Dual Citizenship Philippians 3:12-21

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About two months ago, we officially moved in across the street, of course.
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We became Wisconsin residents for the first time. For the first time in our lives,
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Brianna and I were not residents of Minnesota. And so we took on a new address.
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And to make things more official, the last two weeks, in the last two weeks, we got a
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Wisconsin driver's license and we got, in addition to that, we got officially registered with the
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DMV and driver's license and the, what's it called when they put it on the back?
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Right, license plate, there we go. I was like, what is that called? But anyway, we're dual citizens because Brianna's parents only live about 30 minutes from here on the
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Minnesota side. My parents live about 80 miles from here, southwest of Minneapolis.
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And we spend quite a bit of time in Minnesota still, even though we're Wisconsin residents.
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So we're kind of dual citizens. Technically, dual citizenship applies to if you live in one country and you're also a citizen of another country.
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But just for the sake of the illustration, to Brianna and I, it's kind of felt like we've been dual citizens.
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And that's how it is for a Christian. You're citizens of Earth, yes, but you're also citizens of Heaven.
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You're going, in the future, you're only gonna have one citizenship and that is in Heaven. And so now is the time when you're actually dual citizens.
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And that's the title of our sermon this morning. It's called Dual Citizenship, as we continue our sermon series through the letter of Philippians.
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So if you have a Bible, please turn with me into Philippians 3, verses 12 through 21.
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And the big idea of our sermon this morning is going to be to fix your eyes on your future home.
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To fix your eyes on your future home. Philippians 3, 12 through 21.
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Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
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Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
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I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way.
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And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
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Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
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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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But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we await a Savior, the
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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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So this text of Scripture and this sermon this morning is calling you to fix your eyes on your future home.
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And there are four essentials that I'm going to show you. The first essential to fix your eyes on your future home is by looking ahead to future perfection.
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By looking ahead to future perfection. Last week we looked at the importance of rejoicing in the
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Lord in verses 1 through 11 of chapter 3. From that text we saw three reasons why you must rejoice as a
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Christian. You are to rejoice because you have spiritual circumcision. Your credentials get you nowhere.
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And to have Christ is to have everything. Today, we are looking at fixing our eyes on our future home.
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The place where all true believers will spend forever. As we look at verse 12,
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Paul is following up his previous statement that we saw last week from verse 11 where he described his desire to obtain the resurrection from the dead.
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Remember when he said, by any means possible, I want to attain the resurrection from the dead.
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And let's look at how verse 12 builds off of verse 11. In verse 12 he says, not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect.
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Paul is acknowledging here that in his earthly life he is not yet perfect.
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He was moving toward Christ -likeness but inevitably he still sinned. And this is the state of all genuine believers.
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There's no such thing as a perfect state of righteousness in your present life. You still wrestle with sin and you still sin.
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But his goal was to attain the resurrection from the dead. That is why he wrote at the end of verse 11, by any means possible.
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And his goal was to make it his own as verse 12 says. Paul stated that he is going to give it his all to persevere to the resurrection where at that time, then he will be perfect.
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The perfection comes at the resurrection. God revealed in the
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Old Testament that there was going to be a resurrection of the dead. This has always been the hope of God's people.
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The righteous would dwell with God forever while the unrighteous would be raised in a corrupted body that was still in sin and would suffer forever.
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One place in the Old Testament where this event is described is Daniel chapter 12 verse 2.
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Daniel chapter 12 verse 2 says that the unrighteous will rise and face eternal contempt where the righteous will rise to glory.
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So it's a polar opposite position if you're a believer and you're an unbeliever.
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Now when we read the New Testament, we see that Jesus is the first man to be raised from the dead.
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1 Corinthians 15 -20 describes him as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
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Those here today who are genuine believers in Christ will follow. And this is what our focus must be on, the resurrection of the dead.
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And Paul is stating here that he has not yet attained the resurrection of the dead. He is looking ahead to the day when he will be perfect because, as I already mentioned, the resurrection is the time when you will be perfect.
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Do you ever think about that? About perfection? One day, you will be perfect as a true believer in Christ.
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This ought to be an encouragement to us. I know it sure is to me. As I look at my own life and the personal sin struggles that I have, it's a battle.
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I mean, every day is a battle. You know, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. It's a fight.
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And I'm encouraged by, you know, over time, I've seen growth in my life. But at the same time, you carry this burden always with you, even as a believer where you're constantly fighting the sin in your life.
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And so we must continue to fight. But while we are here, we must not be content staying where we're at.
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We must fight this fight. And that is why Paul writes in the middle of verse 12, I press on to make it my own.
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This is something he's working towards. You are able to press on because this is what Jesus called you to as the end of verse 12 says.
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This is what Paul says at the end of verse 12. He says, I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
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So in other words, I press on to attain this because Christ called me to do this.
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You're finishing what Christ has already called you to do. Christ called us to bring us to perfection.
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Paul is calling us to strive for that. This is God's plan for you. He doesn't want to leave you in the same place.
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His plan is for you to move in this upward trajectory in your life. The battle for perfection is a battle against sin.
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The Holy Spirit has been given to you to wage war. Romans 8 .13 says, But if by the
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Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Pastor and theologian,
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John Piper, has famously said, Make war with your sin. And that is right. We need to fight it because our sin will destroy us.
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It sends us backwards instead of forwards. There was a Puritan by the name of John Owen.
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My pastor back at home, his favorite, his hero of the faith, John Owen said, Kill your sin or your sin will be killing you.
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And this is true. We see this play out in life. Sin destroys people's lives. And we saw on Sunday School this morning, sin gives birth to death.
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That's where sin is taking you. It eventually leads to death. And we see this play out all the time.
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We see destruction everywhere in people's lives and it's because of sin. And the battle against the fight against sin is a tough battle, but it's something we must continue to fight.
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And as you fight, you are becoming more whole and at the end, that's when perfection will come because perfection is going to come at the resurrection.
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This is the first essential to fixing your eyes on your future home by looking ahead to future perfection.
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The second essential to fixing your eyes on your future home is by refusing to get too comfortable with your progress.
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Refusing to get too comfortable with your progress. In the beginning of verse 13, Paul repeats that he has not yet arrived.
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This is what he says here. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. He is still short of perfection because he sins, but he is focusing on achieving it.
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The rest of verse 13. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
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When Paul writes forgetting what lies behind, he's referring to his
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Christian life, his past Christian life. He's not referring to his pre -conversion state.
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He's referring to when he was saved to the present time where he was at.
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And when he's referring to future glory, he's referring to the future of moving toward perfection.
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It can be very easy to become complacent and to stay in the same place.
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We like comfort, but the Lord calls us to strive for more, to grow in our knowledge, and to love
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Christ, not to settle. And this is my hope for this church. I started here a little over two months ago,
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February 12th, and I have this vision for this church. And the vision I have for this church is
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I want us to be mature believers in Christ. I want this to be seen as a healthy church where when people come in here, they see people who are walking closely with God and people who strive for more of him and are striving for the resurrection of the dead, as Paul describes here.
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Imagine this with me. I mean, think about where we could be five years from now. And if you strive after God, if you seek
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God now, today, and you continue that for the next five years, you're going to be amazed at how far you've come when you look back five years from now.
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And then think 10 years from now and 20 years from now. One thing I want to stress is that I'm here for the long haul.
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My plan is to be here for a long time because things take time and it takes patience.
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But I believe that the Lord is going to bless this ministry. And so we need to move ahead toward the future and be visionaries of what we could be in the future.
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And as your pastor, I'm striving to grow with you. I mean, every day I'm working toward this myself.
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And so I'm on this journey with you and I'm hoping to set a good example for you as a pastor, as someone who doesn't want to stay in the same place, but someone who wants to continue to move closer to Christ.
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So as long as I follow Christ, you can follow me. And this is my goal. Now, verse 14 tells us what lies ahead for believers.
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Paul writes, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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We get a picture here at the end of verse 13 and verse 14 of straining for the finish line.
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Like a runner strains toward the finish line that he is running. And at the finish line is the prize that you will receive.
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The prize here that Paul is referencing is the heavenly blessings you will receive that result from your salvation.
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This is what we're going towards. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, he said,
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If we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. We're not just Christians because we want to be good people here on the earth for the next several decades or however long it may be.
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We're Christians because we're moving ahead to a time when things are going to be far greater than you could ever imagine.
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There's going to be a resurrection. We're going to be with God forever in the new heavens and the new earth.
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This is our hope. So the prize is the heavenly blessings you will receive that result from your salvation.
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In verse 15, Paul follows by saying, Those of us who are mature must think this way.
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And when he says here mature, he's referring to spiritual maturity. Let those of us who are spiritually mature think this way.
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And what he's saying is let us think about not staying in the same place. Let's think about moving forward, growing together.
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In other words, what Paul means is mature people realize they need to grow. And this is how it is.
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As you grow in godliness, what happens is you see how holy
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God is. You get a better picture of who God is. And as you see the holiness of God, you see your sinfulness more.
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And as you see your sinfulness more, you see your need to grow more. That is how it is for the believer.
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In the remainder of verse 15, Paul is essentially saying if you are not thinking this way, then
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God will get you to this place of forward thinking because you need to strive for that. That's why he writes, and if in anything you think otherwise,
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God will reveal this also to you. So if you're not thinking this way, you need to be thinking this way.
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And God will bring you to the place where you are thinking this way. So my question to you is, are you thinking about your future in Christ?
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Are you striving for more holiness? Think about who you will be one day.
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And may that motivate you to strive for perfection and kill the sin in your life.
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Now, Paul does not want us to lose sight of our past growth. And that's encouraging to us.
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In verse 16, he says, only let us hold true to what we have attained.
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In verse 16, Paul is highlighting that you should be grateful for what the
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Lord has done for you in the past. And many of you here today have walked with the Lord for many years and you should be grateful for what the
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Lord has done in you all those years. But the point here is, don't be content with that. Strive for more.
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In verse 16, essentially what I think he's saying here is, however much knowledge we have about Christ and following him, we should live up to that.
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Sometimes you meet people who know a lot but their life doesn't match their knowledge. There's a lot of immaturity there.
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We need to live up to what we know because it goes in your head and then it goes down to your heart.
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If it doesn't make it to your heart, it's not going to change the way you live. If it just stays up here. So we need to be people who not only think about these things but also let it change us.
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We need whatever knowledge we have attained, we need to live by that. One author
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I read this week said, all Christians without exception should live up at least to the level of what they already know.
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And once you've done that, then you can learn more and then grow off of that too in the future.
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So this is the second essential to fixing your eyes on your future home by refusing to get too comfortable with your progress.
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The third essential to fixing your eyes on your future home is by following heavenly -minded people.
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Following heavenly -minded people. You are a dual citizen, as I've already mentioned.
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Yes, you live on this earth, but you have citizenship in heaven. And one day, you will inherit what the
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Lord has prepared for you in Christ. With that in mind, Paul urges them, in verse 17, to join in imitating him.
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He says, according to the example you have in us.
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Paul actually said in 1 Corinthians 11 .1, he said, imitate me as I follow
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Christ. And as I mentioned a few weeks back, it is good to imitate others as they follow
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Jesus. Paul is not saying only imitate me. He's saying imitate others who follow
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Jesus also. God gives us all kinds of means of grace to make us into the people
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He wants us to be. One of the means of grace He gives us is to give us the local church where we can encourage one another, where we can grow together.
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He gives us the Bible to read, where we can read the Bible and grow. He gives us prayer where we can talk to Him.
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One of the means of grace that God gives us is watching people. Have you ever thought about that?
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Sometimes we grow just by merely watching someone and say, you know what? Whatever he is doing, whatever she is doing,
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I want that. And then you follow their example. The Bible is big on that, by the way.
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Following people, as long as they're following Christ. Don't follow the wrong people.
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If you follow the wrong people, it leads to destruction. If you follow the right people, it leads to life. So we are to follow the right people.
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We are to follow mature, heavenly -minded people. Then Paul tells us who not to follow in verses 18 and 19.
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He says, You notice how he says many here?
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Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that why does the path that leads to destruction? These are people who belong to the earth and have no citizenship in heaven.
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So they have solo citizenship. Their citizenship is not in heaven. In this letter,
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Paul and the church have faced opposition from many people. We have seen that. The opposition here is probably from professing
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Christians. So people who profess Christ but weren't really true followers of Jesus.
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And this can be concluded for a few reasons. The first is that Paul is likely in tears over them.
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And if these aren't people who were once in the church or who are presently in the church, he probably wouldn't be in tears over them.
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One of my friends three years ago, he was involved in our church. He was, you know, by all accounts, looked like a genuine believer in Christ.
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And I was surprised to hear the news that he had become an atheist. I'm not really a person who cries a whole lot.
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I didn't cry, but if I was a crying person, I would have been in tears just at the thought of this guy departing from the faith.
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And three years later, as far as I know, he's still not walking with Christ. And his life was a lot better four years ago when he was surrounded by Christians than it is today.
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He has no compass in life. He's running aimlessly. And it's really tragic when we think about it.
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And you can sense Paul's tears here as he's thinking about these people, that their future is destruction.
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Now, the second reason that these are probably professing Christians in the church is Paul is warning them of people they might be tempted to follow.
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They're more likely to be tempted by those who appear to be Christians rather than straight out unbelievers. It's easy to get deceived by people who have this appearance but really don't have it.
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And so, Paul is concerned about that and he wants to warn them about these people.
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They are enemies of the cross of Christ. Their God is their belly. What does that mean, their God is their belly?
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It means that they worship themselves. I heard one author this week say that their
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God doesn't rise above their stomach. I thought that was a powerful way to say it.
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Their God does not rise above their stomach. They worship themselves. They worship food.
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They're focused on earthly comforts. They are not willing to suffer for Christ. And really, when you look at this, it's shameful.
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That's why Paul says it here. He says, they glory in their shame.
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That's the best way to describe these people. It's shameful, the way that they live their lives. Because think of how glorious life is if you follow
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God. And think of how less they're settling for. It's shameful.
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In verse 19, Paul then reveals what these people occupy their minds with. They occupy their minds with earthly things.
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They worship their earthly idols, not God. So this is an important question
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I have for you. What occupies your mind? Because that may be your idol. Whatever is constantly on your mind, that might be what you worship rather than God.
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If the things of God never occupy your mind, that should be concerning to you. Unbelievers do not think about heaven, but do you.
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C .S. Lewis, he was the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, and he was a defender of the Christian faith.
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He said, if you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.
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It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
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Genuine believers think about heaven and accomplish something worth remembering here. Unbelievers do not.
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The people Paul describes here don't think about heaven. All of their focus is on this life, and it leads to a worldly lifestyle.
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How often is your mind set on earthly things and not heavenly things? If your mind is constantly on earthly things and never on God, you have to wonder where your standing is with God, because that's the way the world is.
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It's always on earthly things and not on God. Setting one's mind on earthly things is common among all unbelievers.
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In verse 19, Paul reveals their end. He says their end is destruction, and that's referring to eternal punishment in hell.
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These are not believers. This is their end. The believer's end is perfection.
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The unbeliever's end is destruction. Quite an opposite situation to find yourself in.
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So follow heavenly people and have your mind set on heavenly things, not on earthly. And this is my desire again for us here at Eureka, that we would be thinking about God and the glory of Christ.
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And if we do this, our congregation will be a mature one. We will. If your mind is constantly on God and on Jesus, it's going to change the way you live.
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It's going to show in your life. You might not watch TV shows that you once watched. You might not do things that you once did.
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And it's the far better life. This is the third essential to fix your eyes on your future home, by following heavenly people.
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The fourth and final essential to fix your eyes on your future home is by fastening yourself to the place where you will have solo citizenship.
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Verses 20 through 21. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a
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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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Paul not only acknowledges his citizenship, but also that of his listeners. And he says, they are citizens of heaven.
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Now, weren't Paul and his listeners Roman citizens? Yes, they were. But they were also citizens of heaven.
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And you here today, you are citizens of the United States of America. But you're also citizens of heaven.
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The one who sealed their citizenship and your citizenship in heaven is
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Jesus Christ, the Savior. And they are awaiting him, and so are we. With Christ's return imminent, this should encourage us to prepare ourselves for this solo citizenship.
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The moment you die, you're no longer a citizen of earth, but a citizen of heaven.
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Earlier in this letter, in chapter 1, verse 27, Paul said, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
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This is because you belong to another world. Jesus is there, and you will soon be with him.
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So it is very important how you live here. The way that you fasten yourself is by thinking about Jesus, striving to know him, and striving to follow him.
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This is the path that leads to the final resurrection and perfection. As you live on earth, the question we need to ask ourselves is, would people describe us as being like Jesus, as being heavenly citizens?
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Because that is what heaven is going to be like. It's going to be a place full of people who know
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Christ. People will maintain their personalities. You'll still be Jeremiah, Sean, Shayla, Rachel.
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You'll still maintain your personalities. But you will be like Jesus. It will be people who are full of the fruit of the
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Spirit. Now, notice in verse 21, Paul's focus is not just on heaven, but on the resurrection.
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One emphasis that I've made over the last several weeks is that God's people have their focus on the resurrection.
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The resurrection of the dead, where one day, all of God's people will have glorified bodies on the new earth.
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The place where the believers go now is called the intermediate state. It's a temporary place that you go, where your soul goes.
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And then when Christ returns at the resurrection, your soul will be reunited with your body.
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And that's the hope of the believer. That's the final hope. So when will this happen?
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As I just mentioned, it'll happen at the return of Christ. The dead will rise with new glorified bodies, and those who are living will not die, but will receive a new body.
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So it's possible that we might not die. Christ might return, and when he returns, he will turn our earthly body into a heavenly body, a similar body to the body that he had when he was raised from the dead.
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Our present bodies fail. Our future ones will not. And Paul closes here by saying that the
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Lord's power is going to accomplish this. He says, All things are under Christ, because Christ is the
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Lord of creation. Everything is subjected to him. He has authority over everything.
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And with that power, he is going to raise us from the dead one day. And it's going to be sooner than you think.
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Your death might be sooner than you think, or the return of Christ will be sooner than you think, and Christ will raise us to be with him forever.
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This is the fourth essential, to fix your eyes on your future home by fastening yourself to the place where you will have solo citizenship.
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So this morning, fix your eyes on this place by looking ahead to future perfection, by refusing to get too comfortable with your progress, by following heavenly -minded people, and by fastening yourself to the place where you will have solo citizenship.
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Think about heaven and the prize that awaits you there, and do not have your focus here on earth.
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Do not make the mistake that too many people make. To have your focus here on earth alone is damaging.
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Let's have our focus on heaven and then make a difference here on earth. This world is a sinking ship, and it is foolish to have your mind set on that which is passing away.
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Focus on the eternal and live for that which will never pass away. Let's pray.
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Father, what a great reminder from your word to have our minds set on where our forever citizenship is, in heaven, and that we would not have our minds set on the earth.
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Lord, help us to do this. Give us the grace to do so. Pray that we would not be content with past progress, but that we would strive for more in the future.
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Lord, we need your help to do this. I pray that Eureka would be full of people who are heavenly -minded, and that it would show in the way that we live our lives.
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I pray that less mature people would follow more mature people, and that we would see wonderful things happen in the future.
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We ask for you to do this, Lord. We believe that you can, and we pray for you to do it.
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We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. You begin to know him.
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You don't just believe in Christ just to believe in him and then move on with your life. You believe in Christ to know him.
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We're gonna see that in verse 10 here. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
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The goal of trusting Jesus is to know him, to have a personal relationship with him.
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It's wonderful that he doesn't just save us, but he also wants us to enter into a personal relationship with him.
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Sometimes we can think that God is far off, and that's not the case. God is close.
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The one who created you and gives you eternal life is also your friend. He desires to be with you.
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He desires to have a personal relationship with you. This is what Jesus calls believers in John 15, 15.
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He calls them friends. So if you are following Jesus today, Jesus considers you a friend.
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Once you believe, you ought to have a closer relationship with Christ than anyone else in your life.
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And as I was thinking about that this week, it struck me, because I had to ask myself, is that the case in my own life?
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That's a big statement. Is Jesus the most important person in your life to you?
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The effect of knowing him is that you will know power, specifically the power of his resurrection.
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As verse 10 says, you will know him and the power of his resurrection. You have this power as a believer in Christ.
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The power of fellowship, your power comes from your association with the conqueror of death.
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There's only one man who's conquered death, and that's Jesus. And we celebrated that last week. But Easter Sunday is actually every day.
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I know we recognize it on Easter Sunday, but the reality that Jesus is raised from the dead is something we must hold tightly to every single day.
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Now this power you have as a Christian, the power that God gives you, is not just that you have an easy life because you have all this power.
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You actually face many difficulties in your life. The end of verse 10 says, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
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One of the ways that you will become like him is that you will suffer in this world just as he did.
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You are his disciple, and you're going to follow in his footsteps. But your suffering is only temporary.
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That's because verse 11 says, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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As you go down the joyful, yet difficult path of following Jesus, you will achieve the resurrection from the dead.
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Your body will be like the body of Jesus, as we talked about last week. As you endure trials in your life with Jesus, realize what this is pointing toward.
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It's not just trials and then that's it. It's trials and the resurrection of the dead that is waiting for you.
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This is an emphasis that I have made. The hope of the Christian is the final resurrection, where you will be glorified and have fellowship with Jesus forever.
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When a believer dies, their spirit goes to be with the Lord. But the final resurrection is coming.
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When Jesus returns, he's going to raise from the dead all who belong to him. And that is the hope of the believer, is that you will be a spirit, yes, but you will be an embodied spirit.
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You will be a physical human that will be perfect forever.
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That's what the Bible is pointing to. And in that way, you will be like Christ. So think about how wonderful your destiny is in Christ.
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So this is the third reason why you must rejoice at the position you have in Christ. To have
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Christ is to have everything. So rejoice at this position.
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And there's three reasons why, according to this text. You have experienced spiritual circumcision in Christ.
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Your religious credentials get you nowhere. And to have Christ is to have everything.
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Paul began this passage by saying, Rejoice in the Lord. We have so much to rejoice over, so may this joy be present in each of our lives.
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Remember that as a Christian, circumstances should not dictate the steady joy that you have in the
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Lord. If your circumstances dictate your joy, it's going to be quite a roller coaster ride. But as a follower of Christ, it's the steady joy that you have throughout your life.
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Because in life, there's many ups and downs. But this joy is going to be what sustains you over the long haul.
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That even when you face all of these trials, you're able to persevere, and you're able to have a joy.
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Not a fake joy that the world has. This is real joy.
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This isn't like the comedians on the late night shows. That's not real joy. Real joy is found in Christ.
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As you push through your trials, and you're able to say, I have this joy because I have
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Jesus. I have this joy because of the joy that's rooted in God.
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And God dwells in me. Nehemiah 8 .10 says,
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The joy of the Lord shall be our strength. So let us rejoice in the Lord as we ponder how wonderful God is and the position he has placed us in with his son,
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Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this passage of Scripture.
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It truly is a treasure. And we praise you for giving it to us. And we can hold tightly to this truth and live by it and look forward to the future.
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Father, I thank you that you have not placed us in a position of hopelessness like so many are facing today.
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But you've positioned us in a position where the hope could not be greater.
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The future could not be brighter. And Father, if there's anyone listening to this sermon who maybe has this hopelessness feeling,
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I pray that you would take it away and show them the hope that comes through knowing Jesus.
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And may we live this out, Lord. May this show in our lives. May this joy show in us. And may other people see it and then ask, why do you have this joy?
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Where does it come from? And then we can say, this joy comes from Christ. And his joy is full.