfortunately, he got that name.

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We're all Doubting Thomas, right? But Thomas, not believing until he says,

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I don't believe in the resurrection. I don't believe that it can be true until I can put my finger into his wounds, until I can see him with my own eyes.

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And oh, Jesus is so good, isn't he? He shows up, he says, hey, here you go. You want evidence?

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Here's the evidence for the whole world to see. I am king, I am the curse, I am

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Lord. And in John 20, Thomas answered him, and this is where I think the trajectory of the church truly starts to get it.

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That's who Jesus is. Jesus is the Lord. He says, my Lord and my

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God. Speaking of Jesus, because he'd seen who

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Jesus truly is. Thomas knew that Yahweh was the Lord, and now he sees in full that Jesus is

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God. Jesus truly is the God, the creator of the universe. And this is what

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Peter preached to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10, isn't it? Peter comes in and he's preaching to the

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Gentiles, and he says there in verse 36, as for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ.

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And then he says, he is Lord of all. He is the

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Kurios of all. You see, if this is true, and it is, that Jesus is

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God, I want us to see a second thing about it. We must obey him as God.

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We see that Jesus is God, and now what does that mean? It means we must obey him as God.

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Speaking of us, the church specifically, right? His followers, when Paul refers to him as Lord, he is implying that we, his people, have come to him as Lord.

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We didn't come to him as just savior. We came to him as who he is. We've seen him for who he is.

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Maybe not in his foolish. You didn't come to Christ with a fully worked out Christology, did you? Oh, but you knew something.

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You had seen who the risen savior was, and you'd seen what he had done, and you can declare him

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Lord, meaning we have seen him for who he truly is as master king, almighty

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God, because this is what it means to acknowledge him as Lord. Paul said in Romans chapter 10, a very familiar verse in verse nine, he says, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is savior, is that what it says?

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What does it say? Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you might be saved.

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Is that what it says? What? That's right, you will be saved.

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You see, no one can be saved. No one can be saved who does not confess

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Jesus as Lord. Impossible. Saying those words does not save you, though.

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Just saying Jesus is Lord doesn't save you. Saying the words is an outward evidence that the

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Holy Spirit has given you the eyes to see Jesus for who he truly is. Otherwise, you're gonna have a scenario where they kind of say, didn't we cast out demons in your name?

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He says, depart from me, for I never knew you, you workers of iniquity, right? So it's not just saying the word

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Jesus is Lord, it's truly believing it in your heart, and that's a Holy Spirit -wrought truth that only comes to those whom

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God has set his love upon, right? And when we come to him as Lord, we obey him.

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Come on, guys, we obey him as God, as Lord, as kurios. That is why we can confidently follow

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Jesus' prescription for things like what we're gonna be doing this afternoon in church discipline. Right?

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What Jesus prescribed in Matthew 18, we have to do this afternoon. And we can do that confidently knowing because this truth, we will be removing a member of this congregation this afternoon.

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We will be casting them out of this congregation where they are not welcome to this table any longer.

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Because this person has proven themselves not to be in Christ. How have they done so? How have they proven themselves not to be in Christ?

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Because they have chosen not to obey him as Lord. A true

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Christian knows who Jesus is. And when you know who Jesus is, you obey him as God.

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Because he is the Lord of your life. Unfortunately, many know what they're doing is disobedient to him, and they refuse to repent and obey him, and prove themselves not to have truly seen him.

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This is at the core of the unity of the spirit that Paul is telling us to maintain and guard. That Jesus is

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Lord. We are the unified one body and one spirit towards one hope and in one

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Lord. When any other Lord is brought in, when anything is brought in, when opinions are brought in, and personal desires are brought in, when

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Caesar is brought in, anything that usurps the

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Lordship of Christ in any way, it disrupts, it distorts, and it perverts the unity of the spirit.

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It destroys it. That we are no longer guarding it. That's why we can't just allow sin to go on in the church.

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When somebody continues in sin, now don't get me wrong, we all sin. I sin, you sin, we all sin, right?

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Every one of us sin, but somebody that sees Jesus as Lord is somebody that continually lays it at the foot of Christ and wants to obey him and the trajectory of their life is one of seeking to turn from the flesh and look to him as Lord.

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When we submit to him as Lord, as God, that glorious unity thrives and it draws us together as a people.

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This is the unity that we have. For from him and through him and to him are all things.

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This includes the unity that you and I share in. You get that?

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It's through him. It's to him, it's for him. We must obey him as God.

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This leads me to the third point which is not specifically aimed at in this particular text.

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However, it is applicable to the concept of Jesus as Lord and I want us to see it. It's that all of creation must obey him as God.

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If he is God, which he is, then we as the church must obey him as God. But it doesn't stop there.

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All of creation must obey him as God. We've been given the privilege of seeing him as Lord.

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We've been given the power now to obey him as Lord. Before, we were not able to even acknowledge him as Lord.

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We couldn't even see him. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were slaves to sin. But now we've been freed to righteousness.

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Hence, we see him and we have the power to obey him as such. But if he is

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Lord, then he is Lord over all of creation despite what they're looking to or believe.

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Turn with me in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. In Colossians chapter 1, we're going to start looking at verse 15.

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This is where the Apostle Paul is writing of the preeminence of Christ, the power of Christ.

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Before he gets into verse 15, he's telling the readers that they've been delivered from the domain of darkness.

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They were once slaves to sin. They've been transferred into the kingdom of his beloved son. The kingdom of his beloved son.

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It's his son's kingdom. It's the kingdom of the triune God with Christ as king in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.

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But in verse 15, speaking of Christ, he says, He is the image of the invisible

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God, the firstborn of all creation. Now, we don't have time to dive into that. Just know that it does not mean

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Jesus was created. Jesus was not created. He created all things. And nothing was made that was made apart from him.

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So, firstborn of all creation. Verse 16, For by him all things were created, all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether, here's the kicker, thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,

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Caesar, the American government, the

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Chinese government, every single government, every single entity, every single corporation, every single person that breathes on this earth, every single spirit that works within this universe, every single detail.

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All things, he says, were created through him and for him. You talk about the preeminence of Christ.

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He created it and it's created for him to reign as king. And he is

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God and all things must obey him. Verse 17, And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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He's sustaining it all, right? Not only is he king, he is the one that's making it all turn and function according to his purposes and his power.

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And he is the head of the body, the church. Now we're gonna go back to that text in a moment, but he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.

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The firstborn from the dead? Oh, what's he talking about? He's talking about the resurrection that Pastor Jeremiah talked about last week.

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If you weren't here, go online and find that. What a glorious truth from 1 Corinthians, right? Of the resurrection of the dead, but he's the firstborn from the dead.

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He's risen. That in everything, not in some things, not in a few things, not in most things, in everything, he might be preeminent.

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Now, this word preeminent just means surpassing all others, above all things.

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Verse 19, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven.

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Now, making peace by the blood of the cross. Notice he reconciled to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven.

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It reminds me of what we looked at in chapter 1 of Ephesians, right? In verse 10 when he says, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things to him, things in heaven and things on earth.

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And what is Paul talking about back in Ephesians? He's talking to Gentile and Jewish believers saying there's no divide.

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Jesus came to unite, and he's bringing these two seemingly opposite things together in one body.

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He's uniting all things, and this is what he's saying here in Colossians 20. Through him to reconcile to himself, reconcile to the triune

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God all things. Again, not some things, all things in this sense.

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Judgment. Perfect judgment. Or perfect glory.

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But he's uniting, whether on earth or in heaven. Making peace by the blood of the cross.

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Now turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. I can't help but think of this passage in verses 9 through 11 in Philippians chapter 2.

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It ties in with this. He's talking about Jesus making peace by the blood of the cross.

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And Paul says over in Philippians 2 starting in verse 9, he says, Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

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The name that is above every name. The name of Jesus. Above all things. Above every name.

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There's meaning in a name. The name of Jesus is talking about the very essence of who Jesus is which is above all things, right?

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So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Not some knees.

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Not most knees. Not a few knees. Every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

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Talk about that in a second. Look at verse 11. He doubles down.

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He says, And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is a Christ. To the glory of God the

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Father. You see, Caesar may rail against him.

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Caesar in his tiny insignificant blip on the radar of life may cease to rail against him and seize and try and obtain his title.

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As the kurios. As the Lord. But ultimately he will bow his knee to the

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King of kings and the Lord of lords, right? Every earthly entity the most ardent atheist of this world will one day with a heart of rebellion and hatred mind you he will not bow his knee and confess

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Jesus as Lord from a heart of worship. He will do it acknowledging who he is out of a hatred in his heart that is even deeper than it was on earth.

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Because he is a slave to sin but he will declare Jesus as Lord. He will have no choice.

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And Jesus will cast him into eternal judgment under the mighty wrath of an almighty

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God for eternity. Because he owns them. They are his.

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He rules them. He created them and he does with them as he pleases. They refuse to acknowledge him as Lord in this life.

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They refuse to submit to his lordship but all of creation must obey.

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So we've seen what Paul means by Lord. Now let's look at what

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Paul means by one Lord. Okay?

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I'm going to get through these three points very quickly. I'm sorry I'm running out of time. My notes are a little longer than usual but we'll get through this.

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What does Paul mean by one Lord? This gets us into the context here. The first one is the singular reign of the one king.

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The singular reign of the one king. You see, if Jesus is king he is the only one.

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There is only one. There can only be one. There can be no other. The singular, one

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Lord, one reign. Prophet Isaiah wrote

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I am the Lord's speaking on behalf of God. I am the kurios.

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That is my name, my glory I give to no other. You see, to the pagan people here in Ephesus as Paul is writing this letter they have many gods.

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They have a smorgasbord of gods to choose from. A god for this, a god for that.

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Their gods are so small and insignificant that they can only handle one element of life, right? But that's what they worship.

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And here these Christians these people who once followed those plethora of gods these people who follow the way now, the one

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God they serve one God. They serve a singular God. A triune singular God, right?

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Three persons, one God. And Paul is reminding them that they serve one

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Lord. And that that one Lord reigns over all other gods.

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All other lords, all other things all other elements of life. That one singular king.

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That one singular reign. But more directly,

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Paul is telling them secondly, that it is the singular head of the one body.

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We've looked at that pretty extensively here in the book of Ephesians so we're not going to dive too deeply into the concept of one body, right?

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We've already dealt with that. But back in chapter 2 in verses 11 through 22 if you read through it

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I'm just going to briefly kind of skip through he tells the Gentile readers that they were at one time separated from Christ.

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Right? In verse 13 he says but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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Right? Verse 14 for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

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And finally in verse 22 in him, in Christ you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the

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Spirit. Right? This is what Paul is driving towards. This is what he's teaching us that we're brought into one.

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Now think of the passage that we just read a moment ago that I mentioned we're going to talk about in Colossians chapter 1. In verse 18 and he is the head of the body the church.

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He is the head of the body the church. He is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent.

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He and he alone tells the body what to do. Right? When to do it.

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How to do it. He is the head because he is the head of that body the singular head of that body.

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A body can have only one head. The body of Christ is not some abnormality.

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Right? Where you have the head of Christ and then you have some weird little head over here.

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That's the preacher. Doesn't work like that, right? That's a distortion. That's not the body of Christ.

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Because he is the head of that body the singular head of that body. I'm going to move through here guys.

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Let's jump to the third point. And this is because if he is the head of that body it's because of our third and final point.

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He is the singular Savior of that one elect people. He is the singular

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Savior of the one elect people. He is the head of that body because he is the Savior of that body.

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Right? He is the one that redeemed a people unto himself.

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In Ephesians 1 .17 it says, In him we have redemption through his blood. Right? The forgiveness of our trespasses.

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In Hebrews 9 .12 the writer of Hebrews says He entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by the means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption.

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The singular Savior of one elect people. Peter and John stood before the council and they declared in Acts chapter 4

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And there is salvation in no one else. No one else.

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For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

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He is the singular Savior. Jesus in his earthly ministry even declared

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I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. No one.

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So when Paul declares there is one Lord he is proclaiming all of these truths. We see what he means by Lord.

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We now see what he means by one Lord. And since all of these are certainly true then he,

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Jesus is the singular only Savior. And for those of us in here that have come to him as Lord have seen his glory and we continue to rest in him we obey him we love him because he first loved us, right?

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Our obedience and love for him is vilely imperfect. Imperfect.

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Make up words up here. Oh, but his love for us is absolutely perfect because he's our

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Savior. And in this we will be maintaining the unity of the

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Spirit when we obey him. If he is

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God and he is the Savior of one elect people the singular

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Savior then he is worthy of obedience and when we obey him then we're guarding we're maintaining the unity of the

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Spirit, aren't we? In the bond of peace. This is the only way we have peace. If you ever as a

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Christian if you ever not walked with the Lord you ignore him and you continue on in sin how peaceful is that life?

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I know exactly what David is saying in Psalm 51 when he says let the bones that you have broken rejoice it's these bones you feel as though your own body aches because it's so unnatural not to obey him as Lord.

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But when we do we're in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace together.

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You want to experience that together? Then we experience that alone with Christ in obedience to him as Lord because he is the one

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Lord. But I have to say I'm not foolish enough to think that everyone in here is in Christ.

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If you just take that for granted in here that you are in Christ but you do not live for the

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Lord I'm encouraging you if you have not yet submitted to him as Savior and Lord I plead with you to call upon his name.

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You hear it a lot go to any Baptist church on a Sunday morning you're going to get a gospel message and an altar call

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I think God's bigger than that. I'm going to give you the message and if he's awakening you oh you are under the

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Lord. You don't need me to walk you through a prayer. You will see him as Lord.

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Repent of your sins trust in him trust in his perfect sinless life that you couldn't live and you know it.

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Trust in his substitutionary death the death that he died on on your stead if you were an elect person that he died for you.

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Trust in his glorious resurrection so that you may one day share in that glorious resurrection with him.

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For he is Lord over all and you can either bow your knee to him now and be brought into everlasting joy and glory or you will bow your knee to him after this life and be cast into everlasting torment.

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It's one or the other. Period. Is he Lord? Church is he

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Lord? Let's try that again. Church is he Lord? Amen.

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We must live as though he is Lord. We're going to do it imperfectly.

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So imperfectly. That's the glorious part. That's the glorious part of our

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Savior. I'm going to say it again because I don't want you to feel the weight of legalism that is godless and that is not what

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Jesus came to bring. I want you to feel the weight of freedom.

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For you are free indeed is what he said, right? And so your life is not going to look like some perfect picture of automatic perfect obedience to him as Lord.

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It's just not, I'm sorry. Mine doesn't. The greatest saint you've ever seen throughout history and read about didn't.

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The Apostle Paul himself says, Oh, deliver me from this wretched flesh. I do the things

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I don't want to do and I don't do the things I want to do Do you feel the weight of that?

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Oh, but look at the trajectory of Paul's life. When we fall prey to that sin and that flesh, which we will continually.

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A Christian who runs to Jesus, he goes, Lord, King, I know

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I dishonored you. Oh, but I also know that you paid for it and you're not mad at me.

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You reach down and you pick me up and you tell me to follow you once again and I will gladly do so.

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I will gladly do so because you are a good master. You are kind and you went before me and you made the way for me and now you're showing me the way that that is the gospel that is

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Jesus is Lord. It's a pattern of our lives that are seeking after him as Lord. So imperfectly.

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Everything he did was absolute perfection. Rest in it.

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Lay it at his feet. Follow him. In light of that,

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I say we go to the table. I say we go to the table and we see, we see the word played out for us.