Our scripture reading this morning
is from the Psalms, Psalms number 119. And this morning we'll be
reading verse 65 through 80. 65 through 80. Psalms number
119, beginning at verse 65. Thou has dwelt well with thy
servant, O Lord, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment
and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was
afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. Thou art good and thus good,
teach me thy statutes. The proud have forged a lie against
me, but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. The heart
is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. It is good for me
that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. The
law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and
silver. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, giving me understanding
that I may learn thy commandments. They that fear thee will be glad
when they see me because I have hoped in thy word. I know, O
Lord, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness
has afflicted me. Let I pray thee, thy merciful
kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto
me that I may live for thy law is my delight. Let the proud
be ashamed for they dwelt perversely with me without a cause. perversely
with me without a cause, but I will meditate in thy precepts.
Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have
known thy testimonies, let my heart be sound in thy statutes,
that I can be not ashamed. Amen. Turn your Bibles if you
would to Philippians chapter three. Yesterday, some of you know that
my neighbor of 33 years, when Kathy and I lived in the valley,
his wife died quite some time ago. And he was staying with
us for a couple of weeks before his apartment in the caretaker's
home, an elderly facility, was opened up. And he asked me while
he was here, you know, could we have services at your for the reasons of people suing
churches nowadays and stuff like that. But as a member of this
body of people, I felt somebody I know that's okay. So I allowed
him to have his services for his wife here yesterday. And
they allowed me to preach. And I thought about the message
that I would bring to him. Arlie's sister, who was in charge
of putting everything together, she listed it in the little pamphlet
that you give out at the beginning, you know, shows the itinerary
for the message. She listed it as encouragement, Pastor John. You know, the songs. Encouragement,
Pastor John. And I thought to myself, As far as I know, Jan's the only
one who goes to church out of that family. And as I talked
with most of them yesterday afterwards, maybe one or two other ones go
to a church of some kind. And even, I'm not sure Jan believes
in the truth of God's sovereignty. So what a wonderful phrase to
use to preach to someone who has never heard about God in
a time when we've come together for people to go for a person
who went through that doormark death. Every person in that room and
every person in this room and every person who may listen to
this recording can say that door is not far from me. Some of us,
that door is closer. Every one of us, That door is
closer than it was yesterday. A message of encouragement for
those who have never heard the true word of God, and a message
of encouragement for you and I who know the Lord. Are we not
encouraged every time our Lord is talked about? When we hear
the promises of our Father, what he's given to each and every
one of us, every one of us, especially as we walk out these doors and
go out into the world with all the chaos that's around us, huh?
What encouragement, what encouragement our Lord has for us in his word. The message that God calls his
elect is the same message that he keeps his elect with that
we read about in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5. It's this very message
right here. I mentioned to him, I said, if
Patty could come back, if she could come back from the other
side, from eternity, what would be her message of encouragement
to you folks right now? It's the same message that she
would have for anybody. Because see, once you get on
the other side of that door marked eternity, You know, you know for a fact you're in
the presence, whether with him or without him, that he's the
Lord of all things. We now, we see that, don't we? But we see that by faith. Once
you go through that door, faith becomes reality. What would be her message? It'd
be this, Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Last week we read these
words in Isaiah 55, 6, and I closed with these words yesterday after
talking about the sovereignty of our God in creation, the sovereignty
of our God in salvation, and the sovereignty of God where
He stands right now, and that'll be my three points this morning. I close with this verse, Isaiah
55, 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. That word seek doesn't mean seek
and you're going to find him and that's it, you're done. That
means every moment of every day. Put our Lord before us. If you've
heard these words of who God is, put your Lord all the time,
for all things. Lord, how will I bring a message
to the people this day? How can I get up and go next
door and study? How can I get in my car and go down? Lord,
these lights are in your hand. Turn them any way you wish, you
will, because I know it's going to be for my good. This is the message for all of
God's elect. This is the message for babes
in Christ and for the mature. We seek our Savior in all that
we do. Look with me, if you would, at
verse three of Philippians chapter three. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Now I want to look at these statements,
these three different statements in this verse in reverse, if
you will. Our first point is having no confidence in the flesh. Our first conviction, when God
calls one of his people out of darkness, just as he did to myself
sitting there in that pew next to my sister Shirley, just as
he did to my wife sitting next to me that day when she said,
wrote me a note, she says, I understand. Just as that day when Mike Loveless
and his wife first came to this church and heard the gospel priest,
we've heard his testimony many a times. And I would bet every
one of you could say something to that very same fact. The first
thing he must convict us of is what we are. We must know that
we need something. We must be shown that we have
a need. There's something in our lives
that we can't do. Did you ever stop to think of
why there's so many different religions in the world? Because
everybody's out there trying to do something to satisfy their
conscience. Everybody's going about doing
what they think is right and trying to satisfy their conscience. I didn't know I was trying to
satisfy my conscience, but I was. I was justifying myself. Oh,
I'm not that bad of a guy. Yeah, I did this, but I didn't
do that. Oh, I did that, but I gave to
over here. I go to church with my mom once
a year. That's got to count for something, right? We justify what we are. We must
be convicted of what we are. Our first point is having no
confidence in the flesh. We must see that in our flesh
there is no good thing. Isn't that what God's word says?
Have you ever had someone tell you, I don't believe that. I
believe we all have something good in us. If you just light
that little flame, if you light that little flame, it'll grow. Our Lord says there are none
good, no not one. And if you don't believe God's
word, you call him a liar. Our first conviction is when
the Spirit of God converts that old dead heart. To convince that old dead heart
The one that was standing before him, you are dead in trespasses
and sin. You have nothing, nothing that
I need. In fact, you have earned my wrath. Turn over 2 Kings chapter five. Only the Spirit of God can convict
a sinner of this truth. You've heard this story many
a time, some of you, but for those of you who haven't, there
was a day we had a woman come into this church, heard how the
pastor preached on the depravity of man, the death of the natural
heart, and she got up and got her grandchild and walked out
of here and said, I'm not that kind of a sinner. That's the
natural man right there. Only God the Spirit can convict
a sinner of this truth. We are dead in trespasses and
sin. There are none good, no not one. Unregenerate man cannot
understand the truths of God, for they are foolishness to the
natural man. Isn't that what Scripture tells
us? Where are the wise? Where are the scribes? Put them
to night. There's only one wisdom in this
world, folks, and that's our Savior, Jesus Christ. Everything about him is foolishness
to the natural man. What do you mean, John? What do you mean I'm dead? Pinch
me, it hurts. You can't tell me I'm dead. They
don't know what the Spirit is. They don't understand the death
of the Spirit and sin. What do you mean I can do nothing
to save myself? I can change my ways, I can do
this, I can do that. This way, my way, according to
my understanding, is just as good as any. Isn't that what
Cain did? When he brought his offering
to the Lord, did he not come in a way that was his own? And
what did the Lord say to that? I'll have none of that. Abel
came with a lamb that was slain. The blood of a lamb, a picture
of that lamb, that great lamb without spot, who came for us,
who was given for us. That's the way of God. Man's
way is always a way of their own imagination. Only the Spirit of God can convict
a sinner of truth. In Isaiah, you don't need to
turn there, 53, six, we read these words, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone unto
his own way. Let's see an example of that.
Are you with me in 2 Kings chapter five, beginning at verse one,
and now Nahum, Naaman, A captain of the host of the king of Syria
was a great man with his master and honorable because by him
the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty
man in valor, but he was a leper. He was a leper. Leprosy is often
referred to in scripture exactly what sin is. You know why? Because
leprosy fills your whole body. It gets into the blood system. Folks, we're not just a piece
of sin on my finger or my foot. We are sin from head to toe.
It is in our blood. It is what we are by nature. Amen. You know why you could
tell a lie without being taught by your parents? In fact, I don't
know about you folks, but if I ever got caught lying, dad
said, go out and get me a willow stick. And if I came back with
anything shorter than this, he'd go out and get one, and I'd get
the double spanking. Anybody else be in a situation
like that? Oh, I've never lied. Have you
ever stretched the truth just one little bit? Have you ever
had somebody say, did you get in that cookie jar? No, not me,
Dad. One little lie. is because we
are sinners by nature. Naaman was leper, verse 2, and
the Syrians had gone out by companies and had bought and had brought
away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and
she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress,
would God, my Lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria,
for he would recover him from his leprosy. And one went and
told his Lord, saying, thus and thus saith the maid that is of
the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, go,
to go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And
he departed and took with him 10 talents of silver, and 6,000
pieces of gold, and 10 changes of raiment. And he bought and he brought
a letter to the king of Israel saying, now, when this letter
is coming to thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, my servant,
to thee, that thou mayest recover him from his leprosy. Take my gold. I want to get rid of this sin
that's in me. Take what I can give you. Here, I've got this
letter from the master of my nation. Take this, take this
sin from me. Let's go on. Verse seven, and
it came to pass when the king of Israel had read the letter
that he rent his clothes and said, am I God to kill and to
make alive that this man doth send unto me to recover a man
of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you,
and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. And it was so, when
Elisha, the man of God, had heard the king of Israel had rent his
clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast
thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with
his horses and with his chariot, and he stood at the door of the
house of Elisha. He came to the word of God with all the things
that he had. of this world. Best part's about to come, folks.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him saying, go, go and wash in the Jordan seven
times. What? You don't want my gold? You don't want my letter that
I have? You don't want something that
I got in my hand here? You don't want something that
I can do? No, I don't want that. Go wash in the Jordan seven times. But Naaman was wroth. And he
went away and he said, behold, I thought he will surely come
out to me. This man, God, he's, I'm a man
of power. Surely he will come out to me
and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and strike
his hand over the place and recover the leper. Are not Havana and
Fargo rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Are not what I have in my own
land better than what God is offering me here? May I not wash
in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in
rage. And his servants came near and
spake unto him and said, My father, master, if the prophet had bid
thee to do something great, some great thing, wouldest thou not
have done it? How much rather then, when he
says to thee, wash and be clean, Then went he, then went Naaman
down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according
to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like
unto him the flesh of a child, and he was clean. Our Lord says in Isaiah 55, eight
and nine, he says these words, for my thought Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts
than your thoughts. Folks, the ways of God, the ways
of God, I am the way. You're not going to come to God
by getting up and walking down here to the front aisle thinking that you're coming to
some kind of altar. They call it an altar call. I
remember a message Pastor Gene would bring in one time. He said,
I've been calling you to the altar since we started the message.
It's not this piece of wood here in front of you. It's the only
altar worth coming to, Jesus Christ. But we give an altar
call. But it's not something for you
to do, it's something that God does. It's called the new birth. Born again. You can't do anything
about that. Only God can touch the heart
of a man and cut away that old stone that shook its fist dang
one day and said, I will not have you rule over me, even though
he does. Only God can cut away that heart
and give a heart that loves him, and he does it to everyone whom
he first loved. Do I know the Lord? I love him.
I love him with all my heart. I hear that from all kinds of
religious folks. I love Jesus. Oh, yeah. I love
Jesus and he loves everybody. He died for everybody. No, he didn't. If that's your
Jesus, he's so weak, why would you worship him? We all know
somebody goes to hell. Those who go are the ones who
Christ did not die for. It does not hurt to say this
over and over and over again, the power of God was shed on
that blood, on that cross. The power of God's blood was
shed on that cross a little over 2,000 years ago, and that's all
power in heaven and earth and under the earth. That's assurance
to a sinner. I don't want a maybe, I don't
want something that might if I do something, I want something
assurance, assured. I am kept by His power, by His
blood. We have no other assurance other
than that, folks. Can you rely on yourself? Can you take any confidence in
what you do? If you do, you're following the
wrong path. Lay what you do aside and have
confidence in what He has done. Confidence in His power. And that brings us to our next
part of the text, the second of the three, rejoicing Christ. When we have confidence in our
Lord and Savior, what more can we do but praise the Lord? My
Redeemer, sing the song, tell the story. How my Lord has loved
me and gave himself for me. Isn't that what you do? Isn't
that what comes to your heart? Do you not get excited when somebody
says, hey, you know anything about God? Oh, yes, I know. I
know a little bit about him. I don't know everything, but
I know a little bit. He came to save a people. His name is Jesus. And he did,
he did, he saved us. No empty seats in heaven. Naaman
stated in the last verse that we read in verse 15, he said, and he returned to the
man of God, and he and all of his company came and stood before
him and said, behold, now I know that there is no God in all the
earth. Did you catch that? This man
of power, who no doubt had gone out into all of the known world
at that time and knew all the different stuff that was going
on around in the world. There is no other God in any
of those other places. Behold now, I know that there
is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Did you know you and I are Israel? We are. We are Israel by spirit. I know if you pull up my bloodline,
you're going to find what? Let's see. Dutch. I know I'm going to get this
wrong, huh? Captain's over here shaking her head. Let's just
say, I will not list them all off, but there's at least five
different things I know that I am. None of them are Israel
as far as I know, as far as Jewish Israel over there in the Middle
East. My God says, I am Israel. Not all of Israel is Israel. We are the children of God, kept
by His power, loved by Him before the world ever was. We heard
about that in our Friday night message. Daniel, oh, that was
such a good message, folks. I highly recommend you go to
Sermon Audio and listen to that over and over again. It's the
basics. It goes back to that very basic
thing. We were predestinated before
the world began, predestinated in Him, loved in Him, made perfect
in Him for His glory. Rejoicing in Him. We rejoice
in Him. Because we know that we have
no confidence in the flesh. We know there's nothing in our
flesh to have confidence in. We have our confidence in Him.
What else are we gonna do but rejoice in that? Be thankful
for that. Praise Him for that. When the
Spirit of God takes up residence in our new heart, one of His
chosen, we give Christ all the glory. We read in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 29 through 31, that no flesh should glory in his
presence, but of him, but of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who
of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. To declare him Lord is everything. Lord of everything is to give
him glory. and the people of God do just that, we rejoice
in His Lordship. Recently, speaking with a woman about different things, and she said,
I'm pretty sure that person never decided anything for God. Well, I decided when I was went
right into telling me how they decided when they were gonna
follow Christ. Went right into telling me how
they did this. And I'm pretty sure that person's
never made that decision. It was all based on their decision. Are you thankful that it wasn't
for you to decide? I know now Once I was blind,
but now I see that if I was left to myself, I'd have never made
a decision for Him at all. And I would just about bet everything
on it that you who belong to Him know the same, same thing. We declare Him Lord of everything.
That's what it is to give Him glory. We rejoice in his lordship
of all creation. Listen to the words of John chapter
one, verses one through 14. No, one through four. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him is
life, and the life that was the light of men. And then in verse
10, we read these words, he was in the world and the world was
made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own
and his own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, now get a load
of this, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Can it
be any more clear than that? Nor of the will of the flesh.
We're talking about those who have been given. Those that he gave the power
to become the sons of God, which were born not of the blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. There you go, chosen, elect.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. In Colossians 1, verses 12 through
17, we read these words, giving thanks unto the Father which
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness
and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. We rejoice that he is Lord of
all salvation. Turn over to Luke chapter 19,
if you would, please. Luke chapter 19. We rejoice. We rejoice that our Lord is the
Lord of all salvation. In the book of Luke, chapter
19, verses one through 10, we read these words. And Jesus entered
and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was, and could not for the press, because he was little
in stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into the sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up. Our Lord is being thronged. All
kinds of people around him. And he comes to the sycamore
tree and he looks up. Ah, there you are. Yep, I knew
that's where you'd be, right there. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said, Zacchaeus, Make haste and
come down, for today I must abide in thy house. And he made haste,
and he came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw
it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest
with a man that is a what? A man who is a what? Hold your finger there for just
a minute. I was talking to Brother Daniel, and we were coming back
from Coloma. We were driving, and he goes,
yeah, you know, And he just cut loose. I mean, he just cut loose
right there in the car. I wanted to just keep driving.
We actually got to our destination, and I was like thinking to myself,
ow! Oh, let's just sit here. Go ahead and finish what you're
doing. He cut loose. He goes, yeah. Sandy and I are
on our way to a family reunion. He goes, I got a cousin there. Some people might be ashamed
of this, but she's a harlot. He starts laughing. She's one
of my most favorite cousins. She's not just a harlot. She
owned the harlot's house. And he goes, I got another cousin. He goes, well, you know, he had
an affair. And to cover up his affair, he
had her husband killed. so he can marry her. And I'm
going to see him. And he said it was excitement
in his voice. And he went on and he went on and he went on
through the scriptures and said, this is my family. They were
all sinners. This is my family. I know what it means for my pastor,
Gene Harmon, to say, I love you all. I've come to love you all because
you're like me. You're looking for a savior,
and you're looking in the place the scripture points us to our
savior, the Lord Jesus. He's gone to be with the sinner,
they say. Verse eight, Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord,
behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and
if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him tenfold. And Jesus said unto him, this
day, I bring a message of encouragement
to you folks. This day, right now, if you've
never heard the word of God, seek you the Lord while he may
be found. This day is salvation come to
this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. For
the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. We rejoice for our Lord is all
of our salvation. Oh, the joy in the heart of a
lost sinner to know that Christ first sought me. We rejoice that
he is Lord on his throne. Turn over to Revelations 5, if
you would. It won't be much longer. Revelation 5. We rejoice that our Lord is on
his throne. In Revelation 5, we get a description
of that, and I think, as children of God, we know where our Savior
is, don't we? We know that death could not
hold our Lord, for He says, I lay down my life and I pick it up
again. I believe that. There were men on this earth
who sought for themselves, who put their hand in His side and
said, yea, I believe you, Lord. Men who sat down to eat with
him when he had holes in his hands from the spikes. Men who saw him ascending to
glory. And as they stood there watching him go up, a couple
of angels standing there, what are you looking at? He's gone,
he'll come again. He sits on his throne this moment.
Why is that important to a sinner? Because he's not lost control
of anything. I don't care what's going on
in them houses that we call our white houses or our capitals
or whatever. It doesn't matter what's going
on there anymore. Our Lord controls it all and
it's all for our good. Verse 1, chapter 5 of Revelation,
I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who, who is
worthy to open the book and to loose the scales thereof? And
no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was
able to open the book, neither to look thereof. And I wept much,
because no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither
to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not! Weep not! Behold, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld,
and lo in the midst of the throne, And of the four beasts, and in
the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain,
the very lamb that the folks watched ascend into heaven, the
very lamb that is described in scriptures for us in that very
first book, the book of Genesis, that God slain and clothed his
people with. The very Lamb that we are clothed
in His righteousness, the Lamb without spot. And I beheld, and
lo, in the midst of the throne, a Lamb, as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes, and are the seven Spirits
of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came, and he took
the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And when he had taken the book of the four beasts and the four
twenty elders, they fell down before him, the Lamb. having
every one of them hearts and golden vials full of odors, which
are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood. Out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made
us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth.
And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne of the beast and the elders and the number of them
that was 10,000, 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands. Folks, our flesh stumbles and
trips all the time. The battle is not done between
the flesh and the spirit. That battle will be over when
the Lord takes us out of this earth. Whether we go through
that door that we were talking about earlier, or whether the
Lord comes and takes us out of this world directly to him on
his second coming. But the spirit that dwelleth
in us doth not. He's already won the battle.
Turn over to Romans chapter eight, and I'll bring us to a close
in just a second. Actually, two more. Two more sections. We'll
make it quick. Romans chapter 8. Just a couple of verses there
and then we'll turn back to Philippians chapter 2. Romans chapter 8. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no charge. All that God would charge His
people with was laid upon His Son. He condemned His Son in
our stead. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit." Now go over to Philippians chapter 2. Worshiping Christ is worshiping
Him in spirit. That's what we talked about.
That was our third, our last and final point of our initial
text. We have no confidence in the
flesh. With glory in our Lord and Savior, we worship Him in
spirit. And worshiping our Lord in spirit,
each and every child of God, When they've come to the knowledge
of who He is, we'll read these words. Look at verse 1 of chapter
2, Philippians chapter 2. If there therefore be any consolation
in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy, writes Paul, that
ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind. What's that one mind? Jesus Christ
is Lord of all things. What's that one message of comfort
that anyone that could come back from that other door from eternity
would give? It's the same message. Jesus
Christ is Lord of all. Sovereign ruler of everything.
Be of one mind, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other better
than themselves. Look not every man on his own thing, but every
man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. We're going to come
to the table in just a moment. Remembering what our Lord did. Made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. Being found in the fashions of
man, he humbled himself. Humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God have
also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee, every knee should
bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under
the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord of all, the Lord to the glory of God the Father. Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. But don't think that stops there.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. You get up in the morning, you
know, I'm not trying to brag or anything
to share with you. This is all my Lord's doing.
Because I never used to do that. I never used to do this. But
I look up and my eyes will start to focus and I'll see the light
coming in through the window. Lord, thank you for another day.
Thank you for another day. I can go out today and proclaim
you to someone. Maybe you'll call them out of
that darkness. Maybe, Lord, Maybe it'll be my sister-in-law
who lives in the trailer out back. I don't know what God is doing
in her heart, but she cried all the way through the message yesterday. I don't know. Maybe it'll be my son. Maybe
it'll be one of your family. God gives the ability to go forth
and claim claim him before our friends and relatives. Before
we come to the table, would you stand with me for just a moment
and turn to page 493.