(Youth Bible School 2007) Christ Is the Believer's Life — John D. Martin

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I just realized a few moments ago that it's been three, four years since I was here. 2003, I think, was the last time and I directed the chorus that time. And I guess I taught the Book of John, the Gospel of John, the year before that.

So it's good to be back. I was reminiscing a little bit. Our first Bible school was in 1991. How many of you have been born since that? Oh, you were all born before 1991. Well, you were all in diapers probably at that time.

Anyway, I think there were 70, to give you a little bit of an idea of the history of Charity Bible School. I think there were 70 people here that first year. I think there were 150 the next year. And then it went from there.

And it's been delightful to see all of you folks come out this year for Bible school. We're going to be studying the Book of Philippians. And, of course, if you look at the top of this song, it says, I'm come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

Philippians and the Abundant Life

That's the scripture text that I chose for this song in my hymnal. And I guess I would describe the Book of Philippians as the nuts and bolts of the abundant life. It's a very positive book. And I thought this song would go well.

So, we're not going to take a lot of time each day. Let's just sing verses 1 and 3. By the end of verse 1, you'll have the hang of it. And then we'll sing verse 3.

O soul, deeper and deeper before thee I bow. Pour thy abundance of grace on me now. In meekness before thee I fall. Lord, in my life thou shalt be all in all. Deeper and deeper in the heart of this world.

Shall satisfy me. Down at thy feet I do cast myself, Lord. Christ be my life and my forever. Deeper and deeper, then higher above. Seek I, Lord Jesus, for thy gracious love. Only the way of the cross will be crowned.

Only in meekness true joy will be found. Deeper and deeper in the heart of this world. Shall satisfy me. Down at thy feet I do cast myself, Lord. Christ be my life and my forever.

Shall we bow our heads for prayer? That you have designed us to respond to every aspect of Christ's mind. To every aspect of Christ's heart. To every aspect of Christ's spirit. We thank you, Lord, that you made us with these capacities.

And, Lord, we pray this week, help us to understand how to respond in a way that these capacities can be maximized in your grace, not frustrated in our experience. Lord, I pray that every person would leave this Bible school, not only charged up for the next week, but, Lord, with some good foundational concepts of life that will see them through to the very end.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thinking about coming here to Bible school, there were two verses that were sort of going through my mind. I was thinking how the Apostle Paul spoke to the Romans in his book, in the first chapter, verses 11 and 12, where he said, I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift.

But this is the part that excites me. To the end, ye may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith of both you and me. I wanted to become a part of your life.

I wanted to be able to do something this week that would establish you. Let's say it this way, to cooperate with God so that God could establish you and that all of you could successfully go through life to the very end.

So, you know, there are a lot of people in this world that start out. In fact, it would be interesting to know what percentage of people start out in the Christian life and lose out. I don't know if I ever saw a percentage.

I do know that a man by the name of Scanzoni wrote a book years ago called No Faith to Lose, in which he interviewed several thousand college students and tried to find out what their faith had consisted of that they had lost.

And he came to the conclusion that they had no faith to lose. And so I think there are a lot of people that make a start and never really learn to appropriate faith in Jesus. And so that's what we want to talk about this week out of this book of Philippians.

Paul’s Passionate Commitment to Christ

If there was ever a person who was passionately committed to Christ and showed us how that works its way out in every situation of life, it was Paul. And he gives us many secrets in this book. A couple of years ago, I read the book Second Touch by Keith Miller.

I think that's an author nobody reads anymore. His books are probably all out of print. But he gave an incident in there that caught my imagination. He said that he was a football fan. And by the way, I hope none of you are.

But the Apostle Paul drew lessons from the games, even though he didn't attend them. And so I think we have the license to do that, too. But this particular man was interested in football. And he noticed the tremendous motivation that football players have in playing the game as if each minute is the last minute and they're giving it all they've got the whole way to the end.

And he said he had the impression that if the coach told them to tackle the Greyhound bus sitting along the curb, eight people would take off to tackle the bus. That's how motivated they were and how devoted they were to the coach.

And so he decided to go to visit the coach and ask him, what is the secret? Because he knew that he had very few people in his church with that kind of motivation for Jesus. And so he thought, well, maybe I can learn something from football.

And so he went to the coach and he asked the coach, what is the secret of this tremendous motivation that persists the whole way through to the end of the game? Day after day after day in the practices and in the games that are played.

And the coach said, well, he was rather shocked by the coach's response. The coach said, well, you must understand that football is basically a spiritual game in which two teams are playing against each other.

And for all intents and purposes, they are physically equal. It's not going to be the physical superiority of the one or the other that's going to win the game. Everybody playing that game understands that the game will be won by the team that gives the most unremitting commitment to every moment of the game.

And he said, if you will watch carefully, you will find that the players are paying very little attention to those stupid people in the bleachers who are called fans. By the way, fan means fanatic. And anyway, he said, you'll notice they don't pay much attention to those people.

You'll find their eyes are riveted on the coach. Because they know that those people, most of them sitting in the bleachers, don't know the finer points of football. And they won't know whether the play they made was really a good play or not.

But the coach will. And they watch him because they know he knows the game. And they live for his approval. And Monday morning they will replay this game on video. And they'll stop it after every play.

And the coach will say that was a tremendous play or that was lousy. And they live, they have the coach commend them on every move they make in the game. What a lesson. What a lesson. These players were unconsciously playing, or consciously I should say, the game to a different audience than what most people think they were.

They were not playing it for those people in the bleachers. They were playing it only for the coach. That's who they were playing the whole game for. And there's a tremendous analogy here. For victorious, joyful, Christian experience.

Those players love the game. Because of the way it operated and the success and the joy of pleasing the coach. Well, you know, the Bible says Christ is our captain. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Practicing Christ’s Presence

And the great Christians of all time have been what they were because they have learned to play all of life to Christ. And that's the great secret of this book. It's the great secret of always rejoicing.

If you want to know a little bit how this works. First, suppose I'm having a conversation or you're having a conversation. I could be part of it too. You know how conversations start to maybe deteriorate sometimes.

And maybe you get talking about people or things that really aren't appropriate or not very appropriate to talk about. Conversations can go that way pretty quickly. Sometimes. And suppose out of the corner of your eye you see Brother Dean Taylor walking up to the edge of the conversation.

It's amazing how that conversation all of a sudden becomes what it should be. Without anybody saying anything. The problem is we do not practice the presence of Christ. That's the problem. We are not conscious that he's standing at the edge of every conversation.

He's observing every action. And the people who have made a success of Christianity are playing every part of the game. Life if you please. To please him. And to have him say I highly approve of what you said and what you've done.

Now there have been people that have done that. How many of you have ever read the book Practicing the Presence of Christ by Brother Lawrence? I guess I'd be surprised if it's not on the book stand back there where they're selling books.

If you've never read it, it's just a little book. You can read it probably in an hour or two. This man was just a cook in a kitchen of a monastery. And he learned and this won't happen without conscious effort.

He learned how to practice the presence of Christ in every situation. And so the theme of this book actually is the conscious awareness of Christ in every aspect of life. That's really sort of it. It's not the main thing, but it's an underlying theme of this whole book.

The conscious awareness of Christ in every aspect of the life. Because you see most of us look at our circumstance or look at our. Let me get this right. Most of us look at Christ through our circumstances.

We're looking at our circumstances and we respond to Christ depending on what the circumstances are. The Apostle Paul did it the opposite way. He looked at his circumstances through Christ. And he responded to the circumstances on the basis of what he understood Christ would think and feel and say about those circumstances.

And we're going to see as we go through the lesson today. That makes a tremendous difference. Now, let's do a little survey of this book before we get started. Danny said we're going to do this in five lessons.

Actually, they told me to do it in four and they want me to talk about something else on Friday. So we have to hurry. All right. In this book, we have the Apostle Paul addressing the four things in life that steal people's joy.

Four Joy-Stealing Forces

Because they cannot somehow put those into perspective and proportion in relation to Christ. And Paul gives us very practical and very specific instruction as to how to relate these four things to Christ and maintain our joy through all of life.

And be always rejoicing. Because that is God's purpose for us. Jesus said, I came to you that you might have my joy fulfilled in you and that your joy might be full. And the Apostle John, when he wrote 1 John, says these things have been written unto you that your joy might be full.

And Jesus said, in this world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I honestly believe that Jesus and I believe Paul were unusually joyful, cheerful people. And this is one of the reasons why they attracted people to them.

Because people are inspired by people who can go through life and never lose their smile. Now, that's not completely realistic. We could turn to 2 Corinthians, I think it is, where Paul tells us some of his struggles.

And I think Paul struggled with this too and didn't always stay on top of it. But to an amazing degree, he did. And let me tell you what the four things are. Here they are. The first one is circumstances.

I asked Dr. Hess, my family doctor, what he thought of this modern diagnosis called bipolar. How many have ever heard of somebody being diagnosed bipolar? Honestly, when I was going through psychology at Shippensburg University, that term was not even used.

And that's a new term. And every other person is bipolar. Did you know that? Whatever your problem is, you're bipolar. And I said to Dr. Hess, I said, what do you think of this diagnosis? Dr. Hess is a German Baptist, very godly man.

And he laughed and he said, John, you're bipolar and so am I. He said, when your circumstances are like you want them, you go up. And when circumstances aren't the way you like them, you go down. That's bipolar.

And most people who are diagnosed as bipolar go through their whole life up and down, up and down, because their circumstances are going up and down. And most of our circumstances we have no control over.

So that's a problem. The second one is people. The second joy killer is people. We have to get along with certain people that aren't very get alongable. And sometimes we don't have too much control over those people.

What do you do? How do you relate to this and not lose your joy? I could give you some very interesting experiences I've had with people. Well, we're going to find that out in chapter two. We're going to talk about circumstances today, by the way.

Joy in spite of circumstances. And then tomorrow we're going to talk about joy in spite of people, if we can get along fast enough. The third thing that conditioned people's joy or the lack of it is things.

If they have the things they want, they're happy. If they don't have the things they want, they're unhappy. And we're going to look in chapter three. And you can go count tonight if you want to how many times the word things appears in that chapter.

And Paul tells us how to relate to that. The fourth thing that steals people's joy is anxiety or worry. And Paul deals with that in chapter four. Now, really, when you stop to think about it, if you could deal with your circumstances and with all the people that pass through your experience and with things and with anxiety about the unknown future, if you could find the answer to those four things, I think you would agree with me, you could maintain your joy all of the time.

And so that's why I titled this little study, Always Rejoicing, because Paul does tell us some very important basic concepts about these four aspects of life. All right, let's break the book down another way.

That's one way we can break it down. And I'm going to try to sort of combine some of this. All right, we have a fourfold picture of Christ in Philippians. That's very helpful. The first one that I would point out is Paul teaches us in chapter one that Christ is the believer's life.

Christ Is the Believer’s Life

Christ is the believer's life. And the key verse, if you have a Bible, I would mark this. This is the key verse in chapter one. For to me to live is Christ. Christ is the believer's life. Paul said, for to me to live is Christ.

All right, we go into chapter two. And the theme of chapter two is Christ is the believer's mind. And the key verse there is verse five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And we're going to get a good lesson as to how we should think.

That's going to help us. Is that my heart? Anyway, are we okay? Am I okay? All right. I don't know. There might be a fire out there somewhere. All right. Christ is the believer's mind. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Chapter two, verse five. The third chapter pictures Christ as the believer's goal. Verse ten, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. And finally, in chapter four, Christ is the believer's strength.

I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Now, here's the progression. If Christ is truly your life. As we will try to picture today. Then he will constantly be on your mind. Now we're in chapter two.

And if he is constantly on your mind. Your desires were more and more turned to him as a goal in life. Verse chapter three. Just like if you have in your mind. A concept of a beautiful landscape for the house where you live.

And you think about that. And maybe you drive past the place and you see it. Exactly the way you'd like it. And you think about you dwell. And guess what? It won't be too many years before I'll drive past your place.

And your house will be landscaped. Like that picture you had in your mind. So Christ is our life. We find ourselves thinking. About him. In some very specific ways that we'll talk about. And as we think about him.

This becomes an objective goal in our mind. Which in turn becomes our subjective experience. Because what we think that's what we are. Somebody said you're not what you think you are. But what you think you are.

And of course there's lots of emphasis on this in the whole. New Testament. Be transformed by the spirit of your mind. Be renewed in your minds. I mean this is a very key part. And we'll get to that in Chapter 2.

And of course with all of that in place. We become strong. In all of our experience. All right. Now this book is assuming that every one of you sitting here is a Christian. This is not a book to non-Christians.

I'm so happy that Dean and Denny have been talking about. That part of human experience. Being lost. And how to come to faith. And all of that. But there just isn't much of that in this book. This book is written to Christian people.

In fact one of the little phrases that runs through this book. Is a little phrase that I for years took for granted in all of Paul's epistles. And that's a little phrase that says in Christ. To Christ.

Unto Christ. For Christ. All those little prepositional phrases. I think there are about a hundred. Somebody counted them. There are about 132 of them in Paul's epistles. And it's assumed that what he's talking about.

He's talking about people who are in Christ. John says abiding in him. To the point where. There's such an identity between you and him. That if somebody looks at you. They say I've seen Christ. All right.

And the evidence of this. All that we've been talking about is joy. Why. Because it's a life filled. As Paul says at the beginning of the book. It's a life filled with grace. And peace. And those are two tremendous terms.

Grace, Peace, and the Christian Life

The word grace. Is the word. In the Greek. That's the word for grace. And. It literally means. This is my homemade definition from years of. Contemplating everything the Bible says about this. To the best of my limited ability.

It literally means. God making available to human beings. Finite human beings. His infinite characteristics. Did you hear me? It's God's infinite characteristics. Made available to finite people. Now.

Not all at once. You'd be like a hundred watt light bulb. That's given about 5000 volts. You'd blow out immediately. So God gives it to us. As we need it. And as we can appropriate it. So when you need wisdom.

For a certain situation. You're given all the wisdom. God has for that situation. When you need power. For a certain situation. You're given all the power. That's in God's character for that situation.

If you need to forgive somebody. You are given all the. Great forgiving heart of God. And all the supernatural ability. He has to forgive for that situation. So that as you walk through life. You have.

The supernatural characteristics of God. Being made available to you. In these little situations. Where you need help. These situations that are beyond you. Isn't that wonderful? And the basic idea of grace.

You know what grace is. You say that person was graceful. Well that's the concept. The person who is experiencing what I just talked about. It's characterized. As people look at him. The response that they give.

Is one of delight. Beauty. Charm. Loveliness. I mean look it up in. A little expository dictionary. All these beautiful little characteristics. Are a part of this word. What it would stand to reason. That if you were experiencing.

God's supernatural characteristics. To make you do and say. And feel in every situation. Exactly like he would. You would be. An irresistible. Beautiful. Charming. Person. And it's interesting. That the word joy.

Is right in the same section. Of Strong's concordance. This is the word for joy. They're in the same word family. And it's interesting to me. That when I looked. The word joy up in Webster. This is what he said.

The emotion that is evoked. By well-being. Success. Good fortune. Or the prospect of possessing. What one desires. That's interesting. It's just really related to this thing of grace. And it is the essential definition of the word peace.

Which is the Old Testament Shalom. Which means well-being. Prosperity and success. In the true sense of the word. And Paul is saying. That he wants these people. To experience the fullness of those two things.

Grace. All of God's supernatural characteristics. Poured into the life. For finite human experience. And peace. Which would be the result of that. Which is well-being. Prosperity. Success. Isn't that tremendous?

In fact. There was a little motto. That I saw years ago. And it said this. It said that joy. Is the infallible evidence. Of the grace of God. In the life. Well. We must move on. So. These are some basic concepts.

Behind this whole idea. Of joy in this epistle. And we find this word itself. Appearing over and over again. You will find at the top of your sheet. I've listed. That you'll find joy. Six times. You'll find rejoice.

Nine times. You'll find rejoice. And you can see there. How many times you find those. I think it's about a total. Of 17 times. Psalm 34. 5. Says. They looked unto him. That's what Paul's going to teach us here.

To look unto him. And they were radiant. And their faces shall never blush. For shame. Or be confused. And of course. In Nehemiah. It says. The joy of the Lord. Is your strength. Now. What is this? What is the secret here?

Joy in Spite of Circumstances

Well. Let's start to get into this book. It is rather amazing. That this book is about joy. Because. There doesn't seem to be any apparent reason. For joy. At the beginning of this book. This church. In Philippi.

You'll read. In Acts 16. Began with a beating. With Paul and Silas. Thrown into. Prison. And into the stocks. Fastened in the stocks. And there they sang. And. You can read the story there. Now. Paul had wanted to go to Rome.

As a preacher. He went there. As a prisoner. That wasn't what he had in mind. And when he got there. The believers in Rome. Were divided about him. There was a controversy about him. That's not a happy experience.

And some people. Tried to make things hard for him. We'll see as we go along. Some said. That he was a lunatic. Now. These would have been the unbelievers. Here's a man who says. There's a new king of the world.

Has come. And this king. Is going. He's the real lord of the universe. And he's going to bring. A kingdom of justice. And peace. And it's that Jew. That was crucified. Down there in Jerusalem. This guy's a little off his rocker.

And yet. Paul overflowed with joy. In the midst of all this. In fact. When I look at his experience. I think. Well. What are we bellyaching about? We don't have anything. Nearly like he had. To deal with.

All right. Well. Let's talk about the single mind. Triumphing over circumstances. And the theme of this. Is for me. For to me. To live. Is. Christ. And it makes. All the difference. How you say that statement.

Now. Every person who calls himself. A Christian. Obviously. Is going to put Christ. On that line. But there are other possibilities. There are people. Who would have to. If. If. If they knew. That when they wrote.

The word in there. That it would have to be confirmed. By their wife. Or by their best friends. Or the people. Who know them best. The people. Who know. What gets them excited. What gets them talking.

You know. There's some people. Don't say anything. You get on a certain subject. And I mean. Wait. That guy. Didn't think he could talk. My oh my. He can talk. But you just have to. The right subject.

Maybe it's tractors. Maybe it's motorcycles. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's pleasure. Maybe it's. Money. Fame. Maybe it's. I mean. There are many things. You could put on that line. And most people. Who call themselves.

Christians. I said most. I said it on purpose. Would not be able. To put Jesus. There. Or Christ. Because that isn't. What gets them going. Whatever it is. That gets you going. That's what you have. To put on that line.

And if you can't. Put Christ. On that line. If it is not true. That Jesus. Is the thing. That gets you excited. That gets you talking. It's the thing. That you think about. More than anything else. The thing.

You spend your money on. Your time planning for. And. And you feel like. You've arrived. Once you get there. If Jesus. Isn't that. Then. You need to listen. To Brother Denny's message. This morning. I'm just going to frankly.

Tell you. You're not converted. Just to tell you. That right now. I will put that in. Because. This is. This is the key. And. You're going to see. How Paul. Applied this. In the circumstances. Of his life.

In a most amazing way. Because. I told you. That Paul saw. His circumstances. Through Christ. It didn't matter. What the circumstance was. It was viewed. In the perspective. Of this. Because. That's what he was living for.

He says. In one place. Christ. In us. Is the hope. Of glory. Well. What is glory? Glory. Is a manifestation. Of excellence. We talk about the glory. Of the sunset. We talk about the glory. Of youth. It means.

The most. The most. The most. Perfect. Expression. And. So. Christ. In us. Is the hope. Of glory. If there's going to be. Any radiance. If there's going to be. The excellence. Express. If there's going to be.

Any beauty. If there's. It's Christ. In us. And. That's what Paul. Paul. Never. I shouldn't say. He never did. He was human. But. But. To an amazing degree. He kept that. In his focus. And. So. I want to look at some aspects.

Of that focus. That are the secret. To joy. And. If you look there. I have three things listed. The fellowship. Of the gospel. The furtherance. Of the gospel. And. The faith. Of the gospel. Let's first talk about the fellowship.

Fellowship in the Gospel

Of the gospel. And. I'm going to read inclusively. Verses. Three. Through eleven. Let's look at this. I thank my God. Upon. Every remembrance. Of you. Always. In every prayer. Of mine. For you all. Making requests.

With joy. For your fellowship. That word. Is. Koinonia. Partnership. However. You want to translate it. It means. People. Who are. Completely. Involved. With each other's lives. For your fellowship. In the gospel.

For the first. From the first day. Until now. Being confident. Of this very thing. That he. Which has begun. A good work. And you will. Perform it. Unto the day. Of Jesus Christ. Even. As it is. Meet.

Or suitable. For me. To think. This of you all. Because. I have you. In my heart. In as much. As both. In my bonds. And in the defense. And confirmation. The gospel. You all. Are partakers. Of my grace.

For God. Is my record. How greatly. I long. After you all. In the bowels. Of Jesus Christ. And this. I pray. That your love. May abound. Yet more. And more. In knowledge. And in all judgment. That ye.

May approve things. That are excellent. That ye. May be sincere. And without offense. To the day. Of Christ. Being filled. With the fruits. Of righteousness. Which are. By Jesus Christ. And the glory.

And praise. Of God. Now. He says. That one. Of the secrets. Of his joy. Is his. Fellowship. With these people. Now. The word. Fellowship. Here. They tell me. In the context. And in the meaning. Of the word.

Here. Sort of carries. The idea. Of a business partnership. He's in partnership. With these Philippians. Now. In a partnership. Some people. Do the work. Some people. Do the office. Management. I mean.

People. Have various roles. But. They all. Are responsible. For the. For the. Business. Proceeds. And. The success. Of that business. No matter. What job. They were doing. If they're. If they're. The janitor.

And they're invested. In this. Partnership. They share. With the rest. To the extent. That they were involved. Now. These people. Were partners. With Paul. They had sent him. A gift. In fact. That's one of the reasons.

Why the book was written. To thank them. For their gift. And they didn't give a gift. Because they were wealthy people. They were poor. If you turn back. To Corinthians. It says. In fact. Let's turn to Corinthians.

Second Corinthians. Eight. Verses. Two to five. He's trying to challenge. The Corinthians. By referring. To these people. And it says. In verse two. How that in a great trial. Of affliction. The abundance.

Of their joy. And their deep poverty. Abounded. Unto the riches. Of their liberality. These people. Were in affliction. They were being persecuted. They were poor. They were in poverty. But they had lots of joy.

I think. That's what. I mean. Paul knew. The character. Of these people. And that's one of the reasons. He didn't want them to lose this. And that's why he's. Writing to them. But they were partners. With Paul.

They. Out of their poverty. And their persecution. They didn't have much. But they sent. A man. From their community. Over those thousands. Probably around. A thousand miles. From Macedonia. To. Rome.

Maybe not that far. But it was many miles. Over mountains. Where there were robbers. I mean. You didn't get on. A Boeing 707. And fly to Rome. I mean. This was a dangerous trip. At the peril. Of your life.

And this poor little. Congregation. Got together. The money. And the finances. To send a man. The whole way to Rome. To give Paul. This gift. And Paul. Says. One of the. Joys of the gospel. Is the fact.

That we are. Partners. We are not. Alone. We're. In this. Together. Now. There's. Some people. Have the idea. That well. Suppose you're. On a desert island. Somewhere. And there. Aren't any. Other people.

Around. Well. God help you. If you end up. On a desert island. And you. Don't have. Anybody. Who cares. That you're there. And nobody. To participate. And be a partner. With you. In the gospel. By the time.

You end up. On that desert island. I hope. There's some people. Around the world. Praying for you. I hope. There's some people. Around the world. Concerned. About where you are. And trying. To find out.

Your welfare. And maybe. Trying. To send somebody. To look. For you. And their. Prayers. And all. Of their. Efforts. Are part. Of your. Experience. There are. Some people. They have. The idea. That Christianity.

Is an individual. Thing. I'll just. Be a Christian. I'll go up. On top. Of the mountain. And worship. God. By myself. Oh. That is not. The nature. Of Christianity. That's. Saying. I'm going. To play. Professional. Baseball.

By myself. That's not. The nature. Of the game. You cannot. Play baseball. By yourself. And this is not. The nature. Of Christianity. Christianity. Is fellowship. I don't know. What I would have. Done.

When Jeffrey. Died. On March. The 17th. If I had not. By that time. And Jeffrey. By that time. Created. A huge. Network. That was. In it. With us. Together. That was. One of the joys. And don't ask. Me how.

But in the midst. Of a circumstance. Like that. We had lots. Of joy. Lots. Of tears. Mixed. With lots. Of joy. Because. Of the prayers. And the ministry. Somebody just. The other week. Maybe. He's here.

Said. I was. Inspired. To write. A song. About Jeffrey. And he. Put it. On a CD. And did. A computer. Simulated. Organ. Playback. Of his. Composition. Was a beautiful. Composition. It was classical. Actually.

And I put. That on. And I just. Sat. And cried. And cried. And cried. It just. Brought back. All. The memories. And all. My hopes. And dreams. About Jeffrey. But they weren't unpleasant. Tears. They were tears. Of sorrow.