November 11, 2023 • 38 mins
Join us as Pastor Terra leads us in week 1 of our brand-new sermon series titled "Your Next Step."
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Your grace still amazes me each dayI fall on my knees. I wonder
today if we still stand in allof the grace of Jesus Christ, if
we're still moved to know that wehave been set free by the blood of
the Lamb. If it still excitesyour heart today to know that you have
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been given a new name written downin glory that is all yours because of
Him. Amen, his grace isdeeper. I wonder today if you know
him as your faithful father. Therewas a time in my life that I
needed to know that part of himas my father. I wonder today if
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you know that he is an enduringfriend. Have you ever had friends here
and there and sometimes right beside you, but you needed the friend that is
Jesus Christ, his tender mercy flowingover your life. Knowing today get ready
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for this that your sins are forgivenand your future is in heaven. Hallelujah.
Thanks be to God. Let's prayGod, we thank you for this
day. We thank you that yourpresence has been so very real here today
and God in these moments that wehave with you. Lord God, may
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you just have your way today,help us to hear help us to understand,
and God help us to leave thesedoors mobilized for you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Well, a few monthsback, if you remember, about
five months ago, we unveiled ourmission here at the church. We are
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actually nearing one year that Pastor Scottand I received your unanimous vote to become
your lead past kind of seems unreal, but kind of seems like it's been
a year. There have been pinchedme moments, and there have been moments
we've gotten pinched right, But that'snot the story today, so bear with
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me. But about six months inwe had really prayed and searched about what
is the mission of our church whichwill direct and guide everything that we do.
You see, we're not a socialclub. We are the Church of
Jesus Christ. We are God's chosenpeople to take His word and his gospel
message to others. So we rolledout this plan to love God. Say
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it with me, let's start over, Love God, love others, grow
deep and repeat. And we talkedabout being intentional with the call of Christ
on our lives to go and makedisciples. So about three weeks ago we
rolled out some God celebrations. Imean they were all God, and we
wanted to tell the nations what Hehas done among us. So one of
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those celebration statistics that we gave isthat there have been seventeen people except Christ
as their savior in this place sinceMay. And then God is good.
But here's the thing. We don'twant to stop. And we believe God
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is calling us to do more forHis glory. We believe that people are
hungried and thirsting for the real thingand they aren't gonna find it anywhere except
through Jesus Christ. So I haveanother statistic. We have a system that
we kind of run all of ourattendants through and all of the people in
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the building, And so I justdid a rough figure, and I probably
even figured kind of low. ButI believe that we have had approximately one
hundred and seventy five new faces inthis building who do not attend here hearing
the Gods full of Christ since JulyAmen. Through things like vacation, Bible
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adventure, women's encounter, archery,ministry, parking lot, picnic. These
were all vessels that people poured theirlives and funds and dedication into for one
sole purpose to reach people for JesusChrist. And so we are kind of
continued loving God, loving others,grow deep repeat. We believe that in
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the Church of the Nazarene and hereat DCN, that everyone needs Jesus as
their savior. We believe were calledto go to serve, to follow Christ,
and we believe that God scripturally declaresto each of us that He longs
for us to be all in andto receive His abundance. Now Paul talks
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about it in scripture. We knowthe apostle Paul, he gave us a
lot to digest in the Word ofGod, and he talks about it like
we're running a race. If someof you don't want to run anymore.
My running days are kind of gettingover as well. Well. Brian's like,
what are you talking about? Theywere over ten years ago, but
we won't talk about that. Butmy running days are slowing down. But
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we are all on a journey,aren't we. We have not arrived until
we've arrived. And we believe thatif you are in Christ, you win,
no matter the battle scars, nomatter where this life has thrown you
and pulled you, no matter theheartache, the devastation, the sickness,
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whatever takes place here, We believethat there will be a day where he
will right all of the wrongs.We believe that he will wipe every tear
from our eye. And as wesang those songs, one day when Heaven
declared goodness, death has been swallowedup in victory. That should drive us,
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that should excite us. But todaywhat I want to talk about is
we believe that there is a friendwho sticks closer than a brother, who
longs to journey with you and withme today right now, this minute,
this hour, in this time andeverything that you have to do today,
because that's what it's like to serveJesus, and we need him in our
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lives. To know him more isto know more of his goodness each and
every day. Now we know ifwe want to grow in our lives,
if we want to become fit andhealthy, or do this or that,
or or study to become this anddo all of these things, we have
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to be pretty intentional, right,I mean, Nick, do you just
like roll into nursing class and youknow, if I learned it, I
learned. If I don't, Ido. If you don't say you do,
your Dad's sitting beside you. Now, you got to be intentional if
you want to be a registered nurseor whatever you're working towards. There's a
lot of intentionality, and we toohave to be growing in our walk with
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Christ, continualing. We talk aboutthis in the Church of the Nazarene as
continually nurturing ourselves. Just like weneed food to eat. I brought some
good food, real healthy and nurturing. We need Jesus. We need to
be fed and we need to befueled. God is bringing the rain,
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just like we prayed. How manyof you were here, It was about
a year and a half ago.When we begin to pray for the rain
to come, we begin to prayfor God to bring the rain. But
we also believe that we need tohave intentional processes along the way so that
I continue to grow, so thatyou continue to grow, and so that
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those who we come in contact withwill know Jesus, because that's the goal.
So we were kind of working towardsthis for about three or four months
and staff meeting and we all hadwhat they call a big day on our
district where all the pastors go andwe have a new district superintendent, and
the entire big day was pretty muchwrapped around this concept that we've been working
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on. So we sat at thetable and we thought that was a God
moment that maybe we're on the righttrack. So we want to focus on
that today. So when Brian andI were first married, we were so
young and so in love. I'mjust trying to keep your guys awake here.
Well, we were young, wewere in love, and we moved
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into a little apartment in the basementfloor on Monroe Street in Toledo, Ohio.
And life was pretty busy. Andyou say, well, what did
you What did you do back then? You didn't have I know, like
now you have kids and all thethings. But we were busy. I
was still in nursing school and hehad just took his first job for an
accounting firm downtown, but was preparingto go to law school. We were
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learning to live as newlyweds. Wewere learning. I was learning to do
things like, you know, takecare of a home or a tiny little
apartment, meal prep, I mean, I had to be very intentional,
grocery shopping, all of these things. So since life was so busy,
I decided that we would have HamburgerHelper night once a week. I mean,
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you know, it was cheap,it fit the budget, and it
did the job. We liked HamburgerHelper. I mean, we looked forward
to Hamburger Helper night. This wasHamburger Helper Night. And so you know,
eventually I graduated from nursing school,Brian was continuing in law school.
Things began to settle down a littlebit. We started to get some systems
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in place, and so Hamburger HelperNight kind of went by the wayside for
a while. Well, I wasin the grocery store and I thought,
been a while since we've had somegood Hamburger Helper, although I'm gonna pick
some up. So Brian got homethat day and he's like, what's for
supper? And I said, HamburgerHelper and he went I don't think he
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said words, but he said words, and I said, what's wrong.
We love Hamburger Helper Night. Now, my husband, I don't know if
you get a chance to talk tohim much, because usually he's in the
booth doing all the things for me, and I appreciate that so much.
But my husband is very analytical.You may ask him a simple yes or
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no question, but it will notbe a simple yes or no answer.
He's very analytical. It makes himgood at what he does, and he's
a wonderful husband and father. Sowhen he made the face, I'm like,
what's wrong with Hamburger Helper? Andhe says, well, Hamburger Helper's
here. And he said, yourcooking when we first got married was about
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here. And he said, nowyou're cooking is like here. But Hamburger
Helper doesn't move. It's just HamburgerHelper. And I thought, what an
analogy with our life with Christ.You know, when we come and we
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experience and we get first excited,but to follow Christ and when he saves
our soul and we begin to beawakened and understand. But if we stay
right here, people, it justisn't good anymore. Was because He's got
all of this for us, doesn'the. And that's what we're talking about
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today. So we're gonna be.In Philippians chapter three, starting in verse
fourteen and fifteen, Paul says,in Philippians chapter three, I press on
toward the goal to win the prizefor which God has heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us then, who aremature, should take such a view
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of things. And if on somepoint you think differently, you too,
God will make clear to you.So Paul pretty much says it, if
you think different than me, well, God will make it clear that this
is right. All of us whoare mature should take this. Now,
it's family Sunday. Stay here,Lena. I want to have all the
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kids come up here. I liketo This is Elena. Have you seen
she came in as a four yearold and she came back this year.
We're so excited. Come on up, kids, Come on up, Come
on up, Come on up.We've got Ala and Brinley and Charlotte and
Mimi and Carson and ray Dean andwho else do we have? Everybody?
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We're missing the big kid. There'sone more that ray Dean calls Peanut.
Is Peanut here? Peanut Peanuts herebecause he's my son in law. He
has to do the work upstairs too, So Peanut is here. So I
was hoping. Since it's family Sundayand we believe in face. You know
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why we have you in here oncea month with us and still instead of
out there having fun, Because wethink it's important for you to learn how
to worship God and to sit byolder adults that love and worship God and
that you'll learn and grow. ButI'm gonna let you guys help me with
my sermons to day. Okay,I'm sorry, that's probably sad. I'm
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sorry. Well, is it okayif we do a race though? Okay?
So you know Randy Rue is oneof our other leaders with the kids,
but he could not be here today. So ay law is a room
when it comes to competition. Thisgirl's got it all and she's just got
the face. The face just staysthe same, but she's gonna win.
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So, Ayla, would you takeon Griffin's team? Okay? So you
stand over here, peanut Griffin?Why does Radin call you peanut? Do
we want to know? No?I didn't think, so okay, let
you stand over here. I don'twanna know. Okay, So how about
let's give me me and Brindley andCharlotte to Griffin. Is that a good
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team? Okay? You're on Griffin'steam. Come over here, and how
about you three go with a LA. Okay, now here are the rules.
We have a LA is team A, Griffin is team B. So
you're gonna start behind the lines.There's tape on the floor. You gotta
be behind the lines. Behind thelines, there should be four blocks.
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Yep. So Brindley, you're gonnago right behind the line. You are
so big. All right, here'swhat we're gonna do. Now, this
is church, so you can't run, okay, so you have to walk
aggressively fast okay, but no runningokay. Okay. So this is a
re life. You guys done arelay before. Okay. That means one
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person goes at a time. Solet's see, Mimi, why don't you
make a line in front of Griffinand then Charlotte and then Brindley and then
Griffin will be the last. Okay, and then you guys make a line.
Yeah. Now you're gonna have tocrisscross. So but you're gonna have
to start on this side. Brindleywas actually in the right place. So
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you guys don't hit each other runinto each other. So you're gonna go
on the other side of the boxes. There we go, all right.
So you're gonna pick up a block, and when the person sets the block
on the other side of tape,the next person gets to go. When
you get all the blocks, yourteam Ala will go here. Griffin,
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your team will go here, andyou're gonna put the blocks in order,
with what order you think that theyshould be in. And when you think
you're right, you're gonna go,and we're gonna see who wins. Ready,
now, do you know the rules? You're gonna pick up a block
and set it down. Grandma?Can she take off her shoes? Well,
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it calls for that, I think. Okay, okay, those are
pretty fancy. Okay, on yourmark. You can't run? Gets it
go? Oh no, nope,go beat me over here. Pick up
one, pick up one, pickup one, pick up one. Okay,
go go me me go, Mimi, take it back, take it
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back. Okay, come back,okay, pick up black Okay, okay
go, she's gonna run this placenext year. You got them all,
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okay, go Griffin, go Griffin, Griffin go. Okay, pick up
all the blocks, pick up allthe blocks. Bring him over here,
bring them over here. Okay,Raydine. The other team's gonna go right
here. Okay, okay, comeon, girls, Come on, girls,
bring the blocks, Come on,come on, come on. Put
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them on top of each other sothe people can see them. Yep,
yep, the top one should befirst. Oh, keep going, because
they might not be right. Oh, I'm sorry to say they are right.
Wow, you guys did good.But you guys did good. You
want to hit the button, Charlotte, go ahead, hit it again.
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Now wait, I got prizes.Hey, you guys start good race,
good race, Griffil hand these out. Good race, good good race.
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I knew a roue would win.Good job cars. Okay, oh but
you know what, I've got medalsfor second place too. You are not
without because you did so good.Can I open that for you? Absolutely?
Can I open that for her mom? Okay, she knows, she
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knows when she's here at the churchclean and I always have stuff here,
griff number two, number two.All right, let's give the kids a
handy. Now, I gotta putthem in order here. Okay, you
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guys can go sit down. Dideverybody get their christ? I have this
many left. I need to likethrow them out or something. Can't fall
asleep. Okay, So our nextsteps here at the church we're gonna be
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talking about. Our next steps aretwo know Jesus, Receive Jesus, follow
Jesus, and serve Jesus. Thatis gonna be the journey, the journey
that we ourselves are on and thejourney that we get to take people through
as they come to know Jesus Christas their savior. So each week this
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month we'll be learning the details aboutthis step. But today we want to
talk about knowing Jesus. Now.Griffin or we like to call him Peanut
around here here he's getting ready tohave his first baby with his lovely wife,
Brienna, my daughter, and theyhad their ultrasound, but it was
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kind of the big old sound.A couple weeks ago was the scan where
they measure all of the bones andall of the organs and look at all
four heart chambers, and so everythingmeasured really well, except the femur bone
in the leg seem to be reallyreally long. Imagine. I told Griffin
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that she must take after me.But you see, they were checking for
growth and development, everything that wedo when we have a baby. We
take them in for their well checks, and they check for growth and development.
Because if the child or the infantor the newborn stops growing, it's
detrimental. If you and I stopgrowing. When it comes to our journey
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with Christ, it is detrimental.We must keep going on our spiritual walk.
Philippians, Chapter three. We're goingto be staying right here verse seven
and eight, Verse seven and eight. Chapter three, verse seven and eight.
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I have it right here. Butwhatever orgains to me I now consider
loss for the sake of Christ.What is more, I consider everything a
loss because of the surpassing worth ofknowing Christ, Jesus my Lord, for
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whose sake I have lost. Allthings. I consider them garbage that I
may gain Christ and be found inhim. Not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law,but that which is through faith in Christ
Jesus. Everything else I consider aloss. Paul says, but from knowing
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Christ, this is the starting pointto know Jesus. There's an entire world
out there that does not know OhJesus. And I believe also there's an
entire world sitting in congregations today thatdo not know Jesus. To know who
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he is, John fourteen six saysthis, Jesus answered, I am the
Way, the Truth, and theLife. No one comes to the Father
except through me. Knowing him isto know that he is the only way.
He is the Truth, he islife. And then John follows it
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up in chapter seventeen, verse threethat says, now this is eternal life,
that they may know you, theonly true God, and that Jesus
Christ, whom you have seen.Do you know Jesus. That's the first
step Dennis Kinlaw want of Pastor Don'sfamous theologians. He makes sure that our
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booksh elves are stocked with Dennis Kinlawbooks. He said it this way.
What Western Christianity needs first and foremostis not more Christians, but for Christians
to be much more Christian than theyare. Christians are to be a positive
influence in society, driving back corruption, bringing cleanliness where pollution exists, and
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they are to add flavor and zestto life for which all society seeks diligently
and fruitlessly. Saltiness is not aquality that you and I can control,
keep and dispense. Kin Law said, it is a direct result of living
in intimacy with God. Our witnessand who we are in Christ determines directly
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our relationship that we have with Himpersonally. Now there's this incredible part that
we sang about. I wanted tosing that. That's an older song.
We sang about grace today, butI wanted to see about that grace because
there is a grace that comes beforewe call it provenient grace. Now you
will look in the scripture and youwill not find that word, but you
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will find pre and provenient grace throughoutthe entire scripture. It is the grace
that comes before the grace that Godis preparing us. And when I listened
back and thought about every single testimonythat we heard over the last five weeks,
every single person shared a line ortwo, or a paragraph or a
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person where the seed was laid,where they felt the nudge, where they
sensed the Holy Spirit. John Wesleysays that provenient grace is the first wish
to please God. It's the firstdawn of light concerning his will and the
first slight, transient conviction of havingsinned against him. And it is isn't
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it amazing that God often uses peoplejust like you and me along someone's journey
to offer some of that grace.As I was thinking about it, God
sometimes gives uncles a nudge to puta microphone in a three year old's hand,
prevenient grace. I was thinking aboutyour story, Alice. God sometimes
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gives a neighbor a porch swing anda chocolate chip cookie, where little Alice
could go just for the cookie.But she got a whole lot of Jesus
and found herself in church. Thatwoman knew how to witness. And by
the way, Alice then took thosecookies and she makes them for everybody.
My nineteen year old is so spoiledwith her chocolate chip cookies. I just
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think it's ridiculous. I think you'vecrossed the line to enabling. God uses
those things. A blanket, Cindy, a bottle of water, a prayer,
provenient grace. Those of you whogo around in a white van with
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defiance Church of the Nazarene on theside, and you bring kids in the
seed provenient grace. God uses allof these things. There are no accidents
or coincidences. This is the handof God pursuing you, longing for you,
longing to have fellowship and communion withyou. And what you need to
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know today is every person you comein contact with, no matter how they
look, no matter how they dress, no matter how they talk, provenient
grace is working with them. Itis already there because God is there,
seeking and pursuing. Charles Spurgeon describesit like this, Oh what mercy.
When God puts chains across the road, digs ditches, makes hedges and builds
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walls and says to us, no, you shall not go there. Awakened
to truth by provenient grace and thestory of Paul in the Bible, the
provenient grace was at work when hedescribes himself as the worst of the worst
of sinners. What did he mean? Paul had accolades everywhere. Paul was
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born into privilege, he had iton what he didn't have he went after.
But he described these reasons for confidencein the flesh, and he had
all the reasons he had received theheight of self righteousness. I mean,
if human effort could get you closerto God, Paul would have achieved it.
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But here's what we need to know. Human effort cannot. It is
only through Jesus Christ and his bloodthat was shed that can restore our fellowship
with Christ need Jesus. Paul saysit this way. He said, I
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was circumcised on the eighth Day.Well, what does that mean? It
means he had the right birth.He was a true Jewish believer who had
the privilege of having believing parents.He said, I was of the nation
of Israel. What does that mean? That means he had the right national
heritage. He had a very specialrelationship with God. He was a descendant
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directly of the Covenant promise of God'speople. It said he was of the
tribe of Benjamin. Now why isthis important? That tribe was considered the
aristocratic tribe of Israel because of theirloyalty when so many of the tribes became
disloyal to God and the things thatGod wanted them to do, so the
tribe of Benjamin was considered the mostnoble and respectable tribe. Paul said,
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I was a Hebrew born of Hebrews. What did that mean? That many
had the right language, the rightcustoms, and he had remained steadfast this
heritage. In the Middle where allthe customs were changing and everyone had different
language, Paul kept to the customs. He said, I was a Hebrew
of all Hebrews. He said,I was a Pharisee. Oh, he
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had the right religion. They werethe strict ones who were separated. They
dedicated their life to this. Hewas faithful to the services, the ordinances,
the rituals, and the ceremonies.And it said he was a persecutor
of the church that many stood,and he fought for the religion and was
determined to get rid of any causethat threatened it, including the followers of
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Christ. Regarding righteousness, Paul saysabout himself, I was blameless. He
kept the law fully and completely.But look what God longs to do with
each of our lives. Prevenient Gracebegan to work all over Paul's life.
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Think what he could do with aPaul who not only stops persecuting the followers
of Jesus, but decides to knowJesus. You see, Paul knew all
that he thought he knew, Hethought he had it all, but he
missed the one standing right before him. He missed the love of God for
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man. And that is the transformationalpart. Don't miss the love of God
for you so much that he senthis son Jesus. That prevenient grace intersected
Paul's life on that road to Damascus. He was Saul at the time,
and Christ transformed him so much heneeded a new name. There was a
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new name written down in glory becausePaul had met the author of his story,
and everything changed. And it didn'tmatter what he knew before, because
it was all a loss and heknew it all. But Paul sent a
man named Anonius after he was blinded, and Antonius was like, whoa wait,
this is the guy killing people thatfollow Jesus. But he said,
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oh, no, go. Yousee my grace has gone before Antonius,
and I want you to go,and I want you to lay your hands
on him, and I want Paulto receive the Holy Spirit so he will
take the word to the gentiles.I have a plan. Paul had a
new name written down in glory becausefinally, after everything, he began to
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know Jesus his new treasure. KnowingChrist personally became Paul's number one. That's
why we have it first. Whenwe long and set out to know more
of Christ every day and to makeit our number one. God will work
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everything else out. And I'm sayingthat with assurance from his word, not
that I always live it. I'mjust being honest. Sometimes I try to
do things on my own. Afterall these years, Do you know Christ,
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Tara, make him your number oneand let me work out everything else,
because you know why, Hamburger helperjust doesn't cut it anymore, right,
And you say, well, Ilike me a good Hamburger Helper.
I do too. Something about themix of that cheese that's not cheese,
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and that beef. But have youhad my beef roast and the carrots marinated,
and the mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, and the rolls. Have you
experienced the abundance of Jesus Christ?Because when you know Christ, you will
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know yourself. You will finally gainyour identity because Hamburger helper just doesn't cut
it. My son in law,Peanut is so sweet to my daughter,
he really really is. And Ihad made a rose. My roast is
Brianna's favorite meal, and so Fridaynight I had him over and Griffin took
one bite. And I have hardlyever in all of the years that they
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have dated, which is a lotof ears and been married for over four
now, I hardly ever have heardhim say one kind of negative thing to
her. And he took a biteof my roast, and he looked at
her and he said, oh,you got to learn how to do this.
She made the same face at himthat I made at her father when
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he goes Hamburger helper. Christ haseverything for you. We need to know
him. There's four key things thatwe're gonna be rolling out. You're gonna
hear us talking about it, overand over. Number one, we need
to be listening and learning. Weneed to hear the word, embrace,
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learning more about Jesus, look atthe scripture, do whatever it takes to
get rid of distractions. When theWord of God is being opened up,
listen and learn. Number two,we need to pursue. You gotta want
it, you gotta go after it. He's already come after you. We
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need to pursue and be intentional toknow more about Jesus. Attend the things
of Jesus. Adjust our calendar,and an intentional effort to know Jesus.
Make Jesus our Number one. Weneed to experience. We need to put
ourselves in positions to experience Jesus.That might mean turning our radio station to
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a different one. That might meanattending service regularly, prioritizing daily time,
preparing our hearts when we come toworship. A few weeks ago, Pastor
Scott was preaching and we weren't doingany new songs, and I wasn't teaching
Sunday School like. All I wasdoing was coming into fellowship with you guys,
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check in and lead worship, andI felt kind of free. I
was like, I'm not preaching.I'm not teaching, and you know we're
not doing any new songs. AndI had to constantly tell myself, Ttera
focus, God has something for youto hear today, Terra focus. We
need to focus and experience. Weneed to connect. We need to connect
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with people who know Jesus. Joinclasses, life groups, find a mentor.
Make sure your mentor knows Jesus.That's important. And if I ask
each of you today, I dothis with the young adults a lot.
Name one person that's been Jesus toyou. They can name him like that.
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Find your person, sit next tohim, begin to know that Jesus
that they know, experience his love. Often I think we come seeking.
We just we want immediate relief fromour pain, immediate change from our problem.
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But we forget that He is theprize. It is him with us
living in us. That is themiracle. I gave the kids first and
second place medals. But in lifeand on this journey, when Paul says,
run to receive the prize, there'sonly one prize. We either know
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him or we don't. The peopleyou will meet today, they either know
him or they don't. Are wegoing to be the ones that give them
just a little bit of a glimpseof that love, of that peace,
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and to be somewhere along that journey. So someday when that provenient grace is
laying the groundwork and their eyes areawakened and they come to you and they
say, I don't want Hamburger helperanymore. I don't want to just get
by and maybe hope one day Islide into heaven. I want to live
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in the abundance of walking with cheeseevery single day. Would you stand with
me, God, I thank youfor this day and this time that we
have had together. Lord, Andin these moments when we're closing, God,
I pray that each of us wouldbegin to earnestly seek You with all
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of our hearts. That God,this is the first step, but it
is a constant step. Lord,that you would continue to reveal to each
of us more of who you areevery day, every day, that we
would ask to know you more,and that one day we would be able
to stand like Paul and say allof the rest just doesn't matter, and
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it does not compare to knowing Jesus. Thank you for these moments. Be
with us the rest of the dayin your name we pray amen
Your grace still amazes me each dayI fall on my knees. I wonder
today if we still stand in allof the grace of Jesus Christ, if
we're still moved to know that wehave been set free by the blood of
the Lamb. If it still excitesyour heart today to know that you have
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been given a new name written downin glory that is all yours because of
Him. Amen, his grace isdeeper. I wonder today if you know
him as your faithful father. Therewas a time in my life that I
needed to know that part of himas my father. I wonder today if
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you know that he is an enduringfriend. Have you ever had friends here
and there and sometimes right beside you, but you needed the friend that is
Jesus Christ, his tender mercy flowingover your life. Knowing today get ready
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for this that your sins are forgivenand your future is in heaven. Hallelujah.
Thanks be to God. Let's prayGod, we thank you for this
day. We thank you that yourpresence has been so very real here today
and God in these moments that wehave with you. Lord God, may
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you just have your way today,help us to hear help us to understand,
and God help us to leave thesedoors mobilized for you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Well, a few monthsback, if you remember, about
five months ago, we unveiled ourmission here at the church. We are
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actually nearing one year that Pastor Scottand I received your unanimous vote to become
your lead past kind of seems unreal, but kind of seems like it's been
a year. There have been pinchedme moments, and there have been moments
we've gotten pinched right, But that'snot the story today, so bear with
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me. But about six months inwe had really prayed and searched about what
is the mission of our church whichwill direct and guide everything that we do.
You see, we're not a socialclub. We are the Church of
Jesus Christ. We are God's chosenpeople to take His word and his gospel
message to others. So we rolledout this plan to love God. Say
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it with me, let's start over, Love God, love others, grow
deep and repeat. And we talkedabout being intentional with the call of Christ
on our lives to go and makedisciples. So about three weeks ago we
rolled out some God celebrations. Imean they were all God, and we
wanted to tell the nations what Hehas done among us. So one of
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those celebration statistics that we gave isthat there have been seventeen people except Christ
as their savior in this place sinceMay. And then God is good.
But here's the thing. We don'twant to stop. And we believe God
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is calling us to do more forHis glory. We believe that people are
hungried and thirsting for the real thingand they aren't gonna find it anywhere except
through Jesus Christ. So I haveanother statistic. We have a system that
we kind of run all of ourattendants through and all of the people in
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the building, And so I justdid a rough figure, and I probably
even figured kind of low. ButI believe that we have had approximately one
hundred and seventy five new faces inthis building who do not attend here hearing
the Gods full of Christ since JulyAmen. Through things like vacation, Bible
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adventure, women's encounter, archery,ministry, parking lot, picnic. These
were all vessels that people poured theirlives and funds and dedication into for one
sole purpose to reach people for JesusChrist. And so we are kind of
continued loving God, loving others,grow deep repeat. We believe that in
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the Church of the Nazarene and hereat DCN, that everyone needs Jesus as
their savior. We believe were calledto go to serve, to follow Christ,
and we believe that God scripturally declaresto each of us that He longs
for us to be all in andto receive His abundance. Now Paul talks
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about it in scripture. We knowthe apostle Paul, he gave us a
lot to digest in the Word ofGod, and he talks about it like
we're running a race. If someof you don't want to run anymore.
My running days are kind of gettingover as well. Well. Brian's like,
what are you talking about? Theywere over ten years ago, but
we won't talk about that. Butmy running days are slowing down. But
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we are all on a journey,aren't we. We have not arrived until
we've arrived. And we believe thatif you are in Christ, you win,
no matter the battle scars, nomatter where this life has thrown you
and pulled you, no matter theheartache, the devastation, the sickness,
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whatever takes place here, We believethat there will be a day where he
will right all of the wrongs.We believe that he will wipe every tear
from our eye. And as wesang those songs, one day when Heaven
declared goodness, death has been swallowedup in victory. That should drive us,
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that should excite us. But todaywhat I want to talk about is
we believe that there is a friendwho sticks closer than a brother, who
longs to journey with you and withme today right now, this minute,
this hour, in this time andeverything that you have to do today,
because that's what it's like to serveJesus, and we need him in our
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lives. To know him more isto know more of his goodness each and
every day. Now we know ifwe want to grow in our lives,
if we want to become fit andhealthy, or do this or that,
or or study to become this anddo all of these things, we have
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to be pretty intentional, right,I mean, Nick, do you just
like roll into nursing class and youknow, if I learned it, I
learned. If I don't, Ido. If you don't say you do,
your Dad's sitting beside you. Now, you got to be intentional if
you want to be a registered nurseor whatever you're working towards. There's a
lot of intentionality, and we toohave to be growing in our walk with
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Christ, continualing. We talk aboutthis in the Church of the Nazarene as
continually nurturing ourselves. Just like weneed food to eat. I brought some
good food, real healthy and nurturing. We need Jesus. We need to
be fed and we need to befueled. God is bringing the rain,
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just like we prayed. How manyof you were here, It was about
a year and a half ago.When we begin to pray for the rain
to come, we begin to prayfor God to bring the rain. But
we also believe that we need tohave intentional processes along the way so that
I continue to grow, so thatyou continue to grow, and so that
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those who we come in contact withwill know Jesus, because that's the goal.
So we were kind of working towardsthis for about three or four months
and staff meeting and we all hadwhat they call a big day on our
district where all the pastors go andwe have a new district superintendent, and
the entire big day was pretty muchwrapped around this concept that we've been working
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on. So we sat at thetable and we thought that was a God
moment that maybe we're on the righttrack. So we want to focus on
that today. So when Brian andI were first married, we were so
young and so in love. I'mjust trying to keep your guys awake here.
Well, we were young, wewere in love, and we moved
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into a little apartment in the basementfloor on Monroe Street in Toledo, Ohio.
And life was pretty busy. Andyou say, well, what did
you What did you do back then? You didn't have I know, like
now you have kids and all thethings. But we were busy. I
was still in nursing school and hehad just took his first job for an
accounting firm downtown, but was preparingto go to law school. We were
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learning to live as newlyweds. Wewere learning. I was learning to do
things like, you know, takecare of a home or a tiny little
apartment, meal prep, I mean, I had to be very intentional,
grocery shopping, all of these things. So since life was so busy,
I decided that we would have HamburgerHelper night once a week. I mean,
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you know, it was cheap,it fit the budget, and it
did the job. We liked HamburgerHelper. I mean, we looked forward
to Hamburger Helper night. This wasHamburger Helper Night. And so you know,
eventually I graduated from nursing school,Brian was continuing in law school.
Things began to settle down a littlebit. We started to get some systems
(09:54):
in place, and so Hamburger HelperNight kind of went by the wayside for
a while. Well, I wasin the grocery store and I thought,
been a while since we've had somegood Hamburger Helper, although I'm gonna pick
some up. So Brian got homethat day and he's like, what's for
supper? And I said, HamburgerHelper and he went I don't think he
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said words, but he said words, and I said, what's wrong.
We love Hamburger Helper Night. Now, my husband, I don't know if
you get a chance to talk tohim much, because usually he's in the
booth doing all the things for me, and I appreciate that so much.
But my husband is very analytical.You may ask him a simple yes or
(10:37):
no question, but it will notbe a simple yes or no answer.
He's very analytical. It makes himgood at what he does, and he's
a wonderful husband and father. Sowhen he made the face, I'm like,
what's wrong with Hamburger Helper? Andhe says, well, Hamburger Helper's
here. And he said, yourcooking when we first got married was about
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here. And he said, nowyou're cooking is like here. But Hamburger
Helper doesn't move. It's just HamburgerHelper. And I thought, what an
analogy with our life with Christ.You know, when we come and we
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experience and we get first excited,but to follow Christ and when he saves
our soul and we begin to beawakened and understand. But if we stay
right here, people, it justisn't good anymore. Was because He's got
all of this for us, doesn'the. And that's what we're talking about
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today. So we're gonna be.In Philippians chapter three, starting in verse
fourteen and fifteen, Paul says,in Philippians chapter three, I press on
toward the goal to win the prizefor which God has heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us then, who aremature, should take such a view
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of things. And if on somepoint you think differently, you too,
God will make clear to you.So Paul pretty much says it, if
you think different than me, well, God will make it clear that this
is right. All of us whoare mature should take this. Now,
it's family Sunday. Stay here,Lena. I want to have all the
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kids come up here. I liketo This is Elena. Have you seen
she came in as a four yearold and she came back this year.
We're so excited. Come on up, kids, Come on up, Come
on up, Come on up.We've got Ala and Brinley and Charlotte and
Mimi and Carson and ray Dean andwho else do we have? Everybody?
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We're missing the big kid. There'sone more that ray Dean calls Peanut.
Is Peanut here? Peanut Peanuts herebecause he's my son in law. He
has to do the work upstairs too, So Peanut is here. So I
was hoping. Since it's family Sundayand we believe in face. You know
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why we have you in here oncea month with us and still instead of
out there having fun, Because wethink it's important for you to learn how
to worship God and to sit byolder adults that love and worship God and
that you'll learn and grow. ButI'm gonna let you guys help me with
my sermons to day. Okay,I'm sorry, that's probably sad. I'm
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sorry. Well, is it okayif we do a race though? Okay?
So you know Randy Rue is oneof our other leaders with the kids,
but he could not be here today. So ay law is a room
when it comes to competition. Thisgirl's got it all and she's just got
the face. The face just staysthe same, but she's gonna win.
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So, Ayla, would you takeon Griffin's team? Okay? So you
stand over here, peanut Griffin?Why does Radin call you peanut? Do
we want to know? No?I didn't think, so okay, let
you stand over here. I don'twanna know. Okay, So how about
let's give me me and Brindley andCharlotte to Griffin. Is that a good
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team? Okay? You're on Griffin'steam. Come over here, and how
about you three go with a LA. Okay, now here are the rules.
We have a LA is team A, Griffin is team B. So
you're gonna start behind the lines.There's tape on the floor. You gotta
be behind the lines. Behind thelines, there should be four blocks.
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Yep. So Brindley, you're gonnago right behind the line. You are
so big. All right, here'swhat we're gonna do. Now, this
is church, so you can't run, okay, so you have to walk
aggressively fast okay, but no runningokay. Okay. So this is a
re life. You guys done arelay before. Okay. That means one
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person goes at a time. Solet's see, Mimi, why don't you
make a line in front of Griffinand then Charlotte and then Brindley and then
Griffin will be the last. Okay, and then you guys make a line.
Yeah. Now you're gonna have tocrisscross. So but you're gonna have
to start on this side. Brindleywas actually in the right place. So
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you guys don't hit each other runinto each other. So you're gonna go
on the other side of the boxes. There we go, all right.
So you're gonna pick up a block, and when the person sets the block
on the other side of tape,the next person gets to go. When
you get all the blocks, yourteam Ala will go here. Griffin,
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your team will go here, andyou're gonna put the blocks in order,
with what order you think that theyshould be in. And when you think
you're right, you're gonna go,and we're gonna see who wins. Ready,
now, do you know the rules? You're gonna pick up a block
and set it down. Grandma?Can she take off her shoes? Well,
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it calls for that, I think. Okay, okay, those are
pretty fancy. Okay, on yourmark. You can't run? Gets it
go? Oh no, nope,go beat me over here. Pick up
one, pick up one, pickup one, pick up one. Okay,
go go me me go, Mimi, take it back, take it
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back. Okay, come back,okay, pick up black Okay, okay
go, she's gonna run this placenext year. You got them all,
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okay, go Griffin, go Griffin, Griffin go. Okay, pick up
all the blocks, pick up allthe blocks. Bring him over here,
bring them over here. Okay,Raydine. The other team's gonna go right
here. Okay, okay, comeon, girls, Come on, girls,
bring the blocks, Come on,come on, come on. Put
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them on top of each other sothe people can see them. Yep,
yep, the top one should befirst. Oh, keep going, because
they might not be right. Oh, I'm sorry to say they are right.
Wow, you guys did good.But you guys did good. You
want to hit the button, Charlotte, go ahead, hit it again.
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Now wait, I got prizes.Hey, you guys start good race,
good race, Griffil hand these out. Good race, good good race.
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I knew a roue would win.Good job cars. Okay, oh but
you know what, I've got medalsfor second place too. You are not
without because you did so good.Can I open that for you? Absolutely?
Can I open that for her mom? Okay, she knows, she
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knows when she's here at the churchclean and I always have stuff here,
griff number two, number two.All right, let's give the kids a
handy. Now, I gotta putthem in order here. Okay, you
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guys can go sit down. Dideverybody get their christ? I have this
many left. I need to likethrow them out or something. Can't fall
asleep. Okay, So our nextsteps here at the church we're gonna be
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talking about. Our next steps aretwo know Jesus, Receive Jesus, follow
Jesus, and serve Jesus. Thatis gonna be the journey, the journey
that we ourselves are on and thejourney that we get to take people through
as they come to know Jesus Christas their savior. So each week this
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month we'll be learning the details aboutthis step. But today we want to
talk about knowing Jesus. Now.Griffin or we like to call him Peanut
around here here he's getting ready tohave his first baby with his lovely wife,
Brienna, my daughter, and theyhad their ultrasound, but it was
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kind of the big old sound.A couple weeks ago was the scan where
they measure all of the bones andall of the organs and look at all
four heart chambers, and so everythingmeasured really well, except the femur bone
in the leg seem to be reallyreally long. Imagine. I told Griffin
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that she must take after me.But you see, they were checking for
growth and development, everything that wedo when we have a baby. We
take them in for their well checks, and they check for growth and development.
Because if the child or the infantor the newborn stops growing, it's
detrimental. If you and I stopgrowing. When it comes to our journey
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with Christ, it is detrimental.We must keep going on our spiritual walk.
Philippians, Chapter three. We're goingto be staying right here verse seven
and eight, Verse seven and eight. Chapter three, verse seven and eight.
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I have it right here. Butwhatever orgains to me I now consider
loss for the sake of Christ.What is more, I consider everything a
loss because of the surpassing worth ofknowing Christ, Jesus my Lord, for
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whose sake I have lost. Allthings. I consider them garbage that I
may gain Christ and be found inhim. Not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law,but that which is through faith in Christ
Jesus. Everything else I consider aloss. Paul says, but from knowing
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Christ, this is the starting pointto know Jesus. There's an entire world
out there that does not know OhJesus. And I believe also there's an
entire world sitting in congregations today thatdo not know Jesus. To know who
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he is, John fourteen six saysthis, Jesus answered, I am the
Way, the Truth, and theLife. No one comes to the Father
except through me. Knowing him isto know that he is the only way.
He is the Truth, he islife. And then John follows it
(22:37):
up in chapter seventeen, verse threethat says, now this is eternal life,
that they may know you, theonly true God, and that Jesus
Christ, whom you have seen.Do you know Jesus. That's the first
step Dennis Kinlaw want of Pastor Don'sfamous theologians. He makes sure that our
(22:59):
booksh elves are stocked with Dennis Kinlawbooks. He said it this way.
What Western Christianity needs first and foremostis not more Christians, but for Christians
to be much more Christian than theyare. Christians are to be a positive
influence in society, driving back corruption, bringing cleanliness where pollution exists, and
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they are to add flavor and zestto life for which all society seeks diligently
and fruitlessly. Saltiness is not aquality that you and I can control,
keep and dispense. Kin Law said, it is a direct result of living
in intimacy with God. Our witnessand who we are in Christ determines directly
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our relationship that we have with Himpersonally. Now there's this incredible part that
we sang about. I wanted tosing that. That's an older song.
We sang about grace today, butI wanted to see about that grace because
there is a grace that comes beforewe call it provenient grace. Now you
will look in the scripture and youwill not find that word, but you
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will find pre and provenient grace throughoutthe entire scripture. It is the grace
that comes before the grace that Godis preparing us. And when I listened
back and thought about every single testimonythat we heard over the last five weeks,
every single person shared a line ortwo, or a paragraph or a
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person where the seed was laid,where they felt the nudge, where they
sensed the Holy Spirit. John Wesleysays that provenient grace is the first wish
to please God. It's the firstdawn of light concerning his will and the
first slight, transient conviction of havingsinned against him. And it is isn't
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it amazing that God often uses peoplejust like you and me along someone's journey
to offer some of that grace.As I was thinking about it, God
sometimes gives uncles a nudge to puta microphone in a three year old's hand,
prevenient grace. I was thinking aboutyour story, Alice. God sometimes
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gives a neighbor a porch swing anda chocolate chip cookie, where little Alice
could go just for the cookie.But she got a whole lot of Jesus
and found herself in church. Thatwoman knew how to witness. And by
the way, Alice then took thosecookies and she makes them for everybody.
My nineteen year old is so spoiledwith her chocolate chip cookies. I just
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think it's ridiculous. I think you'vecrossed the line to enabling. God uses
those things. A blanket, Cindy, a bottle of water, a prayer,
provenient grace. Those of you whogo around in a white van with
(26:06):
defiance Church of the Nazarene on theside, and you bring kids in the
seed provenient grace. God uses allof these things. There are no accidents
or coincidences. This is the handof God pursuing you, longing for you,
longing to have fellowship and communion withyou. And what you need to
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know today is every person you comein contact with, no matter how they
look, no matter how they dress, no matter how they talk, provenient
grace is working with them. Itis already there because God is there,
seeking and pursuing. Charles Spurgeon describesit like this, Oh what mercy.
When God puts chains across the road, digs ditches, makes hedges and builds
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walls and says to us, no, you shall not go there. Awakened
to truth by provenient grace and thestory of Paul in the Bible, the
provenient grace was at work when hedescribes himself as the worst of the worst
of sinners. What did he mean? Paul had accolades everywhere. Paul was
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born into privilege, he had iton what he didn't have he went after.
But he described these reasons for confidencein the flesh, and he had
all the reasons he had received theheight of self righteousness. I mean,
if human effort could get you closerto God, Paul would have achieved it.
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But here's what we need to know. Human effort cannot. It is
only through Jesus Christ and his bloodthat was shed that can restore our fellowship
with Christ need Jesus. Paul saysit this way. He said, I
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was circumcised on the eighth Day.Well, what does that mean? It
means he had the right birth.He was a true Jewish believer who had
the privilege of having believing parents.He said, I was of the nation
of Israel. What does that mean? That means he had the right national
heritage. He had a very specialrelationship with God. He was a descendant
(28:26):
directly of the Covenant promise of God'speople. It said he was of the
tribe of Benjamin. Now why isthis important? That tribe was considered the
aristocratic tribe of Israel because of theirloyalty when so many of the tribes became
disloyal to God and the things thatGod wanted them to do, so the
tribe of Benjamin was considered the mostnoble and respectable tribe. Paul said,
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I was a Hebrew born of Hebrews. What did that mean? That many
had the right language, the rightcustoms, and he had remained steadfast this
heritage. In the Middle where allthe customs were changing and everyone had different
language, Paul kept to the customs. He said, I was a Hebrew
of all Hebrews. He said,I was a Pharisee. Oh, he
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had the right religion. They werethe strict ones who were separated. They
dedicated their life to this. Hewas faithful to the services, the ordinances,
the rituals, and the ceremonies.And it said he was a persecutor
of the church that many stood,and he fought for the religion and was
determined to get rid of any causethat threatened it, including the followers of
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Christ. Regarding righteousness, Paul saysabout himself, I was blameless. He
kept the law fully and completely.But look what God longs to do with
each of our lives. Prevenient Gracebegan to work all over Paul's life.
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Think what he could do with aPaul who not only stops persecuting the followers
of Jesus, but decides to knowJesus. You see, Paul knew all
that he thought he knew, Hethought he had it all, but he
missed the one standing right before him. He missed the love of God for
(30:22):
man. And that is the transformationalpart. Don't miss the love of God
for you so much that he senthis son Jesus. That prevenient grace intersected
Paul's life on that road to Damascus. He was Saul at the time,
and Christ transformed him so much heneeded a new name. There was a
(30:48):
new name written down in glory becausePaul had met the author of his story,
and everything changed. And it didn'tmatter what he knew before, because
it was all a loss and heknew it all. But Paul sent a
man named Anonius after he was blinded, and Antonius was like, whoa wait,
this is the guy killing people thatfollow Jesus. But he said,
(31:11):
oh, no, go. Yousee my grace has gone before Antonius,
and I want you to go,and I want you to lay your hands
on him, and I want Paulto receive the Holy Spirit so he will
take the word to the gentiles.I have a plan. Paul had a
new name written down in glory becausefinally, after everything, he began to
(31:34):
know Jesus his new treasure. KnowingChrist personally became Paul's number one. That's
why we have it first. Whenwe long and set out to know more
of Christ every day and to makeit our number one. God will work
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everything else out. And I'm sayingthat with assurance from his word, not
that I always live it. I'mjust being honest. Sometimes I try to
do things on my own. Afterall these years, Do you know Christ,
(32:20):
Tara, make him your number oneand let me work out everything else,
because you know why, Hamburger helperjust doesn't cut it anymore, right,
And you say, well, Ilike me a good Hamburger Helper.
I do too. Something about themix of that cheese that's not cheese,
(32:43):
and that beef. But have youhad my beef roast and the carrots marinated,
and the mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, and the rolls. Have you
experienced the abundance of Jesus Christ?Because when you know Christ, you will
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know yourself. You will finally gainyour identity because Hamburger helper just doesn't cut
it. My son in law,Peanut is so sweet to my daughter,
he really really is. And Ihad made a rose. My roast is
Brianna's favorite meal, and so Fridaynight I had him over and Griffin took
one bite. And I have hardlyever in all of the years that they
(33:34):
have dated, which is a lotof ears and been married for over four
now, I hardly ever have heardhim say one kind of negative thing to
her. And he took a biteof my roast, and he looked at
her and he said, oh,you got to learn how to do this.
She made the same face at himthat I made at her father when
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he goes Hamburger helper. Christ haseverything for you. We need to know
him. There's four key things thatwe're gonna be rolling out. You're gonna
hear us talking about it, overand over. Number one, we need
to be listening and learning. Weneed to hear the word, embrace,
(34:19):
learning more about Jesus, look atthe scripture, do whatever it takes to
get rid of distractions. When theWord of God is being opened up,
listen and learn. Number two,we need to pursue. You gotta want
it, you gotta go after it. He's already come after you. We
(34:40):
need to pursue and be intentional toknow more about Jesus. Attend the things
of Jesus. Adjust our calendar,and an intentional effort to know Jesus.
Make Jesus our Number one. Weneed to experience. We need to put
ourselves in positions to experience Jesus.That might mean turning our radio station to
(35:07):
a different one. That might meanattending service regularly, prioritizing daily time,
preparing our hearts when we come toworship. A few weeks ago, Pastor
Scott was preaching and we weren't doingany new songs, and I wasn't teaching
Sunday School like. All I wasdoing was coming into fellowship with you guys,
(35:30):
check in and lead worship, andI felt kind of free. I
was like, I'm not preaching.I'm not teaching, and you know we're
not doing any new songs. AndI had to constantly tell myself, Ttera
focus, God has something for youto hear today, Terra focus. We
need to focus and experience. Weneed to connect. We need to connect
(35:53):
with people who know Jesus. Joinclasses, life groups, find a mentor.
Make sure your mentor knows Jesus.That's important. And if I ask
each of you today, I dothis with the young adults a lot.
Name one person that's been Jesus toyou. They can name him like that.
(36:15):
Find your person, sit next tohim, begin to know that Jesus
that they know, experience his love. Often I think we come seeking.
We just we want immediate relief fromour pain, immediate change from our problem.
(36:35):
But we forget that He is theprize. It is him with us
living in us. That is themiracle. I gave the kids first and
second place medals. But in lifeand on this journey, when Paul says,
run to receive the prize, there'sonly one prize. We either know
(37:05):
him or we don't. The peopleyou will meet today, they either know
him or they don't. Are wegoing to be the ones that give them
just a little bit of a glimpseof that love, of that peace,
(37:30):
and to be somewhere along that journey. So someday when that provenient grace is
laying the groundwork and their eyes areawakened and they come to you and they
say, I don't want Hamburger helperanymore. I don't want to just get
by and maybe hope one day Islide into heaven. I want to live
(37:55):
in the abundance of walking with cheeseevery single day. Would you stand with
me, God, I thank youfor this day and this time that we
have had together. Lord, Andin these moments when we're closing, God,
I pray that each of us wouldbegin to earnestly seek You with all
(38:19):
of our hearts. That God,this is the first step, but it
is a constant step. Lord,that you would continue to reveal to each
of us more of who you areevery day, every day, that we
would ask to know you more,and that one day we would be able
to stand like Paul and say allof the rest just doesn't matter, and
(38:40):
it does not compare to knowing Jesus. Thank you for these moments. Be
with us the rest of the dayin your name we pray amen
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