Touching Lives is the international broadcast ministry of Dr. James Merritt.
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Touching Lives with James Merritt | Church Wanted | June 26, 2022
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- male announcer: This program is paid for by the friends and
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- partners of "Touching Lives."
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- Welcome to the international broadcast ministry of "Touching
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- Lives with Dr. James Merritt."
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- Here at "Touching Lives," our mission is to touch the lives of
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- the lost and enrich the faith of the found.
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- And now, here is pastor, author, and speaker, Dr. James Merritt.
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- ♪♪♪
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- CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io
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- ♪♪♪
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- James Merritt: Philippi is an ancient city in Northern Greece.
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- I've visited several times.
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- I'm goin' back there next year.
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- It wasn't a bustling metropolitan city.
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- It had a strong industrial base, had a great economy.
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- Paul visited that city for the first time around 50, A.D.
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- He had never been there before.
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- There was no church there.
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- It was a pretty highly pagan city.
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- And in 50 A.D. he founded the first church
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- in the area that we would now call Europe.
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- Well, ten years later, Paul is writing a letter to that church,
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- and I'm convinced as I've read this letter many times, that if
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- Paul had a favorite church of all the churches he founded, and
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- all the churches he started, I'm pretty sure he would say if I
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- had to tell you, Philippians would probably be my all-time
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- favorite church.
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- And if you study this letter, you'll understand why.
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- If you're a guest of ours, you've come on Good Sunday,
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- because we are beginning a series of messages today through
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- the book of Philippians that we're calling "Joy Ride,"
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- because I believe this is gonna be a ride that you're going
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- to enjoy.
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- It's gonna put a smile on your face, a bounce to your step,
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- just like it did the apostle Paul.
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- And one of the reasons why I'm really pumped about us studying
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- the book of Philippians is because, to be very honest with
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- you, we live in a generally joyless world, and you know, it
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- really doesn't matter where you live.
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- It's just a joyless world.
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- It doesn't matter whether you live in a relatively prosperous,
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- peaceful country like ours, or a war-torn country across the
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- globe, or an extremely poor nation.
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- Everywhere you look, there's despair.
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- There's disappointment.
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- There's dissatisfaction.
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- There's discouragement.
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- There's division.
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- And frankly, I don't think anybody would argue that either
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- inside most churches, or outside all churches, there's not an
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- over abundance of joy.
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- But this church was an exception.
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- I'll tell you how I know that's true.
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- Paul wrote 13 books in the New Testament out of 27, almost half
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- the New Testament.
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- Every one of them were letters that he wrote to churches.
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- Now, the interesting thing is, of the 13 letters, 11 of them
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- were written to seven different churches.
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- But when you read Philippians, something stands out.
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- Of all the letters that Paul wrote to all the churches, this
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- is the only letter in which he never corrects any bad teaching.
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- He never rebukes any bad behavior.
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- He never as to handle a bad situation.
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- It is a totally positive letter.
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- And I've thought to myself, as I've studied this book so many
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- times, why?
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- What was it about this church that Paul just fell so in
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- love with?
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- Well, it was a church that was full of joy.
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- It gave joy to the pastor that founded it.
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- It gave joy to the people who attended it.
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- As a matter of fact, 19 times in this book you'll find
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- three words.
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- You find the word "joy."
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- You find the word "rejoice."
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- You find the word "gladness."
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- And as you read this book and study this book, all of a sudden
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- it hits you.
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- This is what a church ought to look like on the inside to the
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- people who attend it.
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- This is what a church ought to look like from the outside to
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- people who don't attend it.
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- So as we kind of begin our study, I would like to ask three
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- questions: one of me, one of you, one of us.
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- Here's my question to me.
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- Am I the kind of pastor who brings joy to God's heart as he
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- looks at me?
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- Am I the kind of pastor that brings joy to your heart by
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- being here?
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- Here's the second question.
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- Am I the kind of church member who brings joy to my pastor's
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- heart when he thinks of me?
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- But here's the bigger question.
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- Are we the kind of church that brings joy to the people who
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- attend the church on the inside and the people who look at the
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- church from the outside?
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- I really believe if the first two things are true, the last
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- thing will be true.
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- And I want to share with you today three things that were
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- true about that church that I want to be true about our
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- church, both to insiders and to outsiders.
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- I want to be a church that's wanted.
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- Now, the question is, well, what does that mean?
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- What does that look like?
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- How is it that we want everyone, whether they are inside the
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- church or outside the church, to see us?
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- When you're out on the street, you're in the grocery store.
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- You're talking to a next-door neighbor, and Cross Pointe
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- Church, whether it's Mill Creek or Sugar Grove, Cross Pointe
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- Church comes up, what do we want people to see and to think
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- about us?
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- Well, Paul said three things.
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- Number one, we want people to be grateful when they think about
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- us, grateful when they think about us.
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- Now, here's how Paul begins his letter.
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- "Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all God's holy
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- people in Christ Jesus at Philippi."
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- He was talking to the church.
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- So, if you know the Lord and you're a follower of Jesus, you
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- may be kinda down in your life or up in your life, you may be
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- hitting on all eight cylinders or not so much, but you're still
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- part of God's holy people.
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- "Together with the overseers," that's people like me, "And
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- deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
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- Jesus Christ."
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- Then he says this, "I thank my God every time I remember you."
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- As a pastor, that's mind boggling.
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- Now, Paul is talking to two groups of people that actually
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- make up every church that's ever been or ever will be.
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- Our church is made up of two kinds of people, Jews
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- and Gentiles.
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- Matter of fact, let me clue you in on something.
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- The whole world basically can be boiled down, ethnically
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- speaking, to two kinds of people.
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- You're either a Jew or a Gentile.
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- Everybody's one or the other.
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- If you're Jewish, you're not a Gentile.
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- If you're a Gentile, you're not Jewish.
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- And so, here was a church that was full of Jews and full
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- of Gentiles.
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- You say, "How do you know they were full of both?"
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- Well, because of the greeting that Paul gave them.
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- He says, "Grace and peace to you."
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- Grace is the way you would greet a Gentile if you were walking
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- down the street and it was obvious that someone was
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- not Jewish.
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- Your greeting was grace.
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- If you're walking down the street and you walked into a
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- Jew, it was shalom, which means peace.
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- Peace to you.
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- So, I know right off the bat this was a very diverse church.
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- You had Gentiles, you had Jews, and yet it was full of joy,
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- evidently had any few real difficult problems, which really
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- kind of is amazing.
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- But the more amazing statement to me is the one that blows my
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- mind and it speaks volumes about how much Paul loved this church
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- and the kind of people that were in it.
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- He said every time I remember you, every time.
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- I thank God for you.
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- And you know, it's very rare that anybody has great memories
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- about everybody all the time, and yet Paul makes this
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- incredible statement.
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- He said every single time I remember every single one of you
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- in that church, man, I just thank God for you.
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- You just put a smile on my face.
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- You put joy in my heart.
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- You put a bounce to my step.
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- And I just want to say that's what I want people to say about
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- our church, those who attend our church, and those who don't.
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- Those who know about our church, and those who just hear about
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- our church.
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- I want people to be grateful for us.
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- I want to be the kind of church that if we decided today, you
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- know what, we're just going to shut everything down, we're
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- going to sell this property, we're just gonna go our separate
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- ways, that the whole community would go into mourning.
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- I want people to say you can't do that.
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- You can't leave.
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- We need you.
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- We love you.
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- You're giving too much.
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- We're thankful for your ministry to the needy, your ministry to
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- the hungry, your ministry to the community, your ministry to the
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- schools, your ministry to the city.
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- That's what I want people to think about us, be grateful when
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- they think.
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- When they just hear the name Cross Pointe, "Oh, I've heard
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- about your church, so thankful for all that you do."
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- But then Paul says something else.
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- He said we not only want people to be grateful when they think
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- about us.
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- We want people to be joyful when they talk about us, joyful when
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- they talk about us.
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- Notice what Paul says.
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- He says, "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray
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- with joy."
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- I can't say that.
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- I'm just being honest.
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- There have been times in my ministry, I've prayed, "Lord,
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- it's okay if that family leaves and goes somewhere else.
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- No hard feelings."
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- You know, every time Paul prayed for this church, and every time
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- Paul talked to God about this church, he radiated.
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- He was so happy.
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- He was so full of joy.
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- By the way, keep in mind when Paul wrote this letter, he's
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- writing from a prison, and so Paul, for Paul, there were not a
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- lot of beautiful days.
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- But every time Paul thought about this church, and every
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- time Paul thought about this people, his day was filled with
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- beautiful joy.
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- Well, that raises a question.
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- So, hey, hey, Doc, what was it about this church that brought
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- such joy to Paul's heart?
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- What was it about this church that put a bounce in his step?
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- Well, it's not hard to find.
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- This church did one thing.
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- Now listen carefully, one thing, one thing this church did, and
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- it would make anyone who knew anything about this church to be
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- joyful when they talked about this church.
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- You know what this church did that brought such joy to
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- Paul's heart?
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- Watch this, he says every time I prayed for you, I prayed with
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- joy, "Because of your partnership in the gospel from
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- the first day until now."
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- Now hang with me.
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- That word "partnership," you wouldn't recognize it probably
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- because in the Greek language in the New Testament, most often
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- that word's translated fellowship, but that word
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- "fellowship" is one of the most misunderstood words in the
- 00:10:56.014 --> 00:10:58.149
- New Testament.
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- 'Cause when we think about fellowship, we'll say, "Man, I
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- had some good fellowship today."
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- Here's what we think.
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- We think fellowship is just, you know, meeting up with somebody
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- and having a cup of coffee, or go hunt, or go fish, or go play
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- golf, or take a spa day, or something like that.
- 00:11:09.861 --> 00:11:12.464
- Well, in the first century, the word "fellowship" actually it
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- was a financial term, and it was related to commerce
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- and business.
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- So I'll give you an illustration.
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- If two people decide they're going to go into business
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- together, and let's say they're gonna be, you know, equal
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- partnership, this guy's gonna put in 50%, this guy's gonna put
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- in 50%.
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- Okay, now we're talkin' business.
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- Once they decide they are gonna go into business together, we
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- don't call it a fellowship.
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- We call it a what?
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- Yeah, a partnership.
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- Okay, it is a partnership.
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- That's the word that was used.
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- So here's the difference, this church understood, I don't know
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- how they did it, but they understood from the time they
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- had their first service, you know what, we just entered into
- 00:11:48.433 --> 00:11:51.569
- a partnership.
- 00:11:51.569 --> 00:11:53.138
- Paul, we've entered into a partnership with you.
- 00:11:53.138 --> 00:11:56.307
- We've entered into a partnership with each other.
- 00:11:56.307 --> 00:11:58.943
- Lord, we've entered into a partnership with you.
- 00:11:58.943 --> 00:12:01.713
- Now, we've gotta do two things as partners.
- 00:12:01.713 --> 00:12:03.882
- If we're gonna be partners, we gotta give to the work of the
- 00:12:03.882 --> 00:12:07.152
- gospel, and we also have to work to spread the gospel, and we've
- 00:12:07.152 --> 00:12:11.923
- got to do it together.
- 00:12:11.923 --> 00:12:13.424
- If we won't do one thing as a church, nothing will ever divide
- 00:12:13.424 --> 00:12:16.194
- this church, nothing.
- 00:12:16.194 --> 00:12:17.562
- We've gotta be 100% all the time, every day, sold out to
- 00:12:17.562 --> 00:12:22.033
- the gospel.
- 00:12:22.033 --> 00:12:23.568
- When people think about our church, I don't want them to
- 00:12:23.568 --> 00:12:25.670
- think about was that a conservative church, a liberal
- 00:12:25.670 --> 00:12:27.772
- church, a republican church, a democrat church?
- 00:12:27.772 --> 00:12:29.908
- No, I want them to say, "Man, that's a church that loves
- 00:12:29.908 --> 00:12:32.610
- the gospel.
- 00:12:32.610 --> 00:12:33.978
- That's a church that's all about the gospel.
- 00:12:33.978 --> 00:12:35.346
- That's the church that is centered on the gospel."
- 00:12:35.346 --> 00:12:37.882
- Because think about it.
- 00:12:37.882 --> 00:12:39.217
- Go back to that early church.
- 00:12:39.217 --> 00:12:40.585
- Do you understand all the barriers there were in that
- 00:12:40.585 --> 00:12:42.654
- early church to come together and stay together?
- 00:12:42.654 --> 00:12:44.889
- There were racial barriers, there were Jews and Gentiles.
- 00:12:44.889 --> 00:12:48.226
- There were social barriers.
- 00:12:48.226 --> 00:12:49.594
- You had slave and free.
- 00:12:49.594 --> 00:12:50.995
- There were financial barriers.
- 00:12:50.995 --> 00:12:52.363
- You had rich and poor.
- 00:12:52.363 --> 00:12:53.798
- There were cultural barriers.
- 00:12:53.798 --> 00:12:55.133
- You had Romans and Greeks.
- 00:12:55.133 --> 00:12:56.534
- There were educational barriers.
- 00:12:56.534 --> 00:12:57.869
- You had the schooled and the illiterate.
- 00:12:57.869 --> 00:12:59.671
- But there was one message that brought them together.
- 00:12:59.671 --> 00:13:02.307
- There was one magnet that drew them together.
- 00:13:02.307 --> 00:13:04.709
- There was one ministry that kept them together, and that was
- 00:13:04.709 --> 00:13:08.279
- the gospel.
- 00:13:08.279 --> 00:13:09.614
- And whenever a church comes together and says you know what
- 00:13:09.614 --> 00:13:11.916
- we're gonna do?
- 00:13:11.916 --> 00:13:13.251
- We're gonna celebrate the gospel in our worship.
- 00:13:13.251 --> 00:13:15.687
- We're gonna elevate the gospel in our service.
- 00:13:15.687 --> 00:13:18.189
- We're going to communicate the gospel in our lives.
- 00:13:18.189 --> 00:13:20.892
- Here's what will happen.
- 00:13:20.892 --> 00:13:22.260
- People everywhere will be joyful when they talk about our church.
- 00:13:22.260 --> 00:13:29.234
- I pray you're catching the heart and the spirit of what Paul
- 00:13:29.234 --> 00:13:34.105
- said, and what's in my heart today.
- 00:13:34.105 --> 00:13:37.609
- One day I'm going to give an account as to how I pastored
- 00:13:37.609 --> 00:13:41.012
- this church.
- 00:13:41.012 --> 00:13:43.114
- I will give an account has to how every dollar that you gave
- 00:13:43.114 --> 00:13:46.885
- to this church was spent.
- 00:13:46.885 --> 00:13:49.087
- You don't think that keeps me up at night?
- 00:13:49.087 --> 00:13:50.555
- Every night, you don't have to give an account, you gotta give
- 00:13:50.555 --> 00:13:52.457
- an account whether you give or not.
- 00:13:52.457 --> 00:13:53.791
- I've got to give an account of what we did with it.
- 00:13:53.791 --> 00:13:55.493
- We get it, we understand, we take it very seriously, but let
- 00:13:55.493 --> 00:13:58.630
- me tell you something.
- 00:13:58.630 --> 00:13:59.964
- All of us as a church is going to be judged by the Lord.
- 00:13:59.964 --> 00:14:02.367
- What kind of a church were we?
- 00:14:02.367 --> 00:14:05.169
- Were we the kind of church where people inside the church and
- 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:07.872
- people outside of the church, they were grateful when they
- 00:14:07.872 --> 00:14:10.275
- thought about us, they were joyful when they talked
- 00:14:10.275 --> 00:14:13.011
- about us?
- 00:14:13.011 --> 00:14:14.445
- But then there's one last thing, it's my favorite part of
- 00:14:14.445 --> 00:14:16.581
- the message.
- 00:14:16.581 --> 00:14:18.149
- Paul said you're the kind of church where people are grateful
- 00:14:18.149 --> 00:14:21.219
- when they think about you, people are joyful when they talk
- 00:14:21.219 --> 00:14:25.089
- about you, but people are boastful in what they trust
- 00:14:25.089 --> 00:14:29.394
- about you.
- 00:14:29.394 --> 00:14:30.728
- Now, listen to what Paul says.
- 00:14:30.728 --> 00:14:32.497
- There were a lot of things that I guarantee you when Paul wrote
- 00:14:32.497 --> 00:14:35.333
- this letter, he wasn't sure of.
- 00:14:35.333 --> 00:14:38.169
- He wasn't even sure he'd finish the letter.
- 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:41.272
- He wasn't even sure if this would be the last day he
- 00:14:41.272 --> 00:14:43.341
- would live.
- 00:14:43.341 --> 00:14:44.676
- He wasn't sure he'd ever get out of that prison.
- 00:14:44.676 --> 00:14:47.111
- He wasn't sure he'd ever see these people again.
- 00:14:47.111 --> 00:14:49.180
- He wasn't sure he'd ever preach in a church ever, ever again.
- 00:14:49.180 --> 00:14:52.250
- But there was one thing Paul was rock, rib, absolutely, totally
- 00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:56.587
- sure about.
- 00:14:56.587 --> 00:14:57.956
- Listen to what he says.
- 00:14:57.956 --> 00:14:59.290
- "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
- 00:14:59.290 --> 00:15:04.762
- will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
- 00:15:04.762 --> 00:15:09.133
- Now, what was Paul talking about?
- 00:15:09.133 --> 00:15:10.668
- He was actually talking about two things.
- 00:15:10.668 --> 00:15:12.971
- First of all, he's talking about their salvation, their
- 00:15:12.971 --> 00:15:14.939
- relationship to God.
- 00:15:14.939 --> 00:15:16.274
- He said you know what I'm sure about?
- 00:15:16.274 --> 00:15:18.076
- I'm sure that when God began that work in you ten years ago,
- 00:15:18.076 --> 00:15:21.879
- when God saved you, and God saved you, and God saved you,
- 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:24.515
- and God saved you, and God saved you, I'm absolutely, totally,
- 00:15:24.515 --> 00:15:28.553
- absolutely convinced you will never lose that salvation.
- 00:15:28.553 --> 00:15:32.290
- Your relationship will never be broken, not because of your
- 00:15:32.290 --> 00:15:35.093
- goodness, but because of God's grace.
- 00:15:35.093 --> 00:15:38.129
- Because let me go back and maybe help some of us this morning
- 00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:41.399
- understand, those of us who are followers of Jesus, how it all
- 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:43.801
- got started.
- 00:15:43.801 --> 00:15:45.703
- I mean, how did these people become believers to begin with?
- 00:15:45.703 --> 00:15:49.374
- You say, "Well, you just told us.
- 00:15:49.374 --> 00:15:50.742
- You said Paul went there, and Paul preached the gospel, and
- 00:15:50.742 --> 00:15:54.412
- they responded, and they got saved."
- 00:15:54.412 --> 00:15:56.948
- Now that's what happened, I'm asking you how did it happen?
- 00:15:56.948 --> 00:16:00.118
- How did all that start?
- 00:16:00.118 --> 00:16:02.120
- That word "began" is actually a compound verb that means to
- 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.123
- begin in.
- 00:16:05.123 --> 00:16:06.924
- The work that God began in you.
- 00:16:06.924 --> 00:16:09.127
- It's only used two times in the New Testament, both times refer
- 00:16:09.127 --> 00:16:12.363
- our salvation.
- 00:16:12.363 --> 00:16:13.731
- So, what did Paul mean when he said, "He who began a good work
- 00:16:13.731 --> 00:16:16.334
- in you?"
- 00:16:16.334 --> 00:16:17.869
- What's interesting, if you go back to the book of Acts, and
- 00:16:17.869 --> 00:16:20.304
- you read how this church got started, the very first convert
- 00:16:20.304 --> 00:16:23.341
- in that church was a businesswoman named Lydia.
- 00:16:23.341 --> 00:16:26.611
- She was a seller of purple dye, she was a very rich woman.
- 00:16:26.611 --> 00:16:29.781
- And evidently Paul met her, and Paul began to share the gospel
- 00:16:29.781 --> 00:16:32.683
- with her, and she responded to the gospel.
- 00:16:32.683 --> 00:16:35.053
- But again, how did she respond?
- 00:16:35.053 --> 00:16:37.055
- How did it all get started?
- 00:16:37.055 --> 00:16:38.423
- Listen to what we read in the book of Acts.
- 00:16:38.423 --> 00:16:40.625
- "One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira
- 00:16:40.625 --> 00:16:43.227
- named Lydia.
- 00:16:43.227 --> 00:16:44.562
- She was a dealer in purple cloth.
- 00:16:44.562 --> 00:16:46.097
- She was a worshiper of God.
- 00:16:46.097 --> 00:16:48.166
- The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message."
- 00:16:48.166 --> 00:16:54.872
- God began the church in Philippi by beginning the work of
- 00:16:54.872 --> 00:16:58.342
- salvation in Lydia.
- 00:16:58.342 --> 00:17:00.244
- Now, this may surprise some of you, 'cause there are a lot of
- 00:17:00.244 --> 00:17:03.014
- us that think, "Well, I know how I became a Christian, I did it.
- 00:17:03.014 --> 00:17:06.717
- I started it.
- 00:17:06.717 --> 00:17:08.052
- I kind of decided I would come to the Lord."
- 00:17:08.052 --> 00:17:09.987
- Yeah, you did, but how did that happen?
- 00:17:09.987 --> 00:17:12.890
- So, listen to this next statement.
- 00:17:12.890 --> 00:17:15.193
- You never start with God.
- 00:17:15.193 --> 00:17:18.296
- God starts with you.
- 00:17:18.296 --> 00:17:20.598
- God always goes first, and you better be glad that he does.
- 00:17:20.598 --> 00:17:24.936
- You say, "Well, why is that?"
- 00:17:24.936 --> 00:17:27.305
- Because number one, you can't finish what God starts, that
- 00:17:27.305 --> 00:17:31.709
- will preach.
- 00:17:31.709 --> 00:17:33.344
- Number two, thank you, I wish I had a hundred of you.
- 00:17:33.344 --> 00:17:36.581
- Number two, number two, not only can you not finish what God
- 00:17:36.581 --> 00:17:40.751
- starts, it gets better.
- 00:17:40.751 --> 00:17:42.820
- What God starts, he always finishes, always.
- 00:17:42.820 --> 00:17:48.926
- That word there for carry it on to completion we read a moment
- 00:17:48.926 --> 00:17:51.429
- ago, it literally means to fully complete.
- 00:17:51.429 --> 00:17:53.631
- I'm going to ask you a question.
- 00:17:53.631 --> 00:17:54.966
- Let's all be honest, okay?
- 00:17:54.966 --> 00:17:56.334
- I'm going to go ahead and tell you.
- 00:17:56.334 --> 00:17:57.668
- If you don't raise your hand when I ask you this question,
- 00:17:57.668 --> 00:17:59.270
- you're lying like a dog.
- 00:17:59.270 --> 00:18:00.905
- No, you're lying like a gator.
- 00:18:00.905 --> 00:18:02.673
- Listen, how many of you have ever started a job you
- 00:18:02.673 --> 00:18:10.615
- didn't finish?
- 00:18:10.615 --> 00:18:12.450
- Okay, maybe it's the puzzle you'd never put together.
- 00:18:12.450 --> 00:18:15.786
- It's the room you left unpainted.
- 00:18:15.786 --> 00:18:17.255
- You know, it's the cake you half baked.
- 00:18:17.255 --> 00:18:18.856
- Whatever it is, you know, we've all started a job we
- 00:18:18.856 --> 00:18:21.292
- didn't finish.
- 00:18:21.292 --> 00:18:22.660
- Listen to me.
- 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:23.995
- God never leaves of job half-finished.
- 00:18:23.995 --> 00:18:25.363
- He never leaves it three-quarters finished.
- 00:18:25.363 --> 00:18:26.831
- He never leaves at 99% finished.
- 00:18:26.831 --> 00:18:28.933
- What God starts, God finishes.
- 00:18:28.933 --> 00:18:31.469
- So, let me tell you what that means.
- 00:18:31.469 --> 00:18:33.204
- This will make some of you really get joyful, okay?
- 00:18:33.204 --> 00:18:36.274
- When God saves a person, he saves that person completely.
- 00:18:36.274 --> 00:18:42.380
- I mean, completely.
- 00:18:42.380 --> 00:18:44.182
- Nobody's half-saved.
- 00:18:44.182 --> 00:18:45.550
- Nobody's three-quarters saved.
- 00:18:45.550 --> 00:18:46.884
- You're either 100% saved or you're 100% lost, there's no
- 00:18:46.884 --> 00:18:50.321
- in between.
- 00:18:50.321 --> 00:18:51.656
- And when God saves us, he saves us body, he saves us soul, he
- 00:18:51.656 --> 00:18:55.826
- saves us spirit.
- 00:18:55.826 --> 00:18:57.195
- He saves us completely.
- 00:18:57.195 --> 00:18:58.663
- When God saves us, he saves us permanently.
- 00:18:58.663 --> 00:19:02.633
- In other words, there's nothing temporary about it.
- 00:19:02.633 --> 00:19:04.835
- You're not put on probation, there's no trial period.
- 00:19:04.835 --> 00:19:08.039
- God doesn't save you and say, "Okay, James, I'm gonna see if
- 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:11.075
- you kind of live up to what I want you to do.
- 00:19:11.075 --> 00:19:13.578
- I'm going to see if you kind of make the scale.
- 00:19:13.578 --> 00:19:15.213
- I wanna make sure that you do what I want you to do, and then
- 00:19:15.213 --> 00:19:17.515
- I'll decide if I'm really going to permanently save you or not."
- 00:19:17.515 --> 00:19:19.483
- It doesn't work that way.
- 00:19:19.483 --> 00:19:20.818
- When God saves you, he saves you permanently.
- 00:19:20.818 --> 00:19:23.955
- And then when God saves us, he saves us eternally.
- 00:19:23.955 --> 00:19:27.325
- He says you will carry it on to completion.
- 00:19:27.325 --> 00:19:29.794
- For how long, Paul?
- 00:19:29.794 --> 00:19:31.162
- Until the day of Christ Jesus.
- 00:19:31.162 --> 00:19:33.497
- When is the day of Christ Jesus?
- 00:19:33.497 --> 00:19:35.233
- That's the day when time ends.
- 00:19:35.233 --> 00:19:37.902
- That's the day when your life and my life ends.
- 00:19:37.902 --> 00:19:40.605
- That's the day when the world ends.
- 00:19:40.605 --> 00:19:42.506
- And what Paul was saying was one day time's going to end.
- 00:19:42.506 --> 00:19:45.710
- One day your life's going to end.
- 00:19:45.710 --> 00:19:47.445
- One day this world is going to end, but your relationship with
- 00:19:47.445 --> 00:19:50.414
- God will never end, because what God started in you, God will
- 00:19:50.414 --> 00:19:55.953
- finish in you.
- 00:19:55.953 --> 00:19:58.456
- But there's a second thing he was talkin' about.
- 00:19:58.456 --> 00:20:01.826
- He who began a good work in you, he said, will complete it until
- 00:20:01.826 --> 00:20:06.030
- the day of Jesus Christ.
- 00:20:06.030 --> 00:20:07.365
- Well, so go back to the moment that you gave your life
- 00:20:07.365 --> 00:20:11.669
- to Christ.
- 00:20:11.669 --> 00:20:13.304
- Go back to the moment when you got saved.
- 00:20:13.304 --> 00:20:15.806
- The two men we're gonna baptize in a moment, one man got saved
- 00:20:15.806 --> 00:20:18.276
- about six, seven weeks ago.
- 00:20:18.276 --> 00:20:19.610
- One man got saved three years ago.
- 00:20:19.610 --> 00:20:21.145
- Go back to that time in your life when you gave your life
- 00:20:21.145 --> 00:20:24.181
- to Jesus.
- 00:20:24.181 --> 00:20:25.516
- At that moment, what did God start doing in you?
- 00:20:25.516 --> 00:20:28.452
- Paul tells us he started doing a good work, all right?
- 00:20:28.452 --> 00:20:33.524
- So let me tell you something that's true about every one of
- 00:20:33.524 --> 00:20:35.426
- you that know Christ today, you ready?
- 00:20:35.426 --> 00:20:36.827
- This is so good.
- 00:20:36.827 --> 00:20:39.196
- This is true about the people you're sitting in front of,
- 00:20:39.196 --> 00:20:41.098
- behind, next to, true about everybody in this room, true
- 00:20:41.098 --> 00:20:43.334
- about everybody listening to me right now.
- 00:20:43.334 --> 00:20:44.702
- If you're a follower of Jesus, I know exactly what God's doing in
- 00:20:44.702 --> 00:20:48.572
- your life right now if you let him, good work.
- 00:20:48.572 --> 00:20:55.513
- You may not look on the outside.
- 00:20:55.513 --> 00:20:57.848
- Some people you look at and you go, "I think God took a break.
- 00:20:57.848 --> 00:21:01.986
- I think God went on vacation."
- 00:21:01.986 --> 00:21:03.521
- No, trust me, right now God is doing a good work in you.
- 00:21:03.521 --> 00:21:09.760
- Do you know what God wants to do in you every day when you get
- 00:21:09.760 --> 00:21:11.862
- out of bed?
- 00:21:11.862 --> 00:21:13.197
- A good work.
- 00:21:13.197 --> 00:21:14.532
- Do you know what God wants to do in you till the day you go
- 00:21:14.532 --> 00:21:16.534
- to heaven?
- 00:21:16.534 --> 00:21:17.868
- He wants to do a good work.
- 00:21:17.868 --> 00:21:19.203
- Do you know what God wants to do every day in our church, through
- 00:21:19.203 --> 00:21:21.072
- our church, with our church, by our church, and for our church?
- 00:21:21.072 --> 00:21:23.474
- He wants to do a good work.
- 00:21:23.474 --> 00:21:25.476
- And knowing that, every single one of us ought to want to be
- 00:21:25.476 --> 00:21:28.646
- involved in that good work.
- 00:21:28.646 --> 00:21:30.214
- See, the people who looked at this church, in that little town
- 00:21:30.214 --> 00:21:32.616
- called Philippi, they were boasting.
- 00:21:32.616 --> 00:21:35.219
- They were bragging about what they trusted about them.
- 00:21:35.219 --> 00:21:37.822
- They knew that church could be counted on a lot more than
- 00:21:37.822 --> 00:21:41.625
- Waffle House to be a place of joy, and ministry, and service,
- 00:21:41.625 --> 00:21:49.200
- and worship, and discipleship, and love.
- 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:52.870
- I read something the other day.
- 00:21:52.870 --> 00:21:54.205
- I read two things that broke my heart, and I think it's true.
- 00:21:54.205 --> 00:21:58.943
- Somebody said more and more people find God believable, but
- 00:21:58.943 --> 00:22:06.751
- the church unbearable.
- 00:22:06.751 --> 00:22:10.654
- More and more people find Jesus appealing, but the
- 00:22:10.654 --> 00:22:15.659
- church appalling.
- 00:22:15.659 --> 00:22:20.398
- It doesn't have to be that way, but it will take every one of us
- 00:22:20.398 --> 00:22:24.935
- in this church, at both of our campuses, to wake up and finally
- 00:22:24.935 --> 00:22:28.105
- say, you know what Pastor?
- 00:22:28.105 --> 00:22:29.807
- I understand now what you said.
- 00:22:29.807 --> 00:22:31.542
- I understand now the message of this passage.
- 00:22:31.542 --> 00:22:33.944
- I'm not just to come here and fill a seat.
- 00:22:33.944 --> 00:22:36.747
- I'm not even coming and drop an offering in a bucket.
- 00:22:36.747 --> 00:22:39.517
- I'm not even coming here to pretend while I'm listening to
- 00:22:39.517 --> 00:22:42.486
- you while I'm texting my buddy.
- 00:22:42.486 --> 00:22:44.755
- Yeah, I know that goes on.
- 00:22:44.755 --> 00:22:47.958
- The reason why God wants me here is to be a fully, all-in partner
- 00:22:47.958 --> 00:22:52.096
- of the gospel.
- 00:22:52.096 --> 00:22:54.098
- And when we finally make up our mind, you know what, that's what
- 00:22:54.098 --> 00:22:56.333
- we need to do?
- 00:22:56.333 --> 00:22:58.002
- It will radically change our church.
- 00:22:58.002 --> 00:23:00.404
- More and more, we're seeing summer soldiers,
- 00:23:00.404 --> 00:23:08.145
- sunshine patriots.
- 00:23:08.145 --> 00:23:11.715
- I'll come when I got nothing else to do.
- 00:23:11.715 --> 00:23:15.319
- Don't ask me to serve.
- 00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:17.955
- If I do give, I'll give when I want to give, what I want to
- 00:23:17.955 --> 00:23:20.424
- give, and if I don't wanna give, I won't give.
- 00:23:20.424 --> 00:23:24.762
- No, I don't have a one.
- 00:23:24.762 --> 00:23:26.096
- I'm not interested in having a one.
- 00:23:26.096 --> 00:23:27.465
- I'm not into this gospel stuff.
- 00:23:27.465 --> 00:23:30.167
- I just wanna come and just kind of hear you encourage me, and
- 00:23:30.167 --> 00:23:32.837
- then just leave me alone.
- 00:23:32.837 --> 00:23:36.474
- We're at a crossing.
- 00:23:36.474 --> 00:23:37.808
- The church is at a crossing.
- 00:23:37.808 --> 00:23:40.578
- And I'm not ashamed to tell you we need all of us to go all in.
- 00:23:40.578 --> 00:23:45.282
- We need all of us to go all in being partners in the gospel,
- 00:23:45.282 --> 00:23:49.053
- giving to the work of the gospel, doing the work of the
- 00:23:49.053 --> 00:23:52.089
- spread of the gospel, and I promise you if we do, we'll be a
- 00:23:52.089 --> 00:23:56.026
- church wanted, and you know one last thing?
- 00:23:56.026 --> 00:24:02.466
- I wish I could tell you that God had a plan B, but there's no
- 00:24:02.466 --> 00:24:05.302
- plan B.
- 00:24:05.302 --> 00:24:08.606
- If we're not gonna be gospel partners in this area,
- 00:24:08.606 --> 00:24:11.375
- who's gonna do it?
- 00:24:11.375 --> 00:24:13.511
- There's a reason why we're here.
- 00:24:13.511 --> 00:24:14.845
- There's a reason why we're at Mill Creek.
- 00:24:14.845 --> 00:24:16.580
- There's a reason, because God wants us to build something so
- 00:24:16.580 --> 00:24:20.818
- magnificent, so great, so awesome, that yes he'll get the
- 00:24:20.818 --> 00:24:26.624
- glory, but people will be grateful when they think
- 00:24:26.624 --> 00:24:31.795
- about us.
- 00:24:31.795 --> 00:24:33.497
- They'll be joyful when they talk about us.
- 00:24:33.497 --> 00:24:37.635
- They'll be boastful with what they trust about us, because
- 00:24:37.635 --> 00:24:41.539
- they'll know beyond anything else this God who began a work
- 00:24:41.539 --> 00:24:45.409
- in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
- 00:24:45.409 --> 00:24:52.416
- announcer: To watch an extended version of today's message from
- 00:24:52.416 --> 00:24:54.818
- Dr. James Merritt, go to TouchingLives.org.
- 00:24:54.818 --> 00:25:00.491
- ♪♪♪
- 00:25:03.827 --> 00:26:01.251
- announcer: The 2022 Mountaintop Conference is headed back to
- 00:26:05.422 --> 00:26:08.325
- beautiful Branson, Missouri, this October 3 through 5.
- 00:26:08.325 --> 00:26:11.729
- Don't miss this exciting event packed with powerful preaching
- 00:26:11.729 --> 00:26:14.798
- from Dr. James Merritt, and inspiring music from two of
- 00:26:14.798 --> 00:26:17.368
- Christian music's favorite bands: Big Daddy Weave and the
- 00:26:17.368 --> 00:26:22.806
- incredible harmonies of The Martins.
- 00:26:22.806 --> 00:26:26.343
- In addition to Dr. Merritt, Dr. Ed Newton, lead pastor at
- 00:26:26.343 --> 00:26:29.279
- Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas, and Missouri
- 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:32.082
- Baptist Convention President, Pastor Jon Nelson of Soma
- 00:26:32.082 --> 00:26:34.652
- Community Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, will be bringing
- 00:26:34.652 --> 00:26:36.854
- inspiring messages.
- 00:26:36.854 --> 00:26:39.990
- You will leave relaxed, refreshed, and renewed after
- 00:26:39.990 --> 00:26:43.560
- spending time in the beautiful Ozark Mountains with old and
- 00:26:43.560 --> 00:26:46.664
- new friends.
- 00:26:46.664 --> 00:26:50.134
- Visit MountaintopConference.com for all the details, and make
- 00:26:50.134 --> 00:26:53.303
- plans to join Dr. James Merritt at the 2022
- 00:26:53.303 --> 00:26:56.306
- Mountaintop Conference.
- 00:26:56.306 --> 00:26:57.975
- ♪♪♪
- 00:26:57.975 --> 00:27:08.852
- announcer: Touching the lives of the lost and enriching the faith
- 00:27:10.888 --> 00:27:14.091
- of the found, this is "Touching Lives with Dr. James Merritt."
- 00:27:14.091 --> 00:27:18.429
- This broadcast is made possible by the grace of God and your
- 00:27:18.429 --> 00:27:22.066
- faithful prayers and gifts.
- 00:27:22.066 --> 00:27:22.066
