Lord's Day Worship - Message: "Homesick" (Phil 3:20-4:1)

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Sovereign Grace Family Church May 3, 2020 Message: Homesick Text: Philippians 3:20-4:1 www.SGFCJAX.org

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This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made, we will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
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Oh, this is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it, this is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, this is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made, we will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
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Oh, this is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it, this is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made.
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Amen.
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Good morning.
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Any good we got? Well, I'm thankful to see everyone here.
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Boy, social distancing is going to be tough.
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A lot of folks here.
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Praise the Lord.
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I want to invite you to have a seat.
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Brother Mike's going to come, and he's going to begin our time of going through the Scriptures today.
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He's going to read through the entire chapter of Romans 14, and I know that we normally ask everyone to stand for the reading of God's Word, but since it's an entire chapter, we're giving you the opportunity to have a seat while we read the Scripture, and I invite you to turn in your Bibles to read together with us.
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Romans 14 deals with issues of conscience, brotherly love, and charity.
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It says, Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
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One person has faith that he may eat all things, and he who is weak eats vegetables only.
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The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
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Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
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One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike.
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Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.
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He who observes the day observes it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God, and he eats not for the Lord, he does not eat.
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But he gives thanks to God.
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For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.
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For if we live, we live to the Lord.
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If we die, we die for the Lord.
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Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
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For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and of the living.
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But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.
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So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
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Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to become a stumbling block or an obstacle in our brother's way.
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For I know and I am convinced in the Lord Jesus Christ that nothing of itself is unclean, but to him who thinks of anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
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For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love.
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And do not destroy your brother with food for whom Christ died.
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Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil.
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For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
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For he who is in the way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
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So then, we pursue the things which make for peace and for building up of one another.
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Do not tear down the work of God for food's sake.
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All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats them and gives offense.
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It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that would cause your brother to stumble.
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The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God.
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Happy is he who does not condemn himself for what he approves, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats because he eats nothing from faith.
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And whatever is not done from faith is of sin.
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This is the word of the Lord.
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Amen.
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Before his own master, he stands or falls.
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We are before the master of the universe today.
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And we're going to sing a song called Everlasting God.
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This reminds us that the scriptures proclaim that we will be strengthened as we learn patience as we wait upon the Lord.
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So let's stand together and sing.
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Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God King of all things, O so highly exalted! Glorious in heaven above! Longly you came to the earth, you Creator, All for the sake we came for.
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Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, Here I am to say that you're my God.
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You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, Altogether wonderful to me! And I'll never know how much it costs To see my sin upon that cross.
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I'll never know how much it costs To see my sin upon that cross.
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I'll never know how much it costs To see my sin upon that cross.
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I'll never know how much it costs To see my sin upon that cross.
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So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, Here I am to say that you're my God.
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You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, Altogether wonderful to me! Coming out of the world, you stepped down into darkness.
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Open my eyes, let me see.
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We have two plates at the front, we have a plate by the back door, and we have a plate by this back door.
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The Bible says each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give.
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Not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
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We're going to sing We Bow Down as we give our offerings to the Lord.
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Let us sing.
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We bow down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.
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Greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus.
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We cry holy, holy, holy.
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We bow down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.
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Greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus.
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We cry holy, holy, holy.
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We cry holy, holy, holy.
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I want to now take a time to go to the Lord in prayer.
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I know there's a lot of things and a lot of folks for which we need to be praying.
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And many things that have come and you've probably had things in your own life.
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I'm sure there are some of you who are dealing with financial difficulties as a result of the things that have happened in regard to the virus.
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So we certainly want to pray for those who are struggling.
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But I also want to mention that this community of faith is intended to not only be a place where you get to hear the word of God.
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But it's also to be a place where we actually do care for one another.
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So I want to remind you that if you are experiencing a need at this time, whether it be a need of just spiritual uplifting.
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If you need encouragement or if you need something that's material.
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Please don't let those needs go unmentioned.
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Please don't let us find out six months from now that you were unable to pay a bill or purchase food because you didn't want anyone to know.
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We don't pass around information when we help folks.
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It's nothing to be embarrassed about and something that we always want to do as a church.
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So please keep that in mind.
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So we're going to pray for all of the needs that we have.
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And I know that you've come this morning probably with unspoken requests.
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So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a few moments of peaceful quiet.
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As much as the Lord will allow with traffic and everything else.
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Just to go to the Lord on your own.
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And then I'm going to lead us in a time of corporate prayer.
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And thanking God again that we can again meet and hear, meet comfortably.
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Get to sing together and hear one another and be in the presence of one another.
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As we all gather in the presence of the Lord.
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So let's bow our heads and go to the Lord in prayer.
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Our Father and our God we come to you in Jesus name.
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Lord so often we put that at the end of our prayers.
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And we say in Jesus name at the end.
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But Lord it is good to be reminded that we could not even come to you if it were not for that name.
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We could not be able, we would not be able to come into your presence.
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We would not be able to come boldly into your throne room.
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We would not be able to stand before he who has created and rules the universe.
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If it were not for the one who stood in our place.
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If it were not for the Lord Jesus Christ who came into the world born of a woman.
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Born under the law.
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The one who kept the law perfectly.
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And went and died on a Roman cross.
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Receiving in himself the penalty that was due all believers.
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And Lord we would have no, we would have no admission into your presence.
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Were it not for him giving us the clothing of righteousness.
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Whereby we now stand as the apostle Paul says.
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Not having a righteousness of our own which comes from the law.
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But a righteousness which comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Lord your word tells us that you made him who knew no sin to become sin for us.
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That we could become the righteousness of God in him.
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And that in Christ we are a new creation.
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Old things have passed away.
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Behold all things have become new.
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Thereby Lord we stand in your presence as new creatures in Christ.
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And we thank you that you loved us so much that you reached down into the muck and the mire of our sin.
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You pulled us up out of the slave market of sin.
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You purchased us.
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You redeemed us.
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And you seated us in heavenly places with Christ.
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Wherefore we are now known no longer as slaves but as sons.
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And Lord we are so grateful to get to experience this in this life.
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But oh Lord do we look forward to the life that is to come.
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For Lord this life is filled with anxieties.
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This life is filled with pains.
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This life is filled with struggles.
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This life is filled with sin both from within and from without.
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And we fight a constant battle with the world, the flesh and the devil.
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But one day, one day we will see him as he is and we will be as he is.
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And he will come on a white horse and he will split the eastern sky.
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And he will come and he will make his enemies his footstool.
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And he will consummate the kingdom and deliver it over to the Father whereby God can be all in all.
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And all things will be glorious and wonderful.
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We are reminded Lord of John Bunyan as he wrote in Pilgrim's Progress.
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Of that celestial city that we all look forward to arriving in one day.
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And yet until then Lord we stand as pilgrims in this land.
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Going through the various mazes of Vanity Fair and all the rest.
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Lord help us to keep our eyes set upon glory.
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Help us to be heavenly minded thereby being earthly good.
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For Lord if our minds are set on the things of this earth we will be consumed with the things of the earth.
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But Lord set our minds on things that are above.
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Set our mind upon you.
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Help us to love you Lord with all our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength.
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And Lord help us to know that in our failures we have a mediator with God the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Who ever lives to make intercession for us.
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Lord he did not just save us once but he is our Savior once and for all.
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And so Lord we are saved and we continue to be saved because he continues to be a perfect Savior.
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A much better Savior than we are sinners.
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And so Lord we trust you, we thank you, we glorify in you.
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Father as we come in prayer it's a time to extol you, it's a time to uplift your name.
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But you also say Lord these times of prayer as Jesus taught us in the model prayer are times for supplication.
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Times to bring to you our needs.
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And Father we do come and we lay at your feet the issues of the day.
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Lord for those in here who are suffering with illnesses.
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And those who can't come and be in church because of concerns with illnesses in their own lives.
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Father we pray for them and we pray that you would strengthen them.
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We pray that you would comfort them.
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We pray that you would show them in their heart that they are loved.
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And help them and know that they are loved by you and by the church, your people.
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Lord for those who are suffering financially I pray that you would bless them and encourage them.
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And that you would help us to know what those needs are Lord as a church.
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So that we might be able to come alongside and minister to one another.
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Lord we see in the early church when one had a need another was willing to even sell what he had to be able to take care of his brother.
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Lord give us that sort of urgency for one another in the midst of the day.
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Help us to not be selfish and hold everything we have with a closed fist.
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But Lord help us to hold what we have with an open hand.
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Willing to give as has been given to us.
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Help us to give cheerfully.
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For your word tells us you love a cheerful giver.
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Father as we now turn our attention to your word.
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Lord my heart is overwhelmed with what this text reminds us of today.
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That our citizenship is in heaven.
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So I pray oh God that you would first and foremost as I preach Lord keep me from error.
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For I know that I am fallible and incapable of preaching error and I don't want to.
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And Lord for the sake of your people I pray that the word of God by the power of the Spirit of God would be mixed with faith.
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And Lord that the believers in the room would be instructed, corrected, even rebuked if necessary.
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And Lord that this might be a time where iron sharpens iron.
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And Lord for those who have come today who are not believers.
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Maybe they be young, maybe they be old, maybe they be visitors.
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Maybe they even have made a profession of faith but they do not have a possession of the Holy Spirit of God.
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Because they truly have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Lord whatever the situation may be that we be reminded today.
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That the only true citizens of the new kingdom are those who have been born again as citizens of that kingdom.
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Lord we thank you for this opportunity to study your word together.
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May you be glorified in it and through it.
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In Jesus name, Amen.
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I want to invite you now to please take out your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Philippians.
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And we're going to be in Philippians chapter 3.
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And we're going to be looking at verses 20 to chapter 4 verse 1.
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Before we read the text I want to give a few introductory remarks.
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In my life I have not spent a whole lot of time traveling.
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Especially over great distances.
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I've never spent hardly any time traveling abroad.
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In fact I've never even had to purchase a passport.
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The few times I have left the country and it was always on a boat.
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I only needed my birth certificate to re-enter.
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I remember how important it was to have that birth certificate.
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Because if you didn't have that little important piece of paper.
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When you reach the US shores they wouldn't let you in unless you were able to prove it.
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So they made us take our birth certificates on the cruise with us.
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And I don't even think they allow that anymore.
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I think now you have to have a passport.
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But this shows you how long ago it was that I even left the country.
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In my life I have been a citizen in various capacities.
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I have been a citizen of the United States from birth.
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I grew up in the small town of Callahan.
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And therefore I was a citizen of that metropolis for many many years.
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One day I plan to be a citizen again.
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If the Lord so wills I want to move back to that metropolis.
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But for most of my adult life I have lived as a citizen of Jacksonville.
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Many people are very proud of their citizenships.
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People from different areas of the world often boast of their hometowns.
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I'm a New Yorker.
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Or I'm a Texan.
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Where's my Stephens? I'm a Texan.
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And there's pride in homeland.
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It's much less elegant to tell people you're a Florida man.
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Much less elegant.
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But one of the most popular songs of the last hundred years played at every military graduation, played all around the world oftentimes at various events is the song, I'm proud to be an American.
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Or at least I know I'm free.
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Citizenship is an important reality in most of our lives.
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And it played an important reality in the lives of the ancient world.
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In the New Testament several times the issue of citizenship arises and it often arises in the life of the Apostle Paul who was himself a Roman citizen once he was beaten.
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And he went before the rulers and he says, I'm a Roman citizen and you beat me.
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And they said, oh no, that's not good because it was not lawful that a Roman citizen be beaten.
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And then later the situation would come up again where he was threatened to be beaten and he goes, hey remember I'm a Roman citizen.
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And they didn't beat him because of his citizenship.
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We believe the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down for his faith.
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But Paul was not.
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We believe Paul was beheaded and the reason why Paul received what many consider to be a much more humane death was because he was a Roman citizen.
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Now when we get to the book of Philippians, Philippians is written to the people of Philippi.
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And Philippi has an interesting history.
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Because Philippi, even though it was not in Italy, was considered to be a Roman colony.
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42 years before Jesus, in 42 B.C., the city of Philippi became a Roman colony and the people of Philippi were very proud to be Romans.
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And it's one of the things that distinguished their city.
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When you went to city, you were going to a little Rome.
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Philippi was a little Rome.
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It was a place where everybody acted and behaved and spoke and did business like the Romans.
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Because they considered themselves, though they were not in Italy, they considered themselves citizens of Rome.
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Therefore it makes sense, when the Apostle Paul is laying out his truth in this text and he's talking to them about the importance of understanding who they truly are in Christ, he uses the concept of citizenship as his example.
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And he says to the believers at Philippi, that ultimately, you're not citizens of Philippi.
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Ultimately, you're not citizens of Rome.
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Ultimately, you're citizens of heaven.
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And through this, and what we're going to see today, is that as Christians, our ultimate allegiance, our ultimate citizenship, in fact, our ultimate home, is not in this world.
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But it is in heaven.
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So let's stand together.
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We're going to read chapter 4, verse 20.
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And we're going to read through chapter 3, verse 22, chapter 4, verse 1.
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The Apostle says, But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.
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Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my Beloved.
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This is the word of the Lord.
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May God write its eternal truths on our heart.
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And may He give me the Holy Spirit as I preach.
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You may be seated.
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Philippians is a powerful book.
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Several years ago, I took a few months and I preached.
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It's only four chapters.
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So I had preached through it in a relatively short amount of time.
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But it's been a while since I had preached through it.
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So I enjoyed this week having the opportunity to go through it again and to prepare for this message.
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And it's notable among the epistles because it's regarded to be the epistle of joy.
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Twelve times in four chapters, the Apostle Paul references either joy or rejoicing in the book of Philippians.
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And what's interesting about that is he's writing from prison.
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He's writing from a dank Roman jail cell.
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And yet he's still able to proclaim joy and rejoicing in the Lord.
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In chapter 1, he relates his love and thankfulness for the Philippians, their care for him, and all that they have done.
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They had sent him a gift in prison.
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And he's thanking them for the gift and the hands of the one through whom it came.
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In chapter 2, he encourages them to remain humble in the midst of their world that is persecuting them.
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He encourages them to remain humble and he reminds them of the humility of Christ.
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Have this mind in you that is in Jesus Christ that though he was in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he came humbling himself as a man.
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And so that passage known as the Carmen Christi or the Song of Christ is one of the most important Christological passages in all of the New Testament.
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And then we get to chapter 3.
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And in chapter 3, the Apostle Paul focuses his attention on the enemies of the cross, what he identifies as the evildoers.
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Look with me again at verse 18.
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Perhaps we should have read this because I am going to mention it as we go.
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This actually brings us into the text that we just read.
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In verse 18, he's talking about those who he considers to be enemies of the cross.
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Listen to what he says about them.
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For many of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
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Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.
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Notice how he describes the people who are the enemies of the cross.
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Number one, he says their end is destruction.
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That's where they're headed.
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They're headed to hell.
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Those people who remain enemies of the cross do not have anything good to look forward to.
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They only have destruction for which to look forward.
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He says their God is their belly.
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Now that doesn't mean that all of them were fat, just so you know.
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What that means is their God was their appetite.
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They were led around by what their flesh desired, and everything their flesh desired is what they went after.
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They were people of the flesh.
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So not only did they have a horrible end to look forward to, but even the life that they lived was governed by their own sensual desires.
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He says their glory is in their shame.
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They glory in their shame.
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Think of our world.
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Think of glorying in shame.
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You can imagine that.
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People who glory in shameful things.
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And that's what he's saying here.
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And he says finally, he says their minds are set on earthly things.
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Their minds are set on earthly things.
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So that's the fourfold description that Paul gives to those who hate the cross.
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He says that their end is destruction, their God is their belly, their glory is their shame, and their minds are set on the things of the earth.
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But then he comes with the word, but.
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And the word, but, is what we call an adversative conjunction.
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Meaning that it's going to contrast the next statement with what came before it.
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But is an important word.
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It's a word that sometimes we don't want to hear.
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If somebody says, you're a handsome man, but, you don't want to hear that.
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Because you know what's coming next is the contrast, or whatever just came, or you're a really nice person, but, just stop.
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I like the first half, but I don't like what's coming after the but.
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However, but can be a good word.
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The wages of sin is death, but, the gift of God is eternal life.
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So the adversative conjunction can have a powerful and positive change to the situation.
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Well that's what we see here.
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Paul is describing a fourfold example of those who hate the cross, and he says, but, our citizenship is in heaven.
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You might think, well that's not really a contrast.
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It is a contrast.
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Because what he's saying, he's saying you've got this group over here, and this group over here are haters of the cross.
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You've got this group over here who are headed towards hell.
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You've got this group over here whose God is their belly.
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You've got this group over here who is glorying in their shame.
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You've got this group over here that is only focused on the things of this world, but, there's another group.
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That's our group.
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That's we.
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And when Paul speaks of the we, he's talking about believers, he's talking about the born agains, he's talking about the regenerate, he's talking about the saved folk.
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He says, but, our citizenship is in heaven.
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The word citizenship here needs to be understood in the King James Version, it comes across, I think, very confusingly.
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Because the King James Version uses the word conversation.
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It says our conversation is in heaven.
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Now the new king says citizenship, right? Brother Mike, that's what you read out of.
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Oh, I'm sorry, Brother Andy, you have a new king that says citizenship? See, the reason why the word is conversation in the old King James is because that's the Elizabethan term which in our day would mean citizenship and that day the word was conversation and it simply meant a group that you're associated with or a part of.
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It's the part of the group and so conversation would have made sense.
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Then doesn't so much make sense today.
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The word that is being translated here does mean citizenship.
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It is, in fact, a word that we could translate as the commonwealth or the city.
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Maybe an easier term, where you belong.
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Ever had somebody tell you, go back where you belong? Maybe you're in a different part of the country and they can pick up that little southern accent and maybe you're moving a little slow for that fast-paced world that you're now in and they say, you need to go back where you belong.
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You don't belong here, right? Well, the idea of citizenship is the idea of where you belong.
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The Jerusalem Bible, which is just another translation, uses a word I think is very good.
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The word used there is homeland.
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Your homeland is in heaven.
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You ever heard the song, Beulah Land? I'm kind of homesick for a country to which I've never been before.
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No sad goodbyes will there be spoken because time won't matter anymore.
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Beulah Land, I'm longing for you.
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Beulah Land.
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And that word, Beulah Land, is referring to Jerusalem.
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That's another word for Jerusalem and it's the promised land.
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But in the real sense, it's the homeland.
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And that's the idea of the song is we're longing for home.
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We're longing for a real, true, heavenly home.
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The meaning of this text, when it says our citizenship is in heaven, is that our true home is in heaven.
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While the worldly cross-haters find their satisfaction here, the Christian finds his satisfaction there.
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And what I want to show you today, and don't get too nervous because they're short, but I do have five points in today's message from this text.
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I want to show you five things or five thoughts from this passage about our citizenship in heaven.
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I'm going to put them on the screen because I know I didn't have a bulletin to print them in this week.
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So these are the five thoughts about our citizenship, which is in heaven.
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Number one, it is a personal citizenship.
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Look at verse 20.
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It says our citizenship is in heaven.
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That word our is actually emphatic in the Greek.
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Paul is pointing out the fact that we have a personal place in heaven that belongs to us.
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Jesus said to his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again, and I will take you to myself.
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That where I am, you will be also.
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It's a personal citizenship.
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Christ did not die for a nameless, faceless mass of humanity.
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Christ died for us as individuals.
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He knows my name.
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The Bible says my name is written on his hand.
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He knows who I am.
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Jesus Christ died for me.
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And if you are a believer, he died for you.
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And when he died, he knew you.
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And thus your citizenship is personal because it has been purchased by the king for you.
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So it is a personal citizenship.
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It is also a present citizenship.
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Look at verse 20 again.
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Our citizenship is in heaven.
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The word is is in the present active indicative, which means it currently resides in heaven.
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You say, but we aren't in heaven.
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How can we be citizens of heaven? Well, when I visited the Bahamas, I was still a citizen of the United States.
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When I went to Cozumel, Mexico, I was still a citizen of the United States.
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I weren't there, or weren't here.
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I was there.
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While I was there, though, I didn't forfeit being an American.
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While I was there, I didn't forfeit my citizenship, even though I didn't have my feet firmly on the ground of the United States.
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Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 2.11.
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He says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh.
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The word sojourners means strangers.
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That's what we are in this world.
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Anybody ever called you strange? Don't get mad.
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They're right.
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Especially if it regarded your faith.
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If somebody said, you're a strange person.
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You're a strange bird.
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You're a weird person.
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You're peculiar.
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Do you know we're supposed to be peculiar? In fact, the very scriptures calls us a peculiar people, a set apart people, a strange people.
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We are pilgrims in this land.
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This is not our home.
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This is where we are sojourning.
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Here.
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Our home is there.
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Think about the pilgrim's progress.
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I mentioned it in my prayer earlier.
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Think about Christian as he goes from place to place never feeling quite at home.
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He didn't feel at home in Vanity Fair.
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He didn't buy the wares and enjoy the celebrations because he knew this isn't my home.
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He moved through it.
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He had to do it.
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But he didn't get consumed by it because he had his mind set on the true home.
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He had his mind set on the celestial city.
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He was looking forward to his true citizenship.
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I live here now, but home is in heaven.
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So it is a personal and present citizenship but it is also a patient citizenship.
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Now, I don't always give you guys an alliterated outline.
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So I just want you to know I did it for you.
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It's not something I always do but this is just the way I did it today.
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It's a patient citizenship.
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Now, what do I mean by that? Look at the end of verse 20.
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He says, We await a Savior.
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See, I'm already a citizen of heaven but my address is on earth.
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I'm currently like an immigrant living with a green card.
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I have a temporary address.
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And that's where I'm at right now.
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I'm waiting for my true home.
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And what's going to change my address? What's going to change my address is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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When He comes again, I'm going to be a pilgrim no longer.
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I will finally get to experience my real home with Him and nothing will ever feel like home in this place ever again.
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So right now, I am supposed to wait and I'm supposed to be patient but I'm supposed to wait with what's known as expectant patience.
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Meaning, I know that it's coming.
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You know, some of us wait on things that never come.
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Some of us get where we sit down and we're waiting and we're waiting and we're waiting and it don't ever happen.
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See, this is the difference between worldly hope and the Christian hope.
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The worldly hope may not come to pass.
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Well, I hope the stock market goes back up or I hope that the businesses open back up or I hope my favorite restaurant opens, whatever.
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That kind of worldly hope, we don't know if it's going to happen or not.
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But the Christian hope is confident expectation.
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It's looking forward to something that cannot fail because it has been promised to us by one who cannot fail.
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And so I wait patiently for my Savior to come.
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I may die before He comes and if I die before He comes, I'll be in His presence and I'll still be waiting because I'll be waiting for the culmination of all things and waiting for my glorified body.
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I'll be in His presence but I'll still be patient.
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And when He comes and He splits that eastern sky and we get that new Jerusalem, the new heaven and the new earth, that's going to be our home forever.
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So number four, not only is it a personal, present, and patient citizenship, it's a perfecting citizenship.
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Look at verse 21.
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It says, He will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body.
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Here's the thing.
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I am currently a citizen of heaven but I am not currently fit for heaven.
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Let me say it again.
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I am currently a citizen of heaven but I am not currently fit for heaven.
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This body, this mind, this man is not ready to take ownership of my heavenly home.
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I need to be changed and I will be changed.
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Now I've been justified.
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I've been born again.
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I've been changed spiritually and given new life.
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I've been regenerated but there's coming a day where this old dirty flesh is going to be changed.
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And that's the change that's necessary and that's the change I look forward to when the Lord Jesus returns.
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The Bible says, Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him.
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That's 1 John 3.20.
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That's what we look forward to.
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We look forward to the perfecting of ourselves.
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Because guess what? Even though you're justified you ain't perfect.
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Anybody who believes they're sinless stand up.
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Let me find a chair as I'm standing.
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I ought not be.
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None of us should be.
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If you believe that you are sinless the Bible calls you a liar.
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If anyone says he has no sin he's a liar and the truth is not within him.
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Christ had a glorified body when He came out of the tomb and the promise is we too will have a glorified body.
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1 Corinthians 15 says our bodies will be changed.
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In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye we will have a change that happens.
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So, some scholars, some theologians use a term and I think it's helpful I think it's been misused in some places but I think it's helpful for this.
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They talk about living between the already and the not yet.
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You ever heard that? Living between the already and the not yet.
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What that means is there are some things that we've already experienced as believers and there are some things we have not yet experienced as believers and we're right in the middle of the already and the not yet.
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We've already been justified but we're not yet ready for heaven.
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We've already been saved but we're not perfectly sanctified because we're still in the flesh.
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We're already citizens of heaven but we're not yet fit for the kingdom and so we live in the midst of this.
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We're between the already and the not yet and that's a difficult place to be because we struggle and we strive and we have difficulties in this life but one day the not yet will be the present and one day this old world is going away and one day the not yet will be the present reality forever and that's the perfecting of our citizenship.