Sunday, July 17, 2022 AM

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Sunnyside Baptist Church "A City Which Has Foundations" Acts 1:15-26

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Well, good morning, and apparently we have someone coming to make an announcement, or I have an announcement.
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This just in. We have a few extra copies of the church's 70th anniversary invitation, if you would like one for your personal records.
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If you would like one, let Tristan Call know. And if you don't know who Tristan is, she's the one who handed this to me.
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So, hey, welcome. It is good to see you this morning, and good for us to be together.
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And welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church. So we are glad that you are here, grateful that we have the opportunity to unite our hearts and our voices in worship to the
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Lord this morning. A couple of announcements that are in your bulletin that I just want to kind of highlight quickly.
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One is the Preparing for Sunday email that you can get. Details about that are in the bulletin.
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Probably the easiest way to subscribe would be to talk to Jana Brown, and she can get you signed up for that, but there are other specifics in there related to that.
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The other is Operation Christmas Box, Christmas Child is going on, and this is a good opportunity to bring some summer items, and those are listed there within that box in the bulletin.
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So just be mindful of that, and if you can contribute, that would be a great blessing to the kids that would receive those gifts.
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Several other things that are coming up. Wednesday, July 27th at 6 .30
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will be the Children's Choir program, so that will be preceded of course by the Wednesday evening meal, but I encourage you to mark that on your calendar
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Wednesday, July 27th for the Children's Choir program. Friday, July 29th, so this is a little bit of a change from how it normally occurs, but Truth Group will meet on Friday evening,
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July 29th, at the home of Jimmy and Kristen Barnett. So be mindful of that, that's on a
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Friday, Friday, July 29th. That weekend, on that following Sunday, July 31st, a couple of things will be happening on that day.
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In the morning service on Sunday, July 31st, Ryan Mounts will be ordained as an elder here at Sunnyside, and we are grateful for God's leading in his life and for God's provision for our church, and all those who lead in various ways, but we are grateful for Ryan and for the
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Lord's leading in his life and his sensitivity to that. So he will be ordained in the morning service.
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We will have communion that Sunday morning, and then also on that day,
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July 31st, flock groups will meet. So if you haven't heard from your elder yet on that,
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I'm sure they will be contacting you. So that will be Sunday, July 31st. Saturday, August 6th,
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Mugs and Muffins will be meeting that day. I don't have a time. Haley, do you know? At 10 o 'clock at the
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Browns. Okay, James and Jana Brown's house, Saturday, August 6th at 10 o 'clock,
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Mugs and Muffins for the ladies. And then on Sunday, August 7th, we will return to our regular
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Sunday school classes. So we've been so blessed by our summer session classes, grateful for all those who have led in those classes.
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And we still have a couple of weeks left. But the first Sunday in August, we will return to our regular
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Sunday school class structure. So I know that's a lot of stuff, and I'm sure you don't have it all down, but it will come out over time as well.
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But I did want to at least give you a heads up on those things that are coming up in the next few weeks. Before we take some time just to be still before the
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Lord, to pray and ask God to draw near to us, and then Michael will come and lead us in prayer before our worship team comes to lead us in worship and song,
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I do want to draw your attention to our fighter verses for this week,
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Psalm 91 verses 3 and 4. You find those in the bulletin. So if you would just take a moment to be still before the
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Lord to ask God to help you to worship him this morning, and then after a few moments,
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Michael will come and lead us in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you today and we confess before you in agreement with you that we come as needy children and you are ever our providing
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Father, the one who sees and gives and sustains and answers.
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Heavenly Father, we hallow your name here today. Your name above our name, your glory not ours.
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We ask that as we have gathered in obedience,
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Father, we have come together knowing that this is what you desire of us.
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We have raised our sails upon the mast. Lord, unless you send your spirit to blow in our midst, nothing will happen.
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We are dependent upon you. We are dependent upon you. Would I pray that you would bless every effort of our obedience today.
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You have given us the grace to gather and the desire to gather and to worship you and to praise you.
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And Lord, we look to you and ask for the grace to worship you in spirit and in truth.
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We pray these things for Christ's sake, amen. Really appreciate the elders in our church here at Sunnyside and how they lead us in truth and ensure that Christ remains preeminent and that they pray and they lead us in prayer.
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If you notice in the quote in the bulletin today, to pray is to enter the treasure house of God and to gather riches out of an inexhaustible storehouse.
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Anyway, at this time, if you would stand for our call to worship, we're excited that we're adding officially another elder to our flock as well.
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Our passage this morning, we're continuing in the book of Psalms chapter 78.
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Today we're reading verses 56 to 58. Read with me together. Yet they tested and rebelled against the most high
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God and did not keep his testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers.
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They twisted like a deceitful bow, for they provoked him to anger with their high places.
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They moved him to jealousy with their idols. So if you would turn your
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Psalms for worship hymnal, page 78i, we'll sing verses 24 and 25.
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And then our next song this morning is on page 97 of our regular hymnals,
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All hail the power of Jesus name. We'll sing all four verses. Let's turn to the word, careful with those.
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Turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah 29, where the author is giving
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Israel yet another warning. Let's read, starting in verse nine.
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Be delayed and wait, blind yourselves and be blind. They become drunk, but not with wine.
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They stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep.
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He has shut your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the seers. The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, please read this, he will say,
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I cannot, for it is sealed. Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, please read this, and he will say,
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I cannot read. Then the Lord said, because the people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote.
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Therefore, behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous, and the wisdom of their wise men will perish and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.
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Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord and whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, who sees us or who knows us?
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You turn things around, shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay that what is made would say to its maker, he did not make me, or what is formed say to him who formed it.
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He has no understanding. Let's pray.
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Heavenly Father, we're thankful for, once again, another opportunity to spend time in your word, spend time with your people.
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I just pray, Lord, that you would be among us, that our desire would be to serve and worship you, and I pray,
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Lord, that you would be pleased with our worship. I just pray that you would help us to remain in your hands, and I pray that you would be with Michael as he brings your word to us.
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I pray that we'd be submissive to the truths that he presents. Just pray that you would bless us for being here and allow us to have opportunities to share your word with others as we learn more about you.
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In Christ's name, amen. You may be seated.
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If you would, turn in your regular hymnal to page 278. We'll sing, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.
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Glorious things of thee are spoken, sung on city of our
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God. He whose word cannot be broken, formed thee for his own abode.
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On the rock of ages founded, one can shake thy glory post.
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With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayst,
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O God, welcome thy foes. See the streams of living waters springing from eternal love.
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Well supply thy sons and daughters, and all fear of one's rebirth.
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Who can faint while such a river ever flows?
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The thirst is quenched, raised much like the
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Lord, the giver. Never fails from age to age.
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Round each habitation hovering, see the clouds and fire appearing.
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For a glory and a covering, showing that the
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Lord is near. Thus deriving from their banner, life by night and shame by day.
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Save they feed upon the manna which he gives them when they pray.
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Amen. Your words are wonderful.
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Promises that keep our hope alive.
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They steady us throughout life's weary time.
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Where else can we go? Where else can we go?
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You have the words of life. And strengthen us to shine against the dark.
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Lord, guard us from the lies the enemy will speak.
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No guilt remains for those you have redeemed.
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With renowned eyes of life.
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Your words of life. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see.
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Help us in our doubt and unbelief.
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Give us ears to hear and eyes to see.
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Help us in our doubt and unbelief.
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Give us ears to hear and eyes to see.
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Help us in our doubt and unbelief.
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Where else can we go? Where else can we go?
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You have the words of life. The words of life.
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Make your glory known. Make your glory known.
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Through all the words of life. Your words of life.
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Through all the words of life. Your words of life.
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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come again before you today and we give you praise for your many gifts toward us.
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Above all, you have given us your Son, Jesus Christ. And we know that with him you freely give us everything else.
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And so we pray that you would bless our time here this morning. As we gain instruction from your word, you show us what the truth is.
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Show us how we need to correct our thinking and our affections and our behaviors.
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And Lord, we praise you that you are so faithful as Heavenly Father. To conform us to the image of your
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Son. That we may know what it is to have eternal life. To live as you truly have made us to live.
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We ask that you would bless our time in your word today. That you would lead us to worship you. And that we would give the amen on this earth of your will which is forever established in heaven.
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We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I invite you to open your
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Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts. We're going to be reading verses 15 through 26.
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Acts chapter 1 verses 15 through 26. We have begun our study in Acts and we spent some time in the first 11 verses.
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Considering the theme of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God. The gospel of the kingdom.
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And how this is centered upon the king. We want to know what the kingdom is all about. We just simply have to pay attention to who is the king.
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What does he value? What is he about? What does he desire? What has he accomplished?
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And what has he promised to continue to do and to ultimately accomplish?
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And we see how essential it is for us to pay attention to the king and to rely upon what he supplies for us.
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Having told his followers that they will be engaged in a multicultural, multilingual, multigenerational, multinational endeavor.
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Well, you know, who are we? The few, the weak, not many noble, not many, just at this point, not many at all.
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So they have a prayer meeting to go wait upon the Lord and to wait for the promised gift of the
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Holy Spirit. And so now we come to another moment in their waiting upon the
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Lord. As they've been praying and they've gathered together, they recognize that once again they are in need.
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They are in need of their Lord's provision to see through and to continue to build upon the work that he has begun.
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And so this morning we're going to be considering a city which has foundations.
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A city which has foundations. I invite you to stand with me as I read this word given to us by our
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Savior and Sovereign Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit through His servant Luke.
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Acts 1 beginning in verse 15. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty, and said,
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Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who became a guide to those who arrested
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Jesus. For he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.
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Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity. And falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.
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And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem. So that field is called in their own language, ekel dama, that is, field of blood.
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For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it, and let another take his office.
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Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.
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And they proposed to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias.
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And they prayed and said, You, O Lord, know the hearts of all. Show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry, an apostleship from which
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Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias.
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And he was numbered with the eleven apostles. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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You may be seated. As we've talked about, the book of Acts is very unique.
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And outside of the book of Revelation, it's probably the most abused book in the
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New Testament. As folks try to take various selections from the book of Acts, and insist upon everything being recreated for an authentic first century church.
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Which is, of course, not at all what Jesus wants. He does not want us to be without the numbers that we have today, and the spread of the gospel that we have today.
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He does not wish us to have less than a full and complete scripture. He does not wish us to be in such dire and difficult and mean straits as this church was.
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It's a unique time period as Christ is ascended, and he has established the new covenant.
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The promise of the new covenant, the Holy Spirit, he is about to descend. And there's this transitional period from the beginning of the new covenant toward the end of the old covenant.
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The elements of the old covenant are still in play. The temple is still standing. The priests are still offering sacrifices.
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Many of the Jews are still pursuing their ceremonies and their feast days.
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And we're going to see a lot of tension, indeed conflict, indeed persecution from the tenants of the old covenant as they rage against the followers of Jesus Christ.
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Those who are part of the new covenant. And as we think about this transition, there are several analogies that we may apply from the
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Old Testament that would help us to understand. I think one of them that is helpful is that of the connection between Solomon and David.
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Remember that David was not allowed to build the temple, was he? Now, he wanted to build a temple for the
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Lord, but he was kept from doing that. But he did not simply sit down and say, oh, well, forget that.
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David spent a long time gathering supplies. And David drew up the plans for the temple.
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And he arranged everything, the funding and the supplies and the plans so that, now watch this, that the son of David would build the temple.
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And isn't that what Jesus said when he came as the son of David? He came to build the temple.
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And in many ways, we see this relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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Between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. That the Old Covenant is like the days of David in which many things were prepared.
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The plans were all drawn out. The supplies were all gathered in. Everything was set in readiness.
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But only when the son of David came was everything brought together in splendor and in glory.
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And in many ways, in the Book of Acts, we're seeing just how that transition takes place. The outflow of what happens once the
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New Covenant has been established and the Old Covenant still sticks around. What happens next? What does this look like?
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And so, that's why we have very unique things happening in the Book of Acts. As we read our passage this morning,
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I hope that you noticed that there were some rather Old Testament themes as a part of it. At the end, they were casting lots.
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I mean, how Old Testament is that? We also have several quotes from the Psalms.
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And it wouldn't be very Old Testament if we didn't have a strangely gruesome death, right? So, it seems very
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Old Testament in a way. But here we have the followers of Christ working through a need.
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And the need has to do with the foundation of the city that Christ builds. We are to rejoice in how
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Christ, our King, builds His city. How He builds
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His church. How He builds His kingdom. These are all the metaphors that we have in the
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Bible for the New Covenant. And consider, first of all, consider Jesus and the foundation that He has chosen of His apostles.
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Now, when we read our text last week in verses 13 and 14, there were a list of names.
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A list of names. Indeed, here we are told there's 120 names. But absent from the list in verses 13 and 14, and definitely absent from the reference of 120 names, is one particular name, and the name that's missing is one of Judas Iscariot.
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We have 11 apostles listed. 11 apostles listed in verses 13, and one is missing.
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And we have in verse 15, 120 names, but somebody is missing.
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And who is missing is Judas Iscariot. Now, why is this important?
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Why is this important? We can look back in Luke chapter 6 in verses 12 through 16.
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We find a passage that comes just after Jesus has reinterpreted the Sabbath in terms of Himself.
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How significant is the Sabbath for the Pharisees and for those who believe that they were the faithful conveyors of the
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Old Covenant? But Jesus reinterprets the Sabbath and shows that true Sabbath is communion with Him.
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And that He's the true meaning of the Sabbath. And He's teaching and showing how the New Covenant is different from the
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Old Covenant. And in this context, He appoints 12 of His disciples to be
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His apostles. 12 of His disciples move from simply being followers and learners to being those who are official.
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Those who carry the very authority of Christ. They are like ambassadors who carry the full legal weight of a nation in and of themselves.
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The expression may be given as plenipotentiary, that they have the full diplomatic national effect of a representative.
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And Jesus selects 12 to be His apostles who will go forth in His name and advance
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His kingdom. Why 12? Any ideas? Why did He pick 12?
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Well, in this passage in Luke 6 where He is teaching how things are going to be different in the
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New Covenant. What do we remember about the Old Covenant? Wasn't there 12 in the Old Covenant? 12 sons of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel.
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And these were called the children of Israel, the tribes of Israel. But now
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Christ has come. And He is the true Israel. And He has 12 as well. And no longer will it be the scene in which
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Joshua brings the 12 tribes into the promised land and casts lots for their inheritance.
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But the inheritance of nations has been given to Christ. And He has 12 apostles.
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And He sends them forth in His name to declare His gospel of the kingdom to all the nations. And so we see that what was placed in picture and in type and in shadow in the
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Old Testament is brought to its fruition in the New Covenant. And the list of names are given there in Luke 6 verses 12 through 16.
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Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.
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And when it was day He called His disciples to Himself and from them He chose 12 whom
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He also named apostles. That is a very official, authoritative title. Simon whom
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He also named Peter and Andrew His brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the
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Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
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Now we move forward in that text and what else do we see? Not only do we find
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Jesus reinterpreting the Sabbath in terms of Himself and picking a new 12 to represent the people of God and spread the authority of His kingdom to all the nations.
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But we also find in the very same context that He begins to give the kingdom beatitudes.
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He begins to say this is what the kingdom looks like. Blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
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And then the chapter in Luke 6 is completed by Jesus reminding everyone that if there is anything going to be built it must be built upon the
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Rock who is Christ. And so throughout that text we see that it is important to Jesus that He selected 12 in light of the new covenant.
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But now we have a problem. Now we have a problem here in Acts chapter 1. One of the 12 is missing.
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One of the 12 has betrayed the faith. One of the 12 has betrayed Jesus Christ.
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In Jewish context if you ever had 120 men in the same area it was considered an official
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Jewish community and out of the 120 men a council would be formed.
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If you had 10 Jewish men in an area you could have a synagogue. Each man would give a tithe and then you would have a rabbi who would serve the people.
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If you had 120 Jewish men as Peter addresses them men and brethren. If you had 120 men then you would have a certified community and then you would have a council in that community.
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Well one of the council is missing. One of the council isn't there. One of those that Jesus had chosen was a betrayer and he is gone.
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And they see the need. They see the biblical need. They see the need in light of the preeminence and the authority of Christ to replace the one who had fallen in sin.
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And this is a recognition of the ways in which Christ provides for the building of his city.
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He's given these apostles as foundations. Now if we turn in our Bibles over to Ephesians 4 and Ephesians 2
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I think we'll see this very plainly. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11 it says, And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.
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For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ.
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To we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. To a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
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So Christ is building something and he gave including in all the list he gave apostles.
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Now how are we to understand these apostles? Well back in chapter 2 in verse 19 we are told,
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Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
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Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
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Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the
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Lord. In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit. So do you hear what
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Christ is building? He is building his body, he is building a temple. Other places we hear he is building a city.
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He is building his church, he is building a kingdom. And what's the foundation? In the foundation are the apostles and the apostles are all fitted to a cornerstone.
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The cornerstone was the perfect stone, the stone that was laid first. The one that was perfectly straight in all of its angles.
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Against which every other part of the building would be measured to make sure that it was in perfect alignment.
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And so we see that Christ is the cornerstone and he is accorded for these 12 apostles to be the foundations of what he is building.
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We say all this because this kind of passage when you read through it and you realize, Okay so Judas Iscariot betrayed
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Christ, he's gone. But then by the end of the passage we see that another apostle came in. What do we understand about that?
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Are we to think that there must be a perpetual council of 12 presiding over the entirety of Christendom?
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That all the church must be united under the heading of 12 apostles? Or are we to think that the office of apostle is to be repeated and to be spread and that there should always be apostles everywhere?
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Well what does Jesus call his apostles? Foundations.
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Foundations. When you look at a picture of a building, is it all foundation? Is there foundation halfway up the wall?
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Is there foundation somewhere around the roof? Come now. The foundations are at the very beginning.
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And Christ is building his city, he's building his church, he's building his temple and he's laid a foundation. He himself is the cornerstone and the apostles whom he chose are foundation stones aligned to him.
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That's why we don't have apostles today. Even though you can buy your apostleship for $99 .95 online.
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You can get your apostleship from somebody. I had a lady in a previous church come tell me that she had been anointed by an apostle who could make fire come out of his fingertips and she watched him do it.
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I don't think you want that anointing. People think today that you're supposed to have apostles.
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Why? Well, Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ but then they replaced him, didn't they? About that.
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Isn't it interesting that Matthias having been accorded this place as part of the twelve, and we see it later on in Acts chapter 6, he is numbered as one of the twelve.
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It's an important number, the twelve, for the reasons we've already discussed. But in chapter 12 of Acts in verse 2, we read that James, the brother of John, one of the intercessors of John, James, the apostle, was murdered by Herod.
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And do you know what happened next? The church did not replace him. The church did not replace him.
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He served as a foundation stone of the city which Christ built. He was faithful to the end. He was faithful to his
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Lord. He was a martyr and they did not replace him. He served as that foundation stone and he did so well.
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And he entered into the joy of his Lord. So when we think about the way that Jesus is building his city, we should rejoice that he provides all that we need.
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He has provided the apostles, he has provided the prophets, and today he still provides pastors and teachers.
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He is building his city and we should rejoice in the way that he does so. Consider also
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Judas and the character failure evident in his apostasy. We read this in verses 16 and 17 of our text.
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Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested
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Jesus, for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry. Now Judas, you remember, betrayed
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Christ. And in Luke's previous volume, in the Gospel of Luke, we read the following in chapter 22, verses 3 -6.
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Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.
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You hear that again, he was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him to them.
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And they were glad. Remember, they've been plotting and plotting some way to kill Jesus. They were fed up with him, they were done with him, and now
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Judas is giving them an opportunity. And they were glad and agreed to give him money.
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So he promised an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of the multitude, whom, you remember, the religious leaders feared.
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The only reason they had never acted against Jesus was they were afraid what the crowd might do to them. And then the moment came, verse 47 of the same chapter,
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Luke 22, verse 47. And while he was still speaking, behold, a multitude, and he who was called
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Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss him.
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But Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man? With a kiss. You remember
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Judas Iscariot was the one who controlled the money purse, all the monies that were donated to the ministry of Christ.
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Judas somehow became the treasurer. And you remember that the Bible tells us that he was greedy, he would help himself from the pouch.
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You also remember that Judas once was very upset with a woman who came to anoint
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Jesus for his burial, and she was worshipping him, and she took her alabaster flask of pure spikenard, something that was very expensive, and she broke it and anointed
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Christ in worship. And Judas Iscariot rebuked her and was very upset, for he was one who believed in human flourishing above all.
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And he said, this could have been sold in the money given to the poor. He saw human flourishing as greater than the glory of Christ.
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And Jesus rebuked him and said, the matter of those glories in proper relationship.
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But Judas Iscariot was greedy. He was deceptive. He was power hungry. He was selfish.
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Judas was unfaithful. And in every possible way, as we consider what Jesus said in Matthew 26, verse 24, the
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Son of Man indeed goes just as it was written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
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It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. When we consider what Judas Iscariot did, and trading his
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, one who came and he was serving, and he loved Judas and he served
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Judas, and he did all these things for him. When Judas Iscariot considered Christ, and he considered money, and he considered
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Christ, and he considered self -rule, he chose himself over Christ. He sold
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Christ out for 30 pieces of silver. In every possible way,
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I mean this with every ounce of meaning in this expression, Judas Iscariot is the definition of a damned fool.
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He knew better. He did it anyway. It makes him a fool. And he was damned to hell for his actions against Christ.
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But you notice that he's not in the list. Verse 13 of Acts 1.
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He's absent from the list of names here in the 120. He's particularly pointed out as, yeah, he's not here.
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You know why he's not there? Because of the way that Jesus Christ builds his city. Because of the way he builds his city.
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Do you realize that not everybody gets in? And the city that Christ builds is not some kind of city where, you know, everybody, no matter who you are, or what you do, or what you affirm, everybody gets to live here.
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Not that kind of hellhole of a city. The city that Christ builds whom he saves.
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Such were some of those who did horrible things and used to be known for their sins. But they've been changed.
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They've been altered. They've been born again. They've been sanctified. And they're brought together into a city that doesn't have all this wickedness abundant in it.
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Revelation chapter 21 and verse 2. John says, Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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Prepared as a bride in the white, in the clean, in the fresh, in the joyous, in the glorious.
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Here is a bride adorned for her husband. But you know who's not part of the bride and who's not in this in this city?
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Verse 8 of Revelation 21. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire in Brimstone which is the second death.
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They don't have their part in the bride. They have their part in the lake of fire. You say, well, you're talking about a bride in the city.
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Yes. Verses 9 and 10. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying,
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Come, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife. Everybody has in their mind now a beautiful woman in a white dress.
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Correct? Okay. Hold on to that thought. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the great city.
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So I'm going to show you a bride and then John saw a city. Are you following me? Follow the text.
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I will show you the bride and he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God having the glory of God and then the description of what the city looks like.
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Beloved, who is the bride of Christ? The church is. That's right.
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So the city that is described here is not the place we're going to live. It is who we are.
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I will show you the bride and he shows me a city. I like the old spirituals but we're not going to walk on streets of gold.
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The street of gold is part of the city of who we are. Follow the text. This city is special.
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This city is pure. This city is glorious. This city has been prepared like a bride for the groom.
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And you know what's not there? Wickedness and sin. Verse 26 of Revelation 21
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And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie but only those who are written in the
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Lamb's Book of Life. You see? This city is pure. This city has no sin or wickedness in it.
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It is made completely pure. Additionally in Revelation 22 verses 14 and 15
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Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and they may enter through the gates into the city but outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie outside are these
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You say, I thought dogs went to heaven. Well, it's not those types of dogs. Look at your footnotes.
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So, what are we seeing? Judas Iscariot did not go to heaven.
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Now, it's interesting as I was researching for this sermon there's all sorts of people who really have some crazy theories about Judas Iscariot but they just don't like the idea that it's possible that somebody went to hell.
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Listen, Judas Iscariot is shown to us first of all as a warning and a reminder not everybody goes to heaven not everybody is a part of Christ's bride not everybody gets in whoever does come in comes in by the blood of Jesus Christ alone by the grace of God and the grace of God makes such an impact upon their lives that they are utterly different than what they used to be.
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This is good news that Christ saves us from not only the punishment of sin but also from the power of sin and ultimately we will be saved from the very presence of sin such is his salvation.
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Judas does not go to heaven. And we're considering the city which has foundations also consider justice the curse foretold and applied verses 18 through 20
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Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out and it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem so that field is called in their own language akeldama that is field of blood for it is written in the book of Psalms let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it and let another take his office.
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So Peter says we need to address this issue about Judas Iscariot and the way that he died and what we must do now because it was written in the
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Psalms we are told about this very thing and we are told what we are to do now so what we find is an interesting detail to the story now back in Matthew chapter 27 verses 3 through 8 we have a parallel account and I want to read that as well so we can see what happened to Judas Matthew 27 3 through 8 then
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Judas his betrayer seeing that he had been condemned was remorseful and brought back notice remorseful is not the same as repentant remember that Esau was remorseful but he was not repentant he was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying
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I have sinned by betraying innocent blood and they said what is that to us you see to it then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself we'll come back to that but the chief priests took the silver pieces and said it is not lawful to put them into the treasury because they are the price of blood and they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day so apparently the field of blood got its name for more than one reason and what happened with Judas is that he got remorseful and he took the silver back and he threw it at the feet of these
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Jewish leaders and he says I don't want this anymore and they said well basically let's just pretend he donated this to buy a field to bury strangers in very strict burial laws in Jerusalem because of codes of holiness and where are they going to bury
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Gentiles well they had to have a special field and Judas Iscariot and his donation ended up being what purchased that field this happened to be the very same field that he went out to hang himself in convenient now we read in Matthew that he went to go hang himself and this is how he died we read in Acts that he fell and burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out so what happened well the sad story is simply this
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Judas Iscariot went out to the field and he went to go hang himself and likely chose a tree and crawled up the tree to a tree limb fastened the rope around the limb and around his neck and prepared to hang himself as he released his body weight from the tree to hang himself in the swinging motion either the branch or the rope snapped and he swings away from the tree and then falls flat on his body and he dies a gruesome death and so this is the end of Judas Iscariot and everybody knew about it and it was a story that circulated to some effect what do we see here in the end of Judas Iscariot we see of course a just end to the betrayer of Christ and we are reminded that justice is what is fair and what everybody is craving for and crying for and clamoring for is not really justice but mercy and may we find mercy in Christ but we see that we see that Peter says this was to fulfill the scriptures this was to fulfill the scriptures and we need to go look at the scriptures that were thus fulfilled in Psalm 69 in Psalm 69 we read passages that remind us of the
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Messiah for they are prophecies of Christ in Psalm 69 in verse 9 we read because zeal for your house has eaten me up and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me how's that for a messianic verse remember
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Christ cleansing the temple because zeal for God's house had consumed him and we remember from the from the description of the gospel in Isaiah 53 that the reproaches of those who have reproached
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God fell upon him and says he bears our transgressions we read further in Psalm 69 verse 21 says they also gave me gall for my food something very bitter and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink remember on the cross they offered
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Christ sour wine another prophecy from Psalm 69 fulfilled in Christ and so our minds are carefully attuned to the figure of Christ in this
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Psalm now let's continue into the key verses for Acts 1 verses 24 -28 we read this pour out your indignation upon them and let your wrathful anger take hold of them who those who have betrayed
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God's chosen servant let their dwelling place be desolate let no one live in their tents for they persecute the ones you have struck and talk of the grief of those you have wounded add iniquity to their iniquity and let them not come into your righteousness let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous and Peter says that Judas's death his judgment that he suffered under God was prophesied from Psalm 69 he says this was to fulfill because Judas was one indeed one of the chief persecutors of the chosen one
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Christ he was the one who led the mob to Christ so that Christ would be arrested and then murdered and so he is a chief sinner and thus he fulfills this passage and he is rightly judged
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Peter also quotes from Psalm 109 in Psalm 109 verses 1 -8 let's read that passage as well here the psalmist says
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David says do not keep silent O God of my praise for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue again think about how this applies to Christ in the night of his death and his trial they have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause in return for my love they are my accusers remember
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Satan entering into Judas Iscariot and how Judas seemed to be more righteous than Christ and he turned him over to these authorities and so we read in return for my love they are my accusers but I give myself to prayer remember what
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Christ did in the garden of Gethsemane thus they have rewarded me with evil for good and hatred for my love and here comes a curse upon those who betray
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God's chosen one set a wicked man over him and let an accuser stand at his right hand when he is judged let him be found guilty and let his prayer become sin let his days be few and let another take his office verse 8 let his days be few and let another take his office now we understand that that is usually applied on funny billboards concerning certain elected officials but that is not the application of the text
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Peter says this text has been fulfilled and what happened in Judas's betrayal of Christ and the remedy of what we now must do
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Peter is saying the scriptures are telling us what we now must do it says let another take his office you see
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Peter stands up in the midst of them and he says look this is what the word of God says prophecy has come true it is accurate it is authoritative and now the scripture tells us what we must do let's do it isn't that a good model for the way that Christ builds his church how he builds his city exactly what exactly what the apostles as the foundation of his city are to be doing and so they must replace the one who betrayed
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Christ and so they begin to think about what that means but I want you to see I want you to see that although this was a heavy blow to the church a heavy blow to the
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Christian community that one of their own one of the apostles betrayed Christ it's not over it has not delegitimized the entire operation because one of them betrayed
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Christ indeed the scripture foretold it and they are given instructions about what to do next and so Christ again has provided for the building of his church and so these apostles look to the scriptures and say alright church here's what we're going to do what a good foundation and lastly we need to consider
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Jerusalem and the city's fitted architecture in verses 21 to 26 and this is really where we see the point of this passage verse 21 after Peter quotes this passage he says therefore based upon the word of God being true and authoritative therefore of these men who have accompanied us all the time the
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Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection why is this the qualification because that was the office of Judas Iscariot he was an apostle he was to be an official witness of all that Christ came and did and taught and all that he accomplished even up to the resurrection of Christ and this is what they are called to do they are to preach the person and work of Jesus Christ his righteous person and his redemptive work to all the nations and these apostles have been given this great commission and the foundation of this church and they say well what was the office of Judas Iscariot how has he betrayed it now somebody else must fill that very same office and so they're going to look for somebody who's been around since the beginning who was there all the way through and verse 23 says and they proposed two
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Joseph called Barsabbas who was surnamed Justice and Matthias and they prayed and said you oh lord who know the hearts of all show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which
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Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place in other words he went where he deserved verse 26 and they cast their lots and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles now this is where we're looking at the book of Acts and we're saying well is that how we're supposed to choose our leaders you know let's propose a couple then roll the dice and see who
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God picks well that's not exactly what's happening here and let's understand why they're following through the instructions of the psalms in this way they certainly look for the qualifications of a replacement apostle and the lord has provided more than one and you see how careful they are to acknowledge the lord's sovereign choice in this matter lord you're the one who chooses the foundation of the city that you build you're the one who chose the 12 originally you're the one who's gonna have to choose the replacement for Judas Iscariot do you see how submitted they are to the lord remember that Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone and everything that the apostles were to do as foundation stones had to be in alignment with him so they say this has got to be in alignment with Christ you know all the hearts of men you please tell us how this is going to work and they have two that are qualified so what they do is they take two stones this is what it means when they are casting lots they take two stones and upon each stone they write the name of one of these men go back to verse 17 remember their concern about Judas Iscariot's betrayal and why they need to replace him verse 17 says for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry perhaps your text says portion but it means lot it means lot it's the very same word we have here in verse 26 when they cast lots to find one who would be numbered in their midst so the problem was there was one who had a lot with them who was numbered among them he has betrayed
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Christ now they need a new one whose lot will be among them numbered with them you see how this works let me say it again the lots the lots that we are talking about were stones which had the names of the men written on them revelation 21 verse 12 concerning the city which
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Christ builds also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates and names written on them which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel three gates on the east three gates on the north three gates on the south and three gates on the west now the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
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Lamb Matthias among them you see it's a city that has foundations who chose the foundations
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Christ did and do you see how he's the true Israel you want to enter into the true
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Israel it's all about coming to Christ and you come in through one of the gates where the names of the tribes of Israel are and how do you in the city in which you enter that's what the foundations are the foundations are the apostles whom
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Christ has chosen and so we see the architecture is fitted to Christ the architecture of the city which
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Christ builds is all fitted to him the apostles are fitted to him he's the chief cornerstone the names of the gates are fulfilled in who he is as the true
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Israel this is exactly what is stated in 1st Peter chapter 2 really our goal here is to see that in this problem that the church had how do we replace
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Judas Iscariot and why should we replace Judas Iscariot is actually an opportunity for the people of God to see how
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Christ provides for his church and to rejoice in the way that he builds his city we have many reasons to rejoice we rejoice because we come to Christ as to a living stone he was rejected by men but he was chosen by God and he is precious and we too are built upon him and the foundation that he has laid and we are living stones and we are being built into a spiritual house a holy priesthood and we come together to offer up a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God as a holy priesthood through Jesus Christ it is said in the scriptures behold
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I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame therefore to all of us who believe
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Christ is precious to us but to those who are disobedient the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone the stone that Judas rejected is the chief cornerstone and the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to all the
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Jews who rejected Christ they stumble being disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed but we have reason to be thankful as living stones built upon the foundation that Christ has laid in this city we are a chosen generation we are a royal priesthood we are a holy nation we are a special people a people for his own possession that we may proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light once upon a time we were not a people but now we are the people of God once upon a time we had not obtained mercy but now we have obtained mercy let us rejoice in the city that Christ builds it is a city which has foundations let us rejoice and in this sense we are in line with those of faith do you remember
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Abraham by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance and he went out he didn't know where he was going by faith he dwelt in a land of promise as in a foreign country he dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city which has foundations
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Abraham waited for the city that had foundations whose architect and builder was
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God the city for which Abraham waited we're in we're a part of we're living stones in a city that has foundations laid by Christ namely the apostles who proclaimed his authority according to the entirety of his word we have every reason to rejoice it is it is good that we recognize that no matter where we live as Christians no matter what our what our native language is no matter the the arc of our of our lives our allegiance really ultimately is not to a political entity a political nation it is good to honor a mother but our allegiance ultimately is not to the these
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United States of America and our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in South Korea their allegiance isn't to their nation ultimately our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in Mongolia their allegiance is not to their nation ultimately no we desire a better country we desire a heavenly country one that is not of this world certainly in this world but not of this world we desire a better country and God is not ashamed to be called our
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God for he has indeed prepared a city for us and it is a city which has foundations so let's rejoice in Christ today let's pray
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Heavenly Father we come before you and we give you praise and we thank you for this passage that shows us that things don't always go well according to our estimation but all we must do is to turn to the authority of Christ and read his word and be guided into the right act of faith and that we then can rejoice in the provision that you have made
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Lord we thank you that you have prepared for us a city that you have built and you are building a city which has foundations and that we don't have to recreate those foundations
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Christ has already laid a good foundation and that he will continue to build and to build and to build and the gates of Hades will not prevail and so we give praise to Christ this day amen do you stand for our song of benediction and earlier
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I just wanted to correct earlier when I mentioned the ladies retreat there was a bunch of ladies that were working in the area of music during that retreat it was
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Amy and Amy Brooke Haley and also there was Barbara and Luann and Lisa so we're grateful for all their work in leading music and helping during the retreat we're going to sing oh how good it is we'll sing verse two today how good it is on this journey we share to rejoice with the happy and weep with those who mourn for the weak finds strength the afflicted find grace when we offer the blessing of belonging so with one voice we'll sing to the
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Lord and with one heart we'll sing in the presence of his people with one voice we'll sing to the