WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:18.879 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. Let's pray. Father, we give you thanks and praise 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:26.719 that you created us with minds and with imaginations and with hearts and emotions. We give you thanks and praise 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:34.079 that when it comes to hearing your Word and you want us to think as well as we can and use our imagination 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:40.879 and come to the Word fully, Father, both aesthetically and emotionally, you want us to come to your Word and have 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:46.879 your Word come to us in everything that makes us us. And I ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would fall 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:54.319 with gentle but deep power upon us to bring your Word to us and us to your Word so that your Word will 00:01:54.319 --> 00:02:01.280 form us. It will shape who we are, not only at the very deepest level of who we are, but in our day-to-day 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:08.879 life. And I ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:22.879 Now, really, Christians shouldn't have favorite books of the Bible. I mean, because it's all God's 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:29.199 Word written right from Genesis 1 to the end of the book of Revelation. But I have to confess, I do have 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:34.319 books which I like more than others. And from the very early days of my Christian life, when I became 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:40.239 a Christian grade 12, Philippians has been one of my favorite books of the Bible. In fact, actually, 00:02:40.239 --> 00:02:46.799 in some ways, like in hindsight, one of the things that the devil did to stop me from really entering 00:02:46.799 --> 00:02:52.000 into his Word was have me reading Philippians over and over and over and over again, as well as some 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:57.839 other parts of the Bible. And so I wasn't reading all of the Bible. I was really just focused on a certain 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:03.439 book and certain other little bits. And actually, it's a whole other topic of conversation that 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:10.800 God used a philosophy professor who was a perpetual candidate for the Communist Party of Canada 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:17.199 in Ottawa Centre, who was a very public atheist. He was the one who helped to encourage me to start 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:22.719 reading the Bible from cover to cover. But that's a whole other conversation as to how God used Marvin 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:29.120 Glass to do that. And if he's passed away, if he was here, he'd probably just smile and shake his head 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:34.000 because he wanted the opposite. But then you go, God had other things. But Philippians 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:43.280 was in the early days just a favorite book of mine. I read it over and over again. I still love to read 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:48.400 it. If some of you aren't that familiar with it... So by the way, I mention this because we're going to go 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:53.280 through the book of Philippians. We're starting a new series today. That's what we'll be doing now 00:03:53.280 --> 00:04:01.200 until the end of June. It's just 108 verses. It's a very packed book. But it's a packed book when you... 00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:07.040 It's not like some books are really packed and they're hard to read. Philippians is easy to read. 00:04:07.040 --> 00:04:13.200 It's an easy read. But if you stop and meditate upon it, you realize just how densely packed it is 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:19.680 with profound truth. And so we're going to take the next eight or nine weeks. We're going to go 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:24.719 through this book. I think next week we'll have little ESV study journal bibles for you so you can 00:04:24.719 --> 00:04:28.639 make notes. But I don't think they're here yet. I think we're getting that. And so we're going to 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:35.839 look at Philippians. And as I said, it was my favorite book. And if you're a seeker, whether you're here as 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:42.639 a seeker or you're online as a seeker, reading the book of Philippians with us, you will, I hope, 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:50.719 begin to understand why Christianity following Jesus can be so deeply emotionally satisfying. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:58.000 Like, I don't follow Jesus because it's emotionally satisfying. At the end of the day, I follow Jesus 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.199 because I think it's true. I think Jesus really did rise from the dead. I think 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.680 He defeated death and sin. And it wasn't just something that He accomplished, but He died in my 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:12.800 place. He's the one that allows me to be made right with God. I believe all of those things are true. I 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.599 think He's going to come back again. I'm a very simple-minded Christian. When I pray to God, I 00:05:17.599 --> 00:05:23.599 actually believe that God is listening to me and that He can do things. And when I ask the Holy Spirit to 00:05:23.599 --> 00:05:29.519 fall, I actually think that God is pouring out the Holy Spirit. I'm very simple-minded. But the book of 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:34.560 Philippians is a really good way to start to maybe, if you're outside the Christian faith, to start to see 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:41.279 that's why Christians, when they get the God, when they really get it, it's so emotionally satisfying. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:46.240 And hopefully you'll start to see some of that this morning. So we're going to be reading the book of 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:50.959 Philippians. You can find it in your Bible. It's really helpful if you follow along. It will be up on the 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:56.240 screen, but it's always best if you can have your own Bible and follow along as we go through it. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:01.920 I want you to all be the type that just doesn't take my word for it, but looks around and see if 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:06.879 I'm quoting it correctly or if I'm taking things out of context. So it's helpful if you open your 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:13.840 Bible as we go through the text together. And just a bit of a context, you know, it looks like it's a 00:06:13.840 --> 00:06:19.120 special holy book. And obviously, I believe that Philippians is God's Word written, but it started as a 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:25.600 letter. It was written as a letter. Paul didn't sit down and think, I'm going to write the Bible. No, 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:34.720 he's imprisoned in Rome. And it's taking place... Some of you who've been part of the church for a 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:40.160 while know that we just went through the book of Acts. And the book of Acts ends with Paul under 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:47.439 house arrest in Rome itself. And by the way, house arrest in Rome in those days wasn't like... I mean, 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.840 I've never been under house arrest, so maybe it's not like that here. But I think it was hard, 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:55.759 far harder, because he was still always wearing chains and he always had guards with him in the 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:02.639 house. And so he's in jail for two years. And that book of Acts ends after the first week there. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:06.879 And if you're wondering what he does for the rest of those two years, one of the things he does is 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:13.919 write this letter. He writes a letter to a group of Christians in what we now know of as Greece. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:19.840 They were amongst the very first European Christians. It might very well have been the 00:07:19.840 --> 00:07:27.200 first properly set up church in all of Europe. When Paul came there about 10 to 12 years earlier, 00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:34.080 and the story is told in Acts chapter 16. And so this is 10 to 12 years after he planted the church. 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:40.080 He's imprisoned. He's in chains. And he writes this letter to them. And it's really important to keep that 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:44.800 in mind all the way through the book. Because when you read the book, you do not get the sense... 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:50.479 Like, okay, I'll be honest. I mean, I don't know. I've never been arrested. And hopefully, 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:55.680 Christianity won't get persecuted. I'll never be arrested for being a Christian. I mean, 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:03.199 that we should all pray for that, right? But I don't know how cheerful I'd be if I was in jail. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:09.599 Like, I know for a fact I'd be terrified, right? And not only is Paul in jail, Paul is in jail 00:08:09.599 --> 00:08:16.480 falsely. He hasn't been guilty of anything. He's had three years of legal problems, five years before 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:21.439 he's finally freed in the year 62. And you don't get that sense when you read this letter. 00:08:22.719 --> 00:08:27.279 You'll hear about it, but you don't get that sense. Once again, it's partially how this... 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:32.720 The Christianity is immensely emotionally satisfying as you enter into it deeper. So here's how the letter 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:40.560 goes. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at 00:08:40.560 --> 00:08:49.279 Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:56.639 Christ. Now, just sort of pause. First of all, the word saints is just referring to Christians. It's not 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:02.480 like how lots of Christians nowadays talk about the saints, you know, Saint Paul and other saints, 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:07.519 the Catholic Church and Orthodox churches have ways of declaring people saints. In the New Testament, 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:14.320 it just means Christian. It means somebody who's set aside for God. And that's what's here. But here's 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:21.360 the thing. I want to... I think it was just like a week and a half ago now, I was in my... one of my coffee 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:28.399 shops. I was working on my sermon. And a young lady sat down just sort of beside me, like at the next table. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:35.679 And she had a jean jacket on. She had a patch on, like a sewed onto her jean jacket. And the patch said, 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:41.519 I think I wrote it down, give me a minute while I overthink this. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:47.759 And I thought it was hilarious. Give me a minute while I overthink this. I told one of my kids about 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.799 it. She said, oh yeah, that's like a... she asked me how old was the person. And I gave her my guess. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:57.120 She said, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. For that age group, that's like a big thing. There's backpacks, all sorts 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:02.000 of things where they talk about this. Give me a minute while I overthink this. So I'm not going to 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:09.840 overthink this. But there's something very profound. And it's going to be something which is constantly 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:13.759 in the letter. I might not mention it every time that it's going to be in the letter. But it's 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:18.320 actually a very big theme in the letter. And it's... if you go back to verse one again, it says, 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:29.440 to all the saints in... in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi. That word in. And this isn't 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:34.879 overthinking it. It's a very important word. It's an important word for the Christian faith. It's an 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:44.960 important word in Philippians. And what it means is this. It means that I... when I give my life to 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:49.680 Christ, I mean, that's how I would understand it. Or I would come to understand that he's my savior 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:55.120 and my Lord. Even if you don't know the moment that that happened, even if you're somebody who 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:59.680 grew up in a Christian home and you never know a time when you didn't believe and trust in Jesus, 00:10:59.680 --> 00:11:06.639 at some point in time in your life, whether you're conscious of it or not, you... you gave your life to 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:14.800 Christ and Christ comes into your life. And you now are in Christ. And you are in 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:20.879 union with Christ. And this is going to come back time and time again in the rest of the letter, 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:25.120 by the way. In fact, even in the next couple of verses, I'll point it out to you how significant it 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:33.839 is. It's that you are in Christ if you are a Christian and he is in you. Now, this sounds a bit 00:11:33.839 --> 00:11:41.439 crazy, but if you think about it, it's essential to what it means to be human. It's the essence of 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:49.840 friendship and love, romantic love in particular. Romantic love, often if you, you know, you're not 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:56.640 somebody who's sort of always known each other, but you begin to fall in love. And when that happens, 00:11:56.640 --> 00:12:02.800 it usually begins with whether, you know, wherever it is, you know, a bar or a workplace or whatever, 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:08.879 when you look at a person a certain way, and or you feel them looking at you in a certain way, 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:12.319 and you meet with your eyes. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:19.519 Now, if it just happens like that, this is one of those things that passes and goes on. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:24.399 But if it then proceeds to conversation, and then it proceeds to a longer conversation, 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:28.240 then it proceeds and it proceeds and it proceeds. Obviously, a lot of times, it doesn't go much farther 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:35.759 than just that. But in every one of those cases, what you're doing is you're acknowledging their 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:41.519 existence. And even if it's just the tiniest bit, you're allowing, you're recognizing them, 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:46.240 and you're showing that you know them. And in some ways, you've just opened yourself up a tiny bit to 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:54.240 them. And they've opened themselves up a tiny bit to you. And it's also the same in friendship, 00:12:54.240 --> 00:13:00.399 although it wouldn't be the same exact analogy. Like I, earlier, a couple of months ago, I, 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:06.720 because I have this role now in our denomination to try to spearhead more church planting in our 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:12.560 denomination, I got made a canon for a second time. So if you're really into titles, I'm canon, 00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:19.440 canon, or canon squared, or double-barreled canon, or as the bishop said to me last night, the loose 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:27.840 canon. But that's a whole other topic of conversation. But I was at a gathering of 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:32.560 about 30 people. I was one of 30 people. Everybody else was Americans. And why is it that when you're 00:13:32.560 --> 00:13:36.800 with a group of people like that, you have a connection? There were two guys there that if 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:39.200 they lived in Ottawa, I would become very good friends with them. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:47.600 And there begins to be not just like the same type of chatting and banter that there is with 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:51.840 the rest, but a different type of conversation where you start to let each other into your life. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:59.520 Right? Isn't that what happens? And that's why, you see, that many of us who've experienced the 00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:05.920 death of a loved one, maybe it's the death of a child, or the death of a child, or the death of a 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:12.319 parent, or the death of a spouse. And also even when maybe with a friend we end up getting betrayed 00:14:12.319 --> 00:14:18.879 by a friend who's been very close to us, you feel like something's been yanked out of you. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:26.399 Because it's the nature of human relationships like friendship and love that you let that other 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:33.839 person into you and you enter into them. So you see here that the language that's used of Christ of us 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:41.280 is profoundly personal and human language. We see and know it in a tiny type of way in relationships 00:14:41.280 --> 00:14:48.080 of friendship and in relationships of love. But that tiny thing, there is this true or greater 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.480 entering in, which is union with Christ. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:58.879 If you have given your life to Christ, you are in union with him. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:08.879 He literally comes into you in a personal way, and you literally enter into him in a personal way. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:14.559 You have a union with Christ and all that that means. And his union with you is with all of you. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:21.919 It's with all of your past. And as we'll see in a moment, it's with your future. It's with you in all of your depth. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:33.919 And that's this profound truth. Now, this is going to work itself out in several very, very challenging 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.879 ways to us that will probably convict some of us of things that we're doing that we shouldn't do. 00:15:39.839 --> 00:15:44.879 But look what happens here in terms of how it works out, because there's this other aspect of it, 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:49.199 which is very important to understand. I mean, I really want, if you get nothing else out of the sermon, 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:53.200 other than the fact that when you give your life to Christ, you are in a type of union with him. He 00:15:53.200 --> 00:16:00.000 literally comes in and you literally are in him, and you are forever changed. You are eternally changed. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:07.120 You are changed in a way that outlasts your death, that goes into the new heaven and the new earth. That's 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:19.440 how you were changed. But in this text, you is always plural and singular at the same time. If you were 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:26.879 from the Ottawa Valley, it should be translated as you's. If you're from the south, it should be 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:33.919 translated as all y'all, all the way through this. You see, it can be hard enough for me to understand that 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:40.319 I'm in Christ. It can be very hard to understand that we together have union with Christ. Let's look 00:16:40.319 --> 00:16:50.000 how the text goes. Verse 3, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. Just a moment. I thank my God 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:58.079 in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:09.680 God bless you. And that word partnership there is a word, I can't remember now if it's eight times or 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.480 nine times in the letter, but it's going to be in the letter a lot. And it's the word koinonia in Greek. 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:20.640 And in some ways, it would be better to translate it as koinonia almost, to have a loan word from Greek 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:26.640 into English. Because it's not talking about a business partnership. This is all part of this mystery of 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:37.120 the fact that I am in union with Christ, as is my wife, as is Laurier, as is Josiah, as is Ross and 00:17:37.120 --> 00:17:44.240 Shirley and Andrew. Like, if we are in Christ, we are all in Christ. There is an actual something here 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:52.880 which you can say on one hand that it's mystical, because it is mystical. But it's not just mystical. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:59.280 It's a type of union with Christ that Christ, when we're in union with Christ, there is this 00:17:59.280 --> 00:18:06.960 propulsion from Christ himself towards certain types of habits and postures. And so that's why, 00:18:07.060 --> 00:18:12.200 on one hand, the word partnership is important there. Because what Paul is saying is that they 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:17.480 understood, this church in Philippi, that they are in koinonia with, there's this mystical, they are in 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:22.039 union with Christ, and each one of them, and they are in union with Christ with Paul, and there's this 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:27.960 connection there which matters. And it matters to the point that they send money constantly. 00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:33.400 Paul, when he goes to some places, has to support himself with his hands. But most of the time, 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:39.400 he wasn't making tents. He was able to proclaim the gospel because people were sending them money, 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:44.079 and one of the places that was sending them money was Philippi. I told you a little bit, 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:49.279 if you go back, one of the things about when Paul declares that he's going to appeal to Caesar, 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:55.759 that one of the reasons that Paul shocked them all is because lawsuits, just like today, 00:18:55.919 --> 00:19:01.919 powerful people will use their power to oppress weak people, because weak people can't pay for lawyers. 00:19:02.859 --> 00:19:08.720 And so when Paul appealed to Caesar, Paul was saying that, I will undertake all of the expenses 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:14.799 for me and all that's involved for me to make it to Rome. And somebody paid for that. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.200 Koinonia leads to money being given. It leads to generosity to help people and to help the church 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:31.680 and the spread of the gospel. It involves practical helps. It involves prayer. It involves presence. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:36.980 And you'll see later on is that they showed their concern by not just sending money, but by sending 00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:41.940 money with some of their people because they wanted to be present with him. They wanted to show 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:47.240 concern. It's the same type of reason whereby, you know, if a loved one of our congregation, 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:52.660 a loved one dies, that some of us might go to the funeral. The presence matters. And it's, 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:58.960 it's, it's, it's, it's, that's what this koinonia word is. And it's going to, in fact, 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:03.579 it shows up again just in a couple of verses. And it all flows from this union of Christ. 00:20:03.579 --> 00:20:12.639 You see, that's why, well, let's look again here, verse three, I thank my God in all my remembrance 00:20:12.639 --> 00:20:21.220 of you always. It's, it's not just sentimental. It's not like something you would see in Hallmark. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:28.399 This is very serious if we take this idea that not only do I have a union with Christ and how is 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:34.800 Christ going to begin to change me? How is he going to begin to change me if I am in Christ? 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:41.200 And how should he be changing us if we're in Christ? And so what we see here when it says, 00:20:41.300 --> 00:20:45.340 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, it doesn't mean that he doesn't know that there's 00:20:45.340 --> 00:20:50.400 problems in the church in Philippi. It doesn't mean that he, he, he doesn't know. I mean, later on at the 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:55.460 end of the letter, he's going to tell that these two women who are fighting and won't forgive and won't 00:20:55.460 --> 00:21:00.519 be reconciled. He's going to tell them to, to, to, to do it. Like he knows that the church isn't 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:07.400 perfect, but what he's doing is expressing the posture that a person in Christ should have and a 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:15.920 posture of koinonia. And the posture is one of thankfulness. Now, you see, here's where the, 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:20.000 the teaching comes home. And we might smirk and say, oh yeah, yeah, posture of thankfulness. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.960 Is it that you can easily see how this could be turned into a, a mug and a whole pile of, um, you 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:30.640 know, cheesy Hallmark cards and all of that type of stuff. But no, no, there's a profound question 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:35.720 being asked is every single one of us has a posture right now towards other Christians and towards 00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:40.819 Christ. We have a posture. The problem isn't whether or not we have, the issue isn't do we have a 00:21:40.819 --> 00:21:47.960 posture. The issue is, are you conscious of your posture? Am I conscious of my posture? Is my posture 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:54.720 one of superiority towards other Christians? Is it a condemning posture? Is it an ungrateful posture? 00:21:55.140 --> 00:22:02.180 Is it an entitled posture? Is it an indifferent posture? Is it hostile? Is it judgmental? 00:22:03.700 --> 00:22:11.140 Is it filled with rivalry and team and party spirit? Is that my, is it gossipy? Is that my posture? 00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:17.600 And when you think of the alternatives, why wouldn't you want to have your posture of being one of 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:26.759 gratitude? You know, one of the things I haven't said this in a while, I love this analogy and I hope, 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:32.639 I don't say it all, but I love this analogy. Just imagine for a moment, just sort of like in, um, 00:22:32.639 --> 00:22:38.039 you know, that Dickens novel about Christmas, imagine for a moment that God gave you the opportunity. 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:43.000 He says, I'm going to take you forward in time to your funeral and I'm going to let you listen into 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:48.839 what people say about you at, at, at your funeral reception. Okay. And so what do you want to have 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:54.859 them say is your fault? Here's the question. What do you want to have them say was your problem 00:22:54.859 --> 00:23:03.039 at your funeral? Do you want to have them say, gosh, Sinclair was cheap? Do you want them to say, 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:07.000 gosh, that's the most ungenerous man I've ever met? Gosh, that's the most ungrateful, 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:11.539 unthankful man I've ever met. You don't want them to say that. What wouldn't you love it if they said 00:23:11.539 --> 00:23:16.460 this? The problem with Bob is he was way too thankful for other Christians. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:24.779 Wouldn't that be a nice thing to hear at your funeral? That your problem was too much gratitude? 00:23:26.420 --> 00:23:31.460 Not too much bitterness, too much envy, too much hatred, too much injustice, you know, 00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:38.360 all that other stuff that you could keep adding and adding and adding. So here's this posture, 00:23:39.340 --> 00:23:45.620 and it's clear-eyed. It's clear-eyed. So you can begin to see a little bit about why it is that I 00:23:45.620 --> 00:23:50.700 like this text, and I know I'm not as filled with gratitude as I, as I should be, and I don't know if 00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:55.960 I express how much I'm just so appreciative of this congregation. I really view it as a blessing that I can 00:23:55.960 --> 00:24:01.440 be the pastor of this church. Like, I really do. I'm very grateful for the labor and the 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:08.600 generosity and the prayers of this church. I'm grateful that I've gotten called to serve here. 00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:16.180 And I know that when a time comes, if Jesus doesn't return and I'm retired, I will look back on 00:24:16.180 --> 00:24:23.759 much of my time here with gratitude. But now, remember I said to you, you can begin to see a 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:29.799 little bit about the emotional power of this book, and you can, but also a little bit about why I like 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:36.700 to read it. But this next bit, this next verse, was why I think you get an even better picture about 00:24:36.700 --> 00:24:48.259 why I like this book. Look at verse 6. Verse 6, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work 00:24:48.259 --> 00:24:56.079 in you will bring it to completion. The actual word is perfection. He will bring it to perfection 00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:02.339 at the day of Jesus Christ. But verse 6 again, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you 00:25:02.339 --> 00:25:07.299 will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He's praying this for the church. He's saying 00:25:07.299 --> 00:25:12.359 this to the church. He's also saying it in a sense to himself. See, here's one of the reasons I really 00:25:12.359 --> 00:25:15.500 love the book. I was a crappy Christian. 00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:21.000 I'm still a crappy Christian often. 00:25:23.339 --> 00:25:29.619 And especially when I just become a Christian in my first early years, and you know, I had all the hormone 00:25:29.619 --> 00:25:35.119 issues that young guys have, and a whole pile of other stuff, the arrogance, all that other stuff, and I 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.700 would keep just feeling to myself, I am such a crappy Christian. 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:43.600 And then I would read Philippians 1.6. 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:52.019 And it's not saying, George, because you are such a spectacular example of the Christian faith, 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:59.299 you will come to perfection. It's not saying that. It's saying God is at work in you, George. 00:26:00.580 --> 00:26:05.100 And the work that God begins in you, he will bring to perfection. 00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:08.740 Not because of me, but because of him. 00:26:09.579 --> 00:26:12.839 And as I read this text, over and over and over 00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:16.779 again, my conclusion wasn't, okay, I can go ahead, I'm going to be 00:26:16.779 --> 00:26:20.859 even crappier because God is doing this. No, it fills you with 00:26:20.859 --> 00:26:24.819 hope when you're a crappy Christian. It fills you with 00:26:24.819 --> 00:26:25.299 hope. 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:30.879 You know, one of the things which is so beautiful about morning prayer and evening prayer 00:26:30.879 --> 00:26:34.759 in the Anglican way, the old morning and evening prayer service, is that part of the 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:40.059 service says that God does not weigh our merits, but pardons our offenses. 00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:45.460 And that is exactly right. That is exactly right. 00:26:47.339 --> 00:26:55.940 So it's not narcissism. It's this acknowledgement that, you know, you turn to Christ in the smallest, 00:26:55.940 --> 00:27:02.619 little, tiniest way, ignorant and full of other types of things, and he comes and he takes you to 00:27:02.619 --> 00:27:08.439 himself, he brings you into himself, and all of his saving work, and he comes into you with all of his 00:27:08.439 --> 00:27:14.319 saving work, and you are made right with God by putting your faith and trust in him. It's all God's 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:21.299 grace, and you are in union with Christ, and the work he began in you, he will bring to perfection. 00:27:21.299 --> 00:27:29.000 We see this even more powerfully in the next thing that he says. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.659 Look at what it says in verses 7 and 8, because it touches on something which is one of the deepest 00:27:34.659 --> 00:27:41.240 shames that Canadians have. One of the deepest shames that Canadians have. Look at verse 7 and 8. 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:49.120 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all 00:27:49.120 --> 00:27:58.500 partakers, koinonia, with me of grace, both in my imprisonment, and the Greek word literally is, 00:27:59.120 --> 00:28:05.200 if it was to be translated literally, it would say both in my chains, and in the defense and 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:11.059 confirmation of the gospel. I'm going to use an example from the church that I served from 00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:18.279 88 to 95 before I was here, and they had had just a whole pile of ministers for a long time, 00:28:18.339 --> 00:28:26.519 had only been there for about three years, and I was there seven years and plus, and it was only 00:28:26.519 --> 00:28:33.639 after I'd been there six and a half, six and three quarters years, that the first really deeply 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:41.100 shameful thing was shared with me, which was a story of incest in a family. And that, of course, 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:48.400 is a thing of deep shame. But then within a couple of weeks of that, two separate people shared another 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:54.740 thing which is deeply shaming. They had been telling people that in both cases it was a son, 00:28:54.820 --> 00:28:59.480 that their son was off somewhere up in the oil fields or some other place and couldn't come home, 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:10.920 and the mom shared with me with tears, two separate moms, not knowing that the other mom had a similar 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:17.940 type of situation, that their son wasn't working in the oil field, their son had been caught and 00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:26.519 convicted of armed robbery and was doing hard time. In one case in Ontario, in another case in Alberta. 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:29.920 That's why their sons never came home. 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:40.960 Deep shame. And it's the same in Canadians. Canadians are often very deeply ashamed, especially if we're 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:45.319 not, you know, we're not, you know, sort of, we're more middle class or working class. 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:51.180 There's deep shame around it. And so when Paul says here in verse 7, it is right for me to feel this 00:29:51.180 --> 00:29:56.339 way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all koinonia with me of grace. 00:29:56.519 --> 00:30:04.240 Both in my chains, and it was even more shameful in Roman society to be in chains, even though Paul is 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:15.299 innocent, he is in chains. At the moment of his deepest shame, they still send money in prayer and are in 00:30:15.299 --> 00:30:22.339 koinonia with him. And in his heights, which is when he's defending and confirming the gospel, 00:30:22.339 --> 00:30:30.339 they are in koinonia with him. It is such a beautiful picture for us to aspire to with each 00:30:30.339 --> 00:30:36.619 other. And not just for ourselves, but with our Christians, brother and sisters throughout the city 00:30:36.619 --> 00:30:48.039 and around the world. And now we come to this final part, which is very profound. If I was to say what I 00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:53.099 wanted you to, one of the things of many things in this text to bring home, it would be a line from an 00:30:53.099 --> 00:30:59.019 old hymn. And there's a very, very old hymn that says, love to the loveless shown that you might lovely 00:30:59.019 --> 00:31:07.079 be. And if I was just to change that, it would be slightly this, love to the loveless and unlovely, 00:31:07.980 --> 00:31:13.279 that loved and lovely you will be. That's the heart of the gospel. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:23.599 Love shown to those who are not lovely and not loved, to the intent that in union with Christ, 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:31.119 you will become lovely more and more every day. And you will know how deeply you are loved. 00:31:32.399 --> 00:31:36.819 And that's seen in these final three words, verses, which is a very profound prayer. 00:31:37.619 --> 00:31:42.440 One of the ways I try to describe the beauty of the Anglican way with the colics is this. As you've 00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:46.820 noted, there's the Heidelberg Catechism. There's different catechisms. But if you were to follow 00:31:46.820 --> 00:31:51.220 the ancient Anglican way and twice a day you were to pray the colic for the week and then see these 00:31:51.220 --> 00:31:56.259 other colics and prayers, that every one of these colics is both a prayer that you can pray, 00:31:57.299 --> 00:32:06.100 and it's also a prayer that you could meditate upon and go into deeper prayer. But it's also teaching 00:32:06.099 --> 00:32:14.179 you about the Christian life. It's very, very clever. You learn theology and spirituality through 00:32:14.179 --> 00:32:23.819 praying a prayer. And that's what Paul does here. And it's not translated, the Greek to English is a 00:32:23.819 --> 00:32:30.000 bit clunky, but here's how it goes, verses 9 to 11. And it is my prayer that, and in some ways, 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.380 like if you were to say, okay, yeah, yeah, okay, we know the scholars want it to all be literal and 00:32:34.380 --> 00:32:39.319 all of that, and that's very, very good. And one of the things you should know is that I, every week, 00:32:39.400 --> 00:32:44.400 I spend time with an academic commentary or two trying to make sure I understand the original 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:49.099 language. And I'm, you know, I know all that stuff, and I'm not taking the words the wrong way. 00:32:49.420 --> 00:32:53.519 But, you know, if they were to lighten up a little bit and give more of an applied text, 00:32:53.519 --> 00:33:01.160 there'd be almost like a, and it is my prayer, colon. And then the next thing is the prayer. 00:33:01.579 --> 00:33:08.240 What is the prayer? That your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, 00:33:08.259 --> 00:33:15.139 so that you may approve what is excellent, what is the best, and so be pure and blameless for the 00:33:15.139 --> 00:33:20.019 day of Christ, when Christ comes in the new heaven and the new earth is ushered in, and you see him and 00:33:20.019 --> 00:33:24.539 you are like him, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ 00:33:24.539 --> 00:33:31.359 to the glory and praise of God. That's how Paul prays for the church and for individuals. 00:33:33.059 --> 00:33:34.539 And isn't it beautiful? 00:33:38.139 --> 00:33:43.220 If you don't know how to pray for your small group leader, if you don't know how to pray for your 00:33:43.220 --> 00:33:47.980 Sunday school teacher, if you don't know how to pray for your pastor, if you don't know how to pray 00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:53.400 for your congregation, if you don't know how to pray for your missionaries, pray this prayer. 00:33:54.740 --> 00:33:59.900 And you are praying a prayer that God wrote for you to pray. And look at its beauty. 00:34:02.059 --> 00:34:06.000 And you know the other thing about this, I don't have time to go into it. This prayer, 00:34:06.220 --> 00:34:13.019 we live in a world that is crazy for love and thinks about love in crazy ways. 00:34:13.019 --> 00:34:23.239 Love is love. Love unconditionally. Love is blind. Love means unconditional positive regard and applause. 00:34:24.099 --> 00:34:26.159 And those are all crazy ideas. 00:34:28.599 --> 00:34:29.500 They're crazy. 00:34:31.619 --> 00:34:36.440 I don't know, maybe if it gets on a YouTube video short and that's part of it, I'll get all sorts of hate. 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:38.780 But it's crazy. They're crazy ideas. 00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:42.920 This text is an outline of sanity about love. 00:34:44.619 --> 00:34:47.460 It's an outline of sanity about love. 00:34:49.460 --> 00:34:50.420 Verse 9 again, 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:54.039 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. 00:34:54.220 --> 00:34:55.159 What's the image there? 00:34:55.659 --> 00:35:00.380 See, I think it was G.K. Chesterton that said that one of the problems we have about God is we think God's too old. 00:35:00.599 --> 00:35:02.860 And we don't understand how childlike God can be. 00:35:02.860 --> 00:35:04.260 So here's the image. 00:35:04.780 --> 00:35:12.380 Let's say Louise wanted to get a watering can filled with water to go water some plants where the hose doesn't reach. 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:17.059 And maybe she has a four-year-old or a five-year-old granddaughter to help her. 00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:19.280 And Louise gives him the hose. 00:35:20.059 --> 00:35:25.220 How full would the four-year-old with the hose fill the watering can? 00:35:25.219 --> 00:35:31.559 Well, you don't stop when it's full because nothing's more fun than having a hose. 00:35:32.439 --> 00:35:35.059 And seeing that watering can just overflow. 00:35:35.839 --> 00:35:39.759 This is God, the four-year-old God, filling you up with love. 00:35:40.739 --> 00:35:42.099 That's how you have to think of it. 00:35:42.339 --> 00:35:44.980 Not an old man with a gray beard, me with a beard, 00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:51.059 but a four-year-old little girl or a little boy with a huge smile on their face filling you up with love 00:35:51.059 --> 00:35:54.440 until it overflows and overflows and overflows. 00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:57.900 And it's not just that the love is to overflow, 00:35:57.900 --> 00:36:02.360 but it's to be a love with knowledge and all discernment. 00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:05.980 And this is really important. 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:10.420 And here I'm going to be blunt. 00:36:10.420 --> 00:36:17.440 It was a shock to discover on October 7, 2023, and in the weeks after that, 00:36:17.780 --> 00:36:21.760 that so many Canadians were anti-Semitic 00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:26.500 and celebrated an act of horrendous barbarism. 00:36:27.700 --> 00:36:31.340 And if you love what is unjust and evil, 00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:34.539 that is not love. 00:36:37.900 --> 00:36:39.539 That is not love. 00:36:40.420 --> 00:36:43.680 If you love evil, that's not love. 00:36:43.860 --> 00:36:45.300 Don't we all basically know that? 00:36:45.380 --> 00:36:47.159 If you love injustice, that's not love. 00:36:47.579 --> 00:36:51.039 If you love something which is showing no mercy, that's not love. 00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:54.720 We all have this fundamental sense that, 00:36:54.860 --> 00:36:57.039 and this prayer beautifully articulates it, 00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:00.059 that love should be at peace with goodness. 00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.220 And love and goodness should be at peace with justice. 00:37:03.559 --> 00:37:07.500 And love and goodness and justice should be at peace with beauty. 00:37:07.500 --> 00:37:10.840 And it should be at peace with mercy and kindness. 00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:14.139 And there should be an at-oneness with all of these things. 00:37:14.139 --> 00:37:18.579 And this prayer beautifully expresses that to a world 00:37:18.579 --> 00:37:22.400 that is crazy for love and thinks about love in crazy ways. 00:37:23.299 --> 00:37:24.940 And it is my prayer, verse 9, 00:37:25.019 --> 00:37:28.519 that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, 00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:31.119 so that you may approve what is excellent, 00:37:31.299 --> 00:37:34.259 and so be pure and blameless on the day of Christ, 00:37:34.299 --> 00:37:35.980 that you're moving people to a good end. 00:37:36.299 --> 00:37:38.659 If you have a friend who's thinking of committing suicide, 00:37:38.659 --> 00:37:42.119 it is not loving to give them a revolver, a loaded revolver. 00:37:44.619 --> 00:37:47.259 What you do is you spend time with them 00:37:47.259 --> 00:37:49.859 and get them in some psychological help so they get healed. 00:37:51.460 --> 00:37:53.319 You love them to a good end. 00:37:56.319 --> 00:38:00.559 You rebuke your child if it looks like your child is getting into drugs, 00:38:01.219 --> 00:38:03.619 because you love them to a good end. 00:38:03.619 --> 00:38:05.420 This is beautiful. 00:38:06.279 --> 00:38:07.719 So that you may approve what is excellent, 00:38:07.819 --> 00:38:09.500 be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:12.699 filled with the fruit of righteousness 00:38:12.699 --> 00:38:16.219 that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 00:38:16.500 --> 00:38:19.000 And isn't it just entirely what we understand, 00:38:19.380 --> 00:38:22.239 that love and goodness bears fruit? 00:38:23.239 --> 00:38:25.359 And you want to see that fruit in the world. 00:38:25.799 --> 00:38:28.940 You want to see that fruit in each other's lives and in their own life. 00:38:28.940 --> 00:38:33.679 The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:36.260 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:38.720 That's a singular word for nine different words. 00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:39.360 Singular. 00:38:39.720 --> 00:38:40.500 You want to see them. 00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:41.480 You want to see fruit. 00:38:41.860 --> 00:38:42.639 It is of the nature. 00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:44.059 Why did God create? 00:38:45.300 --> 00:38:46.420 Not because he's lonely, 00:38:47.019 --> 00:38:49.860 not because he needed human beings to serve him, 00:38:50.039 --> 00:38:54.400 but because it is of the very nature of love and goodness 00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:57.619 and truth and beauty that it would create and bear fruit. 00:38:57.619 --> 00:39:01.039 And hence we human beings exist. 00:39:05.139 --> 00:39:07.139 If you're here and you're outside of Christ, 00:39:07.460 --> 00:39:10.039 don't you want that prayer to be prayed over you? 00:39:10.139 --> 00:39:13.719 And why is it that you would like everything in that prayer prayed over you 00:39:13.719 --> 00:39:17.059 other than the fact that you want love to culminate 00:39:17.059 --> 00:39:19.759 in everything in your life being done to the glory of God? 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:22.940 Like, why would that be something that would stop you 00:39:22.940 --> 00:39:25.000 from wanting this prayer to be prayed for you? 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:30.400 You see, if you like everything in this prayer to be prayed over you 00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:33.320 except that, it shows that you have... 00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:36.559 And I'm saying this because I had the same thing 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:38.280 before I became a Christian, by the way. 00:39:38.519 --> 00:39:40.900 So it's not me pointing a finger at you and nothing... 00:39:40.900 --> 00:39:41.179 No, no. 00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:47.579 Why is it that I want to be the center and reject God? 00:39:47.579 --> 00:39:51.199 You see, it's not because Christianity cannot be true, 00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:53.099 but because you don't want it to be true. 00:39:54.579 --> 00:39:56.500 See, that's why it is that to become a Christian, 00:39:56.699 --> 00:39:59.179 it's not a matter that to become a Christian, as you say, 00:39:59.420 --> 00:40:02.079 everything about Christianity makes absolutely no sense, 00:40:02.119 --> 00:40:04.000 it's completely irrational and there's no evidence, 00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:05.319 therefore I will become a Christian. 00:40:05.980 --> 00:40:09.639 But it is that there's insights of beauty and of history 00:40:09.639 --> 00:40:13.539 and all of these other things which make you realize that Christianity is plausible, 00:40:13.539 --> 00:40:16.559 but there's enough revealed of God that you realize 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:18.840 that you can actually give your life to Christ 00:40:18.840 --> 00:40:21.460 and that it's reasonable and it's good to do 00:40:21.460 --> 00:40:23.340 and it's worthy to do and it's important to do, 00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:26.039 but there's not enough to intellectually cub you over 00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:30.079 and it's finally when you lay down your arms and surrender and say, 00:40:30.739 --> 00:40:33.340 Jesus, I have been holding you at a distance 00:40:33.340 --> 00:40:38.119 and I no longer hold you. 00:40:38.900 --> 00:40:40.239 I desire to be yours. 00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:45.239 Jesus, and he comes in and you have union with Christ. 00:40:50.159 --> 00:40:51.879 How could I pray over you? 00:40:52.699 --> 00:40:56.059 And it's my prayer for the Church of the Messiah 00:40:56.059 --> 00:40:59.539 that your love may abound more and more 00:40:59.539 --> 00:41:02.479 and that as your love abounds more and more, 00:41:02.579 --> 00:41:05.219 it will be a love that is at one and at peace 00:41:05.219 --> 00:41:06.839 with knowledge and all discernment. 00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:12.140 And I pray over you that God will so pour out his love in your life 00:41:12.140 --> 00:41:15.780 and have it abound and overflow with knowledge and discernment, 00:41:15.980 --> 00:41:19.860 that you will have more and more and more a sense of what is good 00:41:19.860 --> 00:41:21.220 and beautiful and true 00:41:21.220 --> 00:41:25.500 and that you will love people towards that 00:41:25.500 --> 00:41:30.120 and that your own life, the love that is poured out into you by God, 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:32.720 will be a love that makes you pure and blameless 00:41:32.719 --> 00:41:38.079 and that as God's love is poured out more and more on you 00:41:38.079 --> 00:41:39.719 and in you and through you, 00:41:39.859 --> 00:41:42.539 that that love and goodness and truth, 00:41:42.899 --> 00:41:45.239 you will bear fruit in your life, 00:41:45.299 --> 00:41:48.259 a fruit that is right with God and right with creation 00:41:48.259 --> 00:41:49.500 and right with other people. 00:41:49.859 --> 00:41:53.439 And all of this, I pray, will come through Jesus Christ. 00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:57.920 And at the end of it, not so you say about yourself how great I am, 00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:01.599 but you will say, how great is our God. 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:05.159 I invite you to stand. 00:42:11.320 --> 00:42:12.559 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:17.960 Father, some of us came here today 00:42:17.960 --> 00:42:19.840 almost not wanting to come 00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:21.840 because we've been very crappy Christians, 00:42:22.159 --> 00:42:23.960 maybe just for the last 24 hours, 00:42:24.159 --> 00:42:25.259 maybe for the last week, 00:42:25.400 --> 00:42:26.500 maybe for the last month, 00:42:26.980 --> 00:42:28.500 maybe for the last couple of years. 00:42:29.380 --> 00:42:31.360 We give you thanks and praise, Father, 00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:33.579 that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, 00:42:33.779 --> 00:42:36.460 when we enter into a union with Christ 00:42:36.460 --> 00:42:39.799 and that he will begin to work within us 00:42:39.799 --> 00:42:41.440 and he will not let us go. 00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:42.480 And thank you, Father, 00:42:42.579 --> 00:42:47.360 for that profound emotional and intellectual security 00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:49.800 that we have that we can now say, 00:42:49.880 --> 00:42:51.539 yes, I have been a crappy Christian. 00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:52.980 Father, please forgive me 00:42:52.980 --> 00:42:55.840 and help me to live a life 00:42:55.840 --> 00:42:58.119 where your love is abounding in me 00:42:58.119 --> 00:43:00.599 and there is knowledge and discernment and purity 00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:04.679 and that my life shows forth a type of fruit 00:43:04.679 --> 00:43:07.300 that's just really beautiful in this world. 00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:10.740 Father, we pray this prayer for ourselves. 00:43:10.739 --> 00:43:12.000 We thank you, Father, 00:43:12.219 --> 00:43:16.279 that in Jesus, love to the loveless was shown, 00:43:16.859 --> 00:43:19.459 love to the unlovely was shown 00:43:19.459 --> 00:43:22.459 so that each of us in Christ 00:43:22.459 --> 00:43:24.019 would know that we are loved 00:43:24.019 --> 00:43:26.219 and you are making us lovely 00:43:26.219 --> 00:43:28.299 for your honour and glory. 00:43:28.739 --> 00:43:30.719 And all of these things we ask in the name of Jesus 00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:32.419 and all God's people said, 00:43:33.119 --> 00:43:33.539 Amen. 00:43:40.739 --> 00:43:41.739 Amen. 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:43:41.739 --> 00:43:41.739 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779 00:44:01.779 --> 00:44:01.779