August 15, 2023 • 40 mins
This recording starts with the message already in progress. Early in this message Kimber mentions an earlier S.T.T.A. skit, which is a drama group illustrating a point from the message, and it stands for Something To Think About.
This message originally delivered on May 5, 1991.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
He said to them, would you send me back? A list
of things that lay people dothat encourage you? And a list
of things that lay people dothat discourage you? Well, he
got several loaders back. Whathappened to be from a guy named
Chuck Swindoll? One of myfavorites, maybe one of your
favorites. In fact, I heard ittowards evangelical preachers go
1988 or something, he was themost popular. But anyway, here's
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what Chuck Swindoll wrote backand for you today, we'll see it
I had to put it, shrink it soyou don't get to see the whole
letter. But he wrote this back.
Things that way people do thatencouraged me. But one is they
put the overhead upright. That'sone
a positive response to biblicaltruth, enthusiasm for life.
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Loyalty, but not blind loyalty.
Respect, but not adoration.
love for his wife and family.
Now here's some things that laypeople engage in that discourage
me.
They use power to try toinfluence my actions. pettiness
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Ultra critical spirit arrogance,lack of teachability aloofness
hypocrisy and question my puremotives without hearing me out.
Now, take your Bibles and go tothe flippy into the second
chapter, I want you to seesomething
Chuck's wind doll and theapostle Paul, we're not too far
off. Okay. Philippians, in thesecond chapter, know something
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with me. You've already had Mikeread you this. You've already
heard the the SCTA skipconcerning it.
And I want you to do somethingas we are in our study. Now in
Philippians. In the first fourverses of Philippians, you have
one sentence, just one. In yourBibles. There may be several
sentences in English, but in theGreek there's just one sentence.
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And the heart of this passage isthe first phrase of chapter of
verse chapter two, verse two. Infact, if you want to get to the
core of what Paul was trying tosay, is this, then make my joy
complete.
By being like minded, the core,the center of what he's trying
to say in this passage, and onethrough four is this make my joy
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complete by being like minded?
Nowhe's obviously writing inspired
by the Spirit of God. And hesays, you know, what I have joy
in the sense of the text is thisI already have joy, but you can
fill it up. You remember, thinkwith your mind. One thing I love
after preaching on Sundaymornings is to go home and have
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a Pepsi with my meal. There'ssomething about a Pepsi on
Sundays, that is better than anyother time. But if I take that
Pepsi bottle and start to pourit in that glass, you know what
always happens? It starts tofizzle, especially if I start
talking to one of the kids orsomething and pretty soon I look
at she starts to flow over.
Okay? The Pepsi flow oversyndrome. That's what he's
talking about here. All right,make my joy complete, have my
joy come to the top and justoverflow the brand, fulfill it
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to the utmost is What are yousaying? Now,
think of this, Paul was anapostle, one cent from God. If
you brought joy to Paul, you arebringing joy to God, you know
that you can do that. The Bibleclearly says, By the way you
live you bring pleasure to Godis his very radical this is but
this is a biblical world lifeview in regard to interpersonal
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relationships in regard to howyou're supposed to get along
with others. It would make theapostle leap for joy.
That people would be likeminded. And I want you to notice
something. That's the textthat's the center make my joy
complete by being like minded,make my joy complete by being
like minded. But now I want youto notice something. First off,
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I want you to see this, thebasis for it. Because you see,
often. Now often you hear peoplesay, Okay, this is what
Christians are supposed to do.
You're supposed to do this,you're supposed to do that. But
I don't find the strength andthe power to do it. Well, I want
you to know, your, the basis forunity, the basis for getting
along. And this is just not inthe church, but this is in your
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family.
This is at work. This isanywhere you live. The basis for
getting along with each other iswhat Paul was talking about at
the beginning. Now in verse yelook what he says, If you have
any encouragement from beingunited with Christ, if any
comfort from his love, if anyfellowship with the Spirit,
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if any tenderness and passion Doyou notice the word F is in
there? It's the word F. But thenotion is if in the sense of if
and you know, there is forinstance, if you have any
encouragement from being unitedwith Christ, and you know that
you have encouragement frombeing united with Christ. It's
like saying this if the Pope isCatholic, and you know he is if
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Superman is strong, and we knowthat Superman is strong, if
China is well populatedIf there is a law of gravity,
and there is we just proved itagain.
So if these things are the case,then make my joy complete by
being like minded. So in otherwords, the basis for you to do
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the basis for getting along withothers is found in verse one.
Now listen to me.
It's so easy for us to go and gothrough the taxi. Yes, yes, this
isn't this cute, and it's nice.
But this is the truth, this willdrastically change your life and
is the basis for getting alongwith people these questions and
these statements that are beingasked in verse one.
For instance, if you have anyencouragement from being united
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with Christ,we ask you a question.
Are you glad that the war isover between you and God?
I don't care how many yearsyou've been a Christian. The
Bible says you are an entitywith God before you came to him
in Christ, that you are far fromGod. The Bible even says things
like this. You weren't good, youwere bad, you are an enemy of
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God.
And the point here is this isthere any encouragement This is
the word where we get Pericles,where the word for the Holy
Spirit in the Gospel of John tocome alongside and seek comfort?
And the question, what Paul'strying to get you to say is
this, the basis forinterpersonal relationships is
understanding this. Have youreceived encouragement? Have you
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been comforted? Have you beenconsoled? You remember when
Jesus said, Blessed are theythat mourn, for they shall be
comforted? There's the sameGreek word? Have you received
the comfort from being unitedwith Christ? The fact that the
war is over, you're no longer anenemy of God. But now you're his
child. Now you don't pray God?
You pray, Heavenly Father,now you have a relationship with
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Him in which he is close to you.
In other words, are youencouraged or comforted by
thoughts like Romans eight one,there is, therefore now, no
condemnation to them that are inChrist Jesus, you will not be
judged? Because Christ wasjudged for you. Does that bring
any encouragement to your heart?
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How about Colossians 315 Sameprinciple, Let the peace of God
the peace of Christ rule in yourhearts to which you are called?
What's he talking about? Hey,just as you are far from God,
now you are at peace with him.
That should be the basis ofgetting along in the church at
Colossae should be the fact thatyou are an enemy of God. And now
you're back close with himagain.
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Is there any comfort from hislove? Let's go to the second
statement. Is there any comfortfrom his love? You the word
comfort there is to exercisegentle influence by words. It's
to soothe to console to cheer.
You know what it's used up inJohn chapter 11. It's used to
those that went to Mary andMartha when Lazarus died, and it
says the Jews went to comfortthem. It's the kind of words you
would speak to somebody who haslost a loved one. And you speak
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kindly. You speakcompassionately. Your desire is
to try to comfort and help them.
The question here is this. Isthere any comfort from his love?
Is there. My friends, asChristians, we don't think about
God's love enough. So manyChristians, I'll tell you
they've got frowns on theirface, they walk around all the
time. They look like they'remiserable. Look at they're
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chewing on a lemon all the time.
And I often get this way. Andevery time I am that way, I want
to tell you what has happened. Ihave forgotten about the
staggering love of God. Youknow, one thing I love to talk
about is the the size of theuniverse. I love that you study
about it. Hear about it. I wishI wish I knew more. But you
know, one thing I did recently Ishared with some of you is this.
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If you could travel the speed oflight, that is 700 million miles
an hour or 186,000 miles asecond, if you could travel that
fast. Do you know how long itwould take you to get out of our
galaxy.
If you went that way, everysecond of every day of every
week of every month of everyyear, you take you 100,000 years
to get out of our galaxy. Andguess what?
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They scientists are saying thereare more galaxies in the
heavens. This is just onegalaxy, there are more galaxies
in the heaventhan there are grains of sand
upon the sea shores of thisworld.
I will tell you something, thereis only about one concept in the
Bible that dwarfs the size ofthe universe, and it makes it
seem but a pebble you know whatit is? The love of God.
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God loves us.
Guilty, vile, helpless, wespotless Son of God was he? Full
atonement Kennedy, hallelujah,what a savior. He loves us. Is
there any comfort in your heartfrom the love of God? Have you
realized has a sinner you had nohope of salvation or ever having
a relationship with Him? And yethe loved us so much that he
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acted by sending His own Son todie on the cross for us. Is
there any comfort that you have?
This is what Paul is trying toget you to see. Because there
was a problem in the book, orexcuse me, in the church at
Philippi. There was a problemwhere people weren't getting
along in the Fourth Chapter inthe second verse. There's two
ladies that aren't getting alongand he urged
As them to start to get alongand now he's he's in there in
there was this brewing disunityyou start to get the feel of it
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as you keep studying the bookand he keeps emphasizing unity
unity unity.
And the point for getting alongwith other people is this Is
there any comfort from his loveit's the same word, by the way
for comfort from his love isused in First Thessalonians two
and Paul says, Hey, I was amongyou. And I nourished you as a
father and I cared for you as amother. And he talks about that
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tendernessin sending Christ and knowing
and thinking about us, andpreparing heaven for us His
love. How about this thirdquestion? Or third statement? Is
there any fellowship with theSpirit?
Nothing new here. It's Koinonia.
So word for spirit. It's all thebasic words that you've heard if
you've been around NewTestament, teaching much.
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But you know, communion with theHoly Spirit is not an idle
thing. It's a very real thing.
The comfort of the Holy Spiritto bring conviction, the comfort
of the indwelling god, he's notfar away, but he actually dwells
us, I will not leave youcomfortless I'm going away, but
one will come who will actuallylive in you? The Holy Spirit?
Is there any fellowship withhim, the one who we can quench
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the one who we can grieve butalso the one who has awakened us
and regenerated us and opened upour hearts to the truth? Is
there any fellowship with theHoly Spirit? And you know, there
is is what he's saying here? Howabout this?
If any tenderness and compassionI'm reading from the NIV, the
King James says this, If anybowels and mercies and the idea
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here the reason why the king theKing James translates the word
literally bowels, it's the sameword translated an axe where
Judas hung up, put himself uponthe tree and his bowel, his
chief intestines gushed out uponthe ground. Sorry, that sounds
so gross. But that's what theBible says. It's the same word,
but it actually means this. Isthere any tenderness or
affection? Because we've hadfellowship with the spirit
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because we've tasted the love ofGod, because we are united with
Christ. Here's this question, doyou have any tenderness or
compassion towards one another?
And the word compassion, theword translated mercy is in the
King James, the second word. Inother words, in this list of
this last question is this it'sjust the same word in Romans 12.
One, I beseech you, thereforebrothers, by the mercies of God,
it's the word for mercy. It'sthe idea of kindness and
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relieving sorrow. And the pointhere is this, he is talking
about all of these things. Paulsays this to you, the basis for
getting along with one anotheris all that God has already done
for you.
If these things are true, then Imust, it must affect the
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relationships that we have witheach other. Please listen to me.
You are not you are going to behopelessly despairing. If you
try to find answers for how toget along to solve your
marriage, or how to get alongwith people you can't stand at
work, or try to get along withother Christians that you've
seen them do stupid things, andyou can't stand them for it. All
that you're gonna say. It's sodiscouraging. It's so how am I a
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world am I supposed to be unitedwith these people? It seems so
difficult. But I tell you don'tever get past the doctrine of
salvation. Because within thedoctrine of salvation, you have
the teaching for how to getalong with people all the rest
of your life. No matter how muchyou grow, you keep going back to
the basics. And the basics arethis, considering God's love,
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considering the fact that we areunited with Christ, considering
the fact that we have theindwelling Holy Spirit,
considering that all of this werealize the tenderness and the
mercy of God towards us. It isthe basis for being tender and
mercy full towards others. Yousee, listen, friends, please
listen. If we are not sinners,once under his wrath, who need
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the compassion and love andmercy and tender kindness of a
holy God, then there is nogospel message. There is no
gospel message. I love thestory. I've told it many times
of Mickey Cohen, the greatgangster, if you remember the
story that I told it goes likethis, he was famous people that
are a little bit older than Iam. Remember the name Mickey
Cohen, he was famous guy,mobster. And Billy Graham, in
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his early days witnessed toMickey Cohen.
And he told him I think he wasgoing through the four spiritual
laws or something. He saidsomething like this, a smile,
God loves you and has wonderfulplan for your life. And Mickey
Cohen goes, Hey, great, man.
Love it. Tell me about thiswonderful plan. I mean, I'm not
for me. I want to hear aboutwhat God can do for me.
Well, the second thing isbrown. You are separated from
God by your sin.
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Going goes back off, Billy saidsomething like that.
I'm not a sinner. I'm not thatare you trying to tell me I'm
bad. I'm not bad. Quote, go backto my Cleveland Chicago days and
ask anybody that worked with me.
And they will tell you I neverbumped anybody off unless it was
absolutely necessary.
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But you know what it was hisstandard of
righteousness we laugh atbecause you know what? He said,
Hey, by comparing to othermobsters, I'm not that bad.
And so what a lot of Christianstry to do is this they say, Hey,
I didn't do these things that Ihear somebody talking about.
I've never been no, I'mbasically pretty good. But you
see,below believing the Gospel that
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you are a sinner and you neededChrist's righteousness is the
foundation for getting startedin the rest of your life and how
to get along with other people.
GK Chesterton said this amazingdiscovery, I am the problem for
trouble in the world, notsomeone else.
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You see, we are shocked by sinand others, when we should be
staggeredby God's grace to our own life.
If you really are mad atsomebody because of what they've
done, which was unChristian, Iasked you first to soberly, but
the Spirit of God examine yourown life.
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Today, suddenly, you get themessage from churchianity, not
Christianity, but churchianitythat you clean up your act, or
you don't come in here, becausewe're a people.
But you know what Jesus said,Jesus taught very clearly that
Christianity was for sinners. Hesaid, I've come for Senators not
for you righteous as he talks tothe Pharisees.
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The cross makes murderers of usall if you're a Christian,
you've had to make oneconfession, guess what it is?
That you're a murderer?
Because it has to be your sinsthat put Jesus Christ on the
cross. Have you come to gripswith that? Have you seen that
you personally not somebodyelse, but you personally are
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responsible for why Jesus cameto die on the cross.
We don't like to think these waySatan doesn't want us to Martin
Luther said, we carry his nailsin our pockets.
The cross to get this, don'tfight this off. The cross
insists on highlighting areevil. You know that? The cross
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stands forever. Someone wants toput one up here in our church, I
hope we do get to it's the signon the churches is the sign of
Christianity, the cross? Andwhat is that? It's saying this
Jesus had to die. Our sin was sohorrible. Our rebellion was so
bad. We were so far from God,Jesus had to die on the cross.
For us. There is no other wayunder heaven given among men
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whereby you must be saved, butby the name of Jesus, only he
could pay the price for oursins. Listen carefully, friends.
If you are a good person, andGod came along and loved you,
then there's not much comfortfrom his love. And that is
there. You know why? Because youdeserve it. If you're a pretty
good Christian, and God justcomes along as Oh, basically, I
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just want to straighten up yourtie and knock a little dust off
your coat.
You aren't gonna get along withother people. You're a Pharisee.
You know why? Because you'll beon pretty good. And you know
what that means? That meansothers aren't as good as you.
That's why Becky Pippa said thisself esteem is way too simple
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and answer for the problems thatwe have in life behind it is
really self justification. Youwatch.
We look at ourselves, we have tohave self esteem. Why is that?
We that the world teachers,because we've got to make sure
we're pretty good. The Bibleinsists that we're murderers.
The Bible is system, we'resinners. Just by me saying those
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words. I'll get complaints thisweek. Because you don't want to
hear it. But I'm gonna tell yousomething. Go find some other
church. Because you're gonnakeep hearing that here. I'll
tell you why there is no cross.
Jesus isn't necessary. If youaren't a sinner, if I'm not a
sinner, we don't need him.
We've got to come to him humbly.
We don't come to me. Here I am.
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You remember what happened withthe two men the bracelet before
Jesus? One man says stood thereand he said, Father, I thank you
that I'm not like other men. Youtalked about a guy that had some
self esteem. He knew that heloved himself. I thank you. I'm
not like other men. I think hedid. And he was a boy, he
thought it good. I fast twice aweek I do this. In the same
room. Jesus says there was a manwho was so smitten by a sin that
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he could not even lift his eyesto heaven. He was so humbled,
and he smites his chest and hesays, God be merciful to me a
sinner. Guess one which wenthome a Christian, which one do
you think went home a Christian?
The one that was humble, the onethat saw the fact that he needed
the love of God, not the personthat you just add Jesus to your
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life. I am concerned, I talkwith Christians, they're mad at
people they don't understand,you know what so and so did such
and such in there all the time.
I've sat there all the timepicking on other people. I just
tell you how you if you're thatway, come to grips with your own
sin.
Time and time again in my life.
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I have received criticismSometimes people have attacked
me. I've gone through trialspeople have said unfair things,
whatever it is nothing worsethan any of you. I would
imagine. I'm not saying that,that somehow I've had it rougher
than you. I mean about what yougo through in life if you live a
real life.
And you know what has happened?
I've been so mad. And I wantedto get back. And I'm quickly I
study hours every week and puttogether outlines and sermons.
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And I know how to really sort ofget to the point with a couple
of good illustrations and fourpoints as to how blow somebody
other water. And I can't wait todo it.
You know, what?
Some of the best advice I evergot was Kim, just why don't you
wait a few days before you sendthe letter and think about it,
pray about it. And you know,what has happened over and over
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again, in my life? I don't meana few times, but I mean,
continually from Listen, dealingwith people that I work with,
from dealing with other people,whatever it is, I want to tell
you something every time whathas come back is this. Now that
I think about it, I've actedthat way before. And I sure want
God to forgive me for the wayI've acted. Hey, now that I
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think about it, I've donesomething worse than what this
person did to me. And I am soglad that the people that I did
that to have forgiven me.
And what is that? What is theresult of that is it starts to
change your attitude instead ofwanting to fight back. You know
what we can actually do? We canstart to wallow in verse one.
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Look back to verse one. Andlet's wallow again. Is there any
encouragement from being unitedwith Christ? You know, there is,
oh, yes, let's wallow in that.
We're no longer sinners. We'reforgiven sinners. We're people
that stand righteous before God.
How about this next verse, Ifany cover from his love, oh, we
are so thankful that God lovesus. Nothing can separate us from
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the love of God. Nothing. Thescripture says. So we we just
rejoice in that? Or how aboutthis? Is there any fellowship
with the Spirit? How many timeshave we grieved or quench the
Holy Spirit? And how many timeshas he still sought us for
fellowship in my life over andover and over? So I say to you,
this is the basis it causes usto be tender, it causes us to be
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compassionate.
You see, that's whentransformation takes place or
regeneration takes place. CSLewis said this, Christianity is
not teaching a horse a fewspecial steps. It's an operation
so the horse can fly.
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The description of people in theworld that have not come to
Christ, or is this they hate,and fight one another. They're
full of malice and envy, alwaysin strife. But the Bible says
the goal for Christians is toget along with one another, to
love one another, to be involvedin each other's life. Not some
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niceness, where we're just supernice people, some people that
Christianity is just so nice.
It's getting down in thetrenches where people are dirty
and ugly and filthy and rottenwith their sin and we still love
them. I've seen people thatclaim to be Christians have been
brought up in fundamental Bibleteaching churches, and they look
at people with some kind of whatthey consider gross single
promise and get away from me.
You're not like Jesus, if you'rethat way.
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This church is welcome forsinners, we don't want religion
here.
If you're just a real niceperson, you've added Christ your
life, I say, again, you'll judgeyou look down, you'll feel
you'll feel superior to others.
But listen, sinners that come toChrist. Remember, his offer is
only for sinners. Well, then youcan admit with freedom that
you're a sinner.
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Like Paul, after many years inthe Christian life, he said
this, I am the worst of sinners,the chief of sinners.
You can share with people thatyou're tempted, you can share
with people that you failed, youcan be with people that have
blown it in their life and havedone some stupid thing. And you
can realize that God forgivesthem and you don't keep holding
it against them.
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I must say that one of thethings that so many people do
and I have been so guilty of itis this. Let's say you got
somebody in this church that hasreally done something stupid.
It's not that's not a good worda sinful
they've really been bad.
And you know what happens? Weall talk about you know what
they did? They didn't passaround, around, you starts
getting magnified, magnified,magnified.
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You know, what may happen?
Listen, I've seen this happenagain. And again.
A lot of you look at thosepeople and you feel superior to
them for many months.
Because you've never donesomething that bad and look what
they've done.
Guess what?
What you don't know is the HolySpirit has convicted their
heart. They've been on theirknees repenting.
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God has forgiven them. Andthey've been grown for all those
months that you've been sittingaround like a Pharisee holding
it against them.
How to, it's so good to knowthat the basis we're getting
along with others is comes fromthis humility that this passage
is trying to talk about itbecause you see because of the
cross it meansYou're free to love those who
are quite a bit different thanyou.
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If you if you haven't come as asinner to Jesus Christ, are you
sort of kind of sort of a sinnerto Jesus Christ, like we told
you before, the Christian groupwas sitting around and said,
Let's confess our sins with theBible says do that. And the lady
goes, well, I really don't writeenough letters. You know?
What kind of confession of sinis that?
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You see, if we, if we are thisthing, guess what we can look at
people and love those who aredifferent than us. We don't have
to be insecure, you talk tosomebody who's very insecure is
because there's somehow trust inthemselves or their group or
their church, that they're alittle bit better. And so when
you start to disagree with him,however, when you start to
fight,but if we are sinners, we esteem
others better than ourselves.
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Because we are so grateful forGod's grace upon our life.
That's the basis. The basis isthinking back over the cross,
thinking back over the HolySpirit, thinking back over being
united with Christ, thinkingback over God's love. That's the
basis for getting along. And Iwill say this to your friends,
you can search far and wide, youcan go counseling as far and
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wide. You can do all that youwant to do if you don't get back
to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spiritand the cross and dwell in the
love of God, you aren't going toget along with people.
Verse two,is the description. And don't
worry, we're not gonna gothrough all four verses if
you're wondering, I ran out oftime in the first service. So
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we're gonna do verses three andfour tonight. So you only got
one more verse to hang onthrough. All right. Look at
verse two. Then make my joycomplete by being like minded.
Okay, there's the thesis.
Remember, the thesis of thefirst four verses is this, then
make my joy complete? Why not?
Here's the description to be.
This is the description, bybeing like minded,
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having the same love and beingone in spirit and purpose.
Actually, for four methods hereare three three descriptions,
having the same love being onein spirit and purpose.
The point here is this beinglike minded as getting along
with others, having the samemindset regarding each other the
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same way because we're allsinners that have come to Christ
and we've all felt the comfortof his love. We have the same
love that is the love of Godthat has filled our hearts it
doesn't accept one another thenas Christ has accepted you
that's the Lord the love that isin our heart causes us to accept
others not look down not bejudgmental, not say they don't
cross their eye and Dr. T thesame way, but we're like my we
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have the same love get this.
Were one in spirit. The Greekactually says this one sold, one
sold. Not sold. Sol de sold s oULEV.
I've always gotta watch it whenI start spelling. I always spell
wrong. Okay, but I think I gotit right that time you didn't
laugh. Alright. Sold. One sold.
In other words, here we are.
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We're one the soul, the veryreal person. And Mike Martin and
me were one because we're bothin Christ. We're one soul, we're
together because Christ is ourSavior. And then it says, and
one purpose that I don't likethe NIV the way actually does
its purpose is the point but theactual wording here is this. The
one thing minding, hence, youget purpose. But the actual
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translation is this one sold,the one thing minding, in other
words, thinking constantly onone thing that is this Christ,
by the way, you want to knowwhat it is. Verse one is about
the cross and about God's love.
Verse five through 11, is aboutJesus Christ in this humility.
The key to getting along is thisremembering this thinking this,
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not the unfairness equal,putting ourselves high, but
putting ourselves low. Now, letme tell you how this works. If
you can remember several weeksago, we had my friend John
Lankford up over here, and Johncan squat 750 pounds, and here
he was with that rope in hishand, you remember in the
service, so you can remember ifyou weren't here, I'll tell you
about it. Here's John. You gothere, his muscles are bulging.
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The only thing is John was byhimself. And over here, we had
11 or 12, four and five yearolds, you remember? And they
picked up that rope and everyonewas laughing. They aren't going
to be able to touch JohnLankford. Guess what they did?
They held him even. And then thenext time they started giving
them a little bit and actuallyyou can ask him he hurt his
hand. They pulled so hard. Okay.
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And in the what I'm saying isthis it's a teamwork. We're
together. We're not all byourselves. No man is an island.
We're not going to be strongpeople think this. Just me and
Jesus. The church is so wrong.
It'll just be me and Jesus. No.
The point is this you can't doit. We're supposed to be
together in the body one sold.
One, having the same mindset.
Now, here's what happens inChristianity. And I'm telling
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you it happens so much. It makesme want to cry and happen so
much. We're over. You're pullingon the rope and we're supposed
to be one line, one soul, onespirit all going through the
same purpose. What is that? Thecause of Christ?
HowEver you know what we do? We go
like this, we're playing thisway, then we start looking, Hey,
buddy, you're not pulling awaywe're pulling, you got a
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different grip,get the same grip, I'm not
pulling any more till he getsthe same grip.
Here's not gripping the way I'mgripping.
We all struggle. I'll tell yousome, some people, all they can
think about is the wrong theysee in others. You're miserable.
Once you repent, I'm asking yourepent of it. Maybe you got a
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pattern of doing that for years,you're gonna ask God to repent
to cleanse you. All, you did notdo the same way. They got some
secret motors, they're notreally pulling their hardest.
We're doing better in there.
We're in the front of the linethere that we're better than
you. All kinds of things. Andyou know what has happened? Do
you remember I had the kids uphere. And all together. They
could beat John. It was close.
But they got him, I think. Andare that? Yeah, I think they did
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that. But the point is this.
Once I asked the kids, I saidright now kids, some of you pull
this way. And some of you pullthat way some of you pull with
one hand on your hip. And whathappened? John got them
just like that.
And the point is this we havegot that you want to make Paul
happy, then you make God happy,and fulfill my joy be like
minded get along with eachother. Realize that we can put
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aside petty differences.
In order to get along, put asidepersonal preferences, put aside
past failures, put aside minordoctrinal differences.
So we could make sure that wewere all pulling for Christ.
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Now verses three and fouris the practical application of
this unified lifestyle. If youwant to know remember this, the
basis of how to get along withothers is verse one.
The description or the goal isverse two.
And practically how to apply itto your life is verses three and
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four and it hurts me not to gothrough this but if I go through
this then you'll be ahead of thefirst service and we can't do
that. This is this is so goodthis material.
But we are still going to havecommunion and that really this
whole passage Believe it or not,you can see how appropriately it
fits having communionSo tonight, I hope that you come
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back because we'll finish versesthree and four tonight.
But I want to close by readingsomething listen carefully.
It was one of those backhandedcompliments the kind that makes
(32:40):
one pause think then respondrather than gush out a quick
Hey, thanks.
The guy had listened to me talkduring several sessions at a
pastors conference. We had notmet before so all he knew about
me was that he had heard in daysgone by ex Marine, Texas Texan
by birth schooled and ultraconservative dispensational
(33:00):
seminary. Committed to BiblicalExposition. Non charismatic pre
male pre trib pro this anti thatyou know how those scary labels
go. I really think he expectedyour basic squeaky clean
preacher dark suit white shirtbuttoned down collar tight knot
tie, scuffed black wingtipcowboy boots, pockets stuffed
(33:20):
full of tracks. A big RyrieStudy Bible King James Version
of course, a deep frownthunderous shouts and a rather
large fist flailing away inmidair.
Since that was not what he got.
He was throwing a little curveover the inside corner of the
pulpit.
Finally, towards the end of theweek, he decided to drink a cup
of coffee with me and Rick'ssaying it straight. It went
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something like this. You don'tfit. Like please get this.
What's with you?
You got the roots of thefundamentalist but you don't
sound like it.
Your theology is narrow butyou're not rigid.
You take God seriously, but youlaugh like there's no tomorrow.
You have definite convictions,but you are legalistic and
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demanding that he added eventhough you're a firm believer in
the Bible, you're still havingfun. Still enjoying life. You've
even got some compassion.
Hard to believe.
That did it. Both of us werelaughing so loud a few eyes from
other tables flashed us thosewould you to be quiet looks. I
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often encounter such glares.
Especially when I'm having fun.
He sayswell, what can I say? The man
could have been could have beenmore severe, but he had me
pretty well paid. It was thatlast statement. However, that
really got me thinking. I wokeup with it woke up with me the
next morning you've even gotsome compassion as though it was
not supposed to be there. Inother words, if you're committed
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to the truth of Scripture, youshouldn't sweat the needs of
people. Don't get concernedabout people stuff heartache,
hunger, illness, fractured lifestruggles with insecurity,
failures, grief because thoseare only temporal problems. Mere
quartersOh no hassles leave that to the
liberals. But our main job is topreach the gospel. Once the
person gets born again and getto the word, all those other
things will solve themselves.
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That's typically the attitude.
Be honest now, isn't that theway it usually is? Isn't it the
fact that the more conservativeone becomes the less
compassionate? I know, there aresome exceptions. But we're
talking about the general rule,not a few exceptions. I want to
say why, why either? Or why notboth? And I like to know when
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not just why can't we betheologically conservative and
personally compassionate. Butwhen when did we depart from the
biblical model? When did webegin to ignore Christ's care
for the needy? When do we stopthinking of how valuable it is
to be healing agents ininterpersonal relationships?
What do we opt for placing moreemphasis on being Proclaimers
and defenders and less onbecoming repairs and restores?
(35:49):
When do we decide to strengthenour focus on public condemnation
and weaken our involvement inprivate restoration?
He goes on to say,very interesting is struck me
after studying this passage allweek. You remember the first
thing after Cain murdered hisbrother. Remember the first
thing Cain said, when Godapproached him in the garden?
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Actually, I don't think theywere in the garden. But remember
what when God approached me saidthis, am I my brother's keeper.
From the heart of a sinful manis this, I'm not responsible for
anybody else but myself. That'sa lie. From the pit of hell.
You're responsible for those youworship with. You're responsible
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for those you work with andfellowship with. We're
responsible to go out of our wayto be like minded, to be
unified, to be tender, to becompassionate.
And as Paul says, do nothing.
out of selfish ambition or vainconceit, but in humility,
consider others better thanyourselves. Each of you should
look not only to your owninterest, but also to the
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interest of others. Thisattitude should be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus seemsin the sovereign Hand of God,
in training me via pastor,regular, ongoing process, it
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seemsthat there is an unusual amount
of trouble between betweenpeople these days. And maybe I
haven't lived I'm not the GrandHistorian of the world. But it
seems to me that there are morepeople with hate, more people
angry, more people not talkingto one another, more people
holding grudgesthat I've noted before, just
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seemed like that in the last sixmonths.
To Christians, we shouldn't bethat way.
If we will think back to what itmeans that we're united in
Christ.
What it means that we've beencomforted by his love.
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What it is to us that we havethe fellowship with the Holy
Spirit, the tenderness andcompassion that should mark our
lives.
We should be people that getalong and love and accept one
another.
Let's pray.
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Father,as I said earlier, I say it
again.
There is suchpride in our lives, at least in
my life,that I can see this and apply it
to other people and think howthey need to hear this, but
somehowthe spirit, prodding escapes my
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own heart, because I'm sofocused on others,
and their sins and theirproblems.
Would you help us we need you,to help us the things of the
cross the things of the HolySpirit and of Jesus Christ often
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seems to leave us in the senseof how they affect everyday
living and decision making.
Keep an enlarged view of yourlove for us, of how merciful
unkind you've been to us. Keepus a humble people, not a proud
people that were better thanothers.
Keep us Father full oftenderness and compassion, so
(39:36):
that we could fulfill the joy ofthe apostle, which we know would
be the same goal as yours. Andthat is that we would be like
minded, getting along with oneanother.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.
He said to them, would you send me back? A list
of things that lay people dothat encourage you? And a list
of things that lay people dothat discourage you? Well, he
got several loaders back. Whathappened to be from a guy named
Chuck Swindoll? One of myfavorites, maybe one of your
favorites. In fact, I heard ittowards evangelical preachers go
1988 or something, he was themost popular. But anyway, here's
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what Chuck Swindoll wrote backand for you today, we'll see it
I had to put it, shrink it soyou don't get to see the whole
letter. But he wrote this back.
Things that way people do thatencouraged me. But one is they
put the overhead upright. That'sone
a positive response to biblicaltruth, enthusiasm for life.
(00:48):
Loyalty, but not blind loyalty.
Respect, but not adoration.
love for his wife and family.
Now here's some things that laypeople engage in that discourage
me.
They use power to try toinfluence my actions. pettiness
(01:09):
Ultra critical spirit arrogance,lack of teachability aloofness
hypocrisy and question my puremotives without hearing me out.
Now, take your Bibles and go tothe flippy into the second
chapter, I want you to seesomething
Chuck's wind doll and theapostle Paul, we're not too far
off. Okay. Philippians, in thesecond chapter, know something
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with me. You've already had Mikeread you this. You've already
heard the the SCTA skipconcerning it.
And I want you to do somethingas we are in our study. Now in
Philippians. In the first fourverses of Philippians, you have
one sentence, just one. In yourBibles. There may be several
sentences in English, but in theGreek there's just one sentence.
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And the heart of this passage isthe first phrase of chapter of
verse chapter two, verse two. Infact, if you want to get to the
core of what Paul was trying tosay, is this, then make my joy
complete.
By being like minded, the core,the center of what he's trying
to say in this passage, and onethrough four is this make my joy
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complete by being like minded?
Nowhe's obviously writing inspired
by the Spirit of God. And hesays, you know, what I have joy
in the sense of the text is thisI already have joy, but you can
fill it up. You remember, thinkwith your mind. One thing I love
after preaching on Sundaymornings is to go home and have
(02:39):
a Pepsi with my meal. There'ssomething about a Pepsi on
Sundays, that is better than anyother time. But if I take that
Pepsi bottle and start to pourit in that glass, you know what
always happens? It starts tofizzle, especially if I start
talking to one of the kids orsomething and pretty soon I look
at she starts to flow over.
Okay? The Pepsi flow oversyndrome. That's what he's
talking about here. All right,make my joy complete, have my
joy come to the top and justoverflow the brand, fulfill it
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to the utmost is What are yousaying? Now,
think of this, Paul was anapostle, one cent from God. If
you brought joy to Paul, you arebringing joy to God, you know
that you can do that. The Bibleclearly says, By the way you
live you bring pleasure to Godis his very radical this is but
this is a biblical world lifeview in regard to interpersonal
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relationships in regard to howyou're supposed to get along
with others. It would make theapostle leap for joy.
That people would be likeminded. And I want you to notice
something. That's the textthat's the center make my joy
complete by being like minded,make my joy complete by being
like minded. But now I want youto notice something. First off,
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I want you to see this, thebasis for it. Because you see,
often. Now often you hear peoplesay, Okay, this is what
Christians are supposed to do.
You're supposed to do this,you're supposed to do that. But
I don't find the strength andthe power to do it. Well, I want
you to know, your, the basis forunity, the basis for getting
along. And this is just not inthe church, but this is in your
(04:09):
family.
This is at work. This isanywhere you live. The basis for
getting along with each other iswhat Paul was talking about at
the beginning. Now in verse yelook what he says, If you have
any encouragement from beingunited with Christ, if any
comfort from his love, if anyfellowship with the Spirit,
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if any tenderness and passion Doyou notice the word F is in
there? It's the word F. But thenotion is if in the sense of if
and you know, there is forinstance, if you have any
encouragement from being unitedwith Christ, and you know that
you have encouragement frombeing united with Christ. It's
like saying this if the Pope isCatholic, and you know he is if
(04:52):
Superman is strong, and we knowthat Superman is strong, if
China is well populatedIf there is a law of gravity,
and there is we just proved itagain.
So if these things are the case,then make my joy complete by
being like minded. So in otherwords, the basis for you to do
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the basis for getting along withothers is found in verse one.
Now listen to me.
It's so easy for us to go and gothrough the taxi. Yes, yes, this
isn't this cute, and it's nice.
But this is the truth, this willdrastically change your life and
is the basis for getting alongwith people these questions and
these statements that are beingasked in verse one.
For instance, if you have anyencouragement from being united
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with Christ,we ask you a question.
Are you glad that the war isover between you and God?
I don't care how many yearsyou've been a Christian. The
Bible says you are an entitywith God before you came to him
in Christ, that you are far fromGod. The Bible even says things
like this. You weren't good, youwere bad, you are an enemy of
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God.
And the point here is this isthere any encouragement This is
the word where we get Pericles,where the word for the Holy
Spirit in the Gospel of John tocome alongside and seek comfort?
And the question, what Paul'strying to get you to say is
this, the basis forinterpersonal relationships is
understanding this. Have youreceived encouragement? Have you
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been comforted? Have you beenconsoled? You remember when
Jesus said, Blessed are theythat mourn, for they shall be
comforted? There's the sameGreek word? Have you received
the comfort from being unitedwith Christ? The fact that the
war is over, you're no longer anenemy of God. But now you're his
child. Now you don't pray God?
You pray, Heavenly Father,now you have a relationship with
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Him in which he is close to you.
In other words, are youencouraged or comforted by
thoughts like Romans eight one,there is, therefore now, no
condemnation to them that are inChrist Jesus, you will not be
judged? Because Christ wasjudged for you. Does that bring
any encouragement to your heart?
(07:09):
How about Colossians 315 Sameprinciple, Let the peace of God
the peace of Christ rule in yourhearts to which you are called?
What's he talking about? Hey,just as you are far from God,
now you are at peace with him.
That should be the basis ofgetting along in the church at
Colossae should be the fact thatyou are an enemy of God. And now
you're back close with himagain.
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Is there any comfort from hislove? Let's go to the second
statement. Is there any comfortfrom his love? You the word
comfort there is to exercisegentle influence by words. It's
to soothe to console to cheer.
You know what it's used up inJohn chapter 11. It's used to
those that went to Mary andMartha when Lazarus died, and it
says the Jews went to comfortthem. It's the kind of words you
would speak to somebody who haslost a loved one. And you speak
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kindly. You speakcompassionately. Your desire is
to try to comfort and help them.
The question here is this. Isthere any comfort from his love?
Is there. My friends, asChristians, we don't think about
God's love enough. So manyChristians, I'll tell you
they've got frowns on theirface, they walk around all the
time. They look like they'remiserable. Look at they're
(08:13):
chewing on a lemon all the time.
And I often get this way. Andevery time I am that way, I want
to tell you what has happened. Ihave forgotten about the
staggering love of God. Youknow, one thing I love to talk
about is the the size of theuniverse. I love that you study
about it. Hear about it. I wishI wish I knew more. But you
know, one thing I did recently Ishared with some of you is this.
(08:35):
If you could travel the speed oflight, that is 700 million miles
an hour or 186,000 miles asecond, if you could travel that
fast. Do you know how long itwould take you to get out of our
galaxy.
If you went that way, everysecond of every day of every
week of every month of everyyear, you take you 100,000 years
to get out of our galaxy. Andguess what?
(08:58):
They scientists are saying thereare more galaxies in the
heavens. This is just onegalaxy, there are more galaxies
in the heaventhan there are grains of sand
upon the sea shores of thisworld.
I will tell you something, thereis only about one concept in the
Bible that dwarfs the size ofthe universe, and it makes it
seem but a pebble you know whatit is? The love of God.
(09:22):
God loves us.
Guilty, vile, helpless, wespotless Son of God was he? Full
atonement Kennedy, hallelujah,what a savior. He loves us. Is
there any comfort in your heartfrom the love of God? Have you
realized has a sinner you had nohope of salvation or ever having
a relationship with Him? And yethe loved us so much that he
(09:44):
acted by sending His own Son todie on the cross for us. Is
there any comfort that you have?
This is what Paul is trying toget you to see. Because there
was a problem in the book, orexcuse me, in the church at
Philippi. There was a problemwhere people weren't getting
along in the Fourth Chapter inthe second verse. There's two
ladies that aren't getting alongand he urged
As them to start to get alongand now he's he's in there in
there was this brewing disunityyou start to get the feel of it
(10:05):
as you keep studying the bookand he keeps emphasizing unity
unity unity.
And the point for getting alongwith other people is this Is
there any comfort from his loveit's the same word, by the way
for comfort from his love isused in First Thessalonians two
and Paul says, Hey, I was amongyou. And I nourished you as a
father and I cared for you as amother. And he talks about that
(10:26):
tendernessin sending Christ and knowing
and thinking about us, andpreparing heaven for us His
love. How about this thirdquestion? Or third statement? Is
there any fellowship with theSpirit?
Nothing new here. It's Koinonia.
So word for spirit. It's all thebasic words that you've heard if
you've been around NewTestament, teaching much.
(10:52):
But you know, communion with theHoly Spirit is not an idle
thing. It's a very real thing.
The comfort of the Holy Spiritto bring conviction, the comfort
of the indwelling god, he's notfar away, but he actually dwells
us, I will not leave youcomfortless I'm going away, but
one will come who will actuallylive in you? The Holy Spirit?
Is there any fellowship withhim, the one who we can quench
(11:15):
the one who we can grieve butalso the one who has awakened us
and regenerated us and opened upour hearts to the truth? Is
there any fellowship with theHoly Spirit? And you know, there
is is what he's saying here? Howabout this?
If any tenderness and compassionI'm reading from the NIV, the
King James says this, If anybowels and mercies and the idea
(11:39):
here the reason why the king theKing James translates the word
literally bowels, it's the sameword translated an axe where
Judas hung up, put himself uponthe tree and his bowel, his
chief intestines gushed out uponthe ground. Sorry, that sounds
so gross. But that's what theBible says. It's the same word,
but it actually means this. Isthere any tenderness or
affection? Because we've hadfellowship with the spirit
(12:01):
because we've tasted the love ofGod, because we are united with
Christ. Here's this question, doyou have any tenderness or
compassion towards one another?
And the word compassion, theword translated mercy is in the
King James, the second word. Inother words, in this list of
this last question is this it'sjust the same word in Romans 12.
One, I beseech you, thereforebrothers, by the mercies of God,
it's the word for mercy. It'sthe idea of kindness and
(12:21):
relieving sorrow. And the pointhere is this, he is talking
about all of these things. Paulsays this to you, the basis for
getting along with one anotheris all that God has already done
for you.
If these things are true, then Imust, it must affect the
(12:43):
relationships that we have witheach other. Please listen to me.
You are not you are going to behopelessly despairing. If you
try to find answers for how toget along to solve your
marriage, or how to get alongwith people you can't stand at
work, or try to get along withother Christians that you've
seen them do stupid things, andyou can't stand them for it. All
that you're gonna say. It's sodiscouraging. It's so how am I a
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world am I supposed to be unitedwith these people? It seems so
difficult. But I tell you don'tever get past the doctrine of
salvation. Because within thedoctrine of salvation, you have
the teaching for how to getalong with people all the rest
of your life. No matter how muchyou grow, you keep going back to
the basics. And the basics arethis, considering God's love,
(13:27):
considering the fact that we areunited with Christ, considering
the fact that we have theindwelling Holy Spirit,
considering that all of this werealize the tenderness and the
mercy of God towards us. It isthe basis for being tender and
mercy full towards others. Yousee, listen, friends, please
listen. If we are not sinners,once under his wrath, who need
(13:49):
the compassion and love andmercy and tender kindness of a
holy God, then there is nogospel message. There is no
gospel message. I love thestory. I've told it many times
of Mickey Cohen, the greatgangster, if you remember the
story that I told it goes likethis, he was famous people that
are a little bit older than Iam. Remember the name Mickey
Cohen, he was famous guy,mobster. And Billy Graham, in
(14:11):
his early days witnessed toMickey Cohen.
And he told him I think he wasgoing through the four spiritual
laws or something. He saidsomething like this, a smile,
God loves you and has wonderfulplan for your life. And Mickey
Cohen goes, Hey, great, man.
Love it. Tell me about thiswonderful plan. I mean, I'm not
for me. I want to hear aboutwhat God can do for me.
Well, the second thing isbrown. You are separated from
God by your sin.
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Going goes back off, Billy saidsomething like that.
I'm not a sinner. I'm not thatare you trying to tell me I'm
bad. I'm not bad. Quote, go backto my Cleveland Chicago days and
ask anybody that worked with me.
And they will tell you I neverbumped anybody off unless it was
absolutely necessary.
(14:57):
But you know what it was hisstandard of
righteousness we laugh atbecause you know what? He said,
Hey, by comparing to othermobsters, I'm not that bad.
And so what a lot of Christianstry to do is this they say, Hey,
I didn't do these things that Ihear somebody talking about.
I've never been no, I'mbasically pretty good. But you
see,below believing the Gospel that
(15:19):
you are a sinner and you neededChrist's righteousness is the
foundation for getting startedin the rest of your life and how
to get along with other people.
GK Chesterton said this amazingdiscovery, I am the problem for
trouble in the world, notsomeone else.
(15:42):
You see, we are shocked by sinand others, when we should be
staggeredby God's grace to our own life.
If you really are mad atsomebody because of what they've
done, which was unChristian, Iasked you first to soberly, but
the Spirit of God examine yourown life.
(16:06):
Today, suddenly, you get themessage from churchianity, not
Christianity, but churchianitythat you clean up your act, or
you don't come in here, becausewe're a people.
But you know what Jesus said,Jesus taught very clearly that
Christianity was for sinners. Hesaid, I've come for Senators not
for you righteous as he talks tothe Pharisees.
(16:28):
The cross makes murderers of usall if you're a Christian,
you've had to make oneconfession, guess what it is?
That you're a murderer?
Because it has to be your sinsthat put Jesus Christ on the
cross. Have you come to gripswith that? Have you seen that
you personally not somebodyelse, but you personally are
(16:48):
responsible for why Jesus cameto die on the cross.
We don't like to think these waySatan doesn't want us to Martin
Luther said, we carry his nailsin our pockets.
The cross to get this, don'tfight this off. The cross
insists on highlighting areevil. You know that? The cross
(17:12):
stands forever. Someone wants toput one up here in our church, I
hope we do get to it's the signon the churches is the sign of
Christianity, the cross? Andwhat is that? It's saying this
Jesus had to die. Our sin was sohorrible. Our rebellion was so
bad. We were so far from God,Jesus had to die on the cross.
For us. There is no other wayunder heaven given among men
(17:32):
whereby you must be saved, butby the name of Jesus, only he
could pay the price for oursins. Listen carefully, friends.
If you are a good person, andGod came along and loved you,
then there's not much comfortfrom his love. And that is
there. You know why? Because youdeserve it. If you're a pretty
good Christian, and God justcomes along as Oh, basically, I
(17:52):
just want to straighten up yourtie and knock a little dust off
your coat.
You aren't gonna get along withother people. You're a Pharisee.
You know why? Because you'll beon pretty good. And you know
what that means? That meansothers aren't as good as you.
That's why Becky Pippa said thisself esteem is way too simple
(18:13):
and answer for the problems thatwe have in life behind it is
really self justification. Youwatch.
We look at ourselves, we have tohave self esteem. Why is that?
We that the world teachers,because we've got to make sure
we're pretty good. The Bibleinsists that we're murderers.
The Bible is system, we'resinners. Just by me saying those
(18:33):
words. I'll get complaints thisweek. Because you don't want to
hear it. But I'm gonna tell yousomething. Go find some other
church. Because you're gonnakeep hearing that here. I'll
tell you why there is no cross.
Jesus isn't necessary. If youaren't a sinner, if I'm not a
sinner, we don't need him.
We've got to come to him humbly.
We don't come to me. Here I am.
(18:55):
You remember what happened withthe two men the bracelet before
Jesus? One man says stood thereand he said, Father, I thank you
that I'm not like other men. Youtalked about a guy that had some
self esteem. He knew that heloved himself. I thank you. I'm
not like other men. I think hedid. And he was a boy, he
thought it good. I fast twice aweek I do this. In the same
room. Jesus says there was a manwho was so smitten by a sin that
(19:17):
he could not even lift his eyesto heaven. He was so humbled,
and he smites his chest and hesays, God be merciful to me a
sinner. Guess one which wenthome a Christian, which one do
you think went home a Christian?
The one that was humble, the onethat saw the fact that he needed
the love of God, not the personthat you just add Jesus to your
(19:38):
life. I am concerned, I talkwith Christians, they're mad at
people they don't understand,you know what so and so did such
and such in there all the time.
I've sat there all the timepicking on other people. I just
tell you how you if you're thatway, come to grips with your own
sin.
Time and time again in my life.
(19:58):
I have received criticismSometimes people have attacked
me. I've gone through trialspeople have said unfair things,
whatever it is nothing worsethan any of you. I would
imagine. I'm not saying that,that somehow I've had it rougher
than you. I mean about what yougo through in life if you live a
real life.
And you know what has happened?
I've been so mad. And I wantedto get back. And I'm quickly I
study hours every week and puttogether outlines and sermons.
(20:20):
And I know how to really sort ofget to the point with a couple
of good illustrations and fourpoints as to how blow somebody
other water. And I can't wait todo it.
You know, what?
Some of the best advice I evergot was Kim, just why don't you
wait a few days before you sendthe letter and think about it,
pray about it. And you know,what has happened over and over
(20:40):
again, in my life? I don't meana few times, but I mean,
continually from Listen, dealingwith people that I work with,
from dealing with other people,whatever it is, I want to tell
you something every time whathas come back is this. Now that
I think about it, I've actedthat way before. And I sure want
God to forgive me for the wayI've acted. Hey, now that I
(21:00):
think about it, I've donesomething worse than what this
person did to me. And I am soglad that the people that I did
that to have forgiven me.
And what is that? What is theresult of that is it starts to
change your attitude instead ofwanting to fight back. You know
what we can actually do? We canstart to wallow in verse one.
(21:21):
Look back to verse one. Andlet's wallow again. Is there any
encouragement from being unitedwith Christ? You know, there is,
oh, yes, let's wallow in that.
We're no longer sinners. We'reforgiven sinners. We're people
that stand righteous before God.
How about this next verse, Ifany cover from his love, oh, we
are so thankful that God lovesus. Nothing can separate us from
(21:42):
the love of God. Nothing. Thescripture says. So we we just
rejoice in that? Or how aboutthis? Is there any fellowship
with the Spirit? How many timeshave we grieved or quench the
Holy Spirit? And how many timeshas he still sought us for
fellowship in my life over andover and over? So I say to you,
this is the basis it causes usto be tender, it causes us to be
(22:03):
compassionate.
You see, that's whentransformation takes place or
regeneration takes place. CSLewis said this, Christianity is
not teaching a horse a fewspecial steps. It's an operation
so the horse can fly.
(22:24):
The description of people in theworld that have not come to
Christ, or is this they hate,and fight one another. They're
full of malice and envy, alwaysin strife. But the Bible says
the goal for Christians is toget along with one another, to
love one another, to be involvedin each other's life. Not some
(22:45):
niceness, where we're just supernice people, some people that
Christianity is just so nice.
It's getting down in thetrenches where people are dirty
and ugly and filthy and rottenwith their sin and we still love
them. I've seen people thatclaim to be Christians have been
brought up in fundamental Bibleteaching churches, and they look
at people with some kind of whatthey consider gross single
promise and get away from me.
You're not like Jesus, if you'rethat way.
(23:13):
This church is welcome forsinners, we don't want religion
here.
If you're just a real niceperson, you've added Christ your
life, I say, again, you'll judgeyou look down, you'll feel
you'll feel superior to others.
But listen, sinners that come toChrist. Remember, his offer is
only for sinners. Well, then youcan admit with freedom that
you're a sinner.
(23:35):
Like Paul, after many years inthe Christian life, he said
this, I am the worst of sinners,the chief of sinners.
You can share with people thatyou're tempted, you can share
with people that you failed, youcan be with people that have
blown it in their life and havedone some stupid thing. And you
can realize that God forgivesthem and you don't keep holding
it against them.
(23:55):
I must say that one of thethings that so many people do
and I have been so guilty of itis this. Let's say you got
somebody in this church that hasreally done something stupid.
It's not that's not a good worda sinful
they've really been bad.
And you know what happens? Weall talk about you know what
they did? They didn't passaround, around, you starts
getting magnified, magnified,magnified.
(24:18):
You know, what may happen?
Listen, I've seen this happenagain. And again.
A lot of you look at thosepeople and you feel superior to
them for many months.
Because you've never donesomething that bad and look what
they've done.
Guess what?
What you don't know is the HolySpirit has convicted their
heart. They've been on theirknees repenting.
(24:41):
God has forgiven them. Andthey've been grown for all those
months that you've been sittingaround like a Pharisee holding
it against them.
How to, it's so good to knowthat the basis we're getting
along with others is comes fromthis humility that this passage
is trying to talk about itbecause you see because of the
cross it meansYou're free to love those who
are quite a bit different thanyou.
(25:04):
If you if you haven't come as asinner to Jesus Christ, are you
sort of kind of sort of a sinnerto Jesus Christ, like we told
you before, the Christian groupwas sitting around and said,
Let's confess our sins with theBible says do that. And the lady
goes, well, I really don't writeenough letters. You know?
What kind of confession of sinis that?
(25:25):
You see, if we, if we are thisthing, guess what we can look at
people and love those who aredifferent than us. We don't have
to be insecure, you talk tosomebody who's very insecure is
because there's somehow trust inthemselves or their group or
their church, that they're alittle bit better. And so when
you start to disagree with him,however, when you start to
fight,but if we are sinners, we esteem
others better than ourselves.
(25:45):
Because we are so grateful forGod's grace upon our life.
That's the basis. The basis isthinking back over the cross,
thinking back over the HolySpirit, thinking back over being
united with Christ, thinkingback over God's love. That's the
basis for getting along. And Iwill say this to your friends,
you can search far and wide, youcan go counseling as far and
(26:08):
wide. You can do all that youwant to do if you don't get back
to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spiritand the cross and dwell in the
love of God, you aren't going toget along with people.
Verse two,is the description. And don't
worry, we're not gonna gothrough all four verses if
you're wondering, I ran out oftime in the first service. So
(26:28):
we're gonna do verses three andfour tonight. So you only got
one more verse to hang onthrough. All right. Look at
verse two. Then make my joycomplete by being like minded.
Okay, there's the thesis.
Remember, the thesis of thefirst four verses is this, then
make my joy complete? Why not?
Here's the description to be.
This is the description, bybeing like minded,
(26:50):
having the same love and beingone in spirit and purpose.
Actually, for four methods hereare three three descriptions,
having the same love being onein spirit and purpose.
The point here is this beinglike minded as getting along
with others, having the samemindset regarding each other the
(27:12):
same way because we're allsinners that have come to Christ
and we've all felt the comfortof his love. We have the same
love that is the love of Godthat has filled our hearts it
doesn't accept one another thenas Christ has accepted you
that's the Lord the love that isin our heart causes us to accept
others not look down not bejudgmental, not say they don't
cross their eye and Dr. T thesame way, but we're like my we
(27:35):
have the same love get this.
Were one in spirit. The Greekactually says this one sold, one
sold. Not sold. Sol de sold s oULEV.
I've always gotta watch it whenI start spelling. I always spell
wrong. Okay, but I think I gotit right that time you didn't
laugh. Alright. Sold. One sold.
In other words, here we are.
(27:56):
We're one the soul, the veryreal person. And Mike Martin and
me were one because we're bothin Christ. We're one soul, we're
together because Christ is ourSavior. And then it says, and
one purpose that I don't likethe NIV the way actually does
its purpose is the point but theactual wording here is this. The
one thing minding, hence, youget purpose. But the actual
(28:19):
translation is this one sold,the one thing minding, in other
words, thinking constantly onone thing that is this Christ,
by the way, you want to knowwhat it is. Verse one is about
the cross and about God's love.
Verse five through 11, is aboutJesus Christ in this humility.
The key to getting along is thisremembering this thinking this,
(28:40):
not the unfairness equal,putting ourselves high, but
putting ourselves low. Now, letme tell you how this works. If
you can remember several weeksago, we had my friend John
Lankford up over here, and Johncan squat 750 pounds, and here
he was with that rope in hishand, you remember in the
service, so you can remember ifyou weren't here, I'll tell you
about it. Here's John. You gothere, his muscles are bulging.
(29:00):
The only thing is John was byhimself. And over here, we had
11 or 12, four and five yearolds, you remember? And they
picked up that rope and everyonewas laughing. They aren't going
to be able to touch JohnLankford. Guess what they did?
They held him even. And then thenext time they started giving
them a little bit and actuallyyou can ask him he hurt his
hand. They pulled so hard. Okay.
(29:21):
And in the what I'm saying isthis it's a teamwork. We're
together. We're not all byourselves. No man is an island.
We're not going to be strongpeople think this. Just me and
Jesus. The church is so wrong.
It'll just be me and Jesus. No.
The point is this you can't doit. We're supposed to be
together in the body one sold.
One, having the same mindset.
Now, here's what happens inChristianity. And I'm telling
(29:43):
you it happens so much. It makesme want to cry and happen so
much. We're over. You're pullingon the rope and we're supposed
to be one line, one soul, onespirit all going through the
same purpose. What is that? Thecause of Christ?
HowEver you know what we do? We go
like this, we're playing thisway, then we start looking, Hey,
buddy, you're not pulling awaywe're pulling, you got a
(30:05):
different grip,get the same grip, I'm not
pulling any more till he getsthe same grip.
Here's not gripping the way I'mgripping.
We all struggle. I'll tell yousome, some people, all they can
think about is the wrong theysee in others. You're miserable.
Once you repent, I'm asking yourepent of it. Maybe you got a
(30:30):
pattern of doing that for years,you're gonna ask God to repent
to cleanse you. All, you did notdo the same way. They got some
secret motors, they're notreally pulling their hardest.
We're doing better in there.
We're in the front of the linethere that we're better than
you. All kinds of things. Andyou know what has happened? Do
you remember I had the kids uphere. And all together. They
could beat John. It was close.
But they got him, I think. Andare that? Yeah, I think they did
(30:51):
that. But the point is this.
Once I asked the kids, I saidright now kids, some of you pull
this way. And some of you pullthat way some of you pull with
one hand on your hip. And whathappened? John got them
just like that.
And the point is this we havegot that you want to make Paul
happy, then you make God happy,and fulfill my joy be like
minded get along with eachother. Realize that we can put
(31:16):
aside petty differences.
In order to get along, put asidepersonal preferences, put aside
past failures, put aside minordoctrinal differences.
So we could make sure that wewere all pulling for Christ.
(31:37):
Now verses three and fouris the practical application of
this unified lifestyle. If youwant to know remember this, the
basis of how to get along withothers is verse one.
The description or the goal isverse two.
And practically how to apply itto your life is verses three and
(31:57):
four and it hurts me not to gothrough this but if I go through
this then you'll be ahead of thefirst service and we can't do
that. This is this is so goodthis material.
But we are still going to havecommunion and that really this
whole passage Believe it or not,you can see how appropriately it
fits having communionSo tonight, I hope that you come
(32:19):
back because we'll finish versesthree and four tonight.
But I want to close by readingsomething listen carefully.
It was one of those backhandedcompliments the kind that makes
(32:40):
one pause think then respondrather than gush out a quick
Hey, thanks.
The guy had listened to me talkduring several sessions at a
pastors conference. We had notmet before so all he knew about
me was that he had heard in daysgone by ex Marine, Texas Texan
by birth schooled and ultraconservative dispensational
(33:00):
seminary. Committed to BiblicalExposition. Non charismatic pre
male pre trib pro this anti thatyou know how those scary labels
go. I really think he expectedyour basic squeaky clean
preacher dark suit white shirtbuttoned down collar tight knot
tie, scuffed black wingtipcowboy boots, pockets stuffed
(33:20):
full of tracks. A big RyrieStudy Bible King James Version
of course, a deep frownthunderous shouts and a rather
large fist flailing away inmidair.
Since that was not what he got.
He was throwing a little curveover the inside corner of the
pulpit.
Finally, towards the end of theweek, he decided to drink a cup
of coffee with me and Rick'ssaying it straight. It went
(33:42):
something like this. You don'tfit. Like please get this.
What's with you?
You got the roots of thefundamentalist but you don't
sound like it.
Your theology is narrow butyou're not rigid.
You take God seriously, but youlaugh like there's no tomorrow.
You have definite convictions,but you are legalistic and
(34:03):
demanding that he added eventhough you're a firm believer in
the Bible, you're still havingfun. Still enjoying life. You've
even got some compassion.
Hard to believe.
That did it. Both of us werelaughing so loud a few eyes from
other tables flashed us thosewould you to be quiet looks. I
(34:25):
often encounter such glares.
Especially when I'm having fun.
He sayswell, what can I say? The man
could have been could have beenmore severe, but he had me
pretty well paid. It was thatlast statement. However, that
really got me thinking. I wokeup with it woke up with me the
next morning you've even gotsome compassion as though it was
not supposed to be there. Inother words, if you're committed
(34:46):
to the truth of Scripture, youshouldn't sweat the needs of
people. Don't get concernedabout people stuff heartache,
hunger, illness, fractured lifestruggles with insecurity,
failures, grief because thoseare only temporal problems. Mere
quartersOh no hassles leave that to the
liberals. But our main job is topreach the gospel. Once the
person gets born again and getto the word, all those other
things will solve themselves.
(35:08):
That's typically the attitude.
Be honest now, isn't that theway it usually is? Isn't it the
fact that the more conservativeone becomes the less
compassionate? I know, there aresome exceptions. But we're
talking about the general rule,not a few exceptions. I want to
say why, why either? Or why notboth? And I like to know when
(35:28):
not just why can't we betheologically conservative and
personally compassionate. Butwhen when did we depart from the
biblical model? When did webegin to ignore Christ's care
for the needy? When do we stopthinking of how valuable it is
to be healing agents ininterpersonal relationships?
What do we opt for placing moreemphasis on being Proclaimers
and defenders and less onbecoming repairs and restores?
(35:49):
When do we decide to strengthenour focus on public condemnation
and weaken our involvement inprivate restoration?
He goes on to say,very interesting is struck me
after studying this passage allweek. You remember the first
thing after Cain murdered hisbrother. Remember the first
thing Cain said, when Godapproached him in the garden?
(36:12):
Actually, I don't think theywere in the garden. But remember
what when God approached me saidthis, am I my brother's keeper.
From the heart of a sinful manis this, I'm not responsible for
anybody else but myself. That'sa lie. From the pit of hell.
You're responsible for those youworship with. You're responsible
(36:35):
for those you work with andfellowship with. We're
responsible to go out of our wayto be like minded, to be
unified, to be tender, to becompassionate.
And as Paul says, do nothing.
out of selfish ambition or vainconceit, but in humility,
consider others better thanyourselves. Each of you should
look not only to your owninterest, but also to the
(36:58):
interest of others. Thisattitude should be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus seemsin the sovereign Hand of God,
in training me via pastor,regular, ongoing process, it
(37:18):
seemsthat there is an unusual amount
of trouble between betweenpeople these days. And maybe I
haven't lived I'm not the GrandHistorian of the world. But it
seems to me that there are morepeople with hate, more people
angry, more people not talkingto one another, more people
holding grudgesthat I've noted before, just
(37:41):
seemed like that in the last sixmonths.
To Christians, we shouldn't bethat way.
If we will think back to what itmeans that we're united in
Christ.
What it means that we've beencomforted by his love.
(38:03):
What it is to us that we havethe fellowship with the Holy
Spirit, the tenderness andcompassion that should mark our
lives.
We should be people that getalong and love and accept one
another.
Let's pray.
(38:26):
Father,as I said earlier, I say it
again.
There is suchpride in our lives, at least in
my life,that I can see this and apply it
to other people and think howthey need to hear this, but
somehowthe spirit, prodding escapes my
(38:47):
own heart, because I'm sofocused on others,
and their sins and theirproblems.
Would you help us we need you,to help us the things of the
cross the things of the HolySpirit and of Jesus Christ often
(39:14):
seems to leave us in the senseof how they affect everyday
living and decision making.
Keep an enlarged view of yourlove for us, of how merciful
unkind you've been to us. Keepus a humble people, not a proud
people that were better thanothers.
Keep us Father full oftenderness and compassion, so
(39:36):
that we could fulfill the joy ofthe apostle, which we know would
be the same goal as yours. Andthat is that we would be like
minded, getting along with oneanother.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.
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