Gospel First

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 67

Psalm 67 ESV

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53:1-6

Isaiah 53:1–6 ESV

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Sermon:

Good Morning Church! I was Glad When they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

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Speaker 1

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Well, good morning church. I was glad when they said to me, let us go. And worship in the house of the Lord. I spent a lot of time this week. By wave introduction. I spent a lot of time this week Thinking about, How it is that we all face?

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The things that were going to face. Ecclesiastes taught us if we learn nothing else as we went through the Book of Ecclesiastes together that life is hard, it's vain and difficult it rains on the just and the unjust alike, the righteous and the unrighteous, the wise and the unwise, they all die, they all face these things.

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And Philippians. It's almost like we have this same heart but a very different attitude towards a lot of these things. We're going to face trials and difficulties in life. So how are we going to handle that? And as I sat and thought about it, Really, I think there are three ways and only one of these is correct. There's the first one. Which is the stress out, fret Panic, do everything you can to try to fix it until you realize you're broken and weak and can't fix it, and then you just shut down into nothing. Right? You see some trial, some tribulation coming and it's stress, and worry, and trial and trouble, and stress, and worry, and we try to fix it and we try to work on it. We try to do this and we try to do that and nothing works.

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That's the first way we can handle it. I don't think that's the way we should. There's a second way when trials and troubles and difficulties and situations arise. We could just ignore that. Pretend like, everything's okay. Not be willing to say, man. Life's, difficult, life's hard. And instead we just say, no, I'm I'm great. How are you doing? I'm doing fantastic. Really I heard this down. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm fine. I'm fine. No. Big deal. Or. There's a third option. I don't think that second option is right either. So there's a third option. How can we handle and face the difficulties in trials and Troubles of life?

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By realizing that God is good. That God is Sovereign. That he holds all things, he controls all things that he is working. All things out for his glory and for our good. That we can say. We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. By resting in the completed work of Christ by saying he who gave us his own son, will he not with him graciously? Give us all things. So, as I'm facing trials, as I'm facing troubles, as I'm facing difficulties, I don't stress out because I know, I'm ultimately powerless in a lot of things.

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But I also just don't ignore it instead. Through the grace and goodness of God, I face the difficulties of And I, I rest in. In particular, I rest in Christ and his completed work. Why was I thinking of that? Why was that the way my brain was thinking this week. Well, because Paul Is facing difficulty. He's in prison, he doesn't know what that's going to be like he's been prevented from going and visiting and being with churches that he loves, he's hearing bad news from different churches. He's planted. Paul is facing difficult things. And the Philippian Church the church that Paul's knows and loves. They also know Paul is facing these things.

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And there are probably some that think, well, Paul's just Crazy. Like he's in prison, he doesn't seem to care. But there's others, I think that are fretting. And they're, they're sad and they're scared and they're terrified of what may happen. And then there's Paul who I believe is facing these things with the heart, we should all face. Life with And what does that heart look like? Well, let's read our passage for today. Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 through 18. A this just means the first half of 18. Just for a bit of free thoughts, right? The when Paul sat down and wrote this letter, he didn't put chapter in verse numbers.

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Rather throughout the course of church history, chapters and verses were added. So that honestly, one of the biggest reasons so that when people are preaching, we can say, hey, go to Philippians chapter 1, verse 12 and we all end up on the same page. And that's why they're useful and good, but They're not inspired the same way. The rest of the words of God are. So we can, we can cut a verse in half. It's okay, my hope is that, as we look at these things together this week, and then next week, you'll realize why this is probably two separate ideas and we should cut it. But we're gonna do the first half of Verse 18. This one

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Philippians chapter 1, starting in verse 12. I want you to know, Brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. So that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord, by my imprisonment, Are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from Goodwill. The ladder do it out of love. Knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel, the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition.

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Not sincerely, but thinking to inflict me in my imprisonment. Well, what then? Only. That in every way, whether in pretense or in truth Christ, Is proclaimed. And in that, I Rejoice. These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open. With a word of prayer. We we thank you. Dear Lord, for your grace and mercy towards us. We thank you for. The kindness that you have shown to us. And we praise you, for you are The Sovereign King of Heaven. The one? Who knows all things is in control of all things, who holds and keeps all things.

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And so first and foremost, we ask that you would hold us and keep us help us to rest in you in your love and in your work for us. But then we also ask that you would open our eyes to see what? All of this means. Give us your heart to see and Even what we pray about that your will would be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Stir our affections towards you. Open our eyes to see and hear from your word. May you use this time to shape us and mold us into the image of your son.

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For instance, his name that we pray, the name above all other names, the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord Amen. And amen. As we open this, let's let's remember. Paul's writing a letter to a church that sent him some gift. And carrying that gift was a man named epaphroditus. Who brought also with that gift, if not a physical letter, we don't know that part of History. If if you didn't bring a physical letter, he at least brought right you, you meet with someone. And Paul the church is thinking about you. The church loves you. The church cares about you, we heard that you're in prison, Paul. And we're really worried.

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Can you help us? What? What can you tell a church? That is very, very worried about you and what you are facing. And so, Paul starts, I want you to know I've heard, you are concerned, I know there's difficulty, I know there's trouble. So we start with this, we start with first things first. And the first thing that is on Paul's heart. The first thing that is on, Paul's mind, the first thing that must be talked about Is Gospel advancement. As he faces difficulties as he faces trials, as he faces troubles, what does Paul care about? Not persecution.

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Not his chains, not the difficulties facing, not any of those things. I want you to know that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Philippian Church, you are concerned because of Trials and difficulties and troubles. This is what I know. The gospel is going forth. That's all I need to know. Paul's heart is obsessed and consumed with seeing the hope, and truth of the Gospel, go out to all of those around him. So as we go back to how I started, there's different ways that we think about how do we Face the trials and difficulties and Troubles of life. Here would be the first answer. How do we get to Paul's answer of like God's in control? He'll take care of it. We realize that what is in view is not my personal troubles and difficulties and trials. But rather what is Central to all things to my entire life to the life of the church to everything is the gospel.

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Going forth. This should become our heartbeat. This should become. What moves us, what? What causes us to? Even get up in the morning. When when you get up in the morning, What is it that stirs you to action? What is it that stirs in your heart for Paul and I believe for all believers. It should be The advance of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The proclamation that he sent his disciples out. We looked at this in Matthew some long time ago, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Go, therefore and preach the gospel. Right Matthew 28, what is it? That moves us, what is it? That is our call to action go therefore and make disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that. I have commanded you and behold. I am with you always even to the end of the age. That's what moves and motivates Christians.

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But Paul, you're a prison. I don't care. The gospel went for, but Paul, there's this difficult. I don't care the gospels being proclaimed. But Paul, what about it doesn't matter. The gospel is being proclaimed. All that is happening. Has served to spread the gospel. And in Paul's particular case, this is a very profound and deep spreading of the Gospel. So, it has become known throughout the whole Imperial guard. These are there's a little debate historically who exactly this is, but everyone agrees on this. These were highly important. Highly influential highly Advanced Roman soldiers In other words,

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Into the highest levels of Roman government and power. The gospel is being known. As Paul is chained to different Roman guards, as Paul is spending his time in prison. What is he doing? I'm innocent. I don't deserve this. Is he going and saying, you know, I'm a Roman citizen. This is technically illegal. What you're doing is wrong, is he fighting his case? Not really.

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Have you heard about the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Have you heard about the weight of your sin and the price that was paid by Jesus on the cross? Paul probably sounding a lot like Peter. This Christ, whom you crucified is now living and seated at the right hand of the father willing to intercede on your behalf trust in him. So much so that the entire Imperial Guard realizes, the reason Paul is in prison is not because we put him there, but because he himself will not stop. Speaking the name of Jesus Christ. To the entire Imperial Guard into all around. This is what is known verse 13. My imprisonment is for Christ.

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Why is Paul in prison? Because Christ wanted him to. Why is Paul in prison? To the gospel. Could be Advanced. So that those Roman guards,

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This is how I think through gospel advancement. Paul's in prison. Preaching. The hope of the Gospel to every person he comes in contact with

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If you were to sit Paul down, why, why were you in prison?

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I believe. Right. This is this is what we would call Sanctified imagination. I can't show you a verse but I think this is the heart of what Paul says over and over again.

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Paul, why were you in prison?

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Because there was this Roman guard. Tiberius, I don't know his name. Paul would know his name. There was this Roman card. He came to believe in Christ. That's why I was in prison. Why do you face this trial and difficulty? So that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be spread could be share. That is the heartbeat of Paul. Paul, why are you in prison? Because verse 14 me being in prison inspired even more people to preach the gospel? And that's what God wanted. And verse 14, most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord, by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak without fear.

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Why is Paul in prison because him being in prison motivates all the rest of the brothers to have boldness to do what spread and preach the gospel. Paul's heart, Paul's life. Paul's mind. Paul's soul are focused on the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's putting first things first. No matter what you face, no matter what trials, no matter what difficulties no matter what This should be our heart as well. Just preach the gospel. What do people need right? This is So there's a word apocryphal story and there's me. This is probably a made-up story.

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But it's one. That means a lot to me.

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The way the made-up story, I've heard it and maybe this might be one of those, like it really happened. But not with the characters that I know the story of, but I'm just going to tell the story the way I know it. Martin Luther. Have been preaching and preaching and preaching. The gospel. Over and over and over again. Someone from the church comes up to him. You know. We're all Christians here. We don't need to hear the gospel. We need something more. And his response was,

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Preach the gospel because this is what all men need at all times in every way. We never, here's the point. We all never move past hearing the hope of a perfect savior who died for our sins, that freely and generously God, grants us salvation, right? Standing with him because of the work of Jesus Christ. We never move past that. Praise the Lord. There will never come a time in your life when you move past, the need to hear and understand that there is hope in the gospel. And then we will all never move past the point where we must Proclaim the truth of the Gospel.

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I said, first things first gospel advancements, but here's the beauty of being a Christian in some ways. Last things last gospel, advancement our whole lives, everything is about the gospel.

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But then, what?

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And for me, This is the portion of this passage. That becomes very convicting. I often talk about the passages. I love to preach. Series and the passages I fear. Somehow this one sermon is both. Because,

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I try to in my life, have the same heart to preach the gospel at all times. But where Paul takes this?

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It's somewhere. I might struggle sometimes right, he first talks about this idea of the Gospel goes forth. It's good. The the gossip being preached to the whole Roman Garth, all the brothers are all the more impassioned. Everyone seems to be be hearing and seeing the gospel. And then he begins to think about specifically these verse 14, these these brothers, becoming more confident in Paul's in prison to speak the truth. And he describes what's happening. In a very beautiful way. I just want to read it again. Verse 15.

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Here's my, my interesting thought that Paul has here. Some indeed. Preach Christ. From Envy and rivalry. But others from Goodwill, the latter do it out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel. The former Proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition. Not sincerely but thinking to inflict afflict me in my imprisonment, what then? Let's just pause there. What is Paul saying? I am, I want you to know right? If we go, I want you to know that I am in prison, so that the gospel goes forth as I am here. The Roman guards being saved, other people are hearing the gospel. And importantly, the brothers in Christ around us are being moved and motivated and encouraged all the more to preach the gospel.

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Okay. But,

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There's two different ways. The gospel is going forth. There's Advance. Through ill will.

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When we think of the Gospel, we usually largely rightly think of good news Grace and mercy going abounding, abounding. Turns out. God, often uses broken sinful people. Let's rephrase that. God always uses broken sinful people because we're all broken and sinful. And often broken and sinful people act in broken and sinful ways. And so, Paul sitting in prison knows, and understands that there is sometimes that the gospel is proclaimed. Through ill will. It's from verse 15 envy and rivalry. It's out of verse 17. Selfish ambition, not sincerely. Wait, there are people in this world that preach Christ for all the wrong reasons.

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As a pastor, I see this. All the time. Your goat meet and talk to other pastors. You don't have to take my word on that. You can ask Desiree, how many times I will go to some Pastor meeting, some Pastor, grew some time where I meet with a group of pastors and I come home thinking, I am nothing like these people Our brains don't think and operate the same way. Our heart is very different. Because often, if I'm being Frank and honest, we see this taking place. It's pastors, who preach the gospel. Why? Because it's a paycheck.

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Because y'all paid me to do a job. So I'm going to do the job. Here's what I studied this week. Because they want. Could you can I just be honest for a while? This is why this is a difficult passage. There are many pastors and sometimes we are all guilty of this.

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There's something that Wells up in your heart. People come and say, hey Pastor That's me. I think it's good and right to feel pride in the position that God has called us to But there's a hard issue here. Is this from Envy or rivalry? You get a group of pastors together. What's the first thing they talk about? Oh, how many people go to your church? How's it been growing? How many baptisms? How's your budget? How are these things going? Our church is going. Great growth is exploding budgets, awesome. We just built a brand new. Four million dollar building off to the side. That's what we're doing. How are you guys doing?

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Forgive me for I spoke of things too great for This is how pastors often talk? Why Because we're not perfect. And often. Even though what we're proclaiming is truth. The heart is warped. Pulses, sometimes when the gospels priest is through ill will, Sometimes the people who are preaching, the gospel around, Paul are doing so with the express intention, not of preaching Christ. For the glory of God, not of seeing lives and hearts change. Why are they preaching Christ? So that Paul will be afflicted. Why do you preach Christ? Because I hate Paul. How does that work? I don't know. Here's how I've thought these are different ideas.

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It's very interesting, Paul's not explicit in these because I think he wants us to be very applicable but let's just think of ways that this might work. How could the preaching of the Gospel be used to afflict Paul? Hey, Paul. You think you're so awesome? I'm out here. Preaching the gospel. You're in prison. Maybe God likes me a little bit more. Hey, Paul. You think you're so great, you planted all these churches, you did all this stuff. Oh Paul, you get to be the Paul. You get to go to the Jerusalem Council. Paul. You think you're the one that gets to do these things?

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Well, you're riding in prison. I'm standing up in front of this church, who's better? Hey, Paul. Look. Where you're at and look at where I'm at. I'd rather be meeple. That could be what selfish ambition and vain can see envy and rivalry look like in our preaching. And can we be honest, if I was Paul? Believe it. At them at God at this situation at the Roman guards, it would drive me insane. That's not Paul's heart. The gospel is advancing. It's as if Paul has this, the kids talk about the the Uno reverse card. The joke is no matter what difficulty, or trial or trouble, you face, you whip out the Uno reverse card. Well, Paul has in this situation, the world's greatest Uno reverse car

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Hey Paul, you're in prison but I'm free preaching. The gospel plus congratulations. You're doing exactly what I want you to do. Preach the gospel, you played yourself. This is how it ends. What then there are people who preach the gospel. The gospel advances sometimes through people's ill will through their Envy their rivalry. They're selfish ambition. So what Only that in every way. In every way. Whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed. And in that I rejoice, You know what? Philippian church. This is Paul as a pastor, right? And this is a lesson that I myself am learning.

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Often. So, let me try.

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Paul, as I encourage you.

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You know, at church Sometimes. You're going to hear the gospel, you can hear. Preaching you're going to hear things. And the heart of the person speaking, this is going to bother you. You're going to listen to some sermon on the internet on the radio. Maybe you go to a friend's church, you're on vacation and you just visit one. And you're going to think for a second.

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This this pastor is pretty full of himself.

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I don't really like this church, past whatever it is. Is Christ being proclaimed.

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Rejoice. Are there better and worse ways to do things? Of course, there are.

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But is Christ being proclaimed. As I have learned to ask this question, I can put up with a lot more.

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Is Christ being proclaimed. Well then I will Rejoice But here's the other final thought I'd like us to land with. I I did these sort of quote unquote out of order to give to give us some hopefully encouragement for our hearts It's possible that the gospel is proclaimed through ill will that it'll advance through ill will it's possible. I think that we should all in our hearts seek to not do that. Instead, we should advance the gospel through Good Will Some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, that's ill will. But others. From Goodwill. The latter do it out of

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Love. Again, we have Paul we talked about this last week, a little bit. Giving us the word love without. An object. The latter do it out of love for the gospel. That's right. Why do I preach the gospel? This is for me as I look at my heart. Why do I preach the gospel? Because I love the gospel. It saved me. It redeemed me it gave me a new life and I want you to have it too. I love the gospel. So I will preach the gospel.

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But that's not the object. We're given the others. Do it out of love, is it? Love for Paul? Let me tell you this gospel. This man, I love and care for his name is Paul. He believed this so strongly, he's willing to Forfeit his life for the cause. And if Paul loved this and cared for it so much, I love it and care for it so much. So I want you to hear That's why they preach out of life. Love for God. Why do I preach the gospel? Well, here's the gospel for God. So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and I love a God, who would love us so much.

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And because he's told me, I need to go preach because he has said, go therefore into all that, we talked about that earlier because he said these things I'm gonna preach. Because I love God.

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Love for the person you're preaching to. Others preach out of love because I love you so much. I love you too. Much to allow you to willingly and boldly March towards hell. So let me tell you of the good news of the Gospel. That's good. Will Paul was in prison for defense of the Gospel. I love the gospel. I love Paul. I love God, I love you. I love we love each other. This is why we preach, what motivates us, what? Should move us. It's Goodwill. It's love. It's care for one another. In either way, I will Rejoice for the gospel will go forth. I will Rejoice because Christ is proclaimed.

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But here's a moment where we can check our heart. Where we can try to figure out and understand. Why do we do the things that we are doing? Why do we live the way we live? Why do we preach the things we preach? Why do we believe the thing? Why?

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And may our hearts be like Paul. Focusing on first things first, the gospel. And its advancement to the world around us. But then understanding How we do this? Matters to us. But that God will use broken means to accomplish his perfect. Will let's pray.