December 12, 2021 - Sunday Service Live Stream

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

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Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.

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For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods.

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For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

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Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

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Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Give to the Lord glory and strength.

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Give to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts.

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O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth.

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Please pray with me. O God, you are the eternal, immortal, invisible

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God. Infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness.

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And dwelling in that unapproachable light. There where thousands upon thousands minister to you and 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 stand before you.

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Yet dwelling with the humble and the contrite and taking pleasure in your people.

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You have consecrated for us that new and living way that with boldness we may enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus.

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And you have bid us to seek you while you may be found. We come to you,

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O Lord, at your call and worship at your footstool. Look upon us in your tender mercies.

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Do not despise us, though we be unworthy. We recognize,

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O God, that you are to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all that approach you.

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O Lord, put that fear into our hearts that with reverence and awe we might serve you.

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We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Please kneel as we confess our sins together.

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Let us confess our sins in unison. Lord Jesus, I have sinned times without number and been guilty of pride and unbelief and of neglect to seek you in my daily life.

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My sins and shortcomings present me with a list of accusations, but I thank you that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on the cross.

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Deliver me from every evil habit, every interest of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of your grace in me, everything that prevents me from taking delight in you.

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Amen. Please stand. With a

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God like that, it would be unwise for us to conceal our sins.

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Lay your sin bare before the Lord that forgiveness may be found. Receive now this great assurance of pardon.

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He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

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For if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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People of God, take heart today. In Christ, your sins are forgiven.

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Amen. Please take up the great hymn number 203 in the red hymnal.

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Hark the herald angels sing. 203. I had the privilege of singing this together many times.

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The tune is This is My Father's World. Psalm 90. The righteous is taken away from evil.

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He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

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But come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.

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Whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue?

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Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood, inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

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Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion. They, they are your lot.

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Even to them you have poured a drink offering. You have offered a grain offering.

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Should I receive comfort in these? On a lofty and high mountain you have set your bed.

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Even there you went up to offer sacrifice. Also behind the doors in their posts you have set up your remembrance.

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For you have uncovered yourself to those other than me and have gone up to them.

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You have enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them. You have loved their bed, where you saw their nudity.

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You went to the king with ointment and increased your perfumes. You sent your messengers far off.

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You even descended to Sheol. You are wearied in the length of your way.

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Yet you did not say, there is no hope. You have found the life of your hand.

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Therefore you were not grieved. And of whom have you been afraid or feared?

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That you have lied and not remembered me nor taken it to your heart. Is it not because I have held my peace from of old that you do not fear me?

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I will declare your righteousness and your works for they will not profit you. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.

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But the wind will carry them all away. A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.

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And one shall say, Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way. Take the stumbling block out of the way of my people.

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For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is

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Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

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For I will not contend forever nor will I always be angry for the spirit would fail before me and the souls which

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I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him.

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I hid and was angry and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him.

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I will also lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips.

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Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the

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Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

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There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Let us confess our faith together in the singing of the Apostles' Creed. We have adjourned.

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Good Christian men, rejoice. Number 200. Especially do we praise you for uncertainties of this past week.

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For these mercies we bless and magnify your glorious name, humbly beseeching you to accept this, our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

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For his sake we 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 that you may be best for us.

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Great is not to this world the knowledge of thy truth, and in 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

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Church, and for all ministers and missionaries. Pray for the

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Church. Lord, hear our prayers. Father, we lift up this, your

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Church, to you today. Lord God, as it's gathered together in the local body, and Lord God, as it's gathered throughout the world as a universal

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Catholic Church. Lord God, we just praise you for the opportunity to gather in your name on this, your

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Lord's Day. Father, I pray that you would use this Advent season as a time for your Church to be effective in the culture, in the world.

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Lord God, that this time to celebrate your coming would be an opportunity, an occasion for your

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Gospel to be spread. I pray that you would be with all those serving in the Church. Lord God, missionaries, ministers,

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Lord God, everyone who you've used to do your work. I pray you would be with them this morning, and Lord God, that your work would be done.

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In Christ's name we pray. Amen. 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. Lord, hear our prayers.

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I ask your prayers today 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. Lord, hear our prayers.

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Gracious Heavenly Father, we ask that you would give grace to those who know you,

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Lord, but need a deeper knowledge of you. Those who are struggling with their faith, those who have that faith like a smoking flash or a bent reed.

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We pray, Father, that you would strengthen them, and that these, your people, would comfort them and encourage them.

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But especially, Father, we pray for those who do not know you, those who are your enemies. We pray,

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Father, that you would restrain your enemies, and in the best way of doing is by making them your friends and converting them.

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We ask you to do this for your glory. In the name of Christ we pray. 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. Lord, hear our prayers.

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Pray that we may have grace to glorify Christ today. Lord, hear our prayers.

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As we go about our daily lives, we pray that you would be with us. Be our guide that we may stay on the straight and narrow path that leads to life.

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And that in all things you may give glory to your name and show forth your grace and love to all those around us.

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Please stand. Please take up the bulletin insert for our

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Psalm of the Month, Psalm 29b. Holy Habakkuk 3 -1.

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A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, on Shigi 'anam.

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O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years.

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In the midst of the years, make it known. In wrath, remember mercy.

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God came from Timon, the Holy One, from Mount Paran.

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His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise.

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His brightness was like the light. He had rays flashing from His hand, and there

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His power was hidden. Before Him went pestilence and fever followed at His feet.

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He stood and measured the earth. He looked and startled the nations and the everlasting mountains were scattered.

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The perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting.

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I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction. The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

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O Lord, you were displeased with the rivers. Was your anger against the rivers?

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Was your wrath against the sea that you rode on your horses, your chariots of salvation?

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Your bow was made quite ready. Oaths were sworn over your arrows.

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You divided the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by.

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The deep uttered its voice and lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation.

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At the light of your arrows they went. At the shining of your glittering spear, you marched through the land in indignation.

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You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of your people, for salvation with your anointed.

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You struck the head from the house of the wicked by laying bare from foundation to neck.

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You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me.

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Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. You walked through the sea with your horses through the heap of great waters.

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When I heard, my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice.

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Rottenness had entered my bones and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble.

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When he comes up to the people, he will invade them with his troops. Though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the

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Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

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The Lord is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet and he will make me walk on my high hills.

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To the chief musician with stringed instruments. Please pray with me.

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O Lord, we have a misplaced happiness, a misplaced quest for joy.

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We know that in your presence is the fullness of joy.

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O Lord, I pray that you would take your joyless people, if they are experiencing that, and that you will fill their hearts with joy.

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That they will carry the joy of the Lord, which is their strength, into the rest of their lives.

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They will experience the fullness of that blessing you intend for your people. And that may the world around them stand in awe when they see in them the joy of the

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Lord. I ask all these things in Jesus' name. Please be seated.

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Today the message is entitled The Joy of the Lord. And I am not doing an exposition on Habakkuk 3, but I'm drawing largely from the end of the book to help articulate a topical study on this subject today, of joy.

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The first question I have for you that I hope to answer, hope to have you answer internally, and the question is this.

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How is your joy? How is your joy today?

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And if your joy is waning or flagging, I hope that at the end of this day, at the end of this message, you will say, my joy is triumphing.

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My joy is exalting in my heart. I hope that kind of transformation happens.

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And for those of you who are fully experiencing the joy of the Lord, I pray that that too would be enlarged and it would be growing in your life.

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Habakkuk is an amazing prophet. This book is very unique in that you have in it a dialogue continuously between the prophet and the

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Lord. This pops up in places like Job and Jonah, but really the whole of the book of Habakkuk is filled with this dialogue between the prophet and the

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Lord. There are two principal questions that Habakkuk asks, and the first question leads to the second.

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The first question is, oh God, and this is found in the first chapter, oh God, why have you not intervened and punished

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Judah for its sin? Sometimes we hear from a prophet he's asking the

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Lord to relent from his judgment and his punishment. It's as if Habakkuk is asking that the

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Lord would judge his wicked people. It's a very interesting and curious question that Habakkuk asks.

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And upon hearing that this would happen and it would be accomplished by the hand of the

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Chaldeans, which made up the southern portion of the Babylonian kingdom,

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Habakkuk has a follow -up question. The prophet then asks, why, God, would you use a wicked nation?

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They're even more wicked than us. Why would you use them to chasten your people?

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The Lord has an answer. Habakkuk was the last of the minor prophets writing to the southern kingdom before the

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Babylonian captivity. It is a book that starts with a bit of doubt and ultimately leads to faith.

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It's one of anguish and lament and it leads to adoration and triumph and praise.

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This is the perfect flavor for the Advent season because there is darkness, there is waiting, there is longing, there is hope.

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It goes on a little bit longer, a little bit more agonizing, and then, bursting into time and history,

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God delivers his people and he has done that finally in the person of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. How can God allow the sins of his people to go unpunished?

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God responds in this book, not a lot of time to go through all of the details, but he responds that Judah will be punished by the

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Babylonians. They're going to have a temporal victory over Judah, but ultimately, they're used of God to be a chastening agent.

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God's going to use that wicked nation to chasten his people, but he will not forsake his people, ultimately.

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In chapter 2, we have this landmark biblical axiom. You can look there in chapter 2, verse 4.

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Protestant Reformation, particularly in the person of Martin Luther, found here, reading

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Habakkuk, the just shall live by his faith. You'll know that Paul and the author of Hebrews make much of this,

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Romans 1, Galatians 3, and Hebrews chapter 10. Habakkuk is loaded to the gills with treasure for us to mine, but today, our focus is on joy.

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Look again at the end of chapter 3. The last couple verses, and I want to start here, and I want to come back and end here with some help in the middle.

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I would argue today that your joy is based more upon your circumstances and how you feel about things and your reaction to the world around you than anything else.

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In my prayer, I said that was misplaced. Habakkuk is preaching, speaking, interacting with the

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Lord in a time of great darkness, and in Habakkuk's lifetime,

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I don't know that this will be resolved for him. If you take how old he must have been, he had to be of some age of maturity, and how long the captivity would be, it's likely that maybe

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Habakkuk never sees it come to pass. At the end of this all, he says,

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The fig tree may not blossom. There might not be any more fruit on the vines.

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The labor of the olive may fail. There's not going to be any olive oil. The fields will yield no food.

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The flock may be cut off from the fold. There's not going to be a herd in the stalls.

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Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the

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God of my salvation. Today, I want you to resolve and to purpose in your life that no matter what befalls you in your life from this point forward, that you will rejoice in the

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Lord, that you will joy in the God of your salvation.

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If you look at your life, you'll find that your joy has become reduced to circumstantial things, and that's no different than the pagans.

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You have to be different. You have to be different kinds of people. Habakkuk pled for divine judgment.

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Other prophets are proclaiming it chiefly. Habakkuk starts by questioning

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God but ends praying to him. One author said,

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Worry on Habakkuk's part is transformed into worship.

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Any of you struggle with worry and anxiety, do an in -depth Bible study on the book of Habakkuk.

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Worry is transformed into worship. Fear turns to faith.

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Terror becomes trust. This is the power of the word of God to transform the life of the

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Christian individually and corporately. Habakkuk here sets forth that great biblical axiom,

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The just shall live by faith. What a great word for us who so love the doctrine of the

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Protestant Reformation. D .J. prayed for this, and I almost wondered if he was in tune with the message today as we were praying before the service.

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It says basically in Habakkuk that Habakkuk will plead for God's mercy, and he finds it.

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Oh Lord have mercy on us. And the Lord supplies it.

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We know he does this in Christ. And in spite of all the present danger,

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Habakkuk declares, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the

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Lord as the waters cover the sea. Wherever the sea is, the waters cover it.

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Wherever there is dirt and ground on this planet, it's going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the

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Lord. I promise you that is true. Despite all that we see, all that happens to the contrary, it looks like everything is going so bad, and circumstantially it is.

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Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the

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God of my salvation. I want verse 18 to not be words on the page in front of you.

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I want them imprinted on your hearts. I want them to be on your lips. I will rejoice in the

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Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Well, what is joy?

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In the Old Testament, joy covers a wide range of human experiences.

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In the Song of Solomon, it refers to sexual love. In Proverbs 5, to marriage.

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In Psalm 113, the birth of children. Things like the gathering in of the harvest, a military victory, and even in Psalm 104, the drinking of wine.

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And spiritually, it refers to the believer's contemplation of communion with God and his salvation.

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You see, what we need to be doing is contemplating our communion with God and the salvation that he has supplied in Christ.

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If that is our contemplation, we will be filled with joy. If we're contemplating other things, we're not going to have that joy.

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Believers rejoice because God has surrounded them with his steadfast love,

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Psalm 32. That he's brought them to salvation, Psalm 40 and 64.

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Joy is a response to God's word, Psalm 119, 14.

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And his reward to believers in their strength.

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Remember, we talked about this recently in Sunday School in Nehemiah chapter 8.

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The reading of the word is done for them and the people are essentially brought under great conviction.

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They're mourning over their sin. They're weeping because they've heard the words of the law and they look upon themselves and they see all this deficiency.

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Much like we pray in our corporate confession. But there's the joy of the

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Lord. Nehemiah 8 .10 says, Go your way.

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Eat the fat. Drink the sweet. And send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared.

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For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow for the joy of the

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Lord is our strength. Are you weak and frail and flagging today?

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You're looking for joy somewhere else. The joy of the

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Lord bolsters our strength. It makes us with hope and belief in the promises of God to persevere in all the troubles of this life.

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You have to believe, it's an act of faith that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

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Foundational to this biblical understanding of joy are the acts of God in history.

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Israel rehearses these annually in scripture. Their deliverance from Egypt, Exodus 18.

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They do it in Jeremiah 31 when Israel returns from Babylonian exile and comes to Jerusalem.

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That they might have closer communion with God. That they might dwell in His presence.

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That the impediments of the pagan nation's night might not hinder their worship of God. This was a source of great joy for the people.

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I should point out, that same celebration happens here. We come into the presence of God fearing not judgment or punishment that God is going to squash us.

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We come in here boldly approaching the throne of grace because of what

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Christ has done. And we remember every week in the partaking of the

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Lord's Supper that we have communion with God and we have been united to Christ.

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And this should bolster your heart with joy. This is the reality of the

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Christian. This is the real experience of the people of God. You have been united to Christ.

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You have communion with God. Live your life in all of the ways that you do in the fullness of joy.

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Joy characterized Israel's corporate life in their worship. Deuteronomy 16, 2

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Chronicles 30. Remember the words of David, we say it sometimes in our call to worship.

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I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the

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Lord. Why? God's going to meet me there, David would say.

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God is going to meet with you. He meets with us here. How does that not fill your heart with joy?

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Go back to the confession of sin today. Look at it really quickly with me. It says,

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Lord Jesus, I have sinned times without number and been guilty of pride and unbelief and of neglect to seek you in my daily life.

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This is sins like Judah was committing. My sins and my shortcomings present me with a list of accusations.

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Much like the reading of the law in Nehemiah 8. The law is read and I stand before that word of God coming to me and thunders out of heaven and crushes my spirit because I'm a sinner.

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How do you go from there to joy? There's real sin.

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There's real shortcomings. There is a comprehensive list of accusations.

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So we confess today, we said, but I thank you that they will not stand against me because all of that has been laid on Christ.

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The promise of Habakkuk for future deliverance is laid on Christ. And chapter 3 is like a theophany.

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It's almost like Isaiah chapter 6. It seems like it goes through the history of redemption.

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He talks about making the sun to stand still in the sky. Verse 11, the sun and moon stood still in their habitation.

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It sounds like Joshua. It sounds like Psalm 2. It sounds like almost the present, the past, the present and the future.

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Even some of it future to us. The triumph of the Lord over all of his enemies. It's because Habakkuk sees this vision with clarity.

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It's revealed to us that we might see it with clarity. He says you take away all of our flocks, all of our fields, all of our trees, all of our sustenance.

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I will rejoice in the Lord. This is a powerful concept.

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And like last week, we saw that peace has been supplied to us in a super abundance in Christ.

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So, too, has joy been supplied to us. We merely have to lay hold of it and access it, grab it, take it to ourselves as our own.

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He has given to us the fullness of joy in Christ.

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I'll continue. Did you say this morning my kids were tired?

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They stayed up late last night. I don't know if they thought this. We're waking them up. I rejoice with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the

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Lord. Why? Because I'm going to remind you. The pastor is going to remind you. But in his presence is the fullness of joy.

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Every Sunday, every time you crack open the Bible with yourself or your family. Every time you remember who you are in Christ, there is the fullness and presence of joy.

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In the New Testament, Jesus joins the joys of marriage and the spiritual by describing

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John the Baptist's reaction to his coming as the joy of the friend of the bridegroom.

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Do you remember what I said in that earlier description, that things like marriage and drinking of wine, those things are connected to joy?

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Those things are the pinnacle of human experience apart from Christ.

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But Christ doesn't dismiss those things as lacking value. Instead, he adds greater worth to it.

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What kind of wine was that supplied at the wedding feast? The water there changed to a superior wine, relieving and embarrassed hopes, a host without wine.

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And here wine described as a source of joy, anticipating that great joy of which

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Christ is an endless source. Psalm 104.

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At the birth of Jesus in Luke chapter 2, shepherds hear the news of the birth of Christ and it is an occasion for great joy for all people.

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We're celebrating the arrival of endless, limitless joy in Christ.

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I have to acknowledge, I can be Mr. Grumpy Pants myself. We're not living so consistently with the joy that's been supplied by Christ.

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In Luke, that cycle of joy is completed. Think about all that happens from Jesus' birth, his life, his crucifixion, his burial, his resurrection.

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It's completed with the disciples in Luke 24, when they return with great joy after Jesus' ascension.

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Luke 24, 52. The Magi traveled from the east upon finding the

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Lord. They are overjoyed. Joy also belongs to the realm of the supernatural.

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Angels rejoice at an unbeliever's conversion. Can you fathom that?

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Sinless angels serving the Lord in heaven, they can see him as he is.

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They look down upon us and they see us. And when they see us turn to the

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Lord in faith, they are filled with joy. They rejoice at the conversion of the unbeliever.

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Parable in Luke 15, upon finding the lost sheep, referring to Jesus, of course, the shepherd rejoices.

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That same section, the next story. The woman rejoices upon finding that lost coin.

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And oh, the rejoicing when the return of the prodigal son occurs.

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Filled with joy. This son of mine, who's dead, who's gone, who's lost, he's back.

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The kingdom of heaven is a place of great joy. Matthew 13 says,

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The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid.

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And for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

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That's the message of Habakkuk at the end. You can have everything else.

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I want Christ. The next parable, the pearl of great price, same story.

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You can have all of the world's pleasures and goods. I want the superior.

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I want union with Christ. And you have it by faith.

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I'd like you to turn really quickly to Hebrews chapter 12. There's another hindrance to your joy.

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And it's sin. All the pain in this world is really caused by sin.

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The grief in your life is most often caused by sin.

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This is what Hebrews 12 says. Therefore, we also. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

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Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

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And let us run with endurance. The race that is set before us.

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The race is hard. The weights of this world are cumbersome.

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How do you have joy in the midst of all of this? It's our experience.

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Our lives are tough. The circumstances are hard. Bodily affliction can be real.

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How can you have joy? Text continues verse 2.

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Looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our faith.

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That's one way we can experience joy.

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And all of these things. There's another side of this. A description of our salvation.

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That the Lord does all of these things for joy. Who for the joy that was set before him.

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Endured the cross. Despising the shame. And has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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It goes on. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself.

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Lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin.

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And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons.

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My son, my daughter. Do not despise the chastening of the

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Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

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For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And scourges every son whom he receives.

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If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

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But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers. Then you are illegitimate.

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And not sons. You see, Judah has to be chastened.

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Judah has to be corrected. Because God loves them. He loves them so much that he disciplines and corrects them.

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That they might again walk in the fullness of joy.

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For application's sake, you have to believe me. I know this is true by personal experience and by pastoral ministry.

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Sin steals your joy. Lay it aside.

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Repent of it. Turn from it. That the joy of the

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Lord may be restored to you. What a great motivation to holiness.

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We talk a lot about it in our study in 2 Corinthians. It's Tuesday nights and Thursday nights at prayer meeting.

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About this idea of personal holiness. We know we're required to it. What about this positive assertion?

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Pursue holiness that you might know more of the fullness of the joy of the

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Lord. The banquet is spread out for us.

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The money pots are full. Go fill your mouths and fill your pockets with the joy of the

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Lord. It's all there abundantly supplied for you in Christ. It requires faith.

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An act of faith and obedience to lay hold of it. Joy is very costly.

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It's so precious and so sought after. Even by the Father, he sends the

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Son. It's so sought after and so desirable that the Son, for the joy set before him, goes to the cross and endures the shame.

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Brethren, sell everything that you have. Give it all away that you might have

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Christ. All those other things are rubbish.

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I know Christ now. I throw all that away in comparison. The fullness of joy is

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Christ. James says that even trials and persecution are occasions for joy.

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James 1 -2. Count it all joy, he says.

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Peter and John realized in Acts 5 that their beatings, their scourgings, the flesh ripped off their backs, they're a bloody mess, near the point of death, was a source of joy.

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Why? How could they do that? How could they think that? They rejoiced because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for his name.

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That's highly prizing communion with Christ. That's a treasure above all treasures.

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If it's good to get your back whipped. Finally, elsewhere, the certainty of salvation is a cause for joy.

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Do you remember the disciples? After casting out the demons, they're kind of pumped two by two, they're coming back, and we've cast out demons in your name,

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Jesus. And he says, rejoice today, your names are written in heaven.

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People of God gathered here at Ascension, rejoice today. Your names are inscribed in heaven.

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I'd like to turn to Psalm 16 now, please. Turn to Psalm 16. We've been a bit immature, like little children.

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We're not happy unless we get the toy that we want. We're unhappy with God, as we talked about prayer in Mark's competent leading this morning.

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On prayer, we don't like when he doesn't respond favorably to our prayer requests and give us what we want.

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Let's consider the words of our forefather David, Psalm 16.

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Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the

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Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you.

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It seems that when we see everything in relationship to God, even our achievements as being from his hand, there's an elevation of joy.

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There's something very powerful in verse 3. David derives joy and pleasure from the fellowship of the saints.

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Some of us have deprived ourselves of the fellowship of the body. We have to intimately know each other and love each other and live together in community.

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We just don't show up for a few minutes on Sunday together. It runs much deeper than that, and we don't experience the joy of Christian fellowship because we're not all the way immersed in it.

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We have to be vulnerable with one another. We have to put ourselves out there, expose ourselves to hurt and pain, and you'll get hurt and wounded.

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I promise you it'll happen even again, even after this great admonition. But here

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David finds comfort. They are the excellent ones, he says, in whom is all my delight.

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He's seeing the world very differently. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god.

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He talks about the pagan practices that is happening in their midst. It's also true, idolatry rampant and hepatic.

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Verse 5, O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup.

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You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

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Yes, I have a good inheritance. We seek the reward when the reward should cause us to see the rewarder.

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We seek the gifts and the gifts should cause us to look at the giver.

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Children, on Christmas morning you're going to open your presents. And when you open those presents and you're so excited to play with those things, look at your mama and your daddy who provided them for you and rejoice that God gave them to you.

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They're the source of that joy and blessing you're experiencing in those material things.

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Can you say with David, O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup?

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This is the anointed God's hand -picked king of Israel. And he doesn't look upon his subjects or look upon the border or his armies or the wealth that's rapidly accumulating under him.

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He looks to God and in there he finds the fullness of joy. You're the one who maintains my lot.

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The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

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He says, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night season.

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I've set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved.

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Why is David's heart glad? It's because his eyes are fixed on the

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Lord. Therefore, my heart is glad.

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Verse 9, my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope.

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For you will not leave my soul in shale, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.

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True in the life of David, extra true in the life of Jesus. You show me the path of life.

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In your presence is the fullness of joy.

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At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

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What's the source of joy in your life? Is it the accumulation of wealth and comfort? Is it new toys to play with?

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Is it events to go to special occasions?

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I hear today pronounced to you that for every Christian, nothing can eclipse what you already possess in Christ today.

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Drive that discontentment away. You say, my roof is leaking on my house.

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Praise God. You have a house that has a roof that leaks. That can be fixed. The Lord is providing for you.

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My health is failing. I'm not feeling so good. Praise the Lord that you have a body that will be resurrected on the last day.

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The Lord may heal you. You may die from it. But you're going to be resurrected from the dead.

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You say, oh, Lord, my children are giving me trouble. It's hard to disciple them.

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Praise God. You have children to have these problems with. You say, my husband, my wife, they're a pain in the rear end.

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Oh, praise God that you have a wife or a husband. That's a pain in your rear end.

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It's an entirely different way of living. And look, you see lack.

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The eyes of faith. Let's turn back to our text in Habakkuk, chapter three.

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Habakkuk wants there to be circumstantial change in Judah.

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You and I would like circumstantial change in America and in our family and our community. But along the way, another prayer, interestingly, that we pray today.

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Look at chapter two, verse 14. It says, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the

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Lord as the water covers the sea. One of our prayers and the prayers of the people today says this.

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We ask, oh, Lord, that our children and future generations which will be born to them.

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We pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them.

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The Lord is accomplishing these things. I was preaching at the funeral of my mother -in -law, and I was struck by God's provision.

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My mother -in -law became a widow when she was 42 to 43 years old. She had three crazy redheaded children, and she took them to church.

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Theology wasn't perfect, but every week they went to church. They participated in all the life activities of the church.

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Choir on Monday, youth group on Wednesday, Bible study, E .E., street witnessing, mission trips, choir, everything.

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And the fruit of that is a generation, a middle -aged generation of believers who live and walk the

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Christian life. And they have enlarged upon their mother's faith.

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And now they have children and are starting to have grandchildren. And the great hope is there will be an enlargement of their faith.

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Everything that we do here is bent toward that end, that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth.

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We're discipling. We're doing things today. We're planting trees that will not reach their peak and grow fully and bear fruit for 100 years.

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Today, the things we're doing today, we're establishing a pattern. We're setting in motion the fullness of joy, which will cover the earth.

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And we're going to be dead, and we're not going to see it. That's how we're going to live our lives. I ask the question, looking at this list, like Job, if we took everything away from you, if we took away all of your material comforts, what would your response be?

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Without consciously thinking about this, you may think that your life is ruined and that everything is lost.

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But if Psalm 1611 is true, and God's presence is the fullness of joy, then we with Habakkuk could sing,

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Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the

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God of my salvation. We would sell everything we had to buy the field or to buy the great pearl, because we know where the source of joy is.

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Brethren, today, lay aside all of that junk that's a distraction to true joy.

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You're looking for temporary comforts and pleasures. And in Christ, we have the fullness.

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One final thing, as we consider the season in which we're living, it says,

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In your presence is the fullness of joy. Knowing history as you do biblical history, you'll know that the

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Ark of the Covenant, the arrival time of Jesus' birth, is gone. It's part of the booty of another campaign where Israel lost.

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They took away the Ark of the Covenant, the visible presence of God. If it is true that in the presence of God is the fullness of joy, how much more significant is the incarnation of the

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Lord Jesus Christ? In the time of Habakkuk, the

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Holy of Holies is far away. It's hard to get to. The terror of the

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Lord is at hand because of their disobedience. They're being plundered. They're losing battles.

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They're being taken into captivity. They're exiled. All of this history. But now

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Christ has come. He's come so close to us that He's taken on humanity in addition to His divinity.

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And He dwelled among us. He's bringing many sons to glory.

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And He sent His Spirit to be with us perpetually, permanently.

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We dwell in the presence of God. He loves us.

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Here, now, not at some future date, now we can experience the full pleasure of the joy that can only be found in the presence of God.

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So how's your joy today? Can you see the world differently through these eyes of faith?

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No matter what they do to you, I want you to respond, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the

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God of my salvation. We will prove that we understand Scripture and our theology when we live and walk in the fullness of joy that only

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Christ can supply. Please pray with me.

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Lord, we are a fickle people. We chase after temporal happinesses and neglect true joy.

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Lord, I pray that You would fill our hearts with gladness.

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We will consider what You have done in sending

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Your Son, Jesus Christ. In all these prophets,

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O Lord, there is this future date far away. 400 years, 70 years, 400 years, thousands of years.

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Lord, now we see that the waiting, the angst, the anguish is done because Christ has come.

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And, O Lord, we long to see the day when visibly, with our own eyes, we see the crushing defeat of all of Your enemies.

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And that Your joy, the knowledge of You, would spread over every corner of this earth.

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And, O Lord, we ask that You would make us faithful soldiers in this war, in this battle which

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You have won. Show us how we are to be faithful to promote future joy in the life of our descendants.

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We ask all these things in the name of Christ. Amen. Let's continue worshiping through the presentation of tithes and offerings.

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Please stand. Let's pray together. O Lord, we came lacking joy, and I pray that we would heed the message that You have for us.

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That our hearts would be filled with joy because we have communion with You.

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That all of Your enemies are being defeated. The day of wrath will be turned to the day of blessing.

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O Lord, we thank You for this. We pray that You would strengthen Your people as they serve

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You in all of their callings. And that they would be good stewards of all of their lives for Your glory. We ask this in Jesus' name.

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Let's give glory to God in the singing of the Gloria Patri. We lift it up and give thanks.

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It is good and right and so to you. It is right and good and joyful thing.

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That we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You. O Holy Lord, Father Almighty everlasting

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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

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He shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold

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His appearing. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

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We ask that you grant your gracious presence and the effectual working of your

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Spirit in us, and so sanctify these elements of bread and wine, and bless your own ordinance, that we may receive by faith the body and blood of Jesus Christ crucified for us, and so to feed upon Him that He may be one with us and we one with Him, that He may live in us and we in Him, that we might live for Him who loved us and gave

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Himself for us. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus.

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Our Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying,

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Take. Eat. This is my body. Likewise, He took the cup after supper, saying,

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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 until He comes. Therefore, we proclaim the faith. Christ has died.

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Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Let's approach the table together by praying in unison.

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We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful

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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, so to eat the flesh of your dear

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Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink of His blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls washed through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in Him, and He in us.

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Amen. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

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Therefore, let us keep the feasts, the gifts of God for the people of God. Thanks be to the

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Lord for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your

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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your

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Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And may the Lord grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed.

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And now, 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, be honor and glory now and forever.