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SERMON: Chris McKenzie, First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, IL
13 Plays4 months ago
"The Enduring Word"
1 Peter 1:22-25
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Transcript
The Shift of Palm Sunday
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5 first Peter chapter 1 verse 22 through the
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the enduring word is what we're going to be looking at today and I tell you my friends today that circumstances can change pretty fast right We're sitting here looking at floodwaters and we have memories of times past and we know that circumstances can change and we do our best to prepare, but we can never quite understand what's going to happen.
The Constancy of God's Word
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Circumstances can change, and we know that because as we come together this morning, it's Palm Sunday. And on Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the cries of, Hosanna, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest.
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Here's our Messiah, and circumstances changed really fast.
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And not long after, the shouts went from Hosanna, Hosanna to crucify him. Crucify him.
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My friends, circumstances change all the time around us and sometimes we feel hopeless and we feel out of control.
Peter on Love and Forgiveness
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But one thing I know is true, that time and time and time again, the word of God endures.
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My circumstances may change, but the word of God remains the same. I may be going through different trials and tribulations, But the word of God remains the same.
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And no matter what I'm going through, and no matter what you're going through, when you open up the word of God, you find something that God has placed there for you so that you know how to get what you're going get through what you're going through.
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When I've been down and depressed, the word of God has shown me the way. When I've been angry as all get out, the word of God has shown me the way.
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And when I live my life, I don't live my life for me, but I live my life for God and the way I know how to live my life for God through reading the enduring word.
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And my friends, today as we look at what Peter is going to write, in this passage
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we're going to look at relationships and relationships are unpredictable sometimes right I might talk to Roger one day and he says something to me and I say man I don't want to talk to that guy anymore because he hurt my feelings
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Or I might look at Dylan one day and he might say something and and I like him a little bit more because he talked about my wonderful luscious locks of hair.
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But one thing about the enduring word of God, it teaches us how to endure with each other. And my friends, guess what? we We're going to butt heads at times.
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We're going to disagree at times.
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We're going to have different ideas on how to do this, and we're going have different ideas on how to do that.
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But the Word of God still tells us to do the same thing time and time and time again. Love each other.
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And when we look at the enduring word of God, that never changes. Love each other. Love each other. Love your brother or sister that's being ornery.
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Love your brother and sister that's in agreement with you. Love your brother and sister when it's hard to love your brother and sister because guess what? We are sometimes hard to love.
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But the enduring word tells us that even when we're stubborn and hard to deal with, love each other. And none of y'all are hard to deal with, are y'all?
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No. No, okay. Well, let's go over to 1 John then about lying. in a
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But let's read the enduring word together. And what the word of God tells us to do is we look at verse 22
Gospel's Role in Purification
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through 25. And we're going to read it all today. And here's what the scripture says.
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It says, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.
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having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flowers of the grass. The grass withers, and its flowers fall away.
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But the word of God, the word of the Lord, endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
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Let me tell you, my friends, when we look at this,
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we understand this about the gospel.
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and And what is the gospel? the gospel is pretty simple when we think about it. Sometimes we say it so much and someone says, well, what's the gospel? But the gospel is this, that Jesus died for our sins.
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He is the Son of God who died for our sins, rose from the grave on the third day, and calls us to repentance and faith to follow him. And when we put our faith in Jesus, he purifies us.
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He makes us clean. He changes us. I'm not the same person I was when I was outside of Christ. I was only eight years old, but I remember the angry, hateful little boy but I was at eight years old. I know where that anger was leading me.
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And I know that the moment I put my faith in Jesus, I didn't become a perfect little boy. but something changed. I walked in the school the next day and I didn't want to fight with people.
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I still back taught my teacher a little bit, but I was a little bit nicer about it. She didn't think so, but I thought so.
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But the gospel causes the repentance and faith, and when we meet Jesus, he purifies us.
Jesus' Enduring Love
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cleans us up he makes us into new creation thus producing what we see here in Scripture a sincere love of the brethren now what in the world does that mean a sincere love of our brothers and sisters in Christ
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And let me tell you, was Jesus not surrounded by some of the craziest people of the time?
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Jesus, who was perfect, who was blameless, who succeeded where we failed, surrounded himself with people. that constantly bickered, that constantly went against his will. He was surrounded by people that spat on him. and And we're going to learn more about this as we get to Good Friday. It was a ah horrible, horrific event that happened on that Friday, but it was so good for us that while people spat on him and beat him and mocked him, he didn't retaliate in that same way. And even as he was stretched out on the cross,
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He didn't look down and say, let fire rain down upon these heathens. What did he say?
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Forgive them.
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They know not what they do.
Loving Through Differences
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He looked down upon his creation and loved them.
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even though they were being, for lack of a better word, idiots.
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They were doing something horrible to him, yet he loved them.
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And when you meet Jesus, he purifies you, he lifts you up. He makes you into a new creation and he produces the sincere love for your brothers and sisters around you. And Peter encourages us to proceed to this higher degree of affection and says to love one another fervently, which means enthusiastically and passionately with a pure heart, not just to love each other grudgingly,
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Like, oh man, I get to see Brother Dylan today. I guess I gotta love him Well, I get to. I get to see Brother Dylan today. I get to see Sister Mary Ann today. I get to stand up and worship with Brother Bob today. And I love it. And even if we don't get along, and even if we disagree at times, these are my family members.
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Not by blood, but something even stronger than that. by spirit by faith and let me tell you i don't always get along with my brother and sister y'all met my sister right we never we didn't always get along you know always willing every and we argument just just don't tell her I said that and I'll get that part out of the video oh
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oh
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But even when i argue with my sister, even when I argue with my brother, i can think that but they didn't say a single word that was productive in a conversation, but at the end of the day, I'll hug them and I'll love them because that's my brother and that's my sister.
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How much more special is a family that is connected by faith? And I praise God that my blood brother and my blood sister are not just my blood brother and my blood sister, but they are my brothers and sisters in Christ. And how special it is when your physical family here in this world is connected to you through not just the blood of your family line, but through the blood of Christ.
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But we are called to love our brothers and sisters fervently. and with a pure heart. think it's hard sometimes.
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Let me tell you.
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Because brothers and sisters, when we hurt each other, it hurts worse than anything else, doesn't it? The people you love the most are the ones that can hurt you the most.
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But at the end of the day, we're
Obeying the Gospel's Truth
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still called
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to fervently love one another with a pure heart and the word of god helps us with that and the word of god purifies us and it says since you have purified your souls and obeying the truth And the gospel, that's the truth, isn't it?
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In a world that tries to say this is the truth and that's the truth and you can have your truth and I can have my truth even though they contradict each other, the gospel is called the truth. And the gospel calls us not to division, not to wickedness, not to our own desires, but the gospel calls us to righteousness.
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And there's one way I always explain it to the kids, and I explain it to the kids this way because it's the only way I understand it too. But righteousness is right living and right standing before God.
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Outside of Jesus, i I don't know how to do that that much.
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Jesus when he's praying in John 17 17 talks about this purification and sanctification through the truth but Jesus prays and says sanctify them by your truth your word is the truth and many people hear the truth but not all are purified by it And what I mean by that is many people hear what's good.
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Many people hear what's holy. Many people hear what is right, but they don't follow it.
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And my friends, that's what we have got to do. We have got to, as it says there, obey the truth.
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And the Spirit of God, through Faith when he does is he cor corrects us and he leads us away from anything that's contrary to the truth When I sin against my brother Guess what?
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I don't have to wait for my brother to understand that's wrong, right? He's gonna be dealing with me first the Holy Spirit And let me tell you I can't tell you how many times I sat down and got through with the conversation. Maybe I got a little heated and then I thought, yeah, you're right, God.
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Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at Roger. I've never yelled Roger by the way, I think.
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Or maybe I shouldn't have said that the way I said that. Maybe I'm letting my own opinions, my own feelings, my own desires get in the way. But the Spirit of God will always correct us when we step outside of the Word of God.
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The Spirit of God is not going to lead us in a path that is contrary to His Word. And that's how we know someone is truly following God because if say they say, well, God called me to do this and it's contrary to His Word.
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Well, did God really call someone to do something contrary to His Word? No. god word God's Word endures. It goes on and it's the same yesterday.
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today and always or tomorrow i was gonna say tomorrow but always works too but the Spirit of God through faith corrects us and leads us away from anything that is contrary to his word in John 16 verse 13 to 14 however when he the Spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth For he will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, and he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.
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And the truth that we know in the word of God, in this enduring word, is this, my friends, today.
Spiritual vs. Physical Family
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Our very first point.
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that the Holy Spirit and God's word will lead you to love your brothers and sisters fervently.
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And this love will not be out of obligation. Y'all heard me talk about this idea of legal obligation with love and obedience, but this love rather comes from a pure heart.
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For we're going to start looking at our spiritual siblings, not through the lenses of this world,
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but through the eyes of God. Has anybody in here ever had an enemy before?
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Everybody in here has had an enemy, someone that's come against them, someone you might not even like that much. Let me tell you about your enemy. God loves them.
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You might not like what they're doing, Hey, God might not like some of the things you're doing too. But he loves you and he loves them. That was the craziest thing I thought about, like, my relationship to my father before. And that was one of the things that really broke my heart.
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And one of the things that really opened up is that instead of looking at him through the lens of the world and through my my emotions and my anger, ah looked at my dad through the eyes of God and you want to know what I saw
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ah broken man just like me my God wanted to change that God beloved and wanted to build a relationship with and I didn't go talking to him right away I But all of a sudden my heart changed on how I saw him and how I thought about him.
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And there are brothers and sisters in Christ today that I might not agree with on a number of different things, but I've got to look at them the same way, that God loves them and he wants to use them and he wants to build that relationship up with them. And instead of putting them down, instead of writing them off and putting them to the side, what my call is to do is to love them fervently, not out of obligation.
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but from a pure heart.
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Think of those that you don't like that much. Stop looking at them for what they've done.
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As a pastor, sometimes people forget we're human too. Do y'all know a human today?
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One of the greatest things I got to see growing up was my grandfather as a pastor. He was the reason I didn't want to become a pastor, but God called me anyway.
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And wasn't because he was doing something wrong, but I saw the people around and people that said they were his brothers and his sisters and they would... Person and cause difficult times for them and say bad things to him and say things bad things about him and I saw man.
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I Don't want to do that. That's a crazy job
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But then I saw but my grandfather did He loves those people um like I like all can't be that grants Someone says that about me. I mean we'll talk to him in it. I Someone acts like that about me. I'm going to go with a metal, hey, here is my wrath. Here is my anger.
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But my grandfather loved his brothers and sisters, even in their stubbornness, fervently,
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with a pure heart. And that's not just a call for pastors to do. Let me tell you, this is a call for Christians to do.
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Sometimes we can be irritating. I say we we can be irritating can't we I can be irritating I know
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But we're still called to love each other Proudly with a pure heart and when you're focused on Jesus He's going to give you a desire Not to hate, not to divide, but to love.
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And Peter further presses on upon the Christian's call for loving one another with a pure heart fervently from this spiritual relation that we have.
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where The scripture says having been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever
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Let me tell you something that's the truth today my friends every person in here is eventually going to take their last breath Your brother your sister your mama your dad Everyone around here will take their last breath
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and will lose your family here on this earth.
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You know the family that you never lose, though?
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Your spiritual family.
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That's why it's important for your family here on earth to preach the gospel to them.
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You want to worship? You want to sing your brothers
Enduring Love Through Jesus
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and sisters again? You want to worship with them before the feet of Jesus eternally? preach the gospel to them here in this world. But we're called to love each other because we are bonded by the most powerful thing. Because my friends, we are not just flesh and blood. Because one day this flesh and blood is going to go to the grave and it's going to be no more.
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One day this world is going to crumble and it's going to be no more.
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but one thing that will last forever is our spiritual family and I praise God that no no matter how much you irritate me and I'm gonna worship with you eternally before the feet of Jesus
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that will bomb i'm go worship with you eternally Before the feet of Jesus. Brother Joe, I'm going to worship with you eternally before the feet of Jesus. Sister Darnley, I'm going to worship with you before the feet of Jesus eternally.
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And while sometimes we might not agree, while sometimes we might think differently, we are brothers and we are sisters in Christ.
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And just like my brother here in this world, my brother and i we had some knockout drag outs before.
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Always one knows too, right? Don't tell him I said that.
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But at the end of the day, my brother could stop talking to me for five years.
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And I'd jump in front of a bullet for him.
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And spiritual family is even greater.
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And again, I thank God that he's a part of that spiritual family, but my spiritual family and your spiritual family is she should be what matters the most.
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Because we we love our siblings here in this world and in this physical sense, but spiritual siblings, they endure just like the word of God forever.
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ever
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A spiritual sibling endures and endures and endures just as God, just as his spirit, just as his word endures. And here's where we see this point that he brings up is that the word of God lives and endures forever. Therefore, when we look at this love that we are called to have for our brothers and sisters, it also endures forever.
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Sister Joyce, I'm not just gonna love you today. I'm not just gonna love you tomorrow. But through Christ, I get to love you forever.
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And I got to, I get to. There was something someone taught me a while back. I gotta go to work. now You get to go to work. And that really changes something about your day, doesn't it? When you say, I get to do that rather than I got to do that.
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I get to go over here and put sandbags. That wasn't necessarily fun, but it was a blessing. Let me tell you.
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But the word of God lives and endures forever. Therefore, what we are commanded to do in the word of God lives and endures forever. And this love that we are called to lives and endures forever.
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And Peter quotes Isaiah 40, verse 6 through 8.
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The voice said, cry out. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. And all its loveliness is like the flowers, the field, the grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it.
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Surely the people are grass, the grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of our God stands forever.
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And our last point is this.
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Outside of Christ, we cannot endure.
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I'm glad that we are called to an everlasting, enduring love between our brothers and sisters in Christ. I am glad that I have an everlasting and enduring life that I find only through faith in Jesus Christ.
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But the truth has to be preached and understood as well, is that while we have that in Christ, that means that outside of Christ, there is no enduring.
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There is only destruction. There is no life. There is only death. There is no love. There is only turmoil and division and hatred outside of Christ. And the outside of Christ, we can't endure.
Love and Preach the Gospel
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outside of Christ we can endure with each other
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that's why Matthew 18 is very important where it says we're one or two are gathered in my name there I will be also a lot of times we take that to mean that's when we worship together right well this is a type of worship he's talking about but Matthew 18 isn't about sitting down and having a worship service but Matthew 18 was about people that can't get along And that when one or two are gathered in my name, it says when one or two are disagreeing with each other and can't stand each other for that moment, if they both come together and seek Jesus, I'm going to be there and i'm going to heal it.
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I'm gonna be there and I'm gonna bring them back together I'm gonna be there and I'm going to heal and mend that broken relationship and I'm going to remind them what it means to love each other fervently with a pure heart
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one or two are gathered in my name they're I will be awesome. My friends, we can't endure each other without Jesus. Eventually, I'm going to get mad at Roger. Roger's going to get mad at me. And if we don't come together and say, what does Jesus want us to do?
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He's going to punch me out. and No, I'm just kidding.
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I can't get along with my wife without Jesus being there to help us understand, to love each other.
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I can't get along with my children without Jesus for reminding me of what it means to love and stand up strongly for my kids and to lead them in his righteousness. My friends, without Jesus, we can't endure each other.
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We cannot without Jesus endure after this life. but Without Jesus, we can't endure the trials and the temptations of these worlds. These things will crush us and will constantly give in to our desires outside of Christ.
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Therefore, since we cannot endure in any matter, in any way without Jesus, it is imperative, it is important, it is necessary
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to preach the enduring word of God that calls man to repentance, that calls mankind to faith, that calls mankind to everlasting life in Jesus.
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The word of God endures forever, and it is full truth. And it is the source of truth. Remember what Jesus says in John 14, 6? He says, i am the way, the truth, and the lie.
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No one comes to the Father except through me The enduring word of God it not a version of the truth.
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It's not a retelling of the truth.
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The word of God is the source of truth.
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And my friends, the truth today is this.
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That Jesus loves you.
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He loves you. loves the people that don't love you.
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He loves the people you love.
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And he wants a relationship with his creation. And he wants to use them for his glory. And he wants to see his church, not just here at First Baptist, but all over Hardin County. He wants to see his church grow. And he wants to pour out his love on all of us, even though we are unworthy.
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He wants to pour out his love on anyone. And he wants us. to each other. Here's a challenge this week.
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Think of the person that you are finding difficult to love right now. They don't act like you don't have one. I have four five.
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There's someone in your life that's hard to love.
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I want you to look at them.
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the way Jesus looks at them I want you to look at them the way that Jesus looks at you let me tell you when I think about the way that Jesus looks at me they completely humbles me
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when I think about Jesus looking at this dirty rotten little boy And now I'm a man and and he sees the broken parts of me, the ugliest parts of me, the deepest, darkest parts of me that I don't even let out to the world.
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And Jesus looks at me and loves me and wants to use me. Jesus looks at people like David, who was a murderer and adulterer, and he wants to use them. And he wants to pour out his love on them.
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Looks at people like Samson. they can't Man, have you seen Samson in the Bible? Have you seen Simon Peter in the Bible? Judas. Jesus loved Judas.
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And when I look at people the way that Jesus looks at me,
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I can't help but love.
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It's hard to do it sometimes. There people in this world that make me angry, guys.
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There's a reason I got a bullet spot on the back of my head.
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But then I think about what Jesus did for me. He did it for them too. And I can't help but love
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The truth of God's word is that he loves you. and he wants you to love others.
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Look at the person this way that's hard to and look at them the way that Jesus looks at you. And if you're not a Christian today, I want you to hear this. Jesus looks at you and he knows that you're a sinner.
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He knows that you're broken. He knows that you can't go much further without him and you can't do it without him. And he loves you still.
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He wants a relationship with you.
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If you're not a Christian today, the call would be to turn away from this world. Put your faith in Jesus and follow him.
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My friends, you've heard the word.
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but What will you do with it?
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That choice is yours. Let's pray.