Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

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For those of you who are our guests today for probably the baptism, welcome. We are not concerned about starting or finishing on time, so you should be aware of that.
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We're glad you're here today. We are not in a hurry. So let's take a moment and prepare our hearts to worship the
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Lord. Grace and peace to you in the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our great God. Please stand.
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For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire into blackness and darkness and tempest.
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And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
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For they could not endure what was commanded as if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.
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And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.
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But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living
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God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly in church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel, O people of God, come now and let us worship him.
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Amen. Amen. Please pray with me. Father, son and Holy Spirit, we come into your presence, not fearing touching the mountain, but recognizing that you are our
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God and all glory, laud and honor belong to you, our
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Redeemer and King. We ask that our worship would be pleasing in your sight, not through technical excellence or flawlessness, but through the merits of our
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Savior and mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this we have confidence that you will do it.
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You will accept it. We ask that you would be pleased with our worship in light of Christ.
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It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Please kneel as you're able for the corporate confession of sin.
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Let us join together now in confessing our sins. Eternal Father, to us sins deformity, that we may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
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Give us grace to mourn our apathy and fallow, grant us to know that the way of transgressors is hard, that evil paths are wretched paths, that to part from thee is to lose all good.
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All these sins we mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon. Work in us more profound and abiding repentance, and grant that through the tears of repentance we may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving cross of Christ.
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Amen. Please stand. It's a terrifying thing to come into the presence of a holy
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God, but we have Christ and we have forgiveness of sins in him.
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Receive now the assurance of pardon. This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the
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Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.
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Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. Give thanks today,
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O people of God, in Christ your sins are forgiven. Amen. Amen.
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Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 75. We're going to be singing,
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O Father, You are Sovereign, and the tune is All Glory, Laud, and Honor.
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Let us sing to the glory of God. Number 75. Let us begin. Please take up now the insert and find the side of that one that says
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Psalm 87. If you were here just a few moments ago, DJ led us in a quick rehearsal of that.
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We're going to sing, this tune is O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, Psalm 87.
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Let us begin. Please remain standing for the reading of the word from the book of Genesis in chapter 19.
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Genesis chapter 19. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.
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When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.
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And he said, Here now, my lords, please turn into your servants' house and spend the night and wash your feet.
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Then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square.
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But he insisted strongly, so they turned into him and entered his house.
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Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house.
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And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them carnally.
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So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said,
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Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man.
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Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish. Only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.
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And they said, Stand back. Then they said, This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge.
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Now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they pressed hard against the man, Lot, and came near to break down the door.
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But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
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Then the med said to Lot, Have you anyone else here, son -in -law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place.
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For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the
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Lord. The Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to his sons -in -law, who had married his daughters, and said,
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Get up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But to his sons -in -law, he seemed to be joking.
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When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.
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And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the
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Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said,
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Escape for your life, do not look behind you, nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.
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Then Lot said to them, Please, no, my lords. Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight.
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You have increased your mercy, which you have shown me, by saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.
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See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there.
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Is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. And he said to him,
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See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, and that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.
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Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called
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Zor. The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zor. Then the
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Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens.
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So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
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But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the
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Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain.
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And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land, which went up like the smoke of a furnace.
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And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered
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Abraham, and sent Lot out of the mists of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which
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Lot had dwelt. Then Lot went up out of Zor and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him.
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For he was afraid to dwell in Zor, and he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.
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Now the firstborn said to the younger, our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come into us as is the custom of all the earth.
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Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.
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So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with their father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
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It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, indeed, I lay with my father last night.
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Let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, and we may preserve the lineage of our father.
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Then they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
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Thus, both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name
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Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name
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Ben -Ami. He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day. This is the word of the
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Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you,
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I'm gonna ask everyone to sit down. Normally, we sing the Apostles' Creed, but on baptism days, we don't do that.
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Caleb and Alex, you have a couple of minutes before you have to come forward. Couple reminders for the congregation about baptism.
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The ordinance of baptism is administered by the church in obedience to the command of Christ, that the nations should be converted, baptized, and taught all that Christ has commanded,
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Matthew 28. Baptism represents and seals our union with Christ.
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It demonstrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and resulting regeneration, adoption, and cleansing from sin.
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By baptism, we are admitted into the covenant community.
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Underlying the diversity of biblical covenants is a unifying and singular covenant of grace.
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Abraham had the gospel preached to him, says in Galatians 3. He believed
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God, his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness, Genesis 15.
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And he entered into a covenant with God signified by the sign of circumcision.
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Yet he was commanded to apply the sign of his adult faith to his infant child and all infant children thereafter.
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The question is why? Because of God's promise, Genesis 17.
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I will be a God to you and to your children. The saving purposes of God include the children of believers, because he is their
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God as well as their parents. The children also receive the sign of the covenant and are admitted into the covenant community.
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When we come to the New Testament, there is no new principle introduced. Children are not now excluded from the covenant community, rather in an era in which we rightly speak of a greater covenant with better promises.
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Children have not a reduced, but even a more privileged status. At Pentecost, Peter says for the promise is for you and your children.
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And for all who are far off and as many as the Lord, our God shall call to himself.
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The echo of the promise made to Abraham is clear. Children have the same covenantal status in the
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New Testament, new covenant as in the old. They are set apart. They are holy.
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First Corinthians seven says that even if only one parent is a believer, they are consecrated and set apart.
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And to be members of the covenant community and recipients of the sign of the covenant.
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Households were baptized. Acts 16. When Jesus took infants into his arms and blessed them, he demonstrated not only that passive infants may receive grace, but also that God continues to love our children through us.
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All I can say is amen. We often wonder about the passivity of the infant receiving the sign.
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And if you were converted as an adult, I have news for you.
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You passively receive the grace of God. It came upon you and you believe.
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For all of you who are baptized, we wonder about the significance and benefits for children, infants who are baptized.
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Maya is very young. But every time baptism occurs and Maya is present, she too will need to heed the exhortation.
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All of you who here present are to be reminded of your own baptisms. Of the grace of God confirmed.
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Of the privileges of the covenant into which you are entered. And of your responsibility to live holy lives and to serve
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God with thanksgiving. Let all of you parents here, especially be charged and admonished to not neglect the means of grace.
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Be sure that you provide a godly example. That you pray with and for your child.
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That you instruct them in the word of God. That you make use of the catechisms of the church. And that you bring them weekly to the public worship services.
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To the covenant renewal of the church. I'm going to ask you to pray with me now.
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O Lord, our hearts are filled with thanksgiving today. For the gift of this child and for your covenant promises.
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We pray, O God, that the inward reality that corresponds to the outward washing would be accomplished.
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That the child would be received into the protection and care of Christ and his church.
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That even as Christ has been the God of Caleb and Alexandra.
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That the Lord would be Maya's God as well. That she would be granted the gift of the
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Holy Spirit. That her heart would be renewed and regenerated.
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That she would grow up never knowing a day apart from Christ like John. Filled with the
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Holy Spirit from the womb. Like David, trusting
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God while he was still a nursing infant. O Lord, we pray now for the visible form that speaks of invisible grace.
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And we ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to ask
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Mr. and Mrs. Breno and Maya to come to the front. Congregation, the bulletin has the baptismal vows.
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Caleb and Alexandra, do you acknowledge your child's need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and renewing grace of the
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Holy Spirit? Do you? We do. Do you trust in God's covenant promises on her behalf?
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Do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for her salvation as you do your own?
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We do. Do you unreservedly dedicate your children, your child to God?
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And promise in humble reliance upon his divine grace. That you will endeavor to set before her
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Christ and his gospel. That you will live and provide a godly example.
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That you'll pray with and for them. That you will teach them the doctrines of our holy faith.
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That you will strive by all means of God's appointment to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the
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Lord. We do. I want to ask the members of Ascension Presbyterian to stand.
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Congregation of Ascension Presbyterian Church, you have covenant responsibilities and obligations as well.
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You as a church body undertake the responsibility of assisting these parents in the
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Christian nurture of this child. We do. We do. You may be seated.
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Caleb, may I ask you, what is the Christian name of this child? Maya Roselia Breno.
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Maya Roselia Breno. I baptize you in the name of the
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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Amen. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, I thank you so much for these very godly parents who love you so much.
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I thank you for the gift of children. I thank you for a healthy little girl.
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Oh Lord, I pray that all these covenant promises will be fulfilled in her life.
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Thank you. Oh Lord, bless her in every respect.
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Whatever could be said of a child of God, give it to Maya in its fullness.
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We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to ask the congregation to stand now.
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In light of these things, it seems fitting that we would now confess our faith in the joyful spirit of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Let us begin with the singing of the Apostles' Creed. Let us begin. How firm a foundation.
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Number 94. Let us begin.
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Please make preparations now for the prayers of the people. This is our prayers of the people, probably number one.
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And these words are very familiar to us. But I hope that familiarity does not cause us to not give attention to these very familiar words.
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So as we pray, even though we've prayed this once every 10 weeks or so, let's be mindful of what we're praying for.
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Let's be mindful of what's being said and pray along appropriately. Let's pray together now in unison. Almighty and ever -blessing
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God, in whom we live and move and have our being, we, your beloved children, offer to you our humble praises for having preserved us from the beginning of our lives to this day.
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Especially do we praise you for having delivered us from the dangers and uncertainties of this past week.
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For these, we are seeking to be blessed and magnified in your glorious name.
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Humbly beseeching you to accept this, our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
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For his sake, who lay down in the grave and rose again for us, your
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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us, granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and the world to come life everlasting.
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Amen. I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for our denomination, for this church, and for all ministers and missionaries.
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Pray for the church. Lord, hear our prayers.
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I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the burdened, and for the widows, orphans, and prisoners.
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Pray for those in any need or trouble. Be wise in their decisions,
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Father. Pray for your grace. Father, I pray that we be with those who are the most weak and vulnerable among us, those who are widows and those who are orphans.
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Father, I pray that those who are not in that state and are blessed to do so, would minister to them.
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Father, that we would take in orphans and that we would encourage widows and give them from your grace to us.
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I ask your prayers for those who do not know Christ and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him.
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Pray that they may find and be found by him. To reject the
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Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, God, that you would save them. We pray, Lord, that you would use us as your hands and feet.
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And we also pray, Lord, that you give us a new sense of the gravity of hell and how awful it will be for those who reject you.
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God, put this sense within us that we would love and care for our neighbor. God, we also pray for those here who seek to have a deeper knowledge of you.
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We pray, Lord, that we would all grow in grace and not be content to stay where we are, but grow up, further up and further in to Christ.
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Give us this, Lord, we ask in Jesus' name. I ask your prayers for our children and future generations which will be born to them.
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Pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them. Pray that we may have grace to glorify
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Christ in our own day. Pray that we come in contact with the unbelieving, worldly systems that we would glorify
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Christ by proclaiming His word, proclaiming His holy name by preaching repentance and the gospel of Christ to the people of the country.
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Pray, God, all this in Christ's words. Amen. Amen. Please stand and take up the
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Psalm of the month. Hope we remember what to do.
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EJ, lead us strongly at the outset and we'll be reminded and catch up again. Psalm 119.
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Please remain standing. 1 John and chapter 3.
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Begin reading in verse 10. This is God's holy and infallible word.
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In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
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For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.
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And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous.
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Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
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He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
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By this we know love because he laid down his life for us and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
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But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
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My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
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And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him.
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For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
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Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
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And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment.
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May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most excellent word. Please pray with me now.
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O Lord, we are challenged again by your servants' inspired words.
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I pray if there be any want of love for us, for our brother, that today we would start loving them.
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And if our love is shallow and superficial,
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I pray that it would be sincere and in deep. O Lord, I pray that we would love and give thanks to Christ for his example and that this would be the impetus to our newfound zeal to love one another.
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We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. John has been hard on my back because I feel as though the
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Lord has struck me with many blows revealing ways that I do not love as I ought.
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I pray the Lord continues to use this book as a sanctifying influence in our lives that we might grow to be more and more like Christ.
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The title of the message today is we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
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That's found in verse 16. Today we will be considering verses 13 through 16.
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I think the bulletin says 19, but we're only going to get through 16. If you want to know what the sermon is about, really, in just a few words, it's really about the
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Christian and self -sacrificing love. The Christian and sacrificial love.
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If there was an object to the message today, a real purpose, I would like us to be that church that would reflect the self -sacrificing love of Jesus.
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By loving the brethren and by sharing with the lost that reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ and his gospel.
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The Christian and sacrificial love. It goes all the way to we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
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I have four points for you for an outline for those of you who are in need of this.
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If you don't catch it on the first time, it's on the Slack general page. You can refer to it later. First, very simply, is the world's hatred.
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The world's hatred. Second, how we know we have passed from death to life.
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How do we know if we've passed from death to life? Hatred should not be found amongst the saints is number three.
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Number four is the title of the message. Lay down your life to the brethren.
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As you will remember, there are three chief errors that is facing the audience that John writes to.
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The first is a denial that Jesus is the Christ.
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That he's the incarnate second person of the Trinity. That he's come in the flesh to accomplish this great work of redemption.
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John has labeled them as anti -Christ. A very strong word denouncing their unbelief.
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As we've mentioned before, that doesn't seem to be a problem for our church particularly.
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The second major error was worldliness. Now this is hitting a little bit closer to home.
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In chapter two it says, do not love the world or the things in the world. The world calls for us and it allures us and it beckons us to come in and to play and even the people of God are deceived and go along with the ways of the world.
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All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the
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Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God shall abide forever.
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That's the second error is worldliness. Every church in the land needs to guard against and mortify and put to death the worldliness that is in them.
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But maybe the most challenging and it seems to be the most prominent in John's argument is the want of love.
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The want of love for the brethren. And today again in 1 John 3, we're on repeat.
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We are hearing again about the love of God. Let's consider the word of God together beginning again at verse 13.
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It says, Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
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Do not be amazed. Do not be astonished if the world hates you, my beloved brethren, because you are living in a way that is antithetical to them.
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The world here, you will be reminded is the cosmos and it's that ordered system.
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The ungodly multitude. We say worldly to be distinguished from godly.
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The ungodly multitude. The whole mass of men alienated from God.
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The church, the people of God align themselves with the mass of humanity that is alienated from God.
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They're hostile to the cause of Christ. We can't be with them.
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We can't go along with them. We can't desire their things and their ways.
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Their worldly affairs. The aggregate of things earthly.
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The whole circle of goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, which are although hollow and frail, they stir desire.
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And they seduce us from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ.
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That's what worldliness is. So if you're a Christian, you need to take an inventory and do some self - examination and with great sobriety and circumspection, you need to look and list those things in your life that are worldly and you need to mortify them.
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You need to put them to death. They're not fitting for the people of God. We have much more fun in communion with God and his people than they can ever have.
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They have nothing for us. But now we go down to the next phraseology and it's the idea of the world's hatred.
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If you're a Christian, why does the world hate you? Why does it detest you?
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This verse harkens back to verse 12. Look again at verse 12. It said
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Cain, who was of the wicked one, he represents the worldly. Abel represents the godly.
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And Cain murdered his brother. And why did he murder him?
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Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous.
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The answer to the question of why does the world hate us is the
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Christian is a walking rebuke for the ungodly.
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They can't bear to be in our presence because we rebuke their lives by our very existence.
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I can tell you this right now. The demons of hell and the enemy of God hated the baptism of Maya today.
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Praise God. They hate that we have assembled in the name of Jesus Christ and we've said that He is
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Lord. That there is salvation found in no other. Oh, they despise that because it condemns them.
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The wicked on the streets of Longwood hate the message of Christ. They hate His people because we are a walking condemnation of their very lives.
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His presence, the Christian's presence and character chastens the soul of the wicked.
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Their deeds are evil and are exposed by the righteous. That's why the unbeliever, when they come into our presence, they hear all the things that we say and the things that we do.
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They squirm a little bit. It's hard for them. Is it any wonder then that the world hates us?
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But it does beg the question, does the world hate you? It's not going to hate you very much if you're going along with her ways.
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If you are not demonstrably living and acting like a Christian, the world's not going to hate you.
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So another little test. Am I worldly? How and which ways am I worldly?
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I might list those and I might have things to repent of. On the other side of the ledger, does the world hate me?
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Well, the world doesn't hate me very much, you might say. You might not be walking in righteousness.
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If you're walking in righteousness, the ire of the world, the bullseye of the world, the arrows of the world will be pointed at you.
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If you're not experiencing any kind of that conflict in the world, you might not be living and acting as a
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Christian. You and I are not necessarily called to stir up unnecessary strife.
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But if our righteousness is an open rebuke to the wicked, the question has to be asked, do they see
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Christ in you? Are they responding to you in this way?
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And if they are not, why are they not? There needs to be more conflict, more confrontation, not less.
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That's the thing we want to avoid, right? Don't be bad, ill -mannered.
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Don't be rude. Don't be disrespectful. But you have to be detested. There should be seething anger directed at you because of your allegiance to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And you should fear nothing because you belong to Christ. But very challenging message here.
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Does the world hate you? Well, that's the first element of this section in John.
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The second question to be answered is, how do we know that we've passed from death to life?
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And I'm so creative. It's found right there in the verse. Because we love the brethren.
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The answer is right there. You say, oh, I love Jesus. Do you love the brethren?
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Oh, I love the church. Oh, do you love the brethren? I love theology. I love studying theology.
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Do you love the brethren? I love reformed things. Oh, do you love the brethren?
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I love Presbyterianism. Oh, do you love the brethren? I've said it a number of times, but my grandfather's generation was a fan of the
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Dale Carnegie course. How to be friends and influence people.
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No doubt there's some common wisdom in that line of thinking. But it's transactional.
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It's surface level. And in fact, I think most people prefer that kind of relationship with one another.
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You conform to my ways. We have a polite understanding of things. We don't get really too deep with each other.
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And in order to love the brethren, you've got to know them. You've got to know all the bad stuff.
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You've got to know strengths and weaknesses. You've got to be not performing for the saints in the church.
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You've got to be living an integrity filled, honest Christian life before them.
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You have to be acknowledging your sin that you might confess it to them, that they might come alongside and help you.
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In order to bear each other's burdens, we have to know what the burdens are. To meet the practical needs, we have to know what the needs are.
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We pass from death to life if we love the brethren.
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I think the love for the church is generally like the love of the
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Rotary Club or the fraternity or the sports team.
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The sports team is more zealous than ours. Gators are crying today.
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Sorry John and Rachel. That hurts more than conflict with the saints for us culturally.
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Our football team losing. This is as plain as day for every
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Christian loving the brethren. We keep it at that surface level.
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We don't penetrate into that deeper place. It doesn't permeate our whole lives together.
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In order to love each other in this way, we have to be very close. We have to be deeply connected.
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In fact, we have to commune with one another as those who commune with Christ. This is a big challenge.
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Genuine Christianity loves in a very deep way. Not a surface way.
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Not in a way for performance. Not like the Rotary Club. The Christian loves in a self sacrificing way.
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We know that we've passed from death to life. We know that we've been transformed by Christ and his gospel because he's been self -sacrificing to us.
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He lays his life down that we might live. If you do not love your brother, you abide in death.
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That should cause some pause for us. Do not love your brother, you might be abiding in death.
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The believer has been so loved by God that he must love others. He has to.
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He has been so crucified and buried with Christ and he has been so raised with Christ that he has to walk in newness of life.
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We're going to learn in just a minute when we think of salvation, we think about being delivered from our sins.
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It's certainly a huge component of it. There's another part that's very significant. In Galatians 2 .20,
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Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer
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I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life I live, in the flesh
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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me. The rest of the verse says, and gave himself for me.
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I told you a story. One of the most impactful things in my life was about 20 years ago.
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A British Reformed Baptist preacher told me he has two cards on his mirror.
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One is a three letter word and the other is a four letter word. It's so appropriate because it's a mirror.
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On the left side, it says him. On the right side, it says them.
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There's no me. There's no I. He looks in the mirror and immediately he's shaving or whatever.
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He looks to the left and he looks to the right. We are so self -serving.
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We are idolaters of self. It is the highest worship that we perform without faith.
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The real joy of living comes when we sacrifice our interest.
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When we look at that man in the mirror and say, not your will be done but his will be done.
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Not your glory be pursued, his glory. Not your good being pursued, their good being pursued.
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This is how Christianity transformed the world. If we want an effective witness in the community, we have to be the people of him and them.
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Not me and us. Very different. Not me and mine, but his.
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We have to be all in for Christ. In fact, we've been crucified with him.
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We've been buried with him. We've been raised with him. And if that's true, then our lives have to be radically different.
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We have to put our interests to death for the good of the brethren.
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Is your passing from death to life? Is your resurrection? Is it real?
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Is it evident to all? Can we observe your deep and sincere love for the brethren?
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Whoever hates his murderer, verse 15, we're getting to the third point. Those of you who are trying to wonder what's going on with the clock.
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Verse 15. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.
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And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So isn't that the same thing you said about verse 12?
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Well, it is to some degree. I want you to turn back with me to Matthew and chapter five. I've greatly reduced my
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Bible citations and page turnings. But I am going to ask you to turn to Matthew five.
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The absence of love is not neutrality. We've learned already in 1st
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John, it's actually putting us on the path of murder. If I'm not actively loving my brother and sister in Christ, I'm actually not in a place of neutrality.
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I'm on the place of going to murder. I have to actively love the brethren.
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Active. It seems as though John is making some reference to Matthew five, the sermon on the mount here.
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Look at Matthew five verse 21. Very familiar to you. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder.
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And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
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And whoever says to his brother in Aramaic, shall be in danger of the council.
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And that means literally empty head. Call your brother an empty head. I call drivers on the road idiots almost every day in my head.
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It doesn't seem like a big deal. I'm like, you idiot, why did you cut me off in my mind? Don't say it out loud. I'm tending toward anger and murder, and I'm not an angry person.
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Whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hell fire.
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That the reality is I should never think these things about a person created in the image of God. Much more so I should never ever think these things about somebody who belongs to Christ.
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So my repentance has to go not just in actions. I have to go back to the way
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I think about things in the world. The way I think I have to repent of.
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The way I view things. It's so significant and so central.
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It says in verse 23, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you.
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Leave your gift there before the altar and go your way.
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It's interesting. We always think about in the Matthew 18 situation, the offended party maybe going to the other one.
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This one is I've offended my brother in some way. I may not even know why I'm going to go to him. So active leave your gift before the altar and go your way.
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First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.
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Let's go back to our text on the way there. Remind you of our study in the book of Philippians two.
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I want you to listen to these words and you can nod your head. But in reality, you may be defying the spirit of the language of the text.
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We have to get a root causes here. We have to uproot this in our hearts.
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Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. So much of what you do is that.
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But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others above himself.
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You have a lot of interests. You're trying to raise a family. You've taken a wife. You're starting to have babies,
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Caleb and Alexandra. You've got a lot on your mind. You've got to plan for the future.
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You've got to buy a house. You've got to have a retirement. You've got to have a better job. See how it goes?
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It's all self. It's all internal. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition.
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I think you should build a wonderful business and make millions and millions of dollars. I think you should do it and you can do it for the glory of God.
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But don't do it with selfish ambition or conceit. Don't do it that way. Do it so you can build us a good church building.
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We can take the land here. Maybe make some money and we can do that. That'd be good.
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But that doesn't really come into our purview. Our interests go first.
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How it affects me always first. In the mirror picture, it's always
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Christ first and the people of God second and me, I have to keep looking away from the mirror and looking to him and looking to them.
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Let each of you look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.
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John 13, Jesus says in such a radical thing that happens there, he says a new commandment
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I give to you that you love one another. That's as old as time.
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The qualifier is as I have loved you. That you love one another.
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How did Jesus love us? How great is the condescension of the king of glory to take on flesh.
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And he lives in relative obscurity and a not so desirable place.
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And he accomplishes all righteousness and he goes to a cross bearing all of our shame and our guilt there.
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It seems like in the Hebrews language he for the joy set before him endures the cross.
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If you lay your life down in service to Christ and his church, I think the glory, the joy that is there for you far exceeds any earthly selfish pursuit.
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This is even a hard trade. This is an easy trade. It's hard to believe, hard to convince ourselves it's an easy trade.
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Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. No, no murderer has eternal life living in him.
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And lastly, by this we know love. I've said it a few times.
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The church is well armed. We'd have a crossfire problem if we had trouble here.
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I don't know who takes the shot. Who takes the shot? There's a lot of armed people here.
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I believe that all of us would stand to the occasion and be heroic in a moment to preserve the lives of our brethren.
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I have no doubts. Pressed into service, something bad is happening to the people of God.
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We stand up and we rise up and we act. We protect our little ones.
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We protect our wives. We stop the threat. It seems to me the harder thing is the small matters.
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The smaller matters of life. The little irritations.
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Sometimes fellowship with the people of God is inconvenient. You'd rather be doing other things.
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But in reality don't we always do it on our terms? If I'm not too tired, if I'm not too busy, if my house can handle it, then
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I'll do it. It's not self -sacrificing.
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Jesus sacrificed everything for us. He laid down His life for us.
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We say, well, He's Jesus. He's different. He is. But what does it say in our text?
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We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. When was the last time you sacrificed for the brethren?
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I'm not talking about you served from abundance. When's the last time you sacrificed?
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You sacrificed your interest, your comfort and service of the brethren.
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In closing I'm going to refer to John's priestly prayer in John 17. You're welcome to go there if you'd like.
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You can just listen. I think atoning for sin is beyond spectacular what
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Christ has done. There's another significant element and as we lead into communion we have to acknowledge there's something very big about our love for one another in our salvation.
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It's essential to our salvation. Jesus in His high priestly prayer tells
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His Father that the hour has come and He seeks that glory which He had with Him before the world was.
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In the next section He prays for His immediate apostles and the suffering and sacrifice they're going to make laying down their lives in service of Christ and the brethren.
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They're all going to be martyred probably except for John, our writer, our author.
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But then He gets to verse 20 and Jesus almost nearly 2 ,000 years ago prays for you and for me.
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I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
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That's us. We've given ourselves to the apostles doctrine, the breaking of bread and the prayers.
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We're those people that they all may be one.
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So it seems in part our forensic justification has familial connections.
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We have to have our sins done away with and paid for by Christ that we might be one and that unity is to be reflective of the
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Father and the Son's love. That they all may be one.
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He wants us to be one as you Father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us.
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It's got this added benefit that the world may believe that you sent me and the glory which you gave me
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I have given them that they may be one just as we are one.
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Wow. I want to tell you this. I've just been teaching on the
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Trinity and I can tell you they're united. Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are one
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God. How lofty is this language for the people of God that we would be one like the
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Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one. Verse 23 says
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I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect and one and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
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John has said in our text that we are not just to be called the children of God. We are the children of God.
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Oh, the love of God that's been poured out on his people. How can you be angry with your brother?
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How can you be frustrated with him? You've been loved by God. They've been loved by God. You can love each other.
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He continues says Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am and that they may behold my glory which you have given me.
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You and I are going to see the glory of Christ. The full weight of it.
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We're going to see it together. Oh, righteous
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Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you and these have known that you sent me.
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I want you to listen carefully and I have declared to them your name and will declare it that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them essential to the gospel.
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The unity of Christ's people essential. Love for Christ's people essential to real
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Christian faith. Well, it's been a long day.
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I pray that the Lord would cause you to take much more serious your duty and obligation.
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Yay, your privilege to love Christ and his people and may you get to the place where you can say without reservation
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I would lay down my very life for these people not a theoretical people
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Christians, these people whom we commune with and come to the table with and live life together.
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Amen. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your word.
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We thank you for your church. We thank you for the essential unity that we have in Christ whatever our minor differences may be.
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Oh Lord, I pray that we would celebrate that we see our Christian brethren from other traditions that we would love them also that we would love your universal church as you do.
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Lord, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Let us now continue our worship with the presentation of tithes and offerings.
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Please stand and let's pray together now. Oh Lord, we thank you for the provision of work and resources.
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I pray that your people would be industrious that they would work hard for your glory. We thank you for these tithes and offerings that they be used wisely for the advance of your kingdom that we would grow more in love with one another as we grow more in love with Christ.
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We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. A proper reflex to these things is to give glory to God.
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We've come into his presence as sons welcomed. We had an audience with the throne room of God.
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We've been assured of our pardon of sin. We have seen a covenant baptism. We've been consecrated by the proclamation of his word.
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Let us now reflexively with joy sing now the glory of God be with you.
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Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the
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Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you
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Oh Holy Lord Father almighty everlasting God because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world.
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We may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing. Therefore with angels and archangels with all the company of heaven.
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We praise and magnify your glorious name evermore praising you and singing.
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Please be seated. Let's pray together.
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Oh Lord we thank you for bread and we thank you for water.
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We thank you for visible and tangible signs and seals of invisible grace.
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And we ask oh Lord that these creatures of bread and wine according to your ordinance would confer to us the body and blood of Christ crucified and that your church would be fed and nourished and strengthened as they partake of this
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Holy food that they would be more closely united to Christ and to one another.
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We ask this in Jesus name. Our Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread and he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take eat this is my body likewise he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood drink from it all of you for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the
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Lord's death. Therefore we proclaim the faith
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Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again
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Let's approach the table with an appropriate humility overcome by expectancy
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Let's pray together now We do not presume to come to this your table
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O merciful Lord trusting in our own righteousness but in your manifold and great mercies.
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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table but you are the same
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Lord who always shows mercy Grant us therefore gracious Lord and drink of his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls wash through his most precious blood that we may evermore dwell in him he and us
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Amen Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us therefore let's keep the peace.
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The glorious gifts of God for you the people of God together one voice almighty and ever living
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God most precious body and blood of your son our savior
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Jesus Christ and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom and O Lord grant us this other benefit that you will never allow us to forget these things printed on our hearts may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed and now
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Father send us out to do the work you have given us to do to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our
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Lord to him to you and to the Holy Spirit Amen.
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Please stand the blessing received now the blessing of our
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God the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God in the communion of the