Episode Transcript
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Let's pray together. Lord, we
now ask that you would pour out your
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Holy Spirit on us, that we
might come to see the glory of God
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in the face of Jesus Christ,
in the gospel of the Sun, which
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came into the world at the perfect
time, at the fullness of time,
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when everything had been arranged exactly according
to your pleasure, that Jesus might be
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made known in the world, that
a light shining in the darkness, which
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would not, and has not and
will never be overcome. We praise you
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for the peace that we have in
him, for the hope of the resurrection.
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We asked that you would bless us
in these truths this morning. We
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pray this in Jesus name. Amen. These remain standing, if you're able
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to and turn with me to first
Corinthians, Chapter Fifteen. First Corinthians fifteen
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versus thirty five through the end of
the chapter. Paul continues here addressing this
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question that people were raising, a
doubt that folks were having about the truth
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of the resurrection of the dead.
Is it really happening? Maybe it's not
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happening, and he begins with this
objection our the dead raised, and he
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speaks to this and he gives us
much comfort and encouragement. First Corinthians,
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Chapter Fifteen, verse Thirty Five.
But someone will someone will ask how are
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the dead raised with? What kind
of body do they come foolish person,
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what you sow does not come to
life unless it dies. And what you
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sow is not the body that is
to be, but a bare kernel,
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perhaps of weeds or of some other
grain. But God gives it a body
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as he has chosen, and to
each kind of its seed, of seed
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it's and to each kind of seed
its own body. For Not all flesh
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is the same. But there is
one kind for humans, another kind for
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animals, another for birds, another
for fish. There are heavenly bodies and
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earthly bodies, but the glory of
the heavenly is of one kind and the
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glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of The Sun
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and another glory of the Moon and
another glory of the stars, for Stars
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differ from Star in glory. So
it is with the resurrection of the dead.
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What is sown is perishable, what
is raised is imperishable. It is
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sown in dishonor it is raised in
glory. It is sown in weakness,
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it is raised in power. It
is sown a natural body, it is
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raised a spiritual body. If there
is a natural body, there is also
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a spiritual body. Thus it is
written the first man, Adam, became
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a life giving being, where a
life a living being. The last atom
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became a life giving spirit. But
it is not the spiritual that is first,
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but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the
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earth, a man of dust.
The second man is from heaven. As
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was the man of dust, so
also are those who are of the dust,
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as is the man of Heaven,
so also are those who are of
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Heaven. Just as we have borne
the image of the man of dust,
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we shall also bear image, the
image of the man of heaven. I
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tell you this, brother's flesh and
blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,
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nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery.
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We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed in a
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moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet, for
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the trumpet will sound and the dead
will be raised imperishable and we shall be
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changed. For this perishable body must
put on the imperishable and this mortal body
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must put on immortality. When the
perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal
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puts on immortality, then shall come
to pass the saying that is written death
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is swallowed up in victory. Oh
death, where is your victory? Oh
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death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin and the
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power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us
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the victory through our Lord, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers,
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be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, knowing
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that in the Lord your Labor is
not in vain. Amen, please be
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seated. In this life we often
find ourselves trying to get over the next
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hill. We find ourselves trying to
get through the current problem, trying to
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have a little bit of hope for
the future. I'm often feeling like a
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mouse scrambling around in amaze that it
doesn't know, looking for some bit of
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cheese, hoping that we will find
it, but hitting dead end after dead
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end after dead end. We find
ourselves looking for this hope because because there
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are so many problems in our world, so many things we struggle against daily
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in our in our thoughts, in
our bodies, in our communities, in
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our churches, everywhere we look we
find the effects of sin. We feel
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that this world is made of dust
and people made of the man of dust.
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It crumbles around us, it decays, it it falls apart. Not
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a few of you received some bit
of news this week that was troubling.
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That was another realization that yet again
things are falling apart, yet again another
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dead end. And so we look
for hope, but we often look in
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all the wrong places, or at
least for a hope that's lasting, a
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hope that sustains, a hope that
says this thing that I'm doing, this
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project that I'm working on, this
life that I'm living, is not in
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vain. We try to find it
in medicine, in Ai, in improving
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our situations, in money and fame, and sometimes, when we can't find
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it, we just give up and
despair and discouragement. We say, well,
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I'm just going back to bed.
We look for hope in these places,
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we don't find it. Over and
over again we we don't find it.
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You can read stories the scripture of
them, scriptures themselves, about people
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who chased after everything possible thing that
one could chase after and the hopes of
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finding meaning, satisfaction, fulfillment,
peace. And everywhere they looked, as
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far as they could possibly pursue it, they found yet another dead end.
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And so it's really remarkable when Paul
ends this passage and says, therefore,
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my beloved brothers, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of
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the Lord, knowing that in the
Lord Your Labor is not in vain.
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To give that kind of promise,
a promise from the very word of God
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that your Labor or life is not
in vain, is a really excellent promise.
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It's an excellent command. On what
could it possibly be based? What
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could possibly give him and give us
a reason to say I can be immovable,
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I can be steadfast, I can
go about my life and my calling
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in this world despite all the frustrations, despite the reality of death itself,
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and know that it's not in vain. The reason for that, the hope
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for that, is what Paul gives
to us in these verses, and it's
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the hope of a real resurrection of
the dead, not a metaphorical resurrection in
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which we just experience of the feeling
of hope, but a literal resurrection of
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dead, which is described by things
like imperishable glory, honor, power,
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a real resurrection from the dead,
this real thing that has begun in history
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and will find its conclusion, that
we can press on, immovable, steadfast,
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not giving up and trust in the
Lord. So we come, at
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the beginning of this to the objection, to this this hope that he offers
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to us, this hope that he
promises to us in the resurrection, and
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it's this in verse thirty five.
How are the dead raised? Right,
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death is a problem for life.
Right. How do you pour Abul of
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cereal when you have an empty cereal
box? Right, it doesn't work.
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How do you how do you build
a business when you have no money to
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build it? How do you find
a friend when no one around? How
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do you live when you've died?
Death is a real problem. It's IT'S
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A it's a legitimate question. With
what kind of body will someone be raised?
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You imagine somebody who was put in
the ground two thousand, three thousand,
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six thousand years ago and you raise
them up. Okay, what kind
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of a resurrection is that? It's
a gross one, it's a dishonorable one.
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It's one that would just slam in
your face the pot of what perishing
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means, what death means, what
it means to be a person made in
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the man, in the image of
the man of dust. And kind of
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life is that? And so Paul
explains. Well, first he calls US
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fools, he says you foolish person, and then he explains what you so
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does not come to life unless it
dies, and he uses the metaphor of
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a seed as rerection. itself is
not a metaphor, but he explains the
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resurrection using this metaphor of a seed
and it's his point is simply this.
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What you put in the ground is
not what comes up right. This is
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so fun and I hope you all
have done this at some point. I'm
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kids. If you haven't done this
yet, should do this. You should
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get used and you should put it
in the ground and should water it and
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give it some sunlight and watch what
happens. It's amazing, this hard,
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tiny little thing which you could put
on your counter and it'll sit there for
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years. Write. You sew it, which means you put it in the
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ground, you give it some water
and get something like an all of a
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sudden this green thing pops up,
and then a leaf and then maybe a
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flower and then, in some cases, food that you can eat and enjoy
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and and prepare and share. It's
an amazing thing and Paul Compares The resurrection
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like this. Yes, what is
sown in the ground is perishable, but
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that's not what comes up. It's
like a seed. We're over. He
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goes on to say, God gives
of the body as he has chosen,
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in the same way that the creation, the first world that he was made,
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that he made, was various and
diverse. There sun and moon and
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stars, animals of various kind,
the fish in the sea, the birds
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in the heavens, the livestock land, all of these things odd made humans
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as well, and each various,
each had a glory according to its own
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kind. The seeds that we plant
in this world, they're they're various and
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they come up differently. Paul says
the same thing here. When the resurrection
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to have the dead happens, it's
not just a big pile of dust.
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And the resurrection of the dead happens
this glorious life, similar to what happened
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at the beginning, but different in
some ways, as different as a seed
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is to the plant that comes out
of the seed. That's what will experience.
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It's an amazing thing to consider a
world filled with all the kind of
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diversity that God first created it with
at this whole other level. It's a
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wondrous thing to think about. It's
a great hope to look forward to.
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And what are some of the differences
between what goes into the ground and what
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what comes up when the Lord returns, when the trumpets sounds and the dead
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are raised? Well, he gives
us these comparisons and contrasts. First,
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he describes it is that which is
perishable will be imperishable. Right, you
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have all looked at a food package, or maybe even if you haven't looked
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and notice the labeling. You've experienced
food perishing and you know that when food
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goes bad, you don't eat it. It makes you sick. It's awful.
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It's this, this little little tupperware
box filled with the curse. Right,
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you can see it right there,
you can smell it. You get
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rid of it as fast as you
can. Right. What is perishable and
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what actually perishes is awful. We
don't keep those things around. We build
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our lives around the fact that much
of what happens perishes. How we spend
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our money, how we live our
lives, how we don't live our lives,
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all these things. What Paul says
is this perishable world, these perishable
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bodies that we experience now, will
be different. And how will they be
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different? It will be imperishable.
They will not go bad, they will
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never die. There will never be
this moment where you're you're kind of wondering,
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I wonder how much more time I
have to live? How many more
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week, more years, how many
more minutes? It will be imperishable.
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He also describes what is sown and
what is raised as compared to what is
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by these terms dishonor and glory.
Right. When we we may honor the
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body of dead, and we rightly
should, but it is not a beautiful
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thing when a body dies. It's
often a horrible thing, ugly thing,
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an evil thing, we can say. It is something that sometimes we don't
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even look at the bodies because of
of what happens at death. And and
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then he we compare this to what
is to come. A glory, a
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glory, glory that shines, glory
that impresses you, glorious, something that
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has a weightiness to it, a
thing that you pray is, a thing
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that you look at and say that
is awesome, that is good, and
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that's what we will experience, and
that was what we will see with our
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bodies, not something to be buried, not something to be put away,
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but something to rejoice in and experience
and live with and in forever, something
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that will shine with very glory of
God. Especially is as we consider that
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this resurrection is manifesting our life in
Christ, the glory of God shining in
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and through us and redounding to him, to the praise of his name.
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Next description is he gives is that
of weakness and power. Right as we
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die, especially if it is over
a long period of time, weakness comes
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right first you're a little bit sick, when you're a little bit more sick
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and your mind starts to go,
and then you're sleeping more and more and
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it's hard to do things right and
it's very difficult to experience this. It's
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very difficult to watch. Some of
you are experiencing these things now. Some
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of you have experienced them or are
with family members, are friends that are
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going through these things. It's all
and the weakness. I'm not only that
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surround that is involved in death itself, but everything that surrounds at the feeling
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like you can't do anything and you
can't help and you just you're trying so
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much to just do something. All
this feels so futile. The feeling of
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weakness, this, the feeling of
vulnerability, will be replaced at the resurrection
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with power, not Vanity and weakness
and falling apart, but power. What
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is sown in weakness will be raised
in power, bodies that will be able
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to do things, work, praise, celebrate, eat, the Lord Jesus
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after his death, that with his
disciples and eight things. That's an amazing
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thing. And the power not only
to eat but lift our hands and little
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our voices and sing forever the praise
of God, to join with the saints
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living forever in Him. The final
contrast he gives is that which is natural
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compared to that which is spiritual.
Now, our body is will be true
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bodies, but he makes this compact
contrast, particularly in comparison with this world
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and the world to come, or
Earth and heaven. He fills this out
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by giving us, by helping us
to understand the difference between Adam, the
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first atom, and the last atom
Christ. He says the first Adam was
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a life big life, a living
being. The last atom was a life
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giving spirit. The first one was
of dust, the last one was of
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heaven, meaning that as we are
born again, as we are resurrected from
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the dead, we we participate in
all of our lives, including our bodies,
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in this heavenly kingdom that is to
come, Heaven that Christ now reigns
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in a world that is imperishable,
a world that is filled with glory and
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honor and power, the world that
doesn't fall apart, a world that is
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not in vain, a world that
is everlasting and good. And that's why
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Paul says flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God. That's why he
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says not only is the resurrection going
to happen, but it must happen.
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It's not something that is a got
nice thing, but it is a requirement.
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He says, the the body must
put on the imperishable, the perishable
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must put on the imperishable, the
dishonorable bust put on glory. These things
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must happen. We must be born
again of the image of the man of
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heaven. You and I, in
other words, must be made fit for
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a kingdom that is to come this
helps us to think about heaven a little
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bit. A lot of people think
that wonder, worry that heaven might be
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a boring place. What could possibly
go on them? There's so much drama
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in our lives with death and sickness
and all these things. What what could
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possibly happen? One Way to think
about this is that heaven doesn't really make
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sense if you're thinking about it in
terms of your life, that is now.
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If you try to imagine your body
and your life and soul and all
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these things as they are now,
when you implant them into heaven, that's
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not going to work. It doesn't
make sense. You probably would get bored,
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you get frustrated, you and whatever
right. The point is is that
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Paul is saying here that I'm God
makes us fit for that place. We
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are not fit for it apart from
this resurrection. When we try to imagine
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living in heaven and being eternally in
the presence of God according to our flesh,
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it doesn't make sense. But God
solve this this for us by sending
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Jesus into the world to become our
resurrection, to die the day we deserve,
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to give us a life and a
righteousness that we need. He prepares
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us for this existence, in this
life everlasting, which we will do nothing
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but enjoy and praise God and glorify
him forever. It's your best day in
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your imagination, but for real and
better forever, and then the next best
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day after that that you can imagine
for real and forever and beyond that.
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God promises to us, in our
resurrected bodies, in the the world into
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which he will bring us, a
life that is full of peace, joy
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and meaningfulness and fulfillment and community and
love, all the things that we hope
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for and constantly hit dead ends against. We will have and we'll have it
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completely, and we will have it
in a way that doesn't sort of fall
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apart or fall through our fingers.
Will have it in a way that doesn't
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sort of meet yet with another phase
of trials and another set of tears that
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doesn't end yet again and shame and
in sorrow, but just grows and grows
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and grows. And that is because
Jesus has solved the fundamental problem that we
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all have, whether we are alive
or dead, when he returns, and
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that problem is sin. That's the
problem that is infecting everything, that is
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the problem that is cursing everything,
as Paul says in Verse Fifty Six.
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He says the sting of death is
sin and the power of sin is the
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law. If you've ever been with
someone who is dying or you felt this
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in your own body, like this
isn't natural, you're right. It's not
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how things were supposed to be.
It's a consequence of something that happened.
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It's a consequence of sin. It's
a disruption to the world that God made.
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It's a weird thing. Right,
your your body, everything sort of
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long fire. Right, you're eating, you're sleeping, you're waking up,
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you're eating or sleeping, you're waking
up, going through your life that all
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of a sudden you're sick, all
of a sudden your leg hurts, all
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of a sudden your eyes don't work. Why does that coming from? Sure
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we know about disease and infection in
this and that, but why? It's
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because of sin. It's because that
first man, who is our representative,
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he sinned. We plunged us all
into sin and the power of sin,
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Paul says, is the law.
Not that the law itself is bad,
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but it has this way of sparking
sin in US and showing sin, Paul
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says in Romans for fifteen, for
the law brings wrath. But where there's
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no law, there's no transgression.
When the law comes to us, we
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see our sin. Let me read
a few more verses to you, just
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three from Romans, Chapter Seven,
verse five, Verse Eight, in verse
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thirteen. Romans seven, verse five, Pulse says, while we were living
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in the flesh, our sinful passions
aroused by the law were at work in
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our members to bear fruit for death. Let me read it one more time.
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While we were living in the flesh, are sinful passions aroused by the
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law. You know what this is
like. Right, don't put your I'm
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going to put these cookies on the
counter. Nobody take one immediately, like
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I want a cookie. Right.
Here are the rules at work. We
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do this, we do this.
You got to make sure you follow these
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policies and immediately your thinking, I
really have to do that. Is there
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way I can get around this?
Right, the law comes, then the
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laws good. There's nothing wrong with
God's law. But because there's a problem
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inside, our sinful passions, here
that law and get to work and start
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bearing fruit, bearing consequences, bearing
fruit for death. That's verse five.
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Listen to verse eight. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,
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produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Sin, here's the commandment and runs
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for it, takes that opportunity.
Verse Thirteen. Did that which is good,
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the law, then bring death to
me? No, by no means.
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It was sin producing death in me
through what is good, in order
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that sin might be shown to be
sin and through the commandment might become sin
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and through the commandment, might become
sinful beyond measure. So that's what Paul's
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getting out here. And First Corinthians. The sting of death is sin and
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the power of sin is the law. So how does Jesus solve this?
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By being a sacrifice for our sin. He fulfills the righteous commandment of the
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law. He earns for us the
righteousness that we need. He changes the
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constitution of our souls so that we
start to love the law, so that
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we start to love God. We
want to be with him instead of flee
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from him, we want to experience
and in our lives, lives instead of
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run from him, and this life
he offers, he freely gives to all
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who simply put their faith in the
resurrected one who put their faith in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. How do we
have the victory? What does Paul say
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in Verse Fifty Seven? He gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We don't just bust through a dead
end one day it's hey, yeah,
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I figured it out. No,
it's dead end, dead and Dead
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End, until Christ picks us up
out of the maze and puts us into
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a world when which we can live
forever, with bodies that we are fit
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forever and life that is fully enjoyed
forever on the God. Because Jesus solves
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that problem and because we have the
proof of it through his own resurrection from
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the dead. Brothers and sisters,
we can have confidence in this life,
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in spite of death, in spite
of the trials we have, in spite
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of the fears that we face and
the difficulties that we are now surrounding us
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and will continue to surround us.
We can look death in its face and
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mock it. We can say,
Oh death, where is your victory?
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Oh death, where is your sting? And we can say that because we
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know, and I love this image, death is s wallowed up in victory.
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The Victorious Work of Christ. Just
home, that's gone. It's God.
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Death is swallowed up in victory,
just like like darkness, just as
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immediately removed when there is light.
That's who Jesus is and that's what he
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does, and when we put our
hope in that, we can know that
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our labor is not in vain,
our lives are not in vain, our
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deaths are not in vain. So
whatever dogs you in this life, whatever
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troubles you and gets you down,
whatever has you at the moment feeling desperate,
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beloved, do not lose heart.
Put Your faith in the Lord Jesus,
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that you may die in peace and
you may rise imperishable, glorious and
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filled with his power forever. Let's
pray our Lord God. We ask that
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you would bless us in the truth
of the Gospel, this good news that
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Jesus Christ comes into this world to
raise the dead. We thank you for
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this resurrection, life that is already
begun in us. We thank you that
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we have died in Christ and have
been baptized into his death and are surely
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now even alive, having experienced a
kind of beginning resurrection, a first resurrection,
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and waiting now just for the completion
of these things. Lord, as
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we face these trials and difficulties in
our lives, even perhaps one of the
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greatest ones, death itself, we
asked that you would help us not to
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lose heart, but to look to
you and for your salvation. And,
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Lord, we ask that you would
help us to proclaim this hope to dying
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world, help us to be bold
about telling people the good news that we
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have received, a news, a
news, news that comes into our lives
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and promises us hope, that tells
us that we can live and our living
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is not in vain because we live
in the Lord and in his work.
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We ask, Lord, that as
we proclaim this message, as we invite
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others to come and to hear,
that many would receive and begin to live
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for the first time, seeing and
hoping and rejoicing in the goodness of God,
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our maker and Redeemer. Lord,
we ask also that, as we
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live this new life in Christ,
that you would help us to continue to
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put to death that flesh of nature
in us, help us to give our
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members no longer over to unroighteousness,
which brings forth the fruit of death,
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but to righteousness to God in Christ, that we might enjoy and participate in
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that life that he gives to us. May We be a people that are
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marked more and more by that resurrection
life, by hope, by peace,
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by love, by Joy, gentleness, faithfulness self control. Lord, we
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asked that you would strengthen us in
these things, bear forth this fruit and
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we and that others may see it
and come to you and give you glory.
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We also pray, Lord, for
those among us who are particularly burdens
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morning, who are seeing the struggles
and the trials of this life, who
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feel the very real pain of suffering, of death, perhaps, those who
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are afraid, who are crying,
who are sad, on those who wonder
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what is going to happen next,
will those who fear even the next day
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or week or month. We asked, Lord, that you would give them
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your peace and your comfort in Christ
and help us to mourn with those who
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mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice, all in the Lord Jesus Christ,
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who sympathizes with those in our weaknesses
and gives us a hope for strength.
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We ask, Lord, that you
would bless us in these things, and
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we pray this in Jesus the name
Amen
