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SERMON: Chris McKenzie, First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, IL
12 Plays4 months ago
"Living Before the Father"
1 Peter 1:13-21
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Transcript
Opening Prayer and Gratitude
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through 21 first Peter c chapter 1 verse 13 through but before we go to the scripture this morning let us first go to the Lord in order pray for you will bow with me once more Father Thank you so much again for bringing us here. Thank you for this wonderful week of revival that we've had. Thank you for bringing us back here again today to worship and praise you.
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and thank you for your word that helps guide us through this life that holds all the answers to what we need to do and how we need to follow you.
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And Father, today as we open up your word, help us to just put the things of this world aside and focus on what your Holy Spirit is willing to us.
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And let my words be yours. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Understanding God's Nature and Righteousness
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So if you read the scripture and you understand who God is, you know that we are always living before the Father.
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God knows you. He knows everything about you. And that's probably a scary thing sometimes, but you want to know the great thing about that is not only does he know everything about you and in the world that sounds scary, but he knows everything about you and he knows you.
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He knows everything about you and he wants a relationship with you. He wants to lead you in his righteousness. He wants to help you through the trials and the tribulations of this life.
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And we know as we read through scripture that we all live before the Father.
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But the focus today in this passage is not on the fact that that he sees all.
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But the focus today as we read the scripture is on why we should follow his footsteps. Why we should live in his holiness.
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And so as we go into the scripture today, we understand this as well.
Awareness of the Enemy's Deceptions
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And as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, as we follow in his righteousness, as we follow in his holiness, there is an enemy.
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He wants to knock us off course. There's an enemy that wants us not to focus on the will of God, but wants us to focus on what we want, how we want to do things, how we want to plan it out. And one of the worst things about myself is is I get these plans, and if you ever look at my calendar,
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for my preaching schedule you'll see that i have years of sermons planned and one of the things that god deals with me on that is to be more flexible and more fluid with that because sometimes i have a plan and then when i get to that sermon i'm like this is what i have to preach today god can say very often he does he can say no i know came about a year ago I didn't plan that.
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I didn't want that. Here's something else for you. But here's the thing. Sometimes my will clashes with the will of God. And as Brother Rick said this week, many times talking about, well, when our will clashes with the will
Living Hope in Christ and Taking Action
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of God or our word clashes with the word of God, who's the wrong one?
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Unless Mary and we are. And we've got to remember that, that there's an enemy that wants us to elevate ourselves above the will of God and does not want us to walk in the holiness of God.
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He does not want us to walk in righteousness of God. And so last week we looked at Jesus, our living hope.
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And this week we look living before the Father. and Verse 13, it starts out with this. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you and the revelation um Jesus Christ.
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He says, therefore, And we go back to what we talked about last week. Therefore, since Jesus is our living hope, he has given us a reason to wake up and praise him. He has given us a reason to live and continue on. And let me tell you, this world is murky.
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This world is depressing. This world is filled with anxiety. And sometimes I can turn on the news and I just want to throw something at it.
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and there are times that it feels really dark there are times can I be a little honest with you as as a pastor there are times even as a pastor I know like me and how do I just keep going there's no hope but then I look at the living hope but then I look at Jesus and say you know what My problems, they seem big when I take my eyes off of Jesus, but when I focus on Jesus, I'm able to get up, I'm able to stand up, I'm able to continue on.
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And so since Jesus is our living hope and we have a reason to live, let me tell you, you need to live your life in action for Jesus.
Preparedness and Outreach
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Because if you're not moving, if you're not breathing, If nothing's going on, then what are you?
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The right? That's the sad truth, but so many times we look at the hope that we have in Christ and we say, well, praise God, thank you, we love you, Jesus.
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But instead of letting that hope move us to action, we sit down and we say, well, what do we do? Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus.
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Are we really thinking Jesus is all we're doing is saying it with our lips, but we're not giving ourselves over to him? If we're not being called to action, therefore since Jesus is our living hope, we are called to action. And he says right here, gird up the loins of your mind, prepare yourself,
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You know, before I would play a football game or a basketball game, sometimes I'd be acting like a fool with my friends on the bus, right? And I'd get to that game, and I wouldn't perform very well at that game.
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And then my coach pulled me aside one time, and he said, here's what you need to do, Chris. You need to get your mindset straight. Stop talking to your friends on the bus, right?
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Stop making jokes. Stop laughing and get your mind in the game. And let me tell you, when my coach pulled me aside and told me that, everything improved.
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I'd sit alone on the bus. I put in my headphones, I put in my my Christian music or my classical music, whichever one it was that day, and I would say, here's how this game is going to go. I know the opponent that I'm going up against.
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I know the guy that I'm going to have to run through on the field, and I know that he is strong, and here's how I've got to hit him. I know the guy that's going to be guarding me on the basketball court. I know how high he can jump. I know the things that he wants to do and the way he wants to trip me up.
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And here's what I'm going to do.
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We've got an enemy out there that is planning against you, and you have to be ready for him. We have an enemy that wants to crush you, and he doesn't just want to crush you. He wants to crush this church because he doesn't want a church to continue on.
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Why? Because when the church stands up and starts doing what they're called to do, what happens? They lead people Jesus. jesus And for us to lead people to Jesus, we have to gird up the loins of our mind and we have to be ready for action and we have to be sober-minded and look at the reality of what we are facing, that we have a lost and dying world around us that needs the message of Jesus and we have an enemy that wants to suppress that.
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And why are churches today so ineffective at getting the message out? because we don't have our mindset ready.
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How many of us have gone home and said, how can do outreach? They don't have to answer that loud, but think about that in your heart. How often is there a burden on your heart that you sit there and pray about it and think about it and consider it and look at the ways that the devil is trying to work in the community to bring us down and look at the things that God is calling you to and say, you know what, God?
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We're in a battle. What's the battle plan?
Holiness and Transformation
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Turn up the loins of your mind. Be sober-minded. We're going have all the negative and the hopeless thoughts of the world. And what are we called to focus on?
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The grace of God.
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We go even further in 1 Peter 5, verse 8. Be sober. Be vigilant. Why? Because your adversary today walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he made the bower.
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And here's our very first point today.
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If you are not focused, the enemy we will catch you off guard.
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Let me tell you, my friends, I'm a pretty big guy. I'm not the biggest guy in the world, but I know I've got a little bit of weight behind me. I've got a little bit of strength behind me. And I thought I was just all that and a bag of chips when I played football in high school.
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And I played on every side of the ball. I was on the special teams. I was on the offense. I was on defense. I told my coach once, I said, I don't want to leave the field. Keep me on the field, coach. And he said, you're crazy.
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I said, I know. But I thought I was big and bad.
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And then one day on a kickoff team, I thought I was too big. I thought I was too bad. and we were playing against the worst team in the league. but the smallest guys, and I turned to the side, play was still going.
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I thought everything was done, and the smallest guy on the worst team blindsided me, knocked me to my butt.
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And I was sitting there and i was I was talking to my friend years after high school. I was saying I was a better player than he was. And he was saying he was a better player than me. And he kept all of our DVDs. And one day he brought up that DVD and he said, you want to know how big and bad you are? And he put that thing in the DVD player and he transported it. He knew exactly where it was. He said, how'd that small guy knock you off your feet?
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I took my eyes off of the game. I thought I was big. I thought I was bad. I thought no one could knock me over. And then the smallest guy on that team humbled me.
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If we're not focused, my friends, we're fighting a powerful enemy. If we're not focused, he will blindside you. He will sweep your feet out from underneath you. what we need to focus on is the grace of God, his love, his desire to reach all of mankind with the gospel.
Valuing Spiritual Redemption
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We need to focus on his strength. When we keep our eyes on Jesus and we are sober, vigilant That devil will can't knock us over, not because you're strong, Sister Carol, but because he's strong.
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And so we have to be focused so the enemy can't catch us off guard. And then it goes on, verse 14 through 19, where it says, Here, be as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former ones, as in your ignorance, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
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And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's word, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without flesh and without spot.
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Do not be conformed to the desires of your former lust.
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When we follow Jesus, we look at the things that we used to do and we say, I don't want to do that anymore. I remember when I got saved. Y'all remember that day? Y'all remember who you were before you got saved?
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and who you became after you got saved? I was angry. I was a horrible little boy at school and and y'all heard the testimony before my teacher said, if there's a boy that's gonna go to prison, it's gonna be that one right there. And they were right when I was outside of Christ. I was on a path of destruction.
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But when I put my faith in Jesus, I used to go to school looking for a fight. I'm not talking about like let's yell. I was like, I'm going to go to the bathroom and I'm going just fight the first kid that goes in there.
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I lost a lot of those.
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But when I put my faith in Jesus, I walked into school the next day.
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And all of a sudden, my daily routine started to change. That anger that was deep inside of me started to dissipate. All of a sudden, i was like, I don't think Jesus wants me to fight another kid today.
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And then there were a couple times where I backtalked my teacher and I had to think about it a little bit. I still did it. But I had to s think about it. i don't think Jesus wants me to backtalk my teacher as much as I do.
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And all of a sudden, those things that I used to do, those things that I thought I enjoyed, those things that I thought was my parents and loved, were changed. I didn't want to go back to But you want to know what the devil's going to do?
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Why we need to be sober? Why we need to be vigilant? He's going to tell you, Jesus isn't actually worried about that. Remember what he did to Adam and Eve in the garden? Jesus isn't actually worried about that. God doesn't care about that tree.
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He just doesn't want you to be like him. He's surely you're not going to die. You're his prize creation. And the devil's going to tell you the same lies. God doesn't care about how you live your life here in this world, but that's a lie because he does.
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Because he knows what's best for you. He knows what's destructive in your life. And he doesn't call you to be holy as he is holy just because he wants to rain on your parade and take away all the fun in the world. He wants you to be holy as he is holy because walking in his holiness leads to life.
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Walking in his holiness leads to peace. Walking in his holiness leads to hope.
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And let me tell you, ever since I've been walking with Jesus, I've had more fun walking with him and in the ways that he is leading me in his righteousness than I ever could outside of it.
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I have things that and my life I have hope I have peace let me tell you when a storm comes around i might be a little we anxious for a moment in my head but then I say you know what Jesus you give me peace when someone's mad at me and no one ever gets mad at me any right i mean
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i think man And then I get that in my heart sometimes. i'm like, oh man, everybody's gonna jump on top of me. day Everybody's gonna blame me down. Everybody's gonna do this. It's just this way my mind thinks. And then I have to say, Jesus, come in and calm my mind. don't know how i do it without He takes care of me when I'm at my weakest.
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But we don't go back to our sinful desires. Paul says in Romans 13 14 that you put on the Lord Jesus Christ That you start to act like him you start to be the things that he did and you make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust And he also says in Galatians 5 16 I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
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And the reason that we are called to walk in his holiness is Reason that we are called to walk in his righteousness is not just because it's the best way for us and it is ah We were also bonded a price
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Let me tell you If someone would go up and you know, hand me the keys to brand new Lamborghini Anybody gonna do that today for me? Okay.
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It was worth a try.
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Those cars are expensive.
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That costs a lot of money. And they hand me the keys to that. And they say, here you go. um I'm going to take care of that more than I would take care of, you know, ah my old car that I used to have and drive around. And part of the hood was flapping off and everything. a car that was just handed to me and was handed down to three different kids who drove in this car.
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and didn't take care of that one. But someone hands me a Lamborghini. I'm going to take care of it. because of the cost someone gives you something that has a lot of value you're going to take care of it because of the cost usually
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and we were bought with the most precious thing because we were bought with the precious blood of Christ we are called to take care of ourselves spiritually
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We are called to walk in the things that are pleasing to God and that are spiritually good for us.
Service, Humility, and Obedience
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And even physically, we need to take care of our bodies. I need to walk a little bit more, I think, sometimes.
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But 1 Corinthians 6, 19-20, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which God's.
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Or in Titus chapter 2, verse 14, Jesus gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people.
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Cleanse us, take care of us. Zeal us for what? Good works.
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And in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11 through 14, read this. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but his own blood.
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He entered the most holy place once for all. having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the pureing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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Christ poured out every drop of his blood. not so that you could live for you, but so that you could live for him. Christ gave his all for so that you could give your all for him.
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that's our next point. We were redeemed to serve God, not ourselves. We were redeemed to serve God not ourselves we're not called to be here to do what we want and there's a lot of things that I want that end up being contradictory to the will of God and I have to talk to him and he yes but explain to me sometimes like a little child I feel like he has to set me down and say ah
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I told you before I wanted to go to Tennessee and God said no you go to Illinois
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i want to do this but I want you to do that and again we can go back to a brother Rick said this past week when it comes between you and God who's right and who's wrong God will always be right he redeemed us so that we can do what he wants us to do and that that takes a little bit of humility right Sometimes you want to shout out when someone's not listening to you. Do you know who I am
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Like when I walk into the house and Theo says to me, when he's running around, I say, all right, get off the couch, buddy. He says, no. Do you know who I am? i'm not some random person walking into this house. This is my house, buddy. I'm your dad. You've got to listen to me.
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We're living before the Father.
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And when God says, stop, you don't get to be like Theo when I come into my house and say, no.
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He's going to get mad at me when I'm telling that story and you can understand it.
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You don't get to tell God what he's going to do and how he's going to do it and what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. When God says, this is my call on your life, when I want you to do this or I want you to do that, you should be like this. You should say, you know what, Lord? I never thought of that. That's not how I would do it.
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But you know what? You said it so it's right. You sanctified me. You've taken care of me. You poured out your blood for me. So instead of doing what I want... I'm going to do what you want.
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So, here's the question. Answer this in your heart.
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What does God want you to do?
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What is he calling you to do in this church, in this home, in your home, in this community? What is God calling you to do?
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He's calling you to do something and you're not doing it. Then you are in the wrong. Not God. You.
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And finally, verse 20-21.
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indeed he was indeed foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believed in God, who raised him from the dead,
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and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. What solidifies our commitment to Christ is that he chose to die for us before we were even here.
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And remember what I said is the scariest thing in the world is that God knows every part of you.
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Do you want me to know everything you've ever done?
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Do you want to admit to me your deepest, darkest secrets? Do you want to tell me all of the failures that you've ever had here in this world? No.
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And why is that scary? Because we're humans. And we saw that God judges without partiality. But what do humans do? When I got a call to to be a chaplain for a young man that had committed a heinous crime, the first thing I did was show partiality.
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Because he did something horrible in my eyes. It was horrible in God's eyes, but God still wanted to save him. I didn't, though. I showed partiality.
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and it's the scariest thing in the world because I don't want people to know the the darkest parts of me. And if you think that there's nothing dark in a human, if there's nothing evil in a human, then you're wrong. We're all capable of great evil.
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The Bible talks about it.
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God knows the worst parts of you.
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God knows where you have failed.
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God knows where you have not submitted to him.
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God knows the things you say in your head about people. And yet, he knows you in your entirety.
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vote And I love that Brother Rick said this all week before the foundations of this world. Before the foundations of this world, knowing how messed up and broken we are, before the foundations of this world chose to die for his creation.
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Chose to die for the ones that spat upon him and nailed him to a cross chose to die for an angry little boy that was eight years old that just wanted to fight and destroy everything around him.
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God chose to send his only begotten son for the foundations of this world to die for us.
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In Galatians chapter 4, verse 4 through 5, it says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, not to condemn us, but to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive that adoption sons.
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And in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 through 6, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy, there's another time to undermmark and underline that word, holy and without blame before him in love.
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And he predestined us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure, not of our will, but of his will.
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to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted to the beloved.
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My friends, people can get bent down all out of shape misunderstanding a couple of these passages, but here's simply what it means.
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God chose mankind before the foundations of this world. God chose mankind even though mankind rejected him.
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That's our final point there. God chose in mankind even though mankind rejected
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That God demonstrates his love toward us in this way.
God's Unwavering Love and Call to Follow
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That while we were still sinners, while we were still unworthy,
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when we were still lost and dead in the trespasses that we committed, Christ died for us.
00:31:10
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He chose us while we were still sinners, while we were still enemies, while we were still lost and died, that all who would call upon the name of Jesus would be saved Christians today as we live before the father walk in his footsteps he knows everything already you can't hide it from them instead of hiding from them say father I need help
00:31:42
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and that's one of the most beautiful things with my children they don't know how to do everything yet
00:31:50
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Theo will try and do a couple of things. Like, I don't know if he's trying to do a backflip, a somersault, or flip the table. i'm not sure. It's one of those three things.
00:32:00
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But he'll try something, and he can't do it. And I'm watching him, and I know he can't do it, and I already told him he can't do it.
00:32:10
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And the most pleasing thing, and the most wonderful thing, is when he finally gives up, and he turns around, and he lifts up his arms, and he says, bad bad hope almost brings a tear to my every time because that's how I have to cry out to God every day don't know how to get through it god father help me
00:32:40
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I don't
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I don't know how to take on the world. I don't know how to reach out to Hardin County. I don't know how to lead a church. I don't know how to be a member. I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to do that. God, you already know I don't.
00:32:57
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Father,
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help me.
00:33:04
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As you live before the Father, my friends, don't be afraid to call out to him. This world is scary and dark and dangerous and makes you want to give up.
00:33:18
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But when you reach out for God and he picks you up and takes you into his embrace, nothing can go wrong there. He'll guide you.
00:33:32
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You just got to reach out to him. He's already waiting for you. He's already ready. He's already watching. He just wants you to reach out to him. If you're a Christian today, reach out to God. He knows that you can't do it without him.
00:33:48
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So call out to him. And if you're not a Christian, you definitely can't get through i don't know how you live this world. I don't know how you go through trials and tribulations if you're not a Christian because some of the things that I focus on and some of the things that I face, I'm like, man, they can make me feel really bad inside and and I have Jesus to help me get through it.
00:34:13
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I don't know what I'd do them. I pity you if you're not a Christian.
00:34:21
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I feel sorry for you. And if you don't realize that you can call upon the living God and he will help you.
00:34:31
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The only thing I can tell you if you're not a Christian today is to turn away from this world.
00:34:39
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Call upon the name of Jesus and follow him. and let me tell you, you will experience the same peace, the same hope, the same love that I have.
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And it'll change you completely.
00:35:00
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don't know if I can say anything.
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The microphone g agrees. So church,
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you heard the word. What are you going do with it? Go live before the Father, rejoicing and walking in his righteousness and his holiness.
00:35:24
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reaching out to a lost and dying world that desperately needs them the same way we did, the same way we do every day. Let's pray. father