Participants: Pr. Dwight Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP092416A
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00:00 ♪♪
00:10 >> Dear Father, as You know well, not many of us are 00:13 farmers. Most of us are city slickers, 00:16 which means we're not that familiar with that sweet little 00:20 domesticated creature you chose, for the rest of forever, to 00:26 represent You and Your sacrifice. 00:29 Nevertheless, we've come today to worship the Lamb. And with that choir 10,000 times 00:35 10,000 and thousands of thousands, we, too, will sing their anthem, "Worthy is the 00:41 Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and 00:46 blessing." With all our hearts, o, God, we joyfully confess that 00:52 Christ Jesus is our Lord and our Lamb and our savior forever and ever. 01:00 Amen. >> Amen. [ Organ plays 01:04 "Worthy is the Lamb" ] 01:40 [ Congregation sings ] 03:43 [ Music stops ] 03:48 >> Happy Sabbath, Church. Please join us as we sing some 03:52 songs to celebrate the life and death of Jesus and His raising 03:55 from the dead. [ "Jesus Paid It All" plays ] 04:14 [ Performers sing ] 04:53 [ Instrumental music plays ] 04:58 [ Performers sing ] 05:37 [ Instrumental music plays ] 05:43 [ Performers sing ] 06:12 >> ♪ Sin had left a crimson stain ♪ 06:17 ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ 06:27 [ Instrumental music plays ] 06:32 ♪ O praise the One who paid my debt ♪ 06:38 ♪ And raised this life up from the dead ♪ 06:42 ♪ O praise the One who paid my debt ♪ 06:47 ♪ And raised this life up from the dead ♪ 06:52 ♪ O praise the One who paid my debt ♪ 06:56 ♪ And raised this life up from the dead ♪ 07:01 ♪ O praise the One who paid my debt ♪ 07:06 ♪ And raised this life up from the dead ♪ 07:11 [ Performers continue singing ] 07:33 [ Music ends ] [ "Overcome" plays ] 08:06 [ Performers sing ] 09:16 >> "All authority." >> ♪ All authority ♪ 09:23 ♪ Every victory is Yours ♪ ♪ All authority ♪ 09:38 ♪ Every victory is Yours ♪ [ Performers sing ] 10:25 >> ♪ We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 10:33 ♪ And the word of our testimony ♪ 10:37 >> ♪ We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 10:43 ♪ And the word of our testimony ♪ 10:46 >> ♪ We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 10:52 ♪ And the word of our testimony ♪ 10:55 >> ♪ We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 11:02 ♪ And the word of our testimony ♪ 11:05 [ Performers sing ] 11:41 [ Music fades ] [ Piano plays "The Anthem" ] 12:03 [ Performers sing ] 14:40 >> ♪ Our God is risen, He is alive ♪ 14:46 ♪ He's won the victory, He reigns on high ♪ 14:53 >> ♪ Our God is risen, He is alive ♪ 14:59 ♪ He's won the victory, He reigns on high ♪ 15:05 >> ♪ On high ♪ >> ♪ Our God is risen, 15:09 He is alive ♪ ♪ He's won the victory, 15:15 He reigns on high ♪ >> ♪ Our God ♪ 15:18 >> ♪ Our God is risen, He is alive ♪ 15:25 ♪ He's won the victory, He reigns on high ♪ 15:33 [ Performers continue singing ] 16:21 >> One more time. [ Performers continue singing ] 17:19 [ Music stops ] 17:24 [ Orchestra plays ] 21:19 [ Music stops ] 21:23 >> Again, Academy choir, beautiful. Thank you, Hector Flores and 21:30 Andrews Academy Symphony Orchestra. That was beautiful. 21:35 What a fellowship. What a joy divine. "Leaning on the Everlasting 21:40 Arms." It's what we've come to do today. 21:43 Let's do it. Let's talk to Him, and then let's plunge into the Word 21:46 together. O, God, those arms. What's that line in Deuteronomy? 21:51 "Underneath -- Underneath are the everlasting arms." We lean on those arms. 21:56 Where would we be -- Would we even be here were it not for Your strong arms? 22:03 As we do just that -- plunge into Scripture -- let the teaching be clear. 22:07 Let us not be quite the same again for having worshiped here today. 22:11 We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Would you agree with this? 22:18 Most everybody who lives on this planet has an address. If I were to ask you, "Where do 22:25 you live?" you would respond, "In Berrien Springs" or "In L.A." or "In Pretoria." 22:34 Most every human being has an address. 22:37 But, listen, there are some people -- no kidding -- there 22:40 are some people who have two addresses and -- get this -- 22:45 they live in both addresses simultaneously. 22:49 Go figure. Open up your Bible to 22:51 Ephesians 1. Take a look at this -- 22:54 Ephesians 1. Let's go. 22:56 I'm in the New International Version this morning. 22:58 Every translation you have, that's just great that you have 23:00 one. Don't have one, pull out the pew 23:02 Bible. 23:03 It's page 786 in the pew Bible. Ephesians 1:1. "Paul, an apostle of 23:10 Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in 23:19 Christ Jesus." Paul is quite clear, the Christians that he is writing 23:22 to, they live in two places at once -- in Ephesus and in Christ. 23:28 Every Christian... has both addresses... a human address and a divine 23:36 address. And it's in-Christ address, the divine address, that captures 23:42 our attention this morning. There's something compelling about that phrase. 23:47 I would dare to day that it stands among the three most stunning truths in all of 23:52 Scripture. That this truth is critical for Paul -- I'll tell you what, 23:57 he uses this phrase over 200 times -- this phrase or its cognates "in Christ," "in Him," 24:02 "through Christ," "through Him." 24:04 And for our little series #RxF4Now -- have you figured it 24:13 out yet? -- for our series, this is absolutely a very big deal. 24:18 So, without further ado, let's go to our passage for this 24:21 morning -- 2 Corinthians 5. 24:24 2 Corinthians 5. So, you're in Ephesians. Just go back Galatians, and then 24:28 you're into 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. [ Clears throat ] 24:32 2 Corinthians 5. Pick it up at verse 14. "For Christ's love compels us, 24:43 because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore --" what? -- all 24:50 died." I don't know if you were at the Steve Green concert on Sunday 24:56 night, but if you were, you know what -- what an experience. I mean, that was -- that was 25:00 worship, maxed out. And he sang his signature song. "Calvary's love, Calvary's love. 25:06 Priceless gift Christ makes us worthy of. The deepest sin can't rise 25:11 above Calvary's love." Paul is singing right now. "For the love of Christ compels 25:18 us." It's very interesting, that little word "compels." 25:22 It's one of Dr. Luke's prime words. He uses it in Luke and in Acts. 25:27 You remember the story about the woman with the hemorrhage -- The woman who's been bleeding 25:31 for like 12 years? Do you remember that story? And she says -- she hears Jesus 25:34 is coming to our little village. He's coming today, so she's going to be out there. 25:37 She's going to ask Him to heal her. But when she goes to where she 25:41 expects Him, there is this massive crowd swirling around Him. 25:45 "I'll never get an audience with Him." And so what does she do? 25:49 She's down on her hands and knees. I picture she's going through 25:51 the -- she's going through the legs, through the legs. "If I can just touch --" the 25:55 what? -- "the hem of His garment, if I can just touch that, I'll be healed." 26:01 And you know the story. Jesus stops. Everybody jostles Him, and Jesus 26:07 turns around and he says rather calmly, "Who touched me?" And Peter -- only in Luke -- 26:13 Peter pipes up as he always does, "Okay, Lord, let's find out. 26:17 Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Okay, who touched Jesus? Put your hand up. 26:20 Admit it." "No, no, no, no, no, no, somebody touched me. 26:23 I felt power go out of me." The word to describe that throttling, that choking, 26:29 pressing crowd is the same word right here. For the love of Christ throttles 26:35 us, for the love of Christ crushes us. It surrounds us. 26:38 You can't get away. Reminds me of the story of the Marine Corps general 26:43 Chesty Puller and the Battle of the Bulge. You ever hear about the 26:46 Battle of the Bulge? That would be World War II. His troops, the Allied troops, 26:51 are surrounded by the enemy. He gets up to make the announcement. 26:54 "Soldiers, the enemy is in front of us, the enemy is behind us, the enemy is to our right, 27:03 the enemy is to our left. I have good news for you. They're not going to get away 27:07 from us this time." Calvary's love -- in front of you, behind you, to the right 27:13 and left. You can't get away from Calvary's love this time. 27:17 Read it again, verse 14. "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that 27:23 one died for all, and therefore all died." Did you get that? 27:28 When Jesus died on the Cross, all the entire world all died in Him -- in Him. 27:36 One died for all -- the entire human race -- and all died in Him. 27:41 Christ took every sin of yours and mine. He took every sinner, and all 27:46 died in Him. In Him. Drop down to verse 17. 27:50 You might have read this verse before. Verse 17 -- "Therefore, if 27:53 anyone is --" what are the next two words? -- over 200 times, Paul is going to use that -- 27:58 this is his key numero-uno phrase -- "if anyone is in Christ --" any man, any woman, 28:03 any young adult, any teenager, any child -- "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has 28:09 come: The old has gone and the new is here!" Whatever this "in Christ" means, 28:16 it is crystal clear that when you're in Christ, you become a new creation. 28:23 It reminds me of that grand truth that launched this little #RxF4Now series -- "believe." 28:31 When the Creator of the universe -- when He speaks a word, His word -- get this -- 28:36 His word -- His word is so omnipotent that the moment He speaks the word, the word 28:41 creates the reality it describes. So when he says, "Let there be 28:45 light," in half a nanosecond -- wshoom! -- there is light. When he speaks the word. 28:52 If any man is in Christ, if any woman is in Christ, when he speaks the words, "Behold, 28:57 behold," I do a -- shoo! -- new thing. Boom! 29:01 A new thing has happened. When he speaks the word. If any man, if any woman is in 29:08 Christ in that instant. I'm telling you. This "in Christ" phrase, in my 29:14 humble conviction, this is a deal breaker. This is a deal breaker if you 29:20 get this one. 29:22 But it gets even better. Drop down to verse 19. 29:24 So, Paul is talking about God. This is verse 19. 29:26 And he says "that God was reconciling the world to 29:31 himself" -- here it comes again -- "in Christ." 29:34 Over 200 times. God was in the world reconciling 29:38 to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against 29:43 them. Now watch this. 29:44 Watch this, because most translations read this way. 29:47 "God was in Christ." Four words in the English. In the Greek... 29:51 [ Speaks Greek ] Four words in the Greek. God was in Christ. 29:59 You know what's happening here? The father is in the son. On the cross. 30:06 Oh, it reminds me of these words of Ellen White. Put them on the screen for you. 30:10 From that little classic "Desire of Ages." You see it on the screen. 30:14 God sacrificed himself in Christ for our redemption. But here's the stunner. 30:22 This is from a little magazine called Signs of the Times. On the screen as well. 30:25 God Himself -- God Himself was crucified with Christ. Christ was one with the Father. 30:32 The Father himself was crucified. He was in Christ. 30:35 One more. The apocalyptic classic "Great Controversy" on the 30:39 screen. The love of the Father, no less than the love of the son, is the 30:44 fountain of salvation for the lost race. You know what that means? 30:49 Ladies and gentlemen, you know what that means? When Christ died, when Calvary's 30:52 love poured out of that broken heart, he died. He died as a surrogate. 30:57 Do you know what a surrogate is? Anybody know -- What's the definition of a surrogate? 31:02 Well, the dictionary says a surrogate is a substitute assigned to stand in for someone 31:08 else. As Calvary's love is being poured out, the surrogate 31:12 standing in for the Father, the surrogate is there. The surrogate of God. 31:16 Oh, by the way, the surrogate for the entire human race, the surrogate for you and me on 31:21 Calvary's Cross. What kind of love is this? Love of Christ compels us. 31:28 I mean, can you understand it? And I'll tell you what. The wonder -- The wonder is not 31:33 so much that Jesus died for us. The wonder is he even wanted to. But it gets even better. 31:41 Hop down to verse 21. Wow. God made him -- that would be 31:47 Christ -- God made Christ, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that -- what are the next two 31:54 words? -- in Him. There it is again. There's that phrase. 31:57 So that in Him we might become the righteousness -- the righteousness of God. 32:02 Hey, hey, what's righteousness mean? Well, we can kind of think about 32:07 righteousness this way. Righteousness is right-doing. That's what it is, right-doing. 32:13 That's why God is 24/7 righteous because He's always doing right, 24/7. 32:17 And righteous -- He's only the righteousness in the universe. 24/7, which means -- listen to 32:24 this. When we are in Christ, as we just read, the filthy rags of 32:29 our sins go to him so that the spotless robe of his righteousness gets wrapped 32:35 around us. Can you believe that? He became my sin so that in Him 32:42 I could become his righteousness by faith, which is why there is this old, dusty phrase that 32:49 still gets used now and then. Righteousness by faith. By faith. 32:56 Which means that when I'm in Christ, his perfect life becomes my perfect life. 33:03 Can you believe that? When I'm in Christ, his perfect purity becomes my perfect 33:09 purity. Listen. When I'm in Christ, his perfect 33:13 racial unity -- We have a little conference going on. We're gonna get right back to it 33:18 this afternoon. Should've been here last night. Oh, Michael Nixon, wow. 33:23 You missed that. It's in the youth chapel from 2:00 on through the rest of the 33:28 day. It's called Repairing the Breach, achieving, seeking 33:32 racial unity within the church. When we as a people, when we are in Christ, his perfect unity 33:39 becomes our perfect unity. When I'm in Christ, his honesty becomes my honesty. 33:43 His righteousness becomes my righteousness by faith. You know what that means? 33:48 You know what that means? Put it on the screen for you. I hope this is the one line to 33:53 take home today. All that is His becomes all that is mine when I am in Christ. 34:02 All that is His -- You say, "Oh, Dwight, come on. This is typical homiletical 34:05 hyperbole. You guys are really something." Oh, you think so, huh? 34:08 Let me go back to the Book of Ephesians. You stay right where you are. 34:11 Go back to the Book of Ephesians. Chapter 1, now verse 3. 34:14 We'll put it on the screen. A little bit of hyperbole? 34:17 I think not. Read this on the screen. 34:19 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 34:23 has blessed us in the heavenly realms with -- what's the next 34:26 word? Come on, call it out to me. 34:29 What's the next word? With every spiritual -- what? 34:32 Spiritual what? Blessing. 34:34 All that is His -- When I'm in Christ, all that is His becomes 34:40 all that is mine. 34:42 When I'm in Christ, every spiritual blessing. How much of every is every? 34:49 Do you know? Oh, it's pretty much all? Okay. 34:54 Pretty much all. 34:56 Wow. All that is His becomes all that 35:02 is mine. When you are in Christ. 35:05 And, by the way, oh, don't let anybody kid you. 35:07 It's already a done deal. Been done. 35:09 It's not like you and I come to God and God says, "Oh, yo, 35:12 Dwight Howard. 35:13 Oh, you want to be saved? Hmm, well, let me see. Let me think. 35:16 You know what, Dwight? I need to kind of go over this thing. 35:20 I'll tell you what. I'll call you back. Don't call me. 35:22 I'll call you." Is it that way with God? It is not. 35:27 What did we just read? If any man is in Christ, if any woman is in Christ, just like 35:33 that. Half a nanosecond, you say Jesus, you got it. 35:36 If anyone is in Christ, she, he is a new creation in Christ. All things are gone away. 35:42 Yet all things become new. I'll tell you what, Dwight. I don't feel very new. 35:47 I didn't ask you if you felt new. I don't even care about your 35:52 feelings, and neither does God. The issue is not feelings. It's faith. It's faith. 35:57 It's what Jesus said to the centurion. Remember what Jesus said to the 36:00 centurion? The centurion comes walking up to Jesus and he says, "Listen, 36:03 my servant is dying. I need you to heal him." "Well, I'll go to your house." 36:06 "No, no, no. Stop right there. You don't have to come to my 36:09 house. All you have to do is say the words. 36:11 See, I got servants. I know how it works. I have soldiers under me. 36:14 I just say the word go, and they go. I say come and they come. 36:16 You say the word and my servant will be healed just like that." And Jesus goes, "Wow. 36:22 I've been living around this all my life. I have never seen faith like 36:28 this pagan." Then he says to this pagan, he says, "Let it be done to you, 36:35 according to your feelings." No, he did not. "Let it be done to you according 36:41 to your...faith." That boy was healed just like that. 36:46 I'm telling you what. It's already a done deal. You're a new creation in God's 36:50 eyes. Based on the cross 2,000 years ago, done. 36:54 It is finished. 36:57 I mean, it would be like you getting a FedEx letter. 37:01 You ever get FedEx letters? Yeah. 37:04 UPS? Eh. FedEx. Whoo! 37:07 This is pretty important. 37:09 Right? It's like you getting a FedEx letter from an unknown law firm 37:14 that informs you that your great uncle, whom you knew but never met in your life, your great 37:20 uncle some years ago has died childless, and he has willed to you his entire estate, but only 37:28 now have his lawyers located you. And if you are willing to 37:36 receive this inheritance, if you will just sign the FedEx receipt. 37:41 Come on, just put your John Henry there or Mary Henry. Just put it down there. 37:47 If you are willing to receive this estate, you will be the inheritor of $3.3 billion. 38:00 Sir, sign on the line. This was done a long time ago. You're just finding out about it 38:06 now. That's okay. It's still valid. 38:08 2,000 years ago, ladies and gentlemen, on the cross of Calvary, God took the entire 38:13 treasury of the universe and he emptied it to the last penny in the gift of Christ to the human 38:20 race. 2,000 years ago it was locked, sealed, and ready. 38:28 As soon as we locate you, sign on this little FedEx receipt, and you got it, buddy. 38:33 Wow. All that is His becomes all that is mine when I am, when you are 38:48 in Christ. In very practical terms, Dwight, come on, cut to the chase. 38:53 How does this work? You want it very practical? Let me give it to you very 38:57 simply. The little book "Steps to Christ." 38:59 Oh, is this something. Put it on the screen. "Steps to Christ" page 62. 39:04 Christ lived on earth amid trials and temptations such as we have to meet. 39:11 He lived a sinless life, tempted like as we are yet without sin. He was born with our weaknesses 39:18 thoroughly through him. He died for us, and now he offers to take our sins and give 39:23 us -- there's that 2 Corinthians 5:21 exchange -- and now he offers to give us his 39:29 righteousness if -- okay, you got to sign the FedEx receipt, here it comes -- if you give 39:35 yourself to him, if you accept him as your savior. Come on, boy, quit waiting. 39:41 Just sign the receipt. Sinful as your life may have been, for Christ's sake, you are 39:46 accounted righteous. Here, this gets even better. Come on, keep reading. 39:50 Christ's character stands in place of your character -- and hold on to your pew -- you are 39:56 accepted before God just as if you had not sinned. Zero sin in your life. 40:04 Now, can it get any better than that? Help me out. 40:09 Can it get any better than that? All that is His is all that is yours in Christ. 40:16 200 times -- "In Christ, in Christ, in Christ." "We get it, Paul! We get it! 40:20 We get it." You know why? You know why this is true? 40:24 Because you have a new address. You don't live just in Berrien Springs -- you live in 40:29 Christ. We have a new address, and that divine address declares that, 40:33 when God sees you, He sees Jesus. He sees Jesus your Savior. 40:37 He sees Jesus your surrogate. He sees Jesus your substitute. But there's a little bit of 40:44 wrong -- kind of crazy thinking associated with that imagery, and so we need to correct it 40:48 right now. And Cameron Schofield makes a small but very significant 40:54 tweaking to that picture we've all grown up with, and it's very helpful. 40:57 I'll put Cameron's words on the screen. 41:00 This is from his book, "Heralding the Loud Cry." 41:02 "We often --" Oh, is this true or what? 41:05 "We often have a picture in our mind of Christ standing before 41:08 the Father as our high priest and advocate. 41:10 And then there's --" little old me -- right, about so about 10, 41:13 12 feet tall, and I'm down here 4 feet tall. 41:16 There's little old me, trembling, standing behind him, 41:20 as Jesus, the high priest and advocate, pleads with the 41:24 Father. "He's there supplicating --" 41:26 Cameron right now -- "He's there supplicating on my behalf." 41:30 "Oh, Father. [ Chuckles ] I know, I know. 41:32 I know Dwight. Ouf. I..." "Hey, forget it, forget it. 41:35 Look at me, look at me, look at me! 41:37 Please, don't worry about him. Take me!" 41:40 We think that, and Cameron says, "Time-out, time-out. 41:43 Reality check. Friends --" You see that line 41:45 there? "Friends, there is only one man 41:49 standing before God!" Jesus Christ is that man, and we 41:53 are -- Where are we? "We are in him!" 41:58 You have a divine address. You don't have to be up there. You don't have to be standing up 42:03 there in all your little weak and frail human reality. No, we are in Christ. 42:10 By the way, don't be fooled by some aberrant theology into thinking that Jesus somehow has 42:17 to persuade the Father to love you. We know that's not true. 42:22 We just read it in verse 19. God was in Christ at the cross. The Father was there, was 42:29 crucified with His Son. Calvary's love -- Ah, put it up, Romans 5:8. 42:34 Oh, Paul says, "You need to get this..." 42:45 In Christ. I mean, can you believe it? What a glorious piece to this 42:51 #RxF4Now puzzle we're putting together. "Yeah, but, Dwight, come on, 43:00 come on, come on. Help me out. How can I get in Christ right 43:03 now? I need to get in Christ right now." 43:05 Oh, Jesus says, "I'm very glad you asked that question. Let me answer that myself." 43:09 Jesus answers this -- red letters now. You will look this text up. 43:12 John chapter six, please. John chapter six. Red letters in my Bible. 43:16 Jesus has the answer. You want to be in Christ, let me give you the way. 43:22 John 6:56 -- bright red in my Bible. Jesus speaking -- "Whoever eats 43:30 my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me --" there's that "in Christ --" "remains in me 43:39 and I in --" her, I in him, I in them. Jesus says, "Lookit, you want to 43:50 be in me, eat my flesh, drink my blood." And that feels so gory, and the 43:55 fact that you have verse 60 indicates we would not be the only ones who says that is yuck. 44:01 Look at verse 60. "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard 44:05 teaching? Who can accept it?'" "Adios, señor," and they are 44:09 gone. It is gory if you miss the point. 44:14 What's Jesus talking about here? Oh, Jesus is referring to the powerful symbolism of the 44:20 Lord's Supper. You see, there is no Lord's Supper in the Gospel of 44:25 John. The fourth Gospel, there's no Lord's Supper. 44:28 Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- yep, Lord's Supper. John writes it years after the 44:31 Synoptics, and so John comes along and says, "You know what? We've already got three stories. 44:35 Why do you need a fourth story? I'm gonna take the Lord's Supper, and I'm gonna 44:39 embed its powerful symbolism in my 'I am the bread of life' chapter, chapter six." 44:44 And that's exactly what happened. Look at verse 51. 44:48 Jesus still speaking... 45:00 "You want to be in me, then eat the bread, drink the cup. 45:04 And in that way, you will abide in me and I will abide in 45:07 you." 45:08 Hey, listen, ladies and gentlemen, when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we physically, we 45:13 symbolically become one with the Savior. We are ingested in. 45:21 He is ingested in. When you eat the bread and drink the cup, you are invited in to 45:27 Christ and he is invited in to you. In fact, right after he gave the 45:31 Lord's Supper -- in John's account, now, no Lord's Supper, but he does say the words right 45:35 after the Lord's Supper, "Abide in me, and I in you." That's the whole point. 45:42 You want to be in Christ? You want to stay in Christ? Eat the bread. Drink the cup. 45:53 Let him come in. You go in to him, and you are never ever the same again -- 46:02 ever. Every single time, you're never the same again. 46:11 When my dad died, my mother insisted that us boys take some of his clothes. 46:20 So I chose Dad's pilot sweater and his flight jumpsuit. My dad loved to fly, and, in his 46:27 retirement, he was a chaplain with the Civil Air Patrol. I know that today he is sleeping 46:37 in Jesus. I understand that. 46:40 I know that he is quietly awaiting the resurrection and 46:44 the life, but I have got to tell you, when you put on the clothes 46:51 of someone you love, someone who loved you dearly -- when you put 46:58 on the clothes, in a existential way, it's as if you can almost 47:05 smell him. He's here. He's here. 47:10 And when we take the bread and when we take the cup, I know he's not here. 47:19 I know. But in a mysterious sort of way, it's as if he's here. 47:25 You can almost smell him. The robe goes around you, and you could've sworn those were 47:33 his arms going around you. That's why. "You want to abide in me? 47:41 You want me to abide in you? Eat the bread. Drink the cup. I in you, and you in me." 47:56 Wow. I don't think it gets any better than that, do you? 48:01 Let's pray. Oh, God. Can You believe it? Over 200 times, and we've missed 48:10 this? In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. All that is his is all that is 48:16 mine in Christ. Oh, God, thank You. Calvary's love -- what else can 48:25 we say? Thank you, thank you, thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. 52:05 [ Song ends ] 52:11 [ Organ playing softly ] 52:46 >> As Dwayne just prayed a moment ago, he said, "God, set the table, and make sure there's 52:51 food for everyone," and there is. Ushers are making sure that 52:57 everybody here receives this. And, you know, it would not be out of place had Christ, at that 53:07 upper-room table, had he turned to his disciples and he said, "Look, this is my body. 53:16 This is my blood. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, I will abide in you, and 53:25 you will abide in me." Today we do that. His body and his blood. 53:32 And so we're gonna do it together. We'll eat the bread and drink 53:36 the cup together. And we do it, as he said, "In remembrance of me." 53:45 Let us partake. 53:55 [ Organ playing softly ] 54:13 So, in Christ -- in Christ -- we go forth together in Christ. Go with joy. 54:21 We're gonna sing a hymn as they did in the upper room. Hymn 407 in the hymnal. 54:25 We're gonna stand together as we sing and are sent forth into the world for Christ. 54:30 [ "Sent Forth by God's Blessing" plays ] 54:43 [ Congregation sings ] 56:34 [ Song ends ] "And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love 56:40 of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." 56:46 [ Organ playing softly ] 57:00 >> I want to take an extra moment with you to tell you about something we're really 57:03 excited about. It's called "Hope Trending: A Crash Course on How to Live 57:06 Without Fear." It's a 9-night series of 60-minute programs that will be 57:11 live-streamed to the world October 14 through 22, and we want to connect with your 57:16 friends -- friends who have yet to meet God, friends who have yet to discover how vital 57:20 end-time truths are for this very generation. That's why I hope you'll pass on 57:25 to them an invitation. All the information you need for that invitation is at our 57:28 website. Let me give that website to you. 57:31 Check it out for yourself -- hopetrending.org. 57:34 One word -- hopetrending.org. And would you please join me in 57:38 praying that this new innovative strategy will open up fresh 57:41 doors for Jesus across this nation and literally around the 57:45 world. 57:46 In the meantime, my prayer is that God will continue to bless you with His hope, with His 57:50 grace, with His peace until we meet again right here next time. 57:58 ♪♪ |
Revised 2016-11-16