Lars Larson Live Stream

First Baptist Church Leominster iconFirst Baptist Church Leominster

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Seated. Well, Jason, come on up here.
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Let me introduce you to these folks. Jason and I have known one another since the fall of 2007.
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I was asked to join him. We made a trip to Guatemala, the first of three trips, and conducted pastors' conferences up in the mountains,
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I think northwest of Guatemala City, among the Mayan Indians primarily. Jason was a lot younger then.
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So was I. I remember I was a little bit set back. He told me as we were about ready to leave for Guatemala, he says,
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I've got four sermons. I mean, that's all he had ever studied up to that point. But that was a long time ago.
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He has since pastored a church up in Canada, a Reformed church up in the northern parts, and then has been in Ohio the last year and a half or so.
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And they're selling out in Ohio. They're moving here, and they're going to be serving us.
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And Lord willing, he'll be able to serve in the same capacity that Pastor Doerr served so faithfully for so many years.
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He's into biblical counseling, which is wonderful, and discipling, which is great, as well as teaching and preaching.
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So I thought it appropriate to ask him to preach today. So Jason will pray, and then
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I want you to introduce your wife and family to us. Thank you, our Father, for your servants that you have summoned and called and equipped to serve your people, to serve your kingdom.
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And we pray that you would give grace to Jason now and give grace to us that he might speak your truth and that we might hear your truth.
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And we pray that the blessed Holy Spirit enable us to live your truth to the glory of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray, amen.
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Morning, everybody. Well, it's a pleasure to be here.
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I always thought it would be wonderful to be in Lars' church and to serve alongside him, and today that day has come, so God is good.
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My family, I'm here with my wife, Laura. We've been married 20 years, 21?
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21 years, good years. My son Jack is 18, then I have
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Kate, who's 16, Maddie's 15, Cole is 12, and Brooke is 10.
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And Laura is, I won't tell you how old Laura is, but I'll tell you how much she weighs. Well, we are glad to be here, but enough about us.
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Let's get to the Word and worship the Lord together. Let me open in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we rejoice that we belong to you.
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We rejoice that we are your children, and we're so thankful for the sacrifice of Christ and that we are found in him, and that you have brought us together in your church, which is your body.
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And, Lord, we thank you that we have the sufficiency of the Word and its authority in our lives, and I pray that as we open up your
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Word that you would teach us what it has to say. Help us, Lord, to apply these truths to our lives so that we might live to your praise, glory, and honor.
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Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Thus says the
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Lord, Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24, Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom.
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Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the
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Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.
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For in these things I delight, declares the
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Lord. According to this passage, the Lord God delights in our understanding of him.
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The Lord God delights in our knowledge of him. Now this is truly an amazing truth.
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In our wickedness, in our sinfulness, in our frailty, the
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Lord God delights in our understanding and in our knowledge of him.
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It brings God delight when we know and understand his steadfast love. It brings
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God delight when we know and understand his justice. It brings
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God delight when we know and understand his righteousness. Our thoughts of God, our understanding of God, our knowledge of his attributes, our knowledge of his works brings him delight and pleasure.
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In Hosea 6, 6, the Lord God states, for I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice.
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The knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. God's desire is that all men would know him.
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Rather than sacrifice, rather than burnt offerings, God's desire is that all men would know the height, the depth, and the breadth of his majesty, of his splendor, of his glory.
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Beloved, God seeks to be known. God seeks to be known by you.
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This is the reason that God created the world. This is the reason for our very existence that we might know him and his glory.
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The most important question that could be asked, do you know
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God? Do you truly know God? Do you know his majesty? Do you know his splendor?
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Do you know his glory? Do you know his character? Do you know his works?
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Does your understanding and knowledge of God bring him delight? Does it please him?
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The knowledge that God seeks from us is not merely an academic knowledge. God's desire is not that you know certain facts about him.
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Knowing God is not the same thing as knowing certain facts about him.
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You can actually have a correct theology and still not know God.
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You can know certain facts about the Lord God. You can know certain facts about the Gospel and still be utterly lost.
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The great Puritan Stephen Charnock remarked that a man may be theologically knowing and spiritually ignorant.
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The Hebrew word translated know means much, much more than intellectual agreement.
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It means much more than agreement with the biblical facts about God. To know refers to an intimate relationship.
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It refers to an intimate union. To know is often used in the
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Bible to describe the relationship that exists between a husband and a wife. To know goes far beyond intellectual agreement.
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It goes well beyond the facts to having a close and personal and intimate relationship.
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Beloved, knowing God and having a close and intimate relationship with him should be the sole reason for your existence.
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It is the singular most important purpose in your life. Please join with me to the book of Philippians.
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Our text this morning is Philippians 3 7 -11 which answers the question what does it truly mean to know the
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Lord God? Let's take a look at this passage together. Philippians 3 7 -11
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But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
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Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain
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Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible
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I may attain the resurrection from the dead. To know the
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Lord God, to know the Lord Jesus Christ intimately and personally is to know his value.
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Verses 7 and 8 It is to know his righteousness. Verse 9
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It is to know his resurrection power. Verse 10 And it is to know his glory.
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Verse 11 Let's take a look at each one of these points in detail. To know the
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Lord Jesus Christ is to know his value. Philippians 3, 7 and 8
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But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
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Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain
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Christ. In these two verses, Paul is describing the radical change of perspective that had occurred in his life because of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Prior to knowing Christ, prior to his conversion, the assurance of his salvation came from the flesh.
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It came from his religious achievements and his work. A few verses back,
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Paul states in Philippians 3, 4 -6 Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh,
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I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
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Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
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Prior to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul seemingly had it all. He had fulfilled and completed all the religious requirements of Judaism.
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He was a member of the Israelites, God's chosen people, specifically from the favored tribe of Benjamin.
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Paul had all the necessary religious credentials. He was one of the religious elites.
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He was a Pharisee. He was militant and zealous, ferociously persecuting the opponents of Judaism.
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By all outward appearances, as to the law, Paul was blameless.
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To the people that knew him, he was a model Jew, living a holy life in perfect conformity in accordance to the law of God.
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But what does Paul state in verse 7? Look at it again.
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He says, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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All of the things in which Paul had put his confidence, all of the things to which
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Paul was counting on to earn God's favor, all of the things that he had once considered to be spiritual gain, he now considers to be loss.
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For Paul, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, in view of having that personal and intimate relationship with Him, nothing else mattered.
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Nothing else even came remotely close. In the
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Greek, the phrase surpassing value literally means to have or to hold over one.
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And this phrase was used to describe something that was of overwhelming gain. It was used to describe something that was of incomparable worth.
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Something that's value by far exceeds all other values. Knowing the
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Lord Jesus Christ, personally and intimately, truly does exceed all other treasures.
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It exceeds all other riches. It exceeds all other values because to know the
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Lord God is to know Jesus Christ. And to know Jesus Christ is to have eternal life.
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John 17, 1 through 3, the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up His eyes to heaven and He said,
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Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify
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You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom
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You have given Him. Verse 3, And this is eternal life, that they know
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You are the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
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On this particular passage, Charles Spurgeon writes, It was the great end of the life, death, and work of Christ to give this eternal life to all believers.
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He came into the world on purpose that they should forever live through Him.
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He has not accomplished His design in you, my hearer, unless He has made you live unto
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God, that you may know the only true God, distinctly recognizing
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His presence, speaking with Him and rejoicing in Him. So what does it mean to truly know the
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Lord God? To know the Lord God is to know His great value, a value that exceeds all others.
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Secondly, to know the Lord God also means that you will know His great righteousness.
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Philippians 3, verses 8 and 9, Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
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Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain
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Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
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To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know His righteousness, and to know His righteousness comes from being found in Him.
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Prior to knowing Christ, Paul had devoted his entire life to securing his own right standing before God.
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Through his own personal efforts of righteousness, through his own disciplined determination, through his own good works and his morality,
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Paul sought righteousness through perfect adherence to the law of God. But as hard as Paul tried, even on his very best of days, he still fell short of God's holy and righteous standard.
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Romans 3, verse 19, he writes, Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
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For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
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At the end of the day, after sincerely and diligently seeking to follow the works of the law, rather than righteousness and justification before God, Paul was only made more aware of his sin.
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He was made more aware of his unrighteousness. And beloved, this is the burden that every one of us must bear.
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Apart from the Lord God, every man must bear the full weight and the full burden of his own sin.
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Every man must bear the full weight and the full burden of the consequence of sin, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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Beloved, this is why you need to know God. This is why you need to know Christ, because apart from Him, there is absolutely nothing that can secure your salvation, nothing but the surpassing value of knowing
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Christ and being found in Him. The Lord God desires to be known.
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And the Lord God has provided a means to be known. He has revealed Himself through the light of nature, through the works of creation and the works of providence, so that all men are left without any excuse for their unbelief.
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But the light of these things is not sufficient to provide that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary for salvation.
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And thus the Lord God sent His Son, Jesus Christ. He revealed
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Himself through the incarnation of His beloved Son. In love, God sent
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His Son to be a sacrifice for sinners. God sent His Son as the propitiation, as the one who would absorb
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His full wrath and the full punishment on behalf of His elect.
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God entered into history. God entered into creation, and He became flesh and blood.
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He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary. As a child, He grew and became strong, increasing in wisdom.
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And the grace of God was upon Him. His entire life was lived in submission to God the
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Father. His entire life was lived according to the will of His Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law of God by walking in perfect obedience to it.
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He was blameless. He was without sin. He was without fault. And His life served as the perfect sacrifice.
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Jesus Christ died a real death on a real cross at the hands of sinful men.
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He was buried in a tomb, and three days later, He most assuredly rose again.
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You see, death could not keep Him. Death could not hold Him, for the wages of sin is death.
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But death could not keep the Lord Jesus Christ because He knew no sin. God the
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Father accepted His sacrifice. God the Father accepted His payment for sinners.
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The Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. Galatians 2 .20
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says, I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
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In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
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Himself up for me. To be crucified in Christ means that you have died in Christ.
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To be crucified in Christ means that your old man, your old self, is dead, having been crucified with Christ.
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The Lord Jesus Christ was our perfect substitute. He was blameless and without sin.
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In my place, He stood as a divinely appointed substitute to die the death that I had rightfully earned.
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The debt and the penalty that I owe to God was paid in full by God's provision.
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In my place, the Lord Jesus Christ willingly gave Himself up for me.
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Beloved, this is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message. This is the good news.
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Jesus Christ died to save sinners. No longer need you bear the full weight of your sin any longer.
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No longer need you bear the full weight of your sin, for God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.
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The weight of sin's burden has been lifted. The weight of sin's burden is gone.
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It was crucified with Christ. And now, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and I in Christ.
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It's no wonder that Paul counted all things to be loss and rubbish. It's no wonder that he exchanged the full weight and burden of his legalistic self -righteousness for the righteousness that is found in Christ.
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But how did Paul access this righteousness? How do you and I access this righteousness?
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How do you exchange the full weight and the full burden of sin for the righteousness that is found in Christ?
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How might you be found in Christ? Verse 9.
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And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.
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The righteousness from God that depends on faith. How might you be found in Christ?
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Through faith. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John MacArthur defines faith as the confident, continuous confession of total dependence on and trust in Jesus Christ for all the necessary requirements to enter
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God's kingdom. Faith is much more than merely an intellectual knowledge of the truth of the gospel.
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Faith, saving faith, requires trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
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An absolute surrender to His Lordship. It is on the basis of faith alone that righteousness comes from God to repentant sinners.
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In other words, faith is the exact opposite of our self -effort. Faith is the exact opposite of our self -reliance.
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Faith is the exact opposite of dependence upon ourselves. To come to the
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Lord Jesus Christ in faith is to essentially say, Lord, I give up. I can no longer depend on myself for salvation.
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I will not depend on my own works or my own merit any longer. No matter how hard I try,
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I cannot make myself righteous before you. So, I put my trust in the
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Lord Jesus Christ alone. I will trust in His finished work alone.
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For only you can give me a righteous standing before God. That is why it depends on faith.
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Romans 4 .16 In order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all
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His offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
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Faith does not depend on my own merit. Faith does not depend on my own works.
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It does not depend on my own anything. Faith entirely depends on the free gift of God's grace.
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To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know His great value. It is to know
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His great righteousness. And it is thirdly, to know His resurrection power.
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Philippians 3 .10 That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share
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His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. To know the
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Lord Jesus Christ is to know the power of His resurrection. Paul knew very well that there was no power in the flesh.
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He knew very well there was no power in the law. The power that Paul sought, the power that Paul so greatly desired to know, was the power of the resurrection.
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Well, what does that mean? What does it mean to know the power of the resurrection? Well, knowing the power of the resurrection is manifest in two areas of our lives.
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In our salvation and in our sanctification. The power of the resurrection is manifest in our coming to Christ and in our living for Christ.
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It is His resurrection power that saves us and it is His resurrection power that sustains us.
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Romans 6 .3 -5 A great passage to be meditating on this week as we approach
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Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Romans 6 .3
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-5 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
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We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.
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It is the power of the resurrection that saves lost men. Upon receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, we are baptized in His death.
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To be baptized into Christ is to personally identify with His life, His death,
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His burial, His resurrection. It means that our old man has indeed died and has been buried in Christ and that the new man has been raised up with Him.
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This is why it's so important to place a high priority on baptism by immersion.
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Because immersion gives us a visual picture of this truth in a way that sprinkling cannot.
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Going into the waters and being immersed represents the old man fully dying.
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And coming up out of the water and being raised up represents the new man as a new creation who is able to say, it is no longer
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I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the power that fuels this transformation, the power that fuels this deliverance from death to life, is the power of the resurrection.
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But not only is our salvation made possible through this power, so is our sanctification.
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Romans 6 .6, we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
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It is Christ's resurrection power that makes it possible for us to walk in newness of life.
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It is His resurrection power that makes it possible for us to defeat temptation and trials.
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It is Christ's resurrection power that makes it possible for us to lead holy lives, lives that are honoring and pleasing to the
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Lord God. It's the power of the resurrection that completely eradicates the power of sin in our lives.
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Ephesians 1 .19, And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ when
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He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
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Beloved, the same unlimited and divine power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead has also raised us from the dead.
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And the same unlimited and divine power that seated Him at the right hand of God the
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Father in the heavenly places has also seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
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Beloved, never forget the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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The resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ has saved you. And the resurrection power of the
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Lord Jesus Christ will sustain you. It is at your daily disposal for living to the praise, glory, and honor of God.
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But not only did Paul seek to know the power of His resurrection, he also sought to share in His sufferings.
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Take another look at Philippians 3 .10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share
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His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. Paul sought to know
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Christ. He sought to know the power of the resurrection, but he also sought to share in His sufferings.
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He sought to become like Him in His death. In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 53, the
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Lord Jesus Christ is described as a man who was despised, a man who was rejected.
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He was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, despised, not esteemed, wounded, crushed, chastised, oppressed, afflicted, cut off, stricken, put to grief, and poured out to death.
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The Lord Jesus Christ endured far more intense persecution. He endured far more intense suffering than anyone else who has ever lived, and all of His suffering was completely undeserved.
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Paul sought to know Christ and to share in His fellowship of sufferings.
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You see, the deepest moments of spiritual fellowship with Christ are oftentimes at the most intense suffering.
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Suffering drives the children of God back into His arms. Beloved, you cannot look at the suffering in your life apart from the power of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. There is purpose in your suffering. God intends to use your suffering to produce something in you, and that something is
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Christlikeness. 2 Corinthians 4, 17, For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen.
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For the things which are seen are transient, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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Sickness, death, depression, anxiety, addictions, marital problems, difficulty with your children, difficulty with your family, difficulty with your friends, problems in ministry, persecution, trials, temptations, hardships, all of these things will most assuredly come because suffering must precede glory.
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It did for the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will for us. Paul knew this truth all too well.
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Paul knew all about suffering. In fact, God had given him a supernatural affliction, a thorn in the flesh, and it was so difficult and painful that Paul implored the
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Lord God three times that it might leave him. God's answer is recorded in 2
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Corinthians 12. He said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
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And you remember Paul's answer to this? He says, Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
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For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
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For when I am weak, then I am strong. This is what it means to know the fellowship of his sufferings.
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In the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a companion in our suffering, one who is a merciful high priest.
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He's a faithful friend. He is a sympathetic companion who himself has faced all of the trials and all of the temptations that this world affords.
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Hebrews 2 .17 says, Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
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For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is also able to help those who are being.
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To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know his great value. It is to know his righteousness.
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It is to know his resurrection power and the fellowship of his sufferings. And lastly, to know the
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Lord Jesus Christ is to know his glory. Philippians 3 .11
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Paul writes that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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Now this phrase, the resurrection from the dead, is unique in Scripture. And it literally reads, the out -resurrection from among the corpses.
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It means that those who know Christ will most assuredly attain to the resurrection, which refers to the redemption of our bodies at the last trumpet.
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At the last trumpet, our bodies will be raised from the dead, and we will experience complete victory over death.
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Our redemption will be complete. This is what is referred to as the doctrine of glorification.
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1 Corinthians 15 .51 Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed.
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In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
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For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
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To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know with assurance that we will one day be raised imperishable.
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To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know with assurance the certainty of our future resurrection.
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One day, we will be with Him in eternity. And those of us who know
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Christ should live in eager anticipation of His return. To know the
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Lord Jesus Christ is to know His great value. It's to know His righteousness.
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It's to know His resurrection power. It's to share in His suffering until we attain glorification, until we are with the
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Lord face to face. Beloved, this is what it truly means to know the
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Lord God. And to know the Lord God in this manner will please Him.
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It will delight Him. So the questions that lie before you today, do you know
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God? Do you truly know God? Do you truly know the Lord Jesus Christ?
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Do you know the power of His resurrection? Do you know the fellowship of His suffering? To cling to anything or anyone else but the
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Lord Jesus Christ is to take that broad path that leads to destruction. To cling to anything or anyone else but the
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Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection is to walk in blindness. It is to walk in darkness.
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It is to walk a life of futility. There is only one way to God the
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Father, and that is through Christ the Son. There is salvation in no one else.
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For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Beloved, with your whole heart, seek to know the
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Lord God. Know and understand His great value. Know and understand
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His righteousness. Know and understand the power of His resurrection. Share in His sufferings.
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Know and understand His glory that by any means possible you may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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Let's close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for Christ.
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We're thankful for what He did. We're thankful, Lord, that our salvation didn't just begin at Calvary, but it began before the foundation of the world that You elected us,
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You predestined us to be Your sons and Your daughters in Christ. And, Lord, we thank
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You for His life, that He came and lived the life that we could not live. We thank
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You for His death, that He secured our salvation on the cross, and that You gave us the
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Spirit as a guarantee of our future redemption, that one day we will be glorified, and the
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Spirit is our seal of that truth. Lord, we confess that we often lack faith.
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We often live with little faith. We confess that we are oftentimes more self -reliant than we ought to be.
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And, Lord, we confess our unbelief. So many truths in the Scriptures we mentally agree to, and yet we don't live them out in our lives.
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Lord, this is hypocrisy. We confess this before You. We ask,
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Lord, that we would seek after You with a whole heart, with a heart that is undivided.
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We pray that we would follow You and love You. Lord, You've given us every spiritual blessing.
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You've given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. We have all the tools necessary to follow
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You. So, Lord, please help us to be faithful as You are faithful to us.
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And, Lord, in the upcoming week, I pray that we would reflect upon the cross, that we would reflect upon the work of Christ and what that means for us.
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Lord, I pray that we would rejoice as we remember the resurrection, that He did not stay in the tomb but was raised imperishable.
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He is now reigning over all, sovereign over all. And, Lord, even though You are the sovereign king of the universe,
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You are also our Father. And we can approach You at any time because of Christ.
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So, Lord, we love You. We exalt You. And we ascribe holiness to Your name.
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You are worthy, Lord, of our praise and our worship. We thank You for this time,